Book Review: The Memory Hit by Carla Spradbery

Author: Carla Spradbery
Series: N/A
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Release Date: June 4th 2015
My Rating: 3.5 cups
Source: Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

On New Year's Eve, Jess's life is unrecognizable: her best friend is in the hospital, her boyfriend is a cheater. A drug-dealing cheater it would seem, after finding a stash of Nostalgex in his bag.

Nostalgex: a drug that stimulates memory. In small doses, a person can remember the order of a deck of cards, or an entire revision guide read the day before an exam. In larger doses it allows the user detailed access to their past, almost like watching a DVD with the ability to pause a moment in time, to focus on previously unnoticed details and to see everything they've ever experienced with fresh eyes. As Leon, the local dealer, says 'it's like life, only better.' What he fails to mention is that most memories are clouded by emotions. Even the most vivid memories can look very different when visited.

Across town Sam Cooper is in trouble. Again. This time, gagged and bound in the boot of a car. Getting on the wrong side of a drug dealer is never a good idea, but if he doesn't make enough money to feed and clothe his sister, who will?

On New Year's Day, Jess and Cooper's worlds collide. They must put behind their differences and work together to look into their pasts to uncover a series of events that will lead them to know what really happened on that fateful New Year's Eve. But what they find is that everything they had once believed to be true, turns out to be a lie ...

*Disclaimer: I received this e-galley from Netgalley and Hodder Children's Books in exchange for an honest review.

If there's something I love is being taken by surprise when I'm reading a book. Not because it's scary or because there's one detail that I didn't see coming, but because the story does not go where I think it will. This is what happened to me with The Memory Hit. Halfway through the book I was so sure I had it all figured out and then BAM! That ending!

The book is told from multiple POVs and the way they are put together is so interesting. At first it was a bit confusing, because I didn't quite understand how exactly some of these characters were related to each other. As you move forward however, obviously it all makes sense. But the change of perspective really shows that the one you thought was the villain might not be "the big bad". Also, if you're hoping for romance, you won't find it here. Which, honestly, was refreshing. I feel like there's always romance in YA, so for this book to not have any was actually a good change.

I have to be honest and say that I liked Cooper much more than I liked Jess. Jess wasn't unlikable, she just had certain moments where I did not understand why she was doing something or why was she acting a certain way. At times she'd seem a bit self-involved. But then I'd get to a scene where a bit of her back-story is explained and I start to understand her a little bit more, maybe even accept her. Cooper however, because of his family, was completely understandable. His actions made sense to me. He was just a lost guy, trying to keep his head above water. And he was trying to be the best brother he could.

There were some really scary scenes, with someone setting things on fire. That person seemed like a total sociopath. I had ideas of who it might be, but boy was I wrong! I did not see that one coming.

The book deals with drug addiction and how sometimes these drugs might give the idea of providing comfort. There were a few scenes that talked about that perceived comfort. There's a question here that I feel I should ask myself: would I want to relieve memories? To remember every detail of my past? Not really, no. But there's a good scene, in which Luke explains how he used the drugs and why.

I did think the ending was a bit too rushed. I didn't mind the ending, in the sense that I loved being that surprised, but it just seemed a bit too easy for the solution to be found in the way it was. Overall it was an interesting book, with a very unique ending.