BOOK REVIEW ~ MUD VEIN BY TARRYN FISHER

When reclusive novelist Senna Richards wakes up on her thirty-third birthday, everything has changed. Caged behind an electrical fence, locked in a house in the middle of the snow, Senna is left to decode the clues to find out why she was taken. If she wants her freedom, she has to take a close look at her past. But, her past has a heartbeat…and her kidnapper is nowhere to be found. With her survival hanging by a thread, Senna soon realizes this is a game. A dangerous one. Only the truth can set her free.

If you asked me what makes Tarryn Fisher stand out from the rest of the authors, I’d say her writing. Sadly, not even her writing was a plus in Mud Vein. I found it to be overdescriptive and really just suffocated on all the extra details that hid what could’ve been a unique and well-delivered plot.
I’m not completely immune; I did find some lines in the book to be immensely powerful and they even gave me goosebumps. But taking in the book as a whole and considering the delivery, the reasoning, the revelation, and the endgame, I pretty much felt fucked over. And let me tell you, it’s not a good feeling.

1. Delivery. The way I see it, there are two sides. One, I’m a complete idiot who lacks a brain because the first 60% I just. Did. Not. Get. (Refer to my Mud Vein Face #1). OR, the writing was so incredibly complex and just not understandable to mere humans only the writing goddess herself and a select few can interpret the meaning. Hence I didn’t find the writing beautiful; I thought it exorbitant and excessive.

**SPOILER ALERT**It turns out Senna’s therapist/shrink is the one to kidnap her and Isaac and throw them in the cabin. And for what? So Senna could realize that she can love someone? So the shrink lady can play around with people’s lives? Oh and when they get discovered, Ms. Shrink Lady kills herself. 

**SPOILER ALERT**
I don’t mind that Senna died. Sometimes I find non-HEA books to be more meaningful and that certainly was the case with Mud Vein. Like I said, I’m not completely immune to the book. But oh my god. My biggest question I want an answer to is this:

Why is it that Senna is so deserving of love she must be locked in with Issac? Why is Issac’s wife and child not worthy of that love? Why the need to screw over a perfectly great family just so selfish, cold-hearted, rude, abrasive, shrewish Senna could get it huh? And please don’t tell me the shrink lady was crazy or that Senna deserves love just once because she’s dying from cancer. Not even cancer gets a pass on this.

**END SPOILER**
I do want to commend the author on one thing though. Yes, I didn’t like the book, but I applaud the author for sticking to her vision for the story and remaining true to her expectations. It’s not an easy thing to do with all the different reader tastes out there, but it’s admirable and part of the reason why I rated it 2 stars and not one. 

Before I started this book, I purposely avoided reading the reviews so I could go in with a fresh, clean slate. In hindsight, I wished I read them before and listened to what friends were saying because this book has marred the perfect track record Fisher had with me.