Title: Secrets of the TallySeries: Secrets of the Tally #1
Author: Halie Fewkes
Genre: Young Adult
Meet Allie: she’s just woken up in an empty forest with blood on her hands and everything she’s ever known wiped from her mind. In her survival-oriented world, people are hunted by vicious predators and it quickly becomes clear that they are specifically hunting her.
Allie’s friends and sister have no insight as to why she’s a target, and her only clue is a list of tally marks she finds tucked away, detailing how many lives she’s saved and how many deaths she’s caused. Judging by the amount of ink slashed across the page and the fact that nobody seems to know about it, Allie knows she used to have secrets that need to be recovered.
Without knowing whom to trust, she finds herself drawn to a new stranger in the caves they call home, and even though he won’t talk about his own past, he’s ready to help Allie recover hers.
The problem now is that Allie’s instinct to survive is the only thing strong enough to bring her memories back. Flashes of her old self will only surface to save her from life threatening danger, so if she wants to avoid living as an echo of her former self, danger is what she must seek.
Gosh, where should I begin? Well, I already said that it is full of mystery and intrigue and the book summary says that Allie, the main character, suffers from memory loss since the beginning of the book. She somehow has to find her way back home, but worry not, she finds it pretty soon after, meeting cool friends along the way. These characters are so amazing and I loved them. However, most of the acquaintances that Allie makes were people that she already knew but, thanks to her memory loss, she had to learn about them all over again. It was a fun way to get to know them!
I enjoyed reading this book so much because it reminded me of the old YA books that I used to read a few years back. Secrets of the Tally has a certain charm that makes me not want to stop babbling about. I don’t even know what exactly makes me believe that, other than it’s a mix of factors and small details like the cool friendships and the incredible world building inside it.
Also, there are some plot twists inside the book that I must admit I didn’t see coming. Why, Halie Fewkes, WHY?! It completely caught me off guard! I guess I was too focused on getting Allie’s memory back that I wasn’t paying attention to other things. And BAM! Plot twist. Well played author, well played…
Ah! And have I mention how much I liked the main character? Allie is so cool. I genuinely think she is such a good character. It was so much fun hanging around with he and while I sometimes felt she acted a bit off, I gave her some space because she did lose her memory and that’s not a small thing.
Does the fact that I don’t have the second book to continue this story count as a negative thing to say? No?… Okay, then I have nothing to say.
Secrets of the Tally is AMAZING! I loved it and I must do anything in my power to get my hands on the second book. It’s already out, I believe! Now if you excuse me, I will go fawn over this incredible book.
I've not heard of this one, but I will be checking it out for sure now. I love the sound of this one, and I'm always up for some good plot twists. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it! 🙂
Oooh, it's such an amazing book! I want to keep reading this series. I hope you find the time to get your hands on a copy and that you enjoy reading the world of Allie 🙂
I won't lie if I judged this book based on the cover alone. I would skip it. It looks MG to me, but it sure sounds great!
Great review! I will have to check this one out! 🙂