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Sharp Edges
Addiction is personified in this debut novel by J. Kirsch tackling the tough stuff-family skeletons, tragedies, mental health, drug use, and first loves.
On a rainy, mid-July night, Marie moves her seventeen-year-old son, Michael Sinclair, to the inner-city ROY G BIV, away from the perfect Golden Suburbs of Richland, Ohio. Mike'll be the first to tell you his family is far from perfect-the Sinclair Family Levee constantly teetering on the verge of collapse. The oldest Sinclair sibling, Maddy, gained the reputation as the suburban heroin addict, her actions paving the way for Mike to become friendless and bullied by his peers, his other sister, Charlie, and their father, Leon. As he sits on the porch stairs with a sketchpad on his knees, the guy across Indigo Street changes Mike's entire view of the ROY G BIV and its cracked sidewalks, racist graffiti and cannabis air.
Outlandish Jesse Harris, nineteen, has a reputation of his own. A punk raised in the ROY G BIV, he made friends with the middle-aged men drinking cheap American beer and shared his joint with the girl next door colored black and blue by her father's hand. This was home and gunshots never fazed him. While Maddy was the suburban junkie, Jesse's older brother, Daryl, was the infamous local meth supplier.
Despite their curiosity, Mike and Jesse don't approach each other until tragedy has Mike running towards the gunshots, which leave Jesse wounded and bleeding on his porch. Destiny binds them into further catastrophes, deaths, misery, beanfield stargazing, and an electrifying love even I, Addiction, cannot stop. However, I am never without an itinerary, and my whispering, slick doctrines stalk Mike at every turn, decision, and joyous moment.
Jesse and I become a fever Mike won't want to break, our heat unleashing qualities in himself he never knew existed. Akin to most illnesses, the side effects are harmful, and it won't be up to us to dictate how long he'll stay ill.
He'll welcome it. He'll die for it. He'll die for us.
On a rainy, mid-July night, Marie moves her seventeen-year-old son, Michael Sinclair, to the inner-city ROY G BIV, away from the perfect Golden Suburbs of Richland, Ohio. Mike'll be the first to tell you his family is far from perfect-the Sinclair Family Levee constantly teetering on the verge of collapse. The oldest Sinclair sibling, Maddy, gained the reputation as the suburban heroin addict, her actions paving the way for Mike to become friendless and bullied by his peers, his other sister, Charlie, and their father, Leon. As he sits on the porch stairs with a sketchpad on his knees, the guy across Indigo Street changes Mike's entire view of the ROY G BIV and its cracked sidewalks, racist graffiti and cannabis air.
Outlandish Jesse Harris, nineteen, has a reputation of his own. A punk raised in the ROY G BIV, he made friends with the middle-aged men drinking cheap American beer and shared his joint with the girl next door colored black and blue by her father's hand. This was home and gunshots never fazed him. While Maddy was the suburban junkie, Jesse's older brother, Daryl, was the infamous local meth supplier.
Despite their curiosity, Mike and Jesse don't approach each other until tragedy has Mike running towards the gunshots, which leave Jesse wounded and bleeding on his porch. Destiny binds them into further catastrophes, deaths, misery, beanfield stargazing, and an electrifying love even I, Addiction, cannot stop. However, I am never without an itinerary, and my whispering, slick doctrines stalk Mike at every turn, decision, and joyous moment.
Jesse and I become a fever Mike won't want to break, our heat unleashing qualities in himself he never knew existed. Akin to most illnesses, the side effects are harmful, and it won't be up to us to dictate how long he'll stay ill.
He'll welcome it. He'll die for it. He'll die for us.
474 pages, Paperback
Published May 25, 2023
3 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 30, 2023
dear lord. i went into this as unbiased as i could considering how much i personally love the author and wanted to give it an honest review. so that is what i shall give.
first off, this genuinely was one of the most emotion filled reads I’ve ever had. between falling in love with the characters, and feeling like my heart is being ripped to shreds from realizing what path they are going down, my emotional state simply couldn’t keep up. along with the brilliant writing, the PLOT in its own sense was BEAUTIFUL. like seriously this could be a movie. personifying addiction as a whole really made me tap into the mind of addicts and opened my eyes to a lot. on top the addiction of drugs, this book also shows other types of addictions such as eating disorders and an addiction to a person or a feeling a person can give. i found these to be insanely accurately portrayed. i laughed, i cried, i giggled and kicked my feet. i’m very picky with my 5 star reads, but this book is extremely deserving of it. this book made me feel. like really really feel. i tend to find myself finishing a book and not remembering it. this book will not fall victim to that as i feel it’s been etched onto my soul permanently at this point. everyone should read this book. it’s so tragically beautiful.
first off, this genuinely was one of the most emotion filled reads I’ve ever had. between falling in love with the characters, and feeling like my heart is being ripped to shreds from realizing what path they are going down, my emotional state simply couldn’t keep up. along with the brilliant writing, the PLOT in its own sense was BEAUTIFUL. like seriously this could be a movie. personifying addiction as a whole really made me tap into the mind of addicts and opened my eyes to a lot. on top the addiction of drugs, this book also shows other types of addictions such as eating disorders and an addiction to a person or a feeling a person can give. i found these to be insanely accurately portrayed. i laughed, i cried, i giggled and kicked my feet. i’m very picky with my 5 star reads, but this book is extremely deserving of it. this book made me feel. like really really feel. i tend to find myself finishing a book and not remembering it. this book will not fall victim to that as i feel it’s been etched onto my soul permanently at this point. everyone should read this book. it’s so tragically beautiful.
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January 5, 2025Ok guys! I am probably going to be a little bias on this book, but guys this is my work Wife and bestie's debut novel and I am very happy and excited for her...plus I have an art piece in her book (look for my name on the cover and my piece is at the beginning of Part One).
This is a story about addiction. You get a side of the store that most can't or won't tell you. You get the good and the bad, the highs and the lows. You get the love and the hate of relationships with family and lovers. You get it all. You get the dark and the light side.
She writes the story starting out in Addiction's Point of View. Addiction is it's own character in this story. And I really like having this point of view. You get to see other character's counter parts of Addiction as well, which helps with the character development. You start off learning about Michael Sinclair and how he came to be in the bad part of town across the street from Jesse Harris. They watch each other from a distance when they are home. Mike works at a coffee shop and meets Jesse there when he comes into get his coffee with his punny jokes amd one liners. But does Jesse actually like Mike or is he just being funny? You see Mike and Jesse relationship turn into more but you also see Addiction's relationship with Mike turn into more as well. It is a fiction with a hint of romance with the feel of an Urban fantasy. I feel like everyone should read this story, if only to learn more about addiction and how it can affect the people you love...but also to support a local author! I will recommend this book to anyone I can think of.
I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5 stars!
This is a story about addiction. You get a side of the store that most can't or won't tell you. You get the good and the bad, the highs and the lows. You get the love and the hate of relationships with family and lovers. You get it all. You get the dark and the light side.
She writes the story starting out in Addiction's Point of View. Addiction is it's own character in this story. And I really like having this point of view. You get to see other character's counter parts of Addiction as well, which helps with the character development. You start off learning about Michael Sinclair and how he came to be in the bad part of town across the street from Jesse Harris. They watch each other from a distance when they are home. Mike works at a coffee shop and meets Jesse there when he comes into get his coffee with his punny jokes amd one liners. But does Jesse actually like Mike or is he just being funny? You see Mike and Jesse relationship turn into more but you also see Addiction's relationship with Mike turn into more as well. It is a fiction with a hint of romance with the feel of an Urban fantasy. I feel like everyone should read this story, if only to learn more about addiction and how it can affect the people you love...but also to support a local author! I will recommend this book to anyone I can think of.
I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5 stars!
February 10, 2025
I liked and didnt like this book. I did like how there was a lot of local stuff from my town, but not that it referred that it is easy to get drugs here. The book talks mainly about one family. A sister and brother gets into drugs at different times of their lives and the mother dies from cancer.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews