ARC Review: Painless by S.A. Harazin

Painless
by S.A. Harazin
Published by Albert & Whitman Company
Ebook (received via NetGalley)
YA, contemporary

A first kiss. Falling in love. Going to prom. These are all normal things that most teenagers experience. Except for 17-year-old David Hart. His life is anything but normal and more difficult than most. Because of the disease that wracks his body, David is unable to feel pain. He has congenital insensitivity to pain with anhydrosis--or CIPA for short. One of only a handful of people in the world who suffer from CIPA, David can't do the things every teenager does. He might accidentally break a limb and not know it. If he stands too close to a campfire, he could burn his skin and never feel it. He can't tell if he has a fever and his temperature is rising. Abandoned by his parents, David now lives with his elderly grandmother who is dying. When David's legal guardian tells him that he needs to move into an assisted living facility as he cannot live alone, David is determined to prove him wrong. He creates a bucket list, meets a girl with her own wish list, and then sets out to find his parents. All David wants to do is grow old, beat the odds, find love, travel the world, and see something spectacular. And he still wants to find his parents. While he still can.

Synopsis promises something spectacular: a boy ridden by rare disease who is determined to actually live. A personal quest of sorts, and with unique theme as David doesn't feel pain. It made me question everything - how it works, how David takes care of himself and how does he see the world? Unfortunately, the book didn't quite deliver what I expected from it. Yes, David has a rare disease and his view of world is different and intriguing. But that's it. The plot was intermittent as it went on a little bit and then it seemed to move backwards and go to random side roads. David himself was intriguing character at first and I really liked him, but his character development wasn't enough - especially since David was very immature to begin with. Then Luna was annoying and quite cold, and she was immature as well, but she acted like she thought she was beyond that. My favourite from the characters was actually David's old grandmother, especially in the flashbacks and memories. She was caring, strong and extremely smart, and I liked her character a lot.

Overall the story was boring, I got so bored and disinterested that eventually I didn't even care about characters and what happened to them. The beginning was very promising, I mean David didn't feel pain and while it was the whole point and it was presented very well, the characters or the plot didn't hold my interest after the start. David even created a bucket list of sorts - things he wanted to do and experience before he dies, even though no one knew for sure how much he had, especially since no one expected him to live as old as he already was. But there was no climax, although one of the things David's bucket list suggested there might be conformation, a climax for the story. However, the reveal at the end did explain some things but a lot of things were left open wide and I didn't find it satisfying.

Painless had a lot potential: synopsis are interesting and left me with bunch of questions. However, the execution didn't answer those question, and the plot and the characters bored me more than kept me invested on their lives. I'd say, if you find the synopsis intriguing enough, give it a go. You might like the characters and like how the story goes on. For me, Painless was a little bit disappointment and in the end, I didn't enjoy the story as I was bored and not interested in enough of the characters lives, so that's why I'm giving Painless a two star rating.

2 of 5 stars.

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Thank you, Albert & Whitman Company, for giving me a chance to read and review Painless!

(A copy of this ebook was provided in return for an honest review.)