Book Review: Pieces by Toni Aleo

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Pieces
Patchworks #1
Author:Toni Aleo
Reading Level: New Adult
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Released: June 27, 2016
Review Source: Netgalley

In New York City, an underground society of supernatural beings exists, hidden among everyday humans. They don’t know of our activities or any of our secrets.

The districts of the Works are made up of vampires, wolves, shifters, witches, and I’m in the fifth and arguably most important district, the Patchwork. My father is the leader of our group, and he oversees all of the other factions.

As his only daughter, that makes me the princess of it all. Cool, right? Actually…no.
Sure, I live in a mansion and money isn’t an object, but that doesn’t matter because I can’t leave. I have a guard who follows me around 24/7. My father and three older brothers treat me like I’m a fragile piece of glass, never allowed to take an independent step or make any decisions on my own.
It’s beyond frustrating—especially since my father essentially runs my life.
He says what I do, when I do it, how I do it, and all that jazz. He tests his formulas and new techniques on me. I’m a walking science experiment.
I hate it.
I hate my life here.

But then he comes along: Killian.
He’s just some vampire…or so I thought.
But you’ll have to read my story to find out what I mean. To know my secrets.
Until then, though, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rebekah von Stein.
And I’m a descendant of Dr. Frankenstein.

Welcome to the Works.

The story:  Pieces is about the crazy life of Rebekah von Stein, a descendant of Dr Frankenstein.  Her father, William, and her brothers are over bearing and SOOO protective over her that she is basically a prisoner in their home.  She is only able to go next door to work in a bar her family owns. The story takes place in New York City where her father is the leader of the Patchwork group and is also the leader of all the other groups: vampires, wolves, shifters and witches.

The likes:  the story starts out unlike any book I have ever read in my life in any genre. I give major props for originality to Toni Aleo.  I absolutely loveeee the idea of the underworld society Toni created.  I went into this book completely blind so when I saw Frankenstein, shifters, and vampires, I was very skeptical of whether I would like it, yet intrigued at the same time.  My interest was piqued from the very start until the last page.  I feel like the book got better the more I read. I thought Toni did a good job with character development of the main characters and the secondary characters. I loved the chemistry between Rebekah and Killian, the sexy, mysterious vampire.

The dislikes:  I have mixed feelings about Rebekah's character. On one hand, she is very immature and whiny/annoying at times, on the other hand I felt she was brave and strong willed.  Another factor was Rebekah's father giving her a pair of MAN'S legs as transplants!! I tried so hard to ignore it's didn't make me dislike the story but it bugged me.  I kept picturing these giant muscular man's legs on her and I had trouble moving past that.  The story also read more like a young adult book instead of  new adult in my opinion.

The rating:  I am giving this story 4 stars for originality alone. I was so pleasantly surprised by the story line and being transported to a place much different than my normal book type.