'Daughter of Glass' by Vicki Keire - SPOILER FREE REVIEW

First off I need to say a massive thank you to Curiosity Quills Press, for sending me an e-copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review, and for allowing me to be a part in the 'Daughter of Glass' Blog Tour! 

This is one of those books that has an utterly intriguing, completely brand new concept, or at least it's not one that I've ever heard of. 

Sasha Alexander has a powerful ability.

Either that, or she’s dangerously mad. She isn’t always sure which.

Her father shrouds her in isolation, convinced he’s protecting her from the same madness that took her mother. But the seven impossible guardians that only she can see insist she’s gifted. Her companions since her mother’s suicide a decade ago, they protect her from hurt, pain and fear.

They also keep her from feeling love.

Sasha doesn’t know how to react when Noah explodes through her defenses. This strange young man with the scarred hands suddenly makes her feel again. And she wants more. More of Noah, of his wakening touch. But the guardians don’t want to lose their decade-long hold, while her father despises Noah on sight.

Sasha risks exposing Noah to a world that would cheerfully see him dead.

But unless she can learn to control her own emotions, the biggest danger to them all may be Sasha herself.

To start with, I felt quite confused about the direction that this book was going in. Sasha is at an art gallery opening, celebrating the artwork that her mother created before she committed suicide. Sasha cannot feel any emotion, and she hasn't been able to since she was eight, on the day that her mother died. This is because her seven guardians: Anger, Desire, Guilt, Oblivion, Fear, Sadness and Joy, siphon her emotions away from her to allow her to keep them in check, meaning that she's only able to feel things for mere seconds at a time before they take them away from her. As you can tell by reading the synopsis above, this all changes when she meets Noah, an art fan who is also attending the gallery opening. Sasha can tell that there's something different about Noah, because for the first time in nearly a decade she is able to feel things.
The only real negative about this novel is the insta-love that Sasha and Noah experience. I can understand why - if you met someone and were able to feel things for the first time ever around them, I'm sure you'd fall in love with them instantly - but it just kind of annoyed me that Noah returned the feelings straight away.
However, everything else about this book was utterly genius. Before the start of every chapter there are gorgeous illustrations bringing each and every one of the characters to life, but this wasn't even necessary because of how viscerally Vicki Keire manages to embody the emotions into the guardians. Each guardian has such a distinctive personality, and they really stand out from Sasha and Noah, making it a brilliant concept for a novel.
But even Sasha and Noah are brilliant characters. Sasha's internal battle with herself over her feelings is written in a touching way, while Noah might be the weakest character in the entire book but he still has a lot of positives; he's an extremely caring guy, and when Sasha needs help he automatically wants to protect her and look after her, meaning he really does embody the essence of an old school hero.
If you know anything about plots, when there's a hero there has to be a villain, and this character is Mr Bain. When a strange man turns up out of nowhere and starts asking Sasha to help him achieve his nefarious goals, it's easy to tell that this is a turning point in the novel, and it's very interesting how an already stuffed plot gets even more filled up. Vicki has a very talented way of writing, making it feel as though one plot is our main focal point while the subplot is brewing, ready to take over, and it makes it very difficult to see where this book is going, but that is not a negative thing.
I'm not going to give any spoilers away about how this book develops, because I think it's a really good thing to see for yourself, but I will say that by having the epilogue positioned with one of the guardians viewpoints, it's brilliant to get more into their heads, and I seriously hope Vicki considers writing a companion novel from the viewpoint of one or more of the guardians, because that would make for seriously interesting reading.
Once again, I want to thank Curiosity Quills Press for allowing me the opportunity to read this book and fall in love with these characters, and for allowing me to take part in this blog tour. I definitely suggest you consider reading this book, because even though it's rather short, it's extremely enjoyable.