Across the Room: Oh...my...Gawd. I spent 14 hours reading this cover-to-cover in one sitting. I couldn't stop. So many emotions! Such suspense! I did wind up glossing-over a bit at the ending, however. See the assessment below:
Vitals:
Temperature: Hypothermic. It's a dark, grim fantasy. However, there is a bit of warmth with the romance. Overall, it's dark. And I love that.
Heart Rate: Normal Rate, slightly irregular rhythm. My only issue is that the ending felt a tiny bit...extended. Once the big twist happened, I feel like there could've been a bit more of a cliff-hanger. I felt like there were a few too many neatly-tied ends, and since I know there will be a sequel (There's also a companion novel, "The Savior's Sister", which I also plan on reading), I think some of the ending could have waited until the beginning of book 2 (I count "The Savior's Sister" as book 1.5). However, that is the only complaint about the entire novel.
Blood Pressure: Textbook normal; Amazing balance. I was a little bit thrown off with Tobias's dream sequences, but they were beautifully combined with the overall scene. They added so much depth to his character, and you got to see how much he really suffered, both physically, and emotionally.
Respirations: Jenna does an amazing job of making her side characters so 3-D, despite the fact that NONE of them have a POV chapter. The entire book is from Tobias's point of view, and yet, these guys...I sobbed, I cried, I nearly threw my e-reader against the wall, I screamed in anger, and I laughed so incredibly hard. It was like they were my friends and family, not Tobias's
Oxygenation: Well-oxygenated. The world-building and setting descriptions were exquisite. The descriptions were just vivid enough that I didn't have terrible white-room syndrome, yet they were just vague enough that I could let my own imagination fill in the pieces. Wonderfully done!
Work of Breathing: No difficulty. I had no problems with being immersed--and staying immersed--in this story. My goodness, I didn't realise how long I'd been reading until I reached the end of the book.
Histories:
Family: Dark Fantasy and Romance
Medical: Nothing major with grammar. I loved Jenna's writing style. I can't wait to pick up The Savior's Sister!
Psychiatric: Oh. My. Goodness. The relationships. The betrayals. The friendships. The ROMANCE!
Socio-economic: Oh yes, Jenna Moreci explicitly stated "Adult Dark Fantasy Romance". It reads adult. It's dark. It's romantic.
Head to Toe Assessment:
Head and face: I will admit, I was a tiny bit hesitant with the cover at first. However, it definitely grew on me.The blurb was intriguing, and if I'd seen this while perusing in the bookstore, I would've picked it up. Not necessarily because of the cover, although it would've piqued my interest well enough for me to hesitate putting it down, the blurb is what made me open to the first page.
Neck: So, it starts with a Prologue. I know some readers don't care for prologues, but this one starts with a BANG, and it has just enough information in it that you will likely be confused if you skip it. I highly recommend reading the Prologue.
Chest: This is when the water-works started. The sheer purity of Tobias's relationship with his sister, Naomi just broke me. Naomi broke my heart...shattered it to pieces.
Abdomen and Flanks: Jenna took the broken shards of my heart in her hands, started giving me hope that she'd put it back together, then crunched and stepped and stomped them into a fine powder that blew away with her dark wind. Yep. The emotional toll this story took on me made me need a recovery day. Sinus headache and sore abdomen from too much crying, and too much laughing. Oh, and a sore throat from screaming at the villains.
Perineum: I genuinely thought this was going to be one of those ironic romances. You know, the romances that you think are romances, but they're actually tragedies? Yeah. I thought that. I cried...again.
Extremities: OH MY GAWD. OH MY F***ING GAWD! I was white-knuckled, gripping my e-reader.
Backside: This was my only complaint: it dragged on a little bit, and sort of info-dumped. I feel like the ending came a little bit earlier in the story, and the current cliffhanger would've been a better chapter ending, rather than book ending. Otherwise, I left the book with a bittersweet taste in my mouth, and ready to read on.
Prognosis: Very Good (4.5). I'm going to round this one UP on Goodreads to 5 stars. It's that good. Is it perfect? Not quite, but it's officially ranked in my top 5 favourite books of all time. Yes. It's that good.