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Review: Colors Like Memories by Meradeth Houston

Title: Colors Like Memories
Author: Meradeth Houston
Series: Standalone
Genre: YA Paranormal
Format: E-book
Source: MuseItUp Publishing
Pub. Year: 2011
Purchase: MuseItUp Publishing
I received this novel free of charge from MuseItUp Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Blurb from Amazon:
Julia is a Sary, the soul of a child who died before taking her first breath. Without this ‘breath of life,’ she and others like her must help those on the verge of suicide. It’s a job Julia enjoyed, until the accident that claimed her boyfriend’s life—an accident she knows was her fault. If living with the guilt weren’t enough, she’s now assigned to help a girl dealing with the loss of her mother, something Julia is not exactly the best role model for. If she can’t figure out a way to help her, Julia will lose her position in the Sary, something she swore to her boyfriend would never happen.

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Random: Honesty is really the best policy

This was an interesting novel to read. Saries help individuals who are contemplating suicide. They are almost like guardian angels (including the wings) except they are not called that.

Julia, a Sary, was an interesting character. At the beginning, it felt like Julia wasn’t entirely devoted to her job as a protector to Marcy who is suicidal. Half of Julia was trying to do right by Marcy and help her not commit suicide but other half of Julia was distracted by her own emotional pain. Julia had to work through the pain of losing her other half, Derek. Edison, another Sary, was send to help her. When he is first introduced, I thought he was Derek reincarnated but I’m off. What happens to Derek is much more fascinating than that.

The process of working through emotional pain and the character’s finding their inner strengths is a long process. Julia spent her time with Marcy just lying about who she was because that is the rule of being a sary. Never be discovered. It helped Marcy to have a friend in Julia but Marcy needed honesty to move on. No, Marcy needed someone trust in her because that is what she was lacking. She didn’t have trust in her father, ex-boyfriend, or Julia. Maybe she just needed someone to rely on her because that is when she became strong and had a moment of realization that changed her life.

The world-building of the Sary left me wanting for more. Julia said it was her choice to become a sary but the blurb says a sary is the soul of a child that never took a breath. Doesn’t that mean that every child who died before their first breath is a sary or am I misunderstanding? I’m curious about the selection process because if the sary are chosen (and not made automatically), then what happens to those who are not selected? Plus, how are they teenagers if they died during what I assume is after childbirth? There some questions that hurt the novel because the world-building isn’t explained but overall, it is a decent novel that has logic to its world.