Inside the Tiger by Hayley Lawrence Review

Inside the Tiger

Author: Hayley Lawrence

Publisher: Penguin Teen Australia

Release date: 3rd September 2018

Pages: 335 pages

R.R.P: $19.99

It’s not because Bel’s mother was murdered.
It’s not because her father is a politician.
Bel writes to a Death Row prisoner as an easy way out of an assignment.

But now he’s written back. Drawn to Micah’s world inside a Thai prison, she finds herself falling for the boy with ragged hair, shackles and a terrible past. Will Bel lose him too? And could it mean losing the people who mean the most to her at home?
Whatever happens, none of them will ever be the same.

My Review

Thoughts on the book: Inside the Tiger is the debut novel from Hayley Lawrence which centres around 17 year old Bel, a private school girl whose dad is a politician and a major campaigner against  prisoners being handed down less than acceptable sentences after his wife's (Bel's mother's) killer walking free after a short sentence. For a school legal assignment Bel had to chose a cause and work with it, so she chose to write to an Australian inmate on death row in Bang Kwang Prison in Thailand named Micah. It started out at a simple assignment just right. Few letters back and forth enough to get a decent mark for the assignment but as they progress with their letter writing Bel discovers the horrible conditions that Australian prisoners overseas are recieving and the lack of representation that they receive when they have been arrested and in the following months/years. Suddenly they become quite close and Bel decides to travel over to Thailand to suprise Micah with her recently returned neighbour, who has been over in Thailand for the last year on exchange and has returned very hot. But things don't go to plan while she is in Thailand and suddenly she realises that she needs to fight more than ever for the rights of prisoners overseas. But will it all be to late for Micah and his friends, after all it is death row?

The biggest thank you to Penguin Teen Australia for sending me a copy of the heartbreakingly beautiful Inside the Tiger by Hayley Lawrence to read and review. I remember reading an expert for this somewhere and instantly falling in love with it and adding it to my must buy list. It just sounded like a book that was going to hit me hard and make me think about things that I might not have previously thought about and most books with letters have me wanting them as they give a nice sentimental note to the story. So you can imagine my surprise when I recieved a unexpected copy in the mail which I immediately started reading and literally couldn't put it down. 

Hayley Larence has such a unique writing style that instantly draws you into the story and snatches your heart and doesn't let go until the last tear filled moment. I instantly fell in love with our main character Bel and then fell in love with our secondary characters; Micah the open ended jailbird, Tash the best friend who tells it like it is and Eli the newly hot next door neighbour. Each one had something new to offer to the story and amazingly they all worked so well togethe and made the story what it was and what a story Hayley Lawrence has written! It's so hard to describe exactly how amazing this story is and what it is truly about so I might steal Hayley's words to explain it: 'it's about a teenage girl who writes to a death row prisoner and falls for him, destroying them both. It has two unique love stories at its heart and touches on issues of justice, mercy and idealism.' This describes it perfectly and if it doesn't have you hooked then there is something wrong with you. I'll end this review with one of my fa our it's quotes from the book, and believe me there were many to choose from.

'Born to die, play to live.' He traces the words with his finger, before dropping his shirt and sitting back down. 'Way I see it, you go living like you're dead, you might as well be. We're all born to die, but it's how you play your cards that counts. That makes sense?'

Rating: 5/5