Elizabeth Scott (1)Critiques

Not one of the better Elizabeth Scott books that I have read. The main character Kate was whiny and annoying, her parents were just as annoying. I did enjoy the book, though I skipped the paragraph when ever Kate started with her "nobody cares about how HARD my life is" stuff.
Kate's world seems to center around the fact that her old best friend will no longer speak to her and seems to look right through her, and to top it all off, Kate has to work at the mall helping her father "try to" sell Perfect You vitamins. Things slowly go downhill for Kate, and her parents end up splitting up, and her mom, grandmother and her all move into an apartment after they have to sell the house. The only good thing that came out of it all was that Kate finally started standing up for herself and let people know what she was thinking instead of just keeping it all inside.
There of course was a love interest and that came in the form of Will, Kate's classmate and crush. Will seems to annoy Kate a lot and while I saw it as him flirting, Kate didn't see it till the end of the book when he explained it to her.

We meet Amy, a recovering binge drinker, as she is coming out of a "teen treatment center". We"meet" Julia through Amy's thoughts and little letters that she writes to her. See, Amy and Julia are/were best friends until Julia dies in a car accident. Amy blames herself for the accident and throughout most of the book I was under the impression that Amy was the one driving.
Amy must face going back to school and living a normal life, and while there she feels like she shouldn't be. She has a few bought's with doubt and the urge to drink, and while her parents are being exactly like she always wanted them to be; she "hates" it. Amy doesn't have any friends at school and even though there is one guy who trys to talk to her; she keeps pushing him away.
The story progresses from there, Amy eventually starts to semi make friends, and while attending therapy she starts to realize that the accident wasn't entirely her fault. She slowly starts to heal and move on.
The story was a good one, although most of it was a little hard to understand with the way it switched from Amy's pov and her letters to Julia; but once you go the hang of the voice it was a fast but deep read.

Super short read. good for traveling or just one bored evening ...

Here's the thing. This book was well written. I just could NOT stomach the content. it was the most horrifying thing that I could imagine, and I'm sure it's a reality for some very unlucky people, but I had a very, very hard time reading it. It is only for people with iron stomachs, and I thought I had one!

This is just the book I needed to remind me why I read YA. THE FEELINGS. I give this book a giant YES!! Unputdownable.

It's a common trope, girl is in love with boy, but boy is dating girl's best friend. The difference here is this one had FEELING. I felt every single thing that Sarah felt. I cried. My robot heart short circuited a little because Sarah was in so much pain-- and I felt that.

It helped that Brianna wasn't all that likable. She overlooks Sarah and Ryan's feelings time and time again because she's so into herself. Her redeeming quality is that she's going through some pretty horrific family stuff, so at times it's understandable that she be self-centered.

My favorite part of this whole book is the reminder that sometimes toxic friendships exist no matter how much you love the person. I had a friendship that I loved the person like a sister, but had to let her go-- and I think about her all the time, but I can't be friends with her and it sucks. I think that's what is really at the heart of this book, and for that, I'm thankful.

I think we all need to read books that touch our hearts, and I'm so happy I found this at a time when I needed it. So many of Elizabeth Scott's books have been at the right place and the right time for me over the years (my fave is: [b:Love You Hate You Miss You|5245026|Love You Hate You Miss You|Elizabeth Scott|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347793323s/5245026.jpg|5312326]), and I really wish she would write a new book soon!

OVERALL: Tropey, but in all the best ways. If you want to read an "I'm in love with my best friend's boyfriend" book, go no further. This book had the trope but did it in the exact right way. Plus, any book that can make me cry these days is pretty special.

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Pink Polka Dot Books

CW: Suicide

A frightening, disturbing, and gripping read. The author gets right inside character's head and the stark way the book is written offers just enough explanation as well as leaving just enough horror to the imagination. I like that Ray's background is explored a bit, showing the reader how he became the way he is. I find the ending a bit too dramatic and a bit predictable but it is fitting.

Besides a peek inside the mind of a kidnapped and abused girl, I'm not sure what this book offers to young readers, since there's no real lesson here (not that there needs to be) and it seems more to be about shock value. Still, this was an addictive read, the kind of book that you can't put down (and it certainly is slim enough to finish in one sitting), and the story haunts you long after you've finished it.

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
While I enjoyed the overall idea of Heartbeat, I found the plot somewhat lacking. The pacing of the novel just felt off to me. The first third of the novel mostly evolved around Emma and Dan's fighting, and I understood both of their reasoning, but their arguments became so repetitive that sometimes I just skimmed over them. I would have enjoyed it more if there had been more plot and character development. Emma and Caleb's relationship was pretty predicable and I didn't really feel the chemistry between two, but it was cute nonetheless.
Overall, Heartbeat was more of a "meh" novel to me, but I'm sure lovers of emotional, YA romance novels will love it!

review to come

This one is... *sigh*
Frustrating, annoying, forgettable.
Protag was so toxic and unreasonable.
Not sure how I made it through the whole thing.

FINAL VERDICT : AVOID LIKE PLAGUE

This is a good book.
It's slow-burn and rather realistic.
I liked the story and characters.

You should give it a twirl.

FINAL VERDICT: READ IT!

So full of over-rated drama. And nothing happens.
And this internal agony is tiring and extremely annoying.
And OMG, Ryan, WTF? Are you a guy or not? Man up and tell her you don't like her. Don't go on flogging the dead horse!

Can't believe I've wasted my time on this

Disturbing difficult read.

Very sweet, but agonizing book about liking your best friend's boyfriend. You wonder what Sarah sees in Brianna as a friend, because she is very self-centered. But the ending is satifying.

A compelling read about a girl who grows up in a life of crime and doesn't know how to get out.

I've received an ARC of this in exchange of a honest review

Pronto Reseña en El Extraño Gato del Cuento

It was hard to read this one and I ended up quickly skimming much of it because the depiction of unrelenting abuse was so disturbing. Very well written. I'm having a hard time deciding if it's really YA, though. I'm certain I couldn't recommend it to anyone younger than a senior in high school. The ending was unsatisfying to me, but I think I can see why the author chose to end it the way she did.

This is a stark, brutal, and quick read but not very graphic.

Living Dead Girl (LDG) is the most disturbing and upsetting book I've ever read---an honor previously held by Towelhead. LDG is the harrowing story of a 15-year-old girl who was kidnapped by a pedophile when she was just ten-years-old. Renamed Alice by her sick and twisted captor Ray, Alice has spent nearly every day of the last five years trapped in Ray's house being raped, beatened, and threatened.

Ray has kept Alice in a perptual girl-like state by starving her; forcing her to wear genderless clothing; and giving her birth control pills to stop her period. Unfortunately, Ray can't stop nature and Alice continues to grow as does Ray's disgust for her womenly body. At this point, Ray decides he needs a new little girl and he wants Alice to help.

Because she wants to finally be free of her daily torment, Alice agrees to find Ray's new victim. Alice's desperate and painful tale will have you almost rooting for her. I won't give away the ending, but needless to say that it was unexpected.

This was just creepy and raw and disturbing. I read it in one sitting.

I wasn't expecting much from such a short book, but that definitely fit in a big dose of depressing. Living Dead Girl is about Alice. She was abducted when she was 10 by a man named Ray, who rapes her. He constantly tells her that she is HIS little girl, her name is Alice, and that if she is good then he won't hurt her, if she is good then he won't kill her parents. He's a liar. She's now 15 and still his LITTLE girl. He stunts her growth, starves her, and make her take pills to stop her period. There used to be a first Alice, when she turned 15, authorities found her dead body in a river not far from her hometown. 'Alice' is approaching her own 15th birthday. What will happen to 'Alice'??

This was a pretty haunting story. Ray is a captor so disturbing I wanted to stop reading, but couldn't put the book down until it was done. It was intense, real, and perfectly painful to read. It's told through the girl's PoV, desperate and helpless, and speaks horrifically to the imagination. It's not a topic I can relate to, but I think the way it's written, all people could feel connected to it.

I loved the ending, Jake got the semi-hero part that he wanted, killing Ray and saving his little sister AND 'Alice'. But Alice was shoot too which I think was good because honestly, there's no way she could've ever recovered. And she got to die with the knowledge that Ray died first and she saved Lucy from being his next victim, his next 'Alice'. Now she, Kyla Davis, is FREE.

I really liked this book's approach to the grieving process. The title sums up the stages of grief pretty spot on and the author did a great job at showing that through the book. Being a teenager is hard and awkward and terrible enough that when you combine it with losing your best friend, it's a nightmare. That's what I kept telling myself when I got annoyed with the characters. I'm not sure you could pay me enough to go back to high school.

I really have no clue how to review this one. Depressing book but I knew that going in. Any story about pedophilia is difficult but usually there's a happy(ish) ending. This one was depressing start to finish. I'm glad the author kept it short because there is no way I could have taken much more than 170 pages!

loved it

loved it

63% I'll put this on hold for another time. The story was just too damn confusing, though I like Mrs.Scott's writing and her previous books, I think this one wasn't for me.