*spoilers!*

I just re-read this book, and I'm regreting it. You know how sometimes you read a book when you are young and it's just totally awesome, and then you read it again as an adult and see how stupid and cliche it is? Yeah. That's this book. And re-reading it really dampened the memories I had of it, and made me go "WHY did I like this so much?"

The first half of the book is pretty good, I guess. I like Mary's confusion about Laura and the power she seems to have, and I like how Mary doesn't just blindly go along with it... She's always second-guessing herself, silently wondering why she's so drawn to Laura.However, she does get pulled in, fairly deeply under Laura's hold, to where the abrupt change toward the end feels forced and rushed. I understand Mary "snapped" out of it because of the things Laura said about Felicity, that was obviously what made Mary break away from her for good. But it felt too sudden, too rushed, and there were very few details or explanations after the initial pulling-away. ( )