I know I've mentioned this book a lot lately, but let me tell you, it's worth talking about.
I first caught word of this book from John Green's twitter; he was tweeting about it when this book was on pre-order, and he has a quote on the front of the book, praising it. Since it was on pre-order, however, I decided to wait it out. Eventually I kind of forgot about it, I have a long list of books that I've been wanting to read so I didn't give it much thought. That is, until I saw this video by Essie Button featuring the youtuber "booksandquills". They mentioned the book, which again sparked my interest to reading it. And then I started to see it being mentioned everywhere. That's when I knew I had to get my hands on a copy.
So I'm not a book connoisseur by any means, and English as a class in school was never really my thing, but I'm going to review this to the best of my math-brained, science-loving ability.
As a brief summary: This book is about a teenaged girl named Cadence, or Cady, who grew up in this fairly upperclass family. Every summer Cady's family, and her two aunts (and their children) would all visit their grandparent's island (yes, island) to vacation. Of her cousins, Cady connects most to Johnny, Mirren, and Gat (who is actually not her cousin at all, but her aunt's boyfriend's nephew), since they are all about the same age. Cady is in love with Gat; so there's some love interest going on, but not so much that it consumes the book. The four of these teens refer to themselves as "The Liars", and spend their summers together. Until Cady gets into an accident. Not a car accident, though. All that Cady remembers is what her mom has told her -- they found her in the water, naked, sustaining head injuries. With her memories of that summer, and that accident, missing, Cady struggles to get back to normal, and get back to the island. Eventually, two years after her accident, she returns for a few weeks to find that no one can seem to tell her, or will tell her, what went on during her accident two summers ago, even The Liars. So throughout the book Cady is trying to piece together everything that happened.
This book is SO good. It's classic teen fic, so if you're not into that, you maybe wouldn't like it. It's also one of those books where it's still interesting to read, but you're not really sure where this is all going to go, and then BAM. Plot twist!
I think the author did an amazing job ending this book, and I just really love everything about it. I feel as though this was the kind of book I can envision easily, and really get a sense of who these characters are. It's definitely earned a place as being one of my favorite books. It's also a pretty quick read. I read it in about 10 days, but I'm not the kind of person to sit down for hours and hours just powering through. I like to take my time, make sure I have all the facts, and just enjoy it. I also AM the kind of person that will read some, get distracted, do something else, or just run out of time in the day to read, which prolonged me a bit. But really. This book is worth picking up.
I give this book a solid 9/10, maybe even a 10/10.
I can't decide yet if this is the kind of book I could read multiple times, because I feel as though I want to keep it instead of selling it back to Half Price Books.
I think I shall hang on to it. For now.
In summary -- awesome book, check it out, be amazed, be shocked, and then pass the news onto someone else about how great it is. Happy reading!
I think I shall hang on to it. For now.
In summary -- awesome book, check it out, be amazed, be shocked, and then pass the news onto someone else about how great it is. Happy reading!
♥K
