It's hard enough to be a teenager, but add to that the fact that you disappeared into thin air from a Girl Scout outing and then come back to your grieving family three years later - not knowing where you've been or what you've been doing - is horrifying.This book touched me in so many ways. Angie struggles to remember pieces of her fractured life, memories so horrifying that her brain protects her by creating 'alters' - each of which has a different tale to tell in this unique story. I adored them and it was easy to see why they were created. Pretty Girls-13 shows me, even in a fictional way, how strong the mind can be as it attempts to protect a person from events that may have made them insane.Even though it dealt with a sensitive subject, it was written with a lightness that didn't make it too heavy to read. It was informative, but not graphic. Angie's story was told in such a way that I didn't have to put the book down to give myself breathing space and I enjoyed that. I could identify with some of her or her alter's reactions. In the end, I loved all the parts that made up Angie. I enjoyed the secondary characters too. From the 'alters' to Dr. Grant. And Abraim ended up being an adorable love interest. What made the characters seem more real is that the first chapter showed the friendships between Kate, Liv, Greg and Angie and then how later in the book it showed how the relationships between them had changed in the intervening years. While Angie was away in the woods, her friends were living normal teenage lives and Angie had to deal with those changes when she came back. The relationships between the characters really worked for me. There was such a range of them. Between the alters and Angie, Angie and her family, Angie and her friends and also between others. It was hard to stay disconnected. I have to admit that I enjoyed nearly everything about this book even though some of it seemed a little strange to me - strange in ways that I can't even understand myself. It really interesting to see what the human mind will do to keep itself safe.I would recommend this to anyone who likes books with a psychological edge.Now for my rating :-Four out of five stars.This review can be found here:-http://magicalmanuscriptsandwritingthings.blogspot.co.nz/
A Reader's Heart
Focuses on reviews of Young Adult novels with honesty and integrity. My ratings and reviews vary on how I feel about the book.
It's hard enough to be a teenager, but add to that the fact that you disappeared into thin air from a Girl Scout outing and then come back to your grieving family three years later - not knowing where you've been or what you've been doing - is horrifying.This book touched me in so many ways. Angie struggles to remember pieces of her fractured life, memories so horrifying that her brain protects her by creating 'alters' - each of which has a different tale to tell in this unique story. I adored them and it was easy to see why they were created. Pretty Girls-13 shows me, even in a fictional way, how strong the mind can be as it attempts to protect a person from events that may have made them insane.Even though it dealt with a sensitive subject, it was written with a lightness that didn't make it too heavy to read. It was informative, but not graphic. Angie's story was told in such a way that I didn't have to put the book down to give myself breathing space and I enjoyed that. I could identify with some of her or her alter's reactions. In the end, I loved all the parts that made up Angie. I enjoyed the secondary characters too. From the 'alters' to Dr. Grant. And Abraim ended up being an adorable love interest. What made the characters seem more real is that the first chapter showed the friendships between Kate, Liv, Greg and Angie and then how later in the book it showed how the relationships between them had changed in the intervening years. While Angie was away in the woods, her friends were living normal teenage lives and Angie had to deal with those changes when she came back. The relationships between the characters really worked for me. There was such a range of them. Between the alters and Angie, Angie and her family, Angie and her friends and also between others. It was hard to stay disconnected. I have to admit that I enjoyed nearly everything about this book even though some of it seemed a little strange to me - strange in ways that I can't even understand myself. It really interesting to see what the human mind will do to keep itself safe.I would recommend this to anyone who likes books with a psychological edge.Now for my rating :-Four out of five stars.This review can be found here:-http://magicalmanuscriptsandwritingthings.blogspot.co.nz/
