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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
I don't care that this book seems to have some obvious flaws, I still enjoyed the hell out of it. I immediately got caught up in its drama right from the beginning.
Sam and Riddle are brothers who's father snatched from their mother when they were young and have been on the road for most of their lives. Sam is now 17 and Riddle 12. Their story is heartbreaking as their father is a complete whack job who is scary as hell. The story is about how Sam meets a girl, Emily and how their attraction and care for each other bring on some heart wrenching events.
First of all, I felt Sam and Riddle and even their dad were very well developed and believable. However the insta love with Emily and Sam needed to go deeper to understand the how and why of their attraction. I needed much more layers of story here between these two. I'm also not sure how Emily's family fell so strong for these two boys. There seemed to be a meet and greet, a dinner or two, lots of mystery but no real development between the kids and the Bell Family the strong bonds that immediately formed.
I also felt the character Bobby was just plain weird, I really didn't get him at all. Was he a good guy at first turned bad? And what was that whole horrible day about?
Whatever! Doesn't matter! Like I said flaws and all I loved this book. Sam and Riddle are very memorable characters and it drew me in until the very last sentence. A book doesn't always need to be perfect to just enjoy.
I find this is a good YA for ages 11 on up
Sam and Riddle are brothers who's father snatched from their mother when they were young and have been on the road for most of their lives. Sam is now 17 and Riddle 12. Their story is heartbreaking as their father is a complete whack job who is scary as hell. The story is about how Sam meets a girl, Emily and how their attraction and care for each other bring on some heart wrenching events.
First of all, I felt Sam and Riddle and even their dad were very well developed and believable. However the insta love with Emily and Sam needed to go deeper to understand the how and why of their attraction. I needed much more layers of story here between these two. I'm also not sure how Emily's family fell so strong for these two boys. There seemed to be a meet and greet, a dinner or two, lots of mystery but no real development between the kids and the Bell Family the strong bonds that immediately formed.
I also felt the character Bobby was just plain weird, I really didn't get him at all. Was he a good guy at first turned bad? And what was that whole horrible day about?
Whatever! Doesn't matter! Like I said flaws and all I loved this book. Sam and Riddle are very memorable characters and it drew me in until the very last sentence. A book doesn't always need to be perfect to just enjoy.
I find this is a good YA for ages 11 on up
Coincidences can lead to serendipity which leads to a happy ending. 17 year old Sam lives with his controlling, mentally ill, thieving father, who is always abruptly moving Sam and his 12 year old brother Riddle around from town to town. He kidnapped them from their mother, basically, when the boys were younger, because he was paranoid about being caught at his robberies. Sam has musical talents, and Riddle hardly ever talks but draws detailed electronics schematics in a phone book he totes around. But neither boy has been to school for the past 10 years, because they don't rent proper houses, they squat in abandoned places and the boys are not allowed to make any friends. In this difficult atmosphere, during a vulnerable moment, Sam meets Emily. They make a connection, and Sam may have found not only his first real friend but maybe also a girlfriend. They slowly get to know one another, trying to stay off his father's radar, and Emily's parents meet Riddle and bring him into their embrace, but--circumstances change when Sam's father finds out about Emily, and another friend of Emily's leaps to conclusions about the boys' father, and then this novel leaps into high gear. There is action and danger and separation and difficult obstacles for Sam and Emily and Riddle to overcome before they reach their happy ending. I found it a fascinating book, with sweet characters, told in a very intriguing way, where there are a lot of details, sometimes seemingly superfluous and having nothing to do with anything, an almost longwinded writing style--gee, maybe I like it because I tend to write that way?! haha!--but those details all link logically together in the end. I loved how she wrapped up every single loose thread, so that you knew what happened next to every single character, even the very minor ones. Great book for middle school and up.
This book was actually better than I had expected it to be. It was not cliche and it certainly wasn't the book that I thought it was going to be when I read the first chapter. I was pleasantly surprised.
Just couldn't get into this one. Not a big fan of the romance. I know a lot of people think this book is beautiful and maybe if I finished it, I would too. But I just don't really care to at this point.
3.5 stars. The writing style kind of annoyed me and the story dragged on at times, but I like how everything came together in the end.
Well written story with compelling characters. I thought the third person multiple viewpoints was done well. I don't love happenstance stories though, which this one was. Everything happens too much by chance.
That said, I think this is one of those award contenders.
That said, I think this is one of those award contenders.
I can't buy a love story for the ages if the lead characters NEVER SPEAK TO EACH OTHER. Jesus. Also, the plot read like a rejected "A Series of Unfortunate Events." Rounding up a star because the little kid was alright though.
I liked this book! It was very different than others that I have read lately. I especially liked the way that the characters were described and analyzed. This is a romance between Sam and Emily - with a lot of complications, including Sam's crazy father, his unusual brother, and Emily's nosy detective friend from school.
Ihanan koskettava kirja. Odotin lukevani rakkauskertomuksen, mutta se jäi vähän sivuosaan Samin Ja Riddlen selviytymiskamppailun saadessa pääosan. Pidin Samista ja erityisesti hänen veljestään Riddlestä ja hiukan sai sydänsyrjällään lukea heidän edesottamuksistaan. Kirjan lopun luin kyyneleet silmissä.
Oli mukava huomata, että tälle kirjalle on ilmestynyt jatko-osa. Se meni heti varaukseen kirjastosta.
Oli mukava huomata, että tälle kirjalle on ilmestynyt jatko-osa. Se meni heti varaukseen kirjastosta.