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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
loved it! it was awesome that it was just people in this book and no vampires or anything like that. alice was really scary at the end. she seriously freaked me out. i like phillipa. shes really nice. robbie is so awesome and he deserves better then alice anyway. i loved mick. he was my favourite character and i cried so much when he died. it was sooooooooo sad :( it's really bad what happened to rachel. its awesome that she keeps the baby. i loved it at the end when her and robbie meet up again and katherine starts to move on with her life.
First I have to admit that I read the book in dutch, so the title for me was “schitterend kwaad”. As a reader of fantasy in every form I Love to read something completely diffrent from time to time. And this is a book that’s been on my to read list for a very long time. I finally decided to pick it up and I’m not sorry I did.
The story is so gripping from the first line to the last, you get sucked into the story and I just had to keep turning the pages to find out what was going to happen next. I loved the storyline, it was sad but the way it was written was really beautiful.
A great book, I think this is a book that really deserves a chance to be read because it’s really beautiful.
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Pregnancy
Good effort by a debutante. Here's my review: http://bondwithbooks.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/beautiful-malice/
I’m not quite sure where to start off with this, though I suppose I should say I did like this book. It kept me entertained for a few hours and, while I guessed the main motivation behind Alice’s actions early on, it kept me interested in the characters and how things would turn out.
The main thing that kept me from really loving the book, though, was how frankly stupid Katherine wound up being. While Alice does start off seemingly nice and friendly, things quickly take a nose dive and Katherine should have realized, hey, maybe I should get away from her. She’s clearly not safe to be around and she has no issue bringing up painful, traumatic memories to mock me with, so why stick around? I think the intention was to make Katherine seem like the kind of person always willing to forgive and try to move on, but it just came across as stupidity instead.
There’s also the fact that, as I said earlier, I guessed the reason why Alice decided to suddenly befriend Katherine, and it’s made very obvious in the beginning that Alice knows more about Katherine then she’s letting on. But Katherine willingly pushes it away and ignores it because Alice brings some normality back into her life, for a little while. Katherine was honestly a frustrating protagonist--while I could sympathize with her, at times I just wanted to shake her and say, “HOW ARE YOU NOT SEEING THIS IT IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.” Katherine comes across as very one dimensional next to Alice, who is rather intriguing in a horrifying sort of way. For most of the book I was more interested in Alice than I was Katherine, which I don’t think was the intention of the book.
The first few chapters were hard to get into, but in hindsight I think they work. Katherine is depressed and the writing reflects that; the first few chapters are choppy with the writing being a bit jumbled, but as Katherine moves on and gets better, the chapters become longer and better written. It’s a neat style, really, and it helps add believability to Katherine’s development. In the beginning it definitely felt very creepy, like there was a storm just waiting to happen, while Alice and Katherine became friends. The pacing isn’t particularly fast or slow, just sort of medium, and while it is annoying at times, it generally works in the book’s favor.
There were parts of the book that annoyed me, however. Mostly Alice and Robbie’s relationship, where it’s written to be that Robbie keeps coming back to Alice because she’s like a drug, and that he can leave any time he wants but he just chooses not to. Alice was heavily abusive towards Robbie, emotionally, verbally and mentally, but that’s not ever brought up. Instead he’s just seen as weak because he can’t just walk out. He’s a victim, of course it’s not going to be easy for him to walk out. There’s also a scene where Alice meets up with an ex-boyfriend while he’s out on a date with another girl, and she begins to rub her hand on his crotch under the table in a restaurant. Katherine mentions Alice humiliating her, Robbie and Phillipa (the date), but not Ben, the one being molested in a crowded public place where he can’t easily stop her. In fact the text is actively hostile to Ben, with Phillipa saying he’s a creep and she could care less about him, and Katherine being neutral but not overly fond of him either. There were a lot of Unfortunate Implications in this book, really, which is probably a big reason as to why I didn’t outright love it.
Overall I liked Beautiful Malice but it wasn’t the greatest novel I’ve ever read. It was good for a few hours of entertainment, and while I did like some of it, other things kept it from being a great novel for me.
The main thing that kept me from really loving the book, though, was how frankly stupid Katherine wound up being. While Alice does start off seemingly nice and friendly, things quickly take a nose dive and Katherine should have realized, hey, maybe I should get away from her. She’s clearly not safe to be around and she has no issue bringing up painful, traumatic memories to mock me with, so why stick around? I think the intention was to make Katherine seem like the kind of person always willing to forgive and try to move on, but it just came across as stupidity instead.
There’s also the fact that, as I said earlier, I guessed the reason why Alice decided to suddenly befriend Katherine, and it’s made very obvious in the beginning that Alice knows more about Katherine then she’s letting on. But Katherine willingly pushes it away and ignores it because Alice brings some normality back into her life, for a little while. Katherine was honestly a frustrating protagonist--while I could sympathize with her, at times I just wanted to shake her and say, “HOW ARE YOU NOT SEEING THIS IT IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.” Katherine comes across as very one dimensional next to Alice, who is rather intriguing in a horrifying sort of way. For most of the book I was more interested in Alice than I was Katherine, which I don’t think was the intention of the book.
The first few chapters were hard to get into, but in hindsight I think they work. Katherine is depressed and the writing reflects that; the first few chapters are choppy with the writing being a bit jumbled, but as Katherine moves on and gets better, the chapters become longer and better written. It’s a neat style, really, and it helps add believability to Katherine’s development. In the beginning it definitely felt very creepy, like there was a storm just waiting to happen, while Alice and Katherine became friends. The pacing isn’t particularly fast or slow, just sort of medium, and while it is annoying at times, it generally works in the book’s favor.
There were parts of the book that annoyed me, however. Mostly Alice and Robbie’s relationship, where it’s written to be that Robbie keeps coming back to Alice because she’s like a drug, and that he can leave any time he wants but he just chooses not to. Alice was heavily abusive towards Robbie, emotionally, verbally and mentally, but that’s not ever brought up. Instead he’s just seen as weak because he can’t just walk out. He’s a victim, of course it’s not going to be easy for him to walk out. There’s also a scene where Alice meets up with an ex-boyfriend while he’s out on a date with another girl, and she begins to rub her hand on his crotch under the table in a restaurant. Katherine mentions Alice humiliating her, Robbie and Phillipa (the date), but not Ben, the one being molested in a crowded public place where he can’t easily stop her. In fact the text is actively hostile to Ben, with Phillipa saying he’s a creep and she could care less about him, and Katherine being neutral but not overly fond of him either. There were a lot of Unfortunate Implications in this book, really, which is probably a big reason as to why I didn’t outright love it.
Overall I liked Beautiful Malice but it wasn’t the greatest novel I’ve ever read. It was good for a few hours of entertainment, and while I did like some of it, other things kept it from being a great novel for me.
I received this free of charge in a first read giveaway on goodreads.com.
Katherine Patterson (who used to be Katie Boydell before changing her name) moves to a new town after the tragic rape and murder of her younger sister. While trying to remain out of the spotlight, she befriends the beautiful and charismatic Alice Parrie and is simply enamored by her. Katherine soon discovers, however, that Alice isn't as nice and generous as she first appears to me. No, Alice can be down right cruel. And when Katherine begins to move on with a new love and a life without Alice, she discovers just how cruel Alice can be.
I can't say that I loved this book. I had the hardest time relating to any of the characters and found some of the plot contrived. While what happened to Katherine's sister was horrible, I felt a little let down when the truth was reveiled. You keep hearing how horrible it was and how the whole thing was Katherine's fault, but when I finally read what happened and how Katherine was involved I felt like it was a horrible thing but not something that would cause someone to move away and change their name. Then, Katherine puts up with the rudest behavior from Alice and just keeps being her friend. The relationship between Katherine and Mick was sweet, but it seemed so rushed and a little too "star-crossed lovers" for the plot. The book had potential, but just fell short for me.
Katherine Patterson (who used to be Katie Boydell before changing her name) moves to a new town after the tragic rape and murder of her younger sister. While trying to remain out of the spotlight, she befriends the beautiful and charismatic Alice Parrie and is simply enamored by her. Katherine soon discovers, however, that Alice isn't as nice and generous as she first appears to me. No, Alice can be down right cruel. And when Katherine begins to move on with a new love and a life without Alice, she discovers just how cruel Alice can be.
I can't say that I loved this book. I had the hardest time relating to any of the characters and found some of the plot contrived. While what happened to Katherine's sister was horrible, I felt a little let down when the truth was reveiled. You keep hearing how horrible it was and how the whole thing was Katherine's fault, but when I finally read what happened and how Katherine was involved I felt like it was a horrible thing but not something that would cause someone to move away and change their name. Then, Katherine puts up with the rudest behavior from Alice and just keeps being her friend. The relationship between Katherine and Mick was sweet, but it seemed so rushed and a little too "star-crossed lovers" for the plot. The book had potential, but just fell short for me.
This is my new favourite book! It made me feel angry and scared and upset throughout the beautiful storytelling and I could not put it down most of the time, and when I had to put the book down to get on with college work I wouldn't stop thinking about what could happen next. I won't give away spoilers, but you need to read this book!!!!!!
