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kblincoln's review
4.0
Okay, so maybe more like 3.5 stars. It was a bit uneven for me. Extremely cool ideas, totally awesome Seattle-love, engaging/winning voice of the heroine, excellent action in the last quarter of the book.
On the other hand, a bunch of times I smacked my forehead saying "why is she doing this?" as well as a completely frustrating final scene where basically the heroine chooses to give up getting any kind of answer about her "specialness" at all despite having endured three days of torture, humiliation, and a beating to get those kinds of answers just a week ago.....
So Abby escapes from New Harmony after her sister dies. Her father is a bible-thumping, crazy abusive psycho guy who routinely caned his children (kudos to the author for having Abby realize the uncomfortable sexuality of those proceedings when she returns). She gets picked up by an alcoholic pregnant Seattle-ite who takes her under her wing and gets her into a private school in Seattle (the bureaucratic-hating parent in me is just completely flabbergasted about the ease of that paperwork).
Only Abby is haunted not only by nightmares of her father's "if you leave me, the beast will get you, the beast will devour you" pronouncements, but her own lack of teen culture knowledge, and an inexplicable love-hate relationship with meat.
When her guardian's newborn son is threatened by his bio-dad and Abby fights him off, Abby can no longer deny the weirdness that seems to fit right in with her father's dire warnings....
So yeah, a bit uneven. There are large swaths of time that are mostly summarized, and for me, part of the fun is experiencing each wincing/grimacing moment as Abby experiences ipods and music and teen humiliation for the first time, and I feel a bit cheated by these "summarized" bits. Including the romance. Which consisted of "boy looks at girl" and then "boy tries to kiss" girl, which I realize, isn't so far off, but because of Abby positioning herself as so weird looking, and awkward and quiet, it was a bit hard for this relationship to feel real and not part of "YA paranormal" requirement.
And all those questions I had about the extreme ease Abby and her guardian had with like...everything. Including rabid dog attacks, attempted kidnapping, guardianship if a minor, runaways, etc.
Still, if you're looking for Seattle love and an interesting jaunt into Christian Cult subculture, as well as a healthy dose of self-aware humor (Abby's guardian remarks she loves all those shirtless werewolf guy movies), this is a fine book.
On the other hand, a bunch of times I smacked my forehead saying "why is she doing this?" as well as a completely frustrating final scene where basically the heroine chooses to give up getting any kind of answer about her "specialness" at all despite having endured three days of torture, humiliation, and a beating to get those kinds of answers just a week ago.....
So Abby escapes from New Harmony after her sister dies. Her father is a bible-thumping, crazy abusive psycho guy who routinely caned his children (kudos to the author for having Abby realize the uncomfortable sexuality of those proceedings when she returns). She gets picked up by an alcoholic pregnant Seattle-ite who takes her under her wing and gets her into a private school in Seattle (the bureaucratic-hating parent in me is just completely flabbergasted about the ease of that paperwork).
Only Abby is haunted not only by nightmares of her father's "if you leave me, the beast will get you, the beast will devour you" pronouncements, but her own lack of teen culture knowledge, and an inexplicable love-hate relationship with meat.
When her guardian's newborn son is threatened by his bio-dad and Abby fights him off, Abby can no longer deny the weirdness that seems to fit right in with her father's dire warnings....
So yeah, a bit uneven. There are large swaths of time that are mostly summarized, and for me, part of the fun is experiencing each wincing/grimacing moment as Abby experiences ipods and music and teen humiliation for the first time, and I feel a bit cheated by these "summarized" bits. Including the romance. Which consisted of "boy looks at girl" and then "boy tries to kiss" girl, which I realize, isn't so far off, but because of Abby positioning herself as so weird looking, and awkward and quiet, it was a bit hard for this relationship to feel real and not part of "YA paranormal" requirement.
And all those questions I had about the extreme ease Abby and her guardian had with like...everything. Including rabid dog attacks, attempted kidnapping, guardianship if a minor, runaways, etc.
Still, if you're looking for Seattle love and an interesting jaunt into Christian Cult subculture, as well as a healthy dose of self-aware humor (Abby's guardian remarks she loves all those shirtless werewolf guy movies), this is a fine book.
rodoh22's review
5.0
a strange and fun trip through a dark fantasy. Well worth reading,nicely written, full of surprising twists which reminds you that you never quite are on top of where the story is going, which is always in the right direction.
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