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kristid's review
4.0
Hawthorne may be a sleepy seaside town, but historically it is known for the witch hunts that aspired there and the death of three women. Much like it’s neighboring town Salem. The town today, however, seems to be full of modern day bit****, I mean witches!
Maddie Crane has lived in Hawthorne her whole life and thanks to her mother she runs around with the girls that have everything, Kate, Darcy, Hannah and Bridget. They even have an exclusive “club” they all belong to, and they call themselves Sisters of Misery. Even though the girls are supposed to be Maddie’s best friends, she has never felt like she belonged. That is until her Aunt Rebecca and her cousin Cordelia come to live with her.
Rebecca and Cordelia are a breath of fresh air into Maddie’s life. She can’t help but be drawn to their free spirit and knowledge of runes and herbs. The Sisters of Misery, don’t exactly share the welcoming feeling toward the beautiful Cordelia the way that Maddie does. When Cordelia makes it clear that she doesn’t care what Sisters of Misery think of her, they are determined to make her pay.
After a ceremony conducted on the Island of Misery, Maddie finds herself at home in her bed, unable to remember the events the night before. Cordelia is nowhere to be found.
My initial reaction is.....Okay, WOW! Megan Kelley Hall where have you been my whole life. This was an incredible novel. I don’t even know where to start. Let’s start with characters. I’ve discovered the most evil person I’ve ever come across in literature and her name is Kate Endicott. I seriously hope that people aren’t that mean, but I’m sure somehow, somewhere there is a Kate clone. I hope I never met her. Maddie on the other hand, while initially I was a little annoyed with her character, my main reason being, why would you want to be friends with girls you didn’t even like! But I also understand that she was in a really tough situation and given her history with these girls, I wouldn’t have expected her to act any different. Who am I to pass judgement like that when, if I really think about it, I probably wouldn’t have had the guts to stand up to them either. By the end of the story my admiration for Maddie increased substantially. Now to the plot. Don’t even try to figure the ending out in this one folks, you will fail miserably! Every one of my theories was shot down one by one! It was that good. And the climax, totally stunned me! I’m still stunned hours later. One word UNFORGETTABLE! I’m more than thrilled to also discover a continuation of the story. The Lost Sister will be available August 2009!!
Maddie Crane has lived in Hawthorne her whole life and thanks to her mother she runs around with the girls that have everything, Kate, Darcy, Hannah and Bridget. They even have an exclusive “club” they all belong to, and they call themselves Sisters of Misery. Even though the girls are supposed to be Maddie’s best friends, she has never felt like she belonged. That is until her Aunt Rebecca and her cousin Cordelia come to live with her.
Rebecca and Cordelia are a breath of fresh air into Maddie’s life. She can’t help but be drawn to their free spirit and knowledge of runes and herbs. The Sisters of Misery, don’t exactly share the welcoming feeling toward the beautiful Cordelia the way that Maddie does. When Cordelia makes it clear that she doesn’t care what Sisters of Misery think of her, they are determined to make her pay.
After a ceremony conducted on the Island of Misery, Maddie finds herself at home in her bed, unable to remember the events the night before. Cordelia is nowhere to be found.
My initial reaction is.....Okay, WOW! Megan Kelley Hall where have you been my whole life. This was an incredible novel. I don’t even know where to start. Let’s start with characters. I’ve discovered the most evil person I’ve ever come across in literature and her name is Kate Endicott. I seriously hope that people aren’t that mean, but I’m sure somehow, somewhere there is a Kate clone. I hope I never met her. Maddie on the other hand, while initially I was a little annoyed with her character, my main reason being, why would you want to be friends with girls you didn’t even like! But I also understand that she was in a really tough situation and given her history with these girls, I wouldn’t have expected her to act any different. Who am I to pass judgement like that when, if I really think about it, I probably wouldn’t have had the guts to stand up to them either. By the end of the story my admiration for Maddie increased substantially. Now to the plot. Don’t even try to figure the ending out in this one folks, you will fail miserably! Every one of my theories was shot down one by one! It was that good. And the climax, totally stunned me! I’m still stunned hours later. One word UNFORGETTABLE! I’m more than thrilled to also discover a continuation of the story. The Lost Sister will be available August 2009!!
simplyreading's review
4.0
Sisters of Misery is about Maddie Collins.She's in the "cool" crowd at school.But when her cousin Cordelia comes to Hawthorne, Massachusetts everything changes. All the guys there start noticing her,even Maddie's friend Kate's boyfriend which causes a lot of conflict in the town and Maddie has to choose if she wants to be loyal to her cousin or with her friends and part of the secret society she is part of, the Sisters of Misery.
This is Megan Kelley Hall's first book and is quite amazing.
It was the first gothic like book I have read and makes me want to read more this type of book.There wasn't one time i was actually bored reading it like i have been reading some other books.There is the suspense that is in the entire book and also all the mysteries about the society and other things that unravel through the whole book.
This is Megan Kelley Hall's first book and is quite amazing.
It was the first gothic like book I have read and makes me want to read more this type of book.There wasn't one time i was actually bored reading it like i have been reading some other books.There is the suspense that is in the entire book and also all the mysteries about the society and other things that unravel through the whole book.
ifthebook's review
2.0
I really wanted to like this, what with the secret societies, the secrets of a small town, and the magic in the "real world," but I really couldn't. First of all, there's Maddie, who we're supposed to sympathize with. Honestly, I found it hard to care about her at all. She hangs out with girls who are completely evil, is intimidated by them but writes it off as friendship, and yet still acknowledges to a certain extent that what they do is wrong. And yet she does absolutely nothing about it. She even defends them to her cousin, Cordelia, when Cordelia points out just how bad the girls are. Basically, this was like A Great and Terrible Beauty. I had no reason to like Maddie, so I didn't.
Then there was Cordelia, who was basically a Mary Sue. She's gorgeous, boys fall all over themselves for her, the social queen of the school has a vendetta against her because of this, she's smart, she holds herself above all the high school drama, she has a connection to the psychic world and isn't afraid of it, she believes in fairies and mermaids and revels in it. Cordelia was so perfect that she annoyed me at times, too. Then she disappears, after a Lord of the Flies-esque ritual, and her mother goes crazy. Really? Also, I'm not sure PTSD is the right diagnosis for her mother's issues. I'm not an expert, but that just doesn't seem right to me. Then the grandmother spirals into dementia, apparently also triggered by Cordelia's leaving. All of that was a bit too much for me. So much melodrama, all because of Cordelia.
Then there's the relationship between Maddie and Reed. Cordelia leaves and all of a sudden Reed, who hasn't spoken to Maddie all that much before, is suddenly in love with her and willing to wait until she's older? That doesn't seem far-fetched, or anything.
And Maddie's search for Cordelia didn't seem to sit right with me, either. She'd go through occasional periods of "I'm going to find out what happened no matter what!" and then lapse into not doing all that much. In this way, many, many months passed, which made me feel like she wasn't very sincere about the whole thing.
I did like the explanation for the faces that kept appearing, though. That was probably my favorite bit. Sometimes things aren't described by the supernatural at all.
Then there was Cordelia, who was basically a Mary Sue. She's gorgeous, boys fall all over themselves for her, the social queen of the school has a vendetta against her because of this, she's smart, she holds herself above all the high school drama, she has a connection to the psychic world and isn't afraid of it, she believes in fairies and mermaids and revels in it. Cordelia was so perfect that she annoyed me at times, too. Then she disappears, after a Lord of the Flies-esque ritual, and her mother goes crazy. Really? Also, I'm not sure PTSD is the right diagnosis for her mother's issues. I'm not an expert, but that just doesn't seem right to me. Then the grandmother spirals into dementia, apparently also triggered by Cordelia's leaving. All of that was a bit too much for me. So much melodrama, all because of Cordelia.
Then there's the relationship between Maddie and Reed. Cordelia leaves and all of a sudden Reed, who hasn't spoken to Maddie all that much before, is suddenly in love with her and willing to wait until she's older? That doesn't seem far-fetched, or anything.
And Maddie's search for Cordelia didn't seem to sit right with me, either. She'd go through occasional periods of "I'm going to find out what happened no matter what!" and then lapse into not doing all that much. In this way, many, many months passed, which made me feel like she wasn't very sincere about the whole thing.
I did like the explanation for the faces that kept appearing, though. That was probably my favorite bit. Sometimes things aren't described by the supernatural at all.
chwaters's review
2.0
I had some very mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I felt as though the underlying motivations behind bullying (and those who go along with it) were spot-on. I liked Cordelia's character as well as the grandmother. The story was intriguing and kept me interested to the end. On the other hand, the plot was kind of all over the place. The elements of wicca and runestones, while presented as a major thematic element, were ultimately underdeveloped. Some of the characters should probably been explored at greater length and with more depth. For example, Tess, the grandmother, who is a great character in the beginning of the book suddenly develops dementia (though it is said that it is worsening, implying that she had had dementia all along?) about half-way through. Rebecca's history is scant, though that will probably be dealt with in later installments. Maddie, our main character, is at times sympathetic. At others, her motivations seem out of synch with her character. Although, with all the drugging going on, I suppose that's what we should expect. And that's another thing....the whole "drugging" the drinks by the Sisters seems a bit too convenient as a plot device, in my humble opinion. Its an easy way for Maddie to be controlled and still forget what exactly happened. Anyway, Kate and Co. are suitably evil and in spite of my issues with the book, I still am interested to see where the next book leads.
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