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A review by sooshicats
Bitter End by Jennifer Brown
1.0
*1.0/5 stars
I read [b:Hate List|6316171|Hate List|Jennifer Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388416246s/6316171.jpg|6501420] by Jennifer Brown and that was really something. The details were amazingly gruesome and real, and I couldn't put the book down. So maybe it was because I had read [b:Hate List|6316171|Hate List|Jennifer Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388416246s/6316171.jpg|6501420] before I picked up this one, but I was severely disappointed when I finished Bitter End. I had been seriously excited to pick this one up. Jennifer Brown really gets down to the overwhelming reality of it all, and I wanted to be absorbed in a book again.
As you can see by my one star, this wasn't the case. The story starts off okay, and the main protaganist's (Alex) backstory was truly heartfelt. It's hard to believe that the girl we see in the beginning of the book is going to end up in an abusive situation, and I guess that's what Jennifer Brown is trying to tell us: that it can happen to anyone, and that the wrong kind of love ruins you.
Yet, when it came to the fateful encounter between Alex and her future boyfriend Cole, everything fell flat. Half of the book was slow and it didn't contain any important details, so much to the point where I just put it down and put my head in my hands (and not in the "oh my gosh this is just some real stuff here" kind of way). I didn't get the appeal of Cole at all; he was just a bunch of crude words and awful jokes (no, it wasn't charming at all). When it came to Zack, her best friend, he was just another handful of mindless actions and rude gestures that seemed to describe someone who couldn't take no for an answer, either. Honestly, I felt like Zack was almost as bad as Cole. Alex's other best friend Bethany had potential to stand out as an interesting and meaningful character, but Jennifer Brown didn't give her any place in the book, and she became unimportant to the plot, about as significant as an extra in a movie. In the end, I didn't get to know any of the characters at all, and none of them seemed real to me.
When it comes to the portrayal of an abusive relationship, I think Brown could have done a lot better. I have actually been in an emotionally abusive relationship before (albeit it wasn't between me and a boyfriend), so I was curious to see if Brown would hit the mark. In the first scene where Cole abuses Alex, I really felt the fear and the betrayal. In fact, I think Brown described the way Alex reacted really well.
The thing is, though, the gruesome (but somewhat compelling) scene between Alex and Cole had no transition when it came to other scenes, and the book started to feel like it was repeating the exact same words and situation over and over again. It honestly looked paraphrased to me, and at this point it was painful for me to continue reading. The whole story, in its 350 something pages, glosses over everything and describes almost nothing. I try to compare this to [b:Hate List|6316171|Hate List|Jennifer Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388416246s/6316171.jpg|6501420] and I can't even believe it's by the same person.
So, because I enjoyed [b:Hate List|6316171|Hate List|Jennifer Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388416246s/6316171.jpg|6501420], I sat through the entire book in about two sittings. Yes, I did skim over scenes. Yes, I groaned. Yes, I felt like this book didn't even scratch the surface of the horrible reality of an abusive relationship. I understand that it's hard to describe the give and take of something so wrong.
Yes, I could have given this book two stars. But according to Goodreads, two stars means the book is okay, and I didn't find this okay at all. I've read better books than this, and I know that Jennifer Brown can do so much better. I'm disappointed in her, but I still think she's a wonderful author.
I suggest you don't pick up this book and instead use your imagination to see what this story could have been. It's a lot more enlightening than what I found in this book.
I read [b:Hate List|6316171|Hate List|Jennifer Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388416246s/6316171.jpg|6501420] by Jennifer Brown and that was really something. The details were amazingly gruesome and real, and I couldn't put the book down. So maybe it was because I had read [b:Hate List|6316171|Hate List|Jennifer Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388416246s/6316171.jpg|6501420] before I picked up this one, but I was severely disappointed when I finished Bitter End. I had been seriously excited to pick this one up. Jennifer Brown really gets down to the overwhelming reality of it all, and I wanted to be absorbed in a book again.
As you can see by my one star, this wasn't the case. The story starts off okay, and the main protaganist's (Alex) backstory was truly heartfelt. It's hard to believe that the girl we see in the beginning of the book is going to end up in an abusive situation, and I guess that's what Jennifer Brown is trying to tell us: that it can happen to anyone, and that the wrong kind of love ruins you.
Yet, when it came to the fateful encounter between Alex and her future boyfriend Cole, everything fell flat. Half of the book was slow and it didn't contain any important details, so much to the point where I just put it down and put my head in my hands (and not in the "oh my gosh this is just some real stuff here" kind of way). I didn't get the appeal of Cole at all; he was just a bunch of crude words and awful jokes (no, it wasn't charming at all). When it came to Zack, her best friend, he was just another handful of mindless actions and rude gestures that seemed to describe someone who couldn't take no for an answer, either. Honestly, I felt like Zack was almost as bad as Cole. Alex's other best friend Bethany had potential to stand out as an interesting and meaningful character, but Jennifer Brown didn't give her any place in the book, and she became unimportant to the plot, about as significant as an extra in a movie. In the end, I didn't get to know any of the characters at all, and none of them seemed real to me.
When it comes to the portrayal of an abusive relationship, I think Brown could have done a lot better. I have actually been in an emotionally abusive relationship before (albeit it wasn't between me and a boyfriend), so I was curious to see if Brown would hit the mark. In the first scene where Cole abuses Alex, I really felt the fear and the betrayal. In fact, I think Brown described the way Alex reacted really well.
The thing is, though, the gruesome (but somewhat compelling) scene between Alex and Cole had no transition when it came to other scenes, and the book started to feel like it was repeating the exact same words and situation over and over again. It honestly looked paraphrased to me, and at this point it was painful for me to continue reading. The whole story, in its 350 something pages, glosses over everything and describes almost nothing. I try to compare this to [b:Hate List|6316171|Hate List|Jennifer Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388416246s/6316171.jpg|6501420] and I can't even believe it's by the same person.
So, because I enjoyed [b:Hate List|6316171|Hate List|Jennifer Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388416246s/6316171.jpg|6501420], I sat through the entire book in about two sittings. Yes, I did skim over scenes. Yes, I groaned. Yes, I felt like this book didn't even scratch the surface of the horrible reality of an abusive relationship. I understand that it's hard to describe the give and take of something so wrong.
Yes, I could have given this book two stars. But according to Goodreads, two stars means the book is okay, and I didn't find this okay at all. I've read better books than this, and I know that Jennifer Brown can do so much better. I'm disappointed in her, but I still think she's a wonderful author.
I suggest you don't pick up this book and instead use your imagination to see what this story could have been. It's a lot more enlightening than what I found in this book.