Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

Release Date: June 14^th 2011

Publisher: Dutton

Age Group: Young Adult

Page: 352 pages

Source: Library

Chloe's older sister, Ruby, is the girl everyone looks to and longs for, who can't be captured or caged. When a night with Ruby's friends goes horribly wrong and Chloe discovers the dead body of her classmate London Hayes left floating in the reservoir, Chloe is sent away from town and away from Ruby.

But Ruby will do anything to get her sister back, and when Chloe returns to town two years later, deadly surprises await. As Chloe flirts with the truth that Ruby has hidden deeply away, the fragile line between life and death is redrawn by the complex bonds of sisterhood.

With palpable drama and delicious craft, Nova Ren Suma bursts onto the YA scene with the story that everyone will be talking about.

First of all, look at the cover. It's just beautiful. You have to agree with that.

Second of all, the writing was so good. It was almost poetic. Nova's writing captured everything elegantly (the moments, thoughts of the main character, Chole herself). The writing style was one of the things that I liked about this book.

This book kept me guessing. I was tempted several times to read the final page but I was also eager to read how Nova will build up the story. It was mysterious, creepy and eerie. The story itself was unique and its mainly focus was on the bonds between sisters. So the main focus of the book wasn’t on a boy and a girl falling in love. But don’t worry there was that too. Usually, the romance in a book is thing that keeps me reading it, but in Imaginary Girls there was a lack of that aspect but it was still amazing. You know, a great book doesn’t need a romance to make it perfect.

I liked the characters, of course. They were so real.

With all positives I had mentioned above, there is one negative…  I don’t get it. I don’t get the imaginary girls concept. I don’t want to spoil so all I'm going to say is that it was a bit confusing. Especially towards the end. Like I don’t know who is real or imaginary anymore. Well, I guess that’s the point of it.

Overall, this book was awesome and one of my favorite reads in 2011.

    

Book Review: Choker

HeyhiHello

Today I shall be reviewing a book titled Choker by Elizabeth Woods. It is my first review for the 2011 debut author challenge. Yeay or …. Nay!

The description of the book:

Sixteen-year-old Cara Lange has been a loner ever since she moved away from her best and only friend, Zoe, years ago. She eats lunch with the other girls from the track team, but they're not really her friends. Mostly she spends her time watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her, and avoiding the popular girls who call her "Choker" after a humiliating incident in the cafeteria. 

Then one day Cara comes home to find Zoe waiting for her. Zoe's on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With her best friend back, Cara's life changes overnight. Zoe gives her a new look and new confidence, and next thing she knows, she's getting invited to parties and flirting with Ethan. Best of all, she has her BFF there to confide in. 

But just as quickly as Cara's life came together, it starts to unravel. A girl goes missing in her town, and everyone is a suspect—including Ethan. Worse still, Zoe starts behaving strangely, and Cara begins to wonder what exactly her friend does all day when she's at school. You're supposed to trust your best friend no matter what, but what if she turns into a total stranger?

My review:

I was really excited when I got this book in the mail and by excited I mean I jumped up and down for 5 mintues. It was my first read for 2011 debut author challenge hosted by Story Siren. I was part of the 2010 challenge and it was so much fun. 2010 debut authors gave me the confidence to look forward for 2011 debut authors.

Lets put it out there. I didn’t like this book, except for the ending.

There was no depth in the characters or the plot. I felt Cara was very flat throughout the book. The dialogues weren’t really realistic. Teenagers don’t speak they way it was pictured in this book. Ethan, Cara's crush, was flattest character in the novel.  He didn’t speak nor acted like a boy his age. I felt he was very childish. And how he is almost going out with Cara when his girlfriend was missing. How could someone crush on someone like him? I didn’t feel attached to any of the characters at all. Again because they were all flat and not normal teenagers.  

The setting of the novel was boring. You are either in the school or home. Pretty boring. I know it’s a way to reflect Cara's life but even loners are friends with other loners and they go somewhere to hangout. I don’t know but I wish there were places I explored reading this book.

But I did like the cover. It was awesome. But it didn’t really reflect the novel's plot at all. I don’t see a connection between this beautiful pink and crazy, flat characters -I am not insulting the characters… there are in fact a crazy character. Here is a hint: her name is Zoe. She is not just crazy but also creepy.

The ending was the best part in the book. I was shocked. It wasn’t what I expected at all. All the time reading this book, I thought I knew how it will end. But Elizabeth Woods tricked me. Loved the twist. That’s why my book rating moved from 2.5 stars to 3 stars.

Right now, you are probably wondering: should I be reading this book or not.  ok I will make it a little bit easier for you. If you read Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin, then you might like this book. These 2 books has nothing in common, plot wise. But they both have the same style of writing.  

Tata for now