MY RATING: ★★★☆☆
This debut novel tells the story of Mallory, a young teenager who’s going through the difficult adolescent-age problems : high school, bullies, gossips and dramas. Her life will take an even more complicated turn when a new 26 years old neighbor moves in : Kain. Their lives will be intertwined in a passionate and prohibited relationship.
Mallory is still in the middle of her teenage years (13 years old) and I guess that’s why her personality is immature and annoying. I tried to sympathize but these characters’s behaviours are not to my liking. The book may be more appropriate to a younger audience. Once I don’t click with the main character, it’s hard for me to really get into the book. But Rebecca’s writing makes it easy to follow the plot and enjoy it till the very end.
Another thing that bothers me is the fact that the author doesn’t go exploring the themes she mentioned in depth, but instead only brushed the surface. I remember there was a passage where Mallory had a revelation, underwater, that she should take control of her self-esteem. Then, she jumped on to the next day buying magazines and tried to be like the other girls to get the boy’s attention and boost her ego. I would prefer hearing her thoughts of that revelation. What made her realize that she had low self-esteem, for example?
“[About adulthood..]
It gets better […] It also gets harder. That’s what makes things worthwhile. The things you’ll earn will be the things you’ll enjoy the most. But don’t grow up too fast, kid.”
Body image is such an important theme during puberty and should be addressed. I’m not going to start a discussion here haha but I want to say that teenage girls shouldn’t be pressured to do what they are not comfortable with.
A lot of bad reviews of this book say that, because it mentions violence and rape, it makes the book inappropriate. I disagree with that, I think those situations are necessary for this storyline for the readers to see the consequences of an unhealthy relationship and see all the bad signs that lead to that event. To prevent it from happening in real life, teenagers should learn to see the early signs and get away from those relationships, and this book permits us to do that.
Thank you to the author for giving me a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
You can buy the book here : Amazon.
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