Chelsea PitcherRezensionen
Autor von This Lie Will Kill You
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When the night they arrest Belladonna, her “alibi” shows up and they tell her: the trial will start in a few weeks. Ummmm, on what planet??? Murder trials never happen that fast even if you invoke your right to a speedy trial— which she hasn’t done yet because they literally just arrested her!!!!
Just no.
When Angie's ex-BFF Lizzie kills herself, she knows it was all the bullying that pushed Lizzie over the edge. Racked with guilt for not stopping it, she goes on a mission to discover who tortured Lizzie the most and punish them. Along the way she discovers there is more to Lizzie's death than name calling... things about Lizzie, the Prom Incident, and her family that Angie had no clue about. As the secrets unfold Angie learns to trust someone completely unexpected and has some hard questions to ask herself.
So when I first heard the title of this book, I knew I wanted to read it. I knew it would be about bullying and slut-shaming and I think those topics are so important in the world of fiction. Teens need to have books that show them that other people are going through it and that it's completely wrong.
I went into this knowing that Lizzie (the girl who died) had secrets, but I had no idea how many secrets this book would have!! It was like secret after secret, and just when you thought you knew it all... BAM another one.
I really liked Angie's voice. She came across as older and really insightful. It almost made me want to believe that she would've talked things through with Lizzie before her death, but she was flawed. At times she was an unreliable narrator as she wasn't exactly honest with her audience for parts of the book.
I had mixed feelings about Lizzie's voice. She was depicted through diary entries. At first I really liked the poetic nature of her diary entries. They were beautiful words... but then I started wondering if a high schooler would really write like that? I just know there's no way I would've been able to write like that at that age. Also some of the conversations Angie had with other people seemed really grown up and forced at times.
What I did like was that this book really tackled death and what words like slut (and boys calling each other "Fags") can do to people. It marks you and is something you can't easily take away. I loved the emotions and the way this book held my attention. I think it's a really important topic and it's definitely a book that keeps you thinking throughout.
Having said that, I really wished this book just focused in on the slut-shaming/bullying part. It kind of branched out to include a variety of other issues and that became a little hard to follow. I think it also made it more unbelieveable. It was definitely a readable book, but it involved some suspension of disbelief.
*Also I think this would be a great choice for a book club book, as it contains so many topics that can be talked about.*
Overall: A fascinating look at high school gone wrong. There's a lot of issues crammed in, but it would be great for a book club or anyone who wants a book that makes them think.
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Holy emotions Batman! This book had me all over the place. I was sad, I was mad, I was worried, I was grimacing. Woah. The S-Word takes place during the main character's senior year of high school and chronicles her investigation into her best friend's suicide. She learns more than she ever wanted to know over the course of the book. The S-Word tackles bullying, suicide, gender identity, sexual assault and molestation. I was a little concerned with the main character's spiral into craziness but I think the author managed to rein it in. Really good book that's going to leave me thinking for a while.
Um. It was kind of a mess? I kept having to go back a few pages to make sure I didn’t read something wrong. And the plot twists were pretty predictable. I will give it one thing - I thought for sure there was going to be a specific twist that led to a happily ever after and it didn’t happen.
But, it was a spooky read, and I mostly enjoyed the book - it was like if R.L. Stine’s Fear Street novels met the CW.
I was super excited to read this book! I had wanted it since I first heard about it. While it wasn't as good as I had hoped, it was still a good read.
The book blurb above does a good job in describing what this book is going to be about, so I won't put it into my own words or else it'll be a bit repetitive.
I don't really know if I like the title or not. It does sum up the book pretty well because it's the s-word that starts off a whole chain of events.
I do like the cover! I enjoyed the simplicity of it, really, so it was a great choice by the author. What I liked most was how some words were etched into the cover.
The world building was a bit wishy-washy. Personally, I really don't think someone would be as forgiving as Angie if their best friend (or any girl for that matter) slept with their boyfriend, especially one of four years. Secondly, I really don't think a high school student would conduct an investigation into who made their friend commit suicide. However, there is some creditably to this world. The different people in the high school really make it feel like it's taking place there. The feelings in the book also come across as being genuine.
The pacing was good. There were a few parts throughout the book where the pacing does get a bit shaky, but it quickly goes back to being a decent pace. I wouldn't say it's a book devouring pace, but it's still good enough where you do want to read it quickly.
I enjoyed the plot. It definitely picks up on a very real problem happening around schools (and well, a lot of places) - bullying and its consequences. I loved the message it was conveying. I did predict something about Lizzie which I can't say because of a spoiler. I also predicted a plot twist as well which I won't elaborate on due to spoilers. There was one plot twist that I definitely didn't see coming!!
The characters were alright. Sometimes the character of Angie felt a bit one dimensional and unrealistic. As I've said before, I can't imagine anyone conducting an investigation about who was calling someone a slut and all that after the fact. Sometimes, there was something about her that made her seem like she wasn't a teenager even though she was meant to be. She didn't really act like one through a lot of the book. I did enjoy that the author didn't make her out to be a stuck-up cheerleader though because not all cheerleaders are snobby. I liked how she would take chances on people. I felt like I didn't get to know too much about Drake to pass that much judgement on him. He comes across as a bit of a sleaze for cheating on Angie. I wish he was featured a bit more. I loved the character of Jesse. I enjoyed his flamboyant nature and how he didn't care what anyone really thought about him. I would even dare to say that I found him to be the strongest and most believable character. Lizzie comes across as a goody two-shoes and your typical teen sweetheart. I don't really have a a clear feeling about Lizzie because, although we get to read some of her diary entries and she's talked about, there's nothing strong enough to give me a clear picture of her personality.
The dialogue was believable for the most part. What I didn't find believable is some of the times Angie would question people. For example, in one scene in the book, Angie is questioning a character named Shelby. She circles around her interrogating her, and while Shelby is an actress, I just couldn't ever imagine that scene and that dialogue taking place. Also, there is a bit of swearing in this book, and while some of it does seem like everyday teen speak, some of it seems forced like the author was just throwing it in for good measure. Other then that, the dialogue came across as teens speaking which is what this book is.
Overall, The S-Word by Chelsea Pitcher is a good read. However, the main character and some of the world building does let it down, but the plot and pacing do help to make this a good read.
I'd recommend this book to those aged 17 who have been affected by bullying.
I'd give The S-Word by Chelsea Pitcher a 3.5 out of 5.
"...They climbed into the car together, three little criminals ducking their heads. Three little lairs, beautiful and terrifying in their capacity for love, their capacity for vengence."I am conflicted. I got the creepy vibes I wanted from the story and the setting, but I didn’t love the characters or some of the interactions in the story. This Lie Will Kill Youis the perfect light spooky read. The location and the premise really shine with a murder mystery-style scholarship party happening at an old abandoned mansion. It was eerie and added to the plot and helped to create tension. Add in the who-dun-it from the death of a fellow classmate a year prior and the story has a lot of intrigue.
But the characters brought it down for me. I loved the idea of former friends all isolated and trying to survive, but they were pretty one-dimensional with clear roles to play so the story was more predictable. Also Ruby’s first interactions with her love interests were shown via flashback and they were some of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen with my own eyes. I also found the ending of the story to be rushed and unsatisfying. There didn’t really seem to have the payoff for any of the problems. I wanted to like this more than I did, but I still have a fun time reading. I torn through the book in less than a day and it was just so easy to read.
I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 Stars
A modern day Clue murder mystery, in This Lie Will Kill You author Chelsea Pitcher takes five teens on a dangerous journey that forces them to examine the truth. Was it Ruby far away from the party but a vital character nonetheless? Was it Gavin with his camera and a red pen? Maybe it was the duo, Parker and his money and his muscle Brett? Or perhaps it was Juniper in the pool? It might have been all of them or none of them, but someone is prepared to find out. Shane Ferrick was the new guy, an outcast, but now he's not here at all. Who killed him?
While the story is not realistic, I mean who really can pull together a murder mansion house at such a young age, it is intriguing. Like the television shows it mirrors, This Lie Will Kill You is a teen drama you can't help but read even if it's a bit cliche. You know what's coming at every turn, the shock factor isn't quite there, but you want to know what happens next anyway. I think it works as a teen novel and while it lacks some of the smarter suspense of adult mysteries, I still enjoyed it and can see younger readers getting caught up in it. Characters Gavin, Juniper, and Brett were like classic teen movie actors for me. Their awkwardness relatable, their stories predictable, and their part in the book vital for making it likable. Ruby and Parker are difficult characters, each so self centered. Parker is obviously the bad guy, and I don't mean the bad boy everyone likes, but truly just a bad guy, he's pinpointed as the evil mastermind early on, which allowed for some surprising twists. The mysterious dinner they are invited to does follow a fun murder dinner style plot and the five play into it perfectly.
The novel starts with a beautiful, literary description of the night that set the events in motion, but from there it becomes quite simple. There are holes in the characters' stories and while the timeline moves forward at the right pacing it doesn't have nearly the suspense and surprise one would expect. My biggest complaint, one I think will be noticed by every reader, was the repetition in this novel. The effect some of the words could've had, like porcelain, felt cheap by the end.
Character driven with an interesting, if not formula, plot, This Lie Will Kill You was a quick, fun escape read for me. I allowed myself to be pulled into the murder mystery evening and enjoyed the various ideas Chelsea Pitcher borrowed from similar movies, television shows, and games. There's a lot going on in this book, from various character connections to the unveiling of the true events of that fateful night, but it lends itself to the story. While predictable, it is still engaging and I think readers who enjoy teen readers and thriller reads will find this one a winner.
ARC provided.
Since we are on the subject of campy horror thrillers, I do have to say that is the vibe I got from reading this book. Not that is a bad thing as I do enjoy a campy horror movie or book every once in a while. In fact, I used to watch SYFY movies on the weekends. I think I have watched every different version of a shark or alligator type movie except for the Sharknado movies.
There were some characters that I did not shed a tear for when they died in this book. Yet, I can tell you now that if I ever received an mysterious invite to a party that I will have to decline. There can never be anything good that comes from receiving a mysterious envelope in the mail with no postmark.
5 of the people who were involved with the boy who died are called to an isolated mansion to compete for a $50,000 prize but it is not what it seems. Each person is sent to a room by themselves and in that room their deepest darkest secrets are revealed via props or staging of the room or photos.
There is the usual Jock bodyguard, rich spoilt playboy, nice girl who made a bad mistake, bad girl who isn't what she seems etc etc.
I really like the initial set up but the book got weighed down in the final moments with too many twists and turns.
I think Young adults will lap it up as has great premise and cover.
Elora is unhappy with her mother's, the Dark Queens, rule, so she's conspired with the Bright Queen to overthrow her. The Bright Queens wants an offering in return, Elora has to find a human boy who's a 'young leader of men' and bring him to her (God knows what she plans to do with him). As this obviously shows that the Bright Queen's rule will be splendidly peaceful and a huge improvement from the Dark Queen's, Elora decides to go undercover at the local high school to find just such a specimen. Real undercover, and flying around at night like real humans do all the time...
I'm not sure about The Last Changeling. On one hand it's definitely the best of the numerous faery books I've read this year (like Undertow, Faelorehn and The Winter People), probably because it doesn't focus on whiny girls who suddenly get stalked by too-goo-to-be-true guys. The story itself might not be the most original premise, but I was still interested in just how it would be done this time. I also liked the diversity of the characters, which might be in a wheelchair or LGTB.
But the characters in the end felt a bit flat. Like the ideas were good but it needed a bit more to make it feel real. Quite a large part of the book is actually about saving Prom, which wasn't what I was expecting in this fantasy novel. The ending was a bit messy for my liking and left me a bit confused. I think the second really will be necessary to figure out where the story is going. And, don't get me started about the romance. Of course you take the random girl you just met into your home because she's got no place to go, is perfectly normal. Even if she disappears at night. Just insta-love her and all will be fine. She would never take advantage of you! Oh, wait...
The Last Changeling is the first book in the Faerie Revolutions series.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
After crossing over to the mortal world, Elora assumes the shape of a teen hitchiker who dies in an auto accident, hiding the body before appearing on a swing set near the soccer field where Taylor is wrestling with how to prevent the team bully from seriously injuring a player on the opposing team.
When he notices her, sitting on a swing, it's the beginning of an extremely interesting journey for both of them, one that unfolds gradually at first, but speeds up as things come to a head in her world. Along the way, they start realizing how much they're attracted to each other, she discovers how quirky and often unfair the world of high school is (her involvement with the Gay-Straight Alliance is very refreshing and her backtalk to school staff is really funny at times), she has to control her urge to give in to her feelings which begin to conflict with everything she was taught in her world and she has to educate her new friends to the threat coming from her realm.
The book ends with a slam bang and as a result, I ordered book two immediately. This is a great urban fantasy for school and public libraries to add to their YA collections.
The S-Word grabbed my attention from the very first sentence and did not let go until long after I had read the last word. This book is jam-packed with mystery, betrayal, and the very real harshness that is high school drama. Despite the heavy subjects present in the book, this still has it’s funny moments which really help balance everything out. Normally I have a good idea of what a book is going to be about, but holy crap this took a turn that I never saw coming. I don’t want to say much, but I will give you this: we are hit with not one, but three shocking secrets--one right after another--that never even crossed my mind.
I love, love, LOVE Angie. Everyone has this idea that she’s just a dumb, popular cheerleader, but she isn’t at all. She is not only dealing with a broken heart, but she is mourning the death of her best friend and carrying around this heart wrenching guilt over turning her back on Lizzie when everyone else was determined to destroy her. She is a great and very complex main character and I just love how she narrates the story. Unfortunately we do not get to see much of Lizzie, but her diary entries and the flashbacks of their friendship help us understand what kind of a person she was. She in no way deserved what was thrown at her and, frankly, neither does anyone else who is bullied on a daily basis. It is sickening the kind of torture teenagers can cause one another.
I was expecting to like this, but not as much as I actually did. This is a fantastic debut and I can not wait to read whatever else Chelsea has in store for us!
Goodreads Teaser:
"A Kingdom at War . . .
Elora, the young princess of the Dark Faeries, plans to overthrow her tyrannical mother, the Dark Queen, and bring equality to faeriekind. All she has to do is convince her mother’s loathed enemy, the Bright Queen, to join her cause. But the Bright Queen demands an offering first: a human boy who is a “young leader of men.”
A Dark Princess In Disguise . . .
To steal a mortal, Elora must become a mortal—at least, by all appearances. And infiltrating a high school is surprisingly easy. When Elora meets Taylor, the seventeen-year-old who’s plotting to overthrow a ruthless bully, she thinks she’s found her offering . . . until she starts to fall in love."
Filled with the rich, tangled emotions so commonly associated with teenagers, this story is at times sweet, tender, angry, depressed, confused, and basically any other feeling that can be conceived. It is a lovely way for a YA readers to connect, or reconnect, with a turbulent period of time, when everything feels as if it is a life or death situation.
Elora arrives in the human realm with all her powers, and all her preconceived notions about humanity. Taking the identity of a teen runaway killed in a freak auto accident, she sets out to solve a riddle set for her by the Bright Queen. The purpose of the riddle is twofold, and if she can figure it out in time it may be enough to alter her beloved realm of Faerie forever.
Completely at a loss when it comes to interacting with humans, let alone doing something like enrolling in the local high school, the newly christened "Lora" finds unexpected help in the form of a local teenage boy named Taylor. Taylor is nothing like Lora expects, but then many of the humans are completely different from everything she'd been taught.
Elora/Lora is a bright character, who is turns sweet, whip-smart, generous, caring, steel-willed, imperious, protective, and loving. Her adventures in the human realm are entertaining, and watching her grow is a delight. As her misconceptions are altered one by one, her character makes adjustments accordingly. All but one, and that involves Taylor.
Taylor is certainly not your typical high school attending boy. He comes from a less than pleasant home life, and has a secret of his own. One that is growing in him like a cancer, slowly strangling him from the inside out. Yet he still manages to set aside his personal pain in order to offer help to this obviously lost and confused young woman. While his motives may have been initially spurred by his attraction to her, he is one of those rare, chivalrous young men. The kind that stand up for what is right, even when the cost is potentially higher than they knew - yet they'd do it again in a heartbeat, even once they know the full extent of the price. He believes in honor, and in supporting the underdog, even though he's certainly not Mr. Popularity himself.
As these two get to know one another, we are introduced to a cast of supporting characters. Each one is a very unique and distinct personality, at least those in the human realm. Those in the Faerie realm are less well developed, but only because we have such limited contact with them. The very few we do know about have strong character traits that define them. And as we get to know the characters more in-depth, the arc of the story is matching their development. The plot progresses in step with the individuals, so that the overall effect is seamless. Everything moves together very smoothly, allowing for the story to unfold organically.
This is an entertaining tale, keeping us attached to the fate of the characters by getting us invested in their lives, and thus in their welfare. The fact that it all melds together like a well-oiled machine makes it read that much faster, all of which means we reach the climactic end sooner than expected. Can anyone say cliffhanger ending? Because that's what you'll get with this book, which leads one to seriously hope for a sequel to come out very soon - like tomorrow!
That being said, it is also not a book that really hits you over the head with those messages. They may be the driving force behind the story, but they don't overwhelm it. There is also magic, romance, danger, friendship, and a whole lot of intrigue woven all around the true messages of the story.
The characters in this book are fantastic. Elora, our main character, is fighting to change her world... the world of Faery. She has been brought up in a world of racial prejudice, the light and the dark realms of Faery fighting against one another for centuries. She has been brought up to believe that humans are yet another enemy, lesser creatures incapable of true compassion and love. She has come to realize that those racial prejudices within her own world are weakening it for both sides and is trying to change that. When she moves into the human world and is saved by Taylor (a human guy), she is faced with the realization that perhaps humanity is not what she thought it was.
The destructive prejudices that she has found to be true of the Faery realms are also present in Unity High School, the human school she has "infiltrated" with a name that does not fit its reality. The prejudices here are manifested in sexuality and the treatment that those who are thought to be anything other than straight is horrendous. Taylor and Elora team up to change that, along with some unexpected allies.
I really enjoyed the premise behind this story, unlike any others I have read. I am a sucker for all things faery and I loved that this one came from the perspective of a Dark Faery. The story was engaging and engrossing and I can't wait to read the next installment!
Things to love...
--Elora and Taylor. The romance was there, but it wasn't in your face. Sweet!
--Kylie and Keegan. The twins, friends of Elora and Taylor, figure prominently and I love what they represent for the story.
--The attention paid to real issues and the ways in which they were handled.
My Recommendation: If you love the realm of the faery, this is a great read! If you love a story that has some depth and some messages to it, this is a great read!
Note: I received this for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Quick & Dirty: There were many things I enjoyed, though the romance was too insta-love for my favor.
Opening Sentence: I was seventeen when death first crossed my path.
The Review:
Taylor is a boy with a dead brother, abandoning family, and hard life. Elora is on a quest for the chance to save the land of the fae from an oppresive reign. But when Elora enrolls in high school to find what she needs, she finds that high school is much like the fae land. Popular jocks rule over those who don’t fit in with an iron fist. Soon, she is leading not one, but two revolutions, and falling in love.
I had high expectations for this book. For one, that mind-blowing cover. Look at it! The colors and shapes and brightness! And the synopsis got my excitement growing even faster. Did The Last Changeling deliver? It was not everything I had hoped and dreamed, but there were parts of it that I enjoyed. It didn’t unfold at all the way I had thought at first it would. There is more emphasis on the main character’s relationship than the plotline, most of the time: while it made their romance more powerful, it also swallowed lots of pages that could have otherwise have been filled with richer details about the plotline that were more relevant.
The duel point of views were Elora and Taylor. One thing I really appreciated about Changeling was that the chapters from the two different characters were written differently enough that I could tell who was who, which is pretty rare. I never got confused from who I was reading from. They each have pressing problems, Elora’s being the safety of the faerie race, and Taylor’s being his family and the recent death of his brother. Like I said before, it was very centered on their relationship, which by the way was insta-love. I am not a huge fan of insta-love, preferring instead a gradual buildup like Tris and Four (Divergent). The fact that humans are told to be despicable creatures in faerie lore isn’t helping Taylor in his quest for Elora. Let me tell you, also — they pine for each other 80% of this book and in the last 20% their kisses begin.
The information you receive about the character’s backstories are extremely staggered. You really don’t know fully what had been happening until towards the end. But, another thing I liked was the fae. The way their world was built was unique, and lots of fun to read about. Though it took a while to really understand the faerie world, since as I said the world building was staggered, I was happy when I did.
Was I happy with The Last Changeling? It was a good beginning to a series, for sure. It dealt with sensitive subjects: bullying, death, war, abandonment, betrayal. Something that it did have and I was pleased that it did was bi-sexual and gay characters. As gay pride becomes more celebrated, it seems natural that gay characters should be cropping up more in books. I liked how Taylor’s strained relationship with his family changes as the book goes on, thanks to Elora and the new strength she gives him. I like how Elora fights the bullies at the school with the same fire that she does the evil fae in the final battle — it made me smile. The misfits team up to fight the jocks and the populars. A character that I love, love, loved was Kylie’s girlfriend, who was such a tremendous surprise when she was revealed thanks to reasons you will discover if you read the book. Altogether I enjoyed The Last Changeling, though certain problems made it less appealing. Namely the insta-love romance.
Notable Scene:
“In the created social order of high school, we are required to project very specific identities in order to be accepted. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of trying to fit in.”
I paused, letting the gravity of my words sink in. Half the crowd had risen to their feet and those enthusiasts were nodding.
“I’m sick of trying to mold myself into someone else’s definition of acceptable, beautiful, valuable. I know I’m valuable. Why must I spend every day of my life proving it to other people? And at night, as I lie in bed, I think about the efforts I made that day to fit into an impossibly narrow standard, and I feel like I’m living a lie.”
FTC Advisory: Flux provided me with a copy of The Last Changeling. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
Parental Rating: 12 and up. Mild Swearing and teenage ‘making out’.
The faerie Elora is trying to start a rebellion against her mother the Dark Queen, but to overthrow a millennium old faerie she needs the Bright Queen's help. The Bright Queen sets her a riddle, asking Elora to bring her a human offering. Elora travels to the human world, having only heard bad things about humans. She meets a human high-schooler named Taylor who lets her stay at his house. (She tells him to call him Lora, which is the name she mostly goes by in the book.)
The book is told from the perspectives of both Lora and Taylor. At the beginning Lora has a poetic voice and makes her seem more otherworldly, but as she assimilates to the human world she talks more normally. There were a couple of instances where Taylor sounded like Lora, too poetic for a normal teenage boy, but overall the characters were realistic and distinct. Though they were both told in first person I didn't confuse the two.
The characters were the stars of the story. I genuinely liked both of the main characters, which isn't always the case for me. The romance between them was gradual and felt natural. It was a sweet realistic romance. The side characters were just as good as the main characters and the friendships blossomed at a realistic pace the same way the relationship did.
Taylor and Lora gradually grow to trust one another and it makes them both better people. The change in their personalities is gradual and well done. They've both had a rough family life and they both have their secrets. They slowly open up to one another, and it felt like they would actually reveal these closely guarded secrets. Lora’s tells her story to Taylor as a nightly ‘fairy tale’. Since there is a lot of back story, this was a good way to do it without being boring.
Though there is plenty of magic in this book and excitement at the end, most of the book isn't fast paced. That doesn't mean it’s boring, not in the least. The Last Changeling mostly takes place in a modern high school and romance plays a large part of the story. Normally this wouldn't sound like my kind of book, but I really enjoyed it! There’s the normal teenage stuff, but it’s handled well and Lora is so different it’s fun to see through her eyes and watch her navigate the human world.
The world of the faerie has been done so many times, but the author still creates her own unique mythology. Like most fairies, those in Last Changeling can’t lie outright, are hurt by iron, and use glamours. (They also have wings, which I thought was the best part!) There isn't too much magic in the book, but what was there was imaginative and just plain cool.
There wasn't a to be continued ending, which I appreciated, but there’s certainly more to come. (At least I hope there is!) I would've appreciated if one question had been answered though. (I can’t say what it was without spoilers.)
I plan to buy The Last Changeling when it’s released and would highly recommend it.
8/10 Stars
Angie, the main character, is. . . well, I don’t really know how to describe her. She does so many horrible things to people that at one point I really began wondering if she was capable of feeling anything, but then she becomes incredibly emotional. As someone who has grieved before I know that this pattern of emotional response isn’t uncommon, but it was still really hard to excuse Angie for some of the things she did. Her plans and mind just seemed so convoluted at times. There’s a specific instance towards the end of the novel where Angie comes up with this elaborate plan to expose someone’s horrible, awful misdeeds. I applaud her for doing so because the person needed to be caught, but the way she went about it seemed like it was quite possibly the riskiest way she could have done so. If her plan hadn’t worked, there was a chance that person wouldn’t be caught at all, and I really disliked that.
There’s a lot of issues present in The S-Word, and some of them are handled really well and some are brushed over. Angie, our unreliable narrator, can be quite a bully too, and while I think the book took steps in the right direction addressing this, it ultimately fell short. I also think it did a really terrible job at addressing self-harm. However, I did appreciate how the book approached the issue of sexual assault in high school.
Summary: Overall, I was pretty disappointed in The S-Word. I thought the book lacked care with many of the issues it tried to tackle, and the plot seemed overly convoluted and unreasonable. The book’s best part was how it dealt with the issue of sexual abuse, the only issue I felt was well-handled in the book, and the glimpses of Lizzie through other character’s eyes. It was a “I hate this book” book, but it’s definitely a “meh” book. 2/5 stars.
A longer version of this review will appear on my blog at Book.Blog.Bake.
The book is about what happens after someone's best friend commits suicide after being slut-shamed into a pariah. The main character starts investigating how this came to be and starts uncovering some dark secrets about the people in her high school.
But that's just the hook. This book invokes just about every after-school special trope -- monstrous teens, the too-smart witch, the attention tramp, the handsome sex-crazed jock, cheerleaders, gay/not gay, date rape, the wild teen party, climbing through a bedroom window to see your girl, "Dude, she's like in a coma", defiled forever, driven to suicide, rape leads to insanity, self-harm, sneaking alcohol in high school, "secretly a lesbian", divorced parents, secret molestation, overly Christian parents, the big reveal, and of course, slut-shaming and finishes with a "decoy protagonist/killer in me" combo.
I'm not trying to say a story with lots of tropes is bad. All stories have them. But the problem is that all these tropes are front and center. Like a Lifetime movie. They're all part of the plot turns and revelations. Which means that the characters herein are stereotypes. My beef is that it keeps painting high school with the same brush that all movies and YA books paint it with. Like how no one has academics to worry about. How does the main character get all this "investigating" done? Between passing times?
Don't get me wrong, I like this book, but it's controversial simply because the characters demand it. To the point of being ridiculously implausible. One of the characters is gay. So gay he wears a skirt to school. And of course, the jocks beat him up for it. But then he tells the main character he's not gay, he's just acting like it. Because... reasons?
I was fooled by the summary in its Big Idea piece. I thought this was going to be a book about a girl going vigilante revenge for her friend who got slut-shamed into suicide, and then the revenge starts to consume her, where she couldn't stop. That is most definitely not this book. This book is much like the high schoolers it's portraying -- a hot mess.
It did keep me reading. It was a completely acceptable story with a great style. It's powerful. But it's trying to be a 'super YA novel'. It simply has too many ingredients, like a hamburger with forty things in it. You don't need that many to make a good hamburger. Too much stuff, and it becomes too rich to digest.
“First it was SLUT scribbled all over Lizzie Hart’s locker.
But one week after Lizzie kills herself, SUICIDE SLUT replaces it—in Lizzie’s looping scrawl.
Lizzie’s reputation is destroyed when she’s caught in bed with her best friend’s boyfriend on prom night. With the whole school turned against her, and Angie not speaking to her, Lizzie takes her own life. But someone isn’t letting her go quietly. As graffiti and photocopies of Lizzie’s diary plaster the school, Angie begins a relentless investigation into who, exactly, made Lizzie feel she didn’t deserve to keep living. And while she claims she simply wants to punish Lizzie’s tormentors, Angie’s own anguish over abandoning her best friend will drive her deep into the dark, twisted side of Verity High—and she might not be able to pull herself back out.”
I was immediately drawn in by the cover and premise of this book. I really liked the mystery aspects of the novel and the drama that takes place in this high school. It seems that everyone has something to hide and, as a reader, you can’t help but want to carry on turning pages to find out what happened. The writing style used in this book was superb and really captured the devastation and urgency in the protagonist’s voice. Although, personally, I didn’t really like the main character, Angie, I found her voice perfect for the narration of this book as she showed the panic and emotional depth that you would expect from someone in her position.
I actually was surprised at the romantic elements that were included in this novel, and although, at first, I felt that they were a bit out of place, I began to really like the relationship that blossomed between the two characters (that I will not mention as not to spoil it).
I think that although there were some small elements that I did not like, such as the clichéd cheerleaders and the over-the-top drama students, this is definitely a 4 out of 5 star read for me. It reminded me slightly of Pretty Little Liars crossed with Glee (in a good way!) in parts and I think that fans of mystery, high school settings and an emotional read would definitely benefit from reading The S-Word.
Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system…
The S-Word is a delightfully-written mystery novel, narrated by Angie, Lizzie’s best friend. Just prior to the opening of the book, Lizzie kills herself. Angie takes it upon herself to dig around and find out just why Lizzie had killed herself. She uncovers some pretty nasty secrets, not all of them Lizzie’s.
Chelsea Pitcher proves in her debut novel that she is perfectly capable of handling characterization. I was a little worried at the start of the novel that characters would be nothing but stereotypes, and while I did run into a few stereotypes that made my eyes roll, Pitcher also managed to take those characters and turn them on their heads, giving them a back-story and turning them into characters I grew to actually care about.
Jesse was the most intriguing character for me, and right behind him was Kennedy, head cheerleader and popular girl. I was so, so pleased to see these two characters fleshed out and becoming real people.
Angie, on the other hand, was definitely not an interesting character for me. She was a perfectly (un)reliable narrator, but she hardly shows any emotion. Certainly, she is most unemotional about her best friend’s death, and I kept hoping during the duration of the story that she would just break down and cry about Lizzie’s death. Instead, she is filled with such outrage about her friend’s death that it turns into a vengeful plot, one where Angie only feels fit to fill in the reader with half her plan.
Angie feels guilt over Lizzie’s death, but guilt, to me, is a very selfish emotion, and though Angie feels badly about abandoning Lizzie when she really needed her, she also continuously wonders why Lizzie never told her not only about prom night but also about her deepest secret. But the real reason I didn’t like Angie is that she utilized her friend’s death to dig into her friend’s deepest secrets. Who did Lizzie betray? Who did she confide in? What really happened at prom night? Angie wouldn’t have known all those things if she hadn’t done what she did. No one would have talked about any of it. (I also couldn’t get over her destroying the graduation gowns, but mostly because I know how expensive those things are, only to have them ruined.)
I actually have almost a whole page of quotes that I really liked from this. Some of the characters are so smart (or maybe not-so-smart, but they sometimes say such obviously intelligent things that it’s jarring and it really stands out, especially among Angie’s narration). I want to check them against a good copy before I post them, so look out for those.
So, overall, I liked the book, but I really couldn’t stand the narrator. I’m not sure if that was intentional on the part of the author, but Angie came across as less a grieving friend and more someone who was just out for justice and didn’t actually care who she railroaded in the process. For me, an unlikeable narrator pulls me out of the story a bit, and it affects my enjoyment of the story as a whole. But I did like some of the other characters, and that in itself redeemed it enough to earn 3.5 stars from me.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for a fair review. All opinions herein are mine and were not influenced by the publisher or author in any way.
Chelsea Pitcher's debut isn't neat. It isn't pretty and it doesn't glamorize what happens in high school. Lizzie's high school experience -- and the high school experience we receive (and learn about) through Angie, isn't some glossy, remember-when version of high school. It's real, perhaps a bit gritty and can be harsh.
We see the after-effects of bullying, with Lizzie gone, having committed suicide and her best friend trying to find who's most responsible. It's through Angie's investigation -- and what it uncovers -- that we learn what Lizzie really experienced. It seems as if this method would make what was done to Lizzie less impactful, than experiencing it first hand, as it happened. How Pitcher writes things, along with how readers do learn about Lizzie's pain affects the story and, possibly, Angie, more.
Most of the characters in the book are fantastic. They're fresh and quite different from the ones we see in most novels, most YA novels, too. While one character may have played this high school role and another that role, they didn't feel stereotypical. Perhaps a bit archetypal when you look back at it, but they weren't canned characters. Each of them had something unique and fresh about them that made for great inclusion in the story. (Jesse was probably my favorite character.)
There was one story line that I felt ventured into stereotypical territory. The story, along with the characters used, was something I've seen used quite a lot and so I wasn't sure if the characters and that part of the story were done truly for The S-Word and where it needed to go or . . . because. It didn't harm the story and it worked, but it didn't feel as original as the rest of the novel.
I do love the play with S-Word and sword and how 'cutting' they both are, can be. It's a great title for an enjoyable read.
thank you to the publisher for my egalley for review via NetGalley
The writing style was terrible. Every other word was hard to follow. Most of the book was about the description about the people in the book. There was no set up for the actual story. It was like the story line was what was at the back of the author's mind and the characters were what was most important. By page 40 something, I was still lost, but knew almost all the cheerleaders and whether or not they started writing the words on the lockers again. This is especially a problem when you're describing the characters like "She had the kind of ass they rap about." and "Rumor has it they mix love spells into their lip balm." Just from those entries you may think its funny, but surrounding the rest of the words in the book, I thought it was stupid.
This synopsis stopped me in my tracks when I read it on NetGalley and I just knew it was going to be good. Unfortunately I couldn't get past the writing style to find out.
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- A VERY FOCUSED TAKE ON THE AFTERMATH OF SERIAL BULLYING AND UNDIAGNOSED DEPRESSION.
- THE ILL EFFECTS OF THE NOW VERY COMMON - 'TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS' WERE EXPRESSED WELL.
- ALTERNATES BETWEEN THE PAST AND THE PRESENT
- A GOOD REVENGE STORY!
What I did not like:
- A TAD BIT CONFUSING
- HIGHLY PREDICTABLE
- HAD A RATHER COMMON PREMISE
- IT DEALS WITH A LOT OF THINGS THAT COULD BE TRIGGERING LIKE MURDER, PHYSICAL ABUSE AND BULLYING! (DISCRETION IS ADVISED)
- FELT INCOMPLETE