Review: Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

Rating (Out of 5): ~3-3.5 (maybe 4)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Simon Pulse)

Spoilers: No.

Goodreads Synopsis:

"Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared.

Once upon a time, my name was not Alice.
Once upon a time, I didn't know how lucky I was."
When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends -- her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over.
Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her.
This is Alice's story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.

Review:

This book… This book is just wow. I’m not even sure what to say about this book, honestly.

I’d been intrigued by it for a while, and had read some of Scott’s other books, but just hadn’t gotten around to it. I got the opportunity, though, and finished it rather quickly, seeing as it’s a very short book. And it kind of surprised me.

I do find these types of books interesting, but they aren’t my normal genre, and so I don’t get around to them as much. And when I started it, I wasn’t too sure how far it was going to go, and it definitely went farther than I was expecting.

It didn’t blow my mind, or anything; I know these kinds of these happen, have read things about them, and know that they can turn out like this, I just wasn’t expecting a YA book to go that far, I guess. And I feel bad saying that, as I know YA books go farther than most people (people that don’t read the genre, at least) think, but still. It was darker than I expected. And because of how dark it was, I have a hard time deciding what to rate the book, and how exactly I feel, and what really to think about it. It’s just, there was so much. So much to take in, or something.

I felt bad for the girl, and then I didn’t feel so bad for her. I felt sad for her, I guess, because of her situation and how it turned her into what she was. I understood it, in a way. I wasn’t too surprised, even if I didn’t quite like it.

I didn’t like the guy, as I really shouldn’t have. I did like that he was given a bit of a back story, a little bit of a reason for why he turned out the way he did, why he likes what he does. I didn’t like it, but still.

I felt bad for… Well, I just felt bad. For the situation, for her, for what they were planning to do.

And the ending. I’m not sure what to think of the ending much at all. It fit, really well. I’m not sure that things could have turned out okay in any other way, but it was still sad. For her, not him. And, well, and the other two people involved, by a lot. (I’m not going to ruin that, though, because you’d have to read to really understand and get what happened, and I don’t want to spoil it, in any way, no matter how much I want to talk about it.)

I guess I liked this book; it definitely wasn’t bad, and I didn’t not enjoy it. It’s just the kind of book that gives you mixed feelings, that you have a hard time saying you enjoyed when the subject was so bad and depressing, and the ending was what it was.

One thing that I really did like about the book, was the writing. It was written in a really neat way, going to the past and then the present, skipping around all over the place, being stuck inside her head, with all of her depressed, statement-like thoughts. The whole thing, really, was done really well, and that did impress me.
So, yea, I did enjoy it. I might have to pick up some more of Scott's books, as well as some others with this type of subject, as there are some that I've been eying.

Review: Leftovers by Heather Waldorf

3.5/4 of 5 Stars

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers

Goodreads Synopsis:

I make it to the flagpole second to last. No Poo Patrol for me. Not today. Today I draw the Grooming straw. Forget my own grooming; for three leisurely hours this morning, I'll be washing, drying, fluffing and brushing out the matted and dirt-encrusted coats of a dozen-odd dogs of questionable parentage. Not that my own parentage is anything to brag about. 
Fifteen-year-old Sarah Greene's father-chef by day, camera buff by night-choked to death on a piece of steak. It was the best day of Sarah's life. But a year later, Sarah still struggles with the legacy of her father's abuse. While other girls her age are determined to find boyfriends and part-time jobs and dresses for the prom, Sarah is on a search-and-destroy mission: to find the shoe box containing her father's collection of kiddy porn. After a brief skirmish with the law, Sarah is sentenced to do community service hours at Camp Dog Gone Fun, a summer program for shelter dogs. With the love of a big goofy dog named Judy, the friendship of Sullivan, a guy with problems of his own, and the support of a few good adults, Sarah begins to understand her past and believe in a brighter future.

Review:

I actually really liked this book. It was an easy read, and it wasn't amazing or anything, but it was good and I genuinely liked it.

It's about a girl, Sarah, who's father has died; a great thing for her since her father used to take kiddie porn pictures of her, leaving her scarred. After crashing her step-father's car, she is sent away to this camp over the summer for delinquents and sheltered dogs. She's not excited about it, and is surprised to see a boy from school there, Sullivan. She quickly becomes close friends, and then something more, with him, and gets attached to a dog, Judy.

I didn't get an overwhelming voice for Sarah, but I liked her, and I felt for what she was going through. Because she's trying to find the pictures that her father had taken without letting anyone know about it. Because her mother doesn't know, and she hasn't been talking to anyone about much because she's afraid. Throughout the book, she struggles with her similarities with her father, with her emotions forming for a guy, her fear of cameras, and with her family problems. It's nice seeing her overcome so many things, and seeing how she does it.

I also really liked Sullivan. He was sweet and adorable and I'd have liked to see more of him. (Not that he didn't show up much, because he was a relatively big character.) And his family was nice, and welcoming to Sarah, which she needed.

I like books with issues like this one. I haven't been through anything like it, and that's perhaps why I find it so interesting. Either way, I do and am always looking for more books with these kinds of things as I haven't read or found all that many. (Feel free to suggest some.) I think that it dealt with it rather well. The outcome was done well, and everyone's reactions were good.

The writing is nice. It's smooth, and simple. It was easy to read, while still being a really good read.

I just really liked this book.