sonia_reppe's reviews
1293 reviews

Ellen is at that age where she finds true love for the first time and starts to see her parents as people—not just as parents. A beautiful coming-of-age story, real, heartfelt, painful—I loved it.

Starts off as a mystery but has elements of horror as things are revealed: child sacrifice, cannibalism, demoniac rituals. (Not my cup of tea, but I read it for a book group). The end could've saved it, but to me it was disappointing because I didn't get much from the main character and the climax I had already read in the bible. As for the supposed spiritality in the book, there were only two spots in the book that touch on this topic. Once, when the servent Samir speaks lamely about "two Truths," and in another spot, one of the characters muses, "Does evil attract evil...?Evil to evil? Good to good?" Unfortunately, this is as deep as it gets.

Lindsey says: makes me want to get more froggy books. ps i love it.

Really liked this book, except for the last chapter; I don't like the way the story turned out, and I didn't believe how Hannah could be happy in her circumstances at the end. The first page starts like chic lit but the book turns into something so much better. Sittnenfield's writing is endearing.

Parts of this I give one star, some parts I give three; hence the two star rating. So disappointed. I loved Swann's "serious girls" novel, and I had liked the short story, flower children, (that this book is based on) when I read it a year ago. But it's like she couldn't get anything else out of these characters. The sparse writing gave the impression it was written by an eighth grader. I'm glad I didn't pay full price for this book.

I predicted something in the plot, but I still didn't know how it was going to end. Lawson pokes fun at country folk with her digs at stereotypical small towners. All in good fun.

Sure, the love interest, Abel, is annoying in his ultra-sensitive, too-frail-for-life way, but these chapters with him drinking himself to death are short and interspersed into flash-backs of Louise's life, so they were tolerable. The point anyway was Louise, not him. I really liked the writing and the way I was brought into the experiences of the main character Louise.

Enjoyed the suspence.