"Before you, Bella, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars, points of light and reason. ...And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn’t see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason, for anything."

~ Edward Cullen

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Review: Bitter End


Title: Bitter End
Author: Jennifer Brown
Pages: 359
Rating: 4/5

When Alex falls for the charming new boy at school, Cole, a handsome, funny, sports star who adores her, she can't believe she's finally found her soul mate-someone who truly understands her and loves her for who she really is.

At first, Alex is blissfully happy. Sure, Cole seems a little jealous of her relationship with her best friends, Zack and Bethany, but what guy would want his girlfriend spending all of her time with another boy? But as the months pass, Alex can no longer ignore Cole's small put-downs, pinches, or increasingly violent threats. As Alex struggles to come to terms with the sweet boyfriend she fell in love with and the boyfriend whose "love" she no longer recognizes, she is forced to choose - between her "true love" and herself (goodreads.com).

Last year, Jennifer Brown's debut novel, Hate List was one of my top reads.  I was extremely moved by that novel, and was thrilled to see she had another book coming out.  I downloaded Bitter End onto my Kindle the day of its release and finished it by the next morning.  While I didn't love it like I did Hate List, I was still quite moved by the story and Brown's writing.

Bitter End is a raw, moving teen contemporary.  I thought Brown did a good job of tackling the tough topic of domestic abuse, and at times I felt as though I could feel every bit of Alex's emotions.  One of my favorite things about Brown's books is her character development, and Bitter End was no different.  By the end of the story, I felt like I knew Alex as well as I knew myself.  And I understood why she felt the way she did about Cole.  Cole was a product of his environment.  His father was abusive and degrading to women.  Cole didn't know of any other way to be.  I'm not saying that that is an excuse, I'm just seeing how a person can get to be that way.

All in all, I really enjoyed Bitter End.  The only issue I had was the ending.  I felt there was some issues that were left hanging, but I'll let you see that for yourself!



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