When her best friend, whom she secretly loves, betrays her and then dies under mysterious circumstances, high school senior Vera Dietz struggles with secrets that could clear his name.
I loved this book!!!! It was so deep, sweet, and it did not shy away from issues like drinking. And it explained what went on in the person’s head when this was happening. That was important to me because you do not normally get this viewpoint in a YA book, just that drinking is bad. The friendship thing in here was really cool as well. It was very realistic because friends do not stay friends forever.
The characters were very well written. I was curious about how this book was going to turn out because the summary was not very descriptive. Vera turned out to be very sweet and I loved listening to her from the very beginning. Even though she did have a drinking problem. All of the characters were very realistic and acted like people. Sometimes characters act like these shiny perfect gods that can do no wrong. I don’t like these characters because no one can relate to them. You can’t relate to a god. I loved how the friends to enemies thing played out. I was curious about if it would be realistic (because we all know that I love realistic things) or not. Lucky me!!! It was. The friend to enemy thing was gradual and very lifelike. I loved everything about the characters. A. S. King has not let me down on them.
The plot was also very good. You had a feeling of suspense throughout the whole book because (for once) the main character knew something that you didn’t. I was banging my head against the wall trying to figure what the connection was when it was so obvious. There were more flashbacks to give you an insight into Vera’s past, which was good because there was a lot of tangled history there. Without these flashbacks the story would have been a mess. There were lots of different viewpoints on different things in Vera’s life. Her dad had a few chapters, the dead kid had a few chapters (while being dead), and even the Pagoda (which is a building) had some chapters. I also realized that when you have a local author they talk about things that you see in your everyday life, like the Pagoda and the beautiful city of Reading. I loved this book and I think that everyone should read it.
The Pagoda and the beautiful city of Reading (said Reding)
I loved this book and I hope that you do too. Please remember to fill out my survey (and watch the next Star Wars movie). You can find the link in my about page. Thanks for Reading!!!! Have a Great Day!!!! -Annalee and Buttons
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