REVIEW: Looking For JJ - Anne Cassidy

GENRE: YA/Crime
PAGES: 304
PUBLISHER: Scholastic
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

SUMMARY

A gripping and emotionally searing novel from a talented author, Looking for JJ explores the circumstances and motives behind the murder of a child - by her friend. Six years later, JJ has now been released, and has a new identity. But is there any way that she can lead a "normal" life?

REVIEW

This is a perfect mix of my two favourite genres - YA and Crime!

I've been meaning to read this for *ages* and stumbled across a hardback copy in the charity shop, woo, it was fate. I enjoyed it from the start - I liked the plot, I loved the narrative and everything was described so well I could see it playing out like a film. I felt so sorry for Alice, her mother was selfish and neglectful, and as much as she is trying to put things behind her, something is always dragging her back to the past and that is precisely what she wants to leave behind. It's a clever novel because it deals with a very serious and sensitive storyline with tact and sensitivity and ultimately I was rooting for Alice to prevail. I now need to read the sequel! 

- Gem.

REVIEW: Torn - Car Clarke

GENRE: YA/Contemporary/Issues
PAGES: 384

PUBLISHER: Quercus

FORMAT: PB

BUY IT: Waterstones

RATING: 4 Stars

SUMMARY

Four girls. One dead body. A whole lot of guilt. Alice King isn't expecting the holiday of a lifetime when she sets off with her classmates on a trip to the Scottish wilderness, but she's not exactly prepared for an experience beyond her darkest nightmares...Alice and her best friend Cass are stuck in a cabin with Polly, the social outcast, and Rae, the moody emo-girl. Then there's Tara - queen of mean. Powerful, beautiful and cruel, she likes nothing better than putting people down. Cass decides it's time to teach Tara a lesson she'll never forget. And so begins a series of events that will change the lives of these girls forever...A compelling story of guilty secrets, troubled friendship and burgeoning love.

REVIEW

Torn is told from the perspective of Alice, a sweet level-headed girl with a kind heart. She tells us the story of what happens on a school trip, when she and her friends decide to take revenge on Tara, the school bully. Unfortunately it all goes horribly wrong.

Alice is in the middle of the school social scale - she's not one of the most popular kids but she's also not constantly bullied, like Polly is by Tara. When they're on a school trip and Tara is separated from her 'entourage' Cass, Alice's best friend, decides that it's time that Tara is taught a lesson for all the times she's put them all down. None of them thought their plan would go so horribly wrong. When Tara accidentally dies Alice must live with the guilt and fear of being discovered.

Cat Clarke is always completely spot-on in her portrayal of what it feels like to be in a British High School. I personally hated school, and can remember exactly what it's like to not be in the in-crowd. There's a survival instinct that kicks in that makes you just want to get through the day. Not only do you have to deal with the school work, but also the way you look and the things you say. And just hope that you can make the right friends.

The tension in this book is inescapable. You can completely understand and empathise with Alice's situation. The guilt so claustrophobic and so strong it penetrates the narrative to the point where I was almost screaming at her to tell someone. Her mental state manifests in her hallucinations of Tara, which I thought was a brilliant tool in helping Alice deal with the situation. It was really creepy in places and although you question why she does some of the things she does, at the same time you understand how easy it is to lose a grip.

Another thing I love about Clarke's books is the way she manages to weave the narrative into a tangled ball that is impossible to unravel. Everything happens because of everything else and people affect each other in ways you can't imagine. One event sets off a chain reaction that you could argue starts from when Alice was a much younger girl. When she meets Jack, Tara's brother, Alice falls for him. Obviously after what the girls allowed to happen to Tara this is less than ideal. They make such a sweet couple that I desperately wanted them to be together but there is always this penetrating guilt. You want to be able to erase it for her, and it makes you realise that from an outsider's perspective, and when you look at the hard facts, Alice doesn't deserve to have happiness with Jack. And yet I wanted her to.

I've loved every one of Cat Clarke's books. The narratives aren't challenging but they're so interesting and compelling that I always recommend her. I can actually associate with all of her characters and although you do get a certain amount of resolution there are so many possibilities that run through my head of what could happen after the books are finished, and I loved that. They seem so simply written but there is an incredible amount of depth.

- Bex.

10th Anniversary Cover and Sequel For Anne Cassidy

It's been 10 years since Anne Cassidy published her YA modern classic, Looking For JJ and to celebrate Hot Key Books are reprinting with a new cover and an exciting sequel.

Looking For JJ: A gripping and emotionally searing novel from a talented author, Looking for JJ explores the circumstances and motives behind the murder of a child - by her friend. Six years later, JJ has now been released, and has a new identity. But is there any way that she can lead a "normal" life?

Finding Jennifer Jones: Kate Rickman seems just like any other nineteen-year-old girl. She goes to university, she dates nice, normal boys and she works in her local tourist office at the weekend. But Kate's not really normal at all. 'Kate' is in fact a carefully constructed facade for a girl called Jennifer Jones - and it's a facade that's crumbling fast. Jennifer has spent the last nine years frantically trying to escape from her horrifying past. Increasingly desperate, Jennifer decides to do something drastic. She contacts the only other girl who might understand what she's dealing with, breaking every rule of her parole along the way. Lucy Bussell is the last person Jennifer expects any sympathy from, but she's also the last person she has left.

In the Hot Key Blog, Emma Williamson notes:

When I finished reading Anne’s final draft of Finding Jennifer Jones, it was one of those goosebump moments. So much about Jennifer and her life, past, present and future, is revealed. I found it a richly rewarding and hugely thought-provoking window into Jennifer’s life. Looking for JJ and Finding Jennifer Jones are not so much two separate books as one incredibly satisfying story – albeit a story that has taken 10 years to write. But don’t good things happen to those who wait?

You can read more over at the Hot Key Books blog.

Sister Assassin - Kiersten White

GENRE: Contemporary/Supernatural
PAGES: 302
PUBLISHER: HarperCollins
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

SUMMARY

She never chose her deadly gift but now she's forced to use it. How far would you go to protect the only family you have left? Annie is beset by fleeting strange visions and a guilty conscience. Blind and orphaned, she struggles to care for her feisty younger sister Fia, but things look up when both sisters are offered a place at Kessler School for Exceptional Girls. Born with flawless intuition, Fia immediately knows that something's wrong, but bites her tongue...until it's too late. For Fia is the perfect weapon to carry out criminal plans and there are those at Kessler who will do anything to ensure her co-operation. With Annie trapped in Kessler's sinister clutches, instincts keep Fia from killing an innocent guy and everything unravels. Is manipulative James the key to the sisters' freedom or an even darker prison? And how can Fia atone for the blood on her hands?

REVIEW

Sister Assassin follows Fia, a special girl who's unfaltering instincts make her a dangerous weapon, and Annie, her blind sister who has visions of the future. They're both virtually imprisoned in a school, their special abilities being manipulated by the Foundation that set up the school on the pretense of helping girls with their talents. Their are other types of special abilities in their world, such as Feelers, who can feel the emotions of anyone around, but they only affect women. Fia is used as an assassin, killing enemies of the Foundation, and on the last mission she decides the unthinkable - she is not going to kill her target. The problem is that the Foundation are using Annie as leverage over Fia and she knows that by not killing the boy she is risking Annie's life. However, in saving him she may have given herself the opportunity to escape from people who are holding her, but it will come with sacrifices.

I loved Sister Assassin. Simple as that. It has stuck in my head ever since I read it and I couldn't tear myself away. The writing is perfect, bittersweet and beautiful; it's simply poetic. Fia's perfect instincts mean that her imposed occupation as assassin forces her to go against every feeling she has and then leaves her to deal with the devastating emotional consequences. She is constantly heart broken. Beaten down by everyone in her life she lives for the soul purpose of supporting her blind sister, whom the Foundation have promised to work on ways to give her back her sight.

The narrative shifts between Annie and Fia, and shows just how hard it is when your life is tangled up in someone elses. There are flashbacks, fleshing out their life at the school showing just how trapped they are. Fia cannot trust anyone - everyone uses her for their own end and yet she is one of the most interesting characters that I have ever read. I love how feisty she is and was absolutely heartbroken every time I thought she and James were finally making headway, only for her to be let down. There's so much about bodily and mental damage that it was hard to read in places. But I was completely swept away in her story, and even though it is almost as much about Annie as it is Fia, I couldn't help but follow Fia. She is so self sacrificing and every time I think she will give in, she doesn't. She finds hope and fights on.

I hope this is just the beginning of something big, because it deserves to be. I know there is so much more to come, although just as I couldn't predict the events in this book, I have no idea where the rest of the series is going to go. There were times I found myself holding my breath and reading bits over and over just because the writing was so simple but so, so perfect. I honestly loved it that much that I feel like my reading has peaked ridiculously early this year. It's very dark, and not suitable for the younger readers but I think I will be a great crossover title.

- Bex.