Ruthless - Sara Shepard

Ruthless by Sara Shepard

Release Date (UK): 6 December 2011
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 341

Buy Ruthless @ The Book Depository

For years scandal has rocked Rosewood, Pennsylvania--and high school seniors Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer have always been at the center of the drama. They've lost friends, been targeted by a ruthless stalker named A, and narrowly escaped death. And it's not over yet. Aria's love life is on the fritz. Emily's exploring her wild side. Hanna's kissing the enemy. And someone from Spencer's past--someone she never thought she'd see again--is back to haunt her. But none of that compares to what happened last spring break. It's their darkest secret yet and guess who found out? Now A is determined to make them pay for their crime, and the only thing scarier than A is the fear that maybe, just maybe, they deserve what's coming to them.

I adore the whole Pretty Little Liars franchise; I enjoy the books and love the TV series, so when Ruthless came out I had to get my copy straight away!  As always, the four girls are constantly running into problems left, right and centre and A is never far away. 

Ruthless is very much Spencer’s story and we get to see a very different side to her, one that we haven’t seen before.  Normally she has been the smart, consciences girl but in this book this almost gets turned on its head – she takes risks and uses other people to get where she wants to be, never mind the consequences; she becomes selfish.

For the other girls life is still very complicated.  Emily meets a new love interest but as always everything is not as it seems and only causes her more heartache.  And Hanna becomes involved in a Romeo and Juliet relationship, but we all know how that ends!

Aria's story isn’t very predominant in Ruthless, though I can say that Ezra does return.  I was really excited by this at first - I am a huge ‘ezria’ shipper of the TV series, but in the book his return failed to meet my expectations.  He’s very different to the character he was when he left; in this book he is very needy and impatient and in one particular scene he made me fall out with him big time!  I was actually really surprised with myself when I began to like Noel in the end.  But, this book has left me wondering what happened to Aria in Iceland?  I think I read somewhere that the next one will be more focused on Aria’s secrets, so maybe we will find out!

‘A’ is just as ‘A’ always it – full of surprises and just when the girls think they know who it is, they are forced to question everything they believed.  We’re onto the third ‘A’ now so it could be just about anyone.

Overall I will always continue to read the PLL series because they are my guilty pleasure, but in this case I did feel that, especially in some parts of the book ,it had been written just because ...  Because the TV show and the books are so popular so this would be a way to get more money out of it, etc.  But all good things must come to an end, and I would prefer that it ended on a high then for it to be strung out and become pointless.

In My Mailbox (#2)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.  It invites follow bloggers to share what new books they have recieved during the week.

There's quite a few books I've collected over the past few weeks! 

Bought

Dark Heart Forever by Lee Monroe - I've not heard that much about this but the gorgeous cover sparked my interest and the summery sounds good!

Entangled by Cat Clarke - Another gorgeous cover!

Stealing Phoenix by Joss Stirling - I love Finding Sky so I can't wait to read this one too.

Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt - This has been on my wishlist for a while so I had to buy it when I saw it.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman - I loved and weeped over If I Stay so I just have to read this one right now!

Bookswapped on ReadItSwapIt

 

Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez - I love the musical theme of this, it sounds like it will be something a bit different.

For review

Spirits of Glory by Emily Davenport - I've read lots of good things about this so I can't wait to get around to reading it.

Notes to Self by Avery Sawyer - Again, I've read lots of positive review for this book too and it sounds really interesting.

The Start Up and The Anti-Social Network by Sadie Hayes - How lovely are these covers? I love that these are a series with another one on the way, they also sound to be right up my street!

What's in your mailbox?

After Obsession - Carrie Jones & Steven E. Wedel

After Obsession by Carrie Jones & Steven E. Wedel

Release Date (UK):  5 September 2011
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 320

Buy After Obsession @ The Book Depository

Aimee and Alan have unusual pasts and secrets they prefer to keep hidden. Aimee's deceased mother struggled with mental illness and hallucinations, and Aimee thinks it could be hereditary. After all, she sees a shadowy river man where there isn't one. And then there was that time she and her best friend Courtney tried to conjure a spirit with a Ouija board ... Alan is Courtney's cousin. His family moved to Maine when Courtney's father went missing. It's not just Alan's dark good looks that make him attractive. He is also totally in touch with a kind of spiritual mysticism from his Native American heritage. And it's not long before Aimee has broken up with her boyfriend ...But it's not Aimee or Alan who is truly haunted - it's Courtney. In a desperate plea to find her father, Courtney invites a demonic presence into her life. Together, Aimee and Alan must exorcise the ghost, before it devours Courtney - and everything around her.

When I first read the summery for this novel I was very intrigued, yet slightly wary about reading it as I didn't really think 'scary' books were my thing, but I will admit I was wrong.

For me, this book whilst obviously a YA novel, definitely has a scare factor above the level I have ever encounter in this genre before.  It had me hiding in under my duvet at night (but maybe I'm just a scaredy cat) - there is very much a 'Paranormal Activity' edge to it, many times the characters encounter strange noises, smells and images that cannot be explained.

The writing for this novel was very compelling and flowed really easily even though it was written by two authors.  The story is told in two perspectives; Aimee, who was voiced by Carrie and Alan who was voiced by Steven, both are very distinct.   Whilst there is a growing relationship between the two, the forefront theme of the novel is the strange goings on with Aimee’s best friend and Alan’s cousin, Courtney.  Courtney has recently lost her father in an accident and refuses to believe he is gone so invites evil into her life to try to find him.

Aimee herself is no stranger to evil having lost her mother in terrifying circumstances, she also carries a secret around with her about her special abilities which are the base of her relationship with Alan.  Why is he so familiar?

All in all I really enjoyed this novel (even though it was scary), the relationships between all of the characters are really well developed.  It was something different to what I normally read, but would definitely recommend it to anyone who thinks that they would enjoy it, even if they have reservations about the paranormal aspect.