Thursday, January 6, 2011

Choker - Elizabeth Woods - 2011

2011 Debut Author Challenge - Book # 1

Title: Choker

Author: Elizabeth Woods
Year: 2011
Date Read: 1/6/2011
Overall: * * (2/5)

GoodReads blurb: Sixteen-year-old Cara Lange has been a loner ever since she moved away from her best and only friend, Zoe, years ago. She eats lunch with the other girls from the track team, but they're not really her friends. Mostly she spends her time watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her, and avoiding the popular girls who call her "Choker" after a humiliating incident in the cafeteria.

Then one day Cara comes home to find Zoe waiting for her. Zoe's on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With her best friend back, Cara's life changes overnight. Zoe gives her a new look and new confidence, and next thing she knows, she's getting invited to parties and flirting with Ethan. Best of all, she has her BFF there to confide in.

But just as quickly as Cara's life came together, it starts to unravel. A girl goes missing in her town, and everyone is a suspect—including Ethan. Worse still, Zoe starts behaving strangely, and Cara begins to wonder what exactly her friend does all day when she's at school. You're supposed to trust your best friend no matter what, but what if she turns into a total stranger?

Plot: * *
Characters: * * *
Stlye (writing style): * * 1/2

My Review: This is the first book for the 2011 Debut Author Challenge over at http://www.thestorysiren.com/ . From the very beginning of the book there was just this creepy vibe surrounding Cara's friendship with Zoe. And it just kept getting creepier. I caught onto the plot twist early, and just kept hoping that I was going to wrong about it. I was disappointed that I guessed correctly when it came to the end of the book. It would have been way more creepy to actually have a real friend that was as much of a creep as "Zoe." Also, I felt like the writing was a little bit forced. Some of the dialog just didn't ring true to how teenagers talk or thing, and it felt like some of the descriptions were just added in there without actually contributing to the quality of the story. I did, however, really like how some of the characters were portrayed, particularly "Zoe" and some of the snotty high school girls. Cara's clumsiness and awkwardness felt really forced at times, like "oh there she goes catching her feet on things again!" So overall there were some good and some bad aspects to this book, but I just didn't dig it like I had hoped to. I love creepy books!

To Buy: Amazon

Currently Reading: Anna and The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

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