Saturday 25 October 2014

REVIEW; Lovely Vicious #1, by Sara Wolf




Rating: 

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Drama

Recommend: Yes/No

Summary:
Isis Blake, 17 years old and heartbroken. As a result she has promised herself she will not fall in love again. Forced to move to Ohio with her mom, who is suffering with PTSD after being in an abusive relationship, she has lost weight and dyed her hair and is attacking the world full force with her "I Don't Care" attitude. Throw Jack Hunter into the mix; the most coveted guy around but who won't date anyone in high-school and has earned himself the name of "The Ice Prince."

Isis has had it with players and boys taking girls for granted, so when she is faced with Jack she initiates a war by punching him... in front of everyone. She refuses to fall for him and goes out of her way to let him know how much she hates him, as he retaliates accordingly. 

She soon realises she has started a war with the wrong person, as Jack ups the attacks as she delves further and further into his life. Soon they become entangled in their web of pranks and secrets, and find more common ground than they had initially expected. 

My Thoughts:

I loved this book so much! When buying it, I had expected it to hover around the three star mark but it had so much more depth than I had anticipated and was over-run with humour and quick-wit. The dialogue was executed well between Isis and Jack and their individual banter permeated the whole story. 

Isis was a force to be reckoned with. I loved how Wolf depicted Isis as a cold and tough person but who was shielding her hurt and vulnerability. She has been victim to so much but wasn't slipping into a self-pitying depression but was fighting back. It was a fresh approach that I hadn't come across in many YA novels before. She had also had to swap roles with her mother, and nearly become a parent to her after her mother's suffering and Isis was a character you really couldn't help but feel so much sympathy for and root her on as she fought out her beliefs against Jack. 

Jack Hunter. WOW! He too had a deep past that was slowly uncovered and he wasn't hiding a typical or predictable past. He wasn't necessarily a "bad boy" or hiding a deep dark past, but rather he had had his fair share of trauma and was dealing with it in his own way. Hence when faced with trauma-stricken Isis, sparks of every kind began to fly.

I think this novel really eradicated any predictability. You could claim it was obvious that girl hates boy, boy hates girl, they get together in the end. But there was SO MUCH MORE to it than that. 

I read this in two days and wanted to scream when I finished it- WHAT. AN. ENDING! The last few scenes were pretty eventful enough and you think you've had the plot twist and then out of nowhere- punch in the feels. I love/hate cliffhangers as do most readers but that ending is up there with one of the best (even though it hurt so much!) twists I've read. 

This is definitely up there in my list of favourites and one I'd recommend to anyone that loves YA, NA, Drama, Plot-twists, Humour. It exceeded so many expectations and I am so looking forward to reading the remainder of the trilogy as it's just astounding.