Review: The Ending Made Me Angry But overall it was a great book
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 24, 2011
RECEIVED FROM:  Library Thing for Review***NOTE MY REVIEWS OFTEN CONTAIN SPOILERS***Ariel Donovan is a completely normal fifteen year old girl living in the town of Hell, Michigan. Well she's normal if you discount the fact that she calls her parents by their first names. And you don't mention that her best friend has been missing for three months and without Jenna she's a social zero. Also if we're calling her normal we probably shouldn't mention that she might be seeing ghost and there appears to be something sinister going on beneath the surface of the small town of Hell. Okay so she's probably not all that normal, but who needs normal when you live in Hell right? Ariel is the girl who's been left behind in their close friendship, the one with all the questions that no one else is asking. But will she find the answers before it's too late?I'll start this review by telling you that mature part of me is telling me that I'm not being fair in my rating of this book. Logically I know it's a four star novel, well written with strong character development and good pacing. But have you ever read a book where you got to the end and just though wtf? You found yourself so angry you wanted to call up the author and ask her that exact question? Emotionally however I can't give it higher than a three stars because I finished this book and I'm just plain MAD. That leaves something to be said about my maturity as a reviewer, but at least I'm admitting that I'm letting my anger at the ending dictate my final rating for the book.Each scene within this novel is described so completely it's like you're there living it and the characters as so multifaceted that at times they're confusing, just as real people are. Do you remember those people in high school, especially the teenage boys where you'd think you know them and then they'd do something that left you going huh? Afterward you'd go on and on to your friends about how boys made no sense whatsoever and it's no wonder that most of the girls had higher grades because boys clearly weren't born with brains. While as an adult I can claim a slightly better understanding of the opposite sex than I could as a teen, this book brought me right back to that adolescent phase where boys and their actions just made you go huh? By making them not completely make sense at points she makes her characters seem completely real.The book overall is hard to describe, it's like Veronica Mars meets Ghost Whisper with a hint of something else thrown into the mix, maybe some Charmed, I'm not really sure what that extra element is that makes this story so original.One of the things I loved about Ariel is that it's not just stated that she's fifteen, followed by her being whisked away into some surreal world. She's living the life of a fifteen year old complete with over protective, though strange parents. The books is filled with paranormal elements which Ariel has to deal with or at least attempt to comprehend, but she's also dealing with teenage crushes, hot and cold boys, teacher boredom and embarrassment. She attends classes, gets sent to the principal's office, and deals with teenage rejection from the popular crowd who like in every school seem to get away with everything. By being a part of all these mundane portions of her life she's more real as a character because real teenagers have to go to school and suffer through classes they'd rather not take and agonize over the one subject in school that doesn't make sense.While there were a few things that seemed off to me which is why I state that it was more deserving four stars than three, like calling parents by first names and other little things I couldn't comprehend like that. The main thing that upset me about the book was being left with more questions than answers. Is Ariel really seeing ghosts? What was it about the necklace? What's really happening with the town and how is Henry involved? What does her family seem to know that she doesn't? And the ending while I guess enlightening in some ways is more frustrating than anything else because it looks like everything has gone wrong, nothing has gone right and no one is getting answers. Additionally, the villain revealed in the novel was completely unexpected and there was no foreshadowing whatsoever that he might be guilty or involved in anything so that was kind of a major huh moment for me. I hope to god this is part of a series because if that is then end of Ariel's story I'm thinking this writer might be kind of sadistic. To get the reader so involved and weaving the world and characters so intricately to end in the manner she did seems all sorts of wrong to me. Overall I'm hesitant about recommending it. On one hand it's extremely well written and an engaging story. On the other since I didn't get hardly any answers but was left instead with a ton of questions and a burning anger I have a hard time recommending someone else step on an emotional roller coaster ride only to be left stuck at the top of the drop at the end wondering if the writer will let them down. I will say this, if there is a sequel to this novel I'd like to preorder it because I am highly involved with the characters she's presented to me. As a standalone title I couldn't recommend it only because of the things I've stated above, but if this novel opens a new series I highly recommend jumping on for the ride because I can guarantee she will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end.