Review: Where to begin?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 29, 2013
Part of me really wishes I hadn't read this book for the simple reason that the 3rd isn't out yet and I hear #2 has a cliff hanger and I can't stand the idea of being left with that. I think I'm ok pausing here so I'm going to sit on #2 until #3 is out. Please Lord, let #3 come out soon. The irony of Tijan's books is that at first glance, the overall story lines don't hold a huge appeal for me and in some instances, neither do the characters. I mean in Jaded, Sheldon is quite frankly a bitch. If I had gone to high school with her, I would have hated her. She's selfish and cruel much of the time. However, Tijan manages to make you feel what drives her and while I still think she's often selfish and cruel, for some totally mind blowing reason Tijan's brilliance manages to make me pull for her. Not just pull for her, but actually cheer her on (like with big poofy pom poms and I'm not a poofy pom pom sort of girl usually).As with the other books I've read of Tijan's, there are times that I don't 100% get why or what. Like I still (*spoiler alert) don't get what about Sheldon's conversation with Bryce's dad made her think Bryce could be the killer. It's like a line was drawn connecting dots, but I never saw the dots so the line makes no sense to me. But I roll with those times and end up happily on the other side.I'm still floored by the ability Tijan has to place me in an alternate world that if I were to be completely honest is not always in touch with reality, yet make me really not give a flying flip that it's not always 100% realistic. Then to make me care about characters that in reality I'd probably totally hate, yet make me feel so wrapped up in them I have a really hard time letting go.For those trying to get a better feel for the story to decide IF you really want to check it out...Sheldon, Bryce and Corrigan are 3 friends who are seniors in high school. BEST friends. It's one of those odd dynamics that only Tijan could pull off so masterfully. Sheldon has totally absent parents. She's 18, so it's technically legal. Her parental abandonment leads to some rather classic (not trite), but extreme abandonment issues for her. The 3 friends have managed to become very popular at school, mostly because they just really don't care what other people think. This particular element in the blurb actually turned me off because I typically don't like characters who are popular. I like to pull for the underdog. But what I figured out is that for all their popularity, they (especially Sheldon) are the underdogs.Bryce and Sheldon have a strange relationship. At first glance they're hookup buddies. But it's obvious they care more for each other. Sheldon's abandonment issues play heavily into this twisted dynamic.Sheldon becomes the focus of a twisted stalker turned killer and maybe I just had a brain fart, but I thought Tijan did a pretty good job throwing out red herrings because although I had suspected who it was correctly once or twice, I didn't know for sure until the end and I'd equally suspected several others.The journey of the story is emotional for Sheldon... she really needs help finding herself and an emotionally safe place for herself.That may not have been the most admirable job of summarizing, but I didn't want to give spoilers and I'm still reeling a little from frustration that the series isn't finished and I so want to find out what happens to these 3 people!!