Review: Poignant and Well Thought Out...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 1, 2014
I love this book, no really. Love. Actually that might not be a strong enough word. More like I’m infatuated with this book. I’m stalker creepy attached to it. Yes that just happened, I said that.Lovely Vicious by Sara Wolf follows 17-year-old Isis Blake as she engages in a battle of wits with East Summit High’s most sought after bachelor, Jack Hunter. This is not your typical love story and I think that might be what I love most about it. Wolf knows how to own a main character. Isis is my hero. I totally want her as my BFF.Isis is like any other teenager girl who’s been hurt and bullied by the people around her. When she lived in Florida, she was overweight and in love with a boy who of course wouldn’t give her the time of day until he did and it was all just a big dirty scheme. He pretended to have feelings for her and then broke her heart. Bastard!Anyway, she loses all this weight and starts over at a new school, but there are still so many scars on the inside and she hides that pain with snark and sarcasm. Isis has built this impervious wall around herself so she won’t get hurt and who can blame her? But then she meets Jack and unlike that crazy instalove in a lot of books, here we’ve got instahate!Isis punches Jack right in the face! It’s crazy awesome and she does it in defense of someone else…and maybe before she hates guys like him who think they’re above everyone else. The war between Isis and Jack starts there and throughout the book they do one horrible thing to each other after another. And I like it.No before you go calling me sadistic and stuff, you need to understand where the characters are coming from. These are two very damaged people with things that happened in both of their pasts that have defined the people they are now and I think Wolf does an amazing job of gasping and using that.Their interactions always leave me wanting more, needing more. And no matter what Jack throws at Isis or how much it hurts she never lets it get her down. She just picks herself up and throws a harder punch back it’s amazing. She’s the strongest character I’ve ever read and I found myself rooting for her over and over again.Wolf does an amazing job fleshing these characters out and tying certain parts of the story together. There are flashbacks, surprises and then when you think you know something, you don’t and it all comes to light and you’re like holy crap is this really happening? I don’t want to give away the parts I’m talking about because they need to be read in context or they won’t be as powerful.Lovely Vicious is definitely going to climb up my favorite books list. The plot is well thought out and concise and the execution is magnificent. I fell in so much love with all of these characters. Kayla has such a big heart and Wren is forever loyal. Isis is strong and Jack is the protector at all costs. You can’t help but love these characters despite their faults.Wolfs word choices and the execution of certain scenes are just perfect. I think there was only one scene that bugged me and it was only because it was from Isis and Jack’s POV’s and I kept getting confused as to who’s thoughts and words were who’s but that was the only scene their POV’s mixed. Other than that this book was flawless. I cannot wait for the second book. I need to know what happens. I would absolutely recommend Lovely Vicious to my readers. It’s a poignant and fun read that will leave you wanting more for days to come!