Review: Captivating
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 20, 2012
This review contains spoilers.When the author first contacted me and asked me if I would be willing to give an honest review of her book in exchange for a free copy of the e-book version, I was ecstatic, to say the least, having never made a trade like that before. But I was also a bit worried; what if I didn't like it? Would I have the heart to give an honest review then? As I started reading that thought plagued my mind, but almost immediately it slipped away as I got caught up in the story and finding out what was going to happen next and how it would all end. I never expected to finish it as fast as I did, and I will admit that I blew off a bit of school work to read this book, but I must say it was well worth it.So the story here is that Lucy Carter's one and only older sister Kate died in a car accident and her parents ship her off to a boarding school by the name of The Edmond School for Performing Arts, or ESPA, because the death of Kate has shaken the foundation of their family, of their very beings, to the core. Lucy's parents are separating, they can hardly be around her without thinking of Kate, and her dad figures there's nothing else left there for Lucy and it would be better for her to go to ESPA since she had been accepted and wanted to go there B.A. - "Before Accident," as Lucy refers to it as - anyway but had changed her mind because she couldn't stand the thought of being away from her loving, together family. But since Lucy is now a sophomore and they usually only accept freshmen, her dad moreorless buys her way into the school, which I think is a little like adding insult to injury, given the circumstances.Lucy is to start her classes right away, as soon as she leaves the principal's office, and gets into life at ESPA. She goes to her classes, meets the school's resident mean-girl at lunch, makes a friend - Isabel, Isa for short, another theater major, and then later on Paige, - starts going through the motions of adjusting to life at this school, but her sister's death has impacted her greatly; she doesn't care anymore. Her grades start slipping, she can't act like she used to, she's ignoring her old friends from back home, she's just numb, angry at her parents for reacting to her sister's death the way they did and sending her away, and doesn't care about anything anymore.But then one night Lucy is sitting in the common room studying like she's done every night when her room feels too small, only this night she decides against listening to her iPod and hears the far off sound of music coming up through a heating vent. She decides to investigate where and who it might be coming from and spends hours every night wandering through the maze of the school's basement - which is said to be haunted by the ghosts of a couple of students who died down there - searching for an answer to who's playing this wonderfully amazing music that has made Lucy feel and care again, that inspires her. And then when she finally finds specifically where the music is coming from, she discovers the maker of the music, a 17-year-old boy named Chris, who winds up becoming Lucy's boyfriend soon enough. They inspire each other and are each convinced that they are what make the other amazing at their particular craft, acting for Lucy, music for Chris.From the moment Lucy and Chris meet, the book takes us through their relationship and other aspects of Lucy's new life at ESPA as she tries to come to grips with everything that's going on and the new people and relationships in her life, how much things have changed since her sister died, dealing with her parents - who, she's convinced, don't want much to do with her anymore, - all while trying to keep Chris happy and her acting and grades at their best despite her sleep deprivation from her late nights with Chris.I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the characters in it; I had some really strong feelings about a few of them, which just made the read that much more enjoyable, as I wanted to know more about them and what they were going to do next the entire time. Nicole, Isa, Chris, and Lucy. Each of them always managed to get a strong reaction out of me depending on what they were doing. I rarely had anything nice to say about Nicole and Chris, though; both of them rubbed me the wrong way, Nicole right off the bat, Chris not too long after him and Lucy meet. I went from thinking Chris was amazing and talented and hot and adorable - I have a thing for guys like him, you see, as I'm sure most girls probably do; damaged, but creative. - to thinking he was bi-polar, among other things. Regardless, I know Chris did have a function and he was necessary in the story, so I shan't hate on him too badly. Actually, I kind of felt a little bit bad for him by the end, his past wasn't a happy one and he really did need to seek professional help, but he wound up throwing his music and dreams away to join the army, to help out his family; it's always sad when someone has to give up on their dreams to cope better with the reality of things, especially when they're as talented as he was.That being said, Chris and Lucy did not have a healthy relationship, and Lucy was wise to get out of it when it clicked for her that hey, this isn't right, this isn't what she needs, even though it did hurt her to do so. I think, for girls who might read this, that's a good message to see, regardless of whether or not that was the author's intention. On a related note, after I finished the book, I went online and looked up the signs of an abusive relationship, and I think Luce is just lucky she wasn't in this relationship longer or deeper than she currently was. Their relationship had its time, its purpose, and Lucy knows that, she also knew when she didn't need it anymore, when it was getting to be toxic and lethal, when it was time to get out of it. And she did. Which was very good for her.Quite frankly, I could barely tear myself away from this book for anything, and I believe other people who have read this just might be of similar opinions. So I gave it a four, because I liked the story, I liked that a lot of predictions that I made as I was reading turned out to be wrong so I never really knew what to expect next, I liked the characters, I liked that so many of them could get so many strong reactions out of me, I liked the different relationships the different characters had with each other, I liked that it all had its purpose, I liked the title, I really liked the cover, I liked a lot about this book. Now the reason I only gave it four and not five was because there was some stuff I didn't like about it. I didn't like the way things with Nicole and Lucy just ended like that, I didn't like that Lucy never really tells any of her friends about her sister dying and the real reason she started school there so late, I didn't like that we never get to know much about Paige and Isa and their home lives, their stories, I didn't like we didn't really find out much about Kate's accident that killed her, I didn't like that we never hear anything else about Lucy's friends from back home, I didn't like that some things just never really got explained or dealt with again...Overall, however, I think it's safe to say that the positives definitely out-weigh the negatives here and I would strongly recommend reading this amazing book. I think you'll find it's definitely worth the read.