I received this book for free from HarperTeen in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Twisted Fate by Norah OlsenPublished by Katherine Tegen Books on January 20th 2015
Genres: Contemporary, YA
Source: HarperTeen
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When Alyson meets Graham Copeland, the new boy next door, she instantly feels like he’s a kindred spirit—shy and awkward like her, someone who has trouble making friends. It’s impossible to resist having a crush on him.
As usual, her sister, Sydney, sees things differently. In Sydney's mind, Graham's odd personality and secretive past scream psychopath, not sweetheart. Her gut is telling her to stay away from him, and to protect a love-struck Alyson from her own naïveté. But despite her instincts, Sydney is surprised to realize that a part of her is drawn to Graham, too.
And the more Sydney gets to know him, the more she realizes just how right—and wrong—she is about everything.
Perfect for fans of Michelle Hodkin, and E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars, Twisted Fate is an unputdownable novel, teeming with suspense.
This was one of those books that I was really looking forward to and it sounded like a book I would love. Unfortunately, it was not all that great for me. There were a lot of POV’s and I just had a hard time really getting into it. It wasn’t that it wasn’t interesting. I did want to know the story, I was just kind of bored with it. It took me a long time to read and I almost didn’t finish it, though I am glad that I finally did. The ending is actually really great. This is told from multiple POV’s, as I said before. Sometimes I really like that style, but this one was just a bit too all over for me. I found myself confused at who I was reading at some points. I didn’t care for the characters very much, and it was really slow, but I think a lot of people will really like it though.
Syd and Ally are sisters. Syd being the one who doesn’t really follow the rules, but is super smart. Ally is the “good girl”. She picks berries and bakes muffins, and has her head on straight. Then bring in Graham. He’s the boy next door who is the image of bad boy. they both feel drawn to him, but while Ally is falling for him, Syd is wary. She knows that something is off with him and she doesn’t really trust him. Syd and Ally are total opposites, and their relationship was… interesting.
Graham was totally creepy and messed up. He lives behind his camera and feels like his films of people are art. He is beautiful and mysteriously cool. At least to some of the characters in the book. I found him to be really weird and someone I would stay far away from. He becomes obsessed with filming Ally. He is a rich kid who has some major psychological issues, but hasn’t been taught how to deal with them, or the consequences of when he has done something wrong.
I really want to go more in depth with this review since it seems to have taken me so long to have read this book, but it’s the type of book that I can’t really say much about without giving anything away. I could talk a little about the love triangle, or the lack of parenting skills, but I can’t talk about the depth of the story, and that is really the major selling point of it. This was a seriously messed up book on more than one level. It was a great story in general. I just thought the execution was a bit lacking and it was hard to read. I don’t mind slow books, but this one was slow and just didn’t capture me until well past the fifty percent mark. One of the best parts was the end. Not because I finally finished it, but really, it was a pretty great ending. I only wish that the rest of the book had interested me as much as the last bit of the book.
2.5 Hot Espressos
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Nick @ Nick's Book Blog
I’m disappointed to hear that you didn’t really enjoy this one. I was looking forward to it because it sounded intriguing, but now I actually might skip it. I don’t deal well with multiple POVs usually.
Great review, Amy!
Carole Rae
Booo. I loath when they put waaaaay too many POVs, because its hard to connect with a character that way.
kimberly mckay
POV’s are important to some stories – as there two sides to every story. I am an author, who has been known to do this and I’ve been praised for it and critiqued for it. It’s a fine balance between striking gold with segues between the story lines or POV’s, and sinking your ship from loading the reader down.
-blessed holy socks
I personally wouldn’t get tooo worried about what the whorizontal world thot about me, dear; I’d be much! more! concerned about what Jesus shall say at our General Judgment. You maaay not like me, yet, I’m not out to please you. Lemme gonna wanna tella youse Who (grrr – New Joisey accent):
Not sure if we’re on the same page if you saw what I saw… Greetings, earthling. Because I was an actual NDE on the outskirts of the Great Beyond at 15 yet wasn’t allowed in, lemme share with you what I actually know Seventh-Heaven’s Big-Bang’s gonna be like for us if ya believe: meet this ultra-bombastic, ex-mortal-Upstairs for the most extra-blatant, guhroovaliciousness (-Austin POW!ers), pleasure-beyond-measure, Ultra-Yummy, Reality-Firepower-Addiction in the Great Beyond for a BIG-ol, kick-ass, party-hardy, robust-N-risqué, eternal-real-McCoy-warp-drive you DO NOT wanna miss the sink-your-teeth-in-the-rrrock’nNsmmmokin’-hot-deal: PLEASE KEEP HANDS/FEET INSIDE THE WIDE UNTIL WE MADE A CIRCUMFERENCE OF NEVER-ENDING-POSSIBILITIES. Yes, we’ll have a high-flying, immense-impression to be an outstanding-red-marker! For God, anything and everything and more! is possible!! Meet me Upstairs, puh-leeeze. Do that for us. Cya soon, girl…
Kezia
Aw, sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy it as much, Amy! But at least the second half was better though! Anyway, this book doesn’t seem like my cup of tea — while I do like multiple POVs, I dislike slow beginnings so I think I might skip it. Thanks for the review, Amy! ^^
Madiha@Symphony of Words
Yikes – multiple POVS really aren’t my thing. Glad you could at least enjoy it a little. Best of luck with you next read 🙂
Jeann @ Happy Indulgence
Graham sounds really spoilt and his attitude would really piss me off in the book I think. He sounds so completely creepy and I can’t believe people would put up with that! Great review though, Amy.
Olivia
Aww, it’s a shame you didn’t like this one as much as you hoped to. Sometimes books can be like that :/ I know that some people are awaiting on this one, but I wasn’t one of them. The idea of too many POVs scares me away a bit.