Beautiful by Amy Reed

Beautiful by Amy Reed
Rating: 4/5

Synopsis: When thirteen-year-old Cassie moves to a suburb of Seattle, she is determined to leave her boring, good-girl existence behind. She chooses some dangerous new friends and is quickly caught up in their fast-paced world of drugs, sex, secrets, and cruelty.

Cassie's new existence both thrills and terrifies her. She embraces the numbness she feels from the drugs, starts sleeping with an older boy, and gets pulled into a twisted friendship triangle that is tinged with violence and abuse. Cassie is trapped in a swift downward spiral, and there's no turning back.

Review: Beautiful was beautiful in its raw and intensifying way. Cassie is only 13 which throws me off a bit because of how out of control she is described in the synopsis. Seventh grade isn't too far if I travel down the road because I'm really just about 2 years older, and I do know it is the time when girls try to rediscover themselves. The way Cassie did anything she could in order to be liked shocked me. This book sucked me in from page 1. It was dark and had a disturbing edge. The writing was clear which made the story easier to comprehend. Just beautiful.

What I thought of...

The Beginning: We get a nice introduction, but Alex...oh Alex...how I want to kill her right then. Just when I started a couple of pages.

The Middle: The change Cassie goes through from page 1 to now was very disturbing--and yet captivating. (Really bizarre O_O)

The End: Wow. Just wow. O_O

FTC: Received for Other Shelf Tours