Pretty Girl-13

Jan 05, 2013 Emily May rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, ya-na, mystery-thriller-horror, 2013, wtf-sexism

2.5
Just to issue a quick warning: I'm not sure what is to be considered a spoiler for this book as everything seemed glaringly obvious to me but please don't read this if you'd like to be completely unaware of anything to do with Angie's condition (even though it is made known relatively early).

This book started very well but became more ridiculous with every chapter that I read. A number of subplots were introduced that did nothing but further complicate the story whilst actually being an atte...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Wendy Darling rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: harpercollins, 2013-publication, march, young-adult, thriller-suspense, icky-subjects, read-2013

Fascinating subject, and a hard one to tackle for YA in particular. I've mixed feelings about some of the things it missed, so I think it falls somewhere in the middle of books that involve kidnapping.

Possible review to come.

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Jun 16, 2013 Melanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, contemporary, e-arc, mystery, horror, oh-so-meh, romance, young-adult

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Pretty Girl-13 is one heck of a ride. Psychological thrillers aren't really my thing. I've always thought of them as well...weird and just creepy. However, this book was surprisingly good. While it had flaws, Pretty Girl-13 is a refreshing and unique read!

Thirteen year old Angie goes on a Girl Scout camping trip in the woods. One minute she's walking in the woods, next minute she's walking up the road to her house. Three years la...more See more reviews at YA Midnight Reads
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Pretty Girl-13 is one heck of a ride. Psychological thrillers aren't really my thing. I've always thought of them as well...weird and just creepy. However, this book was surprisingly good. While it had flaws, Pretty Girl-13 is a refreshing and unique read!

Thirteen year old Angie goes on a Girl Scout camping trip in the woods. One minute she's walking in the woods, next minute she's walking up the road to her house. Three years later. Angie, lost in confusion finds the fact that she is actually now 16 hard to believe as she felt as if just yesterday, she was packing her bag to Girl Scout camp. It turns out she has Multiple Personality Disorder. As Angie uncovers the shocking facts towards her abrupt disappearance, she endeavours through, meeting her 'alts' different personalities that helped her through her lost 3 years.

We dive into the story quickly, I really appreciate that as synopsis already gave us a run down on what happened. Angie is a really different girl to what I normally come by. Even though she had other personalities that were welded by her 'alters' Angie was quite average..but different at the same time. (...) okay this ain't working. Let me paint you guys a picture (not literally. That would be nasty) A girl goes to high school, does the same things from everyone else, but has something special about her, nothing too outstanding but she is empathetic, impulsive and likeable. Now, imagine this girl as our pretty girl-13, Angie the protagonist.

From what I have written down in my notes when reading this book, I have detected something I wrote down 4 times unintentionally. 'Lacks depth, couldn't feel any strong attachments to the characters' I really hate it when books lack depth. This one was a minor one, when the story began, everything moved too quickly, I couldn't quite keep up or have some 'text-self' relation.

The story line of Pretty Girl-13 is beyond what I expected. It was rather hard to grasp at first, but as the story progressed, I liked it more and more!

Pretty Girl-13 is a cannot be missed psychological mystery that keeps you on the edge of the seat the entire time. It could have been dusted up with the depth, but other than that, I really enjoyed this! Totally recommend to seekers of something new!

This copy was given for review purposes. No bribes were given to alter the review in anyway. Thank you for letting me have the chance to read such a lovely book Harperteen! (less)

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Jan 24, 2013 Elena rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, realistic, young-adult

At times, this book was uncomfortable to read. Rather than being an exciting thriller about a girl's kidnapping and escape, it's about Angie's slow journey back from a three-year captivity--not a physical journey, but a mental one.

In the aftermath of her captivity and escape, Angie remembers absolutely nothing about the time that passed between waking up at Girl Scout Camp one morning and finding herself standing on her street three years later with a bag full of clothes that definitely aren't h...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Giselle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, ebook, contemporary

This is the perfect example of a book you should go into completely blind. I did not read the synopsis beforehand (I think I may have months ago but I couldn't recall anything), nor did I even know the genre. I went in with zero expectation, and came out of it baffled by how it blew me out of the water!

Since I think everyone should do like me and go in without a clue, I will not ruin the moment for you either. But I can safely tell you the very basics without changing your reading experience: A...more This is the perfect example of a book you should go into completely blind. I did not read the synopsis beforehand (I think I may have months ago but I couldn't recall anything), nor did I even know the genre. I went in with zero expectation, and came out of it baffled by how it blew me out of the water!

Since I think everyone should do like me and go in without a clue, I will not ruin the moment for you either. But I can safely tell you the very basics without changing your reading experience: Angie went missing, then she comes back suddenly, and with absolutely zero memory of the past three years of her life. Three years that, to her, has never passed. Thus she finds herself still in her 13 year old mind, but with a 16 year old body. This, to me, was unbelievable. Leaving me turning the pages frantically to try and get a grip of what exactly has happened to her, WAS happening to her. There are events at the beginning that leave your mind stunned; fascinated, mostly. But soon enough you begin to understand what she's going through, and it opens up a whole new world of intrigue and wonder.

The story is raw and gritty, it left me both horrified and in a puddle of my own emotions. Upon turning the last page, all I wanted to do was burst into tears. As the story progresses, we learn exactly what happened to Angie, slowly, piece by shocking piece, until everything fits together at the end. This wonderful, strong, and brave soul really grabbed at my heart. I loved the protagonist and I adored her friends. I do have one qualm with the latter, though: When her friends see her--their missing and presumed dead friend--for the first time after three years, I was not convinced by their reaction. It was underwhelming. I'm also not sure about how the media could have been kept away for so long, or how easy it was for her to re-emerge herself into society without any chinks, not to mention her recovery's progression. These are all easily forgivable in hindsight, though, being a YA novel. Yes the story could afford to be tighter and stronger, had it been more thoroughly dissected, in psychological terms especially--it would have also needed to be longer to achieve this--but the book progresses rather quickly and into a direction that essentially makes these qualms inconsequential to get to the heart of what this story wants to be.

For a review on this novel, my plan is to keep it short and to the point and I think that's been achieved. We get into very hard topics, told in an amazingly effective way; intense, piercing, and all-consuming. Now, look away. Look. Away! And just read it!

--
An advance copy was provided by the publisher for review.

For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads

(less)

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Jan 04, 2013 Faye (The Social Potato) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: drama, crime, 2013, good-heroine, horror, mystery, psychological, thriller, young-adult, to-review, finding-oneself, edelweiss

Can also be read on The Social Potato.

Thank you Edelweiss and Katherine Tegen Books for the free copy of this novel in exchange for a review. This did not influence my review in any way.

Despite the three stars I gave, I did somehow enjoy this. I love reading psychological thrillers, because I find the human psyche intimidating and fascinating, and books that explore this are far and few between. Liz Coley writes a rather unique approach to this with Pretty Girl-13, providing us, readers, a chanc...more

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May 06, 2013 Kirsty rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: free-amazon-vine-books, made-me-want-to-cry, never-heard-of-this-author-before, ya, kidnapped

A very gripping and interesting book. I actually really enjoyed it, even considering the troubling topic of child abuse. The author did an excellent job of balancing the gritty realism with a hopeful undertone.

Angie is thirteen when she is abducted and kept captive for three years, after this time she returns home without any memory of the time passing, and not realizing she has aged at all.

Throughout medical and psychological examinations, we learn that Angie is suffering from Dissociative Iden...more A very gripping and interesting book. I actually really enjoyed it, even considering the troubling topic of child abuse. The author did an excellent job of balancing the gritty realism with a hopeful undertone.

Angie is thirteen when she is abducted and kept captive for three years, after this time she returns home without any memory of the time passing, and not realizing she has aged at all.

Throughout medical and psychological examinations, we learn that Angie is suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), or in laymans terms, multiple personalities. This is a condition that Angie's mind has developed to shield her from the trauma she has suffered in order for her to cope, and survive the situation. There are several personalities inside Angie and each had a specific role to play, and dealt with a different aspect of the abuse.

The story goes on to describe Angie's journey to becoming whole again, and the struggle of putting all the parts of her fractured psyche back together. As Angie has no memory of the past three years she has to work with her other personalities to gradually remember, and come to terms with the situation she survived, and to try to get them to merge with her so that she is in full control once more.

The full explanation, and ramifications of the DID disorder add real substance to this book. Some child abuse based books can fall into the trap of just dealing with the dreadful physical injuries sustained, but there is a huge mental impact that is sometimes overlooked. I never realized that DID was a defense mechanism, and by getting to know each individual personality we slowly realize the horrific events that Angie has been through, discovering it bit by bit as she does.

The other facet of the book I enjoyed was the almost out of body experience feeling that Angie had when trying to get back to normalcy. While she was trapped for those three years everyone else around her had to begin moving on. Her parents have had to grieve and say a final goodbye to her, her friends have aged and are different people, and the world has moved on without her. Yet Angie at first feels exactly the same as she did three years ago, except when she looks in the mirror a stranger stares back at her.

You would think considering the subject matter that this would be a very depressing book, and there is no getting away from the fact that reading about child abuse is always going to be tough to take. Yet throughout the book is Angie's steely resolve to live a normal life as possible. Her strength and resilience are inspirational, and by the end of the long hard journey I was left satisfied and optimistic that although she would never forget what happened, she would not let it dominate her life any longer.

I have to say that the book was excellent. I have read two other fictionalizations of child abuse/abduction, but Pretty Girl Thirteen has to be the best one. It had more realism, and was more relatable than Room, and although I did really enjoy Living Dead Girl, I felt that the psychological factors in Pretty Girl Thirteen made it really stand out.

A brilliantly absorbing novel. I'll be looking out for further books by Liz Coley.(less)

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Apr 30, 2013 Lectus rated it 5 of 5 stars

Via http://onlectus.blogspot.com/2013/04/...

Finally, a book worth my money and worth blogging about. Half way through the book, the story reminded me of Still Missing by Chevy Stevens. They are not the same, but some twists are.

Back to PG-13. From the summary, you know that at 13, Angie was kidnapped for three years, thus when she finally made back home she is 16. The only problem is that she doesn’t remember anything about the kidnapping and, for all she is aware of, she is just returning from...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Ashley (Nose Graze) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, physical-arc

BookNook — Young Adult book reviews

Pretty Girl-13 completely took me by surprise! This book is really heavy. It's dark, gritty, and deals with some seriously intense issues. I adored this book, but not in the usual girly, giddy, fan-girl-scream way. I adored Pretty Girl-13 in the sense that it really shook me to my core and left me speechless. It's an extremely sad and emotionally draining book, but it will leave you with dark and heavy thoughts that are sure to change you.

My biggest fear going...more BookNook — Young Adult book reviews

Pretty Girl-13 completely took me by surprise! This book is really heavy. It's dark, gritty, and deals with some seriously intense issues. I adored this book, but not in the usual girly, giddy, fan-girl-scream way. I adored Pretty Girl-13 in the sense that it really shook me to my core and left me speechless. It's an extremely sad and emotionally draining book, but it will leave you with dark and heavy thoughts that are sure to change you.

My biggest fear going into Pretty Girl-13 was that the "alters" would be confusing. These "alters" are Angie's other personalities. She developed them as a way to cope with extreme physical and emotional abuse. But I was afraid that these multiple personalities would make the book extremely confusing, especially if we were hopping from one personality's point of view to another. But don't worry—none of those fears became a reality; Liz Coley does a wonderful job crafting this book with zero confusion. It's definitely intriguing and a bit freaky to think about, but it's not confusing. For the most part, we don't actually see from the other personalities' points of view (there are a few minor exceptions). Usually when we hear from them it's in the form of a physical letter or recording from one personality to Angie. This more 'physical' way of hearing from the other personalities made it really easy to relate to and almost just view them as separate people.

On a similar note: don't be freaked out by the second person point of view in the prologue. I have to be honest, it scared the shit out of me. Second person isn't something you come across often and I was confused, scared, and worried. It kind of put me off on a bad foot with Pretty Girl-13 . But the rest of the book (or at least 99% of it) is formatted in a more traditional third person point of view. Now and then we do get the second person narrative, and that's when we're reading from an alter, who's sort of talking to Angie as "You". (I'm afraid I'm making this sound confusing, but I promise—it's not.)

Liz Coley did a fabulous job of slowly revealing the information about Angie's capture. We only learn bits and pieces at a time, but each new piece of information is a twist in the story. It's bomb drop after bomb drop, and things just get scarier, creepier, and more traumatic. But Angie was a fabulously strong main character and I was amazed at how well she took everything. She was a real trooper, and I loved that about her! I also loved the integration of therapy. I'm usually one of the people that's a little bit skeptical of therapy, but this book did a great job to demonstrate how therapy can really help a person overcome traumatic experiences, and it was brilliant!

Pretty Girl-13 is certainly a dark book and you can't go into it light-hearted, but I highly recommend it if you're looking for an intriguing, fascinating, and devastating read all in one. This book is just as hopeful as it is traumatic, and I love how Angie and Liz are able to point out the light amidst a sea of darkness.(less)

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Apr 25, 2013 Kayla rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-reads

I probably should have loved this book. It kept my attention and kept me flipping the pages as fast as I possibly could wondering what was going to happen next. The truth is though... when I finished this book I realized there were just too many flaws for me to really appreciate it. This book has such a serious storyline, yet I felt a little underwhelmed with how it was all presented. Also, some of the things characters did were just too dumb for me to comprehend. I understand that some of those...more

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May 24, 2013 Rachel Anderson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pretty Girl 13 by Liz Coley is about a 13 year old girl named Angie. She is camping with the rest of the girl scouts when she wanders into the woods and goes missing... for 3 years. She has no recollection of ever being gone when she suddenly reappears and tries to return to her life as though she had never left. There are so many things wrong with Angie that she soon discovers by going to therapy sessions with Dr.Grant and so many memories she never knew even happened.

This book creeps you out...more

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May 23, 2013 Ian Wood added it

Liz Coley's Pretty Girl-13 was a definite worthy and it seemed like it was never in danger of not getting that appellation from me. There's a detailed review on my blog.

Well I'm in love with Liz Coley, and I've only just started this one! This novel impressed me from the off, so I am thrilled to be on my third novel in a row to which I find I can warm up. I love this title which translates to PG-13(!), but this book is a disturbing book, especially after the very recent revelation (at the time I...more Liz Coley's Pretty Girl-13 was a definite worthy and it seemed like it was never in danger of not getting that appellation from me. There's a detailed review on my blog.

Well I'm in love with Liz Coley, and I've only just started this one! This novel impressed me from the off, so I am thrilled to be on my third novel in a row to which I find I can warm up. I love this title which translates to PG-13(!), but this book is a disturbing book, especially after the very recent revelation (at the time I'm writing this) of the three brothers who abducted three teen-aged girls and held them for a decade. I don’t know how anyone can come back from that, but it's heartening that people do. At least those women were not tortured and left in shallow graves; that is they weren't tortured physically in the commonly understood sense. They were very much tortured emotionally and psychologically, and that's more than probably worse.

In this fictional account (perhaps rooted in fact? I don’t know, but I'm going by Coley's dedication: For J, who survived) Angela Gracie Chapman was abducted from summer camp when she was thirteen. No one ever discovered what had happened to her. Now she's sixteen and "wakes up" walking down the street towards her home. Her parents almost go into shock; they're also victims of this crime.

The detective who was on the case arrives quickly and she's subject to the indignity of having to go to the hospital for a rape examination by a male doctor. Nowhere is there a social worker, psychiatrist, psychologist, or therapist of any appropriate kind available. I find that hard to believe - unless the hospital she was taken to was truly second rate. She can’t get such an appointment until the next afternoon.

Meanwhile, the nurse keeps calling her 'sweetie', which doesn’t seem to bother Angela in her 13-year-old state, but I definitely feel like I want to catch that nurse upside her condescending head for it. Angela blacks out for a few minutes when the doctor examines her vagina and no one seems to see this, not even Angela - not properly. Hopefully the psychiatrist will latch onto that. From her physical state, it's clear she has been manacled and held prisoner for the intervening three years, and from her mental state, it’s clear that she dissociated herself from what was happening and walled it off in order to try and cope with the horror of it, which accounts for the "amnesia" (yes, in quotes- more on this anon!).

She has flashbacks in a different person to things she did or things from which she was protected by dissociation. Her thirteen year old self did not know how to cook, but her sixteen year old self seems to have that knowledge hidden away somewhere. She's very strong for her size, and her hands are calloused, like she did hard work, but she cannot recall it. When she woke up that day on her own street, she carried a bag with clothes and a shiv. She recalls none of what that means.

Her immediate problem right then is that she still thinks she's thirteen and expects to be treated like that, but her dad won't even hold her hand. She can barely handle the knowledge that she's actually sixteen and the world has moved on three years while she was on hold like some kid's forgotten DVD. She can hardly stand to look at her face in the mirror which looks so different from her mental image of herself. Her favorite clothes don’t fit and her body seems like it belongs to someone else. It’s ironic that someone, someone with very piercing dark eyes, she half-recalls, "borrowed" her, and now she feels like she's borrowing someone else. Since her clothes are annoyingly useless, she goes with her mom to the mall to buy fresh, and is outraged by the prices. She buys very little, but later, she finds something in the bag that evidently her alter ego (or one of them!) lifted from the store without her (Angela's) knowledge. The fact that she lets this go without even analyzing it is portentous.

The psychologist, Lynn Grant seems very much on the ball. I was impressed with her first meeting with Angela. It was very well written. She failed to address what might happen if a media circus surrounds Angela, which I thought was an awful omission, but When Angela awakens from what she thought was a few minutes of hypnosis, she learns from Grant that she was "out" for a half hour, and Grant was talking to another personality called Girl Scout, not to Angela at all, and Girl Scout is very worried about Angela.

Angela has to fight her parents a bit to get what she feels she needs. Her father is being completely dumb about this, not understanding Angela at all, and her mother wants her to get back to normal. Her mother accidentally reveals that she's pregnant, and what with that and reading her mother's scrapbook that she started after Angela's disappearance, Angela is now half under the impression that her folks gave up on her and moved on, and that she's shortly to be replaced with the new baby. In the end, bolstered by Grant's agreement, Angela determines that she should go back to school, but start in ninth grade because she knows she has catching up to do, but not that much.

That's when the fun starts, people start reacting, Angela starts getting her life back together, and discoveries about her three missing years slowly begin to surface. This is one hell of a novel.(less)

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May 21, 2013 Grey rated it 1 of 5 stars

I love psychological thrillers. Yes, they're weird and creepy, but that's the main reason why I love them! I'm a psych major and I find them fascinating. So when I saw this, I know I have to read this! I just have to.

Pretty girl 13 tells the story of Angie Chapman, a thirteen year old girl, who ventured into the woods on a girl scouts camping. She's been abducted by a stranger and when she returns home, she finds out that it's three years later and she's now sixteen year old. Or so she believe....more

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May 15, 2013 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Summary:
Angie Chapman has been missing for three years. She was kidnapped from a Girl Scout camping trip when she was thirteen years old. She returns home with no recollection of anything. She still believes that she is thirteen years old and going into eighth grade. It comes as a complete shock that she has been missing for three years. The police recommend therapy to attempt to get information about where she's been, who kidnapped her, and how she got away. So, she goes to a therapist who hypn...more Summary:
Angie Chapman has been missing for three years. She was kidnapped from a Girl Scout camping trip when she was thirteen years old. She returns home with no recollection of anything. She still believes that she is thirteen years old and going into eighth grade. It comes as a complete shock that she has been missing for three years. The police recommend therapy to attempt to get information about where she's been, who kidnapped her, and how she got away. So, she goes to a therapist who hypnotizes her and discovers that she has multiple personalities. The process to figure out what happened and blend her alters together begins.

My thoughts:
This is a very emotional novel. Even though Angie is light-hearted and seems to be enjoying her life outside of her diagnosed disorder, she is going through figuring out what happened to her. Unfortunately, figuring out if rape and sexual abuse has happened to someone is a common issue amongst teenage girls. Even if someone who has experienced sexual abuse and not split personalities (which is more the case), most people repress details and memories. These memories pop up a lot in late teenage years, so it is possible that this would be a good book for them. Even though it is a difficult subject matter, identifying with someone else can be very helpful. 1 in 4 people have experienced some sort of abuse in their life. Watch who picks up the book, be there for them if they want to discuss something, but put this out there just in case.

I know that's not much of an overall review of the actual book, but I honestly don't know how to react. There were things that I liked about the book and things that I did not. First, therapy does not happen overnight, or even a few weeks. The fact that this one did is just unrealistic. I understand that the author does put a little warning note on the back, but when you are reading realistic fiction you expect realistic situations, characters, etc. I'm not a fan of hypnotism, especially with young adults. That's just a personal thing though. I did like Angie. She's a loveable character that is extremely courageous. She genuinely wants to help everyone that she cares about and she does not get frustrated when things don't go exactly as she has planned. (less)

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May 14, 2013 Lindie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a difficult book to rate, it’s not like I can say I enjoyed the book, it deals with too terrible subject matter for it to be truly enjoyable. Dealing with child abuse, molestation, rape and mental illness, this is certainly not a book for everyone.

Hell, it’s probably not a book I should have read either. Books like these make me want to go all supervillain and destroy the entire human race. We should not be allowed to live if we produce people who can inflict these terrible acts on anot...more

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May 11, 2013 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Angela Chapman is thirteen years old. The last thing she remembers is going on a Girl Scouts trip and encountering a frightening person in the forest. Now, she is wearing weird clothes and has scars she doesn't remember getting. When she returns home, her parents tell her she has been gone for 3 years, but she still has no recollection of even being gone. As she is getting used to being 3 years older than she feels and acclimating to her new life, strange things start to happen. Angela finds cho...more Angela Chapman is thirteen years old. The last thing she remembers is going on a Girl Scouts trip and encountering a frightening person in the forest. Now, she is wearing weird clothes and has scars she doesn't remember getting. When she returns home, her parents tell her she has been gone for 3 years, but she still has no recollection of even being gone. As she is getting used to being 3 years older than she feels and acclimating to her new life, strange things start to happen. Angela finds chores done around the house, but no one admits to doing it. She wakes up exhausted after getting full night's sleep and finally finds a note written by a fragment of her personality called an alter. Dissociative identity disorder is the name of her condition, more famously known as multiple personality disorder. Now, Angela has to embark on a terrifying journey to collect the memories of her abduction and put her life back together.

I have read a few books on dissociative identity disorder, which is still very controversial and many still doubt the veracity of the disorder. I always thought the subject was much too adult for teens because of the descriptions of abuse that contributed to the fracturing of the main character's psyche. Liz Coley describes these events without an overabundance of detail and makes it palatable for a teen audience. The emotional impact is just as strong even without the more graphic descriptions that would be seen in an adult novel. Angela's story brings to mind the victims of prolonged abuse in the headlines today. I was disgusted, saddened, and filled with rage when further abuse in her past was dismissed by her relatives, by the way her so called friends treated her after she returned to school, and by the three years of abuse she had to endure. So, be prepared for an intense emotional roller coaster.

Angela and her personalities are very different from each other. Angie is an innocent, normal thirteen year old girl. She's confused and wants to find out about what happened to her. Her alters protected her from the horrible truth and in turn protect the reader as well by doling out information bit by bit. Girl Scout is resourceful and excels at cooking. Little Wife is forward, daring, and sexual. Tattletale is a shy, scared little girl. These are only the main ones. Some of the minor ones are much less fully realized. All of them have different opinions, senses of style, and preferences. The readers never get to experience the point of view of any of the alters, like Angela. We only see their written narratives, tape recordings, or the aftermath of their actions. I think it would have been nice to see them more up close and see the world through their eyes, but it was a strong narrative choice and makes us sympathize more with Angela.

Pretty Girl-13 is an addicting read that I finished in one sitting. I needed to know what happened and some of the revelations caught me by surprise. The only problem I had with the novel was the use of technology to instantly get rid of the alters. I'm not sure if that was made up, but it sounds too convenient. It takes decades of therapy to get to that point for most people. Other than that, I would recommend this book for those not afraid of an emotionally heavy, but ultimately inspiring novel.(less)

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May 02, 2013 Sphinx Feathers rated it 3 of 5 stars

Overall, this book was well-written. The research put into this book was clear. At the end of this book, the author actually makes note that she interviewed quite extensively a person who has integrated and used a lot of her experienced (with permission of course) did a lot of research on the psychiatric end to get the details correct. That being said, there were a lot of moments when I had to put the book down and walk away. That being said, I finished the book, and it ended all right. The hard...more

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Apr 25, 2013 steph rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2013, library-la-public, lots-of-characters, ya-fiction

I have been thinking about this review since I finished this book last night because, for the first time in a long time, I'm not sure how I feel about a book, let alone how to review it.

So here's the deal. Overall, I really liked this book. I went into it blind, not sure what this book was about other then it was about a kidnapped thirteen year old girl who showed up three years later back at home. And I liked that. In fact, I would caution people not to read spoilers for this book, because it h...more

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Apr 08, 2013 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, psychological

Ever since I read All Around the Town by Mary Higgins Clark, I have been fascinated by DID and how complex and mysterious the human mind can be, though for some reason I had never read another book dealing with this subject matter until Pretty Girl-13.

So for bringing me back to the genre, Pretty Girl-13 gets 5 stars!

Why then is my rating 3 stars? Sadly, the book didn't meet all my expectations.

1. There are no plot twists. Hints aren't dropped - they're wrapped in neon bright colours and then th...more Ever since I read All Around the Town by Mary Higgins Clark, I have been fascinated by DID and how complex and mysterious the human mind can be, though for some reason I had never read another book dealing with this subject matter until Pretty Girl-13.

So for bringing me back to the genre, Pretty Girl-13 gets 5 stars!

Why then is my rating 3 stars? Sadly, the book didn't meet all my expectations.

1. There are no plot twists. Hints aren't dropped - they're wrapped in neon bright colours and then thrown in your face. Though, part of the reason I picked up the book in the first place was because I guessed the part about DID within the first three pages and was excited to read about it again (it may not have been obvious to someone who has never read about DID before though). I was extremely surprised how quickly that fact was revealed in the story. Given that, maybe I shouldn't have expected too much suspense (in the MHC book I mentioned above, the DID isn't even discovered until 15-ish years have passed).
And it's totally fine for a story not to have plot twists and just move along. Really. Totally fine. But if you're going to market a book as a psychological mystery, it might be good to include some mystery.

2. Considering the subject matter, this story is super light and fluffy. I don't want to downplay the horrors that Angie suffered which were described in an appropriately YA-audience way, but honestly? Angie's reactions to things were way too reasonable and in my opinion, unrealistic. Angie didn't cry, broke down only once due to the trauma in the entire process. She suffered from terrible headaches and lack of sleep, but still aced school and caught up from grade 7 to grade 9? There are lots of other examples, as other reviews have written about.

3. Some completely unrealistic scenarios. (view spoiler) Sooo...like, what? It doesn't even make sense in the context of the story.

On the whole, I would only recommend this book as an introduction to DID and the genre, and haven't rated down to a two because I'm glad for the awareness it raises on the topic of mental illness, and for bringing me back to the genre.(less)

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Mar 19, 2013 Whitney rated it 2 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this book, but I have read way too many true-life accounts of multiple personalities to be able to take it seriously. The plot twists were way too obviously foreshadowed, and there are major plot holes.

SPOILER ALERTS

(view spoiler)...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Once Upon rated it 3 of 5 stars

3.5 rating

I didn't really know what to expect when I picked up Pretty Girl-13. Rape is a topic I have not read about before and to be honest, it's a depressing subject. But, Liz Coley did manage to take something very tragic into something inspirational.

Angie was only 13 when she was kidnapped from the woods as she was camping with her Girl Scout friends. Only to turn up in front of her parents door step, 3 years later with absolutely no recollection or memory of what happened to her or how she...more 3.5 rating

I didn't really know what to expect when I picked up Pretty Girl-13. Rape is a topic I have not read about before and to be honest, it's a depressing subject. But, Liz Coley did manage to take something very tragic into something inspirational.

Angie was only 13 when she was kidnapped from the woods as she was camping with her Girl Scout friends. Only to turn up in front of her parents door step, 3 years later with absolutely no recollection or memory of what happened to her or how she made it back home. When her parents saw her, they thought they had seen a ghost. I mean, can you blame them – she was gone for three years. Quickly, her parents call the detective to let him know the great news. They take her to the hospital to get some tests done and pretty much a rape kit. They need to get whatever evidence they can since Angie doesn't remember anything. You would think that Angie’s parents are super thrilled that she is back, but for some odd reason, her father is happy, but is acting all weird around her. I didn't get that part. Anyways, Angie starts her therapy and discovers that she has multiple personalities. According to her therapist, her mind came up with these alters to help her cope with the things she had to endure while she was captured. Sort of a way to protect her, which is the reason why she can’t remember what happened during that time.

Overall, the story was really good, but I do have couple of issues that bothered me and sort of left me hanging. I am going to try to explain them without any spoilers. I expected a huge emotional scene after a HUGE revelation, but nothing happened. I understand that the story is more focused on the recovery of Angie, but it just didn't seem realistic. It's like they just brushed it off. My other complaint is that Angie was held prisoner and enslaved at the age of 13 by a man who sexually assaulted her, and tortured her and after just a few months of therapy, and her alters disappearing, she was okay. I mean even when she first started her therapy she wasn't as "messed" up as you would think a young 13 year old girl would be after going through such an ordeal. I mean, this is something that takes years to recover from, if you ever recover from it. Yes, I understand that her "alters" took the abuse so that Angie didn't have to endure it and erased from her memory, but still. It just didn't feel realistic. Overall, it was a great read and very inspirational.(less)

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Mar 15, 2013 Kat Heckenbach rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm really not sure how to start this review. And forgive me, but there are going to have to SPOILERS here. I'll try to keep them to a minimum though.

I really wanted to like this book. The cover is so cool, the concept so intriguing. The structure had potential for real brilliance, too--the way Angela's other personalities tell their part of the story in second person and through notes they leave for Angela. But the potential wasn't met, and I found the story less and less believable as I read.

F...more I'm really not sure how to start this review. And forgive me, but there are going to have to SPOILERS here. I'll try to keep them to a minimum though.

I really wanted to like this book. The cover is so cool, the concept so intriguing. The structure had potential for real brilliance, too--the way Angela's other personalities tell their part of the story in second person and through notes they leave for Angela. But the potential wasn't met, and I found the story less and less believable as I read.

First of all, this book is about a hugely traumatic experience. Angela is abducted, and physically and sexually abused to the point where she splits into multiple personalities and the Angela part of her doesn't remember anything. But she is so flippant about the whole thing. At one point, as she's getting ready to have a full medical exam only hours after returning home--poked and prodded to determine if she's been raped--she discovers horrible scars on her ankles from where she'd been shackled. What does she think to herself? That she is "never, ever going to wear sandals again."

This lack of real emotion and realistic reaction occurs through the entire book. There were SO many variables thrown in--what happened to her during her missing years, the amnesia, the split personalities, changes in her parents lives while she was gone, her friends lives changing, things emerging from her past...and Angela takes it all in stride, joking about things, never crying. Even with the other personalities there to "protect" her, she'd be completely overwhelmed, but she goes right back to school, goes to dances and on dates, and even babysits for the neighbor.

That right there had me, as a parent, completely freaked out. I'm sorry--Angela's parents know she has other personalities inside her, personalities that take over her and make her black out for hours, and they let her babysit someone else's infant????? Seriously?

And other characters were unbelievable as well. Most were pretty flat, to be honest.

Just last week I read another YA novel that dealt with mental illness, and I've read several YA novels that deal with topics like suicide and abuse. Incredible, insightful, deep, emotional, and rich stories. Everything this book was not, I'm sorry to say. The fact is, if you're going to pick a dark topic to write a story around--and sexual abuse, especially to the extent present in this story--a light tone and simplistic voice just does not work. It felt completely unbalanced and awkward.

I gave the book two stars instead of one because I actually finished it--although I skimmed the last third of the book just to see if my guesses about certain things were true (they were)--and I could see *potential* in the author's writing.
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Mar 07, 2013 Harriet rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: terrible-books

One of those books where the writing isn't good enough to live up to the concept, and when the plot involves (no spoilers, it opens with this) a 16-year-old girl returning home after having been kidnapped three years' ago, the bad writing becomes almost offensive, with poor, unrealistic descriptions of rape kits, medical examinations and shallow characterisation. I have SO many issues with this book, not least
(view spoiler)...more

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Feb 27, 2013 Amber rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This original review can be found at http://themilelongbookshelf.blogspot.com

When I first received this book, I had no idea what to expect. I had never heard about this book before, and from reading the press release that came with it, I didn't think it would be my kind of book. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised!

The story starts with a thirteen-year-old girl called Angie, who is in the woods on a girl scout camping trip. Early one morning, she goes into the woods to pee. One moment she's inno...more This original review can be found at http://themilelongbookshelf.blogspot.com

When I first received this book, I had no idea what to expect. I had never heard about this book before, and from reading the press release that came with it, I didn't think it would be my kind of book. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised!

The story starts with a thirteen-year-old girl called Angie, who is in the woods on a girl scout camping trip. Early one morning, she goes into the woods to pee. One moment she's innocently crouching amongst the leaves, and then suddenly she is three years older, on her own street walking towards her house. Through DNA tests and assessments, she finds out that she has been violently and sexually abused. However, she doesn't remember anything about what happened in the three year gap in her life. That's when she finds out she has developed Disassociative Identity Disorder, meaning her brain has created multiple identities that she constantly switches between, much to the confusion of her family and friends.

I think this is the only psychological thriller I've ever read, but I'll certainly try to read more of those from now on. This book didn't disappoint!

The only fault I found was that I didn't feel very connected to Angie. For someone who is meant to be confused, overwhelmed and emotional she didn't say much about how she was feeling. It was hard to feel empathy for her - actually, I felt quite detached. However, this isn't a huge problem for me as the plot was fantastic and unique!

I know I would have read this book in one sitting if that was possible (school gets in the way of everything...). It's such a gripping book and I could hardly bear to put it down!

One thing about this book: there are a LOT of twists. Some of them seemed pretty unnecessary to me, but they didn't really do any harm to the story. Some of them were predictable, and some of them added just the right amount of drama.

'Pretty Girl Thirteen' is a very enjoyable read - although it's really creepy in some places, but that adds to the excitement of it all! I recommend this to everyone. Mysterious, poignant, exciting and sinister - not to be missed! 10/10.

Thank you to the lovely people at HarperCollins for sending this to me in exchange for an honest review.(less)

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Jan 12, 2013 Brandi Kosiner added it

I am immediately drawn to anything with memory loss so from the moment I read the blurb I knew that I wanted to read Pretty Girl-13. What I found inside the pages was more than I expected and crafted with brilliance. There is suspense, mystery, and a strong emotional pull.
I was sympathetic to Angie, and right there with her on the edge of my seat wanting to know what had happened to her in the lost years of her life, and like her, totally unprepared for each and every twist. I wasn't prepared...more

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Apr 25, 2013 Joanne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is a fairly quick read, partly because it is a page turner, and partly as it is aimed at a YA audience. It's the story of Angie, a 13-year old girl who goes to a girl scout camp, then returns home afterwards, much to the utter surprise of her parents, as she has been missing for three years. Only Angie has no recollection of these three years - she believes she has just returned from camp.

You learn fairly early on in the story that she is suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder, a...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Richa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, for-review, 2013-debut-author-challenge

Originally posted at City of Books

Wow, this book. It actually took me a little while to recover from it. Pretty Girl-13 is definitely not for the faint-hearted! I've honestly never read anything like this before, and I'm fascinated and disturbed at the same time. I know this book is going to plague my dreams tonight! This is an amazing debut from Liz Coley, and it's going to stay with me for quite a while.

The blurb of Pretty Girl-13 intrigued me immediately. Why couldn't Angie remember the three...more Originally posted at City of Books

Wow, this book. It actually took me a little while to recover from it. Pretty Girl-13 is definitely not for the faint-hearted! I've honestly never read anything like this before, and I'm fascinated and disturbed at the same time. I know this book is going to plague my dreams tonight! This is an amazing debut from Liz Coley, and it's going to stay with me for quite a while.

The blurb of Pretty Girl-13 intrigued me immediately. Why couldn't Angie remember the three years of her life she spent in captivity? And of course I wanted to know everything about the alters. This book shocked me at every turn. It's dark, it's serious, and it's completely captivating. Angie has a lot to deal with when she returns home after three years with no memory of what happened to her. In fact, she still believes she's thirteen, and that not a day has gone by since that fateful night she went out of the camping tent at night. This book addresses issues that are way too much for most YA readers. This is definitely more of an upper YA book at the least.

Angie has something called dissociative identity disorder (DID), previously known as multiple personality disorder, which I'm more familiar with. She has alternate personalities residing within her, which explains why she can't remember anything from the past three years. Her 'alters' have been living through her, doing everything they can to protect Angie from the horrors they chose to face instead. When she returns, all Angie wants is to find out what happened. And she does try, very hard. I admired her resilience and her ability to cope with everything despite how messed up her life was.

Angie has quite a few alters, all very different from her. I quite liked Girl Scout - she was the easiest to get to know. And how could I not love the little one called Tattletale? Little Wife is the bitchy one, but she has her reasons. And Angel, the only male alter, definitely lives up to his name. He really is like an avenging angel. And all of Angie's alters together have saved her life countless times. I loved this concept, and I love the fact that Liz Coley is bold enough to address this kind of stuff in a YA novel, something I've never seen before. Pretty Girl-13 is definitely a very daring novel, and Liz has pulled it off really well.

I think Liz wrote the perfect ending to this book. A lot of people wouldn't agree with me, but I really liked it, as well as the fact that some things were kept secret even after the book ended. I would like to know what they are, of course, but I'm sure Liz had her reasons to leave those secrets untouched. In a way this just made the ending even more effective to me, so I applaud Liz for writing it the way she did.

I seriously couldn't take my eyes off the pages until I was done. It's addictive, I tell you! I was completely pulled into Angie's story, and I loved it. I loved the writing, the depth of the novel, and the originality. There were some things that were quite predictable, as well as a few things that didn't really add up, but on the whole I really enjoyed this book. It's so starkly different from anything I've read! I'm definitely looking forward to more from Liz Coley, because I see enormous potential here. Pretty Girl-13 is a must-read, especially if you love psychological thrillers!

*Thank you to Liz Coley for providing an ARC for review*(less)

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Mar 15, 2013 Liz Wilkins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites

Angela goes missing on a camping trip - three years later she returns, with no memory of where she has been or what happened to her. During the course of the novel we discover, along with Angela, what has transpired. This book was written in an interesting way - in order to cope with her trauma, Angela has created several "alternate" personalities, each one dealing with a separate part of her ordeal. With the help of her therapist, Angela and these personalities interact, and a fuller picture be...more

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Jun 18, 2013 Sandy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-reviewed-2013, realistic-fiction

It's hard enough to be a teenager, but add to that the fact that you disappeared into thin air from a Girl Scout outing and then come back to your grieving family three years later - not knowing where you've been or what you've been doing - is horrifying.

This book touched me in so many ways. Angie struggles to remember pieces of her fractured life, memories so horrifying that her brain protects her by creating 'alters' - each of which has a different tale to tell in this unique story. I adored t...more It's hard enough to be a teenager, but add to that the fact that you disappeared into thin air from a Girl Scout outing and then come back to your grieving family three years later - not knowing where you've been or what you've been doing - is horrifying.

This book touched me in so many ways. Angie struggles to remember pieces of her fractured life, memories so horrifying that her brain protects her by creating 'alters' - each of which has a different tale to tell in this unique story. I adored them and it was easy to see why they were created. Pretty Girls-13 shows me, even in a fictional way, how strong the mind can be as it attempts to protect a person from events that may have made them insane.

Even though it dealt with a sensitive subject, it was written with a lightness that didn't make it too heavy to read. It was informative, but not graphic. Angie's story was told in such a way that I didn't have to put the book down to give myself breathing space and I enjoyed that. I could identify with some of her or her alter's reactions. In the end, I loved all the parts that made up Angie.

I enjoyed the secondary characters too. From the 'alters' to Dr. Grant. And Abraim ended up being an adorable love interest. What made the characters seem more real is that the first chapter showed the friendships between Kate, Liv, Greg and Angie and then how later in the book it showed how the relationships between them had changed in the intervening years. While Angie was away in the woods, her friends were living normal teenage lives and Angie had to deal with those changes when she came back.

The relationships between the characters really worked for me. There was such a range of them. Between the alters and Angie, Angie and her family, Angie and her friends and also between others. It was hard to stay disconnected.

I have to admit that I enjoyed nearly everything about this book even though some of it seemed a little strange to me - strange in ways that I can't even understand myself. It really interesting to see what the human mind will do to keep itself safe.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes books with a psychological edge.

Now for my rating :-

Four out of five stars.

This review can be found here:-
http://magicalmanuscriptsandwritingth...(less)

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Apr 29, 2013 Victoria rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mpd, mystery-thriller, young-adult

I read Mary Higgins Clark’s All Around the Town and ever since, Multiple Personality Disorder, or as it has been re-named, Dissociative Identiy Disorder (DID), has absolutely fascinated me. This YA novel deals with DID and the plot unfolds immediately. It is a fun and fast read - though definitely in the more genuinely dark side of the YA genre. Though the book carries a lot of YA themes (fitting in with school, friendships, romance), the book includes a lot of darker actions that are more typic...more

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