Where has this book been all my life? I am still just in complete awe of this book, but more-so "Lucas" himself. I don't know if you have read Stargirl but if I were to describe Lucas, the first comparison that comes to mind is Stargirl. Simply because they share such similar traits in my opinion. Both are very mysterious and have an "Out of this world" presence. The way I felt when I finished Stargirl was the exact way I felt the moment, I finished Lucas. Speechless and filled with unanswered q More...

'Lucas' is the story of a very different boy who wanders into a small sea town. He also manages to captivate young Caitlin McCann's heart without doing anything.

I loved this book, it was riveting, addicting and unrealistic but so good! Lucas was such a mysterious character that I had to rush through the book to see what he does next! He's sexy, suave and mature without coming off as a typical James Bond like character. Cait is a 15 year old girl, struggling with being a woman in an all male hou More...

I love this book it's raw emotional and so vivid that it makes me cry almost every time I read it. It's just THAT awesome!I absolutely love it and for 5 years straight it has been my favorite, many novels come and go but Lucas always remains on my shelf in a place of honor.Many times in life people feel like the loneliness in a crowded room and Kevin Brooks shows the stark reality of those feelings, the abject loneliness of someone who doesn't quite fit, like the dented piece of a jigsaw puzzle More...

Kevin Brooks certainly has high ratings here on Goodreads, so I went into this one quite hopeful. Well... let's chalk it up to my reading tastes vs. writing style. Lucas has a slow-moving plot filled with a lot of introspective musings and societal comments. *yawn* Making the story move even slower is the repetative prose,

As the afternoon wore on I just kept moving all the bits around in my head, trying to fit them together. But, unlike a plastic puzzle, these bits didn't keep still. They kept More...

Brooks has crafted a truly fine YA offering in Lucas. Secrets, lies, growing up, and the ruthless pack mentality and scare mongering of a small town form the basis of this unsettling novel.

Brooks' breathtaking descriptions of the little English island community of Hale impart a real sense of place and time, and his characterizations -- while not overly impressive -- sum up the mindset of generalized fear and judgment of "the stranger in our midst."

Cait as the protagonist is endearing and credibl More...

Lucas reminds me of Travolta's film Michael. Here we have the mysterious stranger who comes to a regular type of community. He seems to have no past and no future, and lives only in the present. He is fearless, lives off the land and has a presence that encourages peace and acceptance to the people who accept him the way he is. He also seems to be able to read people he has observed, but never met. It is like he can see into their souls, their inner emotions and basic nature. But he also has a d More...

This is the worst book review thing ever! I don’t have the book with me and I can’t remember all of the names of people and other things.

You know the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” well I did. I just looked at the cover and thought, “wow this book looks so old. And the guy looks creepy. He looks like a stalker.” But my Liberian recommended it to me, so I thought that I would try it out.
Then it was lying next to my bed, for like 3 weeks. I finally ran out of books to read (and it was More...

I just read the one book written by Brit Young Adult author Kevin Brooks (no relation) that I hadn't gotten to earlier. I love his work. It is edgy, raw and completely true. He writes about teens in difficult situations dealing with issues that we are all struggling about - drugs, murder, sexual identity and others. Lucas is the title of the book. It is about a young man who appears on an island off the coast of England. He might be a Gypsy and he might be magic. He is immediately disliked and m More...

Since I would describe myself as an avid reader it is not very often that a book does not have some emotional impact on me. This book however, a teenage romance novel published by chicken house, had one of the most profound. It would be easy to judge this novel by the genre and age group it is clearly marketed towards but it is in fact an intelligent, meaningful and thought provoking piece of writing. When I finished I was literally crying bucketfuls of tears and had to use my inhaler several ti More...

(Just a heads up, there’s going to be quite a bit of snark in this one, almost all of it directed at the YA paranormal romance genre.)

Stop me if this seems familiar:

Fifteen-year old Cait McCann is a quiet, plain (in her opinion) teenage girl who isn’t entirely sure what she wants to do with her life. One Summer she meets Lucas, a mysterious and potentially supernatural wanderer who she feels drawn to on sight despite frequent warnings from others that he may be dangerous. She eventually falls in More...

When fifteen year old Caitlin befriends a homeless boy one summer, she makes a decision to be a part of his life in spite of what the neighbors think, an unpopular choice for a motherless girl with an alcoholic father and an older brother turning out just like his dad. Lucas's appeal goes deeper than his mysterious past and enigmatic appearance; the two share a quiet appreciation for nature as well as the loss of their mothers and an appreciation for art. One evening, Lucas saves Cait from the i More...

... ¡Por fin! tuve inconvenientes en terminar de leer este libro, primeramente cuando lo comenzaba tuve que parar por la facu, luego lo perdí en una de esas veces que cargo mis lecturas conmigo a todos lados y simplemente tuve el descuido de no asegurarme que realmente estaba conmigo, luego avance por partes muy pequeñas robándome una copia abierta en una librería, y por último una versión digital. Pero está hecho.

La historia de Lucas, va de adolescentes, va de emociones, va de amor, pero tambi More...

I read this book in the summer of 'O8, and though it took a couple of chapters for me to really be grasped by this book, I ended up quite fond of it.
It was an odd sort of love/friendship story, between Cait and Lucas. I don't think Keving Brooks aimed for it to be a love story, but Cait obviously cared very much for Lucas. (Poor Simon :[ ) I can't say I've ever met a stranger and ultimately become one of the few people on an island that liked him, but I think I can kind of sympathize with the More...

When I started reading this, I had a fair idea of what was going to happen eventually. Not the how, but the what--if that even makes sense.

Cait said she'd cry herself a story, said it was better than to let sadness die inside her. And she did. She wrote the events of 2 weeks, with complete honesty. It made me think: was that all it takes to write a good story? Tell the truth and be honest?

Brooks writes in a very smooth and casual yet not so usual way. He's pretty convincing as a girl and he seem More...

Theme: Coming-of-age

In Lucas, the main character Caitlin is forced to decide whether to defend a young stranger against the paranoid townspeople she lives with or whether to simply stand by and watch.

I chose Lucas because of its intensity in conveying the turmoil that people often experience when faced with a choice between doing what is right and doing what is easy. The townspeople not only shun Lucas, they also accuse of crimes he never committed. Caitlin has the courage to try to do what is r More...

I was totally engrossed in this YA Fiction novel about a free-spirited boy who suddenly "appears" on a remote island off of Great Britain. Islanders don't take kindly to strangers, so Lucas' landing on the island causes a great commotion. Cait McCann first spots Lucas walking alongside the road, carrying his belongings in a green canvas bag. Cait is riding in the car with her father and her brother, Dom, whom they have just picked up at the airport. When their car passes Lucas, Cait's eyes meet More...

I thoroughly enjoyed this book so much I didn't want it to end. I can't get it out of my head and that's how I judge if it was good or not. Kevin Brooks did a great job writing in a teen girls voice. He hit the fears and emotions that many teen girls know and live through.

Right off I loved the two main characters, Caitlin and Lucas. They were solid and complete. For me they were real and believeable. (Plus I have a fondness toward gypsies,(Lucas)and I'm always thrilled when they come out as the More...

When I finished this book, I was mad and swearing and didn't like it. I hate books with sad endings, especially wehn the author puts in lots of ambiguous stuff that's artsy and doesn't seem necessary to the story and seems like it is pointing strongly to an underlying meaning that just isn't easy to figure out. So why the four star rating, you ask?

Because once I finished it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. It nagged my subconscious, begging me to analyze it, even though I prefer books that ar More...

En Lucas puedes conseguir tantas emociones. Es un libro dramático, pero con el logré llorar, reír, temer, todo. Sientes una rara conexión con el libro. Supongo que me sentí Caitlin en un tiempo.

Fue hermosa la experiencia de leer este libro, larga pero hermosa. Leía las palabras y cada uno de los parrafos y era algo tan fascinante. Todo lo que pasaba, todo lo que ella vivió, todo lo que había en su alrededor.

Gente cruel, estúpida, ignorante y mal intencionada era de lo que ella vivía rodeada. Mi More...

I picked this up in a charity shop having been lent/given Being by a friend some time ago. Both books are very unusual "Young Adult" novels which defy labelling as realism or escapism. Looking at the other reviews here, I'm not surprised to find some readers baffled or frustrated by this book; it feels very raw, and is concerned more with emotions than events.

The eponymous "Lucas" is a mysterious figure, never fully explained; his refusal to see the world conventionally fascinates the teenage pr More...

I like Kevin Brooks, however I think this book was a disappointment. I was expecting something more exiting and thrilling than this, especially after Candy. Actually I found this book rather boring. The characters are not defined and specific, thru out the whole book you keep forgetting who is who.

The main character Lucas is intriguing but nothing passed that. Caitlin is an average girl, without any spark. Something I am not used to, especially that those characters are fictional and I think so More...

Summary: it's about a girl named caitlin met this mysterious guy named lucas that lives by her. As the summer continues Caitlin nearly gets raped by a guy named Jaime. Jaime then threatens Lucas to join his crimes. After Lucas gets accused of doing a bad crime Caitlin had to pick a side she was going to be on.

Rating:I rated it four stars because I liked it and how the situation is kind of realistic.

quote: "It’s always hard to lose somebody. It leaves a hole in you heart that never grows back." I More...

I didn't understand this book at all. I didn't get the characters, the motivations, the pacing, and the level (if there is any) of magical realism.
Cait lives on an island with her dad and brother who is home from college for the summer. Cait's mother has died and she wanders the island with her dog endlessly. The only thing worse than a boring summer is reading about someone else's boring summer. There is some action, after Lucas shows up on the island out of nowhere but none of it makes any se More...

I read this book when I was maybe 15 or 16 years old and at the time was very into cliché teen books and of course Harry Potter. But Kevin Brooks broke their spell over me with his ability to write emotions so raw that they make you hate and fall in love with the characters in the book. The book makes you question yourself even, the way you treat others and the way you see them. Brooks' characters have the tendency of being all too real at times (each character and their situation somehow remind More...

This book is about a guy who goes and lives in an island where everyone gossips about everyone. Lucas is different from them. He doesnt gossip or hang out with them, insted he just stays in his own. most of the people find him dangerous and creepy because of his lifestyle, except for one girl who knows him for who he really is. He's very kind and caring, adn has a very good heart, but the islanders chose not to look at the other side of him. He was accused of trying to drown a girl, when in the More...

Rating: 3 1/2 stars

After reading Black Rabbit Summer and Candy by Kevin Brooks, and looking at the reviews, I decided to try out this book. It was not what I expected. From reading the summary, I thought Lucas was going to be about a mysterious boy who the protagonist falls in love with, even though everyone else warns her to stay away. Though I was not completely wrong, Brooks managed to surprise me yet again.

When I first started this book, I could not concentrate. The long descriptions More...