Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Nov 08, 2011

Sarah rated it:

It's early to give up, I know, but I've got a bad feeling about this one. Here's why:

1) It reads more like a middle-grade novel than a teen novel. I don't like middle grade because there's almost always...

2) ...too much Telling/Not Showing. In fact, I daresay the first 30 pages are an epidemic infodump. BEEP! Big mistake. The first few chapters of any novel are critical...and infodumping is a really risky choice. I don't want to spend those first minutes having everyo More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jun 13, 2011

Book Chick City rated it:

Ruined is marketed as a ghost story and it is a story about a ghost, but it's not what I expected. It's not scary, or spooky or spine-tingling. It's just about a girl who happens to be a ghost. The plot is quite good and we are introduced to Rebecca, who is the only person (or so she thinks) that can see the ghost, Lisette. They form a friendship, but behind it there is a secret which Rebecca slowly unravels and discovers the truth.

Rebecca is a nice girl, but we don't really get to More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 06, 2010

Emilianna rated it:

Well it was an interesting one. I loved it from start to finish and it was an interesting look at today's society levels.
At first I was a bit irritated that the South was painted in such a mean way, when Southerners are usually quite nice people. Then again I've never met the high society Southerners like Helena Bowman so I can't know if its that bad or not. But I got over it really quick and loved the way Morris depicts ghosts in this story.
All the characters where rich and believabl More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 11, 2012

Christy (TheReaderBee) added it

Ruined is my very first read by Paula Morris. I was thrilled that it finally came in at the library so I could read it.

The characters are pretty likeable. Of course, there are some you just love to hate anyways. The main character, Rebecca, was pretty likeable. She wants to fit in at her new home and new school, but she really doesn’t seem to care when she doesn’t. I really didn’t see much of a connection between Rebecca and Anton, unfortunately. There’s definitely not a lot of roma More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 04, 2010

Lexie rated it:

Like the main character, Rebecca, I knew very little about New Orleans before Katrina. What I did know came from sources like movies, novels, comic books and random historical facts that stuck in my head from American history classes. Pop culture painted a surrealistic view of the city--populated by a people who have lived and thrived on traditions for centuries and Mardi Gras, was the talk of the world. I was intrigued and terrified by the thought of going to the city.

And then Hu More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2012

Jessica rated it:

The book Ruined was an overall great ghost story for tweens to young adults. Though it was a ghost story it wasn't all too scary. I liked how the book started out with Rebecca in New York living a regular life, then finding out she has to move to New Orleans and live with an aunt she barely knows for a year. The introduction was helpful to learning more about the time when Rebecca's friend, Lisette, was growing up in. I also found the little tidbits of New Orleans history interesting. More...

0 comments like

Dec 17, 2011

Christina (Reading Thru The Night) rated it:

Isn't that cover absolutely gorgeous, if a bit misleading (the ghost in the story is a young black girl and the woman in the picture, well, she doesn't look young or black, does she?)

It being a ghost story wasn't really what pushed me into this purchase, rather it was because the ghost story's setting is New Orleans. I have no ties with NOLA outside of doing the touristy visits. Still, in all of the places that I have travelled, NOLA is the only city that I can still visualize, th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 21, 2011

Connie rated it:

This had a solid ghost story, and Morris did an excellent job of setting the scene and the mood. She gives the reader a good sense of who the characters are, or at least as much as she wants you to know of them. It's a ghost story, so we can't know everything about everyone. There needs to be some mystery, eh?

Rebecca was a strong girl, which I admired. Her eagerness to participate in a certain event later in the book was a bit off, though. I thought she cared too much about that More...

0 comments like

Oct 14, 2011

Katieeoh rated it:

Hi! I just posted this review on my blog: http://katieeoh.tumblr.com/post/11431373...

First and foremost, I loved the cover. Its very mysterious and at the same time it tells a dark, witty story. For me I love books that are filled with mystery, horror and suspense. But I never loved books that’s all about vampires and werewolves and fallen angels…whatever. I hate those kind of books. It shifts my mind into something that is so unraveling and simply…weird. I never loved it, just like Tw More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 04, 2011

Lori rated it:

If you're a reader that's looking for a teeth grinding, heart pounding, sleep with the lights on ghost story, read no further. You will likely be disappointed by Paula Morris' freshman effort, Ruined. Not that Ruined is a poor book - - far from it. But it's more like a ghost story with less calories and a lighter taste.

Ruined is aimed for the Young Adult audience but it's perfectly acceptable as an adult read as well. This adult enjoyed it thoroughly from page one. And w More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 31, 2011

Tracey rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Aug 26, 2011

Scarlett.speaks rated it:

You know, it's funny but my absolute biggest beef with this book is that the chick on the cover is not the ghost in the story. It's a fast read about a girl who ends up in New Orleans because her father's away on business and ends up solving the mystery of her own past as well as the mystery of a murder that happened more than a century ago. It was really cool to read a book set in NOLA post Katrina. The author doesn't lie and pretend the hurricane never happened. She also doesn't make the ruine More...

0 comments like

Aug 04, 2011

Amanda rated it:

Rebecca isn't too happy when her dad heads off to a six month business trip in China and she's sent off to live with an eccentric aunt in New Orleans. Not only does she have to deal with being uprooted from her comfortable New York home, but she has a strange aunt who tells fortunes for a living and has to put up with foreign social rules and a gaggle of arrogant girls at her new school.

Rebecca isn't having any luck making friends until she meets a mysterious girl, Lisette, at the loca More...

0 comments like

Jul 20, 2011

Paige rated it:

This book started out as okay. Then certain things began grinding on my nerves. (Minor spoilers.)

-Someone born in the 19th century should not naturally speak like a girl born in the 21st century.
-I'm all for historical facts interwoven into a book, but Morris over did it. I didn't care about half the random tidbits or even the whole stupid parade event.
-A twelve year old should not really act like how Morris portrayed two twelve-year-old characters.
-The main charac More...

0 comments like

Jul 17, 2011

Cara (Chasing Words) added it

posted on http://chasingwordsreviews.blogspot.com June 2010

Favorite Line(s):
"The past doesn't go away. You just can't see it anymore."- I just really love this. Lisette speaks the truth.
And just because it's hilarious: "Claire and Aurelia had been sworn to secrecy on the lives of the entire cast of Gossip Girl."

Ruined was okay, just okay. I'm sad to say that nothing really grabbed me with this book. The characters were okay, the plot was go More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 11, 2011

Barbara rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 16, 2011

Claudia rated it:

Still trying to decide how I feel about this book...I loved the setting...I love that Morris talks about the changes to New Orleans since Katrina. I appreciated the glimpse into the 'old' families, and wonder how much is true, of the legacies of privilege and power...I really loved the history. Rebecca is sent to New Orleans to live for a while with her goofy Aunt Claudia (LOVE the name!), and she's rightfully resentful. A new private school with some incredibly snooty girls, a mysterious boy, a More...

0 comments like

Jan 23, 2011

Denise rated it:

This book felt alternately slow then fast paced and back again. Sometimes you would find out many things then you would go pages before anything really happened. So it was a little hard to stick with at times but I did because I thought it was interesting and wanted to find out what really happened in the end. The main character was easy to identify with. I understand that some of the characters may seem snotty and out of place for the South, but stories need to have great contrast to keep the r More...

0 comments like

Jan 17, 2011

Shiralea rated it:

I admit it - I picked up this book because it was set in Louisiana...and even better, in a graveyard in New Orleans. I (being a La. native) have always loved the aboveground cemeteries - there is just something "neat-o" about them! And the author managed to weave in some of the history and culture of N.O. into the story. So I enjoyed the setting. However: although I've never run into the "upper crust" of the garden district, it's a little hard to believe they would be SO s More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 07, 2011

Geokowgurl rated it:

This book was kind of slow for the first 12 chapters or so and I had a hard time getting in to it, however I kept at it and ended up really liking it. Rebecca is a teenage girl from New York City and is sent to live with her "aunt", whom isn't really related to her, in New Orleans. At her new school in New Orleans she figures out fast that it is filled with snobs who come from long lines of money and if you do not belong to one of those family lines, then you are a nobody and get tre More...

0 comments like

Oct 29, 2010

Carly rated it:

CARLY'S REVIEW

I think this book was the best book I have ever read, because the whole story itself was just fantastic. Rebecca, the main character, was your average teenager, and she, out of everyone else was picked to be the one to talk to Lisette, the ghost in the story. Also, it showed how Rebecca's life changed when she met Lisette. I loved pretty much everything about this book.
Rebecca's life in New Orleans started to turn into a mystery. As soon as she figured out thi More...

0 comments like

Sep 07, 2010

Sarah rated it:

Great cover, eh? I was gently reminded of Richard Peck's old ghost stories that I used to love about Blossom Culp. Rebecca has to move to New Orleans because her only parent is working in China for a few months. She isn't thrilled to attend a snooty private school and to live with an "aunt" and cousin she doesn't know very well, but she manages. She's thrust into the New Orleans privileged and elite, even when she doesn't want to be, when a cute rich boy asks her to a Christmas party t More...

0 comments like

Sep 01, 2010

LadyDisdain rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 13, 2010

Linda rated it:

It was found in the young adult section of the library and unlike many YA books, this one did not deal with insightful struggles or coming of age woes. Instead, it was fluffy and breezy and the story line more fantasy like that serious in nature.

The setting is New Orleans, LA where 16 year old Rebecca Brown, a native New York City dweller is sent to live with a family friend who reads tarot cards and has psychic abilities.

Typically in YA stories, teenagers are transported to More...

0 comments like

May 31, 2010

Kathy rated it:

Rebbecca is sent to live with her Aunt in New Orleans when her dad has to travel to China for work. She knows no one here and is immediately put off by the snobbish manners of the girls she attends school with. Her only friend is Lisette, a girl she meets in the cemetery. However, it turns out that Lisette is a ghost. She is limited to haunting the cemetery, the Bowman house, and her childhood home until her murder is avenged. This will occur with the end of the curse that was placed on the More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 04, 2010

Jamie added it

Over the past few weeks, I read the book Ruined by Paula Morris. Ruined is a book about a young girl named Rebecca Brown. Rebecca Brown is a native New Yorker. She was born and raised there, and she loves it there. She has friends that likes her, she lives in an apartment that overlooks Central Park, and she attends a good school. Her life is going perfectly until one day her father tells her that she is going to live in New Orleans for the next few months. Her father is being sent to China for More...

0 comments like

Mar 30, 2010

Jessica rated it:

This book was as much a historic delight as a ghost story delight. I really enjoyed learning so much about New Orleans past and felt I could really picture the setting of the story because the author spent so much time describing New Orlean's past and present. Every time I pass a cemetary now I get disappointed knowing that in New Orleans there are these elaborate tombs and elevated cemeteries.

I could tell that this book was written with a lot of love. The author put care into even t More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 03, 2010

GirlwiththeBraids rated it:

Since her father has a business trip to China, Rebecca is sent away to live with a family friend in New Orleans for the next six months. Spending time away from her friends and the gossip in New York doesn’t seem too appealing. Especially when she has to spend it with the odd gothic Claudia that plays with Tarot cards for a living. When Rebecca meets the arrogant snobs of Temple Mead Academy, she is instantly on their bad side. Except for the attractive Anton Grey who seems to be interested in h More...

0 comments like

Jan 03, 2010

Madeleine rated it:

COPIED FROM MY BLOG: MADELEINEREX.COM (FORMATTING WAS LOST)

As I’ve told everyone who’s seen me reading this book, I rarely read YA books. In fact, “once in a blue moon” would be a perfectly honest evaluation. I’ve virtually read thirty YA books in my entire life. I’ve been constantly snatching at classics and other literature specimens. One day, I was waddling around Borders and circling the Independent Reader’s shelves, and the next I was browsing the shelves of books such as The Se More...

0 comments like

Nov 30, 2009

Ellz rated it:

My thoughts...This book can best be described as flavorful. The reader gets tastes of New Orleans history, Mardi Gras excitement, Haitian magic and an old-fashioned ghost story. The main character Rebecca is thrown into post-Katrina New Orleans in a house with a view of the famous Lafayette Cemetery. Curiosity gets the better of her and she finds herself face to face with a real ghost. Her aunt believe in old magic and voo-doo. She gives Rececca several warnings to stay out of the cemetery More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)