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May 25, 2010

Karagan rated it:

After the murder of her younger sister, Katherine Patterson starts a new life at a new school as she attempts to escape the media, her parents’ depression, and her own guilt. There, she meets Alice and quickly begins a friendship with the clearly narcissistic sociopath. Eventually, she also bonds with fellow victims of Alice’s rancorous personality, finding love and peace despite her friend’s antics.

For the entire first half of this book, I felt dragged through a world of mostly text More...

0 comments like (15 people liked it)

Sep 03, 2011

Tenae rated it:

I'd love to say that Beautiful Malice was a stunning debut ... but I can't. Honestly, was Katherine blind? The fucking truth sat right in front of her face, and she ignored it. Katherine spends more time crying in this book than she does doing anything else.

Alice, however, was the most intriguing character on the page, which I think brings this book up to a three star instead of the two stars I was originally going to give it. She is the book, not Katherine.

When you real More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 23, 2011

Shirley rated it:

I log into Facebook one day to find a friend request from Rebecca James. The Rebecca James? Beautiful Malice Rebecca James? Wants to be friends with me? I momentarily forget how on earth Rebecca James would know who I am - but then I remember that I somehow became an author myself this year, take a big breathe and click accept. I have a brief chat with Rebecca and she turns out to be such a super lovely person, she even offers to buy me a beer. Okay, I don't drink beer, but if it's from Rebecca More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jul 29, 2011

Cara rated it:

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

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 26, 2010

Leanna (Daisy Chain Book Reviews) rated it:

Let me start by saying that I haven’t been so impressed by a book in quite a while. I was lucky enough to receive a copy for review and picked it up one day last week intending to read just a few chapters. Two hours later I was totally engrossed in the story and couldn’t put it down. This rarely happens to me, but here James has written a psychological thriller that will grab you from page one. Seriously, the start of the book is excellent. What an opener!

When we are introduced More...

1 comment like (9 people liked it)

Dec 02, 2011

Karen rated it:

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

I-I don't know how to start!

This book is…

This book made me feel very…

This book is based on…

Every phrase sounds wrong in my head. Anything I say will either be interpreted as positive or negative and this review is not for emphasizing how good or bad “Beautiful Malice” is. For now, let’s just call it different.

It was somewhat overly dramatic, but the characters were all realistic (though cliché to some More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 11, 2012

Jeanne rated it:

Do téhle knihy jsem nevkládala moc nadějí, vlastně jsem vůbec nečekala, že by patřila mezi lepší knihy. Ale to jsem pořádně sekla! Tuhle knihu jsem si sice nezamilovala hned od začátku, ale když jsem se pořádně začetla, tak už jsem ji nechtěla dát z ruky.
Jsem opravdu ráda, že mi tahle knihy neunikla, protože by to byla strašná škoda. Úplně všem ji doporučuju! Tenhle příběh vás totiž zaručeně dostane! Neuniknete tomu, věřte mi ;)
Už jsem vás přesvědčila?
Já doufám, že ano. Jestli More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 22, 2011

Skye rated it:

This review is also posted on my blog, In The Good Books.

Who is Katherine Patterson? It is a question she hopes no one can answer. To erase her past, Katherine has moved to a new city, enrolled in a new school, and even changed her name. She’s done the next best thing to disappearing altogether. Now, wary and alone, she seeks nothing more than anonymity. What she finds instead is the last thing she expected: a friend.

Even more unlikely, Katherine’s new friend is the most popu More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 03, 2011

Lisi rated it:

Gespannt habe ich darauf gewartet, dieses Buch „Die Wahrheit über Alice“ von Rebecca James lesen zu können, nachdem ich das Promovideo und das interessante Cover gesehen habe. Dies ist der Debütroman der Autorin und ich hoffe sehr stark, dass sie uns mit weiteren Büchern erfreuen wird, da ich dieses Buch nicht mehr aus der Hand legen konnte und es trotz Unistress innerhalb von 3 Tagen durch hatte.
In „Die Wahrheit über Alice“ wird die Geschichte der 17-jährigen Katherine erzählt. Sie hat be More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 02, 2012

Remy rated it:

Despite all the things I didn't like about this book, there still are positive points. I found this book predictable, but I read the whole thing in one sitting. So there you go; it's a mixture of the good and the bad.

FULL REVIEW CAN BE FOUND HERE:
http://justremy.blogspot.com/2011/12/wat...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 05, 2010

Bec ♥ Live for the ones you love ♥ rated it:

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

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 21, 2011

Neşe rated it:

It's all in the heading "beautiful Malice"

Katherine Paterson has left everything behind in Melbourne and is starting a new life in Sydney
.the past is haunting her.from her sisters death

This book has so many twists and turns

I was confused at times but later figured out that this book is set in past present and future

Past: of when she was 15 . When she was living in Melbourne

Present: of when she is 17 ,becomes friends with Alice
More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

This book is widely appreciated by the YA community in my school, and I was begged to read it by some enthusiastic readers, but I am afraid that, if I am to be honest, I was not impressed by the novel. IMHO, the plot is pretty by the numbers, apart from the rather incredible series of co-incidences we are expected to believe in, and the characters are fairly cardboard and uninteresting.
Its the kind of story that we enjoy the first time we hear about it, but by the time we are an adult t More...

0 comments like

Sep 13, 2011

Vinaya rated it:

Have you ever read a book and thought, "I wish I had written that!"? For me, that usually happens only with two kinds of books. Firstly, the ones that are so fabulous, you have a serious case of writer's envy (On my list, the top spot there is occupied by The Kingkiller Chronicles), or the ones that take a truly fabulous idea and ruin it so horrifically, you can hear the Muses scream in pain (Tiger's Curse, I'm looking at you). But for the first time ever, I found a book that I thought More...

11 comments like (13 people liked it)

Sep 10, 2011

Δx Δp ≥ ½ ħ rated it:

Woooo... di luar dugaan... Tadinya bakal mengira novel ini setipe novel crime-romance biasa, apalagi dilihat dari covernya yang agak, ehemm.. "pasaran" dan "tipikal".

Ceritanya sangat sederhana dan agak berbau klise, kisha tentang seorang gadis yang pindah ke kota baru, jadi terkucil sendirian. Tapi Alasan dia pindah ke kota baru itu karena dia ingin melupakan tragedi kematia yang menimpa adiknya. Dan dia terkucil bukan karena dia tipe "mata 4 dengan tutup botol More...

0 comments like

Aug 27, 2011

Sumando Libros rated it:

Veamos...

Katherine es una tia de 17 años... bastante frivola, hasta el día en que le pasa algo que cambia su vida (Jooo!!! tranquilos tratare no spoliarlos) .

Pero entonces conoce a Alice y todo cambia. Ella es taaan hermosa, taaan popular y muuuuy interesante, que se hacen amigas casi al instante. Pasan tiempo juntas, tiempo muy bueno y agradable para las dos... haciendo que Katherine, le tome confianza y le cuente su secreto más profundo... (JOOOO!!! tengo ganas de More...

0 comments like

Aug 09, 2011

Beth rated it:

Another massive disappointment.

The good stuff, first, so that you guys can bear in mind that I'm not just a jealous bitch giving it a poor rating because it was sold in a bidding war. But honestly? I couldn't see what the fuss was all about.

It was, I guess, a compelling read. Although I'm not quite sure why -- I can't say that I cared very much about the plot and, although I love YA thrillers, especially of the psychological variety, I couldn't say that there was any mas More...

7 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2011

Alicia rated it:

It’s a little difficult to talk about this book without spoiling it, but I will try my best because it really is worth a read – I would even say it was one of the best books I have read and definitely of 2010.

It starts off bluntly by saying (and this isn’t a spoiler because it’s the very first sentence!) 'I didn’t go to Alice’s funeral', which makes the rest of the book even more gripping as you yearn to discover how Katherine, the protagonist, can say such a thing with such callousnes More...

0 comments like

Jun 25, 2011

Vahini rated it:

Beautiful Malice is more of a 3.5 stars for me. The prose has a certain magnetism that has you flipping through the pages (it's a book deserving of the highly overused term 'unputdownable') and it is, as the blurbs from various newspapers proclaim it, a little bit sexy at times, a little bit thrilling, a little bit chilling, and very, very dark. Rebecca James has crafted some pretty fantastic characters in Alice (woah super crazy antag. She's the kind of character who has the potential to become More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 05, 2011

Becky rated it:

I bought this book quite a while ago when it was fairly new out, and I have to admit that it was mainly the cover that drew me to it. The lettering on the front sort of shimmers and glitters in the light and was so simple it's kind of pretty. The blurb on the back is very short and had me intrigued so I decided to buy it, but have only just got round to reading it.
I picked this up at 1.00 this afternoon and had finished it by 6.00, with a break in the middle to visit my grandad.
The More...

0 comments like

Feb 28, 2011

Nadine rated it:

Erzählt wird die Geschichte der 17-jährigen Katherine, deren jüngere Schwester Rachel vor 2 Jahren ermordet wurde. Da ihr Nachname damals durch die Presse gegangen ist, ändert sie ihn und zieht zu ihrer Tante nach Sydney, um die Vergangenheit hinter sich zu lassen. Dort freundet sie sich mit Alice an, die hinter ihrer wunderschönen, fröhlichen Art eine dunkle Seite verbirgt, die Katherine mehr und mehr zu schaffen macht.
Parallel dazu erfährt der Leser, was an jenem Abend passierte, als Rach More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2011

Sam rated it:

There was amazing buzz for this debut novel by Australian author Rebecca James, this was sparked by the intense bidding wars between various publishing houses for the manuscript. However, the question to be asked is does ‘Beautiful Malice’ live up to the hype it generated? – the simple answer is a resounding – yes. That is not to say it is not without its faults at times it falls into stale periods where the action falters and becomes mundane, the characters are not a fleshed out as they could b More...

0 comments like

Oct 31, 2010

Rhiannon rated it:

About this time last year you may remember a crazy amount of hoopla about debut author Rebecca James. After a large quantity of rejection letters from agents, her manuscript was pulled from a unsolicited slush pile and started a crazy world wide bidding war for the publishing rights.

While on one of my google hunts for new info, I typed in J.K. Rowling and ended up looking at a bevy of articles about the pandemonium surrounding Ms James, many of which were questioning if she would b More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 15, 2010

ALPHAreader rated it:

If you only read one book this year, let it be `Beautiful Malice'.
Oh. My. God. I read this in one sitting, cover to cover, because I literally could not tear my eyes away.

The story opens with these ominous words:

I didn't go to Alice's funeral.

An older Katherine narrates the novel, recounting the events that changed her life. She is at once in the present day, grown-up and with a child of her own - and with hindsight and insight she tells the story of her More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 12, 2010

Bree rated it:

Wow. This book was way more intense than I expected! 17 year old Katherine Patterson has moved to Sydney and enrolled in a large high school where she can be anonymous after fleeing a tragic past in Melbourne. She keeps to herself, making no friends until the beautiful, impulsive Alice seeks her out and invites her to her 18th birthday. Unwilling to take no for an answer, Alice manipulates Katherine into going. Katherine, although at first reluctant, realises that as she spends time with Alice g More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 06, 2010

MB rated it:

There were aspects of this book I really liked. The suspense. The antagonist's secret surprised me at the end. The tension. The trauma the main character had been through.

But there were aspects of this book that completely didn't work for me. For one, I don't think a girl of this age would have the composure, the wisdom, the insights that the protagonist has. She is old beyond her years, but unbelievably so. Come to think of it, her 18-year-old nemesis was much the same. Too many res More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2010

Danielle rated it:

"This is the story of Katherine, a girl recovering from a tragic event that has left her permanently scarred and completely alone. She's alone until she meets Alice, an infinitely beautiful and popular girl in a new city and school. Oddly enough Alice befriends Katherine and what happens after that is completely unexpected. From beginning to end Rebecca James takes you on a journey of loss and then recovery through the sometimes haunting and graphic story of Katherine Patterson.

** More...

0 comments like

Jul 27, 2010

Jenny rated it:

Like many, I eagerly awaited the release of Rebecca James', Beautiful Malice after reading her inspiring story of discovery. (As an author, I am a sucker for such success stories.)

When the book arrived I dropped everything and curled up on the couch with it, only moving for coffee fixes and loo breaks. Naturally my expectations were high, which is rarely a good thing because what can ever live up to that?

The story -- or rather two stories -- concerns the murder of main ch More...

0 comments like

Jul 21, 2010

Theresa rated it:

Hold onto your hats, as this is one book that will take you for a ride through a sick and twisted relationship and friendship. It will keep you on the edge of your seat guessing and wondering why all the way to the end - an ending that I just didn't see coming! This story is complex and downright bone-chilling and after you finish, it will have you looking at relationships just a bit differently - especially the easily made ones.

Rebecca James is definitely a master at weaving this st More...

0 comments like

Jun 24, 2010

Lawral rated it:

I don't know that it's meant to be read this way, but Beautiful Malice was a great mystery. The entire story is told in flashbacks. Katherine, an adult with a young daughter, is looking back on her senior year of high school when she met and knew Alice. Eventually her teenage self is remembering and telling Alice about the events leading up to Rachel's death. In both scenarios, the reader should, on some level, know how the story ends: Katherine grows up and has a child; Rachel dies. And yet, I More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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