Instead of celebrating Memorial Day weekend on the Jersey Shore, Jane is in the hospital surrounded by teddy bears, trying to piece together what h...
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reviews
Jan 03, 2011
Christiana
rated it: 
Listen, Michele Jaffe, I like you. I do. Also, I like your books. You are funny. That interview you did? Where they had you play MASH? And you put Santa as one of your husband possibilities? That was hilar. But this book! You were trying to be serious! Why? Why did you do that? It's like when I don't smile in pictures. It just doesn't work so I don't do it. Please don't ever do this again, ok? Just write some more Bad Kitty books so I can lol some. Also, your ending was a tiny bi
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Jan 25, 2012
Sophia
rated it: 
A very quick read! I think the best way to summarize this book is "Gossip Girl"* meets "Veronica Mars" - it's teenage school drama mixed with attempted murder, all carefully dressed in designer labels and portrayed by very pretty people. It's a CW show in the making, basically. I liked the concept and I think there were bits and pieces that I loved mixed with pieces that didn't work as well as I wanted them too. Jane shows quite a bit of development through the book, which wo
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Jul 27, 2011
D.
rated it: 
When I picked up this book, I had heard of neither the author nor the book itself. However, I thought that this book was wonderful! It is a great portrait of the apparently popular, has-it-all girl who gets a reality check of the most extreme variety. I loved the mystery aspect in this novel (of course) and coupled with the classic teenage romance and drama makes a terribly wonderful, I couldn't put it down, marvellous and engaging story. I am a totally upstanding, never been-to-a-drinking-party
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May 06, 2011
FashionDayDreamer
rated it:
Didn't get it.
It was too jumpy. One minute we were in the present and then bam! we were taken back to her memory.
Jane Freeman. What can I say? I liked her, but that's about all. She wasn't developed enough for me to remember. I only liked her because of her witty comments and the way she handled things, like with her mum. Other than that she felt, to me, like a cardboard cut-out.
Nothing about this story is memorable. But then again every book you buy can't More...
It was too jumpy. One minute we were in the present and then bam! we were taken back to her memory.
Jane Freeman. What can I say? I liked her, but that's about all. She wasn't developed enough for me to remember. I only liked her because of her witty comments and the way she handled things, like with her mum. Other than that she felt, to me, like a cardboard cut-out.
Nothing about this story is memorable. But then again every book you buy can't More...
Apr 22, 2011
Serena
rated it:
*Please note that the two-star rating comes from personal opinion on the plot and does not in anyway reflect that superb writing in this book. Please enter "killer" and "it" at the appropriate times for "spoiler" if you have not read this book yet.*
The writing in this books deserves 4 out of 5 stars. It was CREEPY. The horror part was really well-done, a perfect mixture of traditional and modern. The author did an excellent job at making everyone a susp More...
The writing in this books deserves 4 out of 5 stars. It was CREEPY. The horror part was really well-done, a perfect mixture of traditional and modern. The author did an excellent job at making everyone a susp More...
Mar 28, 2011
Allie: TheBookStalker
rated it:
Jane Freeman is one of the most popular girls in school…so why did someone hate her badly enough to run over her and leave her for dead in a rosebush?
When Jane awakens, paralyzed, in a hospital bed, she has no memory of the accident or the hours before. As time passes with nothing to do but think, she begins to piece together her memories of the night she was nearly murdered—and realizes that just about any of the visitors filing into her room could be the killer. Soon she is receivi More...
When Jane awakens, paralyzed, in a hospital bed, she has no memory of the accident or the hours before. As time passes with nothing to do but think, she begins to piece together her memories of the night she was nearly murdered—and realizes that just about any of the visitors filing into her room could be the killer. Soon she is receivi More...
Mar 02, 2011
Saryu
rated it:
Rosebush Penguin Group, 2010, 326pp, $16.99
Michele Jaffe ISBN978-59514-353-2
“The image is stark yet beautiful. In the foreground and slightly to the right, set in blue-gray grass, is a fantastic bush. It looks like something from a fairy tale, a witch cursed into an alternate form, gnarle More...
Michele Jaffe ISBN978-59514-353-2
“The image is stark yet beautiful. In the foreground and slightly to the right, set in blue-gray grass, is a fantastic bush. It looks like something from a fairy tale, a witch cursed into an alternate form, gnarle More...
Feb 16, 2011
Larissa
rated it: 
She looked like something out of a fairytale, a beautiful princess lying dead amidst a rosebush. Luckily she wasn't dead, but she soon would be if one of her 'friends' had anything to say about it.
Waking up in hospital Jane found she could remember nothing of the night before, slowly over the next few day however her memory was returning to her, but her memories were not matching up to the story her friends had told her about that night. Was she going crazy or where her friends lying t More...
Waking up in hospital Jane found she could remember nothing of the night before, slowly over the next few day however her memory was returning to her, but her memories were not matching up to the story her friends had told her about that night. Was she going crazy or where her friends lying t More...
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Jan 20, 2011
Lesley
rated it:
It's been a while since I've stayed up this late to finish a book because I couldn't put it down! There are so many different layers but the author does a great job of not letting them get too tangled up. There's the mystery of who hit Jane with their car, knocking her into a rosebush, and is still trying to kill her as she lies recovering in the hospital, which is truly, truly mysterious with lots of red herrings and clues and potential villains. There's the gap in Jane's memory of what happene
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Jan 10, 2011
Noémie
rated it:
Voilà un roman que j'avais hâte de lire, je n'ai pas été déçue!
Vous aimez trembler de peur, vous posez 1000 et une questions? Ce livre est fait pour vous.
Jane jeune femme magnifique et populaire se retrouve au coeur d'un complot qui a pour but de tout simplement l'éliminer.
Michelle Jaffe que nous avions déjà rencontré dans "nuit d'enfer au paradis", peint ici le tableau de jeunes américains bourgeois aux lourds secrets qui entre amour et amitiés cachent bien leur jeu. More...
Vous aimez trembler de peur, vous posez 1000 et une questions? Ce livre est fait pour vous.
Jane jeune femme magnifique et populaire se retrouve au coeur d'un complot qui a pour but de tout simplement l'éliminer.
Michelle Jaffe que nous avions déjà rencontré dans "nuit d'enfer au paradis", peint ici le tableau de jeunes américains bourgeois aux lourds secrets qui entre amour et amitiés cachent bien leur jeu. More...
Jan 09, 2011
Stormi(Books, Movies, Reviews. Oh my!)
rated it:
I really wasn't sure about this going into it, sounded a bit like some other books I had read lately. I wasn't sure if I would like it but I got wrapped up in the whole whodonit atmosphere that the author creates.
Jane is one of the popular girls with the great friends and handsome boyfriend, but it that really any reason to want someone dead? I am not really sure that I liked Jane all that much, but I did feel a little sorry for her when nobody would listen to her about someone thr More...
Jane is one of the popular girls with the great friends and handsome boyfriend, but it that really any reason to want someone dead? I am not really sure that I liked Jane all that much, but I did feel a little sorry for her when nobody would listen to her about someone thr More...
Dec 21, 2010
BookChic
rated it:
I must start off this review by saying how much I've been waiting for a new Michele Jaffe book, so I may be a bit biased when it comes to how much I loved it. Like, I may have been starving so much for Jaffe's awesome writing that I loved it more than I should. I highly doubt that though.
Anyway, this book sucked me in from the beginning. There's a prologue that sets the stage and takes place right before the climax, with Chapter 1 going back in time several days earlier. I really enjoy More...
Anyway, this book sucked me in from the beginning. There's a prologue that sets the stage and takes place right before the climax, with Chapter 1 going back in time several days earlier. I really enjoy More...
Dec 11, 2010
Gecky
rated it:
Ravishing Rosebush
*I received this book via Different Area Codes tours
This book gets a resplendent 4 out of 5 gnomes for being full of drama, mystery and some seriously messed up characters. The cover of the book tells you a lot of what you can expect I especially love the line that was added to her arm, it really adds to the mysteriousness of it all. Jane is pretty much the ultimate mean girl she changes her entire identity just to fit in and be popular.
The boo More...
*I received this book via Different Area Codes tours
This book gets a resplendent 4 out of 5 gnomes for being full of drama, mystery and some seriously messed up characters. The cover of the book tells you a lot of what you can expect I especially love the line that was added to her arm, it really adds to the mysteriousness of it all. Jane is pretty much the ultimate mean girl she changes her entire identity just to fit in and be popular.
The boo More...
Aug 14, 2011
David
rated it:
Kurz zur Aufmachung des Buches im Inneren: Passend zum Tatort – wurde die Protagonistin Jane doch in einem Rosenstrauch aufgefunden – befindet sich vor jedem Kapiteltag eine Seite, welche mit Rosenranken verziert ist, was sehr cool ausschaut. Ebenfalls sind einzelne Abschnitte ab und an mit einer Rose unterteilt.
Sofort von Beginn an hat mich der wundervoll einfache und zugleich flüssige Schreibstil begeistert. Die Autorin versteht es, ein sehr angenehmes Leseklima zu schaffen, sodass More...
Sofort von Beginn an hat mich der wundervoll einfache und zugleich flüssige Schreibstil begeistert. Die Autorin versteht es, ein sehr angenehmes Leseklima zu schaffen, sodass More...
Jul 18, 2011
Jasmine
rated it:
I don't even know where to start with this book. Usually when reading a book, I manage to fill up a whole notebook page with notes or more, but that wasn't the case with Rosebush. I found myself so engrossed that I barely managed to take any notes at all.
I'm not sure why I put off reading this. Maybe I was just thinking it would be like so many young-adult mysteries that just didn't do it for me. However, this was definitely not the case. The story was beautifully crafted in a way that More...
I'm not sure why I put off reading this. Maybe I was just thinking it would be like so many young-adult mysteries that just didn't do it for me. However, this was definitely not the case. The story was beautifully crafted in a way that More...
Jul 08, 2011
Ruth
rated it:
I thought 3/4 of the book was a bit long and jumbled to the point where I started losing my interest, but the last 60 or so pages of Rosebush really make up for an almost craptastic book. Michele Jaffe clearly knows how to spin a "who's the killer" sort of mystery plot, which means that she played on our expectations on who the killer was (well the killer was obvious as soon as most of the other characters 'confessed' to what they did the night of the party) and although it didn't exac
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Feb 04, 2011
Andria
rated it:
Booktalk: They found her, broken and unconscious in the middle of the night, in a rosebush. Jane woke up in the hospital unable to remember anything about the hit-and-run accident that landed her in the middle of the shrubbery, or the party that had come before it. As the days go by, some memories come back but none of them make sense. Her friends visit her in the hospital but they all act kind of strange and shifty. She's getting weird gifts and vaguely threatening notes from a "Secret A
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Jan 11, 2011
Jessica
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 13, 2011
Karin
rated it:
Jane goes to a party on the Jersey Short expecting to have fun with her friends and a romantic night with her boyfriend. Instead she is run down by a car and left for dead – tangled in a rosebush on the side of the road.
Waking up in the hospital, Jane realizes she has no memory of what happened at the party and that she is paralyzed. With snatches of memory coming back at random moments and accounts from her friends, Jane attempts to piece together what really happened that night a More...
Waking up in the hospital, Jane realizes she has no memory of what happened at the party and that she is paralyzed. With snatches of memory coming back at random moments and accounts from her friends, Jane attempts to piece together what really happened that night a More...
May 01, 2011
Hayden
rated it:
Jane wakes up in the hospital the day after the party and finds that she is paralyzed. But she can't remember the events that led up to her injuries--was it really an accident, or did one of her friends try to kill her? And if so, what if that person is still trying?
Pros: Just a good, trashy mystery. No well-developed characters (mainly because there are so many of them), but a really fun whodunit, of which there are too few in YA fiction. Was it her semi-abusive boyfriend? His More...
Pros: Just a good, trashy mystery. No well-developed characters (mainly because there are so many of them), but a really fun whodunit, of which there are too few in YA fiction. Was it her semi-abusive boyfriend? His More...
Apr 04, 2011
Lisa (Badass Bookie)
rated it:
The Long Story ? - I'm not much of a mystery/suspense reader because they're usually too mysterious and too suspenseful to keep me from peeking at the ending. Which is exactly what I did, I peeked, I saw and it took the mystery out of it, now you know why I usually stick with predicable contemporaries or wacky paranormals. However, I really enjoyed it, like I really, really, really liked this book.
Honestly, I'm very fascinated with this concept of high school where teenagers would More...
Honestly, I'm very fascinated with this concept of high school where teenagers would More...
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Mar 22, 2011
Julia
rated it:
Jane has managed to work her way into the popular crowd at school. She's got two close girlfriends and a boyfriend she adores. She can't imagine why anyone would want to hurt her, even after she wakes up in the ICU unable to talk or move.
Overall, this is an enjoyable mystery/thriller. Jane, while stuck at the hospital, has to figure out who is trying to kill her - or whether she's delusional about the threats she sees.
My one complaint is that Jane isn't that likeab More...
Overall, this is an enjoyable mystery/thriller. Jane, while stuck at the hospital, has to figure out who is trying to kill her - or whether she's delusional about the threats she sees.
My one complaint is that Jane isn't that likeab More...
Feb 13, 2011
Stacey
rated it:
Michelle Jaffe brought to us a twisted story of friends, enemies and how sometimes you can't tell the difference between the two.
There really isn't much to say about Rosebush beyond not everything is as it seems. While reading the story of how Jane ended up, left-for-dead, in a rosebush, it felt like I was driving a never ending curving road around a mountain, through a mountain and over a mountain. The twists and turns never stopped. I was constantly peaking over the edge of the m More...
There really isn't much to say about Rosebush beyond not everything is as it seems. While reading the story of how Jane ended up, left-for-dead, in a rosebush, it felt like I was driving a never ending curving road around a mountain, through a mountain and over a mountain. The twists and turns never stopped. I was constantly peaking over the edge of the m More...
Oct 31, 2011
Christopher
rated it:
I don't normally read thrillers, but decided to try it. After the first couple of pages, I felt sure that I'd dislike Jane. Honestly, I tend to prefer characters who aren't part of the popular crowd, like even though I enjoyed Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall, I couldn't stand Samantha. So going into it, I already figured that I wouldn't love the book and at best I was hoping it would be good.
But after I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I ended up reading it all in one day. The More...
But after I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I ended up reading it all in one day. The More...
Jan 16, 2011
Erica
rated it:
Sick days suck. Unless you just started a book like this one, and then sick days are awesome because you get to spend the whole day in bed reading the book from cover to cover. And that’s how this book should be read – in one sitting.
This is the first book I’ve read by Michele Jaffe, and her writing blew me away. It’s insanely good. There were some pages when I’d just admire the way she described something, or how she connected things from Jane’s past to the events in her hospital room. More...
This is the first book I’ve read by Michele Jaffe, and her writing blew me away. It’s insanely good. There were some pages when I’d just admire the way she described something, or how she connected things from Jane’s past to the events in her hospital room. More...
Jun 10, 2011
Val
rated it:
Jane is left for dead in a rosebush after being hit by a car. She wakes up in the hospital with a foggy memory of the night before, unable to talk or move. As she starts improving, she starts remembering a bit more as well. Who hit her? Was it an accident? Was it her fault? And does someone still want her dead?
The story moves back and forth from the hospital to the night of the accident and even involves some stories from further back. I don't always enjoy the back and forth aspect, but it More...
The story moves back and forth from the hospital to the night of the accident and even involves some stories from further back. I don't always enjoy the back and forth aspect, but it More...
Jan 28, 2011
CeCe
rated it:
God, the woman knows how to write a mystery!
Now, this 5, count 'em, 5 star review is partly biased seeing as Jaffe has already won a spot in my personal record of GREATEST AUTHORS TO EVER GRACE THE PLANET. But that goes without saying since everything she writes turns to gold.
I digress. Rosebush specifically was a lot more serious than her Kitty novels. And I felt it was more...risque, what with all the references to sex, drugs, homosexuality, and all that. But I think i More...
Now, this 5, count 'em, 5 star review is partly biased seeing as Jaffe has already won a spot in my personal record of GREATEST AUTHORS TO EVER GRACE THE PLANET. But that goes without saying since everything she writes turns to gold.
I digress. Rosebush specifically was a lot more serious than her Kitty novels. And I felt it was more...risque, what with all the references to sex, drugs, homosexuality, and all that. But I think i More...
Jul 23, 2011
Jane ist beliebt. Sie hat einen tollen Freund, gehört zu einer dreier Mädchenclique und bekommt alles, was sie will. Als sie eines Tages mit ihren Freundinnen Langley und Kate zu einer Party geht nimmt diese ein unerwartetes Ende.
Jane wacht halbtot in einem Rosenbusch auf. Als sie sich im Krankenhaus wiederfindet und aus dem Koma erwacht, muss sie feststellen, dass ihr Leben doch nicht mehr so perfekt ist. Ihr Körper ist verunstaltet, mit Kratzern durch die Rosenbüs More...
Jane wacht halbtot in einem Rosenbusch auf. Als sie sich im Krankenhaus wiederfindet und aus dem Koma erwacht, muss sie feststellen, dass ihr Leben doch nicht mehr so perfekt ist. Ihr Körper ist verunstaltet, mit Kratzern durch die Rosenbüs More...
Jun 16, 2011
Bobby
rated it:
This story reminds me of exactly the reason I never wanted to be popular; because when you're all the way at the top, the only way to go is down. And Jane, the protagonist, goes down in spectacular fashion, and with a literal bang. Waking up in hospital with amnesia places Jane in exactly the same boat as the reader; clueless. The mixture of present time and memories is very effective, allowing the reader only to know what Jane herself knows, thereby keeping the mystery. And - for me, at least -
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Apr 02, 2011
P.E. at Tantalizing Illusions
rated it:
Oh my, what have I just read? Rosebush was a roller coaster of a read. It's a who did it story but it was done very well.
The main character was Jane, a plain girl who felt lonely and needy. She'd do anything not to be alone, even hurt her supposed friends. The truth was that Jane was not really alone. She had a wonderful family and friends who care for her but she couldn't seem to see that. When someone drove a car into Jane after some party, she started to question her friends, hist More...
The main character was Jane, a plain girl who felt lonely and needy. She'd do anything not to be alone, even hurt her supposed friends. The truth was that Jane was not really alone. She had a wonderful family and friends who care for her but she couldn't seem to see that. When someone drove a car into Jane after some party, she started to question her friends, hist More...
