The Conspiracy of Us (The Conspiracy of Us, #1) in The Not-So Austen Bookclub

Dec 03, 2014 Dayla rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, suspense, romance, contemporary, mystery, arc, books-for-review

Review also appeared on my blog: Book Addict 24-7

I received a copy via the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall is a young adult contemporary novel that is full of surprises--and I'm not just talking about one of the twists at the end that I didn't see coming. Whereas the beginning of the novel felt almost cliched and predictable, Hall did the unthinkable and had her protagonist completely call out the crap that was going down. I was actually kind of anno Review also appeared on my blog: Book Addict 24-7

I received a copy via the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall is a young adult contemporary novel that is full of surprises--and I'm not just talking about one of the twists at the end that I didn't see coming. Whereas the beginning of the novel felt almost cliched and predictable, Hall did the unthinkable and had her protagonist completely call out the crap that was going down. I was actually kind of annoyed at the beginning, but as the novel progressed I was surprised, and very happy, to see the character kind of shake the naïveté off her shoulders.

Avery West, the protagonist, has just found out that her life has been so filled with secrets, that she didn't even know she had a family on her father's side. Avery is introduced as your typical, anti-social teen who would rather not connect with anyone when she has to move than make friends and, say, go to prom.

At first, I was curious as to whether this beautifully covered book would become one of those cliched "different girl meets handsome boy" type of deals. For the first thirty pages or so, I was so disappointed to find that it might turn out to be a tragic, typical storyline. But then, something amazing happened: reality appeared in the form of a very serious situation and slaps Avery in her annoyingly hopeful face. From that moment on, The Conspiracy of Us becomes this incredible, action-riddled story that I could not put down. This was such an awesome book to start my year with, since it was fun, fresh, and exciting.

The mystery is intriguing, especially if you're into anything by Dan Brown or Steve Berry. I was surprised to see the level of detail put into the clues given. This was definitely a well thought out novel. I felt myself growing emotionally connected to the characters as the clock ticked closer and closer to what they feared the most, and I wanted to see where everything lead them in the end.

The characters were interesting in their complexity. Of course, there's the damaged bad boy that you love to hate; there's the damaged good guy that only has the protagonist in his line of sight, you have the protagonist who learns to deal with life's crap as her character develops; and you have the bad guys who will stop at nothing to get the characters to fail. I did like the predictability of these characters because it kind of balanced out the serious themes running below the main storyline. I was also a huge fan of how the budding romance between two of the characters did not override the main storyline (and no love triangle, for now.) As a result, the combination of fun, slightly romantic, well-known character archetypes, and serious themes made for an awesome, light, and suspenseful mystery.

The pacing was awesome once the proverbial shit hit the fan and I have to say, it was this fantastic pacing that had me tearing through the pages.

Though one of the twists is easily predictable and I am not a huge fan of this being turned into a series, I highly recommend Hall's book to my fellow readers. If you want something quick and light, but intriguing and surprising, then you might want to pick this one up.

Happy reading! ...more

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Feb 07, 2015 Amy marked it as not-going-to-finish

50 pages in and the heroine has:
1. Swooned over Boy A
2. Discovered enough evidence to assume Boy A is at BEST A CREEPY STALKER and at WORST...well, A CREEPY STALKER.
3. Gotten creeped out by Boy B staring at her after she nearly hits him with her car.
4. Disobeyed her mother to go to prom with Boy A
5. Watched Boy A and Boy B play the pronoun game, make cryptic comments, and reference a hitherto unsuspected family. Not to mention Boy B has a knife
6. Decided to leave with Boy A
7. Actually left wi ...more

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