Monday Montage is a meme I cooked up because of my lack of love for the dreaded Monday... Monday's just plain suck ~ I hate them ~ so I decided to find a way to come up with a redeeming quality for this day... After all, it's gunna come whether we like it or not, so might as well make the best of it.
This week's montage is inspired by The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee... (you can see my review here...)
Enjoy!
::true::
::bahahaha::
::dark tunnels are never good::
I certainly hope that got you smiling on this Monday morning... :) Definitely brightens my day...
With the help of Nate Brenner, the hunky “farmer boy” she’s rapidly falling for, Rinn devises a dangerous plan to uncover the truth. Soon reality and fantasy meld into one, till Rinn finds it nearly impossible to tell the difference. When a malevolent force threatens the lives of everyone she cares about--not to mention her own--she can't help wondering: who should she really be afraid of?
Annaliese? Or herself?
I've seen mixed reviews about this book, but this reader absolutely adored it. It had a fabulous combination: regret, guilt, secrets, ghosts, forgiveness, acceptation, determination, courage, unconditional love. I mean, what's not to like?
Rinn is fabulous heroine. She's speckled with flaws, not to mention has a past that many of us would rather forget, but she does her best to trudge forward. It was so interesting to get into the head of someone who battles with herself daily. She has an eyebrow-raising past filled with defiance, sleeping around, and drugs. We don't see this Rinn though, just through her memories; the Rinn we meet wants more than for history to repeat itself. She shoulders an unbelievable burden ~ she thinks she killed her grandmother, she knows she's "crazy," and despite all that she's been through and put others through, she just wants to deserve some kind of normality.
She finds it at first, making friends and even dating. But she still has her secret ~ no one knows about her illness, and she'd like to keep it that way. It isn't until Annaliese starts trouble that Rinn's past rises to the surface, and she discovers that, despite it all, people still love her. She has her mother, her father, and a great guy who accepts her for who she is.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not saying that all of Annaliese's antics were worth it. She terrifies people, steals their greatest strengths, and even takes their lives. She's a vengeful ghost ~ she was wronged and she needs her retribution. All I can say is that Rinn's illness comes in handy here ~ she's the only one with the state of mind to stop Annaliese.
The writing style of this novel was fluid and witty, and Rinn's voice is consistently snarky and hilarious. The story reveals itself slowly, drawing us in further a little at a time, as a good novel should.
The personalities are distinct and relatable. I felt a connection with all the characters, their emotions, quirks, and traits tangible throughout the pages. Even Annaliese, who's an invisible force at first, has a unique "voice." But Rinn, is by far, my favorite. She just deals with so much more than any sixteen-year-old should have to. She's strong, determined, and accepts herself for who she is, flaws and all. It's about forgiveness ~ forgiving others and forgiving yourself.
Now, this is a stand-alone novel, but the ending left readers...I'll just say 'wondering.' I think I reread the last paragraph three or four times just to make sure I was understanding it right. It's left up the reader's imagination to determine what happens next. This could be frustrating for some, but I thought it was the perfect ending. It leaves you thinking about the book long after you've finished reading.
!definitely recommend!
Oh, and I've got a little addition to this review: a soundtrack! Or at least my version of what could be the soundtrack for this novel....
Soundtrack Saturday is a meme hosted by Novel Reveries in which we choose a song we believe could find itself on a book's (current or past read) soundtrack or that could go along with a character.
Just finished this book last night ~ it was amazing. I've seen mixed reviews, but this reader loved it. Most people seem to dwell on the ghost story, but I don't think that's the main focus. Rinn has bipolar disorder, and she's trying to deal with the mistakes she's made in the past, the people she's hurt, while doing her best to remain sane in the midst of a monster who's determined to make her seem untreatably crazy.
What would you do if there were voices in your head telling you to do these illogical things that unwind unbelievably painful consequences? Rinn wants to deserve her mother's devotion, her friends' attention, her boyfriend's love, and for that, she's trying to forgive herself and stop the terror that's wreaking havoc in her new home.
The song I chose to represent Rinn is Hurt by Nine Inch Nails.
Such an emotional song. Rinn has done some terrible things ~ she was sick, so I'm not blaming her, but she can't help but blame herself. When her mom uproots her from her home in California to take her to the little rural town in Ohio where her mom grew up, Rinn thinks it'll be a fresh start. No one knows she's crazy, no one has to know. But Rinn discovers that her sickness is a part of who she is. She struggles with this desire to fit in, be loved, be normal with her guilt and memories of her past where she messed up, slept around, did drugs, and treated her mom abhorrently.
The lyrics that strike me the deepest when it come to Rinn's character are:
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way
She can't take back what she's done, but she's determined to save them and change what happens in the future.
