Beautiful Malice

AUTHOR: Rebecca James

PAGES: 256

WEBSITE: http://www.rebeccajamesbooks.com/

TWITTER: @BeckyJames1970

ACQUIRED: ARC publisher

Genre: YA

SUMMARY:

Katie is your normal teenager. She's happy and carefree. She is discovering love, she's popular, she's happy, until the night her sister is murdered. Now Katie has become Katherine. She's changed her last name, she's moved in with her aunt, and attends a different high school hoping to escape her past. She doesn't want to stand out, she just wants to make it through high school without the scrutiny of that one night, of who she was/is, of who her parents are, of who her sister was. She just wants to be normal.

When Katherine meets Alice, her world is turned upside down. Alice is popular, the center of attention and can make any situation fun. Katherine is reluctant to accept Alice's friendship, but when she does she realizes just how much she has missed having a friend and being carefree. The guilt is there, always inside her, the guilt of surviving when her sister had not.

Katherine experiences Alice erratic behavior and is shocked at how easy it is for her to hurt the people who care about her. How fast she is to lashes out at anyone. And how Alice expects everything to be like nothing happened after one of her episodes.

When Alice's behavior becomes just too dark for Katherine she ends the friendship. But Katherine will learn you can't just be rid of someone like Alice, she gets in you, tries to eat you alive and destroy all that you love.

Katherine's life may have been surrounded by secrets but Alice has a few secrets of her own.

OPINION:

This book is so hard to talk about without giving away spoilers. It was a great read. Very well written and a definite page turner. You will stay up late, not being able to put it down.

Intriguing. This book will get you from the very start. Right away you get the sense something is off with Alice. This girl is extreme, but you are just so happy Katherine is finally starting to feel her age again, you hope Alice will get herself together.

It's heartbreaking that Katherine holds the burden of her sisters death. It's a struggle for her to even begin to be happy. Katherine is consumed with survivors guilt. She feels guilty, not only for being alive, but deep down she wonders if her actions caused her sisters death.

Alice becomes so twisted and sick you just don't know how far she will go to get what she wants. Alice taints everyone she comes in contact with.

It was a fascinating read, full of mystery. Learning what happened that night Katherine's sister was murdered and learning all of Katherine's and Alice's secrets leaves you with a tale that is funny, horrific, loving and chilling. Creepy, bone chilling, beautiful story.