*Review* : Bitter End - Jennifer Brown

Book review of Bitter End by Jennifer Brown
Bitter End
Series : No
Released : 10th May 2011
Publisher: Little Brown
Format : Hardback
Source : Little Brown - Thank you so so much
Finished : 26th May 2011

Overall rating -

When Alex falls for the charming new boy at school, Cole, a handsome, funny, sports star who adores her, she can't believe she's finally found her soul mate-someone who truly understands her and loves her for who she really is.
At first, Alex is blissfully happy. Sure, Cole seems a little jealous of her relationship with her best friends, Zack and Bethany, but what guy would want his girlfriend spending all of her time with another boy? But as the months pass, Alex can no longer ignore Cole's small put-downs, pinches, or increasingly violent threats. As Alex struggles to come to terms with the sweet boyfriend she fell in love with and the boyfriend whose "love" she no longer recognizes, she is forced to choose - between her "true love" and herself.

I was beyond excited to read this, it went straight to the top of my TBR and l danced around the room when it came in the post. Lets just say it did NOT let me down.

This isn’t just a book where l was the reader and they were the characters which l was reading about. The characters became me, the characters became my friends and the characters became real.

Alex is a very likable character who you are given a lot of time with at the beginning to get to know her, her daily routines, her family, her friends and her feelings. I think this is why l got so attached to her and started to see her as a friend. When she meets Cole l was happy for her, although l kind of knew what was coming from the blurb, l thought he seemed like a great guy. Throughout the book l understood Alex, although at some points how she was with her friends got to me, with how Cole is and how he acts l felt like l could understand Alex’s belief in him.

Alex’s friends, Bethany and Zack, are the sort of friends which everyone wants. They have known each other for a long time, feel comfortable together and can tell each other everything. By starting the book off slowly, as the reader, l got to see their friendship and l really felt Jennifer definitely did the right thing by having a slow start. What made the beginning even better was because of how Jennifer wrote the book, although not a lot was really happening l was still gripped. Maybe it was because of how the book flows so well, maybe it was because l found myself falling in love with the characters or just generally because every page engrossed me that little bit more.

With such a tricky subject Jennifer really had to write this book with a lot of empathy and feelings for Alex as she could. Jennifer seemed to go beyond just making up at character, at some points l wanted to jumped into the book and help Alex because of how Jennifer really made Alex a true person with real feelings. Jennifer made this book and has a great talent which l cannot fault.

Overall Bitter End is a must read YA book which is one of those very special books that makes you feel many different emotions from despair to empathy to delight. I didn’t just see through Alex’s eyes, l was there with her. 

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Ratings :

Plot : 4.5/5

Cover : 4.5/5

Page Turner : 5/5

Characters : 5/5

Ending : 5/5

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Series -

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2011 Books Challenges 

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Buy your copy

Book Depository 

Amazon (UK/USA)