Monday, October 3, 2011

Review: Rosebush by Michele Jaffa

Title: Rosebush
Author: Michele Jaffe
Publication date: December 7, 2010

Summary: 
Instead of celebrating Memorial Day weekend on the Jersey Shore, Jane is in the hospital surrounded by teddy bears, trying to piece together what happened last night. One minute she was at a party, wearing fairy wings and cuddling with her boyfriend. The next, she was lying near-dead in a rosebush after a hit-and-run. Everyone believe it was an accident, despite the phone threats Jane swears were real, but the truth is a thorny thing. As Jane's boyfriend, friends and admirers come to visit, more memories come to the surface not just from a party, but from deeper in the past. With nearly all her friends a suspect, Jane must unravel the mystery before her killer attacks again. Along the way she's forced to examine her life and change it.

Review:
Although I didn't care too much for the main characters, most of who were the popular, rich, snobby type, I still found myself hooked into reading this book. It starts with a scene from the end and then goes back to the night of the party so we can watch the story unfold. This is one of those books that will keep you on your toes, just as eager as Jane to figure out who's after her and whether or not the strange phone calls and messages she gets are real or just delusions.

Without giving too much away, I'll say that the ending was a real surprise. The person who ended up being the killer didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, especially because I could think of at least two other people who seemed like they had better, more solid reasons. I mean, I don't like predictable books where I can tell who the culprit is right from the start,  but I also like things to make sense, and this ending was slightly confusing in my opinion, but definitely a shocker. It was also slightly annoying how Jane would jump from guy to guy so quickly, especially when she had a boyfriend. Okay, some of them did sound pretty cute, but come on. As her mom says at the end, "That's the third boy she's kissed this week!"

However, putting all of the little annoyances I had with this book aside, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes a thrilling novel with many questions to be answered. Even if you're tired of reading about stuck-up popular teenagers like I am, it still makes for an exciting read that you'll have trouble putting down.
Characters: 7/10
Plot: 8/10
Originality: 8/10
Writing: 8/10
Overall grade: B

Received from Book Divas for review.

3 comments:

Nina said...

I had no intention to read this book after reading a very negative review for it, but now I'm considering buying it. ;) It does sounds like something I would enjoy. Great review!

wdebo said...

This book sounds very interesting, I really wanna check it out now!

iLuvReadingTooMuch said...

I've never heard of this one, but it does sound somewhat intriguing :P Great review and I'm a new follower! :D

Rabiah
Confessions of a Readaholic