Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles
Dramatic romance and situations that tug on your heart strings and keep you turning pages are Simone Elkeles' specialties. I was standing in Borders with my friend holding two books. One was 9 dollars, one was 4, and I had a twenty to blow, but I also needed to get candy for the movie we were going to see, so I had to buy one. The 4 dollar book was by an incredible author that I dearly admire and enjoy reading, but it wasn't what I was looking for--but the next week I did go back and buy it, and still have yet to read it! Instead of the romantic, cuddly, humorous novel I had been going to buy, I purchased "Leaving Paradise." Besides the intriguing cover art and the author's name at the bottom, the story itself sounded promising.
I'm not too harsh about judging a book by its cover, so it didn't exactly bother me that the boy on the cover has a tattoo, while Caleb, the boy in the book, didn't mention having one. I did think that the situation on the cover struck home with the story. Here's the back of the book:
What happens when the person who damaged you for life...becomes the person you trust the most?
Caleb Becker spent the past year in juvenile detention.
Maggie Armstrong spent the past year in hospitals and physical therapy.
Two teens who were scarred one fateful night are going to have to face their greatest challenge yet--meeting up with each other again.
Caleb, while driving home drunk from a party, struck Maggie, his next door neighbor and sister's best friend, with his car, turned around, and left her lying in the street. A year later, he returns to stir up drama. His family is completely different. His mother is constantly happy, like a fake clown mask has been melted into her face, and his sister has all the outward appearance of a vampire--black lipstick, black clothing, pale face... And they thought he was the one who'd changed so much?
Maggie's family needs money. Bad. But the most important thing Maggie's thinking about is her trip to Spain. She can escape school, the voices in the halls, telling others "that's the girl who Caleb Becker hit." Most of all, though, she'll leave just in time to avoid Caleb's release from juvenile detention. She didn't count on him getting out early, even though he did.
The two work together to help make a friendly old lady happy and find themselves along the way. But when Caleb's ex-girlfriend and his old friends get too deeply involved in his life once again, he has to choose between what's comfortable and what he needs. Caleb needs Maggie, even though she hates him, even though she wishes he would die, even though... But it's not true, is it? Can she possibly care for the boy who ruined her life?
I loved the book. I really, really did. Elkeles' amazing writing and story telling is once again placed into a solid idea that packs faith and disgust and love into a story we never would have expected. The relationship between the two characters is astonishing. How could a friendship be mended that quickly? I found that they were both hurting and the only person that understood what they were going through was the other, creating an unlikely, but purely genuine, friendship.
I'm not too harsh about judging a book by its cover, so it didn't exactly bother me that the boy on the cover has a tattoo, while Caleb, the boy in the book, didn't mention having one. I did think that the situation on the cover struck home with the story. Here's the back of the book:
What happens when the person who damaged you for life...becomes the person you trust the most?
Caleb Becker spent the past year in juvenile detention.
Maggie Armstrong spent the past year in hospitals and physical therapy.
Two teens who were scarred one fateful night are going to have to face their greatest challenge yet--meeting up with each other again.
Caleb, while driving home drunk from a party, struck Maggie, his next door neighbor and sister's best friend, with his car, turned around, and left her lying in the street. A year later, he returns to stir up drama. His family is completely different. His mother is constantly happy, like a fake clown mask has been melted into her face, and his sister has all the outward appearance of a vampire--black lipstick, black clothing, pale face... And they thought he was the one who'd changed so much?
Maggie's family needs money. Bad. But the most important thing Maggie's thinking about is her trip to Spain. She can escape school, the voices in the halls, telling others "that's the girl who Caleb Becker hit." Most of all, though, she'll leave just in time to avoid Caleb's release from juvenile detention. She didn't count on him getting out early, even though he did.
The two work together to help make a friendly old lady happy and find themselves along the way. But when Caleb's ex-girlfriend and his old friends get too deeply involved in his life once again, he has to choose between what's comfortable and what he needs. Caleb needs Maggie, even though she hates him, even though she wishes he would die, even though... But it's not true, is it? Can she possibly care for the boy who ruined her life?
I loved the book. I really, really did. Elkeles' amazing writing and story telling is once again placed into a solid idea that packs faith and disgust and love into a story we never would have expected. The relationship between the two characters is astonishing. How could a friendship be mended that quickly? I found that they were both hurting and the only person that understood what they were going through was the other, creating an unlikely, but purely genuine, friendship.