Beware That Girl by Teresa Toten
Published by Delacorte Press
Published on May 31st, 2016
Cover Rating: 4.5/5
Story Rating: 4/5
Synopsis:
The Haves. The Have-Nots. Kate O'Brian appears to be a Have-Not. Her whole life has been a series of setbacks she's had to snake her way out of—some more sinister than others. But she's determined to change that. She's book smart. She's street-smart. Oh, and she's also a masterful liar.
As the scholarship student at the Waverly School in NYC, Kate has her work cut out for her: her plan is to climb the social ladder and land a spot at Yale. She's already found her "people" among the senior class "it" girls—specifically in the cosseted, mega-wealthy yet deeply damaged Olivia Sumner. As for Olivia, she considers Kate the best friend she's always needed, the sister she never had.
When the handsome and whip-smart Mark Redkin joins the Waverly administration, he immediately charms his way into the faculty's and students' lives—becoming especially close to Olivia, a fact she's intent on keeping to herself. It becomes increasingly obvious that Redkin poses a threat to Kate, too, in a way she can't reveal—and can't afford to ignore. How close can Kate and Olivia get to Mark without having to share their dark pasts?
Review:
When I read the description of the book, I felt there was going to be some type of romance between Mark Redkin and one of the girls, but it was more than that. The book started with some confusing plans, but as most books, the story went developing in the way you start understanding the characters and their plans or parts in the life of the other characters. I immediately fell in love with Kate O'Brien's independence, and her way to find stuff about people before they even knew about it themselves. This was something I kind of related to, not that I have that ability, but I like to believe I know some stuff about some people that not even they know about it (we all have this kind of trait with some of the closest people in our lives). Olivia Sumner had more of a lack of self-esteem, but that doesn't mean I didn't like her, she in fact was the reason why I liked Kate a bit more. They completed each other in a way they made you feel like they were lost twins or something like that.
The story's plot mesmerized me each time I turned into a new chapter, which takes me to fact that the chapters are very well-elaborated, talking about how they were named, the length and the font they used (which I actually loved). Each chapter has one of the girls' name, if not both, and a date, this helps us define or at least have an idea of what is about to happen. This is something I love in books since I get the feeling that the authors want for us to find out without them telling us, yet. Plus there were some small, not-so-detailed plot twist when you are about to reach the end, and I belive they are my favorite things from the book. The sense of thriller in the story was inevitable and I find it pretty amusing that I had not heard of this particular author before this book. It is not one of her best, according to other people's reviews and I kind of want to read this other book of hers called The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B.
The story has great grammar, the little details found inside some chapters, such as the typical texting between teenagers and some of the characters' flashbacks, are great, and the plot is simply something you don't see most of time in other books, but it still captures your atention and makes you want to read more. There is this thing specifically that I loved about the physical part of the book, and it was the fact that not only it was hardback, but the actual cover on the hardback had this really simple yet awesome design.
Overall, I liked it, but there were some things that didn't quite fit with my taste, for example, the ending. It has an explendid exit, yet I felt like it was more directed to end with a the-book-is-about-end-I-have-to-change-drastically character development. From another view-point it kind of ended with the character realizing they had done something that would change their complete life, but they wouldn't stick with the consequences until they actually got to them. I felt like there was something missing, like if she was planning to write a sequel, but it has ot been confirmed nor even mentioned.
I find the story to be the same as other people have called it, creepy or psychologically creepy, and I feel it is directed to the older YA (young-adult) audience. Some people say that it is a bit too creepy for their taste, but I believe that it is not that creepy, just a bit shockpeole act in a certain way of crazy, or even if you are triggered to things such as cutting, anxiety and/or any other psychological or psychiatric treatment. This does not mean that just because you are triggered or let us say, affected, by this, that you have no permission to read the book, bu tif you do, just be aware of what it brings a long. As much as I liked it, I prefer for you to get aa bit more filled with information about it, because it is not the typical book with love stories or even vampires, the characters may seem to act cruel like other demons, but these are people, not specifically demons, but with something really wrong inside their minds.
Quotes: Unfortunately, I did not highlight quotes on the book as I was reading it, I could only find a few phrases I liked, but nothing that was good enough for me to grab a highlighter. Besides, since it has just been published, there are not many people who have read it and published any of them on the internet. I found these, though:
"Watch me now. Pay close attention. Survival of the fittest, baby."
"Secrets can weigh you down. They crawl around your guts, demanding exposure to light and air. When they don't get it, they burrow in and change you."
“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” -Benjamin Franklin