Title: Blood Wounds
Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
Published: 2011 by Harcourt Children's Books
Source: Banned Book Tours
Willa is lucky: She has a loving blended family that gets along. Not all families are so fortunate. But when a bloody crime takes place hundreds of miles away, it has an explosive effect on Willa’s peaceful life. The estranged father she hardly remembers has murdered his new wife and children, and is headed east toward Willa and her mother.
Under police protection, Willa discovers that her mother has harbored secrets that are threatening to boil over. Has everything Willa believed about herself been a lie? As Willa sets out to untangle the mysteries of her past, she keeps her own secret—one that has the potential to tear her family apart.
Blood Wounds was definitely not what I expected. This was my second contemporary YA novel that I've read and reviewed. Once again, it didn't hit the spot for me. It wasn't horrible by any means, but I just don't think the contemporary genre is for me.
Willa goes through so many emotions throughout this book. I sympathize with her numerous times. She tries to find herself by looking into her past. From my own experiences, I knew it wouldn't end very well if she tried to find her niche in the world by comparing herself to her family. You are your own person, no matter what your background, past mistakes, your heritage.. none of that matters. That being said, I was curious what Willa would find and how she would react to what she would find out about her parents and grandparents. It is a huge, shocking secret that she does find out, so I can't say much about that without spoiling it for you.
The book was interesting enough. It was short and to the point, which is always a plus for me. I don't care much for when authors beat around the bush and Pfeffer definitely didn't do that. 
Don't blame Contemporary in general for a few bad books! :P I LOVE Contemporary and I did not like Blood Wounds. It was far too superficial, and I didn't feel like any of the emotion was there. (Your review is much nicer than mine :P) Well written review though. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading!
ReplyDeleteMy review on this one went up a few days ago and I said that I thought that if Pfeffer made the book longer and elaborated on some stuff, the book would be awesome. Like, I thought it had the potential to be really great if I had more information about pretty much all the characters and lots of the plotlines.
ReplyDeleteI *liked* it...it was great with pacing and all. But I think Ashley said it well in her comment when she said it was a little superficial. It was my first Pfeffer book, though, and I will definitely read more of hers since I've heard the moon books are really, really great.
Loved reading your thoughts. :)
~Asheley