I have recently read the book Bitter End by Jennifer Brown. This book is a young adult novel about eighteen-year old Alex, a blossoming poet with a troubling family history. Her mentally-ill mother died while on a trip to Colorado when she was young, leaving her father in a permanent state of grief and indifference to the world around him. Out of the three sisters, Alex is the only one that is determined to know why her mother risked everything to go to the mountains in Colorado. Alex has spent her whole life planning for a trip to Colorado with her two best friends Bethany and Zack, who she feels are the only ones who understand her past and want to help her. However, despite this, Alex still feels empty and unloved. One fateful day, she meets Cole, a transfer student who is paired up with her in tutor lab. Over time they get to know each other and Alex finds herself head over heels in love. At first their relationship is beautiful. Cole, despite being a bit jealous with Alex’s close friendship with Zack, loves Alex for who she is and will do anything for her. Alex is as happy as can be and feels more loved than ever before. However, things soon take a turn for the worse when Cole stars spatting out insults and violent threats. Alex ignores it at first thinking that it won’t happen again and Cole still loves her. Unfortunately his abusive attacks become harsher and more frequent and Alex is forced to choose between true love or her own well-being.
With the extensive plot out of the way, let’s take a look at the story itself. The story is a little slow at first, mainly so the plot can be explained in detail. As the story goes on, twists and turns are all over the place and climaxes are around every corner. The book is certainly exciting which is probably the biggest factor in why the book is very enjoyable. I can’t really find any flaws in the book besides the slow start, but even that is quite compelling. Besides that, however, there’s not much I can say. It’s one of those books that I really love, but there’s not really a way to explain it. If you like riveting romances with drama and suspense added in, Bitter End is the book for you. Enjoy it and let one important lesson be learned: you’re nobody’s doormat.
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!
Submitted by Lauren Leon