My rating: 5 of 5 stars
p.s. I tried really hard not to spoil anything here on this review, so please, enjoy!
I SWEAR I’VE NEVER MET A BOOK THAT BLEW MY MIND FROM EVERY DIRECTION LIKE CLEAR DID! THIS BOOK IS TOTALLY MINDBLOWING IN EVERY SCENE AND LEFT ME SPEECHLESS THOUSAND TIMES EVERY DAY!
…and it’s been almost two weeks since I finished the book…
Come to think about it, I never not began my review for any of Jessica Park’s books without bolded block letter initiating hysterical reaction. Well, it’s hard to not to…
Actually, what I’ve written above doesn’t even cover what I truly felt when I was drowning inside the story. I swear, I DID NEVER SEE THAT COMING. At all. Not even close. Nada. Period.I’m not going to repeat myself because the only way you could feel what I really feel is only by reading it for yourself. Read it. Now. I mean it, read it people. And see how this book blows your mind. Every. Single. Time.
Sixteen years old Stella Ford realized that the role as unwanted kid had finally shifted fully beneath her feet the day her sister and dad were involved in the car accident that winter. After that, her dad, the only sane parent in the house, disappeared completely leaving her with her mother (who loathe her ever since day 1 she was born) and her sister (who began to loathe her unreasonably ever since the accident day). Living with these two family members who hated her to the bone was apparently beyond the bearable level. She was fine, really, to be hated by them. But it was not just hatred she received until this very day she turned twenty-one, it was also abuse and destruction that she suffered from some mental game her mother got her into. For five years, Stella grew up feeling insecure, constantly doubting herself, and was firmly convinced that she could never be an independent woman, ever. The day she finally met her limit, she decided to take off and never looked back. The brief encounter with a stranger boy named Sam Bishop five years ago was the only thing she had in mind when took off. It was not just simply common encounter with stranger. Sam Bishop, within few minutes successfully planted a wise advice Stella kept holding on for years. So there she went, bracing herself to find him wherever he might be now.
“You were not just some unhappy beautiful girl in a stairwell.
You were more. You are more.”
(Sam Bishop; Chapter IX, Clear: A Death Trippers Novel)
Meeting him for the second time, Stella didn’t expect to meet a man with sad eyes and looking so lost like that. Sam was not the cheerful boy she once met. But it didn’t matter; Stella believed there was a reason for everything. And whatever haunting Sam’s eyes, Stella determined to erase them completely. When they thought they were finally able to working their way out of each other’s issues, another hurdle came between them. Something from the past, something that actually stayed within them every day, something Sam tried really hard to get over. Something dangerous that could be the undoing of everything they’d been worked out. Something that if compared, made death seemed more sufferable…
I admit, the first four chapters were totally wrecked my mind. I was like, What the heck is this? What happened?? What in the world happening?? What kind of mindfck game being played here??? Seriously, Jessica Park succeeded big time in deceiving me, just like how the mother deceived Stella… And then things became more ‘make-sense’ when Stella finally met Sam. I really loved character Stella here. I was in awe of her brave step to fight for herself, leaving the messed-up family with no plan at all in mind. Moreover considering her circumstance, it was awesome that she was able to pull the big act of saving herself like that. And Sam, dear Lord, Sam Bishop were so so amazing, so understanding, so determined, so loyal, so fierce in loving his beloved. My heart ached knowing he’d been through awful thing like that in the past. And I forever thanked Stella to stay true to him, accepting him even after she’d seen the darkest side of him.
“I love you, Stella. With every part of me, I love you.”
“And I love you, Sam. I am so clear when I’m with you.”
(Chapter XVII, Clear: A Death Trippers Novel)
I didn’t know how many times I’d cried for this couple. Jessica Park really knows how to create such loveable couple, even the flawed one.
And then around 32%, I dropped both my jaw and e-reader to the floor...
I literally yelled WTH over and over again with tears streamed down on my face. It was only few minutes later than I dropped my jaw again for the second time. Yes, the mind-twisting part had come and I could feel my mind slowly turning from confuse, disbelieve, and lastly, in awe. Jessica Park brought a whole new fresh theme in paranormal genre that usually went around the same topic. I am completely mesmerized on how Jessica Park could even come up with the idea. And it was so well-built! This is so original and fresh and awesome! BIG TIME!
One thing that I kept thinking about this book was the lesson slipped from what Sam had said to Stella in a hospital five years ago:
“Everything will be okay. Good things last, and the bad things will fade away.
So, go find your good”
(Sam Bishop; Chapter I, Clear: A Death Trippers Novel)
Just no matter how messed-up things had become in your life, how awful the background you came from, how many times people let you down, know that good things will always last. You just have to find it.
You’ll love this, trust me. Even me, who am actually not really a fan of paranormal story, enjoyed this so much!
Love, read, and review,
Cynthia D.
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