Blood Wounds by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Review copy: from tour
Out: now
Stars 4 out of 5
This was a tough read.
I want to call it realistic and “gritty”. While I am sure it is gritty,
I am not so sure it is realistic. It could
happen. Willa’s family situation is
very, very different. She has a
stepfather who cares very much for her, and
two stepsisters. The stepsisters have a very wealthy mother, so Willa has
watched her sisters be handed the best of the best their whole lives, while she
makes do with the leftovers.
I am all for more fiction about poorer families, I am
personally so sick of reading about super rich teens. In this economic climate,
I doubt highly that most of my library kids can relate to expensive fashions
and handbags that cost more than mortgage payments.
Willa tries to connect to the roots of her parents, but
everything is complicated by the actions of her father.
This book is about finding where you belong, and about who
belongs to you.
I had one issue with this story, and one warning.
Pfeffer’s fans, who love her previous series, may not get
this new direction and topic. Then again, they were gritty and realistic
renderings of a dystopian tale, so perhaps they will love it.
The complaint: Something very fairy tale happens to Willa at
the end of this book that I thought was out of place and just too easy an
ending. As I read, I wanted to see Willa
overcome all of this, I did, but what happens is far-fetched and rang as too convenient.
Really recommended for teens who enjoy crime dramas, realistic fiction, and biographies of struggling childhoods (such as Glass Castle, or A Stolen Life).
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