The Worst of Me - Kate le VannPages: 195
Publisher: Piccadilly Press Ltd.
Release Date: 1st January 2010
Other Titles by this Author: Tessa in Love; Two Friends, One Summer; Things I Know About Love; Rain
Cassidy has been feeling unsettled and adrift, but things look up when she meets an older boy called Jonah. She loves spending time with him and his friends, flattered to be included in their discussions. Jonah is sweet and sensitive and she’s never felt so happy.
But then Cassidy hears disturbing news about Jonah which shakes her trust in him and makes her question her own judgement. If you love someone, how far should you go to overlook their faults?
A sharply insightful story about the sometimes painful process of growing up and thinking for yourself.
The Worst of Me is Kate le Vann’s fabulous fifth novel for teens.
My favourite aspect of The Worst of Me is Cass. I identified with her immediately and found her so easy to like. Lots of the things that Cass felt about her friends and how she acted around them gave me an instant insight into her mind and I recognised some of myself in her. Kate le Vann has a way of drawing you into the mind and life if her characters and she did it again with Cass, leading her and the reader to a place where she began to like and trust herself.
Now, if you read my reviews regularly you’ll know that I love a good male lead in the books I read, but I just couldn’t quite find any like for Jonah. I think this may have been down to the mention of him in the blurb of The Worst of Me which instantly put me on guard about him because he really was pretty likable for most of the book. It’s really beginning to annoy me how crucial elements of novels are given away in the summary. I believe that The Worst of Me would have made a much bigger impact if I hadn’t known what to expect.
Religion plays a huge part in The Worst of Me and I generally don’t enjoy reading about it as it makes me a little uncomfortable, but Kate le Vann succeeded in writing it into the novel without being patronising or casting judgement. I thought it was handled beautifully.
I loved The Worst of Me and I highly recommend it along with the rest of Kate le Vann’s books.
For my 2010 100+ Reading Challenge
Sophie
Ace review, and I know what you mean about book summaries giving things away.
ReplyDeleteI need to read a Kate le Vann book one day, seeing as you rate them so highly!
I've read this too and I really enjoyed it - as I have enjoyed all of Kate le Vann's books. I have to admit I'm always slightly on edge when I read a novel by her, blurb or no blurb, as some of the endings of previous books have left me completely floored. (I don't want to say more than that, but I think you might know what I mean!)
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for the great review! I need to write a review soon - it's on my pile! :)
P.S. I didn't mean 'floored' in a bad way! Just in a kind of "Oh no. Oh no. OH NO!!!" way. ;)
ReplyDelete(I hope that doesn't give anything away to future readers of her fantastic books!)
I'm intrigued. I haven't read anything by Kate Le Vann but it sounds like there is a secret there just waiting to be discovered.
ReplyDeleteLuisa - I know exactly what you mean! She really knows how to write an ending. The only one of hers I haven't read is Two Friends, One Summer and the endings of the rest of them have all left me in shock.
ReplyDeleteVery nice review! I loved Rain and Kate's covers are always so cool!
ReplyDeleteYour review has me intrigued. I've never read anything by this author and yet it sounds like she's written a heap of great books... so now I thinking I need to fix this grave oversight!
ReplyDeleteI agree about hating it when the cover summary gives too much away too. *So* annoying.
I'm reading this at the moment, and I'm not too sure about it, but I know what you mean about relating with Cass and being wary of Jonah. As soon as his name was mentioned in the book I was like 'oh, so this is where the story starts' which ruins the books for me :/ Ah, that probably didn't make much sense and this comment is really long so I'm going to go :) Great review! x
ReplyDeleteI've read this once before and am re-reading now. I know what you mean about identifying with Cass! I can see a lot of myself in her tendencies and find her explaining why I do things - creepy! I do feel on edge though when Jonah is mentioned, and wish the blurb had been more vague. Brill book though!
ReplyDelete