Wild Roses The Lost Symbol Love You Hate You Miss You About The Book:
Written by Elizabeth Scott Published Year 2009
Get this, I'm supposed to be starting a journal about "my journey." Please. I can see it now: Dear Diary, As I'm set adrift on this crazy sea called "life" . . . I don't think so.
It's been seventy-five days. Amy's sick of her parents suddenly taking an interest in her.
And she's really sick of people asking her about Julia. Julia's gone now, and she doesn't want to talk about it. They wouldn't get it, anyway. They wouldn't understand what it feels like to have your best friend ripped away from you.
They wouldn't understand what it feels like to know it's your fault.
Amy's shrink thinks it would help to start a diary. Instead, Amy starts writing letters to Julia.

But as she writes letter after letter, she begins to realize that the past wasn't as perfect as she thought it was - and the present deserves a chance too. Wherever I go, I'll always see you. You'll always be with me. And there's no happy ending coming here, no way a story that started on a night that's burned into my heart will end the way I wish it could. You're really gone, no last words, and no matter how many letters I write to you, you're never going to reply. You're never going to say goodbye. So I will. Goodbye Julia. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for being you.

I'm a fan of Elizabeth Scott, I think it's ingenious of her being able to write books in different tones. I've read Perfect You and Stealing Heaven, both on her lighter side of her writing. I've been stalling in reading Living Dead Girl because I think it would be depressing?... scary to read? which is the same with books like Before I Die and The Lovely Bones. Generally I stay away from books with darker themes that of grief, loss, anger and guilt.
Everyone knows how hard it is to lose someone but you can never truly understand unless you're the one that's left behind, that's how Amy feels she doesn't need people to symphatize or console her. She's very angry and it's a gradual process for her to let go and learn to leave with the choices she's made. Although I'm not a fan of the theme I'm glad I've read this, I wouldn't want to miss out on Scotts books. Written by Beth Kephart Published Year 2007
Like a modern-day Cyrano de Bergerac, Elisa ghostwrites love notes for the boys in her school. But when Elisa falls for Theo Moses, things change fast. Theo asks for verses to court the lovely Lila—a girl known for her beauty, her popularity, and a cutting ability to remind Elisa that she has none of these. At home, Elisa's father, the one person she feels understands her, has left on an extended business trip. As the days grow shorter, Elisa worries that the increasingly urgent letters she sends her father won't bring him home. Like the undercover agent she feels she has become, Elisa retreats to a pond in the woods, where her talent for ice-skating gives her the confidence to come out from under cover and take center stage. But when Lila becomes jealous of Theo's friendship with Elisa, her revenge nearly destroys Elisa's ice-skating dreams and her plan to reunite her family.

By the stream the fox and she-fox stood Nose to nose beneath the stars Dancing the music of the woods.
The deer rapped a beat with their hooves, The ravens sang from raven hearts As by the stream the fox and she-fox stood.
The great owl called as a great owl would, The squirrels all shimmeid in the dark, Dancing the music of the woods.
Then from a north a fierce wind blew And broke the starry dance apart By the stream where the fox and the she-fox
stood. The ravens flew as the ravens would, Deer ran off, squirrels scuttled far away from the music of the woods.
The stars blinked out, also the moon. The air went silent, cold, and hard By the stream where the fox and the
she-fox stood Dancing the music of the woods.

I don't usually re-read books but I'm making Undercover an exception. There are books that you read simply because of the story and some like this one you just fell in love with because of the beautiful writing and the author's mastery of words. It's best not to over think when reading Undercover just because it's an National Book Award Nominee, take it as it is and enjoy it. I love how personal it felt, being privy to Elisa's thoughts and her reflections to changes around her is truly wonderful. Putting together the Cyrano angle, her knack for poetry, family issues and her newly discovered love for ice skating seemed tedious but it worked, I guess it happens? The ending leaves alot of possibilities, I liked it that Kephart didn't try hard to tie the loose ends it's mush better this way, leaving something for the readers to ponder on. I just noticed I tend to love books with simple realistic stories which usually are books for children, EL Konigsburg's The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place comes into mind. Pretentious Reader Read and Reviewed See complete list Will Read Wish To Read Children's Blog
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