*******************************************************************************  Manhattan Reader  My Rating:  4 of 5 stars   What I think must first be noted about this novel is that Elicia Clegg  does not slap you in the face with the plot, but slowly eases in and BAM! here's how it is. It's been awhile since I read a story that held such twists and turns and kept me on my toes. The basic premise of the novel is the secrets that each of these characters hold and what they do to handle these situations they get placed in. While this story doesn't exactly scream, "Amazing" at first, I slowly get swept into their lives and had been held there. I think that what works best for Clegg when it comes to her book is the dark world she creates. She is excellent with describing not just the setting but the characters emotions, their thoughts, and everything that's inside of them to the point where it's like the reader is being sucked into their lives and taking a part of the action in the novel. I feel like that is what makes such a book good. When the reader is trapped into the place and no chance of being let go. The themes are important, obviously, since they drive the book. And I think what stuck out for me is the title of the story and where Clegg was going. I won't reveal much more than the fact that they are tightly intertwined together. I loved that I got the chance to read it, but the only reason it got a four is because I felt like a little bit more should happen. This is not a very long book, I took in within three hours, but I feel like Clegg could have played a little more with the characters and really give insight into them. Either way it was a well done job.   ******************************************************************************* The short story behind the characters of Castigate My Sins: Do the characters come alive in your mind?  Are the characters apart of you?  Are they someone from your past?   These questions and many more are asked about the characters of Castigate My Sins.  The most tempting, and salacious answer would be to answer yes to them all.  However it is never that simple, which brings about the creation, or at least the phantom thoughts of the main characters in Castigate My Sins.   At the age of 17, for the third time in my life, I decided to run away, not from home this time, but from the state of Utah's foster care system.  Why?  I could tell you a thousand lines and give you a few good reasons, and yet there is only one simple truth.  I didn't like living in a state home, yes it is that simple. It was during this time, the time when I was in hiding and constantly afraid I was going to be found and put into a juvenile facility, that I began dreaming up the characters.  Each one was a different part of me.  They, much like many people who wear masks, are and were representations of the person I became in differing situations.  I am sure any teenager, or adult for that matter, has found themselves acting like someone they are not.     Leigh: the character most like me, both physically and mentally, before I ran away, that is very important to know.  Leigh was the before me, when I was a scholar and real nerd in school.  She represents the side in me who strived to please all adults, to be what they wanted me to be, obviously there is only so far one can go in life if they are always trying to please others. Leigh locked herself inside a cocoon and it isn't until the end of the book that her world is shattered, which is what life was like for me during that time.   Sam:  Leigh's mother was a woman I wanted to become.  Sam sacrificed everything for Leigh and asked for nothing in return.  I hoped to become a mother who would go to the end of the earth to save and protect her child.  Thus the character Sam was born.   Suzy:  This is a bit trickier.  In the 90's, when I was a runaway, the Super Models were alive and thriving.  I use to look at magazines and think how pretty this one particular model was and I wished to look like her, red hair, long legs, green eyes, so I emulate Suzy's looks from her, but the drugs and the giving up on life that was something all together different.  When you are on the streets you see much sadness, and yes drug and alcohol abuse.  I simple mirrored what I saw in other runaways and placed them all into Suzy, so in a way, Suzy is hundreds of people rolled into one. She is the lost child, so hurt, so in pain, the only way they can make it through the day is to dull all senses in hopes of no longer feeling the agony of just being alive. Beth: was fear, the fear I felt all the time.  When you are constantly looking over your shoulder you can't help but create fantastic ideas about the world around you.  Beth was never told the truth, her world was created in lies, and it was this lie that changed her life and started the story.  Beth is a sort of warning to parents, they need to trust their children, which means telling them the truth.  I had wanted this most in life when I was a teenager.   Christopher and Michael, I will lump together, because I have written this book many different times, and these two characters evolved more than any other.  Christopher use to be the main character, but as my readers know, his story was taken out, why?  Well Christopher, the character, was too much like another character from my book Vexation, so I simply had to push him out.  He is no one specific, I think any teenage girl has an image of what the perfect guy is like, and that was Christopher whereas Michael, in the original had a smaller portion of the story, and now he carries it.   Why the change?  There are many reasons; mostly it is because I wanted to create a man, much like Sam, a man, or rather boy, who was willing to do anything for his love...but not in a romantic way.  Michael is the ultimate statement of childhood love and innocence.    Michael is my soul's hope for humanity.     Finally, as far as the villain, the bad guy.....we all have them, a story has to have one, and I believe in life, we have all met a villain that we just can't understand.  I will confess that I modeled the villain after my own father as an attempt to figure him out, which can never be done.  This character cares nothing for anyone and only thinks of himself, even in the end that is all he could think about.     It's sad if you think about it.  The villain is never loved, so I ask...Do they never love because they are not loved, or are they not loved because they don't love? *******************************************************************************

Angel's Cove: Books are medicine for the soul. My rating: 4 of 5 stars I really liked this book. It was surprising all the way through. I can't really say much without giving it away but I can say it was dark, twisted and disturbing and the ending was unexpected.  A book like this is always so hard to review cause it has so much going on in it but to go on and on about it here really would ruin it for any potential readers! All I can say is, if you like the dark side of humanity pick it up and give it a read! It was worth the time for me! Live To Read This novel will take the reader into the ups and downs of five teenagers...very extreme ups and downs.  The author describes the scenes with intricate detail, she holds nothing back.  The reader will find that the book's scenes are easy to picture, sometimes in gruesome detail.  Much of the book depends on the readers' perception of right and wrong, truths and lies, etc...  The reader will feel as if he/she really knows these characters by the time he/she puts this book down.  It is hard not to root for the characters while wanting to shake them when they are doing something obviously (perhaps to the reader) wrong.   The ending is a tad surprising...this book is not an obvious read-there are numerous questions to be answered, especially moral ones.  The author writes in a very "dark" manner, but that type of writing style fits the novel perfectly.  This book is recommended to adult readers. 4 Stars Pbookbuddy  I got this book for review in the mail and it was my first physical copy of a for review book, so this book is very special to me. And its also really good. I actually read this about 3 weeks ago when my town had a huge blackout and for some reason forgot to write a review once the internet went back on so sorry Elicia that this is kind of late D:. So this book focuses around a group of teenagers all with their own "drama" I guess you could call it, but its more problems then drama. Every character is going through something dark and disturbing and the book focuses on how each one handles it. I could basically state that this book is kind of like any Ellen Hopkins novel, in that it is about teenagers with family problems/any other problem teens my age deal with. But I could also say that it isn't similar to Hopkins in that it takes the next step in Taboo for YA literature, and I really enjoyed that. The only negative thing I can say about this book is that some of the word choice is iffy, but other then that I really enjoyed this book and am very glad I got it in the mail. :)

"My phone’s going to die," were scarcely audible and the only clear words to come through Michael’s cellphone, even before he could utter a greeting.

“Beth?  Is that you?”  Michael questioned as he leaned forward and pressed the volume button on Christopher’s car radio down in an attempt to hear what was being said.

The amalgam of static, crackling, and dead air made it nearly impossible for him to hear anything.  He shifted in his seat and placed one hand up to plug his right ear while the other crammed the phone tightly against his left.

“I--crap--can you----at park----club.”  Beth said just as the static overtook the remainder of the half-broken sentence.

“Beth?  Beth, you’re breaking up.  Talk louder, I can’t hear you.”  Michael shouted into his cell, paused, and added, with half jest, half anger; “Your service sucks.”

“Gun--Need.” And with those final words the cellphone went dead.

“Hello, hello?  Beth?”  Michael said then shouted, “Shit.”

Michael pulled the cellphone from his ear and immediately pushed on Beth’s icon only to get the familiar straight to voice-mail recording which signaled the battery must have been out of power.  He turned to Christopher, shook his head no, and said, “I think you better turn around.”

“What’s going on?”  Christopher questioned, though he pulled the car away from Michael’s block.

“I couldn’t tell, she said park, I think I made out the word club.”  Michael looked confusingly at his phone.

“Clubhouse?”  Christopher said as he turned up the volume slightly and took a left turn.  He was driving without knowing where it was Michael wanted him to go.

Michael’s face had an odd expression when he spoke and reflected back on the clearest word he heard. “She said gun.  Why would she use the word gun?”

“Maybe she didn’t say gun,” Christopher said as he shrugged and stared at the ostensibly bleak road ahead.

“No that was one of the few words I could make out.  I don’t know, maybe Leigh will know.”  His voice sounded muted and distant as worry overtook him.  His thoughts remained squeamish and slightly scared by her broken, timorous sounding voice.

“All right, I’ll swing by her house.”  Christopher said as he turned down Park Lane and flicked on his Bright’s to help illuminate the poorly lit street.

“Should I just call her?”  Michael said and then spoke again as he noticed it was past two in the morning.  “No, I guess not.  She would just sleep through her ringtone at this hour.”

“Won’t she get in trouble if we show up in the middle of the night?”  Christopher adjusted his rear-view mirror nervously as he collected and suppressed his worries.

“Doubtful, her mom loves me, besides; I’ve shown up at worse hours.”  Michael leaned back in the seat as though he was relaxed, but truthfully his body felt stiff and on edge.

His eyes kept shifting back and forth from the small clock on the dashboard to the cellphone he held tightly in his hands.  Though Beth’s words had been hauntingly cryptic in nature, and vague with tale-tale signs of serious trouble, it was the time putting him into a state of apprehension.  He had to be home before his father was.  He shook his head at this, there was no way he would be making it home if he kept going.  He contemplated the seriousness of her tone, thinking now he heard an inexpressible anguish in Beth’s voice.  His mind lolled, reflecting on his father’s nature, his cruelty, and the punishment which would be dealt out swiftly.  He moaned, and with a perfunctory sense of who he was and should be; he decided he would find his friend, even though there would be hell to pay for it.