Book Review - Leaving Paradise

Egads! More reviews! I'm trying to make up for the general lack of decent posts this month by spamming y'all with reviews for this last week and a half :P

Title: Leaving Paradise
Author: Simone Elkeles
Date: 13/11/2010 AM
Source: Gift 
Description: Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad—her chance to escape everyone and their pitying stares—has been canceled. After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb’s free . . . if freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers. (Description taken from GoodReads)

My Review

I got forced to pick this up sooner than I might have done, by my tyrannical sister who wanted me to send it home to her so she could read it. It was birthday book given to me *by* my sister and she was demanding it before I had a chance to read it! (I've created such a monster in her). So I said I'd read it straight away and mail it ASAP.

I loved Simone's other books and this was another brilliant story, Caleb and Maggie are the two people who by all rights should stay far apart from each other since Caleb went to jail for hitting Maggie with his car, leaving her to suffer through a year of torturous physical therapy. But when Caleb is released from jail they find themselves thrown together by unlikely circumstances and they become each other's rock - the only person they can trust to understand what the other is going through.

I officially adore Caleb, he's working the bad-boy-secretly-caring-underneath persona wonderfully and what we find out about his character during the book make him even more awesome in my eyes. Maggie has had a ton of shit to deal with in the last year and I think she's trooper for getting through it but sometimes I agree with Mrs Reynolds (the fab old lady they both end up helping out) - just cos Doctors tell you that you can't do something why should you listen? Maggie tells herself that she's lame and not going to ever get completely better because she thinks it's a fact but Mrs Reynolds makes her realise that only *you* can tell yourself whether you're gonna walk properly again or play tennis etc.

I really loved this book, Simone's writing is as always fantastic and I loved the characters although I reckon that Mrs Reynolds stole the show for me (I wanted to adopt her as my grannie she was that awesome). The ending made me desperate to get my hands on the second book ASAP so I'll get on that soonish methinks.

So if you've read Simone's Perfect Chemistry you are gonna *love* this and even if you haven't then read it anyway cos I still think you'll really enjoy it. Highly Recommended.

Oh and you know what? My sister couldn't wait for me to mail the book and bought the e-book instead and read both this *and* Return to Paradise in a few days. Yea I'm the proud sister of a fledgling book lover :D

My Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5

Whoa officially fastest review evah! (ok I'll confess I copy-pasted this from my LibraryThing thread :P)

The next book I review will be whatever I finish next (Possibly The Poison Diaries) since I'm not allowed to review Last Sacrifice until the 7th December :(

LadyV