Pretty Girl-13 audiobook

This is such a thought-provoking read! I can't stop thinking about it, I felt so emotionally captivated by Angie's story . I love the all the psychology stuff and the mystery. I love how raw and real it is! I do have to warn that it is disturbing and mature at times. This is just one of those books that will stick with me. The mystery plot line is slightly predictable, but still a crazy and intense journey!

Everyone needs to go and read this book right now. One of the most thought provoking, unputdownable books I have ever read. I'm sure this book will stay with me for years to come.

This is the perfect example of a book you should go into completely blind. I did not read the synopsis beforehand (I think I may have months ago but I couldn't recall anything), nor did I even know the genre. I went in with zero expectation, and came out of it baffled by how it blew me out of the water! Since I think everyone should do like me and go in without a clue, I will not ruin the moment for you either. But I can safely tell you the very basics without changing your reading experience: Angie went missing, then she comes back suddenly, and with absolutely zero memory of the past three years of her life. Three years that, to her, has never passed. Thus she finds herself still in her 13 year old mind, but with a 16 year old body. This, to me, was unbelievable. Leaving me turning the pages frantically to try and get a grip of what exactly has happened to her, WAS happening to her. There are events at the beginning that leave your mind stunned; fascinated, mostly. But soon enough you begin to understand what she's going through, and it opens up a whole new world of intrigue and wonder. The story is raw and gritty, it left me both horrified and in a puddle of my own emotions. Upon turning the last page, all I wanted to do was burst into tears. As the story progresses, we learn exactly what happened to Angie, slowly, piece by shocking piece, until everything fits together at the end. This wonderful, strong, and brave soul really grabbed at my heart. I loved the protagonist and I adored her friends. I do have one qualm with the latter, though: When her friends see her--their missing and presumed dead friend--for the first time after three years, I was not convinced by their reaction. It was underwhelming. I'm also not sure about how the media could have been kept away for so long, or how easy it was for her to re-emerge herself into society without any chinks, not to mention her recovery's progression. These are all easily forgivable in hindsight, though, being a YA novel. Yes the story could afford to be tighter and stronger, had it been more thoroughly dissected, in psychological terms especially--it would have also needed to be longer to achieve this--but the book progresses rather quickly and into a direction that essentially makes these qualms inconsequential to get to the heart of what this story wants to be. For a review on this novel, my plan is to keep it short and to the point and I think that's been achieved. We get into very hard topics, told in an amazingly effective way; intense, piercing, and all-consuming. Now, look away. Look. Away! And just read it!--An advance copy was provided by the publisher for review.For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads

I highly recommend this book. I was so engrossed in the book that I had no idea of the time. I finally realized I should probably get to sleep as it was 3am and I hadn't stopped. A tough and emotional read due to the themes it entailed but I was extremely impressed by the writing and delivery. I have always been very interested in the subject matter (I'm not going to say much more as I really don't want to give anything away). I will say it impressed me how much the author must have researched her subjects. Again I will say I highly recommend this book. I am still emotional after finishing it a few days ago. Well done Liz Coley!!!!

I really enjoyed reading a book about someone with Dissociative Identity Disorder! I have to admit though I hated her dad and Greg and Yuncle! And the last three chapters.. WOW. It was a definitely an interesting read! Very different.

Liz did her research and did it well. Especially during chapter 2 where she's being examined. Her writing is very easy, very fluid and you feel like you've been transported in Angie's world, forgetting about your reality. You're literally dropped into the mystery surrounding Angie and at first you're just as disoriented as her. There are different clues as to the horrors that could come to be. Now I don't know about you, but when there's a problem to solve, my mind will fast forward with a million different scenarios, starting small then enlarging into one big mountain of a mole hill. It just so happened that one of my most extreme predictions turned out to be the biggest twist in the book. There was emphasis being portrayed and when that happens you know something is up. I'm still a little shocked about it. I know this happens to people all over the world, but to almost become a shadow in Angie's life was terribly traumatic. Kate is one of those wonderful best friends with a good head on her shoulders and that's exactly what Angie needs.The prologue in the beginning is frightening, terrifying and something most girls should never ever experience. Being told in second point of view is unique and I felt the hairs on my body rise when reading it.I'm thoroughly fascinated with alters. Having it displayed in a book like this makes it even better. Multiple personalities all living in one body, I just can't understand or fathom how crowded it would be to live that. I found it fascinating having her mind still be 13 years old, while her physical body is 16.Psychology plays a big part in Pretty Girl-13. Liz describes it in such a simple and easy way that you have no trouble understanding it at all. If anyone noticed the title also states PG-13, because the issues in this book is very adult and psychologically damaging. I can't stop thinking about this book either, it gave me major book hangover.

BookNook — Young Adult book reviews Pretty Girl-13 completely took me by surprise! This book is really heavy. It's dark, gritty, and deals with some seriously intense issues. I adored this book, but not in the usual girly, giddy, fan-girl-scream way. I adored Pretty Girl-13 in the sense that it really shook me to my core and left me speechless. It's an extremely sad and emotionally draining book, but it will leave you with dark and heavy thoughts that are sure to change you.My biggest fear going into Pretty Girl-13 was that the "alters" would be confusing. These "alters" are Angie's other personalities. She developed them as a way to cope with extreme physical and emotional abuse. But I was afraid that these multiple personalities would make the book extremely confusing, especially if we were hopping from one personality's point of view to another. But don't worry—none of those fears became a reality; Liz Coley does a wonderful job crafting this book with zero confusion. It's definitely intriguing and a bit freaky to think about, but it's not confusing. For the most part, we don't actually see from the other personalities' points of view (there are a few minor exceptions). Usually when we hear from them it's in the form of a physical letter or recording from one personality to Angie. This more 'physical' way of hearing from the other personalities made it really easy to relate to and almost just view them as separate people.On a similar note: don't be freaked out by the second person point of view in the prologue. I have to be honest, it scared the shit out of me. Second person isn't something you come across often and I was confused, scared, and worried. It kind of put me off on a bad foot with Pretty Girl-13 . But the rest of the book (or at least 99% of it) is formatted in a more traditional third person point of view. Now and then we do get the second person narrative, and that's when we're reading from an alter, who's sort of talking to Angie as "You". (I'm afraid I'm making this sound confusing, but I promise—it's not.)Liz Coley did a fabulous job of slowly revealing the information about Angie's capture. We only learn bits and pieces at a time, but each new piece of information is a twist in the story. It's bomb drop after bomb drop, and things just get scarier, creepier, and more traumatic. But Angie was a fabulously strong main character and I was amazed at how well she took everything. She was a real trooper, and I loved that about her! I also loved the integration of therapy. I'm usually one of the people that's a little bit skeptical of therapy, but this book did a great job to demonstrate how therapy can really help a person overcome traumatic experiences, and it was brilliant!Pretty Girl-13 is certainly a dark book and you can't go into it light-hearted, but I highly recommend it if you're looking for an intriguing, fascinating, and devastating read all in one. This book is just as hopeful as it is traumatic, and I love how Angie and Liz are able to point out the light amidst a sea of darkness.

At times, this book was uncomfortable to read. Rather than being an exciting thriller about a girl's kidnapping and escape, it's about Angie's slow journey back from a three-year captivity--not a physical journey, but a mental one.In the aftermath of her captivity and escape, Angie remembers absolutely nothing about the time that passed between waking up at Girl Scout Camp one morning and finding herself standing on her street three years later with a bag full of clothes that definitely aren't hers. Her parents, the police, and the doctors all say she went through a horrible ordeal, but Angie doesn't remember any of it. She doesn't even feel like she belongs in her own body anymore--it has grown up without her. Angie is diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder and through therapy she slowly gets to know her "alters," each of whom holds a different piece of the puzzle of Angie's past. The alters came into being to protect her, but now that Angie is safe, she becomes frustrated by her lost time--by the alter who stays up all night leaving Angie bleary-eyed the next day, by the one who "sluts up" her outfits without Angie even realizing it, by her total inability to recall anything about the three missing years of her life. And in the midst of everything she is also dealing with reintegrating into family and school life after everyone had given her up for dead, and with the mentality of a thirteen-year-old but the body of a sixteen-year-old.I had a few minor concerns about sexism and some one-dimensional characters, but overall this book is difficult but compelling, heartbreaking, and definitely worthwhile.

Where do I start?? I freakin love this book so much, I started reading it yesterday and I badly wanted to finish it as soon as possible. Every chapter I was hooked through the pages and I don't even want to stop reading it! I recommend this to everyone, go read it! It's utterly creepy and will leave you wanting more...

This was a really interesting and engaging thriller. There were parts that seemed very realistic and then other parts that were a little far out there and cliche but overall a really good book. TW: sexual abuse, kidnapping, child abuse, and violence.Review to come.

Actual rating is 3.5, decided to go with the lower due to predictability.What a riot reading this book was! I have to say that I was surprised to check Goodreads and see that this book clocks in at just over 350 pages after reading my egalley. I breezed through Pretty Girl-13 so fast that I thought for sure it would be in the 200 page range. A story that plays games with your mind and keeps you wondering what will happen just around the corner with every page, this is not one to be missed for sure.Angie went missing on a Girl Scout campout when she was just 13 years old. Her parents exhausted all of their resources searching for her and right when they were about to give up hope, she re-appears. This is 3 years later, she is now 16 years old and remembers absolutely nothing of the last 3 years. According to her she just came home from the campout and is still 13 year old Angie. As the story unfolds it becomes a really great psychological thriller that I felt unraveled at just the perfect pace. One complaint that I do have, however, is that the novels glaring parallels to a certain TV show (that I can’t name for fear of spoilers) made it all a bit too predictable (DM me if you want me to extrapolate). I do have to say that not a lot ended up taking me by surprise and I figured out much of what happened chapters before it was revealed, but nevertheless I had such a good time reading this that it didn’t hinder my reading experience too much.Angie was way more levelheaded for someone who went through what she did than I could have ever imagined. All throughout the story she was able to joke about what she had gone through, I guess this is thanks to her “amnesia”. She didn’t know how to feel about anything because she had no first hand idea about what actually happened to her. She does find herself in a bit of a romance and while the guy who ends up being her love interest was a bit cheesy and cutesy for me, he was still so sweet and I could see how that was just what Angie needed in her life at the time. She also finds a great friend in Kate, who was very supportive of her. I’m not entirely sure that with all the things that happened to her everyone would have been so flippant about it all, including Angie, but for some reason the tone of the story worked. There isn’t too much I can talk about plot-wise here because pretty much anything that I mention would be a spoiler. So just know that this is a really good psychological thriller that keeps you turning the pages at an extremely fast pace. I couldn’t take in this book fast enough, and even though I always saw exactly what was coming, I had so much fun reading it. __An Advanced Reader's Copy was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.You can read all of my reviews at Alluring Reads.

On the surface, this was a five star book. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. When I wasn't thinking about it...well, that didn't happen. Too many books focus on the kidnap itself. The time spent being kidnapped. I liked that this looked at the after effects. I liked that it focused on Angie coming home. Because there's trauma there too. Different, but still trauma.The book starts with Angie's return home. It's been three years since she was taken, but to Angie, no time has passed at all. In fact, she still thinks she's thirteen, still thinks she was camping with her friends, still thinks that it's August. She can't quite believe what her stunned parents tell her, and the face in the mirror just isn't hers. But with the help of a psychologist, Angie learns the truth: she has DID (dissociative identity disorder) and there are a number of Angie's, but which one you'll get depends entirely on the circumstance.SPOILERS AHEAD.Like I mentioned above, on the surface this was fantastic. It was interesting, haunting, emotional and tragic. But, unfortunately, the second half of the book led me to a few problems and though I was enjoying what I was reading, in the back of my head I was very disbelieving and quite irritated.A lot of the big twists are revealed and then forgotten. Some of the twists were good ones, ones with a lot of fallout after. With 90% of these cases, the fallout wasn't mentioned. It was skipped and we were briefly told what happened later. It wasn't good enough for me.My biggest complaint of this was after Angie attacks Yuncle and her parents find out what had happened. I expected this huge emotional scene, especially a confrontation between Angie and her father, and instead that wasn't explained. We're later told her parents accepted it and now her Grandma won't come to Christmas? It felt to me like a cop out.Another complaint...when Angie manages to mould two of her alters with her own personality, she gets back all of their memories and isn't affected one tiny bit by it. The girl was held captive for 3 years and terrified of her captor, not to mention the incident that caused her to have an alter in the first place. But she doesn't think about it or react to it at all. She carries on dating and babysitting and going on with life as though none of that never happened. For me, that was really unrealistic.There were more things I had a problem with, but I won't go into it. Because at the end of it all, I still really enjoyed reading it. I devoured the entire book and finished it quickly. I wanted more and more and more. And actually, maybe I'm so annoyed at the parts missed out because in fact, I just wanted to know more and that's a sign of a good story. If I didn't care about the book, I wouldn't want more!4 stars.

I have had this book on my Goodreads shelf since right before I started blogging, but I’ve only owned a copy of it for a few months. I am honestly kicking myself for not reading it sooner because it had EVERYTHING in it that I love. It was the perfect example of a dark contemporary, which I love. Dark, horrifying themes throughout the book. Things that made my stomach turn. It was actually very reminiscent of All Around the Town by Mary Higgins Clark. That was another book I absolutely loved. It’s an oldie, but goodie.Anyway, back to Pretty Girl-13. We start off with a prologue that details where Angela was before she was kidnapped. It was early in the morning and she was on a Girl Scout camping trip with her friends, Katie and Livvie when she was taken by the man.Fast forward to 3 years later and she doesn’t even know 3 years have passed. She’s just walking home and she thinks she’s walking home from the camping trip. But she’s not. She’s been gone for three years and when she returns home, she has to face so much. She has to face her family, who have seemingly moved on without her. She has to face her friends, who are now juniors in high school and she has to face the law enforcement who want to put her kidnapper behind bars.There’s just one problem with that. Angie doesn’t remember anything from her time with him.There’s a reason for that. There’s a reason she can’t remember anything from her time with him. There’s also a reason deep dark secrets are buried away in her brain and she has no knowledge of the secrets. The reason will horrify you and make your stomach turn. It will also make you question everything you’re being told in this story.I loved Angie. She wanted to figure out who the mystery kidnapper was. She wanted to find out exactly what had happened to her in those three years. She wanted to know why she couldn’t remember anything. She wasn’t afraid to do the work in order to find out what happened to her. Even the hypnosis. Even the more experimental treatments.She had the support of her family and even Katie, her best friend from when she was thirteen. Katie had become a bit of a leper in recent time and Angie is really her only friend. That made me sad, but it also made me happy that Katie stuck by her throughout the book. At a time when Angie really needed support, Katie was there, supporting her and loving her.This book was really good and I am SO glad I finally read it as part of our readathon. I really want to talk about more of the book, but I’m trying to avoid giant ass spoilers. If you enjoy “dark contemporaries” and haven’t read this one, you need to.

This book makes me feel very conflicted. It's the sort of novel that gets you invested from the very first chapter, and holds you hostage until the last page. Angie was abducted from a Girl Scout camping trip when she was thirteen years old. She returns to her family's home three years later, with no memory of what had happened to her. With the help of a savvy psychologist, Angie discovers that she suffers from dissociative identity disorder, and her other alters (or personalities) hold memories of what happened to her during those long years.I really hated some of the characters in this book. Her father's response to her coming home is awful! It's explained later that he has a lot of guilt from her disappearance, but does it really have to keep him from interacting with his traumatized daughter?? Angie's fairweather friends are equally despicable, with the exception of one. I felt very badly for Angie. Lots of the traumatic events happen off page, filtered through her alters, but even with that small comfort, she has a lot of difficulty integrating back into her old life. It seems as if the other people around her expect her to rebound quickly. I wanted to shout at them: she was prisoner for three years!!! Give her some space!!!! Grrrr. And then some of the details were a bit unbelievable. The detective was very nice and caring, but I didn't understand why he would make the choice at the end of the novel. In any of the police procedural novels I've read, people would be demanding the police department tidy up any loose ends. I also found it hard to believe that reporters didn't find out sooner who Angie was, and that they gave up hounding her (and the detective) so quickly after they had. The choice that Angie makes at the end also saddened me. Trying not to spoil anything, but I can see how that decision will haunt her as she gets older, or when the circumstances in her life change. All in all, "Pretty Girl-13" is a highly readable, highly debatable YA thriller.

This was such an interesting book. It reminded me a little of Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout. It's more creepy than scary, and there's a bunch of mystery. The plot was a little predictable for me. I liked the different views of the story and how it was written. It was definitely written differently and I enjoyed that. I wanted more from the story and the ending it was somewhat open-ended. We got an ending but not enough of one I felt like. Overall the book was good, it will definitely stick with me, and i'll remember the book, and it's storyline.I recommend this book if you're looking for a good mystery with a little bit of a creepy atmosphere.