The Innocents by Lili Peloquin

The Innocents
Author: Lili Peloquin
Genre: Young Adult
Format: ARC
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: 10-16-2012
Nothing ever came between sisters Alice and Charlie.
Friends didn’t.
Boys couldn’t.
Their family falling apart never would.
Until they got to Serenity Point.
“The Innocents” is the first in a new series of young adult novels that weave a saga of nail-biting drama, breathless romance, and gothic mystery. – Goodreads

The Innocents begins with a classic fish-out-of-water premise as sisters Alice and Charlotte (Charlie) move to the wealthy community of Serenity Point with their mom and their new and, yes, wealthy step-dad.  You take a life changing situation, like divorce and remarriage, and two very different teens and this book is, in part, about how these two sisters handle their new life.  Charlie’s outgoing behavior is in direct contrast to Alice, who is more of a cautious observer.  The contrast between Charlie and Alice’s personality created some great conflict that highlighted the differences between the word they came from and the world that was their new reality.  Apart from the navigation of going from a have-not to a have, the Gothic mystery that served as one of the plots in the book was probably my favorite part.  Their step-dad’s deceased daughter, Camilla, is still a strong presence, not only in their home, but amongst their new friends.  When Alice falls for the dead girl’s ex-boyfriend, the mystery is really ramped up and I could not stop trying to figure out what was really going on. 

The Innocents was like reading a soap opera, and I mean that as a compliment.  It was indulgent and fun with characters that seemed like stereotypes, at first, but then ended up having hidden depths and mysterious pasts that made you want to read more.  There is a jaw-dropping plot twist towards the end that truly caught me by surprise and I admit that I was a bit frustrated when the book ended because I felt like I had just begun to get to know everyone.  The conflict between rich and poor, family drama, a small seaside town and everyone’s reticence about Camilla’s tragic death made this book a quick and wild read that I enjoyed.  I think that Lili Peloquin has definitely found a way to develop a mysterious setting as much as a cast of characters and I know that if you read this, you will be wishing for more as soon as you finish the last page.

This book earned 3.5 birds, rounded up to 4:
Photobucket

Find Lili Peloquin online:
Twitter
Facebook

Photobucket

Kate

Share:

31 responses to “The Innocents by Lili Peloquin

  1. I’m loving the whole concept of issues with moving, with family and well, with the dead girl in town. It’s a combination of a lot of things, but I think it’ll be pretty fun to read about!

  2. I am actually looking for reviews of this book since I am interested in reading it! The cover looks so great, but now that I’ve read your review, it sounds like the book is kind of similar to Belles by Jen Calonita… Well, I will give both books a try! Thanks for the review 🙂

  3. This sounds very interesting! and Im not sure what a soap opera might be like, but the whole moving and family problems and the girls coping sounds like something ill enjoy! Ill give this book a try someday! Great review!
    – Farah @ MajiBookshelf

  4. I do not truly treatment how or after i get the Letters in the Mail. Every time it arrives, it feels like a letter should be. It’s suddenly there in my mail box just one day. A great, tangible surprise. I’m for you doing whatever you want when you send it. Mix it up for that people who help get it sent out. Include crumbs from your lunch. Coffee stains. Whatever. Keep the tedious nature of getting letters out to a minimum by doing whatever you feel like that day. The arrival with the letter and the words in the author inside are what matters. Personally, what I like very best about The Rumpus is that I hardly ever know what I’ll study that day. Or if there is just not one which day, maybe it’s because Stephen couldn’t find anything to say or there was way too much likely on.

  5. Websites we think you should visit…

    […]although websites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we feel they are actually worth a go through, so have a look[…]……

  6. buy website templates…

    I think technological know-how just can make it even worse. Now there is a channel to never ever treatment, now there will not likely become a prospect for them to find out….

  7. google pr…

    Great function you may have done, this site is de facto neat with excellent information. Time is God’s strategy for retaining anything from occurring at once….

  8. free seo service…

    My wife and i have been now delighted that Albert could perform his scientific tests as a result of the ideas he had by way of your website. It really is once in a while perplexing to only constantly be freely giving steps which lots of people might ha…

  9. Great website…

    […]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]……

Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.