Helpful Score: 1
Reviewed by Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen for TeensReadToo.com
Chelsea lives in Los Angeles with her mother. Miya lives in Tokyo in a children's home. Chelsea's precious brother disappeared three years ago. Miya lives to protect her brother. They both have an obsession with the same romantic manga. Both girls are interested in Gothic Lolita. The girls have never met or talked, but the two are connected in more ways than they realize.
Finding each other through a girl blogger site years before, each girl posted about their life and happenings. Each girl found an avid reader in the other. But they never left comments or talked. Now, three years later, Chelsea has stopped blogging completely and is feeling lost and alone without her brother. Miya lives in fear that someone will take her brother away and starts to plan their escape.
Now is the time when the girls need each other the most. Will they break down the barriers, open themselves up to who they really are, and help each other?
This is a fascinating tale of friendship and love. Told in alternating voices in short quick chapters, this tale reads like poetry. The story is accompanied by black and white photographs taken by the author that added a sense of mystery and beauty to the story.
I loved how the author unveiled more and more about each girl and the reader is able to uncover just how their lives are connected. It felt like I was slowly unwrapping a delicious candy bar but I could only have it piece by piece. This is a book to be savored.
Chelsea lives in Los Angeles with her mother. Miya lives in Tokyo in a children's home. Chelsea's precious brother disappeared three years ago. Miya lives to protect her brother. They both have an obsession with the same romantic manga. Both girls are interested in Gothic Lolita. The girls have never met or talked, but the two are connected in more ways than they realize.
Finding each other through a girl blogger site years before, each girl posted about their life and happenings. Each girl found an avid reader in the other. But they never left comments or talked. Now, three years later, Chelsea has stopped blogging completely and is feeling lost and alone without her brother. Miya lives in fear that someone will take her brother away and starts to plan their escape.
Now is the time when the girls need each other the most. Will they break down the barriers, open themselves up to who they really are, and help each other?
This is a fascinating tale of friendship and love. Told in alternating voices in short quick chapters, this tale reads like poetry. The story is accompanied by black and white photographs taken by the author that added a sense of mystery and beauty to the story.
I loved how the author unveiled more and more about each girl and the reader is able to uncover just how their lives are connected. It felt like I was slowly unwrapping a delicious candy bar but I could only have it piece by piece. This is a book to be savored.
Helpful Score: 1
I had heard good things about this book from Amazon and I've always been a fan of Gothic Lolita fashion and culture so I picked it up for a weekend read. Sadly, I totally hated it. First off, the connection to Gothic Lolita culture is very loose, almost nonexistent. Also, I didn't find it particularly "mystical" or to be a "thriller" for that matter. The story is centered on two girls (one in L.A., one in Japan) who read each others blogs and, as a result, establish some kind of intense connection with each other. Now, they've never spoken or even commented in one another's journals yet they think about one another day and night. Is that the mystical part? The biggest peeve I had, aside from the fact that the text reads like something an emo kid writes in her notebook during a boring lecture, is that both of the characters are indistinguishable from one another. It's like the author forgot to make each one a unique character. Needless to say, I found it very disappointing.
