Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley

Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley

Release Date: March 19, 2013
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Rated: YA 14+
Format: ARC
Source: Author
Buy: Amazon ● The Book Depository
Goodreads ● Website

Reminiscent of the Elizabeth Smart case, Pretty Girl-13 is a disturbing and powerful psychological mystery about a girl who must piece together the story of her kidnapping and captivity.

Angie Chapman was thirteen years old when she ventured into the woods alone on a Girl Scouts camping trip. Now she's returned home…only to find that it's three years later and she's sixteen-or at least that's what everyone tells her.

What happened to the past three years of her life?

Angie doesn't know.

But there are people who do — people who could tell Angie every detail of her forgotten time, if only they weren't locked inside her mind. With a tremendous amount of courage, Angie embarks on a journey to discover the fragments of her personality, otherwise known as her "alters." As she unearths more and more about her past, she discovers a terrifying secret and must decide: When you remember things you wish you could forget, do you destroy the parts of yourself that are responsible?

Liz Coley's alarming and fascinating psychological mystery is a disturbing - and ultimately empowering page-turner about accepting our whole selves, and the healing power of courage, hope, and love.

My eyes were glued to every word.

Ever since I read the blurb, Pretty Girl-13 was one of those books that I couldn't get out of my mind. When I had the opportunity to read it, of course, I was beyond thrilled. This book stayed with me and haunted me from the time I read and finished it, for probably a week. It's SO GOOD– it doesn't let you go.
This one was definitely an original concept as well. It feels very science and psychological based, and yet has a hint of paranormal with the story. I loved that you could instantly connect to the character as she tries to figure out what happened during the past three years of her life.

I found Angie at first to be very stubborn and unobliging to come to fact that the past three years of her life had gone by, plus the multiple times she hid things from her parents. Only when she does meet a psychiatrist and actually come to terms with what has happened, as well as discover several shocking incidents along the way, did I actually find her truly fascinating.
There were several other "parts" to Angie in this book, and all of them contributed to the story through various forms (and mediums), but it was interesting to see the contrast in characteristics. They're all SO different, but you really do come to love them all and have respect for them for what they go through individually.

I'd never even heard of dissociative identity disorder, but I truly am still astonished that such is thing is actually, well, real. I thought it would be something completely fictionalized, but holy ploop no– it's a really interesting topic, and also intensely creepy and  unnatural. It was really original to see the portrayal of this in this story, and how the characters go about trying to find out each personality's story.

Pretty Girl-13 was one book which I could NOT stop reading. It's horrifying, it's captivating, it's dark, and it's gripping. Liz Coley's debut definitely hits spot on into the mindset of a psychological thriller, and had me engrossed from start to finish.

▪ Thank you so much to Liz Coley for providing an ARC of Pretty Girl-13 for review and BTG2013! ▪

If you like this, try...

• The Murmurings by Carly Anne West ● Goodreads
• If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch ● Goodreads

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