Ketchup Clouds - Annabel Pitcher
Published: 27/12/13
Publisher: Indigo
Pages: 320
For Christmas I was given a gift card for Waterstones and I spent ages scouring the shelves to find a book worth spending it on. I was lucky enough to find an offer which allowed you to buy one book and get the other half price and I was even happier to find that it applied to a handful of YA fiction. Over the past few months I’ve really started to crave YA fiction and with authors such as John Green writing such incredible books, I wanted to explore the genre in greater detail.
I had never heard of Ketchup Clouds before but was instantly drawn by the striking cover and intriguing title. I also hadn’t heard about Annabel Pitcher so I was also excited to discover another author. After reading the blurb I was adamant that it was a book I –needed- to read.
Ketchup Clouds tells the story of Zoe. She has done something bad but no one has ever found out. Whilst doing internet research, Zoe discovers a criminal on death row called Stuart Harris and she begins to write letters to him to explain what happened to make her a criminal. She receives no acknowledgment or replies from Stuart but continues to write letters in the dead of night in her dad’s shed until she’s told the whole story.
I loved the style of this novel; the way it was told as a series of letters was incredibly effective and I felt at times like Zoe was confiding in me which was a really unique and exciting feeling. The letters were also interesting because it only gave us one perspective, Zoe’s perspective, which meant we saw everything through her eyes and didn’t have the chance to understand the other characters’ motives BUT this wasn’t a negative, in fact it was a positive. I found myself completely and utterly drawn into Zoe’s life and hung on her every word.
Towards the end of this novel we see two new viewpoints which was just sublime and left me feeling overly emotional; there is nothing more heart breaking than seeing someone spill their heart out and not know the other person feels exactly the same way.
One aspect of this book I liked was the mystery element; we are cleverly strung along the whole way, not knowing where the plot would end and which person would end up being the one who dies and I was left wondering right up until the very last second about who it would be. It was very well paced and extremely well written.
Annabel has such a fantastic way with words and she managed to make me feel like I was listening to a teenage girl writing letters to a man on death row. I didn’t once step outside of this illusion and spent the whole time immersed in Zoe’s world.
I think this book is one everyone needs to read. It can be read by teenagers and adults and is a perfect example of impeccable YA writing. It has already made its way onto the top shelf of my bookcase which is reserved for my favourite books of all time!
A suspense filled novel about a young girl, one summer and two brothers who will change her life forever.
Publisher: Indigo
Pages: 320
For Christmas I was given a gift card for Waterstones and I spent ages scouring the shelves to find a book worth spending it on. I was lucky enough to find an offer which allowed you to buy one book and get the other half price and I was even happier to find that it applied to a handful of YA fiction. Over the past few months I’ve really started to crave YA fiction and with authors such as John Green writing such incredible books, I wanted to explore the genre in greater detail.
I had never heard of Ketchup Clouds before but was instantly drawn by the striking cover and intriguing title. I also hadn’t heard about Annabel Pitcher so I was also excited to discover another author. After reading the blurb I was adamant that it was a book I –needed- to read.
Ketchup Clouds tells the story of Zoe. She has done something bad but no one has ever found out. Whilst doing internet research, Zoe discovers a criminal on death row called Stuart Harris and she begins to write letters to him to explain what happened to make her a criminal. She receives no acknowledgment or replies from Stuart but continues to write letters in the dead of night in her dad’s shed until she’s told the whole story.
I loved the style of this novel; the way it was told as a series of letters was incredibly effective and I felt at times like Zoe was confiding in me which was a really unique and exciting feeling. The letters were also interesting because it only gave us one perspective, Zoe’s perspective, which meant we saw everything through her eyes and didn’t have the chance to understand the other characters’ motives BUT this wasn’t a negative, in fact it was a positive. I found myself completely and utterly drawn into Zoe’s life and hung on her every word.
Towards the end of this novel we see two new viewpoints which was just sublime and left me feeling overly emotional; there is nothing more heart breaking than seeing someone spill their heart out and not know the other person feels exactly the same way.
One aspect of this book I liked was the mystery element; we are cleverly strung along the whole way, not knowing where the plot would end and which person would end up being the one who dies and I was left wondering right up until the very last second about who it would be. It was very well paced and extremely well written.
Annabel has such a fantastic way with words and she managed to make me feel like I was listening to a teenage girl writing letters to a man on death row. I didn’t once step outside of this illusion and spent the whole time immersed in Zoe’s world.
I think this book is one everyone needs to read. It can be read by teenagers and adults and is a perfect example of impeccable YA writing. It has already made its way onto the top shelf of my bookcase which is reserved for my favourite books of all time!
A suspense filled novel about a young girl, one summer and two brothers who will change her life forever.
Laura