Choker, by Elizabeth Woods

Title: Choker

Author: Elizabeth Woods

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Release Date: January 4, 2011

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Format: Hardcover Edition

Goodreads Average Rating: 3.67

Age Group: 12+





   Goodreads Summary: Sixteen-year-old Cara Lange has been a loner ever since she moved away from her best and only friend, Zoe, years ago. She eats lunch with the other girls from the track team, but they're not really her friends. Mostly she spends her time watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her, and avoiding the popular girls who call her "Choker" after a humiliating incident in the cafeteria.

Then one day Cara comes home to find Zoe waiting for her. Zoe's on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With her best friend back, Cara's life changes overnight. Zoe gives her a new look and new confidence, and next thing she knows, she's getting invited to parties and flirting with Ethan. Best of all, she has her BFF there to confide in. 

But just as quickly as Cara's life came together, it starts to unravel. A girl goes missing in her town, and everyone is a suspect—including Ethan. Worse still, Zoe starts behaving strangely, and Cara begins to wonder what exactly her friend does all day when she's at school. You're supposed to trust your best friend no matter what, but what if she turns into a total stranger?

     This is one of the best books I've read in a while. I am very pleased with the outcome, and probably could have only asked for a little more. The only catch is, that it was too short, but other than that, the whole story was perfection.

      I was creeped out by the book, for the first half of the book nothing big happened, except for one main death, and that's barely it, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't sucked in, of course I was.

      The second half of the book was where the drama and horrifying events began to summon. Zoe became more weirder and weirder, and at one point, I just wanted to kick her in the butt and yell. She just gets us readers frustrated, I really disliked her character, but I think that's what the author wanted to accomplish by writing this novel.

       Cara was a pretty good character, but I felt that at some times, she became too weak for who she was, and basically relied on others to help her and solve her problems. First of all, I didn't really understand why she would just take in someone into her house like that, I mean were they that close? Okay, you'll find out everything by the end, the author just drops out the answer just like that. Pow.

        Why weren't the town looking for Zoe like they did for Alexis? I was thinking this throughout the novel, but when the author drops the bomb at the end of the book, everything became clear to me, just like that.

         Gorgeous and riveting. Amazing for an author's debut.