Review: Losing Elizabeth by Tanya J. Peterson

Losing Elizabeth by Tanya J Peterson
Date Released: April 25, 2012
Format: Paperback, 154 pages
Source: Author in exchange for an honest review

Description from Goodreads:
High school junior Elizabeth Carter is self-confident and outgoing with a bright future. Life is good for Elizabeth, then she meets Brad Evans. To those on the outside, and even to Elizabeth at first, her life gets even better with Brad. Slowly and insidiously, though, Brad takes control of Elizabeth. Is she really as lucky as she thinks she is? What price is she willing to pay to be this popular, charming, attractive senior boy's girlfriend? Is she envied...or pitied? Most importantly, does she have to lose herself in order to be Brad's significant other?

Losing Elizabeth is one of those books that tackles an important topic--abusive relationships. On the level of focusing on this topic throughout the whole book, this story was very well written. As far as telling a riveting story that I didn't want to put down, Losing Elizabeth did fall somewhat short.

First, I want to focus on all the wonderful things about this story, because there are many. Tanya has written a very informative story about a common isue that is approached often in literature and film, but really can never be covered enough because bad things like those in this book DO happen. It was nice and interesting to read about this because there were some things I honestly didn't know regarding these issues.

Tanya also did a good job of giving us a look into the head of a girl being abused by her boyfriend. We all look at situations like this and think that we would never let ourselves stay in a relationship like that, so why would anyone? Losing Elizabeth gives great insight into what is really going on in her head and why she stays in her relationship. Not only that, but we see inside the mind of her best friend trying to help her, too. A very good look at two sides of this problem.

Character Rundown: Elizabeth. I felt that Elizabeth was a little too perfect to be believable before she got into her relationship with Brad. She seemed like a very boring person, with no little quirks or anything. This did help to show the contrast of how much she changed throughout the story, though. Meg--Elizabeth's best friend. Again, not a very characterized person in this story. We only really learned things about her by Brad saying mean stuff about her. I much rather would have liked to discover these little things myself. Last, we have the tough guy--Brad. This is the first book I've read in a while where I didn't swoon over a guy. Brad's a huge jerk, of course. He starts out all sweet and lovey and then turns into a monster. I did have some fun laughing at his twisted logic sometimes, though. I rolled my eyes at him a bunch, too.

The ending. The ending was exactly what you would expect from a book like this. It was a nice, positive ending, but it was what we all saw coming. Regardless of this, though, it left me with a little feeling of pride. The story comes full circle, and it was great to see that.

Overall, I really felt like this story was very predictable. It did a wonderful job of displaying its main message, but it was done in a very generic way that leaves pretty much no room for surprise. Still, I do suggest you read this. Awareness for this issue can never be a bad thing, and Tanya does a marvelous job of focusing on this.

All right, that's it for today. Thank you to Tanya for sending me this book to review.

Have a splendiforous day, Friends!

♥Jessica(: