A Review for Choker by Elizabeth Woods

Posted by Donna
Published Date: March 1st, 2012
Finished Date: February 21st, 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Source: For Review
Format: Paperback
Pages: 233
<
The Blurb from Goodreads: Sixteen-year-old Cara Lange has always been a loner, even more so since she moved away from her best and only friend, Zoe, a few years ago. Cara mostly spends her time avoiding the popular girls who call her 'choker' after a humiliating incident in the cafeteria, and watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her. Then one day Cara comes home and finds Zoe waiting for her. Zoe's on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With Zoe back, Cara's life changes overnight. Zoe gives her a new look and new confidence, and before she can blink, Cara is flirting with Ethan and getting invited to parties. And best of all, she has her best friend to confide in again. 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 very strangely, and Cara begins to wonder what exactly her friend does all day when she's at school. You're supposed to be able to trust your best friend no matter what, but what if she turns into a total stranger?
<
The Review: Chocker is a story about a sixteen-year-old girl named Cara – she has always been out cast at school and she doesn’t really have any close friends. Her only friend was a girl named Zoe, whom Cara left behind when her and her family moved house. After not seeing Zoe for a few years, Cara is shocked to find her waiting for her in her room for her one day. Zoe says she needs a place to say because she ran away from home and Cara is more than willing to help her. But no sooner than Zoe’s arrival, girls at Cara’s school start going missing and Cara can’t help but think that Zoe isn’t the girl she once knew…..but could she possibly be the killer? Or is it someone a little closer to home?

I really enjoyed this book and it starts at a steady pace so you are really able to get to know the characters and connect with them. I loved that the author took time for us to do that because some author’s don’t.

Cara really was my favourite character and I really felt for her situation. She needs a friend because she is so out of the loop with the kids at her school and she genuinely is a nice girl. You can see her need for Zoe, the connection they have - but Zoe really is an unpredictable character. You can’t 100% trust her and you can’t rely on the truth from her but like Cara, you feel for her situation and if not even more, because she’s suffered a terrible childhood. Them two together though were really great and you do see why they are friends but deep down, you know there are secrets between them. Now Ethan is Cara’s love interest – even though it’s pretty shorted lived, I wish we’d seen more from them and I’m really unsure of the future they have together because of the ending.

I’ll be honest, I probably would have rated this 4 out of 5 but the ending really left me unsatisfied as a reader. It felt it was quite abrupt and the shocking twist at the end of the book left me really confused. I  had to re-read several pages to make sure I really understood it and when I did, I had very mixed feelings – did I like it or not? And I really didn’t like the ending. It left too many unanswered questions for me especially because I love closure from a book and the epilogue just wasn’t enough. Despite this though, the book was still an enjoyable read and I would highly recommend it if you’re looking to step away from your typical young adult book.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster for giving me the opportunity to review this book.