Crazy Beautiful Book Review

Crazy Beautiful
By: Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Release Date: September 7, 2009

Summary (from Amazon):
In an explosion of his own making, Lucius blew his arms off. Now he has hooks. He chose hooks because they were cheaper. He chose hooks because he wouldn’t outgrow them so quickly. He chose hooks so that everyone would know he was different, so he would scare even himself. Then he meets Aurora. The hooks don’t scare her. They don’t keep her away. In fact, they don’t make any difference at all to her. But to Lucius, they mean everything. They remind him of the beast he is inside. Perhaps Aurora is his Beauty, destined to set his soul free from its suffering. Or maybe she’s just a girl who needs love just like he does.

Review:
Character Development: 9/10
Originality: 6/10
Hookability: 8/10
Ending: 7/10
Voice: 8/10
Recommendation: 9/10
Total Score: 47
Grade: B+

Age Appropriate Rating:
Cussing: 1/10
Drugs, alcohol, etc.: 0/10
Sexual Content: 3/10
Violence: 1/10

Written Review:

Crazy Beautiful is tells a classic story with a modern twist about a beauty and the beast. It’s told in alternating perspectives which was refreshing to read.

Lucius was the perfect beast in this modern retelling. Filled with pain and insecurities that he tries to hide behind his hooks, Lucius is a brooding loner that is drawn to the classic beauty, Aurora. Aurora instantly becomes part of the “in” group due to her undeniably likeable personality but she’s hiding behind her own set of pain and insecurities and can’t help but be drawn to the mysterious new loner Lucius.

The characters were extremely well developed. Each character, whether they were major or minor, had a distinct personality. The characters of Aurora and Lucius were especially relatable. Though one of them was insanely gorgeous and the other was bluntly shunned, they both had the qualities of any normal teen that made them easy to relate to.

Crazy Beautiful is a really short book. Not even 200 pages. It moved at a very quick pace and surprisingly didn’t leave any major loose ends. The alternating point of views and short chapters kept the pages flowing. The only fault I found with the end was that the question of what Lucius was trying to blow up and what made him so angry that he would want to blow something up was never answered. It was touched on briefly but never fully concluded.

I also would have liked to see more of Lucius and Aurora’s relationship. I understood that there was supposed to be an instant connection between the 2 of them but I think their relationship needed to be developed a bit more before the end of the book. They didn’t even really talk except for a few hey’s in the hall until the last 50 or 60 pages or so.

But what was written about the relationship couldn’t have been better. It seemed very raw but sweet. It had its share of criticism and challenges from the start but how the characters were portrayed together through their alternating perspectives was unique and real.

My favorite part of the book was catching those little connections that really made you think that these 2 characters were soul mates. Without giving anything away, my favorite connection was when the author tied in one of Lucius’s thoughts from the very beginning to pull together the end flawlessly. It was very well thought out.

Overall, Crazy Beautiful is a very fast and enjoyable read about how second chances are always possible, pain will find a way to heal eventually, and true love will always find a way in the end. I absolutely adored it.

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sorry for the wait. more reviews are coming. School's back in. I'm back on schedule. I'm done with my school books and I'm reading more of these amazing September books! I mean seriously, September books are turning out to be great don't you think?

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