Entangled by Cat Clarke

Goodreads
Cat Clarke's site
Series: n/a
Copy obtained: bought it
Publisher: Quercus
Rating: 5/5
Challenges: BBC 2011, DAC 2011

"The same questions whirl round and round in my head:
What does he want from me?
How could I have let this happen?
AM I GOING TO DIE?"

Seventeen-year-old Grace wakes up in a white room, with a table, pens and paper - and no clue how she got there.

As Grace pours her tangled life onto the page, she is forced to remember everything she's tried to forget. There's falling hopelessly in love with the gorgeous Nat, and the unravelling of her relationship with her best friend Sal. But there's something missing.

Grace must face the most important question of all.
Why is she here?

If not for a couple of unavoidable interruptions I would have read Entangled in one sitting. When I was done, I could barely breathe past the heartache and shock. Too shocked and broken to cry even. I was so chocked up though that I spent the rest of the evening on the verge of tears. I kept looking over at the book on the shelf and could feel it all bubbling up again, my heart pounding, my throat closing. I hurt for and with Grace more than I have done for a character in a long while. Holy hell this book is incredible!!

Grace had my attention from page one. The first coherent (or semi-coherent at least) day she's had since waking in a strange room, being held by the mysterious Ethan. Grace's voice jumped straight off the page at me and dug her claws in. Confused, scared, lost and yet incredibly strong. Her instant questions were mine. But the question of 'what happened?' and 'why?' burned brightest right from the word go and just got stronger with each page. I didn't just want answers, I NEEDED them.

Grace is coping, barely, by writing on the paper provided. She remembers things from her past in an attempt to figure out what happened, and that's how we learn her story. Past mixes with her present seamlessly creating a captivating story. More questions kept popping up as new secrets were revealed, and those two big questions getting more insistent with each turned page and its elusive answers. The intensity just kept building and building. Sure I made guesses along the way of what had/would happen, some right, many wrong, but I didn't need to be right, I needed to KNOW. And then the ending. Finally answers. And all I could do was fight for breath.

A stunning, captivating, heart pounding debut. It's fantastically written, paced just perfectly. Grace is strong, damaged, not without some semblance of humor and utterly believable. The side characters are just as well drawn, just as interesting. Just as easy to love or hate. For a book with so much heartache, it's actually relatively light on angst, which is clever writing. This is the story of a girl, who could be any girl, any teenager, out there, damaged because of her past. Let's just say that Entangled is a must read. And that Cat is a new auto buy author for me!

Also check out the trailer: