Review on The Girl with the Blood Red Lips

Format: E-book
Pub. Date: April 25th, 2014
Summary:
Neva is different. Aside from having a phobia of mirrors and an unquenchable desire for apples, she harbors a dark secret. She's been cursed to repeat the same three years of her life over and over again. Unfortunately, these three years happen to be Neva's sophomore, junior, and senior years of high school, and high school's not that easy when everyone considers you a freak. To break her curse, Neva must accomplish a grisly task that she can't bring herself to complete. Will Neva break her curse in time, or will she be bound by it forever?
My rating: 3 out of 5 apples!
My recommendation: Anyone who likes fairy tale retellings!
My review:
My copy was provided by Netgalley.
Neva isn't a normal curse. She was cursed several years ago to relive the same three years of her life. Sadly, these three years are when Neva has to go to high school. So she has to relive the same high school drama over and over again. To others, Neva is an outcast, a freak, because of her phobia of mirrors and her uncontrollable obsession with apples which is part of her curse.
To break this curse, Neva has to commit a gruesome task, a task she will never do, no matter how long the curse lasts. Neva has to either find another way to break the curse, or she will have to do the inconceivable act.
I liked this book. It was definitely original and interesting and I liked how the author retold some fairy tales, but the book was predictable. Instead of the fairy tale being a mystery, the clues were right in my face as I read this book and I could easily figure out what was going to happen.
The interpretation was really good though. I liked how the curse had three parts to it and I especially enjoyed reading about Neva's unhealthy obsession with apples. It kept the book humorous and fun. Neva was unique, but she didn't really have any depth to her. I wanted to know more about her, her reasons for not breaking the curse, and more about her past. You learn all about that in the end which seemed a bit rushed.
The students at Neva's school seemed really stereotypical. I know most people assume all high schools have the dumb, hot jock and the airhead cheerleader, but most schools don't have these stereotypes. I wish there weren't as many stereotypes with the characters as the stereotypes made it very easy to predict the character's future actions.
The book was short and I did enjoy reading it. I could read it all in one sitting and I didn't want to stop reading it. While the book was predictable, I did want to keep reading so I could experience Neva's humor as it kept the book refreshing the whole time. I would have liked some more elaboration with the fairy tales, but I definitely did like this book.