Sunday, December 4, 2011 | By: Megzarooni

Bliss

Author: Lauren Myracle
Reviwer: Megzarooni

Bliss's parents, who are hippies, leave the commune, Bliss has to go to her fancy grandma's house in a tony Atlanta neighborhood. For Bliss, it’s like being set down on an alien planet. The only guide naive Bliss has to her new environment is what she’s seen on The Andy Griffith Show . But Mayberry is poor preparation for Crestview Academy, an elite school where the tensions of the present and the dark secrets of the past threaten to simmer into violence. Openhearted Bliss desperately wants new friends, making her the perfect prey of a troubled girl whose obsession with a long-ago death puts Bliss, and anyone she’s kind to, in mortal danger. Lauren Myracle has taken the ubiquitous friendship novel to a new, dark place.( Via Shelfari)

Where do I start with Lauren Myracle’s Bliss. This book was bone chilling and downright strange, but overall enjoyable. Lauren added real events and topics into her writing which made it an interesting learning experience. Throughout the novel the readers get to see not only Bliss', the main character of the novel, point of view on these topics, but society’s view as well. And boy is there a lot of controversy between the two views; Hippies, racial separations, and the consequences for people who try to "blur the lines".  

Now aside from all the historical aspects of the novel, Bliss is one of the few horror YA novels, that I’ve read, that have actually been scary. I’ve always admired Lauren, because she doesn’t try to sugar coat any of the touchier or in this case gruesome topics in her novels. Without giving too much away the novel does contain some more graphic and violent scenes that, in my opinion, were quite horrifying.

The novel alternates between Bliss hanging out with Sandy, who is quite strange and obsessive, to her hanging out with either sweet Sarah Lynn or awesome Mitchell. To say the least I really enjoyed the touching moments that came with Sarah Lynn and Mitchell, but in an odd way I also enjoyed the parts involving Sandy because they were more compelling. I would definitely suggest this book to anyone who is looking for a good horror story, but let tell you that the ending...on second thought you’ll have to read it to find out.

4/5 Blood written letters

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