Rosebush
Author: Michele Jaffe
Publisher: Razorbill
Young Adult
326 pages
See Jane Run.
Jane wakes up tangled in a Rosebush, paralyzed and without a clue to how she got there.
See Jane Hide.
Her friends convince her she was the victim to hit and run accident-but Jane begins to suspect that someone is out to kill her. Now, she must use the clues left behind by each person who visits her in the hospital-friend, stranger, enemy-to piece together what really happened, before it’s too late.
See Jane Die.
The truth will change her life forever. That is, if it doesn’t kill her.
Summary:
“Jane’s night was killer”
Opening her eyes to see faces peering down at her isn’t what Jane expected, nor waking up and realizing she was paralyzed and couldn’t speak. How did she end up on a hospital bed hooked up to an IV and unable to move or speak? Everyone tells her it was a hit and run, but that doesn’t explain the nervous way her friends or acting something else happen that night at the party? Something they won’t tell Jane.
Having no idea what is real and what’s in her head, Jane try’s to piece together what really happened to her that night, but with only bits of her memory and the odd stories her friends tell her, she is at a loss. Nothing is adding up, but one thing is for sure, this hit and run wasn’t an accident. Someone really tried to kill her, and may try again.
Jane was welcomed into the “Three Musketeers,” the most popular girls in the school. And throughout her stay in the hospital she flashes back to memories with her new friends; all the secrets shared. Never considering that Langley or Kate could’ve wanted her dead, Jane observes all the others who had been at the party. Details flood back into her memory: Nikki gave her a drink, she’d gotten in a fight with Kate, David cheated on her with Sloan, someone hit her on the head, and the next things she knows, she was walking along the street and then stooping in the road; that’s when the car came.
There she was lying twisted and bloodied in a rose bush, left to die.
Who are actually Jane’s friends? Can she put together the puzzle of what really happened that night; before the killer strikes again?
My Rating: 3 ½
This book reminded me of a Pretty Little Liars episode: there’s a group of popular girls that the whole school secretly hates and wishes for their downfall. No one believes the victim that has a killer after her. Lots of secrets break the surface. The killer is spying on the girl and running her life… and there’s more where that came from.
Stupidly, I started this mystery at around 9:00pm and then by the time I got back to it (11:00) I knew I couldn’t put it down until I found out “who done it,” and does Jane live. I knew that if I put it down before finding out I would have trouble sleeping. However, staying up really late to finish didn’t calm my mind either (Though I did finish the book, I still shuddered when I turned my light off and was left in pitch black darkness.) With almost every page, I was flipping back and forth between who I thought was the killer; my opinion changed with each flashback and clue from the party. It’s sickening as you watch Jane rack her brain to try and figure out who is out to kill her and what actually happened at the party. No one is giving her the whole story or even the truth for that matter.
This is the sequence in which I suspected people: Nikki, Elsa, David, Nikki, Kate, Ollie, Sloan, David, Scott and then back to Ollie.
It may differ for other readers whom you think is guilty, but by the end of the book you’ll be surprised that the answer was right in front of you; the clues never lie.
Why I’m glad I’m not “Popular:”
1. No one is plotting to destroy my social life.
2. I don’t have to worry about how I look or dress every time I leave my house (I wear my PJs to walk the dog.)
3. I’m not regularly invited to parties where everyone gets drunk and a fury of cat fights break out.
4. I don’t have to frequently impress my friends (they love me for me.)
5. People don’t “hate” me (at least I’m pretty sure they don’t. I’m the girl they call “quiet”…which is a lie, I’m not.)
6. Popular is an annoying word that teaches little girls that in order to be happy and be liked by your peers you have to be a brain-washed-fashion zombie, and also it describes little spoiled girls that turn into spoiled teenagers that get sports cars and have everyone wishing they were them.
Poor Jane. She once had “real” friends, but then she lost sight of who she really was. I have no idea what I would do if I were in her situation. If I was hallucinating that a killer was after me I’d probably end up in the psych ward way before she did; alas, I wouldn’t be able to compose myself properly to convey the truth to all those who believed nonsense was spilling from my lips. My impressions of Jane are: she’s lost herself, she’s grieving over the secrets she’s kept and the loss of her best friend Bonnie and she yearns to be loved and appreciated.
Who knew finally being accepted would lead to her mangled in a hospital bed waiting for death to come?
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