The Innocents

The Innocents #1

by Lili Peloquin

Nothing ever came between sisters Alice and Charlie.
Friends didn't.
Boys couldn't.
Their family falling apart never would.
Until they got to Serenity Point.

In a town built on secrets and lies, it's going to be hard to stay innocent.
They're sucked into a strange and seductive world—a world they can't help but hate, and can't help but love. A world that threatens to tear them apart, just when they need each other the most.
The Innocents is the first in a new series of young adult novels that weave a saga of nail-biting drama, breathless romance, and Gothic mystery.

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary, Romance, Teen, Fiction, Gothic

259 pages, Hardcover

First published October 16, 2012

About the author

Lili Peloquin grew up in New England, where the beginning of summer still reminds her of that moment right before someone tells you a secret. The Innocents is her first novel.

Reviews

[MeMe Belikova First lady Ivashkov · Rating 1 out of 5]

I HATE to do this but.........I really didn't like this book *waits for tomatoes to be thrown* I'm sorry to say I COULD NOT GET INTO THIS BOOK!!!! At first I was so excited to read this book and really wanted to like it because I thought "Oh, maybe this will be another Pretty Little Liars type book" BUT NOOOOO!!!! Don't let the cover and the synopsis fool you! This book is not what it seems!

The book introduces sisters Alice and Charlie who lived with their single mom when their dad abandoned them, but now mom has remarried to a wealthy widow whose wife and daughter died not to long before he married their mother. There are some so called secrets that mom and new step-dad aren't telling like, why does Alice look like her step dads DEAD daughter? Why are there no pictures or anything that acknowledges that he did have a wife and daughter before them? And why did their dad really leave? Well all of this is explained throughout the book but all the secrets are not reveal in an OMG way, they are just like "Yea, I did it" Alice hears it and says "OMG!! She did it!" Well DUHHH she just said she did, ugh this story itself really got on my nerves. There was really nothing going on throughout the book I find myself getting bored at times(ALL THE TIME). I will say that I did like the Alice at times but mostly charlie, she was hilarious! I liked her personality and really connected with both of them actually as sisters. I also was kind of confused on the POVs of Alice and Charlie and then I kind of felt like someone else other than the characters were narrating the story....I could go on and on about this but I wont.

I wouldn't recommend this book to Teens, maybe 18&up becuase this book had a lot of cursing, sex and drugs in it. Not saying teenagers don't experience this kind of things but I would NEVER give this book to my daughter or son to read.

I feel so bad that I didn't like this book but it does have potential and hopefully it shines through in the sequel which I will be not reading sadly :( This review is making me sad lol I have that I'm giving it the star it deserves but this book was just not for me.

Rating: Not My Cup Of Tea


-Alice

[Colleen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was not for me.
Having said that, the intended audience is teenage girls. I read because it was part of a series of advanced reader copies I was given and decided to complete the set regardless of my judgement of the covers. Most of these books do not even have back cover summaries. This one did (printed crooked on the inside front cover) and I found it very misleading. All this and that about tearing the sisters relationship apart but then that never actually happens in the story. At the very end- one sister calls the other pathetic, the other calls her jealous. BIG DEAL!!! I'm one of 3 girls, 4 siblings total. My GOD, the shit we've said to each other could fill volumes.
The Title- The Innocents- merph? In this book- every character was innocent, there was no contradiction to this term. I interpreted from the title that we were meant to challenge our initial concepts of who was innocent and who was guilty. Not the case. The events, I should really say knowledge since aside from a few crappy, Waspy parties- no action happened in this book, that were revealed only lead to immediate Iago affects where you really couldn't be angry or blame the not-so-innocent characters. The unfolding knowledge was just plain dull to add.
The only interesting part of the book could have come after the paternity revelation, but sadly did not. I don't think the author appreciated that many readers would have already come to this highly foreshadowed event and what we really wanted to learn was how that information would change the world around these characters. This entire book was one long preview into a series of teen novels that was already being advertised on the back cover of this book. I don't know how well this series is going to be received when the initial book leaves its reader frustrated and irritated. I will not be continuing with the book.
The style of this book is aggravating to me. The narrative is omniscient, but the point of view changes from one sibling to the next. These two girls are complete opposites - cliche. The chapters alternate from one sister to the next until the middle of the book where it just falls apart. We end up following the one sister around and maybe check back in with the other every 4-5 chapters. What was the point of this? My thoughts were that the author was trying to capitalize on having her reader's identify with one of the two very commonly used personality types in order to suck in as many audience members as possible. The one sister- shy, smart, reserved, conspiracy loving, with an unshakable identity. What teenager do you know that never questions her feelings or choices? The other- sexy, bold, daring and mostly in regret of what she says and is in waiting for the fall out. As an adult, I could easily point the finger at teens I see acting like this, but what teen would admit she is this personality? My reason for saying that this change in point of view is pointless is that, it felt as if the author realized that her other character was just so petty and narcissistic that even the author couldn't spend more time on her.
The other thing that drove me completely nuts - I'm not even sure I can fault the author on. Nothing and I mean nothing was left to the imagination. Every thought, every single little thought was second guessed by the main characters and then given 1-2 paragraphs of further wish-washing and roll playing such as maybe this will happen or maybe this will happen, maybe I should have said/done this, what's he thinking- maybe this, can he tell, blah blah blah . . . . .! I can say as a teenager I over analyzed everything and maybe still do, so I have to admit that the author had the mindset of a teen girl in check, but this is a fiction novel; aren't we the readers supposed to fill in blanks, visualize the scenes, enjoy that we've recognize a foreshadow, perceive as the main character and then feel along side them? I can't do this when minor beyond minor hypothetical nuances are thrown in the way of the story.

[Annabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

***FINAL RATING: 3.45 STARS***

CATCHALL
So, I found The Innocents to be very genuinely enjoyable. It's a suspenseful thriller full of mystery and intrigue, love and romance. It actually reads a lot like a historical fiction book, although it's set in the modern day. It was incredibly unputdownable and definitely a page-turner. I certainly wasn't bored reading it. There were definitely some things I didn't like about it, but overall it was a good, solid book with a good story to tell.

THE HEROINES
ALICE
Of the two sisters, I definitely liked Alice more. She's usually cool-headed, reserved, but lately, not so much. She wants answers, and she doesn't want to just sit around. She knows it's up to her to find them. She sometimes got annoying, but mostly, she used her head. Mostly. She could be rash and impulsive, but she really didn't try to hurt anyone, and she just wanted to know the truth, which I can absolutely respect. She's not a bad girl, but she also doesn't follow all the rules. She's just a little bit of a rebel.
CHARLIE
Honestly, I mostly didn't like Charlie. There are moments when she's okay, but for like at least 75% of the book she's a self-centered brat who makes stupid decisions and gets herself caught up in dumb things. She also constantly chooses her fake friends over her sister, which is just not cool at all. It's like she's trying too hard to be rebellious, but inside, she's just a scared little girl, and I didn't like that at all. No, Charlie held no appeal for me. She was far too hard to like.

THE LOVE INTERESTS
TOMMY
Sadly, Tommy felt very flat as well. I like him and all, but there really isn't much to him. We get a lot of his back story, but we don't get what I feel are the important parts. I think he dwells on the past more than he lets on, and he also I think doesn't make the best decisions. It's clear enough that he cares about Alice, but he's hesitant to let other people know about that, and that is his first mistake.
JUDE
I also didn't like Jude. He's definitely the bad boy type, but not the hot kind as far as I'm concerned. He's a complete jerk to both Alice and Charlie. Alice, thankfully, has taste and doesn't like him, but Charlie, the not-so-smart one, is naturally drawn to him. I just don't understand his appeal. He's rude and self-absorbed, but of course it seems like he might have a vulnerable side, too. He also appears to be a very cliché character.

THE PLOT
The Innocents is suspenseful, more so than you'd think. There's a lot of mystery. What happened in the past? Where do the lies begin and end? There are so many questions. Some are still unanswered at the end of this novel, but it's the first book in a series, so I suppose that's to be expected. Still, I wanted to know more.

A lot of the story is based on the past, and there was so much more of it than I realized. It doesn't just go back a few years. No, this story has been woven since before Alice was born, and she's only jut starting to realize that. Charlie wants no part of this digging up the past, but she might not have a choice. After all, the answers that Alice finds affect her, too. And even though I don't like her, I know that Charlie is a good person at heart and loves her sister. Some of this knowledge just might be enough to break her.

The romance is also a huge part of the story. It's part of the now, but no matter what the characters might want, it is irrevocably intertwined with the past and there it nothing that can change that.

I like the way we slowly get our answers, and that Alice has to work for them. It's not as easy as turning a page or anything like that. But this need consumes her, and she realizes that she needs to know about the past. She'll risk anything for that.

At the same time, some things in this novel seemed just a bit too coincidental. Like, they just worked out a tad too perfectly, or things just randomly happened by random chance when it seemed too calculated. Not quit spontaneous enough. It was just kind of stiff, I think.

But it scores major points for originality. It's a dark gothic mystery, and that's just old-fashioned fun. There's so much of wanting to know what's next, the search for puzzle pieces and then trying to make them fit together. It was really, really fun. I'm not gonna lie. I loved working everything out along with Alice, and I know why she's become so enthralled with it.

THE ROMANCE
Tommy and Alice have a romance that starts out slowly. Softly. They just kind of sit and talk, and I love that. They're both drawn to one another, and though Alice sometimes doubts the reasons, they have excellent chemistry. It's not lout, but it's powerful. I love the way it progresses, too, and the way that it's rocky but they both fight for each other. It's not easy, but it's all they have. I don't care too much for Charlie and Jude's romance, probably because I don't care much for either of them. It feels very stereotyped as well—the bad girl and the bad boy giving up their ways for each other—and it just wasn't very compelling at all.

THE WRITING
Lili has lovely writing. It's easily the shining glory of this book. Alice and Charlie's voices aren't always divided evenly, which I didn't like. Sometimes they kind of blurred one into another, which was frustrating and weird. But other than that, it's awesome. The third person managed to make me feel connected to the characters, and the descriptions are super vivid and realistic. Her writing made the book come alive. All of her characters, whether likable or not have distinct personalities and voices.

THE ENDING
Actually, this book ended in a really good plea. I'm not complaining. Also, talk about unpredictable. There was so much that I did not see coming. Looking back, of course there'd been hints at it, but it simply wasn't something you think about. All the drama suddenly comes together and clicks with this new information, and many of the events that take place during the novel make that much more sense. There's something of a cliffhanger, though I wouldn't call it that exactly, but I know for sure it left me wanting more.

WRAPUP
Overall, I really did like The Innocents. I had a problem with half of the main characters, but I managed it. I was certainly disappointed, but I was still entertained. I will definitely be reading This Side of Jealousy. I'm curious too see where the story goes, and even the worst characters always have a shot at redemption. If you're into historical fiction or suspense, you'll probably adore this, and though I'm not saying to go out and buy it this second, I do give it a good recommendation.

FINE.

Find more of my reviews on Sparkles and Lightning!

[Liviania · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had an issue with THE INNOCENTS that I don't think I've ever had before. Basically, Lili Peloquin did one thing so well that it left me wanting too much.

Sisters Alice and Charlie (Alice being slightly older) move to Serenity Point in New England when their mother marries Richard Flood the III shortly after divorcing their father. The girls' middle class upbringing didn't exactly prepare them for living in a town where everyone is a member of the country club. Charlie has the social skills to carve out a place for herself, but she honestly finds it easier to hang out with one of the waiters.

I absolutely loved the atmosphere of THE INNOCENTS. Although there are no science fiction elements, there's a bit of that Stepford Wives feel - there has to be something nasty beneath the glossy surface of their new life. Their new stepfather is touchy about the oddest things and has removed all pictures of his late daughter Camilla from his home. His late daughter who looks amazing like Alice. (Dun dun dun.) It's a great setting and feel for soap opera-type shenanigans.

And a soap opera is basically what happens. But at the same time, I felt kind of disappointed at the reveal. It's clearly something that will affect Alice and Charlie deeply, but . . . it isn't super crazy. I mean, as I think about it, it isn't normal, but . . . there isn't, for instance, anyone who contracts amnesia and is mistaken for a princess and marries another royal before remembering her husband back home who meanwhile thinks she's dead and has been seduced by her archenemy. (I cut my eyeteeth on soap operas.) Basically, it would've been a great reveal in a normal contemporary, but the atmosphere of THE INNOCENTS was so creepy and exaggerated that I was expecting something less mundane. Perhaps Peloquin is saving the true craziness for future installments? (Book two, THIS SIDE OF JEALOUSY, comes out this summer.)

Both sisters get a romance. I'm hoping their romances will be fleshed out more. There's obviously something hinky about Alice's, considering she's dating Camilla's ex. Tommy acts like there's nothing odd about the resemblance, but dating someone almost identical to your tragically departed girlfriend is strange. Charlie's romance didn't interest me much, mainly because I didn't get the appeal of Jude. He may be super hot, but he's an alcoholic. And not a charming, hiding it alcoholic, but a vomit-on-yourself-and-pass-out alcoholic. Maybe that's hot when you're a teenager and don't have experience herding drunks as the designated walker? (Herding cats is easier.)

I know I sound like I'm complaining a lot, but I'm definitely going to read THIS SIDE OF JEALOUSY. I'm just hoping Peloquin takes the series off a simmer and turns the crazy up to eleven.

[Hazel Dobkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

YA is my guilty pleasure, one which Im not too keen on advertising, but occasionally I will come across one book so fabulous that it compels me to come out of the YA closet, go on public record so to speak :) The Innocents has me yodeling The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name (or should I say gay for YA) oh zut pardon ma francaise! Now normally I have to say my expectations are never high when it comes to YA but thats why I like them (and the fact that I have a cherished friend who works in the giltzy "monde celebre" of publishing and slips me advanced copies - dont worry NO SPOILERS here though Je jure!) as they are almost always fabulously low-brow, charmingly unsophisticated, and therefore, completely innocuous and relaxing for yours truly. Basically, I almost always know exactly what to expect: cheap thrills and bawdy reveries. Usually. But with The Innocents, oh Mon Dieu, the unusual is, franchement, de rigeur. Most YA novels provide me with a certain sort of bland comfort, much like the bag of Chips Ahoy and Snickers I just had (dont tell Jenny!) But with The Innocents, I was reminded how much I love to be thrilled and shocked by a novel. Without giving anything away, I will say that Peloquin's spooky, gothic, haunting, hip, edgy, modern roman a clef is one of the best in its class. Its completely engaging without taking itself too seriously (which I appreciate.) Its tawdry yet compelling, modern yet timeless, stylish yet substantive, fantastical yet true-to-life. If youve ever had a sibling rivalry, if youve ever felt like a stranger in your own house (or your own skin for that matter!), if youve ever found yourself looking from the outside in (or looking from the inside out...of a gilded cage), if youve ever found yourself struggling to attract and keep that special Valmont (zut alors!), then this coup d'eclat from the charmant Madame(moiselle?) Peloquin is for you!

Bisou,

Hazel

p.s. Im a new member on here trying to cherher more books like this one, so if you think you can help a dame out Id love to hear from you!

[Joni Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE this novel! To be completely honest, I never would have picked this up for myself. I am not a big fan of books such as Pretty Little Liars, etc and that is what immediatly came to mind when I heard about this book. I put off reading it for a while because I truly didn't think I would like it. I was so wrong.

This book is part family drama, part romance, part mystery all rolled into one incredibly fast read. I read it in one day, almost one sitting. It was easy to keep up with the pace of the story, even with the twists and turns it offered around every corner. I loved the dynamic of the sisters and I even have a favorite. I absolutely love the character of Alice. I relate a bit more to her than I do the Charlie, her sister. Charlie is the wild one while Alice is much more down to Earth. When they move to Serenity Point with their mother and her new husband, they have no idea the changes that will happen in their lives. And then secrets that they will uncover.

The ending left off with a slight cliffhanger and I am so excited for the next book in this series. I have found a series that I can look forward to the next book's release and think about it all the time, something I have been missing the last Harry Potter was released. I am so excited about this series and can't wait to see where the author takes the characters.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Gossip Girl" meets "Pretty Little Liars" in Peloquin's dishy debut! Teens and adults alike won't be able to get enough of this addictive new series - I'm counting down the days until I get the sinister sequel!

[Molly Sureman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok so I know all my friends secretly watch Revenge on TV. When we realized this someone pointed to Lili Peloquin's facebook feed and we've been flipping over these amazing posts and commentary about the show. We've even followed her tweets live during the show.

Anyway, this writer is amazing!!!! We're sometimes in tears laughing at what she says and how she perceives all the oddities on the show. So one of my co-worker's husbands works in editing and got his hands on an early copy of this book for us and we've just passed it around.

I'm reviewing this on all of our behalves since I'm the only one on Goodreads. This book is a 5 star A +. Ok, so it's true we're not reading Anna Karenina literature here, but it's good! Clearly a great writer and it's so absorbing. Most of us read it in one sitting and now we call each other Charlie or Alice based on how we're acting toward each other (if bitchy, it's charlie, if innocent and sweet, it's Alice).

So, I hope all of you enjoy it too. Fingers crossed they make this into a tv series too!!!

[Susanne Winnacker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't think I'd like this book as much as I did. I usually don't read books in the vein of gossip girl and when I got a copy of this book I was sure that that was what I would get, but I was pleasantly surprised. I actually couldn't put the book down and I wasn't annoyed by the two sisters as I feared before I started reading. I'll definitely read the next book in the series. I can't wait to find out more.

[Judith Laney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mucho mysterioso!!! I just loved this one. I love not knowing what comes next, and this eerie little number kept me on my toes. It's a blend of Gossip Girl in a summery setting like Revenge. I totally pictured Blake Lively as Camilla.

[Navem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. It's a fun mix of Pretty Little Liars, The Lying Game and The Private series. It ends with a cliff hanger, and the author gives a little excerpt from the upcoming sequel at the end. Which I am very much looking forward to reading!

[Shoshana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Petty bitchiness abounds. And the mother is a creep.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Summary
Alice and Charlie’s mom just married Richard Flood the Third, an insanely rich man who’s wife died of cancer and who’s daughter, Camilla, died merely months after. They almost immediately move to Serenity Point, a beach area filled with rich people, all with their own sinister secrets surrounding Camilla and her demise. But even more creepy, Alice happens to look exactly like Camilla and there’s no way she can let those secrets stay hidden. Not when her sister is pulling away and these secrets seem to affect her family personally. But maybe the people at Serenity Point aren’t the only ones with secrets.

Writing
The writing? There was just something I can’t pinpoint that made me completely love the writing. It was just…gorgeous. I mean, I could read one word and be completely sucked in immediately. I could barely put it down!
And yes, The Innocents is written in the 3rd person POV, and maybe sometimes it seemed that it should be in the 1st, but this way The Innocents could switch between Alice and Charlie’s POV without any confusion and much more ease. It may seem weird at times that in the beginning one chapter was all Alice, another all Charlie, and that after it would switch between one then the other in a paragraphs, but they switched at exactly the right time if that makes sense. But mainly, Alice was our narrator and I found it so much more enjoyable!

The Sisters
Which leads us to characters. Alice was definitely my favorite sister. She’s a bookworm (Which basically everyone reading this can connect to), quiet, shy, but she watches. She’s the one who notices the little things, the one who can usually catch on before anyone else, and it was just amazing that we went through 80% of the book from her perspective. Because she caught the details when Charlie blew them off as paranoia. Alice is the older, more wiser sister you could say. She knows when enough is enough and she won’t bend to ANYBODY’S will. Completely the opposite of her sister.

Charlie. Oh Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. Most of these characters I loved to hate, but especially her. She was just so…agh. I don’t whether it was because I liked Alice more, but Charlie just annoyed me so much especially when abandoning her sister for a guy (who I’ll talk about later) or told Alice that she was just being a downer. Please. But when you read from her point of view…you just can’t blame her (no matter how much disdain you’re nursing). She’s the wild, unpredictable one. She always fits in.She’s never had much trouble in guys, until Jude. More on that below. I definitely think both of these sisters are two characters all readers can relate to. If not one, then the other!

The Love Interests
Since we started with Alice, let’s start with her love interest. Tommy. Yes, the name sounds a bit awkward lol. But Tommy is such a sweet guy, with such a nice personality. Like incredibly incredibly sweet. He fit Alice perfectly, quiet and understanding. But of course, the Innocents is all about secrets. And he has secrets of his own. Ones that could maybe, and quite probably, change everything.

Jude. Can. I. Kill him? Pretty please? Okay, I totally wanted to murder Jude. He was such a tool. He played with Charlie, drawing her away from Alice, and not even really caring about her. And Charlie knew that. But she was just so desperate for him. I don’t even know why! He was cute. His personality isn’t exactly a gem. Jude was, quite frankly, a son of a bleep. He’s the other character I loved to hate. He strung Charlie along, but the worst part is…well, you’ll have to read and find out.

Plot/Plot Twists
They weren’t so much as twists as things that were already there. Secrets that become unveiled, reasons and intents become clearer, and all of them are slowly leading up to the big giant, juicy plot twist that’s just waiting to be read. While some people think that there was only the one twist, there were so many more subtle ones that would’ve been hard to catch if you weren’t looking for them.
All of these…ohmygoodness, there were so many hints lying around. I would collect them but I wouldn’t connect the dots and was so shocked! You guys…be sure you aren’t in a squeal-free zone like the library when you finish the last hundred pages or so. Also, ghosts. Yes. Ghosts.

The Bad
With a few grammar errors, my complete lack of understanding as to why Jude was such a catch, those were pretty much my only complaints on the novel. While it was uber amazing, it didn’t affect me quite as much emotionally as I’d hoped. But still. Amazing.

Overall
The Innocents is a stunning debut with gorgeous writing and even more gorgeous content. This debut is definitely a favorite and takes a whole new meaning to “dangerous secrets”. With main characters the readers can relate to, the Innocents will both shock you and make you giddy for more. Filled with secrets, lies, and…unrequited love? The Innocents is one to grab for those who are looking for something new in the contemporary section. One that will make you grit your teeth and squeal at the same time, this is not a book to be taken lightly! After all, when everyone has a secret, who can you really trust?

[Ashley Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two ways to rate this book: as I think I would like it when I was the intended audience (ages 12 & up) and as I liked it as an adult reader.

I think teenage girls would love the book. It's dramatic and intriguing in a teenage girl sort of way. If I tap into the middle school girl in me, it tickles that part of me. It reads easily as it follows the drama of two sisters whisked off to their step-father's uber-rich community. It is, in a lot of ways, a twisted Cinderella story. There are mysteries and there's drama and there's relationships. All that.

And this is what I liked about it -- what led me to read it in the span of a couple of days. It was mostly fun to read. The voice was grating at times, but not bad; it was grating in the way a group of self-centered high school girls can be grating. And yes: it's a story about self-centered high-school girls.

In the long run, I think genre-savvy readers will find it predictable and unsatisfying. The major plot twist -- that Alice was actually Richard's daughter/Camilla's sister -- was obvious early in the book. What I didn't expect was that it was the only plot twist in the book.

Did you by chance see the second Matrix movie? (Yeah, I'm sorry too.) Remember that feeling when you realized that there was no ending, only set up for the next movie? The Innocents does the same thing.

We've got hints at larger plot elements: Tommy has a reason for keeping their relationship secret, Camilla probably isn't dead (weeks until she was found, barely a face left, and a closed casket funeral), Stan and his unresolved thing with Charlie, and then there's the myriad of problems with Jude & Cybill. There's a bigger story being told -- apparently in later books. The only plot The Innocents had was the painfully obvious one.

Again: to the intended audience, this is probably going to be plenty satisfying. I just wanted to see more. What happened when Alice confronts her father? What about when someone tells Charlie? How does this affect their family dynamic? Who else knows -- did her grandmother?

As for the characters: I didn't like Alice, which is a shame because she appears to be the main character. She whines and she imagines slights. There's a line in a letter that Camilla writes Alice where she says at the end, "The jeans you were wearing, I have a pair just like them. Crazy world." Alice later comments on this with, "Especially considering the dig she got in about Alice's jeans."

Alice is forever imagining slights and making mountains out of molehills. Like the big theme in the book: "She hated her sister. She loved her sister." There's no evidence at any point that Camilla hates Alice. It could be extrapolated, I suppose, but at the end when Alice realizes that Camilla always meant to drive Alice and Charlie apart -- did I sleep through that part of the book? There's no sign that this was at all Camilla's intent. As far as I can tell, Camilla never even mentioned Charlie.

Whether it's intended or not, Alice also comes off as the mouth piece for the author's political views -- that's the only reason I can imagine that the Occupy movement comes up so often, and at such frequency. Whenever it comes up, it always feels like one step too many. It's presented, at the end, as a mechanism -- her (rich) step-father's irrational vehemence to the movement was because it reminded him of the man Alice's mother left him for.

Because it's a book for kids, the adults all come off as strawmen. Alice's mother is presented as selfish and false; she's presented as having completely changed who she was when she remarries, and comes of as uncaring in the climax. Richard as stiff and controlling. Rich seems to be used as synonymous with "Republican," which is then presented as bad. (Especially considering the openly-Republican character is an absent, negligent, and cruel father.)

With both those factors above: those are things that are going to resonate with the intended audience, especially considering the limited POV. The other kids are nuanced, for the most part; the adults are presented in their flaws and flaws alone, when they're must addressed at all. It makes sense, but as an adult reader it felt two-dimensional.

So, overall, I enjoyed the book -- but it had some weak spots for me.

[Mel Books · Rating 1 out of 5]

As always: SPOILERS.

Before I get into my typical format, I have one large and very specific hang up with the book. Have any of you heard of doppelgängers? A person who looks exactly like you, but is oftentimes a darker version of you? Well, this book is a doppelgänger of the Daphne du Maurier novel, Rebecca. I'm serious, this book's main plot is just a teen remake of the book.

Rebecca: A young woman known only as the Second Mrs. de Winter marries a much older widower, Maxim de Winter, whose wife Rebecca drowned a year earlier. They return to Maxim's ancestral home of Manderly, and she worries constantly that she will never be as beautiful, as smart, as accomplished, as perfect as Rebecca, and that Maxim will never love her the way he loved Rebecca. However, Maxim soon tells his wife the truth: that Rebecca was cruel, a liar, and cheated on him constantly, most often with a man named Favall. They hated each other. When she revealed to Maxim that she was pregnant with another man's baby, he finally had enough of her emotional abuse and accidentally killed her (it's later revealed that it was a twisted form of assisted suicide due to her cancer diagnosis).

The Innocents: A young girl named Alice moves to Serenity Point, and meets then falls for a boy named Tommy. Tommy was the former boyfriend of Camilla, the deceased daughter of Alice's new stepfather, who drowned about a year ago. Alice constantly worries that she will never be as beautiful, as smart, as accomplished, as perfect as Camilla, and that Tommy will never love her the way he loved Camilla. However, Tommy soon tells Alice the truth: that Camilla was cruel, a liar, and cheated on him constantly, most often with Jude. They hated each other. It's also revealed in the novel that Camilla committed suicide by driving her car off a bridge.

See the similarities? The entire main Camilla plot is lifted almost word for word from du Maurier's book, and nowhere have I found Peloquin giving any sort of credit to Rebecca or du Maurier, nor has she given any indication this is inspired from Rebecca's plot. So basically, Lili Peloquin somehow got away with blatant plagiarism. Not only that, but there are no hints of Camilla's dual nature. In Rebecca, while it does come as a huge shock, there are hints in the novel that Rebecca wasn't perfect, and even had possible psychopathic traits, such as the story where she whipped a horse so cruelly that it bled. In The Innocents, there is nothing to suggest that Camilla wasn't the kind, volunteering, sweet girl that she seemed. So it's just another cheap twist to make readers gasp.

Now, on to my more usual review format now that I've gotten this issue out of the way.

THE PLOT.

The plot is average, at best. Beyond the glaring similarities to Rebecca that I've mentioned above, there's really nothing else that grabs my attention. Alice's desire to learn more about Camilla wasn't necessarily all that fascinating, and it just felt like any clue was just dumped on us, rather than built up to in an interesting way. Charlie's storyline was just boring. I didn't care about her obsession with Jude, and seeing as that's basically the only thing her particular arc is about, I just found myself trying to speed-read through her stuff to get back to Alice's POV faster. As for the big twist that isn't about Camilla being a blond Rebecca de Winter, I'll come back to that later.

THE CHARACTERS.

I disliked almost every single character in this book. They all felt boring and one dimensional, like caricatures of every single teen drama ever put to either novel, TV, or cinema. There's Alice, who's the serious, creative do gooder. There's Charlie, the fierce and independent girl who wants to fit in. There's Tommy, who's essentially an anthropomorphic loaf of bread. There's Jude, the rich bad boy who's damaged by no parental influence and has a hidden vulnerability. There's Stan, the poor, smart boy who makes up the third part of the dumb Jude/Charlie/Stan love triangle. They're all clichés. And that's not inherently a bad thing. Clichés are clichés for a reason; they're tried and true and work so often people try to use them whenever they can. And it's possible to breathe new life into a cliché, provided it's well written. In this case, it simply isn't. It just feels tired. Honestly, the only characters I liked were Cybil (because I appreciated how unapologetic she was about being a bad girl), Richard (who was an actual character with depth and flaws and good parts and bad parts), and Camilla (who is more interesting than both of our lead girls combined). And if I like a minor character, a dead one at that, you've got a problem.
A subjective side note: I have a huge issue with Alice's immediate and consistent dislike of Richard. It makes sense once she finds out about her mother and Richard's real relationship, but when she doesn't know, it just comes off as bizarre. She actively dislikes someone who, so far, has only committed the crime of marrying her mother and having them move. It's especially weird when you take into account the fact that Alice knows that Richard's wife and daughter both died in rapid succession just a short time ago, and it really made me hate her. Her hatred of someone who's done nothing but make her mother happy after being abandoned by her father, someone who's gone through two huge losses, just makes her seem juvenile and mean.

THE WRITING.

It's...eh. It's not atrocious enough to distract me, but make no mistake, it's not good. The dialogue, like the characters that speak it, is riddled with cliché after cliché, the descriptions are OK if somewhat repetitive, and the characterization is, as I said, very one dimensional. That's the only thing I can say about it.

THE ENDING.

I'll give this to Peloquin, she built up towards this ending. There are hints dropped about all of this throughout, and it was a satisfying payoff. The only reason I wasn't surprised was because I read this at the same time as my sister, and she spoiled the ending for me. But, to be honest, this ending felt very John Edwards-esque to me. John Edwards is an American politician who, during his 2008 bid for President, had it revealed that he was cheating on his cancer-stricken wife with a woman named Rielle Hunter, and had a child with her (note: Edwards didn't initial say the kid was his, but eventually admitted to it). After his wife died, Edwards formally got together with Hunter, and they stayed together until early 2015. Now, this time, there's nothing wrong with Peloquin potentially getting inspiration from this incident, as it's not blatantly based on another book, but it does present a problem: it makes it very hard to sympathize when one of the few sympathetic characters in the book. Throughout The Innocents, I actually quite liked Maggie. Upon finding out about the true nature of her relationship with Richard, any possible liking of her vanished. It's not just because I was drawing comparisons to Rielle Hunter, who I actively can't stand; it's not because of the cheating thing; it's because of Maggie's own separate attitude about the relationship. After telling Alice about this whole thing, she acts incredibly smug about it, as if she's happy Martha died and that Maggie won. Just to be clear: Maggie acts smugly happy, like some older Regina George, that a woman died and that said death caused unbearable suffering to her teenage daughter, just because it allowed Maggie to win. Yes, the ending ties up the plot threads put out there by Peloquin, but it makes it so that the only likable main character is someone we are not supposed to like. And if you end up liking the characters the author wants you to hate, and hating the characters the author wants you to like, there's a serious problem.

OVERALL THOUGHTS.

The Innocents is thoroughly mediocre in every way. The plot is basic, the characters are cardboard cutouts, the twists are predictable, and the writing passable. The only thing stunning about this is how Lili Peloquin plagiarized one of the most iconic novels in the world and somehow got away with it.

[Zombieleins-Bücherschmaus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buchinfo:
Titel: The Innocents - Bittersüße Küsse
Autor: Lili Peloquin
Seiten: 320
Buchart : TB
Verlag: Ravensburger
Bestellcode: 978-3473584994
Erhältlich : 06 / 2016
Kosten : € 9,99
Alter: ab 14
Buchrichtung: Jugendbuch
Vorgängerbände: -
Folgebände:
The Innocents, Band 2: Verhängnisvolle Intrigen
The Innocents, Band 3: Verführerische Lügen

Verfilmung: -


Inhalt:
Seit ihre Mutter reich geheiratet hat, gehören die Schwestern Alice und Charlie zur High Society von Serenity Point. Aber schon bald stößt Alice auf gut gehütete Geheimnisse und ein Netz aus Lügen und Intrigen. Zu allem Überfluss sieht Alice ihrer Stiefschwester Camilla, die angeblich Selbstmord begangen hat, zum Verwechseln ähnlich. Nach und nach beginnt Alice, an der offiziellen Version der Ereignisse zu zweifeln …


Meine Meinung:
Ein Hype den ich nicht so nachvollziehen kann.
Ich habe von vielen gehört das das Buch ja sooo toll sein soll und hab es dann einfach mitgenommen .
Um wem geht es ? Um Alice die mit ihrer Mutter und ihrer Schwester zu deren neuen Mann zieht. Eine Glitzerwelt die Alice fremd ist. Alle sind anders, einebildet und sie halt nicht. Carlie ihre Schwester kann sich schnell anfreunden mit den Jugendlichen, aber alle schauen Alice so komisch an als wäre sie ein Geist. Es kommt dann raus das Richard ihr neuer Stiefvater seine Tochter verloren hat , angeblich bei einen Autounfall und das sie Alice fast bis aufs Haar gleicht. Nach und nach stolpert aber Alice auf viele Wiedersprüche und macht sich auf die Suche was wirklich mit der Tochter passiert und deckt etwas ganz unerwartete auf.

Ja ein Mädchen wird zur Detektivin, wer solche Geschichten kennt erliest sehr schnell was das auch so tolle Geheimmiss ist . Ich hab es bei nichtmal der Hälfte gewusst und das war schlimm. Eine Geschichte die so geschrieben ist das man es weiß oder erahnen kann mag ich nicht wirklich.
Gut es ist ein Jugendbuch also lassen wir es daher so im Raume stehen. Es gibt glaub 3 Teile, die anderen zwei dürfen im Laden bleiben. Mich hat es nicht so gepackt.
Warum 3 Sterne. Das Cover ist nunmal toll, alle 3 Teile ergeben ein Riesen Bild.
Die Orte waren auch ziemlich gut beschrieben und auch der Schreibstil ist io.

Pluspunkte:
- Die Orte werden einen sehr nahe gebracht.
- Ich mag Charlie die war wenigstens nicht so steif

Minuspunkte:
- Man erahnt schnell den Ausgang der Geschichte

Cover:
- Alle drei Teile ergeben ein großes Bild, genial

[Lily · Rating 1 out of 5]

What. The. Heck? This book was complete trash. It was horrible! Here is why:

Characters:

Alice: A wimp. Wimpy wimp wimp. She just follows her younger sister around, hanging out with her sister's friends who aren't really her friends, and drinking so she doesn't look like a loser. She's apparently an artist, but never in the whole book does she do anything artistic. She's supposed to be a reader, and there's a lot of talk of her sitting pretending to read, but not really. She wants to go to this protest thing but doesn't because she doesn't. She just walks around like a freaking zombie or something! She is such a boring character!

Charlie: Where do I begin? She's an insecure brat that pretends to be a not-insecure brat, who doesn't know how to be good. She's just this total steriotype, and a bad one. She's drunk in the first chapter, and she's like, sixteen. Charlie's character makes me sick. She wants to hang out with the bad people even though she doesn't like them, to make her look cool. Charlie has problems.

Richard Flood the Third: Generic, one-sided, strict stepdad. Boring.

Alice and Charlie's mom: Oh, I'm sorry, she was such a boring character I can't even remember her name.

Cybill and Jude: First, the author sucks at names. Second, these are the worst characters ever. Cybill's character is your regular old vanilla snotty girl. I mean seriously. Get a bit more creative here. Jude's character is boring and a chore to read. Every time he showed up I wanted to shut the book. *Yawn*

Bianca and Sasha: Cybill's "friends" who stand behind her and are kind of like her servants. Just like in every boring story with a snotty blonde girl with two look alike minions who stand by her the whole time.

Camilla: The best, out of all, to read about, even though she was never alive in the whole story.






The Writing Style:
Though it was written in third person, which I generally prefer, it didn't offer many angles. I feel like more was just described, instead of telling a story. And it was trashy writing, as if someone jumped up from their lay-z-boy one day and said "I think I'm going to write a book!" and went over to their computer and typed out the first things that came to their mind and got it published, because they were too impulsive to actually think it out. I did not enjoy this book at all.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich hatte erwartet,dass es mal wieder was in Richtung Pretty Little Liars und Gossip Girl wird.
Das ist ja im Moment total im Trend und eigentlich mag ich diese Geschichten auch sehr,aber The Innocents konnte mich überhaupt nicht überzeugen.

Dass man Charaktere bei einer Story von nur 300 Seiten nicht unbedingt vielschichtig und tiefgründig gestalten kann bzw,dass das ziemlich schwierig ist,ist mir durchaus bewusst,aber hier bleiben ausnahmslos alle Protagonisten so oberflächlich und austauschbar,dass es einfach nicht mehr feierlich war.
Abgesehen davon waren auch die vermeintlichen Geheimnisse und die große Enthüllung zum Ende hin so offensichtlich und durchschaubar,dass es mir schon nach den ersten paar Seiten klar war auf was es hinauslaufen wird.

Grundsätzlich war die Idee gar nicht schlecht (daher noch die zwei Sterne),nur leider hat mich die Umsetzung so gar nicht begeistern können.
Aus diesem Grund werde ich die anderen zwei Teile der Trilogie auch nicht weiterverfolgen.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is part of a series, but I regret to say that I will probably not continue with it. I found myself to be bored throughout most of the narrative. I basically gave the story 3 stars, only because I believe it had potential to be something better. I kept feeling like something big was going to happen, and then nothing. The twist in the end, well I already saw that coming too. The writing style was bland as well.

This book simply was just not for me.

[Julie Devons · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best! I'm obsessed. I just ordered 4 copies on Amazon for my college roommates.

Why do I love it? Because it's everything I want in a book - fun, fast, mysterious, sexy. You get the picture. I basically think anyone into fun smart books will love this.

[Paula Rush · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love alice and charlie! It's me and my sister, but with hot guy love triangles and a dead girl. Can't wait for the next book!

[Hailey Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this.

[Whitney Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of predictable and the conflict between Alice and Tommy was kind of petty. I enjoyed the suspense and the writing was nice, though, so i'm gonna read the second one this month.

[Mangaka (Manga) girl aka Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was kind of girly

[Ava Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost thought I wouldn't finish this book. I took a long break from it half-way through. Partly due to the lack of momentum, partly due to life. I decided today I would continue reading it through. I am glad I did. I felt discouraged by the beginning thinking it had a slow-pace and didn't seem to be leading into much other than the day-to-day life of two teenage sisters, transplanted into a new life, due to their mother's new marriage. The mysteries that seemed to be hysteria in the mind of Alice, the older sister, started to unravel after I picked the book back up and the paced went from a crawl to a determined jog.

If you are looking for a mystery/thriller type with break-neck pace, and plot twists every paragraph, try Dan Brown. This book however is written through the eyes of teenage girls, discovering secrets that could very well exist in the lives of someone you know. It is life-changing for them, nonetheless! As these mysteries were revealed in what could be a true life scenario you realize that there is more to come in the tale that is unfolding like those things people used to use to find their way, i think there were called maps!

Also, this being a Young Adult novel, it seemed mature. 17+ at least is my recommendation. The whole thing is filled with teen drug use, drinking, and implications of sexual encounters. Not to sound prudish, this is what teens experience these days. Just a note to people who may have younger kids that they don't want exposed to this yet.

[Hishi Mochi · Rating 1 out of 5]

My Rating For This Book : 1 out of 5 stars.
I hate giving this book 1 star, but I'm just not interested into this book.
First of all, I did NOT enjoy the book. My cousin gave me some of her books. And this book is one of the books she gave away.
And I was really excited to read this book. The book doesn't seem what it's supposed to be.
Also, this book introduces two sisters, Alice and Charlie who lives with their single mother, when their dad abandoned them. Now, their mother remarried a wealthy widow, whose wife and daughter died. I also have a QUESTION. Why does Alice look like her stepfather's daughter!!!!!!!!?????????? And wow, she finds out why in the end. Like, bruh, she could've known in the beginning. The story itself got into my nerves, which makes me irritated and frustrated...auggghhhhhhh....if I knew this in the beginning, I wouldn't even read this.
And another reason I rated this one star is because one sister calls the other pathetic and the other calls her jealous. Which is just dumb.
Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this book to kids nor teens. I would probably recommend this to 18+ or older. Because this book has cursing and sex and tons of stuff I hate in it.
By the way, I'm going to end this review. This is the longest review I've ever written. Also, thanks to those who took time to read this review.
Bye.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept - two sisters summering in an affluent seaside vacation town with their mother and new stepfather. As the summer progresses, they learn there’s more to their mother and her relationship with their stepfather than they’d ever suspected. While this main plot was interesting, the angsty moments where these rich teens ran around taking drugs, drinking, and acting spoiled and self-centered had my eyes rolling and my blood pressure rising. Would I have liked this had I still be in the targeted audience, a teen? I’m 99% sure not. Even then, these environments made me uncomfortable and these types of kids rattled me. (The scene where Charlie yells at Stan - “I’m your employer!” As if it’s a high schooler paying his wages, not that high schooler’s architect parent.) But alas, I didn’t make it to the library before they closed their doors for quarantine, so I’m systematically making it through the novels that have been sitting on my bookshelf, unread, for years, and that is how this book made it to the top of the pile.

[Jennifer May · Rating 4 out of 5]

Im ersten Teil von The Innocents begleiten wir die Schwestern Alice und Charlie, die dank dem neuen Ehemann ihrer Mutter nun in der High-Society von Serenity Point zurecht kommen müssen. Zu all dem kommt noch das Geheimnis um Camillas Tod, die Tochter des neuen Ehemanns ihrer Mutter, das über alles seinen Schatten zu werfen scheint.

Ich fand die Geschichte sehr unterhaltsam für zwischendurch. Sie ließ sich wahnsinnig schnell lesen und ich mochte die Intrigen und Geheimnisse um Serenity Point.
Trotz allem war es mir ein klein wenig zu viel Teenie-Drama, deshalb nur 4 Sterne.
Nichts desto trotz freue ich mich auf die nächsten Teile und es kann es allen empfehlen, die auf Intrigen und Geheimnisse aller Gossip Girl oder Pretty little Liars stehen.

[Rhiannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've had this book on my shelves for years, just waiting to be picked up. I can honestly say that I'm glad I finally did even if my rating is so low. There's nothing particularly remarkable about the story or plot, but the writing is so smooth and the book is short enough that it makes it easy to fly through this book in one day. The major downfall of this novel is that it's painfully predictable. I had guessed the "big twist" by page 10. The foreshadowing is so heavy that it justs makes the reveal feel like a statement rather than a twist. Besides, most of the characters don't seem to have big reactions to the information either. It leaves the book feeling rather pointless and dull.

[Victoria Zieger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Innocents by Lili Peloquin is book one in a series. It’s about two girls who are sisters who have to leave their old lives when their mom married a rich widowed man who has also recently lost his daughter. The new lifestyle is reminiscent of what you would see in Gossip Girl with a lot of drama and sinister back stories. As they begin to unfold the mysteries behind their new lives, more twists and secrets unfold. I liked this book, but it didn’t wow me. There were also a lot of typos in it which is something that drives me bonkers. It ended without any type of finality, so you have to read the next book to get any type of real answers and closure which is a little bit annoying.