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The Beautiful-Ugly Trilogy #2
Into the Abyss
Her parents are dead. Her only sibling, her brother Eric, has been taken from her. And after her first experience with a foster family goes horribly wrong, nine-year-old Connelly Pierce doesn’t know who, if anyone, she can trust. Her caseworker, a ditzy ex-actress named Lillian, tries her best to help. But an ever-wiser Connelly sees that Lillian can barely take care of herself, let alone help her with her ever-worsening situation.
Then, a chance encounter with her brother at a San Francisco emergency room changes everything. Eric tells her that his own foster parents have divorced, kicking him back into “the system” just like her. When she later learns that Eric has disappeared, running away to New York City, now fourteen-year-old Connelly knows what she has to do. She’s going to run away as well. She’s going to New York to find Eric. And then, together, the both of them will have the family that the system could never provide. But what she doesn’t know, but begins to understand the deeper she descends into her darkening journey, is that quests of this magnitude, often come with consequences to match.
Book Two of the Beautiful-Ugly Trilogy
Then, a chance encounter with her brother at a San Francisco emergency room changes everything. Eric tells her that his own foster parents have divorced, kicking him back into “the system” just like her. When she later learns that Eric has disappeared, running away to New York City, now fourteen-year-old Connelly knows what she has to do. She’s going to run away as well. She’s going to New York to find Eric. And then, together, the both of them will have the family that the system could never provide. But what she doesn’t know, but begins to understand the deeper she descends into her darkening journey, is that quests of this magnitude, often come with consequences to match.
Book Two of the Beautiful-Ugly Trilogy
258 pages, Paperback
First published January 4, 2014
1 person is currently reading
564 people want to read
About the author
James Snyder
9 books64 followersJames Snyder was born in Memphis, Tennessee and lived in many parts of the United States before settling with his family in Napa Valley. Among a variety of careers and occupations, he was a soldier with a tactical mobile operations unit in Germany, as well as an executive for a Fortune 500 company.
He has published short stories in the Houghton Mifflin Black Mask anthologies, the Ginosko Literary Journal, and was a finalist in the New Letters’ Alexander Patterson Cappon Prize for Fiction. He is the author of the military thriller AMERICAN WARRIOR, the suspense thriller DESOLATION RUN, the literary coming-of-age THE BEAUTIFUL-UGLY, and the short story collection TALES OF THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY
He occasionally blogs at jamessnyder.net and currently lives in Texas where he writes full time.
@jamessnyder22
www.JamesSnyder.net.
He has published short stories in the Houghton Mifflin Black Mask anthologies, the Ginosko Literary Journal, and was a finalist in the New Letters’ Alexander Patterson Cappon Prize for Fiction. He is the author of the military thriller AMERICAN WARRIOR, the suspense thriller DESOLATION RUN, the literary coming-of-age THE BEAUTIFUL-UGLY, and the short story collection TALES OF THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY
He occasionally blogs at jamessnyder.net and currently lives in Texas where he writes full time.
@jamessnyder22
www.JamesSnyder.net.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 5, 2017
Actual rating - 2.5
I felt sorry for the main character again in this one, she's been through such a lot.
Just like book one, It wasn't a bad read, but it's not something that I really enjoyed either.
I felt sorry for the main character again in this one, she's been through such a lot.
Just like book one, It wasn't a bad read, but it's not something that I really enjoyed either.
May 18, 2016
Definitely better than the first book of this trilogy but I'm on the fence with this one too. So many devastating events for Connelly that really opens up your eyes to the unfortunate life that is handed to so many kids that are put in the system. Again, like the first, a lot of unnecessary scenes and detail that made some parts kind of boring. Also, it does seem that in order to make this book emotional, everything you can imagine a kid in Connelly's situation can go through, she experiences. Also, again there were typos and grammatical errors throughout the novel. Lastly, and what bothered me the most, is some of the things that occurred that are less than believable. Not bad just, I don't love it.
***spoilers to follow-do not continue if haven't read yet***
Besides the unbelievable parts, it would've been great to hear a short summary of Eric's life when they meet up. The end was very rushed and you're left wondering what exactly he was referring to when he kept saying "he did some things" or what caused him to ultimately decide to end his life after seeing his sister whom he loves so much. And really, he had to die?
Regarding the unbelievable parts:
You see your husband in bed with a 14 year old girl and you're totally okay with it? Sure, you're mad and blame the kid and get rid of her but as a woman, you don't care about the welfare of the kid? Clair was self absorbed and selfish but there was no mention of her being a nutjob who was okay with her husband taking advantage of little girls.
Both of the girls, though heroine addicts, were each easily able to stop doing all drugs when they wanted to. Roxy just stopped because Bobby wanted her to become clean. Connelly just stops once they get to the country and neither have withdrawals or anything. If it were that easy to quit highly addictive drugs then who needs rehab? I get that it is a book but if you are making your main character a drug addict, you can't decide she's clean in one day. Again, as mentioned above, many things were thrown into the story for dramatic effect but weren't realistic.
Let's talk about big scary gangster Sal and Roxy calling him cursing him out demanding information on Eric being at the house on LI (which that alone makes no sense nor was explained how he was there). What a coincidence that in a giant city, Eric somehow managed to end up at the same place with gangster Sal and carried around his precious medal which must've had so much importance to him yet when he sees his sister, who is so important to him, he avoids her potentially never seeing her again then he is rude and dismissive. Talk about inconsistent. Anyway back to Roxy cursing out Sal. I highly doubt a high profile gangster would listen to a 19/20 year old curse him out and threaten to expose him and be totally fine with it and then offer up the demanded information. Um no! He would let her know what his position is and probably send some friends to let her know his seriousness about never threatening him again.
The fact that Connelly found Eric in LA, again another crowded, big city, is less than believable. I'm not as annoyed about this bc this was necessary for the story I guess.
That's all I can think of right now on that topic. On another note, who shot Bobby? Just curious with all the unnecessary detail on other things why this was never mentioned. Maybe I missed it?
***spoilers to follow-do not continue if haven't read yet***
Besides the unbelievable parts, it would've been great to hear a short summary of Eric's life when they meet up. The end was very rushed and you're left wondering what exactly he was referring to when he kept saying "he did some things" or what caused him to ultimately decide to end his life after seeing his sister whom he loves so much. And really, he had to die?
Regarding the unbelievable parts:
You see your husband in bed with a 14 year old girl and you're totally okay with it? Sure, you're mad and blame the kid and get rid of her but as a woman, you don't care about the welfare of the kid? Clair was self absorbed and selfish but there was no mention of her being a nutjob who was okay with her husband taking advantage of little girls.
Both of the girls, though heroine addicts, were each easily able to stop doing all drugs when they wanted to. Roxy just stopped because Bobby wanted her to become clean. Connelly just stops once they get to the country and neither have withdrawals or anything. If it were that easy to quit highly addictive drugs then who needs rehab? I get that it is a book but if you are making your main character a drug addict, you can't decide she's clean in one day. Again, as mentioned above, many things were thrown into the story for dramatic effect but weren't realistic.
Let's talk about big scary gangster Sal and Roxy calling him cursing him out demanding information on Eric being at the house on LI (which that alone makes no sense nor was explained how he was there). What a coincidence that in a giant city, Eric somehow managed to end up at the same place with gangster Sal and carried around his precious medal which must've had so much importance to him yet when he sees his sister, who is so important to him, he avoids her potentially never seeing her again then he is rude and dismissive. Talk about inconsistent. Anyway back to Roxy cursing out Sal. I highly doubt a high profile gangster would listen to a 19/20 year old curse him out and threaten to expose him and be totally fine with it and then offer up the demanded information. Um no! He would let her know what his position is and probably send some friends to let her know his seriousness about never threatening him again.
The fact that Connelly found Eric in LA, again another crowded, big city, is less than believable. I'm not as annoyed about this bc this was necessary for the story I guess.
That's all I can think of right now on that topic. On another note, who shot Bobby? Just curious with all the unnecessary detail on other things why this was never mentioned. Maybe I missed it?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 2, 2015
This review has been crossposted from my blog at The Cosy Dragon . Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me, which appear on a timely schedule.
Connelly’s life has taken a turn for the better. For once, she is wanted (despite ending up in a bad place once again to get there), and her foster parents seem great. But slowly, slowly, everything falls apart again, and she is left on the streets.
This middle novel in the series (The Beautiful-Ugly Trilogy)
stomps on your heart in the same way the first one tore it. It was painful to read, and yet just as painful to put it down, not knowing what would happen next.
Those brief moments when Connelly feels like she has a family you want to celebrate with her, but also understand her reservedness. Her inability to keep things together after that however, is kinda annoying. She says she knows how to say no, how to just observe, but she can’t help spoiling what she has.
I find it hard to reconcile Connelly dropping drugs so quickly with the rate at which she moved into them. She's into some hard things, it's easy for her to go deeper in than to come out. Yet when she has a change of scenery, she feels those changes strongly enough that they take the joy or ignorant bliss of drugs from her.
The gang head is friendly than the average Joe on the street! If it’s true, the way New York is portrayed here, I never want to go there. Sure, Connelly isn’t very good at picking friends, but she doesn’t have much experience.
Something that disturbed me was the way that Snyer basically made every male in Connelly’s life a predator or a hindrance. In the end, even the question to find her brother was answered in this way. In fact, I’m not sure there are any wholly positive influences, apart from that art teacher a long time ago. The women are equally dysfunctional as the men, and it’s a hard, cruel world out there for everyone.
This is a gritty novel, even more so than the first one. The ending fits in with the beginning, and smoothly transitions into the next novel, so if you’ve got them, make sure you take them all with you to your reading spot.
Trigger warnings for drug use, rape, sexual content, suicide and swearing. Definitely a young adult novel, not teenage fiction.
I requested this trilogy directly from the author, and was lucky enough to receive all of them at once. I’m really glad I did, as these were really enjoyable, if emotionally difficult to read.
Connelly’s life has taken a turn for the better. For once, she is wanted (despite ending up in a bad place once again to get there), and her foster parents seem great. But slowly, slowly, everything falls apart again, and she is left on the streets.
This middle novel in the series (The Beautiful-Ugly Trilogy)
stomps on your heart in the same way the first one tore it. It was painful to read, and yet just as painful to put it down, not knowing what would happen next.
Those brief moments when Connelly feels like she has a family you want to celebrate with her, but also understand her reservedness. Her inability to keep things together after that however, is kinda annoying. She says she knows how to say no, how to just observe, but she can’t help spoiling what she has.
I find it hard to reconcile Connelly dropping drugs so quickly with the rate at which she moved into them. She's into some hard things, it's easy for her to go deeper in than to come out. Yet when she has a change of scenery, she feels those changes strongly enough that they take the joy or ignorant bliss of drugs from her.
The gang head is friendly than the average Joe on the street! If it’s true, the way New York is portrayed here, I never want to go there. Sure, Connelly isn’t very good at picking friends, but she doesn’t have much experience.
Something that disturbed me was the way that Snyer basically made every male in Connelly’s life a predator or a hindrance. In the end, even the question to find her brother was answered in this way. In fact, I’m not sure there are any wholly positive influences, apart from that art teacher a long time ago. The women are equally dysfunctional as the men, and it’s a hard, cruel world out there for everyone.
This is a gritty novel, even more so than the first one. The ending fits in with the beginning, and smoothly transitions into the next novel, so if you’ve got them, make sure you take them all with you to your reading spot.
Trigger warnings for drug use, rape, sexual content, suicide and swearing. Definitely a young adult novel, not teenage fiction.
I requested this trilogy directly from the author, and was lucky enough to receive all of them at once. I’m really glad I did, as these were really enjoyable, if emotionally difficult to read.
August 13, 2014
The original review can be found on www.genuinejenn.com
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Sometimes I wonder why I read these kinds of stories but they just rope me in. The sad part about all of it is that this is stuff that really does happen to children in the system. I would like to think it doesn't happen at all or to one in a million but I think it may be more than we really want to believe.
This is book two in The Beautiful-Ugly Trilogy by James Snyder and it picks up where book one left off, following Connelly through her life moving from one orphanage or foster family to another or eventually out in the streets. This book Connelly finds a great family to live with or at least it looked like it was going to be a wonderful family until all the horrible things I don't even what to think about happens to her. The foster dad introduces Connelly to getting high with weed and then harder stuff. He also uses Connelly for pleasure while his wife is off doing someone else. Connelly is in a great school for the arts but everything goes quickly downhill for Connelly and she knows it is time to get out of there. This time she is older and doesn't wait for child protective services to come and take her away she takes off on her own and tries to find Eric her brother.
After everything that happens to Connelly I was really surprised to see her so trusting and naive. This book was an emotional read but also an eye opener to the abuse and life that some children in our world live through. This book started off a bit slow but picked up and flowed really well after all the way to the end. I look forward to reading book three and finding out how this trilogy will end. I was really sad to see how Eric had turned out and how the author wrote the brief scenes with the siblings. The again if they had found each other and it was happy ever after then we wouldn't have a book three.
I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Sometimes I wonder why I read these kinds of stories but they just rope me in. The sad part about all of it is that this is stuff that really does happen to children in the system. I would like to think it doesn't happen at all or to one in a million but I think it may be more than we really want to believe.
This is book two in The Beautiful-Ugly Trilogy by James Snyder and it picks up where book one left off, following Connelly through her life moving from one orphanage or foster family to another or eventually out in the streets. This book Connelly finds a great family to live with or at least it looked like it was going to be a wonderful family until all the horrible things I don't even what to think about happens to her. The foster dad introduces Connelly to getting high with weed and then harder stuff. He also uses Connelly for pleasure while his wife is off doing someone else. Connelly is in a great school for the arts but everything goes quickly downhill for Connelly and she knows it is time to get out of there. This time she is older and doesn't wait for child protective services to come and take her away she takes off on her own and tries to find Eric her brother.
After everything that happens to Connelly I was really surprised to see her so trusting and naive. This book was an emotional read but also an eye opener to the abuse and life that some children in our world live through. This book started off a bit slow but picked up and flowed really well after all the way to the end. I look forward to reading book three and finding out how this trilogy will end. I was really sad to see how Eric had turned out and how the author wrote the brief scenes with the siblings. The again if they had found each other and it was happy ever after then we wouldn't have a book three.
I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.
February 23, 2019
SO MANY EMOTIONS. It was much better than the first book.
I give this a solid 4/5 stars. Unlike the first book where Connelly's life seems to get worse and worse, this book is a roller coaster. I have to admit that the first 50 pages or so were pretty slow. But the book completely picked up after that, when just as her life is coming together as a promising art student, her new dynamic changes, and Connelly makes a complete life changing decision to run away. The consequences of this are so scary and intense. By the last sentence, I had tears in my eyes.
James Snyder shows how easy it is for someone to go off the deep end - with good intentions. How life can go from bedroom suites and private art schools, hardcore drugs and abuse all in the course of 3 years.
I really don't know what more to say about this, other than don't give up because the first 50 pages are slower - it picks up after that AND YOU DON'T WANT TO REGRET MISSING IT.
And I just have to mention the first paragraph of page 53 - OMG.JUST OMG.
I give this a solid 4/5 stars. Unlike the first book where Connelly's life seems to get worse and worse, this book is a roller coaster. I have to admit that the first 50 pages or so were pretty slow. But the book completely picked up after that, when just as her life is coming together as a promising art student, her new dynamic changes, and Connelly makes a complete life changing decision to run away. The consequences of this are so scary and intense. By the last sentence, I had tears in my eyes.
James Snyder shows how easy it is for someone to go off the deep end - with good intentions. How life can go from bedroom suites and private art schools, hardcore drugs and abuse all in the course of 3 years.
I really don't know what more to say about this, other than don't give up because the first 50 pages are slower - it picks up after that AND YOU DON'T WANT TO REGRET MISSING IT.
And I just have to mention the first paragraph of page 53 - OMG.JUST OMG.
July 11, 2014
Part 2 of this trilogy was much better than I expected. After reading the first book, I wasn't totally enthralled, but it was still a good story. Having said this though, I think these two books should have been combined in to one. I think book 1 was too short and would have segued easily in to book 2. (Not a criticism, just a personal opinion.)
While the subject matter is sad and depressing, it brings to light just how convoluted and dysfunctional our child protective services are, and how much the least of these (the children themselves) suffer because of our failure as a society, and how the burden often winds up placed squarely on their shoulders to "swim or sink." Unfortunately, these children often sink, and most people don't even notice.
Strangely, the only reason I began reading this series is because I won book #2 in a contest here on Goodreads. I'm glad I did! I now have a new author I enjoy and plan to read more of his books.
While the subject matter is sad and depressing, it brings to light just how convoluted and dysfunctional our child protective services are, and how much the least of these (the children themselves) suffer because of our failure as a society, and how the burden often winds up placed squarely on their shoulders to "swim or sink." Unfortunately, these children often sink, and most people don't even notice.
Strangely, the only reason I began reading this series is because I won book #2 in a contest here on Goodreads. I'm glad I did! I now have a new author I enjoy and plan to read more of his books.
March 29, 2015
A fairly decent read. I would recommend it to someone with a warning: although the story line is interesting, I felt a certain disconnect from Connelly. There was very little emotional attachment to the character, even though she is going through highly emotional sitations. I didn't find myself rooting for or against any one character. Give this book a chance, it's a little slow, but good. It gives a look into the downside of the child welfare system and the negative effects it can have on someone that gets lost within it's depths.
October 24, 2014
(Read using Kindle Unlimited)
There’s nothing wrong with this book, it’s just not my kind of story. I borrowed the trilogy from Kindle Unlimited so my OCD is preventing me from not finishing this now.
Connelly continued to have a rough time in this book, ending up living on the streets Her life literally goes from bad to worse.
6 out of 10
There’s nothing wrong with this book, it’s just not my kind of story. I borrowed the trilogy from Kindle Unlimited so my OCD is preventing me from not finishing this now.
Connelly continued to have a rough time in this book, ending up living on the streets Her life literally goes from bad to worse.
6 out of 10
January 17, 2015
Poor Connelly. Life is definitely not east for her and system definitely failed her. This book was heartbreaking and knowing this situation happens in real life makes it even more heartbreaking. There were a few occasions I was hopeful life would be better for her, but it wasn't. James does a wonderful job capturing all the emotions Connelly is feeling throughout this book.
December 29, 2015
***RECEIVED FROM GOODREADS GIVEAWAY***
Oh this poor girl! I just want things to be good for her, an orphan from 6 she's split from her brother and put into a system where she's bounced around from awful family to awful family, used, abused and abandoned over and over. I'm going to pick the third book up now and I pray that she gets her happy ending. A good read, not for the faint hearted!
Oh this poor girl! I just want things to be good for her, an orphan from 6 she's split from her brother and put into a system where she's bounced around from awful family to awful family, used, abused and abandoned over and over. I'm going to pick the third book up now and I pray that she gets her happy ending. A good read, not for the faint hearted!
June 22, 2014
First of all thank you to goodreads and the author for a copy of this book. I have to say that it is not the type of book I would normally choose for myself, but well done, I could not put the book down!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews