When Grace thinks she has found her mother's killer, she decides to follow him. She overhears Dominic and the Prime Minister talking about killing again. She follows Dominic. Only to get kidnapped for her safety. She escapes and faces the Prime Minister. Grace finds out that she shot her mom, and the Prime Minister is shot.(56)
ANALYSIS In the beginning of the story is when Grace starts to have flashbacks or memories. When Grace goes around Adria she always has memories of what her and her mom did when she was little. When she has these memory flashes she always ends up remembering the time when her mom was murdered. That is the biggest problem in the story. When she first moves in with her Grandfather she moved into her mothers room. “I think there has been some kind of mistake… This is my mom’s room… The signs are everywhere.”(10) She remembers all of the things that happened in that room, like “Gracie, honey, can you zip me?”(12) . Every time Grace has a flashback it reminds her that her mother isn’t here anymore. But sometimes people talk about events with the family and she has no recollection of it because she was too young to remember. When she met Princess Ann, Ann said “We all went to the beach one day. You and your brother rode the carousel. Your mother and I lay on blankets and laughed for hours. It was a happy day.”(95) “It was an accident. There was no scarred man. You have no idea what you really saw.”(111) Her family continues to try and convince her of this but she won’t let it go. Grace had a traumatic experience seeing her mom killed in front of her. She escapes and is confronted by Dominic, Grace doesn’t trust him. The whole time Dominic is trying to help Grace remember that she killed her mother. Dominic says “You really don’t remember, do you?.. The night that I got this. He points to his scar…Think! They spent years filling your head with lies… You can’t quite remember can you?”(295, 296)The Prime Minister shows up and Grace doesn’t know that he was the one who ordered the kill on her mother. “I fire the gun once. Twice. I keep shooting until the gun won’t fire anymore.”(302) In the action Ms. Chancellor shoots the Prime Minister to rescue Grace. After the incident a doctor comes to see Grace’s condition.“How do you feel? The doctor asks… I shot my mother. I say the words that have been haunting me for days. But longer than that, really. Years.”(303, 304) She finally realized that it wasn’t Dominic it was her and Grace was able to be ok after.(404)
OPINION When I had first read this book, it was kind of sad to think that a 13 year old girl could go through that experience alone. I also feel heart broken when no one believes that she saw her mom die. And how everyone is telling her she died in the fire not shot in the chest. I like how she asked her friends and her friends had her back. I also liked how realistic the friendship was. They got along but they had problems as well. This really was a pretty realistic book. The details made me feel as though I was actually going along with the group. This story had its had me wondering what was going to happen next. When Grace remembered killing her mom I was just as shocked as she was. This book can help teens realize that everyone’s life is not going to be perfect. Everyone goes through the motions of life with fun times, and hard times. I really do enjoy reading this book and i think other teens would like it as well.(181)
When Grace thinks she has found her mother's killer, she decides to follow him. She overhears Dominic and the Prime Minister talking about killing again. She follows Dominic. Only to get kidnapped for her safety. She escapes and faces the Prime Minister. Grace finds out that she shot her mom, and the Prime Minister is shot.(56)
ANALYSIS
In the beginning of the story is when Grace starts to have flashbacks or memories. When Grace goes around Adria she always has memories of what her and her mom did when she was little. When she has these memory flashes she always ends up remembering the time when her mom was murdered. That is the biggest problem in the story. When she first moves in with her Grandfather she moved into her mothers room. “I think there has been some kind of mistake… This is my mom’s room… The signs are everywhere.”(10) She remembers all of the things that happened in that room, like “Gracie, honey, can you zip me?”(12) . Every time Grace has a flashback it reminds her that her mother isn’t here anymore. But sometimes people talk about events with the family and she has no recollection of it because she was too young to remember. When she met Princess Ann, Ann said “We all went to the beach one day. You and your brother rode the carousel. Your mother and I lay on blankets and laughed for hours. It was a happy day.”(95) “It was an accident. There was no scarred man. You have no idea what you really saw.”(111) Her family continues to try and convince her of this but she won’t let it go. Grace had a traumatic experience seeing her mom killed in front of her. She escapes and is confronted by Dominic, Grace doesn’t trust him. The whole time Dominic is trying to help Grace remember that she killed her mother. Dominic says “You really don’t remember, do you?.. The night that I got this. He points to his scar…Think! They spent years filling your head with lies… You can’t quite remember can you?”(295, 296)The Prime Minister shows up and Grace doesn’t know that he was the one who ordered the kill on her mother. “I fire the gun once. Twice. I keep shooting until the gun won’t fire anymore.”(302) In the action Ms. Chancellor shoots the Prime Minister to rescue Grace. After the incident a doctor comes to see Grace’s condition.“How do you feel? The doctor asks… I shot my mother. I say the words that have been haunting me for days. But longer than that, really. Years.”(303, 304) She finally realized that it wasn’t Dominic it was her and Grace was able to be ok after.(404)
OPINION
When I had first read this book, it was kind of sad to think that a 13 year old girl could go through that experience alone. I also feel heart broken when no one believes that she saw her mom die. And how everyone is telling her she died in the fire not shot in the chest. I like how she asked her friends and her friends had her back. I also liked how realistic the friendship was. They got along but they had problems as well. This really was a pretty realistic book. The details made me feel as though I was actually going along with the group. This story had its had me wondering what was going to happen next. When Grace remembered killing her mom I was just as shocked as she was. This book can help teens realize that everyone’s life is not going to be perfect. Everyone goes through the motions of life with fun times, and hard times. I really do enjoy reading this book and i think other teens would like it as well.(181)