Friday, June 17, 2011

Aurora Undefined - Kate Hinderer - Blog Tour Review

Aurora is entering her senior year and everything around her seems to be falling apart. Her best friend has joined the cool crowd and she struggles to grapple with the loss. But when tragedy strikes, Aurora realizes what loss is really all about and how moving on becomes a fight of the will, mind and heart.

Title: Aurora Undefined
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publication Date: March 10, 2011
Format: E-book
Source: Received from author courtesy of Teen Book Scene. Many thanks goes to Kate Hinderer and Teen Book Scene for sending me a copy of this book for review. I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review. 
Blog Tour: Teen Book Scene. You can follow along with the tour here, or by clicking through the banner located below the review. 
Look for it: Amazon
My rating: 3.5/5

Aurora is devastated by the sudden loss of her best friend of three years when Allie drops her for the popular crowd. What she doesn't realize is that her year is about to get a lot worse. When tragedy strikes, she will have to learn what it means to to carry on, and live when everything is crumbling down around her. 
Aurora is a complex character. At first, I had a hard time understanding her, and didn't really connect with her, but then, she reaches a turning point that sheds light on her personality. Certain incidents bring about a sense of overwhelming loss, to the point that Aurora is adrift in a raging sea unable to reach shore. With the help of her long time friend, Hudson, she finds her way back to a sense of normalcy but the defining question is will she be able to continue on her path, and will she be able to move on, every day. 
Hudson is an awesome character. I absolutely loved him, and there was a part in the read that I completely enjoyed how he just lost it on Aurora. I wanted to just hit her over the head to say look at what he's saying, what he's really saying, because she didn't catch on for quite a while. Regardless, he made the book for me. I found him such an endearing and heartwarming character. 
The plot was pretty good as well, though it doesn't really pick up until almost halfway through the book. Once it gets going though, it became a more entrancing read, and I became more invested in it. I found the emotions, particularly towards the middle of the book, spot on, and things started reeling me in at that point. 
All in all, a heartbreaking, and heartwarming read about the tragedies that threaten to overcome us, and how we deal with said tragedies. This is a sad read, and although it's not a favourite read, it is still a good one. The only thing that put me off at first was Aurora's character, but her growth does make up for it in the end. 

No comments: