Review: Rosebush

By: Michele Jaffe
Published: December 2010 by Razorbill
Format: Hardback, 472 pages
First Reviewed: March 2011
Buy: Barnes & Noble//Books-A-Million//Amazon//Book Depository
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Jane's night was a killer.

Instead of celebrating Memorial Day weekend on the Jersey Shore, Jane is in the hospital surrounded by teddy bears, trying to piece together what happened last night. One minute she was at a party, wearing fairy wings and cuddling with her boyfriend. The next, she was lying near-dead in a rosebush after a hit-and-run.
Everyone believes it was an accident, despite the phone threats Jane swears were real. But the truth is a thorny thing. As Jane’s boyfriend, friends, and admirers come to visit, more memories surface–not just from the party, but from deeper in her past . . . including the night her best friend Bonnie died.
With nearly everyone in her life a suspect now, Jane must unravel the mystery before her killer attacks again. Along the way, she’s forced to examine the consequences of her life choices in this compulsively readable thriller.

Rating: 1/5

In the bookstore: Ooo, cool cover. Ooo, a "murder" mystery. Ooo, it sounds good. I'm gettin' it because it has to be good.
...
...
-_-
First chapters: What is this? You have one minute, Ms. Jaffe, before I throw this book across the room.
It's safe to say that this did not live up to my expectations at all. At all.

Setting? Cliche. Overly done preppy NYC area. Nothing much to say about it.

Characters? Cliche. Overly done preppy popular people. Nothing much to say about them.

No, seriously, I couldn't stand the characters, to be honest. They were the traditional popular trio. Like in Mean Girls, but without the awesomeness (that movie is the bomb and Langley is no Regina George). There was nothing new brought to any of them. And all I got from them was their descriptions a million times and their dull, overly done personalities that don't exist in the real world. I couldn't have cared less about Jane. She bored me and was done right stupid at times. Which leads me to the writing.

Sigh. Okay, Jaffe had some nice prose in there, but when it comes to scenes and realism, she didn't do too well. There were so many inconsistencies in this book and she focused on things that didn't matter too much. Overly described people, but never went into emotional feelings too much. Sure, the character would cry, but it was just...dull. Also, the writing wasn't anything new, which I guess matches the rest of the book. But what I mean is, it was the typical type of writing that I see everywhere, as though she came straight from a writing site. Some choppy places, some nice places, some good dialogue, some "narrative-y" dialogue. It just wasn't up to publishing par, if you ask me.

Could have been great, if it weren't for: Cliche. Overly done "almost-murder" mystery. It was predictable, boring, and just like all the movies and other books. I mean, come on. Be original. When I read the description and the back of the book, it seemed so different from that, like someone was finally going to put a spin on it. I will admit that I was playing the "who done it?" through to the end, but sadly I was let down when I was right from the beginning. Also, the plot was all over the place, I thought. I realize that everything that was written about/flashbacked to, was on purpose, but many times it just seemed to come out of nowhere, like Jaffe just needed that scene to go there so she'll just throw it riiigghhtt...here. There were a couple of good, interesting parts, but then it would just go back to boring me.

So much potential, but it fell flat on its face, though maybe it was run over by the crazy person. It was okay at times, but it's just overly cliche. If you want to try it, I'd check it out at the library first, so read some at the bookstore. If I had, I wouldn't have bought it.