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    Beautiful Malice: A Novel
    Beautiful Malice: A Novel
    Beautiful Malice: A Novel
    Audiobook7 hours

    Beautiful Malice: A Novel

    Written by Rebecca James

    Narrated by Justine Eyre

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Who is Katherine Patterson? It is a question she hopes no one can answer. To erase her past, Katherine has moved to a new city, enrolled in a new school, and even changed her name. She's done the next best thing to disappearing altogether. Now, wary and alone, she seeks nothing more than anonymity. What she finds instead is the last thing she expected: a friend.

    Even more unlikely, Katherine's new friend is the most popular and magnetic girl in school. Extroverted, gorgeous, flirtatious, and unpredictable, she is everything that Katherine is not and doesn't want to be: the center of attention. Yet Alice's enthusiasm is infectious, her candor sometimes unsettling, and Katherine, in spite of her guarded caution, finds herself drawn into Alice's private circle.

    But Alice has secrets, too-darker than anyone can begin to imagine. And when she lets her guard down at last, Katherine discovers the darkest of them all. For there will be no escaping the past for Katherine Patterson-only a descent into a trap far more sinister...and infinitely more seductive.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJul 20, 2010
    ISBN9781400188154
    Beautiful Malice: A Novel
    Author

    Rebecca James

    Rebecca James worked in publishing for several years before leaving to write full-time, and is now the author of several novels written under a pseudonym, as well as The Woman in the Mirror under her own name. Her favorite things are autumn walks, Argentinean red wine and curling up in the winter with a good old-fashioned ghost story. She lives in Bristol with her husband and two daughters.

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    Reviews for Beautiful Malice

    3.5/5

    200 ratings54 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Beautiful Malice was written by Australian author Rebecca James, and it caused an international sensation that The Wall Street Journal referred to as a 'publishing phenomenon'.I was surprised to learn this is her first novel and that it sparked a significant bidding war, eventually being published in 2010. Despite all of the buzz and hype surrounding this Young Adult novel, I was pleased to discover that it's a terrific read.Beautiful Malice is narrated by 17 year old Katherine, who has started at a new school after the murder of her sister and the subsequent media attention the family endured after the crime. Katherine is soon befriended by the charming and popular Alice, who instantly becomes a close friend, as does her on-again off-again boyfriend Robbie.The book focusses on the growing friendship between the three friends and the increasingly disturbing behaviour displayed by Alice. Meanwhile we slowly learn more about Katherine's past and what actually happened the night her sister died.I believe the blurb reveals way too much information about the characters, and I would have preferred much less so I could have been more surprised as events unfolded. I'm happy to admit the characters of Katherine and Alice completely lured me in, and I stayed up until the early hours of the morning to finish it, which earns the novel an extra star from me.I would recommend Beautiful Malice to readers who enjoy Young Adult fiction, or an easy thriller without the blood and gore so reminiscent of the current crime genre.
    • 2/5
      I was vastly under whelmed with this debut by a new young adult author. Typically, I can finish a YA book over the course of a normal day or two but this was one that I could only plug away at it a little at a time. Ultimately, I think it took me over a week to finally finish. Beautiful Malice is the story of Katherine Patterson, a girl who changes her home, her school, and her name to escape from a grisly past. At her new school she is introduced to Alice, an enigma of a girl with the ability to snare anyone in her charm. Quite possibly the most prevalent thing that turned me off of this book was the author’s inability to SHOW rather than TELL. This is a concept that is pounded into the head of every writer. It’s the first piece of advice that they’ll give in any creative writing class. Open a story-telling how-to book and you’ll probably find an entire chapter dedicated to this spiffy little rule. SHOW DON’T TELL. SHOW DON’T TELL. If you open to the first few chapters of Beautiful Malice you will see Katherine describe Alice as popular, charming, and charismatic. Do you see the problem with that sentence? KATHERINE tells us. And we’re expected to take it for granted that Katherine’s opinion is the universal. Unfortunately, we never actually see Alice interact with anyone outside of Katherine and Robbie for most of the first half of the novel. You know how you show instead of tell in a situation like this? Have Alice interact with someone from school, someone from town, a friend, a stranger, anyone outside of the influence of the narrator’s perspective. Let her charisma and charm speak for itself through the way she acts and the way the other person reacts to her. And I never quite saw her popularity within the pages of the book. Other than a passing mention of a birthday party, Alice doesn’t seem to have any friends outside of Robbie and Katherine. Unfortunately, this sort of character development mistake pervades the book. Robbie is a nice guy who is head over heels in love with Alice. Why, we ask. Well, he simply is. No further explanation needed. Rachel is a genius and prodigy. Other than the fact that she is a brilliant piano player—which is pounded into our heads, just to remind us of her brilliance—there is nothing distinguishing about her. Mick—don’t even get me started on Mick. Because of this, character development suffers. And there were many characters that I felt weren’t portrayed all that realistically in the first place. Prominent among these is the mother. I know people have different ways of coping with trauma but I can’t honestly imagine a mother who would react the way the mother did in this book. I don’t want to go into details since I don’t want to spoil. Anyone wishing to discuss at length is welcome to message me. Fortunately, this problem improves in the second part of the book on Alice’s part. I don’t want to spoil, but Alice thankfully becomes more self-evident rather than a redundant narrative. Another thing that bothered me was the contrived, clunky dialogue. It sounded like it was trying too hard to be fluid and realistic at the same time and it failed on both accounts. Here’s an example of what I mean: “’My mom loves this song,’ Alice tells us. ‘You should see her dance, Katherine. She’s unbelievable. She looks like some kind of movie star. She just looks so amazingly beautiful when she dances.’” This is from the first few chapters. No, it is not an isolated incident. This is really a perfect representation of the dialogue that occurs throughout the book. Some is better. Some is worse. This is just one I found turning to a random page. The last thing I want to complain about sort of goes hand-in-hand with my showing rather than telling complaint. This book is very exposition heavy. Not only does it like to skim over characterization, it likes to skim over events and give us just a brief run-down of the important bits rather than creating an actual atmosphere. I never got a feel for any of the places that were mentioned. I never felt the emotions connected to each dramatic event. I was completely unable to sympathize and this, for me, is a problem. How about this for an example: falling in love. It’s something addressed in the greater portion of teen novels out there. Wouldn’t you say that the development from “stranger” into “Prince Charming, love of my life” should take more than a few scant chapters? Not here it didn’t. And the last thing that bothered me was the climax. It was abrupt, maybe a little more than half a page and it failed to illicit any emotion whatsoever. For the record, the second part is marginally better than the first. At the very least I found myself able to sit down and read it rather than putting it down and picking it up. The chest-gripping climax, though, fell flat. I think that this could have been an excellent read with the proper execution. I don’t always feel good about ripping a work apart—in fact, a part of me feel quite terrible about it—but I am a firm believer in the idea that a good dose of healthy criticism only improves one in the end. Not that I expect the author herself to read this review, but on the off chance that she does, maybe she will take some of the things I’ve listed into consideration. I would love to read her next book and be pleasantly surprised.
    • 3/5
      Traurig, mitfühlend, herzzerreißend.
    • 4/5
      Katherine Patterson has changed her name and moved cities. She is trying to start a new life at a new school to escape from the media, her guilt and her parent’s despair after the murder of her younger sister Rachel. After keeping her head down for a while she is befriended by the narcissistic and popular Alice. As the friendship develops it becomes clear that Alice is unpredictable and has sociopathic tendencies, but Katherine keeps forgiving her and shrugging off what she sees. The story jumps from the present into the past and the circumstances surrounding Rachel’s rape and murder. Katherine eventually finds love and a semblance of peace, but Alice’s behaviour becomes increasingly more vindictive. Just what is Alice’s ulterior motive and will Katherine fall into her trap? This is a psychological thriller probing the depths of despair, betrayal and revenge. Haunting.
    • 4/5
      It was an okay book. There were high and low points, but most of the time I felt like I was coasting. Ms. James described what was happening rather than telling and engaging the reader. The chapters alternate between three important times in Katherine's life: the night of her sister's death, Katherine after meeting Alice, and Katherine in present day. It starts out with Katherine just trying to make it through high school. Her sister passed away and her parents have tuned out. She moves in with her aunt and starts her life over. Then she meets Alice. Alice is the complete opposite of Katherine: outgoing, exciting, unpredictable. Through Alice, Katherine makes new friends, and even gets a boyfriend. Katherine hasn't been this happy in months. But Alice has a few secrets of her own...secrets that could upset their relationship. How well does Katherine really know Alice?
    • 4/5
      This was a good debut from an author that I will definitely keep an eye out for. The story centers around Katherine who has suffered a great loss. She meets Alice at her new school and instantly befriends her. Alice isn't all that she seems at first and Katherine soon learns that their friendship may be a mistake. Overall this book is fast-paced and very well written. I certainly didn't want to put it down the whole way through. If you're looking for some dark mystery and an emotional rollercoaster, this is the book for you.
    • 3/5
      Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James is a psychological thriller in all senses of the word. It took me about 50 pages or so to get into the novel. That may be because the first few chapters are setting the stage and building a little bit of suspense. I found myself engrossed in the story though and read it through, with little interruption, in one day.Ultimately, I think the character depictions and the storyline somewhat predictable. Despite this, the book eventually draws you in and keeps you there until the end.This book was an ARC I received and it had plenty of typo errors which I hope will be corrected by the time this is for sale.
    • 4/5
      It was an okay book. There were high and low points, but most of the time I felt like I was coasting. Ms. James described what was happening rather than telling and engaging the reader. The chapters alternate between three important times in Katherine's life: the night of her sister's death, Katherine after meeting Alice, and Katherine in present day. It starts out with Katherine just trying to make it through high school. Her sister passed away and her parents have tuned out. She moves in with her aunt and starts her life over. Then she meets Alice. Alice is the complete opposite of Katherine: outgoing, exciting, unpredictable. Through Alice, Katherine makes new friends, and even gets a boyfriend. Katherine hasn't been this happy in months. But Alice has a few secrets of her own...secrets that could upset their relationship. How well does Katherine really know Alice?
    • 3/5
      For some odd unknown reason, I keep picking up these heart-wrenching, engaging and emotionally charged novels that leave my sobbing, clutching a pot of ice cream and wondering why the world hates me so much.

      After the murder of her sister, Katherine Patterson moves in with her aunt Vivien, far away from her family and childhood home. She meets the charming, beguiling, eccentric Alice and immediately things begin to go back to normal for Katherine. She feels alive, wanted and loved. But little did she know that things were going to get bad very, very soon.

      Just the blurb had me grasping for more, and within two pages I was completely entranced, so much so that I began reading this book at 6:30 this morning (2/1/2014) and finished it this evening at 19:30 (2/1/2014). Yep. After 13 hours, far too many coffees and cigarettes, torn up tissues and ugly sobs, I am proud to say I finished it.

      Although it might not appeal to everyone, I definitely recommend it to everyone. The unbelievable twists, the agonising cruelty of the world through the eyes of a seventeen year old and a life full of obstacles that seem impossible to overcome, you live and breathe the story just like Katherine does. You feel, you cry and laugh along with her and yeah, sometimes you get angry, annoyed maybe even violent towards those who cause her pain, and yeah at the end you're left empty and emotionless like you might feel after a crazily emotional ride, but it's worth it. The tubs of ice cream, hysteria inducing coffees and boxes of tissues are WORTH IT.

      So please, even if you think or know you won't like it, give it a shot.

      Because chances are, you're wrong.
    • 4/5
      I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this one. I really enjoyed it, for the most part. The characters were good, the story was unique, and I found it rather difficult to put down. I think the main problem was that we already knew what happened. We're told at the start that her sister died, that Alice turns out to be cruel, that she has a daughter. So the rest of the book is just filling in the finer details. It was well written though and quite compelling. It's different, thought provoking, and really makes you question what you'd do if you were in Katherine's shoes.
    • 4/5
      I read this fast-paced if sometimes predictable young adult thriller in two days. Even if you can see some of the plot twists from around the corner, you can't help rooting for Katherine, the book's heroine, as she struggles with demons from her past and confronts an unexpected and at-first-unrecognized enemy in the new life she tries to build for herself.On a rather unimportant note, I do have to say I have no idea whether this book takes place in Australia or the US. There are signs that point at both but no location is ever outright named. I'm guessing the Australian author wanted to keep the location vague to make it more appealing to readers from different places, but I was plain confused in a couple of spots in the book. It really doesn't affect the story as a whole, but it still bothered me.
    • 4/5
      Katherine Patterson has changed her name and moved cities. She is trying to start a new life at a new school to escape from the media, her guilt and her parent’s despair after the murder of her younger sister Rachel. After keeping her head down for a while she is befriended by the narcissistic and popular Alice. As the friendship develops it becomes clear that Alice is unpredictable and has sociopathic tendencies, but Katherine keeps forgiving her and shrugging off what she sees. The story jumps from the present into the past and the circumstances surrounding Rachel’s rape and murder. Katherine eventually finds love and a semblance of peace, but Alice’s behaviour becomes increasingly more vindictive. Just what is Alice’s ulterior motive and will Katherine fall into her trap? This is a psychological thriller probing the depths of despair, betrayal and revenge. Haunting.
    • 3/5
      Won through First Reads! Looking forward to receiving it! Woohoo arrived today!Finally carved out some time to read Beautiful Malice. There was a lot to like in this novel - the premise is interesting and the language is accessible. There has been thought put into the motivations of the characters and the slow reveal of Katherine's tragedy was effective. It's an easy read - took me less than two hours.Though not specifically stated I feel this novel is written for a mature (15 ) YA audience. The protagonists are in their late teens, and their behaviour reflects that. The characters are not as well developed as they could be, there was little for them to push against to learn more about them outside their own relationships. The lack of adult/parental supervision stretches credibility a little seeming more convenient than necessary. I liked Katherine, I can understand her desire to cling to Alice's friendship, and her reluctance, once things got out of hand, to look for help from the adults in her life. Alice was a little too predictable, I would have liked her disintergration to be a bit more subtle.I am not sure that the shifts between past, present and future worked for me either, it interupted the flow and tension to move forward and then be able to predict how things turn out.I've gone with three stars though 2 and a half would be more accurate. Still a decent debut novel, James is an author with potential.
    • 3/5
      This psychological thriller follows a grieving teenager who falls under the spell of a charismatic friend. Alice seems to be just the friend Katherine Patterson needs, but it quickly becomes clear that Alice has a dark side. Filled with grief since her sister's murder, Katherine moves to a new school and avoids others, until the beautiful and popular Alice befriends her. The two become fast friends, but Alice quickly shows her dark and unpleasant tendencies. People are captivated by Alice's beauty and charm, but she treats others terribly as mood strikes her. It is not entirely clear what is wrong with Alice, but by the time Katherine recognizes this it may be too late to escape Alice's clutches. The story is told in the past, present, and future, as the reader learns what happened to Katherine's sister, they also see her grown up, with a daughter. James does a decent job of building suspense throughout the book. That said, there were certain nagging issues that bothered me. I couldn't tell exactly where the book was set. James is an Australian author, though this was billed as her US debut. It was never entirely clear to me if the book was set in the US or Australia. I also found the amount of freedom afforded these teenagers completely unbelievable. Katherine's parents are supposedly overprotective, though they let her live in a distant city with no supervision. Both Alice and Katherine live on their own and seem to have plenty of money and ample tie to do whatever they want. This simply didn't seem plausible, and I found these things distracting. The final analysis- this is a good enough story, though nothing spectacular.
    • 5/5
      This was a very intriguing book, i really enjoyed it and would recommend it for any girl :)
    • 5/5
      Beautiful Malice is an amazing book about of a girl named Katherine and her new friend Alice. The book shows how Alice ruins Katherine's life and leaves permanent scars. This is grabs your attention from the very beginning and never lets you down. If I had to describe this book in three words, it would be twisted, exciting and non-stop.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful Malice was one of the most amazing, interesting, and exciting books I've ever read!From the very start this book was great.I would recomend it to anyone who wants to read a great thriller, it can be sad at times but mostly it is exciting and a little scary.This book gets 5 stars from me so READ IT!!
    • 5/5
      THIS IS THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ!!! It had a fantastic pace of events, and the events were interesting and captured me fully. It was easy to understand and not complicated. Not one part was boring and the author potrayed the characters very well. It took me no longer than a week to finish this book because it was so capturing and i couldnt stop.
    • 3/5
      The premise is disturbing but with potential to move the audience : a teenager takes her younger sister to a party and doesn't supervise her well enough, resulting in her rape and murder. The story of Katherine (reinvented as she can no longer face being Katie) moving to a big city for a new life at a new school to finish out high school and recreate herself after the tragedy, ultimately isn't moving. The writing comes across as stiff and preachy.
    • 5/5
      It's funny how often books surprise me by being completely different from what I expect. I anticipated unrelieved grimness and ugliness, and what I got was life, sensitivity, optimism and energy as well as pain. When the fateful car ride was described it was so powerful that I strongly did not want to be in that car with Katie, and yet it wasn't morbid or macabre.I was also fascinated by the exploration of the theme of responsibility. Because, I found uncomfortably, that I wondered about Katie's level of accountability. Okay, she was only 15 years old, but she was incredibly naive and immature. Date rape was completely unheard of when I was at school (the kind with drugs at least) but no way would I ever have gotten into a car with strange guys, especially ones that looked like they'd been drinking and were unworried that my 13 year old sister was drinking. I'd have been worried about an accident at the very least and would also have instinctively preferred to spend the money on a taxi than risk a ride with strange teenage boys, especially if I actually knew someone I trusted at the party. Also, how can anyone not know the pregnancy / STI risk factor involved in the withdrawal method? She seems to display a surprising lack of awareness of action and consequence for a girl her age. And yet, she is so lovely and so sincere that I feel uncomfortable even in posing the questions. I found that I was questioning my own reactions at least as much as I was questioning her, and that added a fascinating element to the whole story.I look forward to reading more of Rebecca James.
    • 4/5
      The premise: ganked from BN.com: Who is Katherine Patterson? It is a question she hopes no one can answer. To erase her past, Katherine has moved to a new city, enrolled in a new school, and even changed her name. She’s done the next best thing to disappearing altogether. Now, wary and alone, she seeks nothing more than anonymity. What she finds instead is the last thing she expected: a friend.Even more unlikely, Katherine’s new friend is the most popular and magnetic girl in school. Extroverted, gorgeous, flirtatious, and unpredictable, she is everything that Katherine is not and doesn’t want to be: the center of attention. Yet Alice’s enthusiasm is infectious, her candor sometimes unsettling, and Katherine, in spite of her guarded caution, finds herself drawn into Alice’s private circle.But Alice has secrets, too--darker than anyone can begin to imagine. And when she lets her guard down at last, Katherine discovers the darkest of them all. For there will be no escaping the past for Katherine Patterson--only a descent into a trap far more sinister . . . and infinitely more seductive. My RatingFind a Cheaper Copy: it's a good, suspenseful read, and it's also quite dark and violent in some regards, which is praise in my book, not a detriment. Beautiful Malice is almost "worth the cash," but I kept wondering how I would've felt about paying hardcover prices for it instead of reading the ARC. I'm quite pleased with my experience reading the ARC (short of its typos and errors) but I'm thinking I would've wanted to find this book cheaper than at full hardcover prices, if not in some kind of paperback format. Still, it's a suspenseful read that has you guessing from the start, because you know something horrible will happen, and from that point on, your imagination starts running away with you. I know I took a day-long break from the book when I reached the chapter where we learned what really happened to the narrator's sister, because I knew I wasn't ready to handle the truth, even though by that point, I already knew what would happen to her. I just didn't want to confirm it by reading it. At any rate, it's a good read. Just not sure it's worth the full price of the hardcover, especially if it has half the number of typos and errors as the ARC. I can't speak to that part though, so it doesn't affect my rating. Review style: There's quite a bit to discuss here, from structure to style to whether or not this thriller makes it easy for you to guess the truth. And horror of all horrors, I will be discussing the ending, so consider yourself SPOILED. So unless you want to remain spoiler-free, feel free to click the link below to my LJ for the full review. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome!REVIEW: Rebecca James's BEAUTIFUL MALICEHappy Reading!
    • 2/5
      As originally posted on my blog Ticket to AnywhereWhere to start...There were just so many things about Beautiful Malice that did not work for me. First lets start with the setting. For the most part the setting is unclear, ambiguous but then the main characters all go for this weekend holiday in a town located in New South Wales, Australia. I was like...yes...finally a clear setting and one that makes the language of the book make sense. Australians just have a slightly different way of speaking than Americans - the cadences of words are just different. But then when the gang meets up with Ben - the author makes a point to say that he was Australian and that one reason why Alice dated him was for his accent. That just baffled me as by this point I thought they were all Australian. Then a few pages later Ben is telling a story and mentions when he first came to the state....and I just went huh? It didn't make sense since the only place that was ever mentioned was a place location in Australia - and living stateside you don't exactly make a weekend trip to Australia....especially when you're trying to keep things on the cheap.Note: in talking with another blogger who read the Australian version of the book the setting was very clearly stated as Sydney, Australia...so it seems that for whatever reason the American publisher decided to try and remove those references.But moving on...lets talk about sequence and the flow of time. This book has three distinct time periods in them and there is no real rhyme or reason to the authors jumping from one to another. The changes just became this jumbled mess for me which would knock me out of the story. I believe it was done as a way to try to heighten the suspense and make the thrills more thrilling as random bits and pieces of the past, present and future were revealed. But my suspense wasn't heightened the odd changes just annoyed me more than anything else. Especially during those times with the perspective of the book would change. For the bulk of the book the story was told in first person but every so often the I's would change to you's and it never really worked for me.Then there is the plot.The very first line tells you exactly what happens to Alice there is no suspense there. No shock. The story is just so flat and bland and I figured out what all the big reveals where before they were made official. The characters also all came across as flat and one dimensional. Alice was narcissistic and crazy and she appeared so form the start...she then just spirals out of control and it just doesn't ring true. Katherine is a girl trying to escape her past by forgetting it and when things get hard or rough she just turns her back on the darkness and tries to pretend it doesn't exist. This is not healthy behavior and not something that you want to do when the person you are trying to forget is crazy.This book didn't work for me on so many levels and its not one that I can recommend. Beautiful Malice is also a book that is often billed as Young Adult but I don't get the YA vibe from it when I read it. The phrasing and the way the characters speak (in their bad dialogue scenes) is way more adult than teen. What about you...have you read Beautiful Malice? What did you think of it? Let me know if the comments below.As originally posted on my blog Ticket to Anywhere
    • 2/5
      ***Full disclosure: This book was provided for free by Harper Collins at their Book Buzz session part of ALA Annual Conference *** "I didn't go to Alice's funeral." This sentence opens the book and captures the reader's attention right away. Who is Alice and why didn't the narrator go to her funeral? After her sister Rachel is raped and killed one night, Katherine moves to a new school and changes her name. She meets Alice one day after school and they become fast friends. Katherine, Alice and Alice's "boyfriend" become close friends and hang out all the time. Even though Alice is dating someone she does not call him her boyfriend. She verbally abuses him and leaves him hanging all the time. Katherine - while attracted to him - sympathizes and ends up becoming close friends with him as well.One night they run into one of Alice's old boyfriends in a bar. Alice ends up alienating the old boyfriends current date. Katherine and this girl run into each other in the bathroom and bond over how rude and possessive Alice can be sometimes. Katherine and her new friend meet up later in the week to see the friend's brother play with his band. Katherine and the brother have an instant connection and end up becoming lovers. Alice becomes jealous and tries to break up Katherine and her boyfriend. No matter how much they ignore her, Alice is determined to mess up Katherine's life. She tells Katherine's parents that she is doing drugs when she isn't. Alice lures Katherine's boyfriend to the beach and fakes drowning so that he jumps in to save her. Alice ends up dying - but so does Katherine's boyfriend even after Katherine - who is 5 months pregnant at the time - tries to save him. Katherine finds out shortly later that Alice's brother was one of the boys that raped her sister and has been in jail this whole time. Everything that Alice has said or done over the past couple of months suddenly makes sense.This book is an interesting look into how teenagers sometimes befriend each other not always in a positive way. The plot seemed very much like Gossip Girl meets General Hospital.
    • 4/5
      I thought this book was well written and hard to put down. The storyline at first seemed predictable, but went in a couple of different directions than I expected, The characters were well developed and likeable (or hateable - Alice). The only part I thought was a unrealistic, were these two teenagers with so much freedom. Especially Katherine, after going through a tragedy. Overall, this book was definitely worth the time to read!
    • 4/5
      I received this as an Early Reviewer book. I thought the storyline sounded intriguing and I usually like psychological thrillers. I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I read this book in two days which is quite a feat for me these days with three kids. The main character, Katherine has suffered through losing her sister in a family tragedy. She is living with her aunt and trying to start over at a new school when she meets Alice, a popular and fun girl. After knowing Alice for a bit, Katherine thinks there is something that seems a bit off about her but dismisses it. As the story unfolds, Alice is not who she seems to be and starts wreaking havoc on Katherine's life just as she starts to move past her sister's death.The author took her time revealing all the secrets of the book and paced it just right to keep the reader moving through the pages. I didn't really guess any of the story before it was revealed to me which I always think is the sign of a good book.The only thing that bothered me is that Katherine seemed to endure one horrible thing after another and that's a bit hard to take. Other than that, I really liked the book.
    • 4/5
      Wow...what can I say? Well, for starters (since I'm not normally at a loss for words), the overall impact of the story was definitely a double-punch...right to the stomach. I mean so much tragedy in such a short amount of time, mind boggling really. I know some readers that had big issues with the story content...I for one can see where they are coming from but my question is what part of it was the most disturbing to them? I mean you have drinking, drugs, violent crimes, mentally unstable individuals...the list goes on and on. It may not be the right book for everyone as in the "let's-escape-to-a-magical-literary-world", but it certainly gives reality a run for it's money. One complaint.....the jumps between past, present were clear, but the future aspect...not so much; otherwise, a good if not dark read whose aim seems to be to impart a message of "never give up". Happy reading....
    • 4/5
      Beautiful Malice was a quick read that kept my attention from the first chapter. I found myself wanting to know Katherine's whole story. The chapters change time periods (among three distinct times in Katherine's life). At first that was a little confusing, but it ended up being a great way to tell her story.Basic summary: Katherine Patterson is a senior in high school. You know she has left her old life behind and moved to a new school where no one knows about her past. She is befriended by the popular and fun-loving Alice. A friendship develops and Robbie, who loves Alice, also joins this friendship. Katherine learns to have fun again after the tragedy in her past, but she cannot bring herself to be honest about her secrets with her new friends. To tell more would be to give it away, but I really enjoyed the book.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. I couldn't put it down from the moment I started it. I can see why some people might not like it: it might seem boring to them. Not to me. This book was all about the characters, and they were great characters.This book is told mostly from seventeen year old Katherine's POV, but there are snippets of her life five years later, as well as her life a year or so earlier. I felt a connection to Katherine. She lost her sister, her parents are still grieving, and the nature of her sisters death causes the media to hound her. She moves in with her aunt and takes a new last name, becomes more reserved, less her old popular self. That's why, when she meets Alice, she welcomes her into her life. Alice is vivacious and loves life, going about it without a care in the world, so much the opposite of Katherine.Oh, Alice, Alice, Alice. Are there really people like you in the world? Yes, and that is a scary thought. Someone that you thought was your friend could be your worst enemy and you don't even know it. Alice wasn't all this book was about though. It was also about Katherine learning to live and love again, moving on with her life. Something that I found interesting was that most of the book is told in first person, but there are two sections told in second person, and it was those two sections that had the most impact on me, that made me gasp in horror or cry even though in both cases I knew what would happen.Basically: I loved this book, though it's certainly not for everyone. If you're a big paranormal fan this probably isn't the book for you, but if you like realistic fiction you might want to give it a shot.
    • 4/5
      Im not sure why I kept putting this ER book aside to delay reading, but I did. After reading this however, I am glad I did. It was an unexpected, inticing read. I thought the characters were well-developed and very interesting. Several times I thought that Katherine was very naive despite the tragedy she had been through and the claim that she had grown up and matured very quickly due to the circumstamces. But I also think that maybe that is part of the draw of Alice. Im not sure but occasionally i found myself saying to Katherine" why dont you see what is happening" or "why are you still friends with her" In the end though I think that the explanation was there. I thought that the delivery of the story was great. The way the author jumped back and forth from present to past and back again created huge questions and intrigue which kept me turning the pages from page 1. I thought the climax of the story hpwever was very anticlimactic. I did not like all the "tie-ups". I thought that the answer to the hows and whys were weak and disappointing after such a big build up. I kind of see the reasons why the author chose to answer things the wasy she did. I think she went for the character development angle instead of the drama angle but I wish that she would have made it worth the suspense. In any case this was well worth the read. Overall it was a great story that was well written and delivered effectively. Well done.
    • 3/5
      This book tells the story of Katherine and her friendship with the beautiful popular Alice. However why does someone like Alice want to be best friends with someone like Katherine. The story changes from the past to the present and we start to see another side to Alice, a darker side, and the reader begins to questions her motives in befriending Katherine.This book was a quick enjoyable read, although lacking somewhat in depth, as the ending was no surprise, and it was quite obvious that Alice had darker motives behind her friendship. This is probably a book for YA, and I look forward to seeing some more books from this author.