[RPR]⋙ Read Gratis Ruined A Novel Paula Morris Books

Ruined A Novel Paula Morris Books

Download As PDF : Ruined A Novel Paula Morris Books

Ruined A Novel Paula Morris Books

Ruined is a very atmospheric and interesting story about ghosts, curses, and the history of New Orleans. Rebecca has just moved in with her aunt, after her father has to travel to China on business. New Orleans couldn't be anymore different than New York, but Rebecca just has to get through the next six months. That might be easier said than done, since she's viewed as an outsider, as she has no direct ties to the old families of the city. Plus, the only friend she has turns out to be a ghost linked to a cursed on the city's most prominent family. How come Rebecca can see Lisette when no one else can? And what happened 155 years ago that keeps the teenage ghost wandering the cemetery?

While Ruined does have a pretty engaging plot involving curses and cover ups, I was more interested in the setting. New Orleans is a fascinating city and we get to see a lot of it as Rebecca explores her new home. It's three years after Hurricane Katrina, so there are still places that need to be rebuilt, but where she's currently living was relatively unharmed. There's also a lot of history, mainly about the balls and parades that dominate the weeks surrounding Mardi Gras. But also about the different immigrants who congregated in this diverse city. I just loved learning all about this! It held my interest much more than the actual plot.

Ruined's plot is a bit predictable. Not much happens at the beginning, as there's just a lot of talk about the city itself and Lisette's history. When more about the curse finally started coming out, I was very interested, but I also guessed part of the twist. There's a lot more to it than I was able to piece together, since there are so many family secrets, and many things have been covered up and twisted over the years. The ending also wasn't surprising, since the curse does play itself out. I like curse/prophecy plots, but often times they do wind up being predictable. That's okay though, since I still enjoyed it.

Ruined was a pretty good ghost story. The setting was definitely the strongest part, since New Orleans is complicated place with lots of history.


Tags : Amazon.com: Ruined: A Novel (9780545042154): Paula Morris: Books,Paula Morris,Ruined: A Novel,Point,0545042151,AZ1367,Horror,Mysteries & Detective Stories,Ghost stories,Ghosts,Haunted places;Louisiana;New Orleans;Fiction.,New Orleans (La.),New Orleans (La.);Fiction.,Teenage girls;Fiction.,Betrayal,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9),Fiction,Haunted places,Horror Ghost Stories (Young Adult),Juvenile Fiction Horror,Juvenile Fiction Love & Romance,Juvenile Fiction Paranormal, Occult & Supernatural,Juvenile FictionHorror,Juvenile FictionLove & Romance,Juvenile FictionMysteries, Espionage, & Detective Stories,Louisiana,Love & Romance,New Orleans,Paranormal,Romance & relationships stories (Children's Teenage),Teenage girls,YOUNG ADULT FICTION,Young Adult Fiction Horror,Young Adult Fiction Mysteries & Detective Stories

Ruined A Novel Paula Morris Books Reviews

Rebecca Brown is a fifteen year-old girl, living in NYC, who is suddenly shipped off by her father to stay with her Aunt Claudia in New Orleans, while he is off to work in China.

Rebecca finds New Orleans to be strange and the girls at her new school to be very stand-offish and cliquey. Though warned away by her aunt, Rebecca is drawn to the nearby Lafayette Cemetery, where she meets a disheveled girl named Lisette. Rebecca finds that everyone around her is keeping secrets and she is determined to find out the truth. Even if it means alienating the very cute and popular Anton Grey, who is part of the privileged group in the Garden District.

I enjoyed this debut YA novel. New Orleans was the perfect locale for a ghost story, set in the Garden District and the backdrop of Carnival and Mardi Gras, old curses and voodoo. Aunt Claudia reads tarot cards and tells fortunes for tourists, but seems to have a real gift. Rebecca doesn't care about fitting in with snobby girls, who care about nothing but debuts and belonging to exclusive societies for the rich. She befriends a ghost and searches for the truth. This was a really good ghost story!

my rating 4/5
One review said "Gosh Darn Good Horror Story", and sadly this wasn't true. This is not a horror story, it's a story about a curse with a ghost. I thought this was a really well developed idea that could have used a few tweaks to have made it a great book.

A brief summery is having Rebecca move to NOLA when her father needs to work in China for six months. He ships her off to a friend, a woman called Aunt Claudia. Aunt Claudia is a fortune teller, a tarot reader, and really isn't a fake. One night Rebecca follows some fellow students into the cemetary and she encounters Lisette, a black girl who we find out is a ghost. When Rebecca holds her hand, she becomes invisible to the human world but is able to see the ghosts of New Orleans. We learn of how Lisette died and we also learn of a curse that linked to her.

There are many pros of this book. The writing is engaging, I actually read this in two days because Ms. Morris brought the world of New Orleans to life. Her descriptions, her authenticity to the surroundings, her attention to historical detail was what made this book. Rebecca is an outsider learning about the life of upper crust NOLA families, and through her eyes we (the reader) also learn.

But there are also a few cons to this book. Ms. Morris didn't really flesh out her characters too much, and many were very one dimensional. The love interest for Rebecca, Anton, was a very wishy-washy person and his motives murky. The bad girl, Helena, very cliched. Rebecca, herself, seems to fluctuate between being a girl who stands on her own two feet and one who wants to be popular. The twist at the end was slightly predictable and slightly eye-rolling.

This book would have benefited from several things...drawing out Rebecca's interest in Habitat for Humanity, fleshing out Anton as an interesting person, making Helena more than a spiteful, hateful girl. Alas, this book does follow the outline on how YA seems to be written, but there was enough originality to make it an enjoyable read. I recommend this book, even buying it new.
Ruined is a very atmospheric and interesting story about ghosts, curses, and the history of New Orleans. Rebecca has just moved in with her aunt, after her father has to travel to China on business. New Orleans couldn't be anymore different than New York, but Rebecca just has to get through the next six months. That might be easier said than done, since she's viewed as an outsider, as she has no direct ties to the old families of the city. Plus, the only friend she has turns out to be a ghost linked to a cursed on the city's most prominent family. How come Rebecca can see Lisette when no one else can? And what happened 155 years ago that keeps the teenage ghost wandering the cemetery?

While Ruined does have a pretty engaging plot involving curses and cover ups, I was more interested in the setting. New Orleans is a fascinating city and we get to see a lot of it as Rebecca explores her new home. It's three years after Hurricane Katrina, so there are still places that need to be rebuilt, but where she's currently living was relatively unharmed. There's also a lot of history, mainly about the balls and parades that dominate the weeks surrounding Mardi Gras. But also about the different immigrants who congregated in this diverse city. I just loved learning all about this! It held my interest much more than the actual plot.

Ruined's plot is a bit predictable. Not much happens at the beginning, as there's just a lot of talk about the city itself and Lisette's history. When more about the curse finally started coming out, I was very interested, but I also guessed part of the twist. There's a lot more to it than I was able to piece together, since there are so many family secrets, and many things have been covered up and twisted over the years. The ending also wasn't surprising, since the curse does play itself out. I like curse/prophecy plots, but often times they do wind up being predictable. That's okay though, since I still enjoyed it.

Ruined was a pretty good ghost story. The setting was definitely the strongest part, since New Orleans is complicated place with lots of history.