December 6, 2014: 'Burning Blue'

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Date: December 6, 2014

Spoilers Ahead

Headline

Burning Blue

Paul Griffin

When Nicole Castro, the most beautiful girl in her wealthy New Jersey high school, is splashed with acid on the left side of her perfect face, the whole world takes notice. But quiet loner Jay Nazarro does more than that--he decides to find out who did it. Jay understands how it feels to be treated like a freak, and he also has a secret: He's a brilliant hacker. But the deeper he digs, the more danger he's in--and the more he falls for Nicole. Too bad everyone is turning into a suspect, including Nicole herself.

Award-winning author Paul Griffin has written a high-stakes, soulful mystery about the meaning--and dangers--of love and beauty.

City Calendar:

This is what happened during the week.

Nicole is attacked. Jay and Nicole meet at the school therapist's office. Jay goes to janitor Sager and sees acid after deciding he'll try to figure out the person who threw acid at Nicole. Jay looks for suspects'. He talks to the cop on the case Barrone. He goes to the tennis court with Nicole. Jay crosses Sager, Schmidt, and Sabbatini off his suspects' list after finding out two wanted to help Nicole, and the other, the janitor, just needed acid to clean graffiti off the walls. He teams up with Angela another hacker. He finds a video of Dave being interrogated. He gets an email that forced him into a seizure. Nicole gets a text from Chrissie that seems like she's the suspect, but she isn't. Jay is attacked. Jay and Nicole go to Jay's place and hang out. Jay sees a car going after Nicole's car as she leaves his place. He goes to talk to Cherry a Starbucks barista who befriended him. He finds out that the car he saw had stolen plates. He blackmails a photographer to send out the pictures of the car. He goes to the house where the car was found. He is attacked by Angela and is put in jail. He is bailed by his father. Angela turns out to be the acid thrower. He finds out Dave cheated on Nicole with Angela. Emma Nicole's friend dies. He talks to Angela about why she threw acid into Nicole's face. He finds out she did it for money. Jay finds out his dad plays the piano and has nothing to do with the acid throwing. Jay is attacked by Dave and Kerns. They end up in a car accident. Jay finally finds out that Nicole's mother 

And that's what happened this week.

Personal Ads:
Jay.
Hacker. Has seizures. Wants to find the acid thrower. Starts to love Nicole. Was a wrestler. Sneaky. Junior in high school.

Nicole.
Ex-cheerleader. Has acid thrown in face. Kind. Cutter. Father ran off. Mother mopes. Looking for acceptance. Doesn't like the pity. Used to be considered beautiful. Used to date Dave a wrestler. 

Opinions:

This book...is just okay.

I think that the hacking is good. Hacking is quite nice. This book makes it seem easy. (I've tried these things. I'm better at reading.) I like hacking too. It's interesting. Breaking down firewalls. Getting into lists. Changing grades. It seems distant. But interesting. I admire hackers. It's skill. And perfection. I really do admire hackers. The good and the bad. (I just also hate the bad ones.)

The realistic problems make it a hard read. But a good one. We have cutters. We have a guy with seizures. When I read a realistic fiction, I look for this. Real problems. It's important for me. Really important. The people in these books could be real life people. I know you might be tired of me bringing this up. I know. But this is still true. 

I also like Nicole. She changes from the attack. She has to change. She starts of as the pretty girl no one understands. Then she ends up as the sad girl who is 'disfigured'? The change is...amazing. And seemingly impossible. How much can happen to one person? I pity her like everyone else. But I think that she is still living. She's suffering. Suffering bravely. I admire that. I admire Nicole's bravery. 

I do think that the romance is...awkward. As I usually say...where the chemistry? I see that they are friends then...then what? I'm confused on their relationship. I do think that it's great that Jay doesn't judge Nicole because of her looks. I think that people need to focus on personality. And Jay does exactly that. Or maybe it's the thrill of being with the 'disfigured' girl. 

I also think the ending is rushed. The information is dumped onto you. You just get the facts one after the other. You don't really get an ending. Everything is piled on you. The truth. The reason why. It's within the last few chapters. Boom boom boom. I wish that the author slowed it down. It's too fast. The falling action comes quickly. A brick wall. Smack. Right into you. 

And Jay is...simply...dull. He doesn't have much depth to him. He also seems reckless. He's chasing a criminal he might never catch. What does he do? Keep going. Hacker. Had seizures. What else to say? I'm not sure. He doesn't have a kind personality. Or whatnot. He's kind in an awkward way. He wants to be kind to Nicole, and he ends up finding the acid thrower. Very odd. I would take flowers honestly. 

Weather:

Sunny with 50% chance of rain

3/5