The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door by Karen Finneyfrock

Celia Door decides to start out ninth grade as Celia the Dark.  She wears her hoodie, big black boots, and poetry notebook like armor.  It protects her from being hurt... and she refuses to be hurt again.  Not after what happened in her final year of middle school.  Then she meets Drake.  He's the cool new kid from New York who's just here until a spot opens up for him at art school.  And he wants to be friends with Celia.  She can't believe it, but she'll take it.  Even temporary company is better than being alone.

Drake has a secret that he only tells Celia.  And when he asks for her help to achieve his dream, she keeps it to herself that her real dream is REVENGE.  Getting revenge for what happened to her in the past turns out to be tricky and nothing like Celia planned it to be.  All she can hope for now is that she doesn't lose Drake, the only friend she's got.



I don't know what to say about this book except: AWESOME!!!  Celia is so my girl!  She's Dark because she's trying to protect herself from pain.  Her parents have recently undergone a "trial separation", her former best friend was pulled out of school and off the map, and there was an incident in middle school which made her question everything.  Because of all these things she's learned to write poetry and really it's been the thing to save her... until Drake.  Drake coming to Hershey, PA was the best thing for Celia.  It brought happiness into her life.

I thought it was awesome the way even though Celia wore these shields, she was really very vulnerable and confused.  She didn't want to face up to the fact that her parents were divorcing.  She didn't want to face the fact that deep down she really did care what people thought about her.  Oh yeah and did I mention this book has MEAN GIRLS!!  I love mean girls... well not really, but I love it when books have them in there.

I adored all the poems in the book.  I feel like modern poetry is not something that many teens are exposed to and also that when you read published poems they either seem unattainable or silly.  Celia shows us that anyone can write a poem and it can be beautiful.  But not just poems, I think it shows people to look for that creative outlet for their feelings and how that can be therapeutic.

The only thing I didn't love was the big secret from middle school that Celia was keeping.  I thought it was going to be something really HUGE, but it wasn't.  But I was ok with that.  It was the journey to getting to that secret that I loved.

Overall: I highly recommend.  If you like unique characters like Ruby from The Boyfriend List, you'll love Celia!!  It's an awesome book about bullying, dealing with life, and above all friendship.

Add it to your To-Read List!!

My Rating:

4/4


How I got this book: Library
Date Published: 2/21/2013