The Adoration of Jenna Fox

by Mary E. Pearson

If I had to choose one word to describe this book, that word would be gripping. I read it in one sitting - I didn't take a single break. I had to keep reading, had to find out what was going on, had to make sure everything would turn out alright.

So, the pacing and plotting were brilliant. It's told through Jenna's point of view in first person narrative. As a reader you have such a limited scope that you're seeing the story through, but that's because Jenna's scope is so small. She can't remember anything about her past. She has no idea of what's going on now. The not knowing is agonizing, for her and for the reader. The novel is a story of growth and learning and understanding. There were parts that terrified me, not in a horrific sense, but in a tense, brutal rawness.

The writing is great, the characters intriguing. Read it, but only if you've got a chunk of free time in which to immerse yourself in it completely.

(Contains some language.)