Review: The Innocents

Title: The Innocents
Author: Lili Peloquin
Series: The Innocents #1
Published: October 16th 2012
Rating: 3.5

Nothing ever came between sisters Alice and Charlie.
Friends didn't.
Boys couldn't.
Their family falling apart never would.
Until they got to Serenity Point.

In a town built on secrets and lies, it's going to be hard to stay innocent.
They're sucked into a strange and seductive world—a world they can't help but hate, and can't help but love. A world that threatens to tear them apart, just when they need each other the most. 

The Innocents was not exactly how I thought it would be, when I first heard about it and read the summary I thought 'Okay, this sounds like a really cool, super mysterious book' and I couldn't wait to read it. I know some people compared it to the likes of Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl and I can definitely see the similarities after reading it. It had the drama, secrets, lies, betrayal, love, twists and revelations all elements which make a fantastic teen drama but somehow it all was predictable. I knew about from the second chapter what huge secret would eventually explode! 

The two protagonists of the novel were Alice and Charlie; sister's who were super close would tell each other everything right up to the day they drove through Serenity Point, where things take a turn for the worst for the sisters. Forcing them both to take side and stick to it, unfortunately  for them, it seems like their on opposite islands now. I found I liked Alice more then I liked Charlie. Alice is the kind of character I felt you could relate to more and actually give a damn when things got bad for her. Where else when something disastrous happened to Charlie I really couldn't of cared less. Charlie has alot of potential and I see huge amounts of character development in the future for her. As scene in The Innocents drinking, partying, drugs and boys were mainly the focus of Charlie's brain. I think that's why I liked Alice more. Alice who reads, likes to have some solidarity time and never bends to anybody else's will, is much more likely heroine character.

The plot of The Innocents surrounds Alice and Charlie's mother marrying the wealthy Richard Flood, the guy who's wife and daughter died mysteriously in the past year and the startling resemblance  Alice holds to his past daughter- Camilla- the golden girl with the darkest of secrets and also the girl who drove her self of a bridge committing suicide shocking Serenity Point into a hush of the unspoken Camilla Flood.

The Innocents isn't a must read. It's a fond read but not something that had me excited or feeling attached to the characters which is something really important in a novel, but hey, if you like either Pretty Little Liars or Gossip Girl I'd say give it a go. It's not all bad, just needs some improvement in some areas and hopefully the sequel This Side of Jealousy will succeed to capture my bookworm-heart. 

-Taylor X