Tehreem: Review of Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess

They promised Meredith nine years of safety, but only gave her three. 
   
Her father was supposed to be locked up until Meredith turned eighteen. She thought she had time to grow up, get out, and start a new life. But Meredith is only fifteen, and today her father is coming home from prison. 

Today her time has run out.

When I picked up this book, I expected something gripping. A tear-jerker would have been nice. However, that is not what I received.

This book did not make me sad. It made me livid.

Meredith had been through so much. Her own father hurt her in ways as a child that are unforgivable. She had loved him, and he had betrayed her.

He is sick, vile, and absolutely disgusting.

But Meredith's mother doesn't seem to think he is.

She praises him as if he were a god. Even when he is released from prison and interested in Meredith alone, her mother doesn't see a thing. She only sees the man that she loved when she was twelve, and he sixteen. When she was just a kid and he was a teenager.

She never seems to understand that her husband will only ever be interested in youth.

And she isn't young anymore.

But their daughter is.

Her mother almost seems to blame Meredith for being "too appealing." She doesn't care that her husband continues to leer at their daughter. She thinks it was all a mistake, and blames Meredith for tearing apart their family.

Inside, Meredith's mother is still a spoiled child.

I hate her for that.

A mother should always be there for her daughter. Meredith was crying out, but her mother continued to remain oblivious. Or perhaps she wasn't. Maybe she knew what was happening, but just refused to acknowledge it.

Just thinking that makes this book worse.

Maybe it's unfair of me to judge a book on one simple character. However, when that character is as messed up as the tormenter, it's hard not to. Meredith's mother just made the story seem too unrealistic. Everyone looked over Meredith's mother. They saw how sick she was, yet they continued to place Meredith in her care.

I still liked this book, but the characters made the plot seem distorted. I was disappointed, but not to the point where I would never pick up this book again.

My rating:

Three out of Five Stars!