The Confessions of Jonathan Flite by Matthew J. Beier

Jonathan Flite claims to have memories he can’t explain. Seven layers of them, to be exact, all belonging to a group of teenagers who disappeared from a place called Idle County in 2010—ten years before his birth. Seventeen years of anxiety, violent outbursts, and refusal to admit he is lying have landed him at Crescent Rehabilitation Center, a seaside juvenile center for rich kids, and nobody has ever dared to believe his memories might be real.

Until now. On a blustery November day just three months after a nuclear terrorist attack in Geneva, Switzerland, ex-CIA psychiatrist Thomas Lumen arrives at Crescent to interview Jonathan for a book about Idle County. Fueled by his personal connection to the disappearances three decades earlier, he asks Jonathan to share what he knows—anything and everything.

I think this book is really well written and the basics of this story are great. the characters are really interesting and the way the book is written, by writting in the past, in different perspectives is amazing. I also think that the main plot or the idea is great but i don’t really think all of it together is nicely done. The final copy, -if this is it- is not good. everything-by itself- in it is amazing and the idea of this book, the way the boy had memories of other people is amazing and really good but i don’t think the story, as a whole is interesting, also the way that there were so many characters, it was really difficult to follow the story. I think it would have been much easier if there were less characters as it’s really difficult for readers to understand what is happening if they don’t remember who someone is. I think that was my main problem.

By all of these reasons I wasn’t able to finish this book,I don’t normally leave a book half read but in this case it was so confusing and just so boring because I couldn’t understand what was happening. I am really sorry, but I just was so bored.

Even though I have said all of this I do recommend this book to the type of readers who have a very good memory and would remember all of the characters and who they were as they will find this book very interesting.

Also, even if I didn’t enjoy this book, it doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t enjoy other of the authors books.

Contessa by Lori L. Otto

When she was four, a generous couple welcomed orphan Olivia Sophia into their lives. As she grew up, her parents made good decisions for her, raising “Livvy” to be an intelligent and creative young girl. Now sixteen, three people influence many of her choices: her first love, her second father, and a third man who speaks to her through his artwork.

Livvy’s father is practical and steadfast; even-tempered and quietly observant. She’s an artist who acts on her emotions and thrives on attention. Unhappy with their differences– and misunderstanding her father’s methods– Livvy chooses to focus on the similarities she shares with an enigmatic painter from her mother’s past. Her overactive imagination leads her down an obsessive path– one that only stands to hurt everyone around her.

The distraction of a new boyfriend has the potential to end her search and reunite her family, but his involvement in her life could be just as devastating, taking Livvy away from her father for good.

Contessa is a book about an adopted girl. She is adopted by a rich family, very well known. This book is about how ‘Livvy’- or Olivia- gets through her teenage days, has her first and hopefully- for her- her only boyfriend, and her overprotective father.

I have mixed feelings about this book as I had loads of moments were I just hated Olivia as she was being so unfair and immature. I think this book is very loyal to real teenage life and how parents, most of them, act towards their children.

I think I read this in her father’s perspective. That’s why mostly, I thought she was being a brat.

The things that I hated from her were:

1. She is always angry at her father as she says he is overprotective, but he has reasons. They -as a family- are very well known as they are very rich; being rich could cause a lot of problems outside of her house. Anyone could try and kidnap her, they could get a monstrous amount of money from the rescue. Her friends could also be only with her for the money, expecting some type of reward or something. And there is also paparazzi.
2. She is all the time thinking about Nate. There was a point in which I actually thought Nate would be her father in some way. She is so obsessed about him. I do think it’s a good thing that he is her idol or her inspiration but not so good that she becomes over-obsessed with him.
3. I also think her relationship with Jon is annoying. I do like the way the author shows young love as a very strong love but I don’t like that since she starts dating Jon she stops being closer to her father and even her mother, who have done everything in their hands to protect her. She starts lying to them, too. Also, Jon is trying to make her father trust him just so they could then be left alone to do the things that her father wouldn’t want them to be doing!!!
4. After the break-up with Jon, the way she started to reconnect with her father was the best part but then comes Jon again, starts the relationship again and then she starts to reconsider about having sex which seems like the best way to brake the link she had with her father, all over again.
5. She seems like she will only see affection or show affection when showed towards her in form of money, like her father’s diamond necklace. She only told him that she loved him when he gave her the car or the necklace.

I do think this book is quite good but there are some very important flaws like the main character being so annoying. Maybe the author tried to write the book in order to show teenagers how ruthless and annoying they are. Then she would have done a great job! It does though, show how the relationship between both of them sinks and then starts to sail again. Also, sometimes the book seemed as it would never end, and that was not enjoyable at all. But apart from that the book was interesting and fun to read. I would not at all read the next books in the series as I think this book includes a great end and I don’t want any other end or continuation.