When I heard about KETCHUP CLOUDS and read the synopsis I knew I had to read this book. Annabel Pitcher provided a book that was gripping and heart-warming, and will not soon be forgotten.
KETCHUP CLOUDS is a riveting story about a teenage girl, who while living a typical teenage life, gets into a predicament. One mistake destroys her and the people she cares for. Zoe is a 15 year old girl with an extremely guilty conscious. She killed a boy and needs someone to tell. She chooses Stuart, an inmate on death row. He is someone who won't judge her for what she has done.
KETCHUP CLOUDS is written in letter form with Zoe telling Stuart the story of how everything happened. She tells him where she met two wonderful guys and how everything went so wrong. While dealing with her own turmoil Zoe is also caught in the middle of problems that her parents are having and it makes it even harder for her to deal with everything. KETCHUP CLOUDS will keep you guessing until the very end. Which boy did Zoe kill? What happened to the other one? Did Zoe really do anything wrong?
Annabel Pitcher wrote an intriguing, emotional story that made me fall in love with the characters and tore my heart out over the predicaments they found themselves in. I stayed intrigued during the letters while I got to see exactly what brought Zoe to having such a guilty conscious.
The two main boys, who are brothers, add so much depth to the story. Zoe seems to be a different person with each of them but you can also tell that she truly cares about them both. Aaron was my favorite and I adored the interactions between them.
The only issue I had with KETCHUP CLOUDS was the ending when Zoe has a certain letter written to her that tore me to pieces, yet she will never get to read it. I felt she needed that letter and should have gotten the chance to read it.
As you can tell, Annabel Pitcher definitely pulled me in and I enjoyed KETCHUP CLOUDS from start to finish. It is a book that is deeper than most YA and will pull at your heart strings. I look forward to reading more books by Pitcher.
Dear Mr. S. Harris, Ignore the
blob of red in the top left corner. It's jam, not blood,
though I don't think I need to tell you the difference. It
wasn't your wife's jam the police found on your shoe. . .
.Zoe has an unconventional pen pal-Mr.
Stuart Harris, a Texas Death Row inmate and convicted
murderer. But then again, Zoe has an unconventional story to
tell. A story about how she fell for two boys, betrayed one
of them, and killed the other. Hidden away in her
backyard shed in the middle of the night with a jam sandwich
in one hand and a pen in the other, Zoe gives a voice to her
heart and her fears after months of silence. Mr. Harris may
never respond to Zoe's letters, but at least somebody will
know her story-somebody who knows what it's like to kill a
person you love. Only through her unusual confession can Zoe
hope to atone for her mistakes that have torn lives apart,
and work to put her own life back together
again.Rising literary star Annabel Pitcher pens a
captivating second novel, rich with her distinctive balance
between humor and heart. Annabel explores the themes of
first love, guilt, and grief, introducing a character with a
witty voice and true emotional resonance.
No excerpt available.
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