Smoke

On the run, alone, and haunted by her ghosts. Pattyn Von Stratten is desperately trying to hide from everything that has happened to her. The deaths of Ethan, their baby, and (now) her father. She hops on a bus and ends up in Vacaville, CA where she meets a Hispanic girl named Adrianna and her family. After protecting Adrianna from a robbery and an - almost - rape, she is invited back to her home to stay. After a few weeks, Adrianna's brother, Angel, comes home from the farm that he works at and it is decided that Pattyn (or Patty, as she's going by now) will go with him to work as a maid for the family who lives on the farm. The family is relatively normal, except for the fact that the teenage daughter has some deep seeded anger issues, hangs out with two destructive guys who are not afraid to kill, and who could blow up at any moment. Despite this (small?) danger, Pattyn finds acceptance and even new love with Angel, if only she could get past the secrets so built up inside her.As for Jackie, Pattyn's once upon a time best friend and closest sister, her secrets are eating up at her as well. The night their father died, he had walked in on Jackie being raped by one of the boys from their church. He didn't believe it when she told him what happened and he began to abuse her. Hitting her, kicking her, telling her she was ruined and that she deserved what she got. Pattyn walked in with her gun and after an altercation, their father ended up dead. Although Jackie wants desperately to relieve herself of this terrible secret inside her, she's forced to keep quiet. By the bishop at the church, by her rapist's father, and even by her own mother. She has no friends and no Pattyn, no one to turn to, until she meets Gavin. He's a senior - and her math tutor - and he sees the beauty and honesty she carries inside her. He gives her the love she's been needing, but she's sure that once all of her secrets come out, he'll be on his way out the door.SMOKE was phenomenal. I was a little worried because sequels aren't always what they're cracked up to be; but as always, Ellen Hopkins did not disappoint. This time around, she let us in, not only on Pattyn's side of things, but on Jackie's as well. With both girls speaking, you get the full picture of what's happening in their lives. There's a lot of turmoil within this novel, but the ending message is of hope. Not only that, but it gives a full and rounded story, which works so well coupled with the prequel - BURNED.Overall (and as always) a superb read from Ellen Hopkins. Everyone needs to check out this book whether you enjoyed BURNED or not, it's fantastic. :) Look out for my next review!

Wow. Without hesitation Ellen Hopkins is truly one of the best authors out there. Her angle in writing is so different and bold, that every book she writes has me emotionally connected to the story. I cried and cried at the end of Burned. I was kind of mad at Hopkins for killing off Ethan ( I personally wish she didnt use the name Ethan as Pattyns lover, only because thats my brothers name), because loving him and living with her Aunt J seemed like the only high light of her life.Burned was perfect, but Smoke was even better.Smoke pulled together all the questions that left me hanging at the end of Burned. I loved how she divided the novel into two different perspectives – Pattyn's and Jackie's. God, Smoke was breathtaking. Both novels aren't your typical cliché love/ YA story where everyone lives a happily ever after. Or where the problems the characters have are your typical teenage issues. No. Being raped, killing your father, having your boyfriend killed along with your baby, or being a runaway doesn't seem like normal life to me. But despite the fact of having all that s*** happen, at the end, both characters found just a spark of hope. If you think I cried a lot at the end of Burned, you should've seen me at the end of Smoke – bawling. When Jackie finally told everyone at Church what happened, guess what? I cried. When Pattyn laid on Ethan's grave and told him he will always be her forever love, but she needed to move forward, guess what? Yeah you probably already know. Actually to be more specific, I was basically in a pool of my own tears. If its anyone that can make me cry its her, Ellen Hopkins. There are no words to describe how perfect she writes.

I actually got this for a boy at a previous job I worked at and he loved it!! He recommended it to the rest of the boys!

I would like to first say many of the 1-star reviews on this book are just people complaining about how they can't read this book on their phone or App, so disregard the overall star rating, for it should really be 5-stars.If you are a Ellen hopkins fan you will love this book. I thought Burned was a good book by itself, even for the heart broken ending, but the making of a sequel was good.Reading it you get a lot of mixed feelings, you really get caught up in the feelings, especially in Pattyns POV.I disagree that is was a 'forced' novel or even disappointing. The book gives you an ongoing story and also gives you another, with the POV of Pattyns younger sister. I think even though I didn't need closure from Burned that I do actually feel closure and enjoyed the ending and the outcome of the whole book itself.The ending made me cry and that just proves that it was a good book and you can easily get sucked into the emotion of it, as you can with any of Ellen Hopkins books.

I read Burned a long time ago and absolutely loved it, except for the ending. I think that Smoke was good, but there were parts that made me frustrated. ***SPOILERS*** I really didn't like that Pattyn moved on so fast with Angel. It just doesn't seem realistic for to have moved in less than a yer with how much she loved Ethan. I'm glad she found Angel, but still three months is very quick. I also didn't like the politics in the book. I understand that the issues are important, but I felt that Ellen Hopkins was pushing her political beliefs on readers. Aside from those issues, I'm happy that Pattyn and her sister found light in their lives. I bawled my eyes out when she visited his grave and told him that he would be her "forever love". II will forever grieve for Pattyn and Ethan! It would have been interesting to see what would've happened had Ethan survived and they escaped her dad... that would've been a great sequel! ***END SPOILERS*** Overall, it was a great book and highly recommend that people read it, but read Burned first!!

Great follow up to the first book!

Amazing author, can’t wait to read this sequal

You never go wrong with a Ellen Hopkins. It was an amazing book; I could not put it down.

I really like her work. This one, much like burned was not my favourite. Identical is still by far the best.

Excellent condition, has the great book smell I know we all love, arrived quickly.