Review: Burning Blue by Paul Griffin

How far would you go for love, beauty, and jealousy?

When Nicole Castro, the most beautiful girl in her wealthy New Jersey high school, is splashed with acid on the left side of her perfect face, the whole world takes notice. But quiet loner Jay Nazarro does more than that--he decides to find out who did it. Jay understands how it feels to be treated like a freak, and he also has a secret: He's a brilliant hacker. But the deeper he digs, the more danger he's in--and the more he falls for Nicole. Too bad everyone is turning into a suspect, including Nicole herself.

Award-winning author Paul Griffin has written a high-stakes, soulful mystery about the meaning--and dangers--of love and beauty.

My Review:

Burning Blue is a great mystery that keeps readers turning the pages to find out what happens next.  The characters are well-developed, and the plot is good with many unexpected twists.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Jay is a great character who is caring and also has many problems of his own.   He has epilepsy, and when he was in ninth grade, he had a seizure at a pep rally in front of the entire school.  After his pep rally seizure, he was homeschooled for two years before deciding to go back to his school.  At school, he is basically a loner.  He's a good guy who is caring and kind.  When he meets Nicole Castro after finding out about her acid attack, he becomes determined to find out who her attacker is.  He uses his hacking abilities to try to find him or her.

Nicole is a great character.  She is clearly quite a bit traumatized by the acid attack on her.  She used to be known for her beauty, and now her face's beauty has been taken from her.  Nicole is a good person, though, on the inside too.  When she meets Jay outside the office of the school therapist, she starts talking to him, and she soon becomes friends with them.  It soon becomes clear that there is more to this friendship on both sides.  Both Nicole and Jay fall for each other.  The romance between the two is sweet and slowly developed.

The mystery aspect was really well done.  I had no idea who had attacked Nicole until it was revealed.  The hacking part of solving the mystery was well done, though I didn't understand so of it.  I'm not as good with computers as Jay, so I didn't understand how he actually did some of the stuff he did.  Despite this, I still enjoyed the book.

If you like YA contemporary mystery, read this book.

Katie