Starting with the ending, much as I liked it I also found it incredibly predictable. Also I found one of the major characters incredibly unsympathetic. But worst of all, it was unbelievable. The whole premise was absurd and beyond the bounds of plausibility. I don’t see how anyone can find this book even mediocre - weird world. ( )

*spoiler warning!*

This is definitely a keeper. I looooved this book! Especially the ending. But there are a few things about the book I didn't like, or at least want to comment on.

First, I hate how often, in the beginning, this book refers to the then-unknown child as "it". That's just so condescending and mean! "Be nice to it", etc, sounds like they are talking about a dog or a piece of furniture.

Second, I think Ellis judged Lilac way too fast and unfairly. Ellis is fourteen, yet the way she acts about Lilac and keeps thinking about how "bratty" she is, sounds like someone a lot less mature then she supposidly is. I didn't see "bratty" at all. I saw a scared little girl who was pulled from her home and plopped into a whole new world, a girl who's had a rough life and knows better then to trust too easily.

Third.... that letter. Okay, I guess if you are a mother in such a horrible situation, you'd want to do what you can to put your child into a better situation. But that letter Lilac got, I can't even imagine a mother wanting strangers to adopt the child she's raised for ten years! Strangers she's never even met! And the letter was so short and matter-of-fact, Lilac must have felt so unwanted!

But yes, I liked this book very much. The ending was pretty much exactly what I'd hoped for, but hadn't thought it would actually happen. ( )