Review: Ugly Young Thing by Jennifer Jaynes *spoilers at the bottom of the post*

After reading Never Smile at Strangers last month, the author, Jennifer Jaynes, contacted me on Goodreads and asked if I would like to know when the sequel, Ugly Young Thing, was being released on NetGalley. I gladly said yes and proceeded to spend the next few weeks in anticipated of it's release. When it finally came out, I jumped at the chance to read it immediately, but my plans were pushed back by the number of review books I needed to complete. However, I've finally gotten enough time on my hands to read something from my own TBR, and the first thing I chose was this.

Please note that this IS the sequel to Never Smile at Strangers and while you don't have to read the first book in order to understand what it going on here, I personally would recommend that you do. I would also recommend that you follow Jennifer on Twitter and Goodreads for more updates, and also just because she's a really nice person. But no, I'm NOT being sponsored and Jennifer DID NOT pay me to say nice things about this book. This really is my HONEST OPINION.

Oh, and I have a spoiler section located at the bottom of the post, that you can look at if you've already read the book, or would simply like to spoil yourself. I'VE WARNED YOU SO YOU CAN'T BE MAD AT ME IF YOU SPOIL YOURSELF.

Publication Date: March 3, 2015

Synopsis:
Allie has lost everything. There is nothing left for her. She spends her time with disgusting men, trying to numb a pain inside her. And when she makes the decision to visit her childhood home, she's suddenly thrown into the fosters system.

Now, in a home that seems too good to be true, Allie uses her sharp tongue and defiant nature to see how long before she gets kicked out. After all, no one has ever wanted her around, why would they now?

Then, bodies start turning up again and Allie begins to wonder if death follows her wherever she goes

Thoughts:
I already knew I was going to love this when I went into it, because I had loved the first book so much. Never Smile at Strangers was what had gotten me into my two-month mystery & thriller kick, which is starting to wear off now. But once I got the chance to take a break from all my scheduled review books, I knew I needed to read this. So I picked this up immediately after finishing my last review book for February.

I quite like that we got the chance to delve into the main character's background a little in the beginning of the book. It made my connection to the character stronger and provided me with a great insight into what kind of person she was before the beginning of this book.

Within the first few chapters, I was already so hooked and wanted to keep reading, but it was around midnight when I had started the book and I knew I had school the next day. I also wanted to savor the book a bit, because I knew that if I allowed myself, I would read the whole thing in one sitting. I very well might have pulled an all-nighter if I had continued to read this.

This book, like the previous one in its series, is written with multiple perspectives. I happen to enjoy books with multiple perspectives when it's done right, and I've always been able to trust that Jennifer Jaynes writer her perspectives in a clear manner. I have never had trouble telling the POVs apart, nor have I ever had the problem of being confused when POVs suddenly switched after a number of paragraphs.

The entire time, I was hooked on to the plot. I actually had a mini debate in my head as to whether I should set aside the book and focus on schoolwork until bedtime, or if I should ignore school and read. Sadly, school won and I had to put off reading the rest of the book until I had snippets of time. I don't really want to go too much into the plot of the book because I think that it's best to go into this as blindly as you can. Just be ready for an intriguing and suspenseful journey!

I thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout the entire book and never felt bored for even a page. Jennifer has this way of keeping intrigue in all of her writing and managing to keep you interesting the whole time. Whenever I got a chance to sit down and read this, I flew through chunks at a time. In fact, I managed to finish this in 2 days!

THE ENDING OMG THE ENDING. CAN I JUST FANGIRL AND JUMP UP AND DOWN FOR A MOMENT HERE BECAUSE THAT WAS SUCH A GOOD TWIST! Okay, I'm sorta done for now. I have to admit that I sorta knew how it was gonna end, like, I predicted half the ending already, but the other half! OMG I DID NOT SEE THE OTHER HALF COMING!

Characters:
I have no idea how it was possible to feel for Allie so much in this short book, but I did. I felt so bad for what she had gone through in the past, and while she didn't always make the best choices all the time, I always understood where she was coming from. There was something about her that made you feel sorry for her, even though she's not the most likeable person.

I really have no idea how to feel about Miss Bitty, Allie's foster mom, because I...well, I just don't know how I feel about her.

Overall:
4.5 stars and yes, I HIGHLY recommend that you read this. I'm actually so excited for the next book, even though it probably won't be out until 2016 🙁 Really though, if you see this in a bookstore, don't hesitate to pick this up along with Never Smile at Strangers. I'll definitely be picking up physical copies of this as soon as I can because I need to have both of these sitting on my bookshelf! And I'll personally be making a few of my friends reads this, just because of how amazing it is!

Acknowledgements:
Thank you to NetGalley for hosting this. Thank you also to Thomas & Mercer for putting this up on NetGalley. I would also like to thank the author, Jennifer Jaynes, for letting me know when Ugly Young Thing was available for download on NetGalley.

*SPOILERS* DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE READ THE BOOK OR WANT TO BE SPOILED
Okay, since I've read the first book in the Grand Tresspass series, I already knew Allie and I was so excited when I found out that Ugly Young Thing was following her character! I had been really interested in her character because of all the secrecy behind it in the first book and because of how all that turned out.

One thing that I felt was so sad, was that despite how tough and badass Allie appeared in Never Smile at Strangers, she really was just a girl who had been abused, seen dead bodies, needed real love, and saw her brother kill himself in front of her. And it's weird, but I feel for her. She's gone through so much more than a 16 year old should, and it's not really surprising that she's come out of it with some damage and scars.

I was actually hoping that there would be a little more elaboration on Allie and Austin (OMG I'm hoping that's his name, I totally blanked and can't find it anywhere) in the previous book, and I'm glad that I got it in this book. Their sibling relationship is really unique and has gone through such changes over the progression of these two books.

OKAY SO WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE ENDING FOR A MOMENT HERE!!! I already had my suspicions about the killer, cause I kinda went with whoever was the least likely to kill. Then there was a hint halfway through the book and I narrowed it down to two people. And it turns out that I got it right, Louis being the killer. BUT THEN THERE WAS THE OTHER TWIST AND IT WAS ALL I COULD DO TO NOT SCREAM OUT LOUD AT MIDNIGHT!! I totally didn't see it coming that Louis was Allie's father! So now she's been adopted by her grandmother because both her parents went insane and killed a bunch of people. And then there's Austin and how he killed people too! So it kinda makes me wonder if Allie or Miss Bitty is gonna start a killing spree too, just because they're all related and there's a history of mental illness in the family.

Lastly, there's the whole this about mental illness, seeing things, and hearing things that kinda has me wondering if everyone in the family is simply insane. I'm totally intrigued and hyped for the next book because I NEED to find out how this story will progress!