Review: Last Christmas by Kate Brian

CONTEMPORARY TEEN FICTION

Ariana Osgood has everything an Easton Academy girl could want: straight A's, the perfect boyfriend, and a coveted spot in the exclusive Billings House. But on the first night of Christmas vacation, a blizzard traps her on campus with irresistible bad-boy Thomas Pearson. Alone. Instead of snuggling with her boyfriend next to a cozy fire in Vermont, she's huddling for warmth with Thomas in Ketlar House.

As the snow transforms Easton into a winter wonderland, Ariana finds herself falling for Thomas. But someone is watching their clandestine romance unfold, someone intent on turnign their holiday weekend into a nightmare...

Wow! It was refreshing to get a story from Ariana's perspective. Don't get me wrong, Reed's a great main character. But sometimes, the other side of the story is exactly what I need at a certain time, and once again, Kate Brian pulled through for her devoted readers and twisted the plot's developments very nicely--this time, through the eyes of the most innocent Billings girl most people have ever seen...

When Ariana starts to fall for Thomas, while they're kissing, someone has taken a photo. She finds the photo, frightened, and looks in the mirror and sees the pattern of a dark argyle sweater. Immediately, the first person who comes to mind is Sergei, the Latvian boy who's always had a thing for her...and she doesn't like it one bit. When Ariana and Thomas go sneaking around in Sergei's room, they find that Sergei's stolen a picture of Ariana blowing a kiss at the camera from her room. He's taking pictures of her left and right--his entire Nikon camera is filled with photographs of Ariana doing one thing after another. And it gets Ariana so creeped out that when Sergei comes into the room, sees her, and runs, she dashes after him.

They get farther into the woods, near a pond. Sergei's not really looking where he's going--the only thing he wants is to be rid of Ariana--but Ariana watches slowly as Sergei tumbles across the ice on the pond, and the ice cracks. He thrashes in the frigid gray water, his fingers turning blue, and Ariana tries to help him up. But then she thinks of the pictures he took of her and Thomas. How dare he intrude their privacy? So she lets go of his arm and pushes him down with all her strength. He's reported dead--an accidental drowning.

But that's not the only murder, guys! There's another one in Last Christmas, one that I'm definitely not about to give away 'cause it's too juicy...but if y'all have been reading the Private series, or at least following my reviews, you know it's related to Thomas.

Anyway, I do have a few complaints. My first one is, Reed always says things like, "Girl has a point." When I read Ariana thinking or saying the exact same thing, it lowers the authenticity level of the characters. And I know, I'm being nitpicky, but I'm so drawn into the series that I want it to be perfect. Each character is a real person to me, and I want to keep it that way--even if it's not necessarily true.

My other complaint is the major hype on the back of this book and everywhere else. Supposedly, it's a shocking developmental twist in the history of the Private series. But I'm done with the book and...it wasn't that big of a shocker after all. Two murders, and Ariana rebelling against her usually shy and innocent personality? Puh-lease. From the moment I read about her, I knew she wasn't the aloof, good girl everyone makes her out to be. This book only amplifies my suspicions, and I wish there really had been some huge scandal that would've had me turning the pages. But this one is a twisted romance--I've already read enough of the Private series to know THAT kind of book was coming sooner or later. However, I did like Last Christmas, and I think it's only fair to say I'm asking for too much.

The best part was the passion between Ariana and Thomas. I mean, she's a crazy, psychotic murderer, but the way she fell in love with Thomas was actually kind of...sweet. It makes her seem human--everyone has their flaws, and while some of them are excusable and some of them are not, like going around killing people, they do have their good side. And Ariana's passionate, loving, caring, brazen side is the side I'm talkin' about. She was outspoken in her love, truly cared for Thomas, fell so deeply into this romance that I was falling in love with Thomas right along with her. So yes, that was amazing. The feelings, the connection, the emotions that run between these two makes it almost--ALMOST--justified to see why she was so crazy.

Anyway, so I'm finally getting the rest of the Private series today, which means I'll have all my reviews posted up here shortly! Yay! And congratulations to Last Christmas, which gets four stars.