Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
Read: 2/20/11-2/23/11

Bought, Won, Got from local library, Got as a gift

Amount of hearts i give it: ♥♥♥♥♥/5
Synopsis:
Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching...for freedom, safety, community, family, love. What they don't expect, though, is all that can happen when those powerful little words "I love you" are said for all the wrong reasons.

Five moving stories remain separate at first, then interweave to tell a larger, powerful story -- a story about making choices, taking leaps of faith, falling down, and growing up. A story about kids figuring out what sex and love are all about, at all costs, while asking themselves, "Can I ever feel okay about myself?"
My thoughts:
Wow, is all that I can say. I picked this book up at the library. It's the second Ellen Hopkins novel I've ever read. I've had the tendency to be careful with Ellen's books because I know that some of the themes tend to be disturbing. While I'm not afraid of disturbing, this kind of disturbing is something that sometimes is off-putting. The reason why I got it from the library was because I didn't want to buy it and then find that I'm not able to finish it for some reason. So, I picked it up, started reading it, and...
I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. I breezed through it in under three days, putting Delirium on hold to finish it, because I couldn't escape the stories of these teenagers. Teenagers just like me, who are forced to walk the streets in order to live. Through the book, I couldn't help but look up, look around my house, look at my mother who loves me and would do anything for me and feel blessed. These kids had no one looking out for them and that's how they turned out the way that they did. I realize that the characters made the choices, but they were forced to make the choices. The only thing that these kids wanted to do was live, at all costs.
It was definitely hard to read, some parts were downright disgusting and I even had to put the book down before bed last night because it began to upset me. But something kept me going.
I had to know what happened. I needed to know if Eden, Seth, Whitney, Ginger & Cody would be okay. If they didn't end up okay, I wouldn't have been surprised, but I just needed to know.
So, all in all, this book was fantastic and I give it 5 hearts, all the way. Ellen - Thank you for your books and for being fearless enough to write these stories. I know that it can't be easy to write sometimes since it's sometimes even hard to read, but thank you for writing the stories because they NEED to be told and they SCREAM to be read!