Choker by Elizabeth Woods

Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's Website:

Zoe and Cara were as close as friends could be—until Zoe moved away. Miserable without Zoe, Cara grew into an unhappy sixteen-year-old, tormented by the popular girls and nursing a hopeless crush. Then one day Cara returns home from a miserable day at school to find Zoe sitting on her bed. Shocked and delighted, Cara agrees to hide Zoe from troubles at home and the two resume their friendship as though no time has passed. Zoe even helps Cara get up the courage to stand up for herself and talk to her crush. But when one of the popular girls winds up dead, Cara begins to suspect that Zoe is responsible, and her questions only feed Zoe’s anger. As Cara searches for answers, she is forced to confront a deadly truth….

Review:

It's not everyday that a book leaves me with a complete "WOW" feeling at the end, though I have to admit I knew from the first chapter Elizabeth Wood's Choker was going to be as far from ordinary as a book can get. A very, very good thing I must admit.

Choker tells the story of Cara, a girl who has felt lost since her best friend Zoe moved away in elementary school. Cara's miserable in all ways possible- the popular girls at her high school torment her everyday, she barley has any close friends, and the guy she likes never notices her. Though by now Cara's kind of okay with it...that is until one day she makes a fatal mistake that leads to her being called Choker and made fun of by everyone. Cara's devastated and truly thinks that her life will never be better, until Zoe shows at her house one night, saying that she's run away and she needs Cara more than ever now. Cara, happy at having her best friend back with her again, promises to help her stay hidden, while Zoe promises Cara to help her make her life better. But is there something odd about Zoe? Especially given the fact she seems oddly tied to the two deaths in Cara's neighborhood. Only time will tell in this deeply intriguing tale of a friendship gone wrong.

Cara and Zoe's friendship was extremely intriguing, strangely real, disturbing, and three dimensionall from the get-go. It probably was even my favorite aspect of the novel and the part I feel will be the most discussed once the book is released. I always enjoyed reading more about both characters- Zoe, the strong and reckless one of the two, and Cara, the shy and weak one- because both were so different yet played so well off each other in their friendship.

I also adored the secondary characters in this, such as Ethan, the gorgeous jock Cara likes, the evil popular girls, and Cara's track friends. Just like Cara and Zoe, each brought something special to the table.

The mysteries behind everything- the popular girls' disappearances, Zoe, and everything else- was another great aspect of Choker. I never once truly knew how everything was going to turn because Ms. Woods has an extremely suspenseful novel in Choker, one filled with twists and turns that always left my mind reeling from all the action occurring.
And the end? Oh my gosh, I never once saw it coming. It just completely left me completely baffled but in a really, really good way. And that's all I'll say about that...

In all, Choker is something really special, in my opinion. It's messed up but so amazingly real that it makes it an absolute must-read in my book. Elizabeth Woods is someone I'm truly, truly looking forward to read more by in the future, especially if the said book is as good as Choker was.

Grade: A+

Choker will be released January 4, 2011!

Source: E-galley provided by Simon and Schuster.