14 September, 2013

#BookReview :: Sia by Josh Grayson

When seventeen-year-old Sia wakes up on a park bench, she has no idea who or where she is. Yet after a week of being homeless, she’s reunited with her family. At school, she’s powerful and popular. At home, she’s wealthy beyond her dreams. But she quickly realizes her perfect life is a lie. Her family is falling apart and her friends are snobby, cruel and plastic. Worse yet, she discovers she was the cruelest one. Mortified by her past, she embarks on a journey of redemption and falls for Kyle, the “geek” she once tormented. Yet all the time she wonders if, when her memories return, she’ll become the bully she was before…and if she’ll lose Kyle. 





Sia Holloway wakes up in a park with no memory about herself or her life. The seventeen year old then survives the next week out on the streets with the help of Carol, another homeless lady. But at the next turn of events, she gets herself into a road accident that lands her in the hospital where the authorities discover her identity and she is reunited with her family and friends. But, her real life is far from perfect too… Her father’s business isn’t doing so well and they may go bankrupt. Her mother is struggling with alcoholism. The worst of all was discovering how she and her friends treated others at school. But Sia is resolute about turning everything around.

Sia, born with a silver spoon, had taken too much for granted in life. She was the queen bee in her school and she, along with her posse, was really mean to those around them. But after her memory loss and her stint as a homeless person, she has a new perspective on life and she wants to redeem herself. Throughout the book, this new Sia is a loveable character that we would love to cheer for – especially because we are given a glimpse at ‘then’ and ‘now’ of her life. Kyle on the other hand is portrayed as a nice guy through and through. He is portrayed as a good student, a great Samaritan and most importantly with a golden heart. It was heart-warming to see them find their way to each other. The plot in itself, while predictable, brought on a lot more under the spotlight than just high school drama. The main focus was on what Sia was like before and how she redeems herself. But on the side lines, the story also focused on alcoholism and the life of homeless people. It was such an heart breaking experience to read about the hardships of homeless people.

I have one complaint though… Of course, I do believe in the fact that there’s always help available to the people who want to do the right thing, but things came too easy for Sia. A single two minute emotional conversation resulted in her mother check herself into a rehab and on her way to recovery, her friends crossed over to the good side of their own accord, raising funds through her father’s connections in one night – way too easy. In real life things are not that easy.

This turned out to be surprisingly one hell of a read!








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