Smoke

On the run, alone, and haunted by her ghosts. Pattyn Von Stratten is desperately trying to hide from everything that has happened to her. The deaths of Ethan, their baby, and (now) her father. She hops on a bus and ends up in Vacaville, CA where she meets a Hispanic girl named Adrianna and her family. After protecting Adrianna from a robbery and an - almost - rape, she is invited back to her home to stay. After a few weeks, Adrianna's brother, Angel, comes home from the farm that he works at and it is decided that Pattyn (or Patty, as she's going by now) will go with him to work as a maid for the family who lives on the farm. The family is relatively normal, except for the fact that the teenage daughter has some deep seeded anger issues, hangs out with two destructive guys who are not afraid to kill, and who could blow up at any moment. Despite this (small?) danger, Pattyn finds acceptance and even new love with Angel, if only she could get past the secrets so built up inside her. As for Jackie, Pattyn's once upon a time best friend and closest sister, her secrets are eating up at her as well. The night their father died, he had walked in on Jackie being raped by one of the boys from their church. He didn't believe it when she told him what happened and he began to abuse her. Hitting her, kicking her, telling her she was ruined and that she deserved what she got. Pattyn walked in with her gun and after an altercation, their father ended up dead. Although Jackie wants desperately to relieve herself of this terrible secret inside her, she's forced to keep quiet. By the bishop at the church, by her rapist's father, and even by her own mother. She has no friends and no Pattyn, no one to turn to, until she meets Gavin. He's a senior - and her math tutor - and he sees the beauty and honesty she carries inside her. He gives her the love she's been needing, but she's sure that once all of her secrets come out, he'll be on his way out the door. SMOKE was phenomenal. I was a little worried because sequels aren't always what they're cracked up to be; but as always, Ellen Hopkins did not disappoint. This time around, she let us in, not only on Pattyn's side of things, but on Jackie's as well. With both girls speaking, you get the full picture of what's happening in their lives. There's a lot of turmoil within this novel, but the ending message is of hope. Not only that, but it gives a full and rounded story, which works so well coupled with the prequel - BURNED. Overall (and as always) a superb read from Ellen Hopkins. Everyone needs to check out this book whether you enjoyed BURNED or not, it's fantastic. :) Look out for my next review!

Wow. Without hesitation Ellen Hopkins is truly one of the best authors out there. Her angle in writing is so different and bold, that every book she writes has me emotionally connected to the story. I cried and cried at the end of Burned. I was kind of mad at Hopkins for killing off Ethan ( I personally wish she didnt use the name Ethan as Pattyns lover, only because thats my brothers name), because loving him and living with her Aunt J seemed like the only high light of her life. Burned was perfect, but Smoke was even better. Smoke pulled together all the questions that left me hanging at the end of Burned. I loved how she divided the novel into two different perspectives – Pattyn's and Jackie's. God, Smoke was breathtaking. Both novels aren't your typical cliché love/ YA story where everyone lives a happily ever after. Or where the problems the characters have are your typical teenage issues. No. Being raped, killing your father, having your boyfriend killed along with your baby, or being a runaway doesn't seem like normal life to me. But despite the fact of having all that s*** happen, at the end, both characters found just a spark of hope. If you think I cried a lot at the end of Burned, you should've seen me at the end of Smoke – bawling. When Jackie finally told everyone at Church what happened, guess what? I cried. When Pattyn laid on Ethan's grave and told him he will always be her forever love, but she needed to move forward, guess what? Yeah you probably already know. Actually to be more specific, I was basically in a pool of my own tears. If its anyone that can make me cry its her, Ellen Hopkins. There are no words to describe how perfect she writes.

Im so glad I ended up reading these two books (Burned being the first). It has a lot of emotions in both books, the abuse these two girls endure. I definitely enjoyed Ellen added Jackie’s POV in this book. Reading about everything terrible that happened to them, how they both felt helpless that no one would believe them; but they both found people around them that did make them feel like everything would be okay. Obviously the things they went through couldn’t have been easy but I’m glad the story did end in a happy ending for both Pattyn and Jackie. They deserved it. I’m glad the book also didn’t take the direction of both girls turning to drugs or alcohol to numb their pain. 🤍 Will definitely read more of Ellen’s books!

Ah, Smoke. I had re-read "Burned" before reading this and was so excited that this book was getting a sequel because it really needed one. However, I think this may be my least favorite Ellen Hopkins book so far. It's not that it was BAD. No, Ellen never writes anything outright BAD. It's just that, it got very repetitive with flashbacks to the previous book. Now, I know that sequels need SOME flashbacks to the previous book, but it was overwhelming with how many flashbacks she put in there. And there were some parts where it fell flat. -SPOILERS START HERE- Like how, in the previous book, they put Caleb as this "good Christian boy" and how he has a crush on Pattyn. Yet, in this book, he's a rapist who wanted to take control of Jackie. It would've been nice if maybe this had been at least HINTED AT in the previous book. Also, there's one part where Pattyn asks "so what happened to me? what happened to Jackie?" when talking about how good Mormon girls are supposed to stay good Mormon girls. In the previous book it says NOTHING about Jackie going astray or questioning her Mormon faith or sexuality. Unless I've overlooked something. I'm pretty sure I remember Pattyn HIDING certain things from Jackie in the previous book because she knew that Jackie was still very much into the Mormon faith and not questioning anything about sex, or so it seemed. Again, it would've been nice if this was at least HINTED AT in the previous book. -END SPOILERS- Not just with references to the previous book though. There were also parts where the characters suddenly having a change of heart felt very FORCED and not fully developed. However, Ellen still does what she does best: grabbing the reader's attention and making them keep reading. Like I said, it's not a BAD book by any means, but it could've been better.

I never re-read burned but it's burned on my brain (excuse the pun). This was no different. I cried and felt the heartache every single page I read. I had to stop a million times just to breathe and think about something else. These two books have been the most powerful I have ever read, and a part of that could be that I suffered abuse for years, or it could just be that these books are that amazing. Actually, I dislike the format and don't think it reads like poetry. I just read it like I would any other book. But it's still the best writing I have ever experienced by so far a margin it's crazy. I know many didn't like the ending, but I did. It's about as HEA as I could expect, for everyone, and it seemed real. Pattyn is very young and forever love, one love, is a hard concept for anyone to hold onto. I loved Angel and I thought he, and his family were perfect for Pattyn. He was so different to Ethan, yet also similar in many ways. I wish we got more of him, and I wish we found out that he climax at the end, finished with a very lengthy jail term.

I would like to first say many of the 1-star reviews on this book are just people complaining about how they can't read this book on their phone or App, so disregard the overall star rating, for it should really be 5-stars. If you are a Ellen hopkins fan you will love this book. I thought Burned was a good book by itself, even for the heart broken ending, but the making of a sequel was good. Reading it you get a lot of mixed feelings, you really get caught up in the feelings, especially in Pattyns POV. I disagree that is was a 'forced' novel or even disappointing. The book gives you an ongoing story and also gives you another, with the POV of Pattyns younger sister. I think even though I didn't need closure from Burned that I do actually feel closure and enjoyed the ending and the outcome of the whole book itself. The ending made me cry and that just proves that it was a good book and you can easily get sucked into the emotion of it, as you can with any of Ellen Hopkins books.

I actually got this for a boy at a previous job I worked at and he loved it!! He recommended it to the rest of the boys!

I stumbled upon Ellen Hopkins one day back when book stores still existed and back when Crank had just been released. Flipping through the book I noticed her unique style of story telling. I was pulled in and an instant fan. This book is a sequeal to Burned. Burned wasn't my favorite of Ms. Hopkins book. Not because it wasn't well written but because the story was for me unrelateable. (Keep in mind I am an adult female and these books are written for teens and young adults.) My expectations for Smoke were not high. I was blown away. This was not where I expected Pattyn to go. The character I found whiney and weak in the first book has certainly come to age. No spoilers here. I will recommend this book to any of Hopkins' fans. It will not disappoint.