Smoke- Ellen Hopkins

Title: Smoke
Author: Ellen Hopkins
Source: Borrowed from the library
Series: Yes
Rating: 4/5








Goodreads Summary:

Pattyn Von Stratten’s father is dead, and Pattyn is on the run. After far too many years of abuse at the hands of her father, and after the tragic loss of her beloved Ethan and their unborn child, Pattyn is desperate for peace. Only her sister Jackie knows what happened that night, but she is stuck at home with their mother, who clings to normalcy by allowing the truth to be covered up by their domineering community leaders. Her father might be finally gone, but without Pattyn, Jackie is desperately isolated. Alone and in disguise, Pattyn starts a new life, but is it even possible to rebuild a life when everything you’ve known has burned to ash and lies seem far safer than the truth?

This is the newest book by Ellen Hopkins and like every single book she writes I really enjoyed it a whole lot. I read Burned quite awhile ago so somethings took me a bit to understand but she does a good job of making you able to understand the story without either reading the first book or not remembering all the details. 

This is a continuation from Burned and it brings back some of the characters from Burned but we are also introduced to new characters. The story starts with Pattyn on the run from her family and her past. When she leaves, her sister Jackie who is the only one that really knows what happened that night is left behind to deal with their mother. While Pattyn is trying to start over, Jackie is trying to survive without her sister feeling isolated. The story goes between Pattyn and Jackie's points of view.

Pattyn has been handed some pretty awful cards so far in life. First she lost Ethan, then the baby and now she is on the run away from her family and friends trying to make a new life for herself. She winds up at a farm where she finds work. Jackie is struggling to deal with what happened the night her dad died, she does not remember everything that happened and her mother is trying to forget what happened and make the family move on. 

The book went in a lot of different directions, the dark sides of side characters made an appearance and brought some pretty tragic scenes. This book main focus is on the abuse that Pattyn, Jackie and their mom had to deal with before Pattyn's father died. 

As always I really enjoyed this story even though it was bittersweet. I would recommend reading the first book first because it is good. If you skip Hopkins shows scenes from the first novel so you able to understand what is going on. It feels like their might be another book because of the ending but I do not think at this time that there is a definitive answer. I gave this a 4/5.