From Where I Stand by Tabitha Suzuma

Raven is a deeply disturbed teenager. After witnessing the death of his mother and living in a children's home, he's now been placed in foster care. His new family, the Russels, do their best to earn his trust but it's going to take a long time.

Meanwhile, at school, bullies are making Raven's life a living hell. And then an unexpected saviour comes in the form of Lotte, a classmate bored by her 'ordinary' friends. Together, they set out to track down Raven's mum's killer, in order to expose him to the police. But their carefully crafted plan goes dangerously wrong and suddenly nothing is as it seems. Everything is falling apart and, ultimately, there is only one, final way out.

 I don't know what to say about this book. As many of you probably know, Suzuma is one of my all-time favourite authors, and this is the last of her five currently-published books that I've read. And honestly? I didn't really like it. I know it was about the second book she published, so of course her writing skills have developed over the years, but I just didn't connect with anything. Not the characters, not the twists, not the storyline. I only really enjoyed the ending, where the pace actually picked up. I'm not saying it was terrible, though. I do like the idea of the plot - Raven's mother's died, and he's dealing with his new life with his foster family. If I was thirteen, I reckon I would really have enjoyed this book - but since I'm two years old, all I could seem to do was pick holes within the story. I mean, for one thing, how stupid is Lotte? So many hints about the ending were openly said throughout the book, and it's like - you didn't pick up that any of this and Raven's actions were completely strange? But I don't know whether that's just because I tend to look too in-depth into books like this. But anyway - like I said, it wasn't that bad, and I still greatly admire Suzuma as an author.
Rating: 3/5