Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Book Summary and Reviews of This Is Not Forgiveness by Celia Rees

This Is Not Forgiveness by Celia Rees

This Is Not Forgiveness

by Celia Rees

  • Critics' Consensus (1):
  • Published:
  • Oct 2012, 288 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Everyone says Caro is bad, but Jamie can't help himself. She is totally different from the other girls. But he soon realizes there is more to Caro - much more. Consider: How she disappears for days at a time, or the scars on her wrists, or her talk of revolution and taking action. Jamie's also worried about his older brother Rob. Back from Afghanistan and struggling with PTSD, Rob is living in a world of his own. Which is why it's so strange that Rob and Caro know one another - and why their secrets feel so very dangerous.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"While readers may anticipate the ending, they will stay engaged in the story to see how the conclusion changes the lives of Rob, Jamie and Caro." - VOYA

"Starred Review. Though the portrayal of Rob's deteriorating mental state is raw and often uncomfortable, in the end, the honest, uncensored storytelling makes this a tale that will stay with readers long after the final page is turned." - Kirkus

"As the tension mounts, the precise prose of Rees (who has written thrillers before) keeps this powerful plot on the tracks. Rees, who taught in secondary schools for more than 15 years, has captured the modern world of teenagers in lyrical and earthy language ... [This is Not Forgiveness] builds to an gripping finale in the sort of novel you hope young adults will read and think about." - Telegraph (UK)

[This is Not Forgiveness] builds up to a tense climax, although if I were to be really picky I'd say the ending is a little skimped. Shocking things happen in the space of a few pages, and I felt they could have been dwelt on without a loss of impact. But that might just have been a sign that I was enjoying the story so much I didn't want it to end." - Guardian (UK)

This information about This Is Not Forgiveness was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Celia Rees

Celia Rees is the author of many acclaimed and bestselling books for young readers including the Witch Child, Sorceress, Pirates!, Sovay, and The Fool's Girl, and her books have been translated into more than twenty languages. Celia lives in England.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more YA literary fiction...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Becoming Madam Secretary
    Becoming Madam Secretary
    by Stephanie Dray
    Our First Impressions reviewers enjoyed reading about Frances Perkins, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's ...
  • Book Jacket: Everything We Never Had
    Everything We Never Had
    by Randy Ribay
    Francisco Maghabol has recently arrived in California from the Philippines, eager to earn money to ...
  • Book Jacket: There Are Rivers in the Sky
    There Are Rivers in the Sky
    by Elif Shafak
    Elif Shafak's novel There Are Rivers in the Sky follows three disparate individuals separated by ...
  • Book Jacket: The Missing Thread
    The Missing Thread
    by Daisy Dunn
    The fabric of ancient history is stitched heavily with stories of dramatic politics, conquest, and ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
The Berry Pickers
by Amanda Peters
A four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl disappears, leaving a mystery unsolved for fifty years.
Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Win This Book
Win My Darling Boy

My Darling Boy by John Dufresne

The story of of a man whose son collapses into addiction and vanishes into the chaotic netherworld of southern Florida.

Enter

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

D T the B O W the B

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.