My thoughts on "Trust: A New Beginning" by Cristiane Serruya

So, I received this ARC in a Goodreads giveaway. Cristiane send me the book and it was so nice of hers to signed it. After almost a month later, here's what I thought of her first novel.

Plot: Trust: A New Beginning is the first part of a trilogy that's about three main characters -a love triangle- Sophia, Alistair and Ethan. It all took place in Great Britain and a little portion in Geneva. It is a story of three attractive people who have dark pasts and who are trying to move on with their lives, but all of them are much more than they show.

First of all, this is not normally the kind of book I would read, but I'm glad I did because it has happened a lot of time since a book kept me awake until 3 or 4 am in the morning trying to found out what happens next. However, I must admit that I wasn't enhanced in the story at the beginning, I found it quite difficult to get it through, mainly because I didn't like Ethan and found Sophia extremely unbelievable, and the story unrealistic. Nevertheless, I kept reading and the story plot began to get better and better.

Characters: I said I found quite hard to believe at the beginning the fact that the main character, Sophia, was 25 years old and already accomplished a lot (almost a PhD, teacher at Cambridge, extremely rich, succesful lawyer and CEO of a multinational oil company, etc.) She seems too good to be true, and let us all the rest of the women in shame, haha. Another thing I notice is that Sophia seems much more mature than Ethan, for example. He is almost 10 years older and still acts a little immature. I understand it has to do with his childhood trauma, but still. I found secondary characters quite likeable, such as Leonard and Gabriela.

Something that might be a little weird but, I just had a doubt, if she and her siblings are Brazilians, why does not they speak Portuguese between them? I just found it curious.

Don't know what to think about Sophia's values, I mean, she portrays herself as a mature, independent, strong woman, and keeps saying to Ethan that "diamonds doesn't buy her affection" but she kept accepting his gifts! Another example is that she is a pro bono lawyer that takes cases of domestic violence and in the protection of women and children, but she seems to attract -and be attracted to- only extremely jealous men that are perfectly capable of hurting her -emotionally and physically- and still she doesn't reacts. I mean, in the book it is quite clear that she is having a debate with herself because of that, but I don't like how she managed the situation either time. I remember there was a point in the book when I thought "can't she attract any decent men?" haha.

General opinion: Definetely this book let me hooked and I really want to read the second one quite soon, where I believe we'll see more of both Ethan and Alistair's darkest parts of themselves. Also, I'm thrilled because seems like the second part is going to take place in Rio, which is exciting. And, there are still a loooot of things that remained unanswered, so I think the second one is going to be a page turner also. Definetely, the sneak peek of the second book included in the end of this book was a cliffhanger so I need the second one!

Something else: I'm team Alistair (so far) :)

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars.

My thoughts on: The Catcher in the Rye

In this book, we see everything through Holden Caulfield's eyes, a sixteen-year old who gets kicked out from the school -and it is not for the first time-. Holden is sarcastic, he really made me laugh sometimes, as in "It was the last game of the year, and you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn’t win". 

Also, something that really caught my attention is that Holden seems so conscious about class differences, for instance when he compare his expensive suitcases and his roomate's cheaper ones, and how that makes him so sad. Also, when he encounters the nuns and they're having just coffee for breakfast while he's getting eggs and etc; and how that always seems to affect his mood, since he seems to be quite aware of the differences and inequalities between people. 

I know much people don't seem to like Holden, but I'll say his attitude is a consequence of his brother's death, Allie. He was his favorite person in the world and right at the beginning of the book you find out he's so hurt because of his loss. All that anger and indiference sums up in his way to express his sadness, or at least I think that. 

Also I believe he is quite afraid of the changes in general, he is afraid of growing up, maybe. For example when he stresses that he likes certain things -such as the museum or the carrousel- because they never change even if you do, they're always the same. I think, as a teenager that he is, he is afraid of the upcoming changes that comes with being an adult and have responsibilities and assume consequences. So for me, it a story of a boy who is passing through the adolescece and in the path to become an adult, and that frightens him so he does all those things such as quitting school, going to the city, invite girls, looking for people he knows (former teachers and classmates), etc., because he's looking for some certainty and some sign that everything is going to be ok in the future, that the trauma of growing up would not hurt so much. 

*SPOILER ALERT*

In the end, is his other favorite person, Phoebe, his little sister, who becomes the real reson why he doesn't left, which I think is quite adorable and cute. I really liked these last pages when he seems to have changed his mind a little bit and a bit of hope seems to rise. 

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

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