pages: 331
heard/read: 3/29-30/2019
rating: good, quick read
book: 30 in 2019
When you can see emotions in color, motives become black and white. Even murder.
High school senior Ella Cleary has always been able to read people. And for good reason: she has a rare medical condition called synesthesia that scrambles the senses, allowing Ella to see colors that reveal people’s true emotions. Everyone but Alec’s.
Alec is a mystery to Ella, a handsome, enigmatic young journalist who makes her feel normal for the first time in her life … until he reveals the real reason he sought her out. He wants to learn the truth behind her parents’ deaths. And Ella’s world turns upside down when Alec tells her their deaths were not an accident.
After learning her entire life is based on a lie, Ella doesn’t know who she can trust or even who she truly is. With family secrets slowly revealed and the evidence mixing fact and fiction, the only way for Ella to learn the truth about her past is to find a killer.
MY THOUGHTS
SHORT VERSION
surprised i got into it like i did. went by pretty fast. for a free library read, it wasn't bad.
LONG VERSION
another good one thanks to goodreads.
...and the only reason i got it was because the main character has synesthisia (and so does the rest of her family) and I've been interested in that subject ever since i read about it in another book a long time ago. that and i also liked the cover.
this one was good.
i didn't cheat and jump to the back so i didn't know what was going to happen.
i started listening to it at work and i got suuuuper into it that i got home and listened to it some more. but the narrator wasn't going fast enough so i gave that up and started reading it on my own. and omg!!!!
you get the "twist" right away and you're all "oh no!!! how could..." and you get mad and then it turns out you had it backwards and the twist is even better!!!
i felt kinda bad for Ella but i mean, after everything, the world is basically all hers.
it was a good quick suspense read that gives you twists everywhere. i will admit though, i skipped a few pages, maybe like a chapter or 2 because i found a more interesting part and then just read from there. all that i skipped was them (the kids) basically puzzling it together..ish. also, i think i skipped because my heart couldn't handle the suspense. but either way....i got everything.
anyway, jump over for spoilers.
thx!
off the bat:
Darrin, Joe & Helen did it.
it was not Ella's father.
her mother also had synesthesia but hers involved numbers. and she caught on that Darrin was going to rip off her husbands company so they had backup to take to the FBI but Helen shows up to the house they had ran away to (thanks to Darrin's tracking) and killed Ella's mother first and then made the dad kill himself. and then set the house on fire. Joe was there too and they meant to kill Ella as well but they never found her.
Alec's "secret" was that he was the one that found her in the sand when he ran for help.
okay.
so, Ella turns 18. which also happens to be the anniversary of her parent's death.
she's swimming at the college pool when Alec comes to her and tells her that he wants to talk to her.
he assumed that she knew that in the reports it stated that her father killed her mother and then himself as the house burned down. (the story was that they were on vacation and left Ella with grandma Helen when it all happened. the house they were in when they died was one of Alec's parent's rental property.) so the reason that he wants to talk to her is because he is there to understudy this great journalist teacher dude guy who is going to help him write an article that he will then publish in his book, so he needs to talk to her to get her permission to do so.
she thinks that Alec must be mistaken, she thinks someone must have stolen her mothers identity and so she's going to clear it up with him. (at first, she thought Alec was going to ask her to do some artwork for his article.) he takes her home (i forgot why) and then he gets invited in (after a tough time) to celebrate Ella's bday.
REMEMBER: Ella has never left her house let alone her hometown because grama Helen's synesthesia is pretty bad.
for her bday, her family gets her a flight to Paris.
she has bad feelings about it.
blah blah blah
Alec goes to her painting studio to apologize to her for a fight they had and as he leaves and turns around her studio is on fire.
he goes back, she's trapped, they manage to get her out, they go to the hospital, grandma Helen arrives and blames it all on Alec and they have him arrested erm, well interrogated.
Alec is basically advised to leave her alone.
so he does.
he goes back to the college and pulls all his paperwork out and goes through everything.
that's when he notices that the issue dates on the NYC ID's of Joe and Helen both match. ...which they shouldn't....especially if they are family.
Rory & Max (Ella's bffffs) meet up with Alec at the college and that's where he breaks down all the information that he's come across.
not only was Ella going to inherit the company that her father left, that her god father Darrin has even expanded, she also has a side trust fund that was set to kick in when she turned 18. (based off they company alone, she was to get 7 MILLION!!!!!!) Alec has sorta of connected the dots and Rory confirms that Ella is going to inherit money and while she didn't tell her how much, that's what worries them; if it wasn't that much, she would have given them a number.
(this is where i skipped so i could be backwards a bit and I'm just guna go to where i jumped too.)
Ella takes off to her family's cabin. she starts snooping and ends up in the attic going over her stuff. she comes across a box that's labeled NORA's TOYS and she comes across this hippo she used to play with all the time.
she finds a usb in it.
she goes to Joe's computer and she reads a letter from her father where he states that his mother caught Darrin but he still trusted him because he couldn't believe it. but once they got enough evidence and where going to go to the FBI, it was too late; he was already on them.
the deal was that they were going to get Ella to a safe place but it was too late.
Joe then arrives and he tells her everything.
what had happened was...lol jk. but seriously.
Ella's dad and grandpa built this company and they brought Darrin along because they trusted him.
Ella's mother then got a job there and because she was really good with her numbers because of her synesthesia, moved up, up and up til she ended up in the fraud dept. she fell in love and married Ella's dad. then Ella's grandpa died so dad rewrote the will. and then set up a separate other whatever for Ella (trust fund). by then she was onto Darrin but because he was his best friend, he couldn't believe it but eventually came around.
they were at the cabin i guess to keep Ella safe (but Darrin bugged their home and traced the car, that's how they were found in the cabin in the woods) but Helen showed up. the dad begged to let the girls go and that he'd hand everything over and kill himself but Helen killed the wife and then forced him to kill himself and then set the house on fire.
Joe was there too. he was the one looking for Ella. but he couldn't find her cause she ran away.
since Darrin was in London at the moment, he was clear.
once Ella was found, she stayed with Alec's family for 11 days until Helen and Joe came around and claimed her. Darrin stated they were next of kin. Helen was Ella's mom's mother.
in reality, Helen was Darrin's mother. she caught on about his scheme's so i guess to buy her off he brought her on.
and Joe was his cousin.
prior to everything kicking in, Helen and Joe moved to New York and when everything happened, Darrin listed them next of kin so they could collect Ella.
they later find out that she had another trust so they keep her alive.
the fire in her studio was set by Darrin and when it didn't go as planned, they told the cops that they feared that she was mental like her father (that's the conclusion that was made on why he killed his wife and himself.)
Joe was in on everything of course but he realizes what they are doing is wrong and he cant imagine killing Ella especially since he's seen her grow up.
but of course, Alec sorta killed their plans so now they're screwed.
Helen and Darrin make it to the cabin, Helen kills Joe, Max and Alec drop off Rory at the police station so she can tell them everything and then they make it to the cabin, Helen takes max inside and shoots him in the leg, Darrin has Alec in a choke hold, Ella makes off somehow towards the lake (after giving max the gun that Joe has inside his jacket), she sets off this thing max got her for her bday last year scaring the bats and pushing Helen into the water and then max tries shooting Darrin but he manages to take off after them. they can't find Ella because she's in the water but she needs to come up for air so then Darrin starts shooting at her and manages to her arm and leg but Alec tackles him.
he jumps in to get Ella, he takes her out and then Helen comes from behind the bushes and is basicallythisclosetoellawithagun but the cops arrive so while she's distracted they both take her down.
2 weeks later, they're in jail, Rory is taking care of max and Alec and Ella are in his family home for thanksgiving.
they're in love.
now that she can do whatever she wants, she decides on art school in new york where he will also attend college for some special program he wants to be a part of.
and das it.
that was a lot, but i still somehow feel like i left out a lot.
but that's it man.
a pretty good read.
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