Carrie just irritated me so much throughout the entire book! She got her way just by putting on a show of fake tears and sheer intelligence (reminds me of Rachel Berry in the first episode of Glee).

She should be put in a horror movie, as the psychotic ex-girlfriend killer. Carrie Freeman, the main antagonist, is a whole new kind of crazy.

This is what the whole book is based from.Īnd then, we come to the characters in this book. I don’t know whether this was supposed to be a reality-based book like “Home Truths” or “Not Suitable for Family Viewing”, but when I finished reading it, I thought “This does not happen in real life…unless you’re a psycho (I’ll get there).” Firstly, who gives a false testimony in court? I mean, I understand that Carrie (the main antagonist) was Shana’s best friend, but I wouldn’t give a false testimony in court just so my friend could get rid of a man she doesn’t like (Carrie asks Shana to give a false witness report in court and accuse Joe Kelward, Carrie’s new step-father, of being a child molester, when in reality, Mr Kelward is innocent and did absolutely nothing of the sort but still went to jail). Secondly, the events in this book were way too cheesy. I mean, one minute Shana is in the courtroom, giving a statement as a witness, the next page her friend circle accuses another one of their friends for stealing. The story was extremely fast-paced (which can also be considered a good thing for me, because I like to read books quickly, considering the fact that I’m a very slow reader), but the reader cannot take the time to take in and reflect on the events that have just occurred. Now, I read a lot of “fanfictions” and this book just felt like a very well-written fanfiction. The writing style, compared to other books I’ve read in and out of Red Maple, was quite poor. I don’t know if I’m the only one, but it just felt that way. I cannot give you solid proof as to how, but while reading this book, it made me feel like I was reading an unpublished high school or university fictional story than a published novel about to win a prestigious Canadian book award. I was very disappointed with this book, and thought the author could’ve done a much better job with the novel in general.įirst and foremost, the way Sherrard wrote this book was very disappointing. On a scale of 1-10, I would rate this book a 3.5 out of 10, possibly even a 3. “Before you judge me, there are a few reasons you should know about why I did it” (Not the actual quote, more paraphrased)īefore I say anything, I want to point out that I could not have been disappointed with any other Red Maple book than this one (so, now you know that my post will be a negative one).

Testify by Valerie Sherrard