Review: The Ruining by Anna Collomore

• Publisher: Razorbill
• Publication date: 2/7/2013
• Source: ARC from Giselle @ Xpresso Reads

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | The Book Depository

Annie Phillips is thrilled to leave her past behind and begin a shiny new life on Belvedere Island, as a nanny for the picture-perfect Cohen family. In no time at all, she falls in love with the Cohens, especially with Libby, the beautiful young matriarch of the family. Life is better than she ever imagined. She even finds romance with the boy next door.

All too soon cracks appear in Annie's seemingly perfect world. She's blamed for mistakes she doesn't remember making. Her bedroom door comes unhinged, and she feels like she's always being watched. Libby, who once felt like a big sister, is suddenly cold and unforgiving. As she struggles to keep up with the demands of her new life, Annie's fear gives way to frightening hallucinations. Is she tumbling into madness, or is something sinister at play?

The Ruining is a complex ride through first love, chilling manipulation, and the terrifying depths of insanity.

My Thoughts

I love a book that messes with my head so I was super excited to read this one. And a mind F#%& is most definitely what I got out of this!! The characters are awesome and the story is great. With each passing page I found myself doubting my own ideas more and more and wondering what the eff was going on. Wondering if Annie really is crazy, wondering if she really did do the things that she doesn't thing she did. This book constantly had me second guessing and I loved that about it!!

Annie comes from a pretty bad family life, her step dad is a jerk and her mom is an alcoholic. She is more than thrilled that she has found a job in San Fransisco for the seemingly perfect Cohen family as their live in nanny. She quickly settles in and feels happy with her decision, but when things start to get weird with Libby, things start to go downhill. Libby seems to change her moods constantly and is very controlling of Annie. Annie wants to please Libby so she does whatever she says and starts to wonder if she really is messing up and doing things wrong. Her own past starts to haunt her more as Libby gets more and more demanding. being in Annie's head, I really started to wonder if she was really going crazy, but is blanking out on the things she is doing. I really loved her character though, because she is a fighter. Yes, she shows a lot of weakness, but it's believable with what she has been through in her life. The two things that I think kept her from crumbling completely were Zoe and Owen.

Owen is the boy next door and I absolutely adored him. He is nice, sweet, and unbelievably charming. He likes Annie right off the bat and tries as hard as he can to spend time with her around her demanding schedule. He truly cares about Annie, and when most people would have given up, he fights harder to be with her. He truly is a blessing for her and it was him who really kept her from totally losing her s&*#. Well, at least more than she already did. He risked a lot for her even not knowing if she cared about him like he did her and I thought he was fantastic.

I can't even really say much about this without either confusing you to no end, or spoiling something. This is one of those books that you really need to read and experience to understand the awesomeness of it. It will have your head spinning, your brain working overtime, and your heart in your throat. I felt very tense while reading a lot of this book and I was trying to wrap my head around it all. Thinking back to see if there were any clues about something I may have missed, wondering who is doing what, and who is really losing their mind. I had so many theories as to what was going on. I had a few things right, but it still really messed with my head. I was so intrigued and totally into this book from beginning to end. Though the end seemed to wrap up a little too tidy for me, I still thought this was a fantastic book that was just the kind of mind f%#& I love to read!!