Girl Divided Two by Suzie T. Roos
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Tatum and Zach are back and the second installment is very contentious. As Girl Spoken For ended Zach had already “spoke for” Tatum. He and his entire family, especially his grandfather were waiting to see if she would speak for him. Tatum is under a lot of pressure from Zach and it gets to the point where the reader has to wonder what is going to happen with their relationship. Is Tatum understanding correctly what speaking for Zach actually means? The reader and Tatum come to a good understanding of what this means in Girl Divided Two and now Nigel is back in the picture. He is a gorgeous, British guy that the reader does not know a lot about. A huge question is just how old is Nigel. This book gives a better glimpse into Nigel’s background but so far not as much into Nigel himself. He appears to be a sweet, smart and well-mannered person. But, the grass is not always greener on the other side and Tatum’s idiot ex-boyfriend, Kyle is still insinuating himself in Tatum’s life, even as an extremely hateful and abusive person.

Girl Divided Two has moved into some seriously adult material though the book is about teens. These teens are faced with situations that not even adults should have to face. Zach is being pressured to begin a relationship he is not interested in and it causes him to behave in a manner that makes the reader reconsider whether to continue to consider him a good guy because his personality definitely takes on a dark tint. A little over half-way through the book and I had to step back and start jotting down my thoughts of the time because I am curious whether my current concerns will be refuted by the end of the book.

It is interesting when a book doesn’t follow the path that the reader would like how it challenges the way we might rate the book. When an author follows a direction we might not want and we still love the story then for me that is the mark of a great author. Honestly speaking Girl Divided Two has challenged me as a reader and a reviewer. The blurb on the back of the book is very careful with details and I feel an obligation to not give anything away. Zach and Tatum’s relationship has really challenged me because I like Zach as a person though he has some really sharp edges without considering his family. Nigel seems way too good to be true and it is great to see that he is human and has a temper but, he also is his own person and who can be angry with that. Girl Divided Two continues with the discussion with some of the things that Tatum had to live and work through in Girl Spoken For. But, at the core of it something Tatum said at the end really sticks with me about fear. She has some great friends that support her and I can honestly say that one thing that worked well for me is that despite how things were handled this did not have a love triangle in it, which is a theme I try not to read. Since this is a trilogy I look forward to seeing how things play out for Tatum, Nigel, Zach and everyone else in the book.