Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines

"These are not my enemies."

My Rating: 7/10

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication: 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59990-372-9
Page Count: 324 Pages
Age Range: Young Adult

Lise Haines' Official Girl in the Arena page

Lise Haines' Girl in the Arena is spectacular! The story was centered around a girl named Lyn, who had 7 fathers. All 6 were dead and Tommy is the 7th. All 7th were gladiators.

Then came one fight--and Tommy's dead. Allison (Lyn's mom) can't support Thad (Lyn's brother) and Lyn anymore. Caesar's (the Hollywood in the gladiator world) won't let Allison marry for the 8th time, cause 7 is the limit.

Lyn had given her bracelet to Tommy back then, even though she wasn't supposed to...then she got her consequence--Uber picked her bracelet up.

The bracelet is a symbol of marriage, and Uber is the gladiator that killed Tommy.

Lyn was going to have to marry Uber--to save Allison, Thad and herself a house. Lyn refuse to, and she had a plan. She went backstage and attacked Uber, though she failed.

Then, Lyn was developing feelings for Uber (after Allison forced Lyn to keep giving Uber a chance). But Lyn can't let herself be another Allison, marrying one gladiator, letting him die and marrying another one just to let him die (repeat cycle).

Lyn wants to be different. So Lyn fights Caesar...

What I like about this book: The fresh story line, the great association with American history throughout the book and of course; the gorgeous cover! Lise Haines is very creative, and although on the surface, Girl in the Arena doesn't seem like something everyone can relate to, it is. Everyone has been faced with certain societal expectations in their life and this is what this book is about, and how Lyn, erratically chose how she faced it.

What I dislike about this book: The speech is confusing. There is no single quotation mark to indicate when someone starts speaking or ends it. Haines uses dashes to indicate conversation. To me, it's a bit confusing because it's like "--I don't think so, I say to them." out of nowhere. It feels awkward to read in that manner because I'm so used to reading conversations that belongs in quotation marks.

But this is definitely one good book! <3