I think my major issue with this book was its predictability. This was going to be one of my top YA books of the year! Unfortunately, I think I put too much expectation and pressure on this one, which caused the flat feeling to fall a little harder than it might have otherwise. I waited in agony for MONTHS to be approved, thinking they were just waiting for the archive date to pass where it would disappear off my pending list, but I got that blessed email (you know the one don’t pretend you don’t have a brief fist pumping moment) and knew it was my time to shine.
That blurb hooked me immediately and I couldn’t press the request button on NetGalley fast enough. This story had a major “meh” factor for me. Sure, it was an easy read and it did have some parts that gripped me overall, this wasn’t a terrible book, it just wasn’t great. I usually enjoy a good YA novel, especially if it’s a mystery/thriller type, but this one just seemed to lack all the suspense and thrilling notion to propel me forward. (Aug.I’m fully aware that this might be a simple case of “not the right reader for this book”. Unanswered questions leave chills long after the last page. While the dialogue between Stella and Zoey can sound artificial (“That hardly proves anything, Slutty Sherlock”) and the culprit is easily guessed, the intense peer relationships are strikingly realistic. Debut author Sirowy deftly balances two compelling storylines-a dark murder mystery and a tug-of-war rivalry for Stella’s attention between controlling friend Zoey and new love interest (and former best friend) Sam.
The closer she gets to the truth, the more she is threatened, including ominous words from a wizened healer, “You ain’t monster enough to survive.” With Stella’s workaholic father absent and a detective always one step behind, she digs deeper, uncovering ritual sacrifices and a long history of disappearances that lead to heart-pounding confrontations. As the old case is rehashed, Stella has flashbacks of that missing day, spurring her own investigation into Jeanie’s disappearance. Eleven years later, a girl resembling Jeanie has been found murdered. Stella Cambren cannot recall what happened in the woods of Savage, Minn., when, at age six, she returned home without her friend Jeanie.
0 kommentar(er)
