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sometimesleelynnreads's review against another edition
4.0
Find this review and more on my blog Sometimes Leelynn Reads.
"I think you know what it's like to be the star of a story that you didn't write."
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is the first ARC that I ever received, and I was so excited to read it! Thank you so much Netgalley for this opportunity.
This book has been described as a mix between We Were Liars and 13 Reasons Why. Unfortunately, I haven't read either one of those books, so I can't really compare them, but I can say that I can see a Pretty Little Liars vibe in here. That comes from one of the main characters at play, a girl that goes by the name of "Ret". See, from the vibe that I've gotten from her, she is very manipulative with the group of girls that she hangs out with. She is the one that brings them all together, and she is the one that broke them all apart. Think of her as the Alison DiLaurentis of the group, exactly why I can see a PLL vibe. It gets to the point where the main protagonist, a girl named Ellory (I'm actually really digging her name, by the way) even feels like she "needs" to have Ret in her life at some point, and that she "belongs" to Ret. She even has some sort of jealousy custody battle thing with one of the other girls named Jenni, because according to Jenni, she's known Ret longer. It's like they are in competition for Ret's affection, and that's honestly no way to have a good "girl friend" kind of relationship. Not at all.
The more that the book progresses, the more you can see just how abusive Ret really is to her friends. You see it because Ellory is able to finally see it, even if she hasn't done anything to stand up for herself or the other girls yet. There will be moments where it seems like Ret is being genuinely nice, but we have Ellory telling us that it's an ulterior motive, and then we can see it. Everything that Ret says and does to her friends is to make them under the impression that without Ret, they have nothing. They almost are nothing, and Ret knows that. If they don't tell her something immediately, Ret punishes them by not telling them something. If Ret wants to find out information, she pulls the "don't you trust me?" trump card that makes the other girls feel guilty. It's a psychological battle that Ret knows she's doing, and it seems like maybe Ellory is noticing it too.
I also really liked the way that this book would switch between the past and the present. It reminded me of The Roanoke Girls, and for me, it seems like the story flows better that way. One on hand, you can see how Ellory's friendship with Ret, Jenni, and Bex was good, and then you can see just how alone she really is in the present. What happened that made this sudden change? The story doesn't really tell you exactly what happens until you get towards the end (as a good book usually does), but the suspense was killing me! I just wanted to know what the heck happened that was so bad! It had to have been bad if she was out of school on a suspension for two months. Should she have even gone back to that school? Was it worth it to be back in the same situation and these people that caused her so much pain?
Was she also to blame for her pain?
In the past, Ellory even had herself a boyfriend, the elusive and beautiful Matthias Cole. But in the present, she didn't even have him. Throughout the book, the more that Ellory shared her past, you could see that Matthias was drifting. Was he out of love with her, or was something else going on? He was keeping secrets, and Ellory didn't understand why he felt the need to keep secrets from her. She had never judged him before, was always supportive of his love for music, and yet something was changing between them. Could it have been blamed on the fleeting sensation of high school romance, or was it something else entirely?
This may not be my regular genre (the contemporary part, not the YA part), but I did enjoy this book. I thought it was well written, and the characters left me feeling something. I don't know if I'm completely happy with everyone, but I could tell that things were real for them, like I could have gone through something similar, even if not the same thing. I hurt for Ellory, I hurt for them all, and yet I didn't feel sorry for them. I just could understand them.
"I think you know what it's like to be the star of a story that you didn't write."
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is the first ARC that I ever received, and I was so excited to read it! Thank you so much Netgalley for this opportunity.
This book has been described as a mix between We Were Liars and 13 Reasons Why. Unfortunately, I haven't read either one of those books, so I can't really compare them, but I can say that I can see a Pretty Little Liars vibe in here. That comes from one of the main characters at play, a girl that goes by the name of "Ret". See, from the vibe that I've gotten from her, she is very manipulative with the group of girls that she hangs out with. She is the one that brings them all together, and she is the one that broke them all apart. Think of her as the Alison DiLaurentis of the group, exactly why I can see a PLL vibe. It gets to the point where the main protagonist, a girl named Ellory (I'm actually really digging her name, by the way) even feels like she "needs" to have Ret in her life at some point, and that she "belongs" to Ret. She even has some sort of jealousy custody battle thing with one of the other girls named Jenni, because according to Jenni, she's known Ret longer. It's like they are in competition for Ret's affection, and that's honestly no way to have a good "girl friend" kind of relationship. Not at all.
The more that the book progresses, the more you can see just how abusive Ret really is to her friends. You see it because Ellory is able to finally see it, even if she hasn't done anything to stand up for herself or the other girls yet. There will be moments where it seems like Ret is being genuinely nice, but we have Ellory telling us that it's an ulterior motive, and then we can see it. Everything that Ret says and does to her friends is to make them under the impression that without Ret, they have nothing. They almost are nothing, and Ret knows that. If they don't tell her something immediately, Ret punishes them by not telling them something. If Ret wants to find out information, she pulls the "don't you trust me?" trump card that makes the other girls feel guilty. It's a psychological battle that Ret knows she's doing, and it seems like maybe Ellory is noticing it too.
I also really liked the way that this book would switch between the past and the present. It reminded me of The Roanoke Girls, and for me, it seems like the story flows better that way. One on hand, you can see how Ellory's friendship with Ret, Jenni, and Bex was good, and then you can see just how alone she really is in the present. What happened that made this sudden change? The story doesn't really tell you exactly what happens until you get towards the end (as a good book usually does), but the suspense was killing me! I just wanted to know what the heck happened that was so bad! It had to have been bad if she was out of school on a suspension for two months. Should she have even gone back to that school? Was it worth it to be back in the same situation and these people that caused her so much pain?
Was she also to blame for her pain?
In the past, Ellory even had herself a boyfriend, the elusive and beautiful Matthias Cole. But in the present, she didn't even have him. Throughout the book, the more that Ellory shared her past, you could see that Matthias was drifting. Was he out of love with her, or was something else going on? He was keeping secrets, and Ellory didn't understand why he felt the need to keep secrets from her. She had never judged him before, was always supportive of his love for music, and yet something was changing between them. Could it have been blamed on the fleeting sensation of high school romance, or was it something else entirely?
This may not be my regular genre (the contemporary part, not the YA part), but I did enjoy this book. I thought it was well written, and the characters left me feeling something. I don't know if I'm completely happy with everyone, but I could tell that things were real for them, like I could have gone through something similar, even if not the same thing. I hurt for Ellory, I hurt for them all, and yet I didn't feel sorry for them. I just could understand them.
izzrose's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
stellaethoughts's review against another edition
4.0
i still don't know how to rate this book... i have to think about it. but it was a positive surprise unlike what i said for the first 100+ pages! i'll post the review on my blog probably monday. i'll rate it then, when i had time to think
full review: https://mshycorner.blogspot.com/2018/05/book-review-see-all-stars.html
full review: https://mshycorner.blogspot.com/2018/05/book-review-see-all-stars.html
femme_bear's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
booking_along's review against another edition
3.0
I am sure that a lot of people that will read this book will love it.
But sadly i just read to many books telling a very similar story - toxic friendships between girls, bad things that happen that destroys friendships, told in past/now plotting...- and there was just not that one thing that stood out to me that made this book go from "its okay" to "this is great".
Everything was good.
The writing is good, the characters are okay, the plotting and structure of this book are good -even if some sections feel very dragged out in my option and could have been cut short- and the big "Plot twist" of what happened was very predictable and nothing new but at the same time not done bad just not done fantastically well.
So all in all its a good book.
And if you are not a huge read of this type book/genre i am sure you will enjoy this book.
But i just felt like there was the little something special missing in this book that would make this book stand out to me personally and i just know that in a few weeks i will have no idea anymore about the details in the book since it just felt like the very generic "friendship gone bad" type of book to me.
I am however interested to see what else this author will be doing, so we'll see what the future brings, and we will see if the next book by this author might be a better fit for me personally!
*Thanks to NetGalley.com for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for a free and honest review*
But sadly i just read to many books telling a very similar story - toxic friendships between girls, bad things that happen that destroys friendships, told in past/now plotting...- and there was just not that one thing that stood out to me that made this book go from "its okay" to "this is great".
Everything was good.
The writing is good, the characters are okay, the plotting and structure of this book are good -even if some sections feel very dragged out in my option and could have been cut short- and the big "Plot twist" of what happened was very predictable and nothing new but at the same time not done bad just not done fantastically well.
So all in all its a good book.
And if you are not a huge read of this type book/genre i am sure you will enjoy this book.
But i just felt like there was the little something special missing in this book that would make this book stand out to me personally and i just know that in a few weeks i will have no idea anymore about the details in the book since it just felt like the very generic "friendship gone bad" type of book to me.
I am however interested to see what else this author will be doing, so we'll see what the future brings, and we will see if the next book by this author might be a better fit for me personally!
*Thanks to NetGalley.com for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for a free and honest review*
clwalters's review against another edition
4.0
While not a “happy” story it is well told and resolved in a fulfilling and hopeful way. The writing is strong though it could have moved a bit faster at times. Really about the ramifications of toxic relationships on identity, Ellory encapsulates the struggle all of us have faced at one time or another in one way or another.
kelli_belli's review against another edition
3.0
I’m not sure how I feel about this book. I don’t know if want to give two or three stars. My pet peeve with YA books is bad best friends. Everyone in this book treated each other so poorly.
victoriabryan's review against another edition
2.0
Very underwhelming. This book made me appreciate how far Kit Frick has come in two short years.
isabelle_the_bookdutchesses's review against another edition
2.0
I was provided with a copy by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
I was very disappointed by this story. I love a good mystery and at the start of the story I was definitely interested in finding out what had happened between Ellory and Ret. Unfortunately this story doesn't bring anything new, the twists were not unique and I saw them coming miles away. There are only so many twists out there in the world I guess so great characters and storytelling would have been able to still make this a compelling read. However, the characters weren't all that interesting, Ellory is extremely boring. I didn't care for her one bit. Ret was such a cliche and their friendship was very toxic. I didn't like any of the characters and I just didn't care for anyone. It took me forever to read this book and I put it down for a while multiple times. The only reason I continued was to see if I was right about the 'twists'. Like I said, this book was quite boring and didn't bring anything new. You might be able to enjoy if you haven't read more stories like this but I think there are way better ones out there.
I was very disappointed by this story. I love a good mystery and at the start of the story I was definitely interested in finding out what had happened between Ellory and Ret. Unfortunately this story doesn't bring anything new, the twists were not unique and I saw them coming miles away. There are only so many twists out there in the world I guess so great characters and storytelling would have been able to still make this a compelling read. However, the characters weren't all that interesting, Ellory is extremely boring. I didn't care for her one bit. Ret was such a cliche and their friendship was very toxic. I didn't like any of the characters and I just didn't care for anyone. It took me forever to read this book and I put it down for a while multiple times. The only reason I continued was to see if I was right about the 'twists'. Like I said, this book was quite boring and didn't bring anything new. You might be able to enjoy if you haven't read more stories like this but I think there are way better ones out there.