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notlikethebeer's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
A cosy young adult novel, perfect for autumnal evenings. I think a lot of my enjoyment of this came from the stakes being relatively low - although the protagonist, Birdie, dreams of being a private investigator, the mystery she's solving in this book isn't exactly life-or-death. At the same time, this book does manage to capture a lot of depth, especially around mental health problems, grief, and physical health problems. I've never read a book featuring a character with narcolepsy/cataplexy before, so that was really interesting, especially in conjunction with working the graveyard shift! And I found the descriptions of "going boneless" really interesting, something I learnt about in Psychology but never heard of first-person. That being said I don't know how much research the author did, of course, so maybe the descriptions were completely wrong. Anyway. There were parts that annoyed me a bit, Birdie could be quite a frustrating character at times - I often found myself wondering why on earth she was dealing with things so terribly - but then would remind myself that she is a home-schooled 18-year-old dealing with tricky griefs! A good reminder to myself to be a little more forgiving of characters (and people).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Abandonment
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Trafficking
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