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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
Overall, I really enjoyed this book.
First off, this is this authors debut novel- and as such the writing wasn't great, but still good.
The plot was very interesting and fairly original. Though I'll admit I was a little disappointed with the ending. Though clever, the plot did sometimes seem pretty unbelievable.
First off, this is this authors debut novel- and as such the writing wasn't great, but still good.
The plot was very interesting and fairly original. Though I'll admit I was a little disappointed with the ending. Though clever, the plot did sometimes seem pretty unbelievable.
Nancy Drew meets Pretty Little Liars
I wanted SO BADLY to hate this book based on the first few chapters but I have to say, I loved it! Try not to get bogged down by the obscure character names (Oleksa, Bao, Anh, Reece, Lonny, etc) and instead enjoy this smart, wild ride through the life and times of Nearly Boswell (another weird name, I know).
I would say the first ~40% of the book was a *little* tough to get into, (mainly because I felt like I had nothing in common with any of the characters) but once this story gets rolling it really doesn’t stop! I will say I was fairly certain of the “bad guy” multiple times throughout the book but was still pleasantly surprised to have my suspicions confirmed. This book definitely doesn’t have the “well duh of course it’s x” ending to it at all. The back stories are incredibly rich and the characters really came to life. Can’t wait to get ahold of the sequel!
I wanted SO BADLY to hate this book based on the first few chapters but I have to say, I loved it! Try not to get bogged down by the obscure character names (Oleksa, Bao, Anh, Reece, Lonny, etc) and instead enjoy this smart, wild ride through the life and times of Nearly Boswell (another weird name, I know).
I would say the first ~40% of the book was a *little* tough to get into, (mainly because I felt like I had nothing in common with any of the characters) but once this story gets rolling it really doesn’t stop! I will say I was fairly certain of the “bad guy” multiple times throughout the book but was still pleasantly surprised to have my suspicions confirmed. This book definitely doesn’t have the “well duh of course it’s x” ending to it at all. The back stories are incredibly rich and the characters really came to life. Can’t wait to get ahold of the sequel!
Suspense novels for teens are hard to find. Good suspense novels for teens are extremely hard to find. Nearly Gone fits into that second category. Elle Cosimano’s debut novel blew me away. I was up all night reading. I dare you to put this one down once you start it.
Nearly (yes, that is her name) spends her Friday mornings searching the personal ads in the newspaper, not always sure what she’s looking for. One day she discovers an ad with a sinister undertone and realizes that it is meant for her. It sets her on a course of action that brings her in the path of a killer and changes her life forever.
Nearly is a character that is impossible not to like. She’s smart and spunky and the girl has attitude. She was a major nerd (way smarter than I could ever be!) and while she embraced that nerdiness it also made it hard for her to fit in with most people. She was an outsider at school and her classmates were not nice about it at all. She wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself though and she did have some friends to back her up. Jeremy and Anh are Nearly’s two closest friends. It’s pretty obvious from the start that Jeremy wants more with Nearly but even so, he’s still a good friend to her. He’s got some issues having to do with his home life and I truly wanted to see him happy. As for Anh, she was Nearly’s friend but also her biggest competition. I never really knew what to think of their friendship.
Then there was Reece. Where do I even begin? Elle Cosimano found and exploited my weakness for tattooed, pierced bad boys with good hearts. Reece and Nearly have undeniable chemistry and their banter made me love them together. They had some serious rough patches but they worked well together. Reece had the street smarts and Nearly had the book smarts. Together they made an unstoppable team. Also, angry makeout sessions are the best.
The mystery is what really hooked me. I was stumped from the start. There is so much going on that I could never tie it all back to one person. There were definitely some red herrings that kept me on my toes too. Elle Cosimano also doesn’t pull any punches just because it’s a YA book. It’s not gruesome or overly horrifying but it’s not toned down for a younger audience.
As for Nearly’s ability, it helped with her investigation into the killer but it didn’t play as prominent a role as I expected. She can sense feelings by touching someones skin. It helped her sense when someone was lying but it’s not like she had the ability to sense what someone was lying about. It was definitely an interesting ability though and it kind of broke my heart that Nearly could feel all the bad things people thought of her.
Overall, Nearly Gone is what I am always looking for in a YA suspense novel. It’s fast-paced with a mystery that never becomes obvious. Elle Cosimano’s debut is perfect for suspense fans.
Nearly (yes, that is her name) spends her Friday mornings searching the personal ads in the newspaper, not always sure what she’s looking for. One day she discovers an ad with a sinister undertone and realizes that it is meant for her. It sets her on a course of action that brings her in the path of a killer and changes her life forever.
Nearly is a character that is impossible not to like. She’s smart and spunky and the girl has attitude. She was a major nerd (way smarter than I could ever be!) and while she embraced that nerdiness it also made it hard for her to fit in with most people. She was an outsider at school and her classmates were not nice about it at all. She wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself though and she did have some friends to back her up. Jeremy and Anh are Nearly’s two closest friends. It’s pretty obvious from the start that Jeremy wants more with Nearly but even so, he’s still a good friend to her. He’s got some issues having to do with his home life and I truly wanted to see him happy. As for Anh, she was Nearly’s friend but also her biggest competition. I never really knew what to think of their friendship.
Then there was Reece. Where do I even begin? Elle Cosimano found and exploited my weakness for tattooed, pierced bad boys with good hearts. Reece and Nearly have undeniable chemistry and their banter made me love them together. They had some serious rough patches but they worked well together. Reece had the street smarts and Nearly had the book smarts. Together they made an unstoppable team. Also, angry makeout sessions are the best.
The mystery is what really hooked me. I was stumped from the start. There is so much going on that I could never tie it all back to one person. There were definitely some red herrings that kept me on my toes too. Elle Cosimano also doesn’t pull any punches just because it’s a YA book. It’s not gruesome or overly horrifying but it’s not toned down for a younger audience.
As for Nearly’s ability, it helped with her investigation into the killer but it didn’t play as prominent a role as I expected. She can sense feelings by touching someones skin. It helped her sense when someone was lying but it’s not like she had the ability to sense what someone was lying about. It was definitely an interesting ability though and it kind of broke my heart that Nearly could feel all the bad things people thought of her.
Overall, Nearly Gone is what I am always looking for in a YA suspense novel. It’s fast-paced with a mystery that never becomes obvious. Elle Cosimano’s debut is perfect for suspense fans.
I loved this! Equal parts creepy and scary mixed with a little cute and sweet. Nearly isn't your average teen. She has a drive and a focus to get out of her town.
and she needs this scholarship
but she's competing for it with her best friend. She doesn't have time for a boyfriend or drama or worrying about a school dance. Because, along with her need to get out, she can't touch anyone. Because when she does, she can taste their emotion.
Imagine that. Imagine how bad bitter and anger must taste. Or how sweet love does. It's a tough life, made even tougher when strange taunting words start appearing on her science desk. And then come the personal ads - giving her clues and hints to where bodies start being found.
This one had me guessing until the very end. Great read!
and she needs this scholarship
but she's competing for it with her best friend. She doesn't have time for a boyfriend or drama or worrying about a school dance. Because, along with her need to get out, she can't touch anyone. Because when she does, she can taste their emotion.
Imagine that. Imagine how bad bitter and anger must taste. Or how sweet love does. It's a tough life, made even tougher when strange taunting words start appearing on her science desk. And then come the personal ads - giving her clues and hints to where bodies start being found.
This one had me guessing until the very end. Great read!
And my search for a great YA thriller continues. Can I just leave my review at that? Because really that sentence sums up Nearly Gone nicely. This story had so much potential to be a great thriller, but it lacked so many of the necessary things to be able to take it there.
Nearly, the silly name her mother gave her, she prefers to go by Leigh, is a smart, driven high school junior who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. Her father vanished when she was younger and every week she combs the “missed connections” section of the local newspaper looking for a message from him that she’s never found. Is there really a local paper, one with news, not just some free weekly, that has a missed connection section? Isn’t that what Craigslist is for?
One day, while reading the paper, Nearly is drawn to an ad that seems like it’s written to get her attention. She doesn’t pay too much attention to it through and instead focuses on competing for the $25,000 scholarship her school offers to the junior who finishes first in chemistry. Nearly desperately needs to scholarship to go to college, but she’s competing against her best friend (although I thought she was more of a frenemy), Anh. When Nearly goes home that afternoon she finds a a box with a cat in it that’s had its throat slit. Nearly doesn’t seem particularly traumatized by this, she just figures it’s a prank some of the kids in her trailer park community are playing on her. This is my biggest issue with this book: very few of the emotions/reactions of the characters rang true to me.
On Monday, Nearly learns that one of her classmates was brutally attacked and she later realizes that the classified ad that stood out to her the previous week might have something to do with it. She decides to go to the police, but they treat her like a suspect and generally seemed like bumbling caricatures. However, while at the police station, she conveniently overhears the detective she just met with talking about using a confidential informant they have planted in her school to monitor her.
When the CI approaches her she realizes he’s the troubled kid who’s started hanging out with the neighborhood drug dealer. She tries to distance herself from him, but he is relentless with her and eventually, despite her wariness of him, she comes to have romantic feelings for him. I didn’t mind the CI story, I did mind the pretty implausible way she overheard the police talking about him, but the chemistry between them was strong and, considering my issues with the other parts of the story, the CI storyline was probably my favorite part.
As the story continues, more and more students at Nearly’s high school turn up injured or dead and there’s a classified ad, seemingly directed at Nearly, for each attack/murder. It seemed as though I was supposed to worry that Nearly would be the next victim, but I never felt any real sense of fear or urgency or worry. As I mentioned pretty much none of the reactions in this story rang true. I have to believe that if someone was really attacking students at a high school like this that, after the first attack, steps to protect students would be taken and the media would be swarming, but everyone in the story from the students to the administration to the community were so blasé about what was happening. It was so strange.
I went into the story expecting an urban setting, the description talks about it talking place in DC, but that was not the case. I didn’t mind, but the idea of it being in DC was planted in my head so the suburban, maybe even more rural, Virginia setting was confusing at times. There is one small part of the story that takes place in DC, but it could have easily taken place somewhere else.
Bottom Line: I say skip Nearly Gone. The actual writing was fine, but the characterizations and situations rarely rang true or made for a compelling story. I will say that I didn’t guess the killer until the end, but the randomness of the killer and the stretch to tie his reasoning in with the rest of the story forced me to suspend my disbelief even farther.
I received an electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
This review first appeared on my blog.
Nearly, the silly name her mother gave her, she prefers to go by Leigh, is a smart, driven high school junior who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. Her father vanished when she was younger and every week she combs the “missed connections” section of the local newspaper looking for a message from him that she’s never found. Is there really a local paper, one with news, not just some free weekly, that has a missed connection section? Isn’t that what Craigslist is for?
One day, while reading the paper, Nearly is drawn to an ad that seems like it’s written to get her attention. She doesn’t pay too much attention to it through and instead focuses on competing for the $25,000 scholarship her school offers to the junior who finishes first in chemistry. Nearly desperately needs to scholarship to go to college, but she’s competing against her best friend (although I thought she was more of a frenemy), Anh. When Nearly goes home that afternoon she finds a a box with a cat in it that’s had its throat slit. Nearly doesn’t seem particularly traumatized by this, she just figures it’s a prank some of the kids in her trailer park community are playing on her. This is my biggest issue with this book: very few of the emotions/reactions of the characters rang true to me.
On Monday, Nearly learns that one of her classmates was brutally attacked and she later realizes that the classified ad that stood out to her the previous week might have something to do with it. She decides to go to the police, but they treat her like a suspect and generally seemed like bumbling caricatures. However, while at the police station, she conveniently overhears the detective she just met with talking about using a confidential informant they have planted in her school to monitor her.
When the CI approaches her she realizes he’s the troubled kid who’s started hanging out with the neighborhood drug dealer. She tries to distance herself from him, but he is relentless with her and eventually, despite her wariness of him, she comes to have romantic feelings for him. I didn’t mind the CI story, I did mind the pretty implausible way she overheard the police talking about him, but the chemistry between them was strong and, considering my issues with the other parts of the story, the CI storyline was probably my favorite part.
As the story continues, more and more students at Nearly’s high school turn up injured or dead and there’s a classified ad, seemingly directed at Nearly, for each attack/murder. It seemed as though I was supposed to worry that Nearly would be the next victim, but I never felt any real sense of fear or urgency or worry. As I mentioned pretty much none of the reactions in this story rang true. I have to believe that if someone was really attacking students at a high school like this that, after the first attack, steps to protect students would be taken and the media would be swarming, but everyone in the story from the students to the administration to the community were so blasé about what was happening. It was so strange.
I went into the story expecting an urban setting, the description talks about it talking place in DC, but that was not the case. I didn’t mind, but the idea of it being in DC was planted in my head so the suburban, maybe even more rural, Virginia setting was confusing at times. There is one small part of the story that takes place in DC, but it could have easily taken place somewhere else.
Bottom Line: I say skip Nearly Gone. The actual writing was fine, but the characterizations and situations rarely rang true or made for a compelling story. I will say that I didn’t guess the killer until the end, but the randomness of the killer and the stretch to tie his reasoning in with the rest of the story forced me to suspend my disbelief even farther.
I received an electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
This review first appeared on my blog.
Loved, loved, loved it! Interesting characters, fun plot twists. Couldn't put it down!
Really enjoyed this face-paced thriller. I would say it's YA. Same author as the Finlay Donovan series. Very smart, and doesn't drag it out.
This book was really engrossing, and I was hooked from beginning to end. I'm a huge sucker for mystery books, but it has to be well written in order to really keep me committed and this book definitely did that. Character wise, Nearly was interesting, although she was a bit annoying in the beginning of the book but she opened up later on and became more likeable. I also loved seeing how she solved the mystery, and I felt the author was super creative with dropping clues. I'm not a fan of chemistry, but reading this book totally made me want to pull out my periodic table ;)
Reece was also pretty cool, and although I'm wary of the whole "bad boy" trope, he was a really down to earth character and I liked how he was looking out for Nearly. The side characters were pretty thought out, and although there was another character in love with Nearly ( *Sigh*. I want to read a mystery novel not a book full of angst), it didn't really turn into a love triangle (meaning it died out pretty soon). There was also a touch of paranormal since Nearly could feel other people's emotions, but it wasn't a huge part of the book. My only big complaint is the fact that although Nearly was smart book-wise, she made really dumb decisions a lot. I won't put any spoilers in here, but all I'm going to say is IF YOU'RE SUSPECTED OF COMMITING A CRIME YOU DIDN'T DO, DON'T PUT YOURSELF IN SITUATIONS THAT LOOK SUSPICIOUS. COMMON SENSE HONEY. COMMON SENSE .
Warning: There were some cuss words sprinkled in, other unsavoury characters did drugs, and there was a scene where Nearly was at a party, but she didn't do drugs or alchohol or anything else like that. Keep in mind that the book deals with characters living in a poor town where people turn to crime to pay the bills, so some situations are to be expected.
I need to get my hands on the next book now. 4 stars.
Reece was also pretty cool, and although I'm wary of the whole "bad boy" trope, he was a really down to earth character and I liked how he was looking out for Nearly. The side characters were pretty thought out, and although there was another character in love with Nearly ( *Sigh*. I want to read a mystery novel not a book full of angst), it didn't really turn into a love triangle (meaning it died out pretty soon). There was also a touch of paranormal since Nearly could feel other people's emotions, but it wasn't a huge part of the book. My only big complaint is the fact that although Nearly was smart book-wise, she made really dumb decisions a lot. I won't put any spoilers in here, but all I'm going to say is IF YOU'RE SUSPECTED OF COMMITING A CRIME YOU DIDN'T DO, DON'T PUT YOURSELF IN SITUATIONS THAT LOOK SUSPICIOUS. COMMON SENSE HONEY. COMMON SENSE .
Warning: There were some cuss words sprinkled in, other unsavoury characters did drugs, and there was a scene where Nearly was at a party, but she didn't do drugs or alchohol or anything else like that. Keep in mind that the book deals with characters living in a poor town where people turn to crime to pay the bills, so some situations are to be expected.
I need to get my hands on the next book now. 4 stars.
I was on the fence for how to rate this book. If i was only reading for myself I'd say three stars, but I think the teens will really like this book. I guess I'm just not particularly interested in suspenseful crime books. Teen serial killer novels are just not my jam.
I did enjoy many of the characters and the writing style of this book though. I thought Nearly's relationship with her mother was especially well done. (also I wanted to strangle her friends by the end). Despite not really enjoying the plot, I'm tempted to pick up the sequel to see where Nearly goes next.
I did enjoy many of the characters and the writing style of this book though. I thought Nearly's relationship with her mother was especially well done. (also I wanted to strangle her friends by the end). Despite not really enjoying the plot, I'm tempted to pick up the sequel to see where Nearly goes next.