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3.11 AVERAGE
3.11 AVERAGE
*I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review*
Jenny Parker's best friend has gone missing and she is at a loss. Constantly being harrassed by the police and on the edge of school, she feels lost and unsure of what to do. When she meets Tom, she feels like perhaps she has a person who could help her navigate these treacherous waters.
Unfortunately, there was just so much to be desired from this book. I convinced myself not to throw in the towel, and while it got better around 60% into the story, I was never really convinced that I was reading something that should have been very realistic fiction. The character development was lacking and the story just felt forced.
Jenny Parker's best friend has gone missing and she is at a loss. Constantly being harrassed by the police and on the edge of school, she feels lost and unsure of what to do. When she meets Tom, she feels like perhaps she has a person who could help her navigate these treacherous waters.
Unfortunately, there was just so much to be desired from this book. I convinced myself not to throw in the towel, and while it got better around 60% into the story, I was never really convinced that I was reading something that should have been very realistic fiction. The character development was lacking and the story just felt forced.
In the small town of Thunder Creek, Ontario, Jenny wakes one day to the news her best friend Chloe has gone missing. Following this, a young First Nations girl called Helen is found murdered. Whilst Chloe’s disappearance is heavily investigated, Helen’s murder is pushed under the rug… and Jenny wants to know why. Sure Chloe is her best friend, maybe she should be happy that the investigation is putting its resources into finding Chloe… but Jenny can’t help but wonder why Helen’s death isn’t being treated as significantly. This book is a coming of age novel focused on racism, friendship and slut-shaming. I found the story quite riveting but had a few problems with it.
You can read my full review on Books Coffee Cats
You can read my full review on Books Coffee Cats
I started this book really enjoying it. I really enjoyed the mystery feel to the book, but the middle killed it for me. It turned into more of a semi-romance with some small pieces of mystery thrown in. Kind of disappointing. Meh.
2.5/5 stars. Full review to come
UPDATE Oct 18 2017
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for sending me an electronic copy of the book for review.
The Lives of Desperate Girls by MacKenzie Common follows teenager Jenny Parker as she struggles with the reality of her missing friend Chloe Shaughnessy and the harsh truth that follows the death of Helen Commanda.
Jenny was another cliche small town character that puts her life at risk unnecessarily, The love interest wasn't needed and offered little to the plot. At times it felt like both of these things were taking away from the important topics of this story. There was potential for this to be an outstanding and impactful novel that ended leaving so much more to be desired.
Less time spent on the unnecessary cliches and more time as a discussion of prejudice and rape culture, and this would have easily been a 4 -5/5 star books. Instead, the shortcomings leave me wondering, what was the point?
I give The Lives of Desperate Girls a rating of 2.5/5 stars.
Please see my full review on my blog.
https://amillionbookswithyou.wixsite.com/amillionideaswithyou/single-post/2017/10/18/The-Lives-of-Desperate-Girls---A-Book-Reivew
UPDATE Oct 18 2017
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for sending me an electronic copy of the book for review.
The Lives of Desperate Girls by MacKenzie Common follows teenager Jenny Parker as she struggles with the reality of her missing friend Chloe Shaughnessy and the harsh truth that follows the death of Helen Commanda.
Jenny was another cliche small town character that puts her life at risk unnecessarily, The love interest wasn't needed and offered little to the plot. At times it felt like both of these things were taking away from the important topics of this story. There was potential for this to be an outstanding and impactful novel that ended leaving so much more to be desired.
Less time spent on the unnecessary cliches and more time as a discussion of prejudice and rape culture, and this would have easily been a 4 -5/5 star books. Instead, the shortcomings leave me wondering, what was the point?
I give The Lives of Desperate Girls a rating of 2.5/5 stars.
Please see my full review on my blog.
https://amillionbookswithyou.wixsite.com/amillionideaswithyou/single-post/2017/10/18/The-Lives-of-Desperate-Girls---A-Book-Reivew
Excellent premise addressing timely issues of modern racism in Canada, but is saddled with the world's dullest protagonist, mediocre writing, and an uncomfortable romance.
I want to thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing me with this copy in exchange for an honest review
2/5 Stars
You can find this one and more of my review on my blog A Book. A Thought.
Well, the thing is, I was reading Ice Like Fire, the second book of the Snow Like Ashes trilogy and I wasn't feeling it, I was really in the mood for a mystery and murder reading and luckily I had this arc on my Kindle for some time already, so I thought it would be a good idea to read it. It wasn't what I expected, at all, but still I want to talk about them in detail, first I want to emphasize the writing style, which is pretty easy to read
I will leave here below the Goodreads synopsis for the book so that you know what it's about
I started enjoying it a lot, especially the mystery vibe that is handled in the book is very good and enthralling, but then Jenny, our main character, begins to have all these completely ridiculous and meaningless attitudes. First her way of dealing with loss is the rarest, I've read that some people believe that is her way of dealing with it, but I don't agree, her behavior as if nothing matters I thought it was absurd.
I understand that she really wanted to find her friend and solve what was going on, but suddenly she started to flee almost from the police as if they were the enemy, then she passes like 60% of the book with her super hot guy, doing basically nothing relevant and the other percentage passes by looking for her friend putting herself in danger without any sense and hiding very important details from the police, because she actually thinks she's protecting her friend, I mean, WHAT ?, they want to find her!.In moments of desperation I understand that you can forget to comment a really important things, but she was hiding that from the police because she wanted to do it, which only made research even more difficult.
This was crazy for me one of the most absurd characters I've read, and I really hate talking this way about a creation that someone did with effort and love, but it hasn't worked for me. Jenny is the typical beautiful and rich girl who thinks she knows everything about life because she get drugged a couple of times and then she think she's smart enough to solve a crime on her own, but she just makes a mess, and that's all she's been for me
On the other hand, I could see how the author wanted to touch important issues like abuse, bullying, indifference, racism, and depression, I appreciate that and I want to highlight it, even so it isn't a book that going to stay with me
Anyway, I would try another book of the author, because I think her writing style is nice and maybe with the development of other types of characters more deep and complex could hook me more and I would end up liking me more her book
Summing up, is a great idea for a mystery plot but the characters are flat and their actions don't make sense most of the time
2/5 Stars
You can find this one and more of my review on my blog A Book. A Thought.
Well, the thing is, I was reading Ice Like Fire, the second book of the Snow Like Ashes trilogy and I wasn't feeling it, I was really in the mood for a mystery and murder reading and luckily I had this arc on my Kindle for some time already, so I thought it would be a good idea to read it. It wasn't what I expected, at all, but still I want to talk about them in detail, first I want to emphasize the writing style, which is pretty easy to read
I will leave here below the Goodreads synopsis for the book so that you know what it's about
“One small, northern community. Two girls gone -- one missing, the other dead. A riveting coming-of-age debut young adult novel for fans of Everything I Never Told You and All the Bright Places.
Sixteen-year-old Helen Commanda is found dead just outside Thunder Creek, Ontario. Her murder goes unremarked, except for the fact that it may shed light on the earlier disappearance of Chloe Shaughnessy. Chloe is beautiful, rich and white. Helen is plain, and from the reservation. They had nothing in common except that they were teenage girls from an unforgiving small town. Only Chloe's best friend Jenny Parker knows exactly how unforgiving, but she's keeping some dangerous secrets of her own.
Jenny begins looking for answers about Helen's life and death, trying to understand larger questions about her town and her best friend. But what can a teenage girl really accomplish where adults have failed? And how much is Jenny actually complicit in a conspiracy of silence?”
I started enjoying it a lot, especially the mystery vibe that is handled in the book is very good and enthralling, but then Jenny, our main character, begins to have all these completely ridiculous and meaningless attitudes. First her way of dealing with loss is the rarest, I've read that some people believe that is her way of dealing with it, but I don't agree, her behavior as if nothing matters I thought it was absurd.
I understand that she really wanted to find her friend and solve what was going on, but suddenly she started to flee almost from the police as if they were the enemy, then she passes like 60% of the book with her super hot guy, doing basically nothing relevant and the other percentage passes by looking for her friend putting herself in danger without any sense and hiding very important details from the police, because she actually thinks she's protecting her friend, I mean, WHAT ?, they want to find her!.In moments of desperation I understand that you can forget to comment a really important things, but she was hiding that from the police because she wanted to do it, which only made research even more difficult.
This was crazy for me one of the most absurd characters I've read, and I really hate talking this way about a creation that someone did with effort and love, but it hasn't worked for me. Jenny is the typical beautiful and rich girl who thinks she knows everything about life because she get drugged a couple of times and then she think she's smart enough to solve a crime on her own, but she just makes a mess, and that's all she's been for me
On the other hand, I could see how the author wanted to touch important issues like abuse, bullying, indifference, racism, and depression, I appreciate that and I want to highlight it, even so it isn't a book that going to stay with me
Anyway, I would try another book of the author, because I think her writing style is nice and maybe with the development of other types of characters more deep and complex could hook me more and I would end up liking me more her book
Summing up, is a great idea for a mystery plot but the characters are flat and their actions don't make sense most of the time
*I received this copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
I thought that this book took an interesting direction by having one of the focuses be racism. Two girls are gone with one missing, possibly dead and the other murdered but the police are focusing on the missing white girl rather than the native young woman that was murdered. I'm not sure how realistic I found some the events in the book or the memories that people spoke about. Some things seemed to be a bit far-fetched which made them hard to believe. Although, I assumed that the book was set in present day but if it was set sometime in the past it would be more realistic to me.
The portions of the book that I enjoyed the most were the moments that were focused on Chloe. However, they seemed as if they were few and far between so I found it difficult to keep reading. I wanted to delve more into her "secrets" in order to understand her mind set and what happened to her but the book focused more on Jenny and her reactions to everything. I found Jenny to be bland and uninteresting. Her reactions to things seemed blunted to me and her priorities were odd. It seemed like the book didn't have a focus. There were so many topics that were discussed that it was difficult to pinpoint where my attention was supposed to be. Is it Helen? Chloe? Jenny? It began to be confusing not to mention the romance aspect that is focused on quite a bit in the book.
https://fictionedtodeath.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-lives-of-desperate-girls-by.html
I thought that this book took an interesting direction by having one of the focuses be racism. Two girls are gone with one missing, possibly dead and the other murdered but the police are focusing on the missing white girl rather than the native young woman that was murdered. I'm not sure how realistic I found some the events in the book or the memories that people spoke about. Some things seemed to be a bit far-fetched which made them hard to believe. Although, I assumed that the book was set in present day but if it was set sometime in the past it would be more realistic to me.
The portions of the book that I enjoyed the most were the moments that were focused on Chloe. However, they seemed as if they were few and far between so I found it difficult to keep reading. I wanted to delve more into her "secrets" in order to understand her mind set and what happened to her but the book focused more on Jenny and her reactions to everything. I found Jenny to be bland and uninteresting. Her reactions to things seemed blunted to me and her priorities were odd. It seemed like the book didn't have a focus. There were so many topics that were discussed that it was difficult to pinpoint where my attention was supposed to be. Is it Helen? Chloe? Jenny? It began to be confusing not to mention the romance aspect that is focused on quite a bit in the book.
https://fictionedtodeath.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-lives-of-desperate-girls-by.html
The mystery was somewhat of a letdown, but overall the book raised some important points. Full review to come.
Two things that bothered me:
1) it was a little lecture-y
2) the word is not “anyways” and someone working on their PhD should know that
1) it was a little lecture-y
2) the word is not “anyways” and someone working on their PhD should know that