Scan barcode
emily_mh's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This rating is pretty much based on my enjoyment because the plot was a let down. But before we get into that I'll talk about what I did like! This read was atmospheric and spooky. It had good pacing, and the main character, Mila, was a great narrator. And like I said, I really enjoyed reading it!
HOWEVER, the plot turned out to be quite underwhelming. For a mystery/thriller, it was very linear and if you're familiar with the genre I feel like the culprit is an easy guess. Some other things I didn't like was that apart from Mila, the characters felt a little flat, and I didn't like the whole bully-redemption arc. June and Dayton were literally racist and fatphobic towards Mila while they were living and within a week everyone was buddy-buddy? Not a big fan of that.
All that being said I did like this book, and loved where Mila ended up by the end of it. I would be super interested in reading more books about her life!
HOWEVER, the plot turned out to be quite underwhelming. For a mystery/thriller, it was very linear and if you're familiar with the genre I feel like the culprit is an easy guess. Some other things I didn't like was that apart from Mila, the characters felt a little flat, and I didn't like the whole bully-redemption arc. June and Dayton were literally racist and fatphobic towards Mila while they were living and within a week everyone was buddy-buddy? Not a big fan of that.
All that being said I did like this book, and loved where Mila ended up by the end of it. I would be super interested in reading more books about her life!
Graphic: Death, Child death, Murder, Suicide, Gore, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Grief, Cursing, Fatphobia, Religious bigotry, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Physical abuse, Bullying, Cursing, Body shaming, Excrement, Racism, Ableism, Mental illness, Child abuse, Drug use, Cultural appropriation, Sexual content, Addiction, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Rape, Slavery, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Confinement, Colonisation, Gun violence, and Infidelity
boneloose's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
11/7/20 reread:
I love this book. Bumped it up to 5 stars after this reread. It just completely engrosses you and makes you forget the reality around you, and has a lot of my ideal aspects of books. The author perfectly masters first person narration of a 16 year old without making it patronizingly immature. Rereading it was so fun because I could see the foreshadowing of the murderer, and I actually forgot a fair amount of what had really happened so I still was able to be surprised! 2018 me was wrong; it now is one of my favorite books of all time.
Original 2018 review:
4.5 stars
This book was incredible. I literally couldn't put it down; I read it in one day! It was engaging and entertaining. Even though it's only 300ish pages, you get to know the main character and her relationships very well, and start to care a lot about her.
There's no real reason this isn't a solid five stars for me except that it just didn't have that special something that made it one of my favorite books of all time. I mean, if I had to critique something, I was able to guess who the murderer was, but that was more of a "wow what if it was this person" as opposed to the plot itself being predictable. Overall, a very enjoyable read! I'll be looking out for more books by this author.
I love this book. Bumped it up to 5 stars after this reread. It just completely engrosses you and makes you forget the reality around you, and has a lot of my ideal aspects of books. The author perfectly masters first person narration of a 16 year old without making it patronizingly immature. Rereading it was so fun because I could see the foreshadowing of the murderer, and I actually forgot a fair amount of what had really happened so I still was able to be surprised! 2018 me was wrong; it now is one of my favorite books of all time.
Original 2018 review:
4.5 stars
This book was incredible. I literally couldn't put it down; I read it in one day! It was engaging and entertaining. Even though it's only 300ish pages, you get to know the main character and her relationships very well, and start to care a lot about her.
There's no real reason this isn't a solid five stars for me except that it just didn't have that special something that made it one of my favorite books of all time. I mean, if I had to critique something, I was able to guess who the murderer was, but that was more of a "wow what if it was this person" as opposed to the plot itself being predictable. Overall, a very enjoyable read! I'll be looking out for more books by this author.
Graphic: Grief, Death, Suicide, and Vomit
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood
Minor: Rape and Fatphobia
For suicide:
More...