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goingtomaine's review against another edition
2.0
This book was just awful. It's marketed as a contemporary novel about sisterhood and it starts out fine but then it just takes a turn for the weird. Without giving to much away the writing is poor and the cover and title are somewhat misleading. Unless you like crazy all over the place stories I'd recommend you skip this one.
minty's review against another edition
3.0
Beautiful, haunting writing. Very evocative. I spent the whole time trying to puzzle it out, but it felt like a puzzle without a solution.
kiperoo's review against another edition
5.0
This haunting story had me hooked from the first chapter. Ruby and Chloe are both such incredible characters who jump of the page all the way through the book. Such beautiful, lyrical writing throughout. I'm also a huge fan of magical realism, and it's great to see it so well done in a YA novel. I'm not a fan of horror or very scary stories, but this had just the right amount of creepiness to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The story twisted and turned in marvelously unexpected ways, and ended exactly how it had to. Absolutely loved it.
caramels's review against another edition
5.0
This is probably the most creative book I've ever read. The author succeeded in creating an authentic new world, one I could never have imagined once I started reading the first page. That's the main element I want to point out, because reading should always feel this mesmerizing, like slowly being sucked into another reality altogether without knowing it, which sometimes I tend to forget because unfortunately not every reading experience is this gripping. The second element I truly admired was the love depicted between Chloe and Ruby. I wish romantic love could equate to the infinite trust of these two sisters. I've never experienced such an overwhelming emotion. They were simply so beautiful together, I'd forgotten such a bond could exist, (which is also why the last page had me in tears.)
This novel will never get enough praise. Being with Ruby and Chloe was a journey I will always treasure, until the next time I'll plunge into their wondrous lives with another read.
This novel will never get enough praise. Being with Ruby and Chloe was a journey I will always treasure, until the next time I'll plunge into their wondrous lives with another read.
blakehalsey's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful, lush writing that never, ever felt overdone or forced. Ruby and Chloe held a bond that I didn't always understand, but that felt right too, and the entire book was a delicious mix of eerie and heartbreaking and moving.
rosandebie's review against another edition
3.0
(Kinda spoiler)
I enjoyed reading this book, because I thought it would answer the questions, explain all the fague things. But it did not. Kinda disappointed :(
I enjoyed reading this book, because I thought it would answer the questions, explain all the fague things. But it did not. Kinda disappointed :(
saram84's review against another edition
2.0
A story about two sisters who think they know each other but one night during a drunken party changes everything between them. Ruby is the 19 year old teenage girl who has everyone in their small town wrapped around her finger. Everyone seems to do anything she asks and she always gets her way. Chloe is her 14 year old sister who adores her and wants to be just like her.
One night at a reservoir in town Ruby brags that Chloe can swim across the two mile reservoir. Chloe willingly obliges Ruby and starts to swim. When Chloe gets tired she stops and discovers a dead girl in a row boat. The girl is Chloe’s classmate London Hayes and has overdosed.
Afterwards, Chloe is forced to leave town and live with her father for two years. Then randomly, Ruby shows up and tells Chloe to come back home. When Ruby does come she comes face to face with London Hayes who has been dead for two years. How is she alive? Why doesn’t anyone remember her death? Why did Ruby come back after two years to get Chloe?
I found the premise of this book engaging and intriguing. I wanted to read more about these mysterious circumstances. But other than the premise there was not much else to like about this book. All characters were unlikeable in this book and that never changes. Even worse, none of the characters change or grow throughout the book they are pretty much the same selfish cold people they were in the beginning. I had trouble with the writing style as well it seemed as though scenes were not transitioning and all of a sudden the characters were doing something completely different from the previous paragraph. In the end, I finished the book because I was interested enough to keep reading but it really wasn’t for me.
One night at a reservoir in town Ruby brags that Chloe can swim across the two mile reservoir. Chloe willingly obliges Ruby and starts to swim. When Chloe gets tired she stops and discovers a dead girl in a row boat. The girl is Chloe’s classmate London Hayes and has overdosed.
Afterwards, Chloe is forced to leave town and live with her father for two years. Then randomly, Ruby shows up and tells Chloe to come back home. When Ruby does come she comes face to face with London Hayes who has been dead for two years. How is she alive? Why doesn’t anyone remember her death? Why did Ruby come back after two years to get Chloe?
I found the premise of this book engaging and intriguing. I wanted to read more about these mysterious circumstances. But other than the premise there was not much else to like about this book. All characters were unlikeable in this book and that never changes. Even worse, none of the characters change or grow throughout the book they are pretty much the same selfish cold people they were in the beginning. I had trouble with the writing style as well it seemed as though scenes were not transitioning and all of a sudden the characters were doing something completely different from the previous paragraph. In the end, I finished the book because I was interested enough to keep reading but it really wasn’t for me.
literatehedgehog's review against another edition
3.0
[spoilers!!]
An eerie blend of reality and the fantastic. The suspense and secrets pulled me through the plot, but the blend of realistic fiction with haunting fantastic power didn't seem quite balanced to me. The writing seemed too realistic-fiction-genre for me to wholly believe the eventual magic of the mystery. I'm left wanting a different sort of dissatisfying ending: was it or was it not? Did she or didn't she? The depths (ha, no pun intended) of an unreliable, biased narrator could have been plumbed further.
Also, I was discomfited by the excess of description of Ruby's "stunning" beauty and "gleaming bare legs". Perhaps these visions/interpretations of her are meant to be traced back to her power over the town, but this perpetuation -- with no release -- from the beauty myth doesn't sit well with me.
An eerie blend of reality and the fantastic. The suspense and secrets pulled me through the plot, but the blend of realistic fiction with haunting fantastic power didn't seem quite balanced to me. The writing seemed too realistic-fiction-genre for me to wholly believe the eventual magic of the mystery. I'm left wanting a different sort of dissatisfying ending: was it or was it not? Did she or didn't she? The depths (ha, no pun intended) of an unreliable, biased narrator could have been plumbed further.
Also, I was discomfited by the excess of description of Ruby's "stunning" beauty and "gleaming bare legs". Perhaps these visions/interpretations of her are meant to be traced back to her power over the town, but this perpetuation -- with no release -- from the beauty myth doesn't sit well with me.
paigeyprincess's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
"If anyone was a mythical creature here, it was Ruby, the one we all looked to and listened for, the one the boys loved and fought to be with, who couldn't be captured or caged."
????? What did I just read
I mean, I enjoyed it...but!!??!? My biggest issue was the fact that basically no questions were answered. I wanted to know WHAT exactly was happening and WHY, but the reader never fully learns any of that. The first time I feel a book has gaslit me so successfully lmao... I felt crazy, disturbed, and confused by the end of it. But I still can't say it was a bad read, because it wasn't; it was interesting and had a dreamy, poetic feel to it. Perfect read for the Pisces full moon!
????? What did I just read
I mean, I enjoyed it...but!!??!? My biggest issue was the fact that basically no questions were answered. I wanted to know WHAT exactly was happening and WHY, but the reader never fully learns any of that. The first time I feel a book has gaslit me so successfully lmao... I felt crazy, disturbed, and confused by the end of it. But I still can't say it was a bad read, because it wasn't; it was interesting and had a dreamy, poetic feel to it. Perfect read for the Pisces full moon!
kricketa's review against another edition
3.0
chloe's older sister, ruby, practically raised her alone and loves her more than anyone or anything else on earth. but after chloe, on ruby's encouragement, swims in the reservoir and finds a dead body, she wants to leave town and live with her dad. ruby will do anything to get her back, including impossible things...
i thought i would like this more. the writing was amazing- lovely and spare. also, i was intrigued by the town under the reservoir. but even when the mysterious events were explained, they weren't -really- explained. there wasn't that "aha" moment where everything falls into place because we never find out how ruby does anything.
that said, i would definitely recommend this to teens looking for something good & spooky.
i thought i would like this more. the writing was amazing- lovely and spare. also, i was intrigued by the town under the reservoir. but even when the mysterious events were explained, they weren't -really- explained. there wasn't that "aha" moment where everything falls into place because we never find out how ruby does anything.
that said, i would definitely recommend this to teens looking for something good & spooky.