Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Written in a lovely way but gosh this was boring. I kept waiting for something- anything- to happen but I feel like half the book was moping along with Ruby. Also I was so stressed by her finances - $25k and no job?? Great that gets you about a week living in Manhattan!
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Beautiful writing, a couple of gut punch lines that felt relatable and heartbreaking at the same time. I expect to be thinking about this story for a while.
I wasn’t expectingAlice’s backstory to be so traumatic, and I wasn’t prepared for the in-depth depictions of her relationship with her high school teacher or the somewhat graphic descriptions of her assault, particularly for a story intentionally positioning itself to focus on the victims, their loved one, the grief. Perhaps my fault for not thoroughly checking trigger warnings.
I wasn’t expecting
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Rape
Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Pedophilia, Vomit
Not what I was expecting at all. This book touched me so, so deeply. I wouldn’t normally read this type of novel because the themes are really triggering, however I was pulled along to hear Alice’s whole story because I felt like I knew her personally and cared for like she was my own daughter. I felt through pockets of sadness, rage and more sadness.. there were passages on love and life that had tears welling in my eyes. This is such an incredible and poignant read, it never wavered in its potency. Now that I’m finished I want to wrap up my daughters and love them even more if that’s possible - girls are so, so, so precious. Thank you Jacqueline, it was a difficult read, my heart is sore but it was an amazing experience!
A teenage girl's body found dumped on the rocks beside a river in New York City. Could there be a more anonymous or clichéd murder mystery to solve than this? And yet we know who the dead girl is from the first page, because she narrates the whole story. She is furious about what has happened to her, how dare some angry narcissitic bloke take her life away because he doesn't get what he wants. She is going to do all she can to bring her killer to justice. It sounds creepy, and a bit of the horror genre, but it is the complete opposite. There is nothing macabre about this at all. It reminded me very much of reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, turned into that beautiful movie by Peter Jackson.
18 year old Alice Lee has run away to New York from some obscure nowhere place in Wisconsin, escaping an increasingly unpleasant situation she has found herself in with her school teacher. Alice has no parents to speak of, the only person truly looking out for her being her best friend. Why does she choose New York? It is the most far way place she can think of to go. And so she does. With the terrific optimism and hope that young people have, she finds a place to live - with a reclusive older man. The alarm bells would be clanging big time in the minds of us oldies, but no, it is a perfect place for Alice, allowing her to find a bit of herself, see a future, make some plans.
But then it all goes wrong, and within weeks of arriving in New York, young, beautiful, talented and fearless Alice is dead. She was discovered by another runaway - 36 year old Ruby. Ruby is going through her own crisis, having uprooted herself from Melbourne to New York. Again because it is far away from everything she knows and she has never been before. What an adventure. Unlike Alice she has money so can live somewhere half way decent. But she knows no one, is depressed, disoriented, uncertain. Until she finds Alice. Ruby wants to know who this young woman was, how she came to be where she is, and with some magic direction from Alice, watching in the shadows, wanting her soul to be at rest and peace, she 'helps' Ruby bring the murderer to account.
It is gripping, thrilling, quite different from any type of murder solving book you will ever read, and just terrific. I loved both these women - courageous, determined, true to themselves, united in the quest. It will make the best movie or TV series.
18 year old Alice Lee has run away to New York from some obscure nowhere place in Wisconsin, escaping an increasingly unpleasant situation she has found herself in with her school teacher. Alice has no parents to speak of, the only person truly looking out for her being her best friend. Why does she choose New York? It is the most far way place she can think of to go. And so she does. With the terrific optimism and hope that young people have, she finds a place to live - with a reclusive older man. The alarm bells would be clanging big time in the minds of us oldies, but no, it is a perfect place for Alice, allowing her to find a bit of herself, see a future, make some plans.
But then it all goes wrong, and within weeks of arriving in New York, young, beautiful, talented and fearless Alice is dead. She was discovered by another runaway - 36 year old Ruby. Ruby is going through her own crisis, having uprooted herself from Melbourne to New York. Again because it is far away from everything she knows and she has never been before. What an adventure. Unlike Alice she has money so can live somewhere half way decent. But she knows no one, is depressed, disoriented, uncertain. Until she finds Alice. Ruby wants to know who this young woman was, how she came to be where she is, and with some magic direction from Alice, watching in the shadows, wanting her soul to be at rest and peace, she 'helps' Ruby bring the murderer to account.
It is gripping, thrilling, quite different from any type of murder solving book you will ever read, and just terrific. I loved both these women - courageous, determined, true to themselves, united in the quest. It will make the best movie or TV series.
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
dark
emotional
slow-paced
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes