A review by malkarivka
I'd Give Anything by Marisa de los Santos

4.0

I think the back cover synopsis sort of ruined the book for me, because the book structurally is very different than what it says it is, so telling a synopsis in chronological order of a character's point of view when it's revealed slowly over time in the book not chronologically is...an odd choice. The fire doesn't become an important part of the book until halfway through and there's supposed to be some mystery to whether or not the journal writer is Ginny. The first half really dragged on for me, and made me feel like maybe I was missing some context (I know this is a series but also standalone? I don't know how much of this confusion stems from that...) The resolution to the book is by far the best part, and brings up some very interesting emotions and moral conundrums to turn over in your mind. I really disliked how the scandal seems to not affect Ginny in the first half, and maybe because she has little emotional investment in processing what happened for herself beyond "how's this going to affect my daughter", it really feels low stakes. Which is confusing because oh boy is the scandal pretty high stakes and I think would cause at least some inner turmoil to find out your husband did that. Instead she just sorta shrugs, kicks hubby to garage and never really processes it, which to me feels like a wasted opportunity. And because her reaction is kinda a lack of one, it's hard for the reader to be emotionally invested too. The second half was great.