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A review by maddiequinn
A Night to Die For by Lisa Schroeder
2.0
prom queen found dead on the night of prom and prom king is the main suspect. That alone was enough for me to pick up the book in anticipation. It's not that I wish I didn't, but I know for a fact I could have found so many more descriptive and in-depth stories following the same plot.
My number one issue with this book is how much I hated Mirabelle. Supposedly, she was a beautiful 'not like other girls' girl (I mean literally, when she walked down in her thrifted prom dress her family was stunned because she never wore anything other than her converse, because she's so quirky) who was big in theater and loved to write fanfiction. Everyone in school loved her-- except, a lot of people actually dislike her because she was a bit of a bitch. Look, I'm all for breaking the stereotype of girls being perfect little princesses in stories, but if she's the one who's being murdered and receiving the sympathy, make her a character I actually want to give sympathy to. The entire first half of the book I can't stand her, and at the most, to me, she's just a plot piece to bring up turmoil in both Parker, her 'ex boyfriend', and Mario, the prom king. The first time she's even vaguely interesting, is when her double life is exposed. Unfortunately, anything remotely eye catching is stomped into oblivion by the forceful 'romance' between her and one of the 'rebel' group's boy. Because God forbid this girl do anything without a man. This isn't me being some sort of man hating reviewer, there isn't a single thing that Mirabelle does in this story that isn't backed by a man. (and none of those men are her younger brother that nearly died of cancer, which was a major plot point, but maybe mentioned 3 times).
Actually, most of the characters in this story were very hate-able. Aside from Josh (the cancer surviving brother) and maybe Lucas (Mario's best friend). Elana, the girl we were supposed to feel sorry for, only made me angry. She played the victim the entire time and despite her being written for the audience to feel sorry for her, I couldn't help but wish her POV would stop showing up.
The build up the Murder was somewhat suspenseful, only for a lackluster reveal. I will give it to Shroeder though, I didn't know who the murderer was unit it was revealed with the first giant clue in the reader was given. Unfortunately, even after finishing the story, I'm still waiting for a motive. Sure, supposedly, Mirabelle was killed because the killer simply lost control after thinking about how Mirabelle was so 'mean' to them. but we have no idea what 'mean' is. in fact, despite the contradicting hated/loved by all, we're never given a reason why she's hated, aside from her Cheating on her boyfriend Parker, which isn't written to be seen as something to be hated, but there's really no excuse for it. and the only reason she's loved is because she's funny (?) funny-ish at best.
All of the characters were also horribly two dimensional, or just painfully stereotypical. Also unbelievable. you mean to tell me you expect a high school to elect introverted, non-popular, math loving gamer as the prom king? (Not being cynical, As someone who went through high school, this would never happen) and the thespian as the queen? this one may be more believable, but it would still never happen. Also, you expect me to believe that the parents found out about the arrest of the suspect over social media and not in person? or that newspapers and media articles just blatantly gave out the names of the suspects despite them being underage?
Beginning the story, there was some promise, I'm a sucker for multi-POVs and the inclusion of outside media like texts or social media, but it only went downhill. Mirabelle's double life was explained in maybe two pages. The actual plot of the story was alright, and fleshed out okayish, but any and all backgrounds or origins, were majoring underdeveloped. I didn't have a single reason to like Zain over Parker, or back Mirabelle up on her cheating. no reason to feel bad for Elana, expect maybe that her mom left, but she was constantly blaming everyone else for her own problems.
This review was definitely all over the place, very similar to the book. I will say though, it was a very quick read.
My number one issue with this book is how much I hated Mirabelle. Supposedly, she was a beautiful 'not like other girls' girl (I mean literally, when she walked down in her thrifted prom dress her family was stunned because she never wore anything other than her converse, because she's so quirky) who was big in theater and loved to write fanfiction. Everyone in school loved her-- except, a lot of people actually dislike her because she was a bit of a bitch. Look, I'm all for breaking the stereotype of girls being perfect little princesses in stories, but if she's the one who's being murdered and receiving the sympathy, make her a character I actually want to give sympathy to. The entire first half of the book I can't stand her, and at the most, to me, she's just a plot piece to bring up turmoil in both Parker, her 'ex boyfriend', and Mario, the prom king. The first time she's even vaguely interesting, is when her double life is exposed. Unfortunately, anything remotely eye catching is stomped into oblivion by the forceful 'romance' between her and one of the 'rebel' group's boy. Because God forbid this girl do anything without a man. This isn't me being some sort of man hating reviewer, there isn't a single thing that Mirabelle does in this story that isn't backed by a man. (and none of those men are her younger brother that nearly died of cancer, which was a major plot point, but maybe mentioned 3 times).
Actually, most of the characters in this story were very hate-able. Aside from Josh (the cancer surviving brother) and maybe Lucas (Mario's best friend). Elana, the girl we were supposed to feel sorry for, only made me angry. She played the victim the entire time and despite her being written for the audience to feel sorry for her, I couldn't help but wish her POV would stop showing up.
The build up the Murder was somewhat suspenseful, only for a lackluster reveal. I will give it to Shroeder though, I didn't know who the murderer was unit it was revealed with the first giant clue in the reader was given. Unfortunately, even after finishing the story, I'm still waiting for a motive. Sure, supposedly, Mirabelle was killed because the killer simply lost control after thinking about how Mirabelle was so 'mean' to them. but we have no idea what 'mean' is. in fact, despite the contradicting hated/loved by all, we're never given a reason why she's hated, aside from her Cheating on her boyfriend Parker, which isn't written to be seen as something to be hated, but there's really no excuse for it. and the only reason she's loved is because she's funny (?) funny-ish at best.
All of the characters were also horribly two dimensional, or just painfully stereotypical. Also unbelievable. you mean to tell me you expect a high school to elect introverted, non-popular, math loving gamer as the prom king? (Not being cynical, As someone who went through high school, this would never happen) and the thespian as the queen? this one may be more believable, but it would still never happen. Also, you expect me to believe that the parents found out about the arrest of the suspect over social media and not in person? or that newspapers and media articles just blatantly gave out the names of the suspects despite them being underage?
Beginning the story, there was some promise, I'm a sucker for multi-POVs and the inclusion of outside media like texts or social media, but it only went downhill. Mirabelle's double life was explained in maybe two pages. The actual plot of the story was alright, and fleshed out okayish, but any and all backgrounds or origins, were majoring underdeveloped. I didn't have a single reason to like Zain over Parker, or back Mirabelle up on her cheating. no reason to feel bad for Elana, expect maybe that her mom left, but she was constantly blaming everyone else for her own problems.
This review was definitely all over the place, very similar to the book. I will say though, it was a very quick read.