A review by menshevixen
Bad Things Happen Here by Rebecca Barrow

5.0

Rejoice, for the queen of complicated teen girlhood has returned! Barrow's newest is an angsty, twisty, totally juicy and completely satisfying thrill ride through the dark underside of glamorous paradise.

Despite loving Twin Peaks, Veronica Mars, Pretty Little Liars, The Killing, and pretty much every other murdered-girl-mystery media, I'm not a fan of true crime, and something I especially enjoyed over the course of this book was how Luca's understanding of the island's curse changed.

Spoiler

Ultimately, the deaths of Polly and the other girls remaining unsolved rang really true: there is no Final Boss who's been murdering this whole time, there is no overarching evil force working against Whitney, Polly, Laney, and the rest except the banal, chilling reality that women and girls are killed every day, by a variety of people, for no reason. Reckoning with that is Luca's coming of age. Sure, her romance with Naomi is part of that coming-of-age--and super satisfying in several ways--but the story and character hinge is accepting that your home, your society, the people you love and trust, are perhaps the elements you have to strive against.

Extra points for palm trees, femme bedrooms, kissing, frank mental health discussions, and sister dynamics.