March 2019 Wrap-Up

I finished 19 books in the month of March. And yes, I know how annoying it is that I didn't get to 20, but I just couldn't finish that last one. Some stats for this month: my average rating was 3.1 stars, much lower than normal. I did have some one-star ratings, so let's hope for a better batch in April! My most read genre this month tied between Science Fiction and Contemporary. This is not surprising. Fantasy/sci-fi is my favorite genre, but I've been reading more contemporary this year because that's the bulk of my recommendations. I read a total of 6,435 pages this month over the course of 19 books, so the average book length was 339 pages. This is a smaller average book length than last month, but still pretty good when considering some of the children's classics I read this month which are by nature shorter than average. Here are the 19 books I read in the month of March:

1. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Rating: 4 stars
This book is not always a happy book. But it is a book that I always felt something while reading. Chapter 17 left me sad, Chapter 3 left me a little freaked out, and Chapter 32 made me feel so GOOD inside and it was wonderful and beautiful. This book elicits a lot of emotion, deals with some heavy topics, but it's also cute and sweet and funny. I definitely recommend this book, especially if you're looking for a quirky contemporary that deals with loss, mental illness, and/or friendship.Read my full review HERE.

2. The Little Prince by Antoine Saint-Expery

Rating: No rating
Once again, I don't feel qualified to rate such a timeless, classic children's story. It's an allegory, which is not my type of story. I find them cute, but they just don't have much of an impact on me (although I must concede that the only two allegorical novels I've read are this one and The Alchemist). I understand why people love this story, but (probably due to my general reading/genre tastes) it just didn't do much for me.

3. The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson

Rating: 3 stars
This was definitely not my preferred genre - I don't normally read thrillers, and this is literally the first political thriller I've ever read. I was pleasantly surprised by how engaging the story was. I expected to feel a little bit lost, and more than a little bit bored, but I followed everything that was happening and I found the plot intriguing. To find out why I only gave this one 3 stars, read my full review HERE.

4. Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger

Rating: 1 star
This was a big fat hot mess. Check out my full review HERE.

5. Beloved by Toni Morrison

Rating: 1 star

YIKES two 1-star ratings in one day... I cannot get into Toni Morrison's books. The plots and characters never draw me in, and I just get so bored. I spaced out during a lot of this book,because it seemed like it was just a rambling about someone's life without a plot direction. A massive bookish pet peeve of mine is a lack of plot direction. I understand this is an important book, in terms of the message it sends, but in terms of my personal enjoyment this book was a no-go. 

6. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'engle

Rating: 3 stars

I like the combination of genres, I like the science fiction, and I think the plot is really interesting. I feel like the plot was dragged out however, like the book could've have been half as long and had the same effect. Also, I did not love Meg as a protagonist, but this may be due to the audiobook narrator's portrayal of her; she was just kind of annoying.

7. The Godfather by Mario Puzo

Rating: 4 stars
I really enjoyed my time with this one! Read my full thoughts HERE.

8. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Rating: 3 stars

This is a gross one. Not bad, but definitely gruesome to get through. Read my full review HERE.

9. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Rating: 3 stars
I like the concept, and I did like some of the characters and their interactions. But the book was too slow and the characters were not quite as compelling as they should have been for a character-driven novel. Read my full review HERE.

10. Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 4 stars
I liked this one a lot! The characters were very intriguing, and I loved the themes in the novel. Read my full review HERE.

11. Elevation by Stephen King

Rating: 3 stars
Yes it is a complete coincidence that I read a book called Elevation right after I finished one called Skyward... I agree with the general consensus that the book is miscategorized as a horror. It’s really a contemporary with sci-fi/magical realism elements. I thought the book was fine, just nothing spectacular. The main thing that bothered me was the plausibility of some things. I know a major part of the story was about how Scott looked heavier than he actually was, but why were there so many people in the town blatantly pointing out his weight to his face? That’s just not a thing that happens. Also Deirdre was unrealistically rude. I was rolling my eyes a bit at how overdone her cynicism was.

12. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Rating: 4 stars
The amazing thing about this book is that the story itself is not exceedingly remarkable - but the writing, with its lyricism and emotion, is truly spectacular.

13. How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

Rating: 2 stars
Disclaimer: HTTYD is my favorite animated film of all time, and among my favorite movies overall.
I think the fact that the movie is spectacular really highlights the missed marks of this book. Obviously, the concept had a lot of potential, and the movie just capitalized on it much better. This is why the movie ended up being so different from the book. As for the book itself, it just didn’t have enough action and high stakes to really be taken seriously. It didn’t captivate, either in plot or characters. The characters are less enthralling and emotive, and the plot doesn’t have a ton of direction. The outcome of the book was anticlimactic, and I don’t really feel any desire to read another book in the series. I think that if I hadn’t watched the movie, or if I’d read the book before I watched the movie, I’d be less harsh with it. Still, I give the book two stars because the world and concept inspired one of my favorite movies ever.

14. You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Rating: 2 stars
This book was infuriating. For one thing, I couldn't tell if this was intentional or not, but the protagonists are both insufferable. Adina is clearly much worse than Tovah, but there were lots of moments that I was just shocked at their horribleness, both of them. To learn my very specific reasons for thinking this, check out my full review HERE.

15. What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Rating: 4 stars
In trying my best to rate this for the quality of the book, and not my personal opinion of the author, I think that this book was a moving autobiography that blended politics and personal emotion almost seamlessly. I was very moved by this memoir. For my full thoughts, check out my review HERE.


16. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Rating: 4 stars
It's fine I'm just crying really hard over this book. I understand why this is considered a classic, and while I'm sure I read this when I was a small child in primary school, I don't know if this should be in school curriculum because why would you break these small children's hearts like that...

17. Noteworthy by Riley Redgate

Rating: 4 stars
This is a really good book to read if you love diverse contemporaries, and I think that after the popularity of Pitch Perfect, this would make a great film too. Read my full review HERE.

18. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Rating: 3 stars
So basically... Pretty Little Liars meets Gossip Girl meets Breakfast club.
It’s an interesting twist/mishmash of a bunch of different well known stories, but nothing groundbreaking. Kept me interested enough to keep reading, but never super shocked or invested in the characters.

19. Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

Rating: 3 stars
Contrary to popular belief, I didn't think this book was groundbreaking in its premise. Some alien life force has left enormous robot pieces across Earth, and the humans are trying to figure it out. It just doesn't seem like a new concept. Also, while sometimes I liked the interview/mission report format of the book, it was also limiting in terms of getting to know the characters and their development, and extremely limiting during action sequences. 3 stars because I can recognize that plot and content of the book was still good, I just probably won't continue with the series.

Review for "Noteworthy" by Riley Redgate

Just pretending to be a guy was changing me. It was letting me access parts of me I'd pushed back, and parts I didn't know I had, and I wanted that version of me. I liked her better. She was new, she was interesting, she felt in charge. My old self was losing traction, and as she fell further behind, I realized I didn't particularly miss her. 



Rating: 4 stars

Cue: a very interesting mix of Mulan, Pitch Perfect, and Ouran High School Host Club. This book was a lot of fun! More importantly, it was a really good balance between the fluff/humor and dealing with the serious topics seriously.

Let's start with the fluff. We've heard the story's premise a thousand times before: A girl, for some reason or another, ends up having to disguise herself as a boy so that she can join some super-secret all-boys no-girls-allowed uber-prestigious club. The thing I like about this rendition is that our main character, Jordan (or Julian, when she's a boy), is humorous and fun as herself. The author made her her own, interesting person, avoiding the typical feeling of "as a girl she was drab and annoying, but as a boy she's so interesting!". Although we see Jordan grow throughout her semester of cross-dressing, we still get the feeling of light-hearted high school misadventures that are necessary for a YA contemporary.

While the premise has been done before, the other thing I really appreciate here is the confrontation of gender roles and the effects Jordan's actions have on the LGBT community. At multiple points in the novel, Jordan has to confront her decisions to mislead her new friends, and the world as a whole. She feels guilt at how she makes light of cross-dressing when it is so important to transgender individuals, she feels shame at faking as a gay guy when her best friend uses her "homosexuality" to find comfort in his own, she feels confusion at the confidence and flippancy she feels as a boy that she couldn't get to as a girl. She confronts the societal roles of teenage girls versus teenage boys a lot.

What did it say that I'd gotten so addicted to my male disguise? If girlhood felt frustrating, and boyhood felt freeing, did that say more about girlhood, boyhood, or me? 

In addition to the positive things Jordan gains in her 3-month performance as a male, Jordan begins to understand the societal pressures put on men that don't exist for women. Sure, overall women have harsher realities (cue the period scene), but when Jordan reports malicious bullying and is told to "man up", she can empathize with the toxic masculinity society forces onto young men.

Jordan's act also helps her come to terms with her own sexuality. She has just emerged from a suffocating heterosexual relationship, and being around guys, and people who accept her as something she isn't, helps her accept herself as the person she is. She opens herself up to experimentation. Even though Jordan spends a lot of time in the book deceiving others, she also spends a lot of the internal monologue developing as a character. She is constantly asking herself, "What does this mean?", "Is this okay?", and "Am I the person I used to be, or if not, do I like the person I'm becoming?". I was very satisfied with Jordan's responses to these questions by the end of the book.

This book had great diversity, but it also doesn't wave it in your face. Our main character is Chinese-American and lower socioeconomic status, and she confronts her own history and circumstances with candor, without using it as a way to make her more interesting. We have a Sikh character who confronts both his religion and sexuality, and a school that doesn't bat an eye over issues of sex and sexuality. I already mentioned how Jordan feels guilt over how her cross-dressing might be disrespectful to members of the LGBT community, like she's using someone else's identity as a convenient shield to hide her own identity behind, and I just really appreciated that recognition and awareness throughout the book.

This is a really good book to read if you love diverse contemporaries, and I think that after the popularity of Pitch Perfect, this would make a great film too.

Review for "What Happened" by Hillary Rodham Clinton

If 2016 taught us anything, it should be that we have an urgent imperative to recapture a sense of humanity.



Rating: 4 stars

In trying my best to rate this for the quality of the book, and not my personal opinion of the author, I think that this book was a moving autobiography that blended politics and personal emotion almost seamlessly. I read this book over two years into Trump’s presidency, and maybe seeing all the havoc he’s wreaking in the White House is what makes me get so sentimental. I did get emotional at some points during this book. Hearing some of the quotes Trump has said, before, during and after the election, and knowing the things he’s done as president and before that, makes me so regretful at the outcome of the election and HOW CLOSE we were to avoiding it.

I thought that Hillary’s political discussions in this book, in terms of her beliefs about policy and politics, were pragmatic and logical. In terms of regarding her political opponents, I thought the narrative was a bit petty at times but I would definitely also be petty if I were in her position. Hillary definitely answers the question “what happened?” throughout this book. I love the way she gives empirical data and statistics to back up her claims about how the election would have turned out in her favor were it not for exterior factors, like the email scandal and FBI director Comey’s role in that, and Russian interference and cyber hacking. I thought that there was a good balance between Hillary showing how she was personally frustrated by the media’s attention on her emails and how the election was rigged, and using fact-based evidence for why what happened happened.

I was amazed at how genuine Hillary came across in this book. Obviously, I've heard the media chanting for the past 10 years about how she's untrustworthy and a liar. I don't think there's a way to believe that after reading this book. Well, listening I should say, since I listened to the audiobook read by Hillary. The way that she gets so worked up over the roles of racism, sexism, and fear in the 2016 election are extremely moving. Both for just the words written and hearing Hillary actually say them on the audiobook, I think it's very obvious how much she legitimately cares for her country and supporting everyone who lives here. She tried so hard to base her campaign on love and inclusion while Trump based his on hate, fear, and intolerance, and somehow it just got swallowed up by her reputation and the media.

For the personal bits, as I mentioned before I was quite moved. It’s very easy to see politicians as characters like in a book or movie, and forget they live lives like normal people. I loved seeing into Hillary’s life, beliefs, and values as a human being. That being said, I also think she sounded a little bit pompous at times, for example kind of complaining about not having a rags-to-riches story like Bill or Obama, and talking about her positive attributes rather arrogantly.

I admire Hillary as a person, and I recommend this book to people who, after the 2016 election, also found themselves wondering: what happened?

Review for "You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone" by Rachel Lynn Solomon

If I am going to have any peace, I need my family to be whole. I am a sister learning to forgive, to forget. 



Rating: 2 stars

Who's ready for a rant fest???

You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone is about two sisters whose mom has Huntington's disease, a dominantly genetic disorder that has a 50% chance of being passed onto them. After getting tested for the disease, Adina and Tovah find out that one of them is positive and one of them is negative for the disease. The girls have never been particularly close, but now one of them will need the support of the other, and it's supposed to bring them closer than they've ever been. Okay, so that's the given description. Now let's talk about what actually happened.

This book was infuriating. For one thing, I couldn't tell if this was intentional or not, but the protagonists are both insufferable. Adina is clearly much worse than Tovah, but there were lots of moments that I was just shocked at their horribleness, both of them. This is a great book for you if you like main characters who:
- Can't take no for an answer, both relating to sexual advances (Adina) and presumptuousness of their own greatness (Tovah)
- Shame little kids for their genuine interests by telling them they'd make them "ordinary" (Adina)
- Vocalize their envy people of with cancer, because "cancer can be cured" while HD is incurable (Tovah)
- Relish in their friend's misfortunes because it feeds their possessiveness, and then claim that that same friend was "a shitty friend" the whole year (Tovah)
- Use sexual manipulation to feel powerful over others (Adina)
- Make petty, low-blow threats because they don't get their way (God forbid, someone told them NO.) (Adina)
- Wallow in melodrama. Ex.: "A broken instrument for a broken girl." (Adina)
- LITERALLY ARE CREEPY OBSESSIVE STALKERS OF SOMEONE WHO HAS EXPRESSIVELY SHOWN DISINTEREST and then get mad when they find out "he was only screwing me out of pity" (Adina)
- Use someone's empathy/sympathy to get attention and affection (Adina)
- Are completely delusional about romantic endeavors - like expecting someone to cuddle up next to you after you have completely violated the bounds of acceptable human behavior, AND THEN invited yourself to stay over (Adina)
- Do terrible, petty things to their sister because ???????? (Adina)
- Assume that their boyfriend (who is a virgin) "doesn't want me" because he wants to take it slow, and then get pissy and not talk to him for weeks (Tovah)
- Get over all of the aforementioned character flaws and become the perfect character within like, two weeks

Those are a few of the incredibly irritating things you will have to pull yourself through while reading this book. Maybe it was intentional, but it did not work for me at all. If you can't tell, I really hate the romanticization of Adina sexually harassing Arjun. I just kept thinking that if these roles were reversed, people would be so much more mad about this book. It's like sexual harassment doesn't exist when it's a woman making the unwanted advances. My mind was just screaming NOOOOOOO at all of Adina's delusions and pressuring and incessant stupidity.

THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH CONTAINS SPOILERS. Please skip down to the next paragraph if you don't want to learn any spoilers. 
I want to talk a little more about Adina's scheme also. This just didn't make sense to me. She's mad at Tovah, for I guess not inheriting the same death gene that she did. Which honestly, I can understand the resentment there. So Adina decides she wants to get revenge on Tovah by making her life actual hell. As in, destroying her most cherished items, rubbing her failures in her face, bragging about her relationship with their mom who Tovah isn't as close with. This alone is a little too far for getting revenge about something that can't be controlled. But then Adina is justifying it by saying that if Tovah hates her it will be a good thing because she won't be so devastated when Adina dies??? Like, is she doing this whole revenge thing for revenge or for mercy on her sister? It's never clearly explained, but Adina sure does keep at it.
END OF SPOILERS

Another thing I didn't appreciate was the resolution of Adina and Tovah's relationship. It was shoved into one conversation at the end of the book. Overall, the book is 50% the girls dealing with things unrelated to their sisterly relationship (boys, friends, colleges, school, more boys), 45% of them being horrible to each other, 4% talking about HD, and 1% of the girls actually being civil. I thought this book was supposed to be about how HD, and the knowledge that one of them would eventually have it, brought two sisters, who weren't close, together? This is a TRAIN WRECK. The relationship is hardly resolved at all. But don't worry, we get to see them resolve their relationships with their boyfriends, parents, and anyone else in the story. I just wasn't satisfied with the ending. I have sisters, and the way that everything just turned out okay, after they were SO HORRIBLE to each other, did not check out. On that same note, Adina's major character flaws (previously mentioned) are magically resolved as well. Adina realizes how horrible and inappropriate her behavior with Arjun was and suddenly she's a new person who wants to find someone who loves her for her and not for her body and... yeah this ending and Adina in general are just awful awful awful.

I give this book two stars because I did still keep reading. I was so irritated that I wasn't ever really bored so I guess that's something. I also appreciate the diversity, even if it was a little bit overexplained in the beginning. We don't see a lot of traditional Jewish main characters so it was cool to have two, especially because their approaches to their religion were so different.

Review for "Skyward" by Brandon Sanderson

You get to choose who you are. Legacy, memories of the past, can serve us well. 




Rating: 4 stars

Spensa Nightshade is haunted by her past. Or rather, the past that everyone else knows her to have. Known as the daughter of a coward, Spensa has worked her whole life to redeem her family's name by becoming a fighter pilot for the Defiant Defense Force and helping eradicate the Krell - an alien life force intent on wiping out humanity. Spensa's dream will prove more difficult than she thought, as she deals with discrimination, loss, fear, and the burden of her family's legacy - including the truth of her father's demise.

This is my first Brandon Sanderson book. Brandon Sanderson, in my circle of reading friends, is basically worshipped as a god of science fiction. I started out with a YA because I thought it would be a simple introduction into his writing. I also really want to read the Mistborn series eventually, and this book makes me more excited to do so. The world and the characters that Sanderson builds in Skyward show skill that not a lot of science fiction writers have.

Not cowards. Not backing down. Brave until the end. 

The themes of fear versus cowardice in this book are very well done. It shows a lot of character development in Spensa. Here she starts out bloodthirsty and recklessly brave. She doesn't fear anything, a trait she's adopted to compensate for the cowardice everyone expects her to have due to her father's legacy. When she actually starts flight school, she has to confront how to fear and still be brave, and recognize how fear can sometimes save your life. Because of her past, Spensa has a very warped idea of cowardice and bravery. Even before her father's infamous ending, Spensa is fearless. Ironically, she's absolutely terrified as being seen as a coward, she's afraid of people seeing her afraid. The way that Spensa comes to understand, embrace, and overcome her fear, really show her development as a character from an ignorant little kid who just wants to be a hero, to someone who doesn't see themselves as a hero but must actually become one to save her city.

This is a good segue into the characters of this book. This is an action-packed science fiction space battle book. All things considered, it should be a plot-driven novel. But it really didn't feel that way to me, and I'm a plot-driven reader. The characters really steal the spotlight. That's not to say the plot isn't good or interesting, but the characters are just stunning. Spensa is a very compelling protagonist, and apart from her we see major character development from Jorgen, Kimmalyn, Rig, Cobb, and many others. Not to mention I just love their personalities. Spensa is a very distinct YA female protagonist, and I loved M-Bot and Doomslug (who literally doesn't even say anything original in the entire book). M-Bot is probably my favorite character, and I just thought it was impressive how an AI can have character development in a way that's believable. I identified a lot with Jorgen, and I think that Spensa and Jorgen's relationship development was very original and intriguing.

Honestly, I wasn't 100% on board with this book the entire time I was reading it. I had certain expectations (guesses) for the mystery aspect of the book (the whole question of what really happened with Spensa's father), and because of that I thought it would turn out cliche which hindered my overall reading experience. I think the reason I speculated so much is because the plot does move really slowly so you have a lot of time to create theories as to what really happened as more evidence comes to light. Now after having read the ending, I do find myself intrigued to continue the story in the next book. It is not my favorite science fiction YA ever, so by the time the second book is released this fall I might not care enough to pick it up, but as of now I will plan to continue with the series.

Review for "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

"It's a shame. I feel bad about it."

"Well, of course, I do too," said Henry matter-of-factly. "But of course not bad enough to want to go to jail for it."

Francis snorted and poured himself another shot of whiskey and drank it straight off. "No," he said. "Not that bad." 



Rating: 3 stars

Normally, the quote I include in my review wouldn't be dialogue like that, but I think it really sums up the book pretty well. 6 college students that spend a lot of time together end up in trouble when a wild night ends in a mistake that pushes the boundaries of their moral conscience. Now it comes down to what they will do to keep it a secret. This book really deals with the concepts of guilt, trust, and responsibility--or maybe I should say an absence of all three.

Any action, in the fullness of time, sinks to nothingness. 

It becomes obvious early on that this is meant to be a character-driven novel. You're given 6 main characters who are caught up in the same situation (which moves very slowly but more on that later). The thing is, for such a heavily character-based novel, I didn't find the characters that compelling. I didn't see a lot of personality in them. The most interesting personalities in the book were Julian and Judy, who are supporting and minors characters respectively. I feel like the author relied too much on Francis's sexuality to create his personality, and on the telling-not-showing method of portraying Henry's character. I've heard that this is a book with very unlikable characters. I disagree. Sure, they're rich and spoiled and they did something really awful and illegal without much remorse (see above quote) so that's pretty bad, but I was never super frustrated or annoyed with them like you should be with unlikable characters. In a way, I feel like if they had been really unlikable, I would've liked the book better because the characters would've had more personality.

This brings me onto the topic of the plot. Like I said, it's a character-driven novel, but I tend to be a plot-driven reader. And honestly, the plot is really intriguing... for the first 2/3 of the book. And then it's just like NOTHING IS HAPPENING. They drag out a certain scene into like 80 pages, but the entirety of it is the characters drinking and doing various drugs and talking about how they're drinking and doing various drugs. I just had a hard time finally getting to the end of the novel. I was like seriously just end already. I think I know why I felt this way about the novel. Someone told me that this book is like How to Get Away with Murder, and I love that show. It's super intriguing and there's a new plot twist added into every single episode. This one... is like if How to Get Away with Murder was actually realistic. Which is good because it gives it a major plausibility factor, but unfortunately it's also much less captivating. If you go into the book thinking about it being similar to the TV show, you will be disappointed with how little seems to be happening. I did definitely see parallels between the book and the show, but I'd read the book before the TV show or you will probably think it's boring. That being said, if you really loved this book you should definitely watch HTGAWM because it is amazing.

So yeah, this book gets 3 stars from me. I like the concept, and I did like some of the characters and their interactions. But the book was too slow and the characters were not quite as compelling as they should have been for a character-driven novel. I read this as a part of the Fox Book Club Big Book Challenge, so thank you Emily for organizing that; I had a good time reading this one!

Review for "Sharp Objects" by Gillian Flynn

Sometimes I think illness sits inside every woman, waiting for the right moment to bloom. 



Rating: 3 stars

The main feeling I got while reading 98% of this book can only be described as icky. That is not necessarily the reason I didn't love it; I believe a book can be creepy, gross, out of line, etc. and still get five stars if the author plays it right. But this one just didn't make me super excited to keep reading.

I think the story was interesting, after you actually start finding things out. After you find out that certain characters are more dangerous than originally portrayed and Camille is really starting to figure out the mystery, it's a pretty riveting concept. BUT it takes a while to get there. Maybe this is just because I'm from Missouri, and while I'm from Kansas City I do still believe I'm fairly knowledgable of Missouri's small towns, but I was just bored reading about Windgap. All the parts where Camille is interviewing people just didn't keep my attention. Maybe it was the characters, which were cut and pasted from stereotypes of Midwestern small town women, or maybe it was the fact that I'm not huge into reporter-based approaches in murder mysteries anyway. Either way, the Windgap adventures didn't hold my interest.

Let's talk about Camille. On one hand, she's an interesting protagonist. She has a sordid and complicated past, some of which she doesn't even know about until the end of the novel, more than 30 years into her life. I liked the sharp objects theme and what that all had to do with her personally. It's one of those gruesome parts of the story that I actually found pretty captivating. Now, on the other hand, a lot of Camille's thoughts and actions were not plausible to me. Maybe she really is just that messed up, but I didn't see how she could do drugs with her 13-year-old sister, or sleep around with potential murder suspects without really confronting those issues. It would be fine if these events held some kind of significance, if they added depth to Camille's character or spurred on the plot, but they really didn't do either of those things. I just found the scene of Camille and Amma doing drugs completely ridiculous. Again, maybe I'm missing something there, but I just didn't like it. Again with the plausibility thing: I've been around Missouri small towns and it's not that easy for girls to be as completely outlandish as Amma and her friends were. Sure, kids smoke pot behind their parents backs and sneak alcohol into old barns and have underage relations. But at 13 years old, doing hard drugs and being so promiscuous? I didn't buy it.

About the twist. So, there are actually two twists, the fake one and then the real one. I think most people, myself included, saw the fake twist coming from a mile away. The real twist did surprise me, just because I didn't expect a second twist. I felt a little bit gypped. I spent the whole book assuming my knowledge of the killer was correct, and originally it was, but then they flipped it on us. I suppose that's what a good thriller is supposed to do. Ironically, we want to find out the twists before they happen but then we complain about the book's predictability when we do just that. But back to the point. I also found the second twist super rushed. I didn't catch everything about how the first twist played into the second one, and it just got a bit muddled for me.

Overall, I think the book is good, just not amazing or super intriguing and twisty. I would sooner recommend Dark Places by Gillian Flynn than this one, because the mystery aspect is more spread out throughout the book which makes the overall product more interesting, and the characters in that one agreed with me more.