this book is a whole aesthetic
and I'm loving it
Summary:
The troublemaker. The overachiever. The cheer captain. The dead girl.
Like every high school in America, Jefferson-Lorne High contains all of the above.
After the shocking murder of senior Emma Baines, three of her classmates are at the top of the suspect list: Claude, the notorious partier; Avery, the head cheerleader; and Gwen, the would-be valedictorian.
Everyone has a label, whether they like it or not--and Emma was always known as a good girl. But appearances are never what they seem. And the truth behind what really happened to Emma may just be lying in plain sight. As long-buried secrets come to light, the clock is ticking to find Emma's killer--before another good girl goes down.
My Rating: 3 stars
The vibes are immaculate. Like it was small-town vibes but still new somehow, probably because of a certain creepy place called Anna's Run. It's a speedy fast river that drags people under...
...unlike the plot of this book which was often slow-paced. The characters still kept me interested though and I think it was worth it by the end. Despite being inspired by cliches, they were still complex and felt real to me which I think is one of my favorite things about this book.
I liked how we were given different perspectives to look at the story form, but since I was listening to this as an audiobook, it sometimes got confusing with all the perspective changes and I kind of mixed up their stories. So I would have to stop and clarify to myself who is going through what before continuing. What I loved about this as an audiobook though, was that during the police interviews (which were weirdly entertaining)(especially with Claude), the police guy had his own voice narrator so it sounded like listening to a real interview. Honestly just listening to this as an audiobook was a great experience overall despite the occasional confusion. I listened to this right before I went to sleep for six days to finish it. Yes, I listened to a murder mystery before I went to sleep :) and yes I stayed up to like 1 am on all of those days. It wasn't even because it was crazy suspenseful or anything! It's just that I have this weird thing where if I'm reading before I go to sleep, I have to stop at a satisfying place. So I just kept waiting for satisfying points to stop at.
ANYWAYS
I predicted some of the twists but others were a total surprise which was great! But they also came out of nowhere and then went away suddenly too. The speed change was jarring I guess since most of the book had been at a slow pace and it suddenly got rushed. The ending felt unsatisfying because of how rushed it was. Like an epilogue would have been nice. But, overall it was an enjoyable and fun read!
