readingwithhippos's review
4.0
Allison Glenn was perfect—a star athlete and scholastic overachiever—before she ended up in prison at the age of seventeen. The book opens with her early release to a halfway house. Her parents and younger sister, Brynn, don’t want anything to do with her after her as-yet-unnamed-but-certain-to-be-super-bad crime.
From this grim starting point the story unfolds, gradually revealing layers of guilt, regret, blame, and lots and lots of juicy drama between Allison and her family.
Then Allison is hired to work at a local bookstore, for a woman named Claire who has an adopted son, Joshua. He was abandoned outside a local fire station, and Claire has never known who Joshua’s parents were. Further clouding matters is Charm, a girl about Allison’s age, who has kept a secret from Claire for years, despite their friendship that developed in the self-help section of Claire’s store. Somehow, they’re all connected, and when it all comes together it’s a total crapstorm of betrayal and too-little-too-late honesty.
I have to admit, I found this book so absorbing I prolonged naptime at our house by half an hour so I could finish it. It was a real snarfer—one of those books that keeps you so enthralled, you end up snarfing it up in hundred-page chunks, shirking all your responsibilities and staying up past a respectable bedtime.
While I saw the “twists” coming and could predict most of the shocking moments, it didn’t diminish my enjoyment at all. I think, since [b:Gone Girl|19288043|Gone Girl|Gillian Flynn|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1397056917s/19288043.jpg|13306276], we’ve set the bar for shock value way too high. There’s more to good writing than just the ability to surprise readers. (Don’t even get me started on the ending of [b:My Sister's Keeper|10917|My Sister's Keeper|Jodi Picoult|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1369504683s/10917.jpg|1639903].) If there weren’t, I could pen a bestseller today: it would be 400 pages of historical drama set in 1896 Russia, and on page 401 a robot monkey that has overtaken its human creators would descend from the sky in a vortex of green flames and throw poop at the endearingly guileless orphaned teenage protagonist while Van Halen’s “Jump” is played in the background by a second robot monkey on a keytar. Nobody would see it coming, right? The makings of a classic. Now to get it written before Jodi Picoult can steal my idea.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
From this grim starting point the story unfolds, gradually revealing layers of guilt, regret, blame, and lots and lots of juicy drama between Allison and her family.
Then Allison is hired to work at a local bookstore, for a woman named Claire who has an adopted son, Joshua. He was abandoned outside a local fire station, and Claire has never known who Joshua’s parents were. Further clouding matters is Charm, a girl about Allison’s age, who has kept a secret from Claire for years, despite their friendship that developed in the self-help section of Claire’s store. Somehow, they’re all connected, and when it all comes together it’s a total crapstorm of betrayal and too-little-too-late honesty.
I have to admit, I found this book so absorbing I prolonged naptime at our house by half an hour so I could finish it. It was a real snarfer—one of those books that keeps you so enthralled, you end up snarfing it up in hundred-page chunks, shirking all your responsibilities and staying up past a respectable bedtime.
While I saw the “twists” coming and could predict most of the shocking moments, it didn’t diminish my enjoyment at all. I think, since [b:Gone Girl|19288043|Gone Girl|Gillian Flynn|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1397056917s/19288043.jpg|13306276], we’ve set the bar for shock value way too high. There’s more to good writing than just the ability to surprise readers. (Don’t even get me started on the ending of [b:My Sister's Keeper|10917|My Sister's Keeper|Jodi Picoult|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1369504683s/10917.jpg|1639903].) If there weren’t, I could pen a bestseller today: it would be 400 pages of historical drama set in 1896 Russia, and on page 401 a robot monkey that has overtaken its human creators would descend from the sky in a vortex of green flames and throw poop at the endearingly guileless orphaned teenage protagonist while Van Halen’s “Jump” is played in the background by a second robot monkey on a keytar. Nobody would see it coming, right? The makings of a classic. Now to get it written before Jodi Picoult can steal my idea.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
carolbsmith's review
2.0
What I didn't like was that the author kept repeating parts of the storyline...like she was afraid I didn't get it the first time through.
I read it to the end, so that's a plus.
I read it to the end, so that's a plus.
mbhammons's review
1.0
Huge downer. Not a fan. I kept thinking that it would have a great resolution at the end about redemption and such, but not so much.
onedizzypenguin's review
3.0
An interlocking tale about all of the lives affected by one night and two girls' choices. A heartbreaking story told through characters trying to get their lives back together. As stories unfold it's fun to pick out who is lying or exaggerating as they talk about what happened and all the while the reader is eager to find out more and figure out the real, tragic story that could have happened to anyone.
yasshenny's review
1.0
It wasn’t my cup of tea. It was really easy to predict and I got bored with it.
jesslknutson's review against another edition
3.75
While reading this story I thought this book was going to be about one charcter, but it was not. Now I enjoyed the twist and turns. The complex storyline we got and how all the FMCs were brought together at one point. However, there were moments where I was just lost, and I felt there was plot holes. I think the story telling was really well done, and Heather did get her point through on what she saw this book as. Overall 3.75 stars.
lindylevito's review
2.0
Reads a bit like an after-school special or a lifetime movie you on at night to fall asleep. Not quite my thing, but I was able to finish it because I wanted to hear the conclusion.
rainbowowlets's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5