A review by notesonbookmarks
Faithful by Alice Hoffman

4.0

I'd call this a coming-of-age novel, centering around Shelby, a young woman who is driving during a car accident at age 17. Her best friend is permanently disabled from the accident and Shelby has to learn how to live with herself after that loss. She is broken by the loss of her friend and struggles to make it through the normal occurrences that life throws at her.
I found the storyline believable and compelling. Shelby's character develops depth throughout, and her co-characters, while important to the story, do not steal the story from you (as they leave her life, you are not compelled to follow them instead of staying with Shelby). She does seem to choose a few moments from her past to really perseverate on though, which drove me a bit crazy (a homeless girl she met, one night under a window, etc).
Alice Hoffman is clearly a gifted writer, and although this is the 1st book I've read of hers, she has over 30 published, so I'm anxious to dig in to some more at some point.

*I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review*