A review by zabeishumanish
A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert

inspiring medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I greatly enjoyed this story. Small town romances where one of the characters is the town pariah tend to stress me out, but the depths of redemption in this story made this a remarkable read. I was fascinated to read about Ruth’s story, an autistic woman recovering from intimate partner violence, is a unique and compelling read. I appreciated that while Ruth’s race was relevant to the story racial trauma was not. After all she dealt with I don’t know that I could have watch Ruth go through more pain. While the intimate partner violence is detailed it is viewed through the lends of time, several years of separation. The violence may still be triggering for some audiences, but Ruth has clearly done considerable process and none of the accounts are first person so I assume many triggers would be less intense. I also appreciated seeing how Ruth’s experiences shaped the small town and her sister, who I assume is the next MC in the series. 
My biggest complaint is how abrupt the ending was. There feels like far too many loose endings from the story and while not every element of a story needs be resolved I think very few elements of this story were actually resolved. Perhaps Evan and Ruth’s relationship was actually the only plot point that was resolved. I suppose that sets up the series rather well, but for this story it is incredibly annoying. 
My other complaint is sure minor, which is just that we didn’t see more of Ruth’s art. I found what Ruth did describe of her comic fascinating and wish I knew more. 
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