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Everyone loves Summer Ryan. A model student and musical prodigy, she’s a ray of light in the struggling small town of Grace, Alabama – especially compared to her troubled sister, Raine.
Then Summer goes missing. Grace is already simmering, and with this new tragedy the police have their hands full keeping the peace. Only Raine throws herself into the search, supported by a most unlikely ally.
But perhaps there was always more to Summer than met the eye…

Thank you to Bonnier Zaffre for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I can already tell this one is going to be really hard to review – because I have really, really mixed feelings about this book.

It would be easy to say I disliked it, but that wouldn’t be true. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t particularly like it either. The easiest way to describe it would be confusing, because my head is still spinning and I don’t know where I stand. I don’t know how to even begin.

Let’s start with my dislikes, because unfortunately there are a lot of them. For one, there are so many freaking characters and I don’t even know why. Like, I understand we need a lot of characters for the story to progress, but I literally didn’t understand who half of these people where. Like, we had cops that acted like cops but weren’t actually cops? And then we had actual cops that didn’t seem to do much? And then it feels like I met every single person in the town in which this book is set.

“There ain’t a reason for everythin’, some things just were and are and will be.”

This book flicks between so many viewpoints, and authors have to really be skillful to be able to do that without confusion. I can see how it could have worked, but I really needed more depth of character for me to truly enjoy the book.

I also unfortunately found this one a bit of a tough read. One, because it is incredibly depressing and two, because it just read like that. In a weird way, I felt like I was reading a classic or something, because it really dragged. Also, is this book YA? I mean, it’s a mix between adults and teens and it confused me so much. I didn’t even realise Noah and Purv were teens until near the end of the novel.

“We are passengers trapped. If you trust, if you truly believe, then you’re immortal.”

Okay, so what did I even like? Well, I can’t lie, Whitaker really does have a talent in creating atmosphere. I felt fully absorbed and immersed in the dark world of Grace and what was happening there. I also really enjoyed the writing and especially Summer’s chapters.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I didn’t love it, but I would recommend it as a great thriller mystery.

★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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