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nuhafariha 's review for:

Good Girl by Aria Aber
2.5
challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy.

Available January 2025.

Compulsively readable, Aria Aber's debut novel is like a retelling of Bluebeard set in contemporary Germany and imbued with a heap of drugs and indie cinema aesthetics. While I generally enjoyed the writing style, I found myself getting annoyed with some of the vapid comments of the narrator and her own self sabatoge. As a Muslim immigrant myself, it felt like the narrator despised her own skin and cultural heritage and upheld values of white supremacy. I had trouble with this aspect of the book and it soured the reading experience some.