Great representation, but very after school special like.

3.5. Goodreads really needs half stars. I may come back and edit this review once I’ve had time to process and download. There’s a lot to unpack in this book and I honestly don’t have a clue wth I just read. I do, but I don’t. I’m rambling. I enjoyed the overall premise of the book....I think. It wasn’t a bad read, but it was lacking in some ways. Okay spoilers to follow:

So I’ve actually had multiple people say they didn’t connect with the characters and I totally get that. I didn’t hate the characters, but some of them were very annoying, mainly Cat and Aurora. I can’t really explain my irritation with Aurora, it’s just...there. Cat on the other hand I can. I’m not only irritated with Cat, but also the way her character was handled and her fate. I would’ve been completely fine if Cat had been such an asshole on the basis of seeing her life and dreams go up in smoke, but instead all of her hostility seemed to come from the fact that her best friend rejected her and is now paying attention to the new girl and she’s pissy about it. We all have feelings, we all get jealous but honestly after awhile it felt like overkill. And despite the fact that Cat was irritating as hell, she still didn’t deserve the ending she got. She just gets sucked in? Lost? Killed? Possessed? Idk what you want to call it but it seemed like bs to me and it sucks. Something just didn’t feel right about it and it felt like it was missing something.

Another irritation of mine is Zila. Where was the character development? Where was the information about her? Where was the personality? I know she was supposed to be a sociopath or anti social or whatever, but we got insight into everyone else during their chapter except for her. We got a brief glimpse in her last chapter but that was it. Definitely a missed opportunity and I have to say I’m also irritated considering she was the black girl of the group. Hopefully this is rectified in the sequel/follow up because she’s the one character I actually wanted to know MORE ABOUT.

Other than that, there were some other confusing things plot wise that I won’t get into, at least not right now because like I said, I still have to come to terms with what I just read.

3.5. To keep it simple, the plot line of the story was lost on me for majority of the book. I was pretty confused pretty early on and dipped in and out of confusion through the book. There are still a few things that I’m lost on to be honest. The book eventually picked up and did peak my interest, especially towards the end because then I felt like there was actual purpose. Not a bad read, but I didn’t like feeling lost for so much of it.

A high 3.5 for me, which is why I’m rounding it up to a four for Goodreads. I really liked the emotions in this book even though the pacing and some of the characters threw me a bit. First, definite trigger warnings with this book (homophobia, violence, sexual assault, abuse, death).

Possible spoilers:

If we’re being honest, I didn’t like Rukhsana’s Seattle friends or her girlfriend. Their attitudes in regards to what she was experiencing just made them extremely unlike able. I know it was supposed show their ignorance and lend itself to what Rukhsana was going to, but it just made me want her have a new gf and new friends, even at the end. In some ways their reactions were worse or on the same level as her family.

The added level of her grandmother’s story was a great, unexpected, but sad addition. Just overall a very emotional book.

I absolutely loved this book. Even though it deal with a young single mom, it felt like such a feel good read to me. Emoni has her tough moments to deal with, but not once did I feel like this book was about pain, trauma, or ugliness. It was just a real story about a real black girl growing up and branching out. How often do we get coming of age stories like this for black/Afro-Latina girls? This book made me emotional but they were all good emotions, feels that I didn’t want to let go of.

I wanted to read this book because it seemed so interesting and I ended up choosing it for a readathon because I needed and book with a “satisfying ending” and I’ll be honest, I was more than satisfied.

Solid 3 stars for me. I received an early copy of this book courtesy of Netgalley and 47North Publishing and in turn I’m giving my honest review.

It was definitely great to see MG and the gang back at it again, solving crime and taking names. I also loved that we got to see more Lawrence in this one. I’m pretty Ute he’s my favorite character so I’ll take as much of him as I can get.

Just like with the first book in the series, the pop culture references were a bit too heavy for me. Some of them served a purpose and some just felt like they were thrown in there for the sake of reminding us that MG is a “cool comic book chick unlike other girls”. Just my personal opinion. I didn’t see the reveal of the Mad Hatter coming, which is both good and bad. Good because I love unexpected surprises, bad because it seemed a little random. Looking back on what I read I can’t find nothing that says “oh yeah ok I see the connection/potential.” Could be just me.

Now the Golden Arrow reveal, was the complete opposite. I saw that coming a mile away (or should I say a book away). That was built up to be a bit obvious, which makes me wonder if that was the REAL GA reveal or a decoy and set up for a follow up book.

Over all it’s a quick read and decent enough that I’ll check out the next book even though I’m sure the pop culture references and slightly annoying MG rambling will be back in full force

Not a bad read honestly. Don’t think I’ll be rushing to pick up another Juniper Falls book anytime soon, but it was a nice read all the same.

DNF. I finally decided to just officially make this a DNF. I got about 1/3 of the way into this book, maybe more and it felt so draining. The story didn’t seem to be going anywhere, it moved extremely slow, and the writing style left a lot to be desired. This makes me sad because I was really looking forward to this book when it came out and I was so excited to read it, but I just can’t force myself to finish it for the sake of finishing it.

Thanks to the Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinions and review. 4 stars for me! I loved the creep factor in this book and being able to be inside Heather's head as she narrated throughout the story. Heather felt like such an unreliable narrator, which I loved because it made me question whether or not what she remembered was true, whether she really did commit the crime she thought she did, and made me question just about every step she took throughout the book. Even though I had an inside look into her head, I felt like one of the characters in the story, wanting to know what the hell was going on with her and what was happening. Was she imagining what was happening or was someone, or something, really after her? It's definitely a question that you'll ask yourself as she read this book and when you finally get the answer, you won't believe the truth.

I was honestly trying to avoid DNF this book, especially because it’s an ARC, but honestly I got about 20% into it and just kept getting so confused by the entire thing. It has a great premise, but trying I keep the different versions of the MC straight was a bit much for me and I didn’t understand where the story was going. I’m sorry to say that this book just wasn’t for me.