Author: Kara Thomas
Published: 2017
Genre: Crime Fiction
Grade Level: Young Adult
-Trigger Warning: Violence, vulgar language
Blurb (from goodreads):
Kacey is the new girl in Broken Falls. When she moved in with her father, she stepped into a brand-new life. A life with a stepbrother, a stepmother, and strangest of all, an adoring younger half sister.
Kacey’s new life is eerily charming compared with the wild highs and lows of the old one she lived with her volatile mother. And everyone is so nice in Broken Falls—she’s even been welcomed into a tight new circle of friends. Bailey and Jade invite her to do everything with them.
Which is why it’s so odd when they start acting distant. And when they don’t invite her to the biggest party of the year, it doesn’t exactly feel like an accident.
But Kacey will never be able to ask, because Bailey never makes it home from that party. Suddenly, Broken Falls doesn’t seem so welcoming after all—especially once everyone starts looking to the new girl for answers.
Kacey is about to learn some very important lessons: Sometimes appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes when you’re the new girl, you shouldn’t trust anyone.
My Scores:
Writing Style: Good
The writing style was good, meaning that I felt it was very descriptive and easy-to-read but that the voice wasn’t quite unique enough for me to differentiate it for other authors.
I also rated it ‘good’ because I felt there wasn’t enough difference in the word choice and voice of the different POVs for me to instantly figure out who the ‘I’ persona was had I not been told.
Another thing is that because of the large amount of sentence fragments, it was harder for me to enjoy the novel. Normally, I enjoy the hell out of sentence fragments, but for some reason I kept having to re-read sentences in order to understand the context… which over time became rather annoying.
Characters: Memorable
The characters are fully fleshed-out, unique, and for the most part are completely terrible human beings. Not just flawed, I’m talking down-right nasty. Okay, not all of them, but like most of them. And as the novel progressed, they just kept getting worse!
While that made it difficult for me to relate to the characters, it was also the best part about the novel! It’s a murder mystery after all. Having all of these characters go through dramatic shifts in their development kept me on my toes. Who doesn’t have a fun time guessing “who done it?” before the end? (I was only half right 😉)
Plot: Enjoyable
Much like the author, I too am a true crime addict. So I have a pretty good idea about which actual even inspired this novel, but mentioning it here would be a HUGE spoiler, so I won’t.
That being said, I loved all the twists and turns that happen, especially during the second half of the novel. It was also during the second half that the pacing really improved.
Overall: Enjoyable
Overall, it was an enjoyable read. I enjoyed the plot twists and the dramatic reveals at the end. But it was just an okay read. My main problem with the book is simply that I have read better crime fiction in the past.
For example, Sadie by Courtney Summers: https://www.krwardbookreview.com/2020/11/sadie-by-courtney-summers.html
Goodreads
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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