WELL.
Ladies and gents, this just may be one of the best YA mysteries/thrillers I have ~ever~ read. Hell, it might just be one of the best YA books I’ve read, period.
This book combines two of my fascinations into one: studying crime and old movies. When I stumbled across this read at Half Priced Books, I read the summary and knew I *had* to read it. Hell, even the hinting at a love triangle in the summary wasn’t enough to deter me.
In fact...
As far as love triangles go, this book probably has one of the best love triangles in YA history. I am usually not a big love triangle fan so, trust me, I don’t say that lightly, but... it *is.* All of the characters are likable, the guys involved are not alpha males with douchebag personalities (thank. fuck.), and in the end the love triangle resolved itself nicely and realistically. Instalove is not a thing in this book (THANK YOU, AUTHOR) and I don’t think it’s all that unrealistic for a heterosexual teenage girl to find two guys attractive at the same time — it’s just the instalove and the douchebag guys that I usually hate with my very being. But this book doesn’t have that!
Might I say, best love triangle in YA history?
Hell, all of the relationships — friendships, familial, and romantic alike — were extremely realistic for the YA genre, in my opinion. For example: while this book includes the “new girl moves all the way across the country” trope, it avoids the “all of the girls at her new school are bitches” cliché. Yes, she has a little new girl trouble making friends, but nobody instantly hates her and, while she’s reserved, she doesn’t instantly hate them. She makes acquaintances and doesn’t cry alone in the high school bathroom during lunch — so, you know, it’s a pretty realistic high school experience! In a YA book! Who would have THOUGHT!
This book was told in first person POV and Willa is such a breath of fresh air. Yes, this book does have supernatural elements — including the fact that she can see and sense ghosts — but I thought her narration felt very authentic. She READ like a NORMAL TEENAGE GIRL. Who happens to be able to see ghosts, but... hey, everyone has shit they need to deal with, right?
Speaking of ghosts and death, I purposely don’t want to go a whole lot into the crime plot-line because I don’t want to accidentally spoil anything, but I WILL say that the premise was extremely fucking interesting — I mean, a serial killer that models their victims/crime scenes after classic movie scenes? Sign me the FUCK up.
(Hi, I’m mid-20th century pop culture trash.)
Once again, one of the BEST CRIME PREMISES IN YA. I literally gobbled up every page with every free moment I had — I loved it so much.
Y’all, I stan this book and I stan it HARD. I cannot believe I stumbled across it at a used bookstore. God BLESS.
Well, as of you couldn’t tell, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book and everything about it. Like crime? READ IT. Like old movies/pop culture? READ IT. Like everyday teenage drama mixed in with your daily dose of murder? READ IT.
Thank you and goodnight.