Happy release day!
Oh, lo so che voi questo libro l'avete già visto e avete anche già letto la recensione italiana... ma i nostri amici che parlano inglese invece no e quindi quale occasione migliore se non il giorno esatto in cui esce questo romanzo?
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.
Author: Gabriella Lepore
Publication Date: September 21st 2021
Pages: 320 (Kindle Edition)
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/3sL3KbR
Plot: Everyone in Gardiners Bay has a secret.
When Jenna Dallas and Adam Cole find Colleen O'Dell's body floating off the shore of their coastal town, the community of Gardiners Bay is shaken. But even more shocking is the fact that her drowning was no accident.
Once Jenna's best friend becomes a key suspect, Jenna starts to look for answers on her own. As she uncovers scandals inside Preston Prep School leading back to Rookwood reform school, she knows she needs Adam on her side.
As a student at Rookwood, Adam is used to getting judgmental looks, but now his friends are being investigated by the police. Adam will do whatever he can to keep them safe, even if that means trusting Jenna.
As lies unravel, the truth starts to blur. Only one thing is certain: somebody must take the fall.
Oh, how much I liked this mystery YA!
It's dawn on a late September morning - Jenna is on the pier taking some photos for her portfolio when she hears a voice calling for help. Once she rushes to the beach, she recognizes Adam carrying in his arms the dripping and lifeless body of a girl, Colleen.
Jenna and Colleen went to school together, although it can't exactly be said that they were friends; Adam is a guy they know relatively.
But everyone's lives are more connected than they can imagine - and gossip certainly doesn't help. Nor does the quarrel that Jenna's best friend Hollie had with Colleen the day before she died with the whole student body as witness.
Jenna, however, is convinced of Hollie's innocence and is ready to bet everything on the Rookwood guys - Colleen wasn't as innocent as everyone is painting her: she liked to party and never missed the parties organized by the Rooks.
Everyone has a reason to lie: Jenna, Hollie, Adam, Jenna's other friends from Preston, Adam's friends.
But what they try to protect by lying is only about them or could it also be about hiding a murder?
I really appreciated the double point of view: Jenna's takes us to an all-girl school attended by rich girls, where Jenna is only there because her mother made money with her travel blog and was able to send her there while leaving her to live with an aunt; Adam's takes us almost "next door" to Rookwood - a school where troubled kids with a messed up past are given a second chance to straighten their lives instead of going to jail.
Jenna and Adam aren't exactly friends, but they know each other: Jenna's other best friend, Serena, is dating one of Adam's best friends, Max. Jenna has been to Rooks parties a few times, but they've never been her "scene" and she never trusted the boys of that school too much.
But now they have to work together, still it's hard to stop lying - especially when you're trying to find out what the other person knows without revealing what you know instead. While Jenna is determined to exonerate Hollie and is convinced that the boys knew Colleen more than they let on, Adam is willing to do anything as long as the cops stay away from him, Max and Tommy.
We discover their personalities little by little and I liked Jenna in particular because I saw myself in a few of her characteristics: she’s always the one who tries to mediate, to see the good in a situation and to justify people – I’m mainly talking about friendships, when she tries to never speak ill of anyone especially following Serena's abandonment in favor of more popular girls like Imogen, Brianna and Colleen.
Adam, on the other hand, is a victim of circumstances and a past that hasn't done him any favors. The Rooks are his brotherhood, Max and Tommy are his family – he’s loyal to the impossible.
The flashbacks - although at times I would have liked to have a temporal location that would make them immediately clear - help to reveal what we have lost in the lives of the characters before meeting them on the beach, shed light on some dynamics and reveal how the protagonists came to be what they are.
I had no idea who the culprit was until I was practically at 90% of the book - only then did I start putting the pieces together and remembering some details that I had read previously and that the author has placed in strategic places.
It has great pacing, captivating writing that intrigues the reader, and the chapters - interspersed with message exchanges and police interrogation transcripts - are short, just the right length to make you say "just one more" and suddenly you find yourself reading half of the book.
I liked the way friendship is portrayed and I liked especially how none of the female characters is a cliché in itself - even Colleen, who sometimes resembled the mean girl with the things she used to say and the way she seemed to behave, had a good side and cared about Serena in her own way.
Too bad for the ending which is a bit rushed - we are told what happens and not shown, so an extra chapter would not have hurt to see the consequences on all the characters involved and not just on some of them (and not even that much).
However, it remains a very good mystery YA, as good as I haven't read for a long time because they always had some aspect - mystery or character - that disappointed me. This one is super approved!
Publication Date: September 21st 2021
Pages: 320 (Kindle Edition)
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/3sL3KbR
Plot: Everyone in Gardiners Bay has a secret.
When Jenna Dallas and Adam Cole find Colleen O'Dell's body floating off the shore of their coastal town, the community of Gardiners Bay is shaken. But even more shocking is the fact that her drowning was no accident.
Once Jenna's best friend becomes a key suspect, Jenna starts to look for answers on her own. As she uncovers scandals inside Preston Prep School leading back to Rookwood reform school, she knows she needs Adam on her side.
As a student at Rookwood, Adam is used to getting judgmental looks, but now his friends are being investigated by the police. Adam will do whatever he can to keep them safe, even if that means trusting Jenna.
As lies unravel, the truth starts to blur. Only one thing is certain: somebody must take the fall.
--- ---
Oh, how much I liked this mystery YA!
It's dawn on a late September morning - Jenna is on the pier taking some photos for her portfolio when she hears a voice calling for help. Once she rushes to the beach, she recognizes Adam carrying in his arms the dripping and lifeless body of a girl, Colleen.
Jenna and Colleen went to school together, although it can't exactly be said that they were friends; Adam is a guy they know relatively.
But everyone's lives are more connected than they can imagine - and gossip certainly doesn't help. Nor does the quarrel that Jenna's best friend Hollie had with Colleen the day before she died with the whole student body as witness.
Jenna, however, is convinced of Hollie's innocence and is ready to bet everything on the Rookwood guys - Colleen wasn't as innocent as everyone is painting her: she liked to party and never missed the parties organized by the Rooks.
Everyone has a reason to lie: Jenna, Hollie, Adam, Jenna's other friends from Preston, Adam's friends.
But what they try to protect by lying is only about them or could it also be about hiding a murder?
I really appreciated the double point of view: Jenna's takes us to an all-girl school attended by rich girls, where Jenna is only there because her mother made money with her travel blog and was able to send her there while leaving her to live with an aunt; Adam's takes us almost "next door" to Rookwood - a school where troubled kids with a messed up past are given a second chance to straighten their lives instead of going to jail.
Jenna and Adam aren't exactly friends, but they know each other: Jenna's other best friend, Serena, is dating one of Adam's best friends, Max. Jenna has been to Rooks parties a few times, but they've never been her "scene" and she never trusted the boys of that school too much.
But now they have to work together, still it's hard to stop lying - especially when you're trying to find out what the other person knows without revealing what you know instead. While Jenna is determined to exonerate Hollie and is convinced that the boys knew Colleen more than they let on, Adam is willing to do anything as long as the cops stay away from him, Max and Tommy.
We discover their personalities little by little and I liked Jenna in particular because I saw myself in a few of her characteristics: she’s always the one who tries to mediate, to see the good in a situation and to justify people – I’m mainly talking about friendships, when she tries to never speak ill of anyone especially following Serena's abandonment in favor of more popular girls like Imogen, Brianna and Colleen.
Adam, on the other hand, is a victim of circumstances and a past that hasn't done him any favors. The Rooks are his brotherhood, Max and Tommy are his family – he’s loyal to the impossible.
The flashbacks - although at times I would have liked to have a temporal location that would make them immediately clear - help to reveal what we have lost in the lives of the characters before meeting them on the beach, shed light on some dynamics and reveal how the protagonists came to be what they are.
I had no idea who the culprit was until I was practically at 90% of the book - only then did I start putting the pieces together and remembering some details that I had read previously and that the author has placed in strategic places.
It has great pacing, captivating writing that intrigues the reader, and the chapters - interspersed with message exchanges and police interrogation transcripts - are short, just the right length to make you say "just one more" and suddenly you find yourself reading half of the book.
I liked the way friendship is portrayed and I liked especially how none of the female characters is a cliché in itself - even Colleen, who sometimes resembled the mean girl with the things she used to say and the way she seemed to behave, had a good side and cared about Serena in her own way.
Too bad for the ending which is a bit rushed - we are told what happens and not shown, so an extra chapter would not have hurt to see the consequences on all the characters involved and not just on some of them (and not even that much).
However, it remains a very good mystery YA, as good as I haven't read for a long time because they always had some aspect - mystery or character - that disappointed me. This one is super approved!
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