” Reading books like this one makes me remember why I fell in love with reading in the first place.”

 

NO MAJOR SPOILERS

This novel follows Maggie, a 16 years old homeschooled girl, who moves from Chicago with her family, into the isolated town of Gill Creek. There, she befriends her two neighbours, the effervescent Pauline and the quiet Liam, forever in love with the first. As she is trying to adjust to the life in the small, provincial town, Maggie’s life is changed, she falls in love for the first time and also has her heart broken for the first time.

In the meantime, danger lures into the horizon, as a murderer kills innocent teenage girls all over the county. And also there is a ghost, who is drawn to the fate of the three friends, without knowing why…

If I could give this book an infinite-star rating on Goodreads, I would. Because it was everything I have expected it to be and more. And because it made me feel like I have just been hit by a train of feels. And I’m ok with that. Because reading books like this one makes me remember why I fell in love with reading in the first place.

I’ll give you a warning: this was a slow book. Nothing spectacular happens. It just describes 6 months from the life of a teenager. If I would have to describe it in one word, it would be: quiet. Or, maybe, lonely.

Like in her other book I have read – “Tiger Lily” –, Anderson focuses on the lonely and quiet people. The isolated ones. The ones that don’t really fit in. and probably because I could relate to that, to being lonely, not having many friends and choosing a book over a social gathering, this book went straight to my heart, found an empty space, and decided to stay there. Probably forever.

 

Reviewed by:

Mary Katerine

Added 28th March 2018