Suicide Notes From Beautiful Girls | Lynn Weingarten | Review
"When June met Delia, she was a lifeline. Their intense friendship gave her a sense of belonging, of security, that she’d never had before. She felt braver, smarter, funnier, more attractive when Delia was around. But then something went wrong, and Delia and June haven’t spoken for a year when an announcement is made at their school that Delia is dead.
June barely has time to mourn before Delia’s ex-boyfriend convinces her that Delia didn’t kill herself but was in fact murdered, and June is fast swept into a tangle of lies and deceit – and a conspiracy she can barely conceive of, never mind believe."
Similarly to my last YA review this is a particularly tricky one to write without giving away too much. As with any book that has some sort of mystery element I don't want to say too much as it's best you go into the book knowing as little as possible!
One element I really enjoyed, and am able to talk about without including spoilers, was the format which included chapters from the present time as well as flashbacks that gave a clearer picture of June & Delia’s intense friendship. In general I think mystery books work best with this type of structure as the reader isn’t given all of the facts and has to guess along the way as more snippets are revealed and the bigger picture begins to form. Whilst I wasn't crazy about the characters themselves I was definitely intrigued enough by the plot and format to continue reading and discover more about their complex situations.
For me this particular novel felt a little like two books in one, as after the first big reveal about what happened to Delia (right on the halfway point) the tone and style seemed to change. On the one hand this could be seen as a positive, a good way to keep readers on their toes. However if you particularly enjoyed the first section then you may feel a little disappointed by the different direction the story takes in the second half.
In all honesty I found this book pretty difficult to rate as there were both parts I really enjoyed and other aspects that just weren’t for me. Having said that I would like to read more from this author in future and recommend picking this one up if you enjoyed darker YA books such as Dangerous Girls (Abigail Haas) and Dead Girls Don’t Lie (Jennifer Shaw Wolf).
This definitely sounds interesting and I do love a good YA mystery book. Hmm, strange that the book changes style but I presume that the change is suited to how the plot develops? I also really like this cover but maybe that's just me
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Yep, the style does reflect what happens in the plot! I really like the cover too - hope you enjoy the book if you decide to pick it up :)
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