15 July 2015

Review #273: Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls by Lynn Weingarten



My rating: 3 of 5 stars


“However rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship.”

----Albert Einstein

Lynn Weingarten, an American YA author, pens a gripping as well as an emotional tale, Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls, about two friends layered with enough mystery to keep the readers engaged till the very end, in a way, the author shades light into teenage friendships, trust issues among them, teenage trauma and suicide and mysterious death into her plot.








Synopsis:

Gone Girl meets 13 Reasons Why in this stylish, sexy, and atmospheric story about friendship packed with twists and turns that will leave you breathless.

They say Delia burned herself to death in her stepfather's shed. They say it was suicide.

But June doesn't believe it.

June and Delia used to be closer than anything. Best friends in that way that comes before everyone else-before guys, before family. It was like being in love, but more. They had a billion secrets, tying them together like thin silk cords.

But one night a year ago, everything changed. June, Delia, and June's boyfriend Ryan were just having a little fun. Their good time got out of hand. And in the cold blue light of morning, June knew only this-things would never be the same again.

And now, a year later, Delia is dead. June is certain she was murdered. And she owes it to her to find out the truth...which is far more complicated than she ever could have imagined.



Delia and June, two high school teenagers were best friends forever and their bond was stronger than blood, but that was a year ago, when everything was perfect between them, June existing in her emotional and caring shell with her boyfriend, Ryan, whereas Delia leading her wild, vulnerable and rough life with drugs, lovers, etc. But due to a stroke of bad luck, things become so weak and mistrusting between June and Delia which took them to a point when they never talked to one another anymore. One year later, when Delia's death of burning herself to death, is announced on the PA system and when on Delia's memorial service, Delia's then boyfriend claimed that it was not a suicide rather it was a murder, it leads June to start an investigation to find out the reasons behind Delia's possible murder. Or it was very possible that June's own judgement and emotions were deluding her mind from accepting Delia's death as a suicide.


The writing style is okay not that good in fact. The narrative is also fine and sometimes it is engaging enough to keep the readers hooked on to the story. The prose is articulate with enough twists and turns to keep the readers on their toes. The pacing is steady and there goes the flaw which made the story not a memorable one- the plot which kept on going up and down and there never is a steady moment to make the readers sway with the story-telling.

The plot is quite inconsistent, with the first half of the mystery being quite simple and nothing so unraveling, while the second half being filled with lots of twists and turns that confuses the readers a lot. Moreover, the climax did not suit the story, at least that's what I feel about it, I mean climax can be shown in a complicated manner but the character that the author incorporated into the minds of the readers while narrating the story lose it's charm in the end.

The characterization is not that strong, with June being the main character, who is very naive and an emotional wreck, but at times, she acted brave and so coolly among things which scared her, although there is no consistent transformation in June's character to comprehend with her sudden change of demeanor. Other than that, she is caring and determined teenager to get to the bottom of the truth.

Delia is a dark character and surprisingly her flaws made her look so perfect through the pages of the book. Yes, although her much-hyped death shies like a true-crime thriller, but there is so much confusion among the characters that at times, this confusion and teasing with the twists fail to excite the readers. Not a single character is portrayed with depth, thus leaving the readers minds with lots of unanswered questions behind the dark secrets that everyone seems to with-hold among themselves.

The mystery is good, and nicely depicted and keeps the readers on their edges till the very climax. There is bit of chemistry and lots of dark elements and the story revolves between the past and the present, where the present is narrated in first person POV with the past being narrated in the third person POV, and the way they swayed from one time period to another is strikingly done by the author. So that makes the readers to fall into the "keep-on-guessing-mode" till the entire length of the novel. And yeah it is a bit of a Gone Girl type story.

Verdict: I wouldn't recommend it too strongly but if you enjoy a nice thriller based on friendships, then this book perfectly fits the bill.

Courtesy: Thanks to the author's publishers for giving me an opportunity to read and review the book. 
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Author Info:
Lynn Weingarten is a writer and book editor. Her fourth book, SUICIDE NOTES FROM BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, will be published by Simon Pulse in the US and Egmont UK/Electric Monkey in July 2015.  
Visit her here


Book Purchase Links:

2 comments:

  1. This sounds like a very dark one but I'm always interested in books with more serious topics. I love that this one kind of focuses on suicide, rather than other things. Great review and I"ll be picking this one up soon!

    Alex @ The Book's Buzz

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Alex, looking forward in reading your review of this book :-)

    ReplyDelete

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