Ash

This is my new favorite book. I checked my notes that I made while reading and the only thing I kept writing was that this book is so unbelievably good. Every character is beautifully written, each with astounding heartbreak of their own. While reading, I felt as if I knew these characters and wanted to help them. They way everyone tied together in some way was done so expertly. The author made me invest in each character equally. No character was arbitrary or unnecessary. I will read this book many times again in the future.

This book threw me into a reading slump. Several people told me that this book was amazing and I needed to read it. I genuinely do not understand why. The writing, the plot, and the pacing were unenjoyable. Pip was annoying. The awkward almost romance with Ravi was not it for me. I'm really not okay with what happened to Barney. The fact that every person interviewed just said everything to this random high schooler. Then Pip would overlook super obvious clues and then jump in to catch the murderers with not enough clues. I knew what was going to happen every step of the way. I understand that it was written for the young adult demographic, but that doesn't mean it doesn't need to be clever. Even the characters themselves were so bland. Pip likes doing schoolwork so much that it's her whole personality. For what? I feel like I'm getting more upset about this book as I write this review, so I'm just going to stop here.