Copycat

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

3.5 stars

This book caught my interest from the first chapter. I quickly found myself engrossed in the story, the mystery, and the characters who had to live through it.

The concept of this book caught my attention quickly– I love crime fiction, so reading about someone who loves reading and writing about crimes, then has to go through one sounded really interesting. I was hoping she would see through potential tropes and solve the mystery herself. This, I will say, was one of the biggest letdowns for me. Addy is kinda naive for a person who reads so much about crimes– even if they are fiction. Some things happened that had me shaking my head over– although there was thing I thought would lead to a huge cliche thing that just... wasn't ever brought up again, so that was a nice dodge, I guess?

The writing style was very much a style I liked. It is easy to read and not bogged down in too much detail, just enough to get you hooked in the story and wondering what will be important. I was sucked into the story so I wasn't able to pay attention to much else, but there were a few things that did stick out though.The chapter breaks were weird at times and just didn't make sense, like in the middle of a conversation. Also, the police were written to be absolutely useless. This is a peeve because I hate when police seem to do little to no investigation and then blame the main character based off info they have, not what the main character finds. It can be frustrating.

All this I could deal with, just minus half a star, but I took a star away for how events in the book didn't seem to connect or have impact. Something happens that honestly makes someone look bad, or discredits them yet it isn't mentioned at all later??? “Oh, that person threatened me, but I'll still care about what they say and won't mention it to my friends or cops.” –Seriously??? AND when asked if there was a reason to not trust them, it isn't even mentioned. This totally brought me out of the story. The ending also didn't seem to connect to the past as much as I thought it could– in fact I wanted to know more about the accident and what happened to Addy's mom.

As a good note, I loved the relationship between the girl characters. There is no jealousy-filled feuds, Addy and Maya talk about things besides boys gasp and have an all around great friendship.

I did enjoy reading this story! I had a GREAT time reading it and wonder what was going to happen (mostly because I was hoping there would be a twist...) . I see younger readers appreciating this one more– not hardcore mystery or thriller fans, but maybe someone new to the genre or wanting a taste of it.