Have you seen the cover? The cover. THE COVER.YUM.
YAY MYSTERY. I'm in dire need of good mysteries these days. /sigh
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2.5 stars. I was actually very annoyed with the narration from the beginning, and I guess it sort of grew on to me by the end. But I thought a lot of things were unbelievable, so I can't say I enjoyed this book much ... Sadly.
Here was my problem with this one: The narration, coupled with how idiotic and unbelieving these students were acting - I mean, someone was murdered - I pretty much didn't enjoy this book. Some, but not enough.
When Hartley hears that her boyfriend Josh is banging up Courtney Cline - the most popular, sex-abstinence-taking leader of the Color Guard - she goes to confront him. But what seems like a harmless confrontation turns out to be something much larger and more dangerous: a murder mystery.
.__.
There were so many things wrong with this book. The police? Completely wack-brained and stupid. Chase, the love interest? So stoner - like, literal black jeans, black shoes, black hair, studs; complete emo, and apparently that's attractive? - and was so stereotypical. Actually, lots of the characters were stereotypical, mostly all.
Hartley's best friend, Sam? So dumb it's not even funny.
And Hartley.
It's funny, because not once - okay so maybe once, but it was the wrong "once" - did she ever question her suspects. If they said, "No, I did not do it" or "No, I have a strong alibi" without even listing the alibi, she believed them.
WHAT
THE
BALLS
By the time I was finished with the book, I was banging my head against the wall.
Except I guess I enjoyed it? I mean, why else would I give it 2.5 stars, right? But right now, I can't remember the murderer ... much less the characters' names.
Oh, and the murderer? Unexpected, but not shocking.
Maybe I had high expectations. Maybe I'm treating this too harsh - after all, it might just be a blargh murder mystery for YA readers who are tired of awesomesauceness and just want some simple plots.
Right?
But I didn't like it, because I was really hoping for a good murder mystery. And this wasn't it.