What drew me first to this book was the cover: its absolutely beautiful.
4 disco balls
Published: February 14, 2017 by Dutton Books
Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble
Category: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction
The synopsis on the book jacket is somewhat vague, which I often prefer. It just explains how lead character, Marin, left home with only her wallet, cell phone and a photo. She hasn’t spoken to anyone from her prior life in 3 months; until her best friend shows up to visit for three days.
During this visit we will piece together Marin’s former life and learn why she just picked up and left. I read a few lower rated reviews where some said they were bored: that the story was too slow moving, a bit sluggish. Which I think is what the author was actually aiming to do (IMO). Hear me out: Marin is experiencing overwhelming grief, the life she knew, well it doesn’t feel real to her anymore. She is stuck, she is frozen. She is young and alone: she is struggling to process just being a young adult finding herself and then you add a major trauma. Where is she going to go? She sticks to the place where she feels the most safe (hidden in newer surroundings) and doesn’t want to move from it, in fear of having to process her emotions. So yeah, her journey at this time is a bit slow moving.
But, this is not a negative. Author, Nina LaCour, did a really good job of keeping you in the moment of Marin’s feelings, no more, no less. You experience what she is going through right alongside her.
The story is not perfect and I wasn’t a fan of Mabel (just my opinion – I felt a bit protective of Marin), but its certainly a read I would recommend: also for the fact that I want to discuss it with someone! 😉
I read the book in 1 day, it was a quick read (yes, I know how that sounds when comparing it to a sluggish pace, you will just have to read to understand what I mean). The chapters alternate between past and present, which I enjoy but I know others may not like. They were very quick chapters, so don’t avoid it solely based on this (unless you truly hate that format…peer pressuring you to read something you wouldn’t enjoy is not my jam!)
If you read this book let us know your thoughts!
Please note: this post contains an Amazon affiliate link. If you purchase this book through the link above I will earn a small fee; at no additional cost to you. This will help me purchase more books to read and recommend to you all!
Saturday Nite Reader 
I found this book hard to get through because I’m still dealing with a death of a really close grandparent. The way Marin is experiencing her grief and how raw the character felt made this a five star book for me, but I think you have to have gone through grief to get it
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Sometimes slow is good and serves a purpose
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I always love when books make me feel what the character is feeling.
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Great review Sounds interesting
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Excellent review. It sounds like a good read, though I do lose concentration if a book is too slow, still I would give this a look.
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This sounds like a fun book! I like the way the chapters rotate between past and present. Great review! I’ll definitely be checking this one out!
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That makes me so happy! I hope you enjoy it, can’t wait to hear what you think.
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I think I could get into this character because I can relate to the grief of losing someone. I love the cover.
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Great review. I love quick reads!
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Great review, I absolutely don’t mind when there is an alternate between past and present in a book, I actually love books set up in that format as well. I might need too check this one out one day. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome post.
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Great review. The cover looked a bit old fashioned to me. As long as it is done well, past and present is fine, as long as it doesn’t jump about too much.
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I smile at you recommending this so you could have someone to talk about it with. Most of my IRL friends read different genres than I do and I’m always frustrated when they talk about the books they read and I haven’t read any of them, and they haven’t read the books I read.
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I haven’t read this one yet, but I really enjoy LaCour, so I should really bump it up on the TBR. You are so right about vague synopses. It’s much better to discover what you are going to read as you read it. 😉
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