Book Review: A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo

Book Title & Author: A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo
Published by: Dutton Books for Young Readers on October 17th, 2017
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 288
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
Goodreads
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Synopsis: The line between best friend and something more is a line always crossed in the dark.
Jess Wong is Angie Redmond’s best friend. And that’s the most important thing, even if Angie can’t see how Jess truly feels. Being the girl no one quite notices is OK with Jess anyway. While nobody notices her, she’s free to watch everyone else. But when Angie begins to fall for Margot Adams, a girl from the nearby boarding school, Jess can see it coming a mile away. Suddenly her powers of observation are more curse than gift.

As Angie drags Jess further into Margot’s circle, Jess discovers more than her friend’s growing crush. Secrets and cruelty lie just beneath the carefree surface of this world of wealth and privilege, and when they come out, Jess knows Angie won’t be able to handle the consequences.

When the inevitable darkness finally descends, Angie will need her best friend.

“It doesn’t even matter that she probably doesn’t understand how much she means to me. It’s purer this way. She can take whatever she wants from me, whenever she wants it, because I’m her best friend.”

A Line in the Dark is a story of love, loyalty, and murder.

Review: 
My obsession with this book started when I first saw the cover. The cover is so eye-catching and that usually makes me even more excited for a book. I put this book on the list of books I wanted to buy and FINALLY bought it about a month or so ago.

First thing: Don't skip the prologue. I normally don't skip the prologue, but this time, I didn't see it. I skipped right over it and onto chapter one. I fully believe that reading the prologue right away would have made me enjoy the book more.

I wanted so desperately to love this book as psychological thrillers are my jam in a big way. Unfortunately, this book was only okay for me. It really didn't have that "thriller" feel to it. It wasn't fast paced like I feel psychological thrillers that are under 300 pages should be. 

Jess in particular really got on my nerves. I have a thing about needy/clingy people and to me, Jess was extremely needy/clingy, especially with Angie. Jess actually bordered on stalkerish, now that I think more about it. I actually preferred Angie's romance with Margot over Angie's friendship with Jess. I wanted more of Angie & Margot's relationship in the book.

I do have to say that I LOVED all the queerness in this book. Massive props to Lo for the awesome lesbian representation in this book. 

There were two parts to this book. A "before" and an "after" The first half is told in Jess's first person POV and the 2nd part was told in 3rd person POV along with police transcripts & interviews with the girls. I thought for sure the switch would throw me off and it did for a little bit, but I quickly adjusted to it.

Final thoughts: This book was okay, there were parts I liked and parts I wasn't a fan of. Give it a shot if it still sounds like something you'd enjoy. It just wasn't thrillery enough for me.

Book Review: Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

Book Title: Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books on May 22nd, 2018
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 448
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
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A gripping, relentless, and timely new novel from critically acclaimed author of Allegedly, Tiffany D. Jackson, about the complex mystery of one teenage girl’s disappearance and the traumatic effects of the truth.

Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable—more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn’t turn up for the first day of school, Claudia’s worried. When she doesn’t show for the second day, or second week, Claudia knows that something is wrong. Monday wouldn’t just leave her to endure tests and bullies alone. Not after last year’s rumors and not with her grades on the line. Now Claudia needs her best—and only—friend more than ever. But Monday’s mother refuses to give Claudia a straight answer, and Monday’s sister April is even less help.

As Claudia digs deeper into her friend’s disappearance, she discovers that no one seems to remember the last time they saw Monday. How can a teenage girl just vanish without anyone noticing that she’s gone?

Review: I fell head over heels in love with Allegedly last year, so I couldn't wait to read Jackson's newest release. I originally didn't even have it on my schedule for March, but when a fellow blogger raved about it, I asked her if I should move it to my March TBR and she told me I should. So I did. I don't generally do things other people tell me to, but I trust this blogger's opinion and she knows me & my tastes.

Quite honestly, I struggled with this one at first. I was prepared to feel sympathy for Claudia and anger at Monday who seemed to have vanished from Claudia's life, but I couldn't feel those things. Claudia drove me absolutely bananas and I kept wanting her to stop clinging to Monday. I actually felt sorrier for Monday because she had a bad home life and she had a needy clingy best friend. I understood Monday just a bit more than I understood Claudia. I had been in Monday's shoes with the clingy best friend and it was not easy at all and I always felt frustrated with her because I never felt like I could do my own thing. So to have Monday just vanish from Claudia's life sounds harsh, but I would have given anything to be able to do that.

Claudia was desperate to be anywhere that Monday was going to be and that extended to high school. Monday wanted to go to Banneker, so of course Claudia wanted to go there. Even if that meant continuing to cheat on her assignments. Now, I'm not gonna say I never cheated on an assignment, because I did and I fully admit it, but the way Claudia went about it and for as long as she went about it, drove me insane. All because of Monday.

"We aint gonna get into Banneker if they put you in the stupid people class." Monday

So Monday wasn't really a good friend to Claudia either, and that pissed me off. Instead of supporting her, she was both enabling and belittling her. Claudia had learning problems and to see her struggling so much just stabbed me in the feels. I know too many people who struggled with learning problems for me not to be affected.

Claudia's obsession with Monday drove me bonkers. Wait, did I say that already? Oooops. Anyway, she wanted to do everything Monday did. Even wanted to do homeschooling because that's what she heard Monday was doing, At least her mom had a good head on her shoulders.

"If Monday jumped off a bridge, would you want to do that too?" Claudia's mom

Claudia also seemed really obsessed with Monday's siblings, especially her two younger siblings, Tuesday and August. A big part of it was probably that Claudia was an only child and her mother had gone through multiple miscarriages. Definitely sad, but like Monday said,

"He's not your brother." Monday

All of Claudia's eggs seemed to be in one basket, Monday's and just like it drove me bonkers, it was clear that it was starting to drive her parents bonkers too. It was also bugging Monday's older sister, April who had some truth bombs to launch onto Claudia on several different nights.

There were two sides to Monday's mom, Patti: There was the side that everyone outside the house saw, and there was the side that only people she allowed into her house, saw. On the outside, she seemed like a decent woman, one who wanted to interfere in a family's private business because there was clear abuse in the home. She was so convinced the abused woman was going to be killed and Claudia's mother could not convince her otherwise. But on the inside, she was a mean woman who really didn't seem to care too much about her kids. Always yelling & hurting them in different ways.

I loved Michael. He seemed like a good guy, someone Claudia definitely needed in the wake of Monday's disappearance. He cared about her and he was concerned about her. He was just a genuinely good guy. It didn't hurt that her parents liked him too. Michael fixed stuff around her house that her parents hadn't made a priority to fix. He too, launched some truth bombs on Claudia, albeit in a much nicer way.

"That don't mean she's your friend too, Claudia."  Michael

And he was right. Just because Monday was her friend, that didn't mean April was also her friend.

We didn't really learn the truth until about 80% of the way through the book and I just remember my heart shattering into a billion pieces. We didn't get just one devastating truth, we got several and then we knew the web of lies that were concocted in order to hide the devastating truth.

Final thoughts: This book started out a bit rocky, but it ended up wrecking me, probably beyond repair.