This book was recommended by some of my favorite authors. This book is dark. And intense. And, did I say, dark? But good. For a debut novel, the characters are developed enough to be interesting but not overdone. ( )

Hard to believe this is a debut novel. I found this to be well thought out and well written. There were a few moments of “oh yeah I’ve been there, read this before”, but those moments ended quickly and usually not as I expected.
The story alternates between Jenny’s story (the murder victim) and her older half sister, Virginia’s personal investigation of her death. Obviously, each girl’s personal experiences impact the story, but ultimately I feel it was done in a way that makes their differences a big part of what brings them together. Or brings Virginia to her conclusions.
I think this book worked for me because I do read so much of this genre. I was able to put aside the few typical annoyances and see the writing talent and the story emerge from a fresh voice. 3.5 ⭐️‘s rounded up for a debut.
( )

I was sent this book from the publisher/publicity team. My ratings and reviews will be my own personal opinions and are in no way influenced by publishers or authors who may have sent me books to review.

This story does involve a murder with the points of views being told before and after the murder. I actually really liked seeing everything Jenny was doing prior to her murder. I will say that things got a little crazy and out there at times.

This does deal with affairs, inappropriate relationships, rape, and murder. It kept my attention, but I would have liked it to be a little more fast paced. I still read this in one sitting though and enjoyed it for what it was. There were just too many added details that did not bring anything to the story. I also was a not a huge fan how everything wrapped up with this one.

Overall, this was ok. I am excited to see what we get from the author in the future though as this was her debut novel. ( )

Linda Kennedy, obsessed with the beauty pageants that her daughter, Jenny, has won with unswerving regularly since she was five, cannot understand why the pubescent girl refuses to participate any longer. Some five months or so have passed since thirteen-year-old Jenny made that irrevocable decision and now she struggles to find her place among the popular girls at school and to make sense of her attraction to a new boy at school while her mother latches onto cheerleading as Jenny’s new calling and her mostly-absent father abstains from any decision. Jenny’s twenty-six-year old half-sister, Virginia, holds sway as the black sheep of the family, appearing weekly for the mandatory Sunday dinner, but she harbors a strained relationship with her family and, for the most part, keeps her distance from all of them.

And then Jenny is murdered.

Told alternately by the ever-sarcastic Virginia in the present and the angst-ridden Jenny in the weeks leading up to her death, there is no overlapping similarity between the two sisters, making it easy for readers to move between the two narratives. However, the unfolding story of a dysfunctional family, with everyone guarding their respective secrets, fails to offer readers a backstory or sufficient context to explain the family’s current state of brokenness.

Flawed, unlikable characters making a plethora of poor choices populate the narrative; Virginia becomes obsessed with finding Jenny’s killer early on, but the repulsive events that form the crux of the story are likely to be acutely offensive to the majority of readers. The cliché-ridden dark tale doggedly spins its way through several predictable revelations until reaching its convoluted, repugnant conclusion.

While astute readers will have identified the culprit long before the quixotic reveal, readers are likely to find themselves disappointed by the bewildering denouement that does Virginia no favors and belies any true justice for the young murder victim. ( )

So, I'm torn on this one. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. When a former pageant queen is murdered in a small town, things are turned upside down.

Jenny is 13 years old when she is murdered. This book is written from her perspective leading up to her murder, and her sister Virginia's after her death.

First, I didn't realize it was the murder of a child. The synopsis said former beauty queen so I thought it was an adult. That was my misunderstanding. I get that Jenny is trying to find her way in the world now without the pageants.

Second, Virginia... she is a messed up individual. She is much older than Jenny. She had a long time relationship with an older man while she herself was very young, and cannot move on. She is basically recluse who does not socialize, doesn't leave her apartment, is unemployed and drinks herself into oblivion.
It seems like Jenny's last night was just one tragic event after another, and no one was there for her. Other reviewer have said they figured it all out, that they were parts that seemed thrown in for shock factor and wasn't relevant. I didn't feel that way, I felt that everything tied in and answered other questions.

For me, the book was just ok. ( )