Holly Brown

“Eighth grade is like Lord Of The Flies but with eyeliner.”
― Holly Brown, Don't Try to Find Me

This nook has been compared to "Reconstructing Amelia" but it really isn't anything like that book or Gone girl so do not buy into the type. However it is good. It is also every Parents worst nightmare so if you are a parent..you have been warned!

Marley is 14 years old. One morning she just..vanishes. Her parents are terrified. She leaves nothing behind except this chilling note :

"Don't try to find me".

Well that is a powerful start! And the book is good. It is a bit slow moving at times but very well written and CHILLING .

The book switches POVS like so many books do these days. One of the POVS is Marley herself. Some reviewers did not like the fact that we, the reader, follow Marley and her w hereabouts are not a mystery..to us. But I liked the whole format of the book.

And it is heartbreaking in its way. I would strongly recommend it. In fact I was surprised by some of the low ratings. My attention never wandered and I liked the switching back and forth between the daughter and the parents.

It was creepy without being flat out scary and I found it to be a quick interesting read.

SPOILERS:

You do have some things happen that are hard to believe. I do not believe that a man like the villain in this book would drive her to the hospital but stranger things have happened. I did enjoy how the daughter and mom came together at the end and I enjoyed this book.… (mehr)

So far, the two main characters, Dawn and Miranda, are embroiled in a personal battle of wills over who is right.

I work in customer service, and Miranda reminds me of when good customer service goes wrong. The number one rule is that the customer is always right. Even when they are wrong, they're right. You don't argue with your customers over anything. They are way more likely to spread that bad talk than to tell everybody about that good. Miranda proves that with her worry over her 1 bad review vs her 27 good ones. People want to know who's being honest. I do. I'm guilty of looking at negative reviews, and even giggling at a few, before reading the glowing praiseful ones.
It's true, a lot of negative reviews are people venting, but nine out of ten are giving honest feedback.
This tale of two different women, one young and one not so young, reminds me of how two different people can suddenly become exactly alike. They are both so sure they know exactly what type of person they other woman is based on their vent-filled email and text exchanges. And they are both equally stubborn and refuse to believe they could have made a mistake. Which makes them exactly a like.
There are a few supporting characters, Dawn's passive aggressive husband, Miranda's secretly manipulative husband, and Miranda's drug abusing son, that had me asking questions throughout.

Overall, I think it was a good novel.… (mehr)

The concept of the book is interesting but pretty unbelievable from the get-go (a birth mother being allowed to keep her parental rights but live with the adoptive family for a year after the baby is born? With her very need provided for?) I found it hard to like many of the characters, except for Trevor. The book started off well, then slowed pace…by this point I was too invested to stop reading. The ending sped up and worked for the story. Not a bad read altogether.

*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review*… (mehr)