This was a really hard book to come up with a rating for. There were aspects that I loved - some parts were so suspenseful that my eyes were almost bugging out of my head while I was reading - but other aspects fell kind of flat.
The plot is interesting and the first half centres around June digging around trying to find out the background to her friend’s death. Then there was a plot point at 50%, where the whole book changed to the extent that it felt like I was reading a whole different story. From here onwards the book just seemed to rocket ahead until it reached its abrupt and startling conclusion.
I also really loved the characterisation - June is perfect as a bit of a fraidy-cat and her and Delia’s families are nice and problematic. The group of people we’re introduced to in the second half of the book are well written too. There’s also a nice toxic eroto-friendship in there.
For me , the first 50% of the book seemed to have a few gnarly bits that needed some ironing out and bits that I didn’t quite understand. The first few chapters after June finds out about Delia’s suicide seemed to have a few instances of people randomly coming up to her and infodumping important information surrounding Delia’s actions prior to her death, which seemed a bit odd as June hadn’t been a part of Delia’s life for over a year.
Another odd thing about the first half of the book was some of June’s actions. I know she was grieving, but I’d say that walking into the local drug lord’s den and demanding to know if he killed her ex-best-friend was a bit reckless to say the least. After this, she oscillates between suspecting her own boyfriend and Delia’s boyfriend as the murderer, choosing to confront them herself rather than go to the police. It was like someone had drawn a Stupid Line in the sand and she just kept wanting to cross it.
There were also some plot points that were never fully resolved. Was Ryan really cheating on June? I never really managed to work that one out. And if Delia was so obsessed with June, why did she just sit back for a year without trying to be friends again? And Ryan and Jeremiah’s storylines seemed to be shut down quite quickly as well.
Despite the sticking points, I’d say this book is worth a read, especially if you like your YA a bit dark and twisty.
3 stars
UK publication date: 2nd July 2015
I received a copy of Suicide Notes From Beautiful Girls in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to Egmont Publishing and Netgalley.