Amanda Linehan

After ~130 pages, the novel had floundered in so much irrelevant detail, I gave up. With such a ponderous style, the reader does not experience that imaginative sense of 'being in the story'. An example of Linehan's style that fell into this trap: an opening scene where Jemi is looking for the toilet facility at a party and finds an occupied bedroom by mistake. The writing was excellent here and conveyed Jemi's embarrassed retreat. However, the excellence of this paragraph was lost in her show more prolonged apologies and lingering in the room. The episode becomes a boring anecdote in successive scenes. After many repetitive scenes and actions, the characters came across as incapable of engaging the reader. YA readers deserve tightly-written prose and a coherent theme. Perhaps there was a good storyline hidden in this novel but I never found it. show less

I managed to read this in its entirety on a plane ride from Jacksonville, FL, back to Seattle; it’s a simple and pretty light YA read, and not too long, from a quite accomplished young writer, Amanda Linehan (she’s written three novels now, and a substantial amount of short fiction).
The premise is centered around a teen girl called Marissa, and several of her close friends, as they try to find closure to their friend Olivia’s sudden death in a car accident. They have questions as to show more whether it’s even an accident, and then go on a mission to find a journal that’s supposedly hidden in the woods, based on information that Olivia’s younger sister has.
Admittedly, I totally went along with this plot, although there were actually a few holes (now that I look back), so I quickly read this, but this is lighter young adult fare than most of the stuff I usually read. But the fact that it wasn’t a heavy read wasn’t really what I ended up being frustrated by.
I understand that these are teenagers and that they may not have been ready to deal with the fact that their friend had passed away. I DO feel that if you write a novel where death and subsequent grief (and questions about it) are the reasons for the story, it must be addressed with a bit more clarity and seriousness. Sometimes I felt like the language and conversation were moving in that direction but it didn’t quite get there. I may be expecting that the audience wants that but maybe it did hit at the right level? It’s hard to know; accepting the death of a teenage friend would be difficult to talk about, so the way in which the friends ‘walk through’ the story may be apt. I’ve been through sudden ‘inexplicable’ loss and I know my own reaction so I only have that to compare it to. I suppose I wanted this to be an opportunity to look at the feelings behind grief more thoroughly.
I also see immense talent in Linehan that is bursting to get through; I have another of her novels to read and review that she has written some 5 years after this one. I am interested to see how this compares to her newest book. Her writing style is fluid and incredibly easy-going for young readers who want a simple page-turner with a little bit of adventure, suspense, romance (just a bit!), and some thought-provoking ideas. show less

Marissa is a senior in high school, whose best friend, Olivia, was killed in a car crash just a few days before the start of the school year. Marissa doesn't really know how to cope with her grief, and when Olivia's younger sister, Jordan, comes to her with a plan, she listens, and reluctantly cooperates.

Soon, Jordan and a group of Olivia's friends--Marissa, Jaye, Aaron, and Peter--are hiking in the woods, to a site where Olivia often wrote in her journal, and where Jordan thinks she may show more have hidden it. There's some room for question, whether the car crash was just an accident, or whether Olivia committed suicide, and for Jordan, it's really important to know.

These are teenagers, on a search that's emotional for them. They of course neglected to tell anyone where they were going; they were of course going to be back before supper.

That some of the kids left their phones in their cars was a bit much for me. That the ones who did have phones with them managed to let their phones lose charge, though, I found completely believable!

They don't find Olivia's journal, and they, of course, don't get back to their cars in time. They wind up lost in the woods, in the dark.

There are all smart kids, and good kids. But under stress, they make some quite believable unwise decisions, and they are not always, under the increasing stress, their best selves.

And there are scary thingss in the woods at night.

I really enjoyed this, teenagers having a very believable teenage misadventure. Recommended

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the author via StoryOrigin. show less

Marissa has recently lost her best friend Olivia in a car accident. There are some questions surrounding her death. When Olivia's younger sister reveals that there is an item in the woods that might answer some questions, Marissa reluctantly agrees. Marissa sets out with Olivia's sister and a few of Olivia's closest friends into the woods. They soon find themselves stuck in complete darkness and must find a way out of the woods.
This was a page turner, I was on the edge of my seat wanting to show more know what move they made next.
I found the characters engaging and believable. I enjoyed the journey that the teens went on to find what they really needed all along. show less