This had a promising premise but was poorly executed. It was bogged down by endless rehashing, stiff dialogue, clunky plot devices, and flat characters. It desperately needed editing to help with the flow and trim down the repetitive narration to keep the plot moving. 

 

Energy: Lost. Grieving. Melancholic. 

 

🐺 Growls All the friendships lacked warmth or authenticity – Krista read more like a friendly on-call AI robot than a friend. The narrative kept circling back to repeat background details we already knew, sometimes word for word (I even double-checked a few times to see if I had accidentally flipped backwards). The musing were overly repetitive (like, ‘Did I do something? No, I couldn’t have. But did I? No, it’s impossible. But did I?”). Painfully slow pacing. Motivations were clumsily delivered by villain monologue right in the middle of an escape attempt, where everyone inexplicably paused to listen instead of running for their lives 😂. 

 

🐕 Howls The characters felt like stiff caricatures. All the teenagers were rigid and spoke so formally even with each other. The story relied too heavily on contrived plot devices. The characters withheld vital information for absurd reasons, making the plot feel artificially dragged out. Even during high-stakes scenes, the tension was lost because we kept pausing for the repetitive musings and reflections of the main character. The villain was cartoony and predictable (that one may just be because I’m an adult). 

 

🐩 Tail Wags When things finally started happening in the later parts of the book, it was slightly better. Letters and journals provided some intrigue. 

 

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in Orin, Michigan, USA 

Perspective: Our main character got bullied a lot growing up because of a family tragedy. Their cousin, who they lived with and were super close to, always had their back and felt more like a sibling. But things changed when the cousin got into the popular clique at high school and started joining in on the bullying. After sneaking out to a party, the cousin goes missing. 

Timeline: Current (2020s). Late summer/early Fall. 

🔥 Fuel: Why is the main character’s cousin suddenly ghosting her and cutting her out of her life? What happened at the party? Is her cousin alive or did something terrible happen to her? Why did the main character wake up with dirty clothes the night her cousin went missing? Can we trust our her take on things? 

📖 Cred: Suspended disbelief realism 

 

Mood Reading Match-Up: 

Acrid scent. Shadowy wisps. Bruises. Musty earth. Beach. Black candles. 

 

Content Heads-Up: Bullying (high school; non-consenting recordings, peer rejection, purposeful triggering). Loss of parent (as child). Murder-suicide (off page). Betrayal (secrets, bullying). Panic attacks. PTSD. Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Drug use (cocaine, marijuana). Dismissive, disbelieving authorities (police). Pandemic (very brief mention). Gun violence. Physical attack. Murder. Grief. Miscarriage (off page recall; after-effects, psychosis). Healing cons/fraud. 

 

Rep: American. Indian-American. Mixed race (Indian-White). Cis. Deep brown, light brown, black, and pale skin tones. 

 

📚 Format: Library Digital 

 

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