reread july 2019: i always forget how creepy this is

second reread april 2015

i really love everything about this book. i remember the first time i read it i was expecting to hate it and it was going to be boring and whiny and it's none of those things. it's nothing like i expected. i love the atmosphere created in the muggy heavy heat of summer that you can feel yourself even when it's april and it's pouring. i love the writing - the winding sentences and lovely turns of phrases that really pull you in. i love hannah's relationship with her sister and her relationship with lillian. i love that lillian is so integral to the story but she doesn't take over too much. she talks about her illness so matter-of-factly because she knows hannah won't ever understand but she has to explain how she was thinking during it. i love finny
boone. i fell completely for him and hannah. there are sweet moments in the middle of this serial killer mess that you really cling on to. and then the ending is genuinely terrifying even when you know it's coming. it gets me every time.

one of my favourites.

reread: march 2014

first read: july 2013

I liked this book a lot more than I was expecting. It was told in a narrative that used lovely, haunting words that helped shape the overall atmosphere of the novel. Reading the back of the book the story seems to focus on a serial killer but there is so much more than that. Lillian, the best friend who died months prior to the novel due to anorexia, is surprisingly likeable and you can't help but pity her despite the way she sometimes treats Hannah, the protagonist. I had a soft spot for Finny and I was rooting for them the whole way though. The end has some truly unexpected and shocking twists and turns ending the book with a bang. The writing is a big part of why I enjoyed this book so much and I plan to read more of Brenna Yovanoff's novels.