Review Detail

This was an interesting book. I avoided reading any reviews prior to opening this one as I didn’t want them to impact what I thought. I have heard from a number of people that they either really liked it or really disliked it. I have to say, I am more middle of the road on this one. The main reason for that is that I have to enjoy not only the story but the characters and I just didn’t get this here.

First, the story – I honestly liked it and it kept me turning the pages as I wanted to see what was going to happen to these characters…not so much because I liked them but because I was curious. The story itself is beautifully written and I was interested because with a blurb that included the words, love, loss, chaos, and murder in it I was intrigued.

Kiri is the main character. She is 17 years old and home alone for 6 weeks. She has a list of things to do but her main focus is practicing her piano for her showcase and also winning Battle of the Bands with her BFF Lukas. Kiri gets a phone call one night that throws everything off track and ultimately changes her plans for the next 6 weeks. That call is from a man named Doug who says he knew Kiri’s sister Sukey when she was alive and he tells her that if she wants Sukey’s things, she needs to come get them. The rest of the story is about Kiri coming to terms with what happened to her sister as her parents and brother never told her the truth about how she died as well as dealing with the impact of what she learns. I liked seeing the relationship and friendship develop between Kiri and Skunk but I honestly wasn't invested. Here’s why….I thought Kiri was a bit annoying and made some really stupid decisions.

So the characters….First let me talk about Kiri. As I mentioned, Kiri made some (really) stupid decisions – which happens at 17 but seriously – who is going to make the decision late at night to ride their bike through a shady part of town to meet someone they don’t know??? Then, I understand Skunk was being nice, but based on the initial description of him, I would never go off with someone I don’t know in the middle of (again) a shady area of town because he says he will fix my bike tire.

As the story progressed, it was clear that Kiri was acting oddly and she had no support system in place to help address her issues. Her brother wasn't consistently around and her parents are gone.

I did like Skunk and once his back story was revealed, I liked him more. He still struggled with everything going on in his head and clearly his aunt thought Kiri wasn't the best thing for him. Despite that he was trying to get through each day the best he could. Ultimately I was happy to see Kiri come through despite her manic approach to getting him to face his fear.

Lukas was a tool and I was so glad that Kiri finally realized it. The only thing I wish would have happened between him and Kiri is that she had the opportunity to tell him off. He knew she had feelings for him (before the embarrassing movie night) and didn't really do anything to discourage her….the “we should focus on the music” conversation was lame. Maybe it's me but I would most likely have taken the chance to let Lukas know exactly what I thought of him and his inability to do anything but focus on what he wanted.

I honestly have no words for the parents – other than I found it somewhat unbelievable that any parents would leave their teenage daughter home by herself for 6 weeks. Yes, Kiri may have given them the impression that she had it together but that timeframe is not realistic…Forget the fact that their eldest daughter was brutally murdered 4 years ago, she is 17. That is all I have to say about that.

Overall I can’t say that I loved this but I also didn't hate it. I rate this between 2.5 – 3 stars as I enjoyed the story – just disliked most of the characters.