Author: Jenny Quintana
ISBN: 9781509839476
Category: Crime & mystery
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
I found this a light easy murder mystery read by Jenny Quintana, a story based on friendship, relationships, obsession, secrets, and abuse.
The story revolves around two timelines between 1979 when a body is found and twenty years later in 1999 when another body is discovered.
In 1978 Elizabeth Valentine is an insecure, naïve 14-year-old, she is intelligent but overweight and lonely which sets her aside being unpopular at school. She likes to stretch the truth and fantasizes to compensate for her painful home life after her father leaves their family home for another woman.
Elizabeth longs for a best friend she can share secrets with and form life long memories; she then meets Rachel, a slightly older girl connected to Elizabeth’s father when he starts dating Charlotte, Rachel’s mother. Elizabeth becomes infatuated with Rachel and dotes on every part of her life. When a body is found near their secret den and the police investigate the murder the girls are not questioned even though Rachel and Elizabeth have a secret that binds them together.
Now in 1999 Elizabeth, an adult is trying to forget the past, she is still overweight, sad and lonely and still feels the scars her childhood has left behind. When she finds out about the second body being discovered she feels she must come forward and uncover the secret she has kept hidden all these years especially seeing she knows the identity of the second victim.
The beginning of the novel is slow but will keep you guessing until the end where the speed picks up and all is revealed but I do feel this novel was dragged out and it could have been more dramatic and edgy for a murder mystery. It is not a high recommendation but if you like a slow burn book with a satisfying end then it’s for you.
Thanks to B&L and Pan Macmillan for providing a copy of this book for the read and review.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading this book with us. You can read their reviews in the comments section below, or add your own!
My love of books started at a very young age. My mum has always been a reader and encouraged me to read, buying me endless book from classic fairy tales advancing to the world of Enid Blyton, CS Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, Kathryn Kenny, Carolyn Keene, Francine Pascal. In my adult years the list of authors is endless and every room in my house is filled with books.
One of my favourite novels is Narnia which has always has a special place in my heart. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1978 and when I was given this book to read it let me escape to another world where I felt like I was in the book with all the characters, it wasfun and exciting to escape from reality and eased the ups and downs of the disease at such a young age.
In books nothing is impossible and there is endless potential and hundreds of places to explore or being taken to places that are only made up from the authors’ great minds, the past and future to navigate, characters lives you step into taking you on an emotional rollercoaster ride or being scared out of your wits. I can experience things that I can’t in real life because they’re not possible or real. It challenges my perspective and mindset expanding my worldview.
I find joy, comfort and peace with books, many people may not get it, but I know bookworms like me truly understand. Reading makes my heart happy.