Synopsis
A thriller about two sisters vying for the top spot on their cross-country team–the only way out of their stifling small town. But their dreams are suddenly thrown into peril when a new girl threatens to take away everything they’ve worked for… until she disappears.
Synopsis from GoodReads

My Rating

My Thoughts
This is a dual perspective narrative about two sisters that compete on the same track team. The sisters differ tremendously, Stella, the older of the two, is strong, competitive and had to grow up quick. Ellie, on the other hand, is naive and trusting. She feels as though she has to prove that she is just as good a runner as Stella. Although, different the sisters both feel like they are under a extreme amount of pressure to succeed at track. Actually, the pressure to be the best is a huge focus in the plot. Begging the question what would one do to be the best.

At the start of the book, Stella is determined to move on from an incident that almost derailed her future, in track as well as in general. Ellie had a secret summer fling with a teammate who has a girlfriend that’s also on the track team. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that this relationship got complicated fast. Honestly, I hated the whole Ellie being a side chick angle. She was treated so poorly by the guy, and guilted into keeping their affair a secret. He basically slut shamed her. I was not here for it at all.

You might be wanting me to stop rambling, and get into the mystery thriller aspect of the book. Funny enough, that was exactly how I felt when reading this book. No joke, it felt like a slow YA contemporary, and not one with a compelling plot. It seemed as though the mystery would never happen. And, by the time it did, I was so over reading about these characters.

Still, the mystery was what happened to Mila, the new cross-country star at the sisters’ school. Once Mila goes missing all eyes are on Stella. She was the only suspect and an easy target to pin the whole thing on. One positive about the story was that I didn’t see the minor twist at the end coming. However, the mystery as a whole wasn’t exciting, and there weren’t really any clues as to what had happened to Mila.

“The world doesn’t celebrate girls who take up space, who demand to be heard, who are just a little much.”

A lot of the characters were self-involved and judgemental. There was a typical ‘mean girl’ character that wasn’t necessary to the story at all. I could have lived without her rude and nasty attitude. Yet, there is a cute sapphic relationship that forms between Stella and another character. It was more of an unfortunate meet cute that turned into something sweet.

Overall ,I enjoyed the notion that just because you know all the facts of something, doesn’t necessarily mean you know the whole story. Still, I found the book to be slow, and way too long. No hate, but I wish the author would have gotten to the point much sooner. The book wasn’t completely terrible just not for me. However, it covers a variety topics such as manipulation, bullying and a specific kind of depression that may be considered a spoiler. I encourage you to find full list of all the subjects that were touched on, in case they may be triggering for you.

In the comments, let me know if you have read this book. I do have a review of ‘They Wish They Were Us’, which is also by this author, that you can read (click here) as well. Don’t forget to like, share, and follow the blog.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny