Now, strangers online are bashing Torrey. And at her new school, she doesn't know who to trust. Is queen bee Blair only being sweet because of Torrey's internet infamy? What about Raylene, who is decidedly unpopular, but seems accepts Torrey for who she is? And then there's Luis, with his brooding dark eyes, whose family runs the local funeral home. Torrey finds herself drawn to Luis, and his fascinating stories about El dio de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead.
As the Day of the Dead draws near, Torrey will have to really look at her own feelings about death, and life, and everything in between. Can she learn to mourn her sister out of the public eye?
I've been looking forward to reading this book ever since I saw a review of it on YouTube. The whole concept sounding really interesting.
However, I was expecting something a bit lighter. I don't know why, but that was how I thought it was going to be. I don't think I read this book at the right time. I had just finished reading Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson which was a very dark contemporary. Both of these books had the idea of "ghosts" in the sense that they were feeling guilty about the death of a loved one and were "being haunted" by them. This wasn't anything against either of the books, they just shouldn't be read together.
Let's go over the stuff that I didn't like first.
I did not really like most of the characters. Torrey was annoying and superficial. I was really hoping that she would develop into a better person, but she really didn't. Luis was okay, but he wasn't great. He got his feelings hurt too easily. Both of the parents were aggravating. They were rather unrealistic. It was pretty obvious that Raylene was supposed to be the annoying side character, but she was done better than everyone else probably. The best character in the entire book was probably Miranda, Torrey's dead sister. The only problem was that we only got to see her in flashbacks. I loved hearing more about her, but the story was more often focused on Torrey trying to fit in with the popular crowd who was clearly using her.
That leads me to another point. I didn't like how the story was done. Some things should have been sped up, such as Torrey's plan to become popular. Some things should have been slowed down. What Torrey did at the end should have been extended. It was like the climax and ending happened in sixty pages! The "climax" did have much of a lead-in if you know what I mean. That made it not seem like a climax at all.
I really wish the whole YouTube and cyber-bullying thing had been more of a focus. The world of YouTube really intrigues me and I wanted to see how it was on the other side of the screen. We did get a few glimpses of this but not nearly enough.
The whole part with The Day of the Dead was just weird. If the author wanted to make that a major part of the book, I think she should have explained it a bit better. Why did they have this celebration? What was with all of the food? And most importantly...
WHY WAS TORREY SO OBSESSED WITH THE CREEPY MAKEUP?!
I don't know why this bothered me so much, but really! What was with that? It was creepy, not beautiful? Was I missing some hidden symbolism? Seriously!
Now, what did I like....
The few YouTube scenes were great!
So were the flashbacks!
Ummm....
...
I guess that's it!
This wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't great.
I'd give it 3 ½ stars and say that it was for ages 13 and up.
So long!
Hannah Claire
Disclaimer: I received a free e-ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
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