Edgewater

by Courtney Sheinmel

Lorrie Hollander used to be a rich girl, but now she’s lost everything because of the secrets and lies of the people around her. It’s been 12 years since Lorrie’s mother skipped town and left Lorrie in the care of her unstable aunt Gigi. Along with Lorrie’s sister, they live in a neglected, decrepit mansion called Edgewater, the eyesore in a town of extraordinary wealth and privilege.
 
When Charlie, the son of an esteemed senator, takes an interest in Lorrie, her shame for her family and lifestyle runs deep. But what she doesn’t know is that Charlie’s family is hiding something, too, and that their secrets are inextricably tied. Now Lorrie must confront the truth about her family—and everything she thought she knew about herself.

• ISBN13: 9781419723476
• Publish Date: 1 May 2018 (first published 8 September 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 4 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Abrams
• Imprint: Amulet Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://abramsandchronicle.co.uk/book/9781419723476-edgewater/

Reviews

[shannonmiz]

This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight
It wasn't that Edgewater was a bad book, it's just that it wasn't a good one either. It was fine, I guess. But I am not reading a book for "fine, I guess", I want to read a story, I want to have feeling evoked, I want to take a journey. I still am not all that sure what the point of this book even was. Lorrie was also "fine, I guess", though not particularly memorable. She wasn't awful either, so that was good. Her family was a weird mess, and I kind of don't understand how some type of child protective services wasn't involved? Their house was a disaster, they had no electricity, water, phone service, food... and the state of the house was clear to passersby, so... what gives?

So the family was a trainwreck, and the parents were off Parents-in-YA Syndrome-ing. Lorrie had a friend named... something unremarkable, and they ended up befriending Charlie, the son of some Kennedyesque senator. They (of course) hit it off almost immediately, because why wouldn't they? They both have the personalities of drywall, so I see the appeal. ::side-eye:: Again, none of these characters pissed me off, they just didn't make me feel much of anything.

There's a side plot about a horse. I think Orion may have been my favorite character. I even remembered his name, so that's kind of a big deal. Of course, since Lorrie's family can't afford water and electricity, they probably don't exactly have tons of extra cash for her dreams of equestrianism, so this presents a problem for Lorrie. I did worry about her, because Orion was kind of her "thing". I... don't know if she had any other "things" except maybe hiding poverty and being surly?
Anyway, the plot moves pretty slowly, which I don't always mind as long as the characters were keeping my interest. Which they weren't, so I kind of minded. There were a few bigger plot twists which I guess might surprise some people, but I saw pretty much all of it coming.

Bottom Line: I feel like I am the black sheep here, because a lot of people on Goodreads seem to like this one. Like I said, I didn't hate it, I just have absolutely no emotions toward it in general.

**Copy provided from publisher for review