Emma (SCR)
Written on Mar 3, 2018
This book isn't one of those a fast paced thrillers, where you are frantically turning every page to get the answers.. It's more of a slow burner. There is a lot of build up and background before you get to the action. The story is told from three POV, Rosie's, Toni's and Bridget's. The majority is inner conversations or memories of the character. Most of the story is told out of sync with memories flitting here and there so the reader needs to piece together the timeline. I enjoyed doing this, it made me quite engaged in the story.
Toni and Bridget are sisters and Rosie is Toni's teenage daughter. Rosie is your typical teenager. She thinks her mum is wrong about everything and totally lame. Toni is quite over protective of her daughter. She's not always been this way but this is after. After what you ask? Well I'm not telling you will have to read the book to find out. Bridget is the cool Auntie. With no children of her own she likes to spoil Rosie, as much as Toni will let her.
Social media is a huge part of this book. I was on the cusp of this generation. I grew up with MSN, Myspace, AOL and when I was a little older Facebook. But all of these things were just emerging when I was Rosie's age. I didn't have a phone with all the apps that kids have now days, no one did they didn't exist. We had to use a computer that took an age to load up and I might get half an hour before I had to swap with my brother. Honestly kids these days would call it torture but it was all part of the experience. This story really shows some of the dangers of social media to young people.
The main twist in this book wasn't hard to guess but that doesn't make it a bad thing. I enjoyed the journey that got us there. The book is well written. It's clever, it's thought out and it gives you some mysteries and secrets to work out along the way.