It's been five years since Mia and Brynn murdered Summer Marks, their best friend, in the woods
Increasingly obsessed with a novel called The Way into Lovelorn and by their fan-fiction imagining of its sequel, the girls were drawn by an undertow of fantasy into the magical world they'd created. But eventually, their delusions turned sick, and the Shadow, Lovelorn's central evil, began to haunt them.
Or so the story goes. The only thing is: they didn't do it
Brynn and Mia have both found different ways to hide from their notoriety, seeking refuge from a world that hates them-a world that will never feel magical, or safe, ever again.
On the anniversary of Summer's death, a seemingly insignificant discovery resurrects the mystery and pulls Mia and Brynn back together once again. But as past and present, fiction and reality, begin again to intertwine, Brynn and Mia must confront painful truths they tried for so long to bury-and face the long shadow of memory that has, all this time, been waiting.
In this engrossing, twisty novel, New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver weaves an unforgettable, mesmerizing tale of exquisite obsession, spoiled innocence, and impossible friendships.
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PRAISE FOR LAUREN OLIVER
'A tense psychological thriller with a devastating denouement' Daily Mail on Vanishing Girls
'Hugely moving and gorgeously written . . . an extremely clever and well-written novel that is ultimately uplifting' Heat on Before I Fall
'Creepier and sweeter than GONE GIRL' MTV on Vanishing Girls
'This brilliant thriller has a killer twist' Fabulous on Vanishing Girls
'Lauren Oliver is the rising star of young adult fiction' The Sunday Times on Delirium
It had been five years since Summer's death. Five year since Owen, Mia, and Brynn were branded "The Monsters of Brickhouse Lane". They didn't do it, but with no leads, the case had gone cold, until Mia unearthed an old test of Summer's, which left her wondering if they missed something.
• Pro: Oliver had me hooked from page one. I wanted to know what really happened that day in the Long Field, and the way she slowly revealed the pieces kept me coming back for more.
• Pro: I know people said they guessed the killer early on, but that person was NOWHERE on my radar. When I looked back through the story, the clues were there, but it was by no means obvious to me.
• Pro: The mood was set really well in this book. It had that pulled-from-the-headlines feel, and all those emotions you expect to precipitate from such a situation - anger, anxiety, stress, sadness, and despair, imbued the story.
• Pro: Both Mia and Brynn were given interesting side issues to deal with, and those pieces did a great job of adding an additional dimension to each of the characters. And Summer! The full portrait of Summer slowly developed, and the exploration of her effect on each of these young women was quite interesting.
• Pro: As always, the storytelling was amazing. The bits of the original Lovelorn book and the fanfic written by our trio were interwoven with present day and past POVs from both Brynn and Mia. Each piece was well chosen and well placed to create and sustain the mood, as well as to move the story forward in a compelling way. My only complaint is that I felt like Brynn and Mia's voices were a little too similar.
• Pro: I would like to personally thank Lauren Oliver for that stupendous ending. There was not a lot of light or hope in this book, but the ending more than made up for all the darkness.
Overall: A compelling mystery, that had me hooked from page one with it's mixed of fandom gone wrong and toxic relationships.
