From the New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls and The Perfect Stranger comes a suspenseful psychological mystery about one girl’s search to uncover the truth behind her ex-boyfriend’s death. Perfect for fans of We Were Liars and 13 Reasons Why.Jessa Whitworth knew she didn’t belong in her ex-boyfriend Caleb’s room. But she couldn’t deny that she was everywhere–in his … couldn’t deny that she was everywhere–in his photos, his neatly folded T-shirts, even the butterfly necklace in his jeans pocket . . . the one she gave him for safe keeping on that day.
His mother asked her to pack up his things–even though she blames Jessa for his accident. How could she say no? And maybe, just maybe, it will help her work through the guilt she feels about their final moments together.
But as Jessa begins to box up the pieces of Caleb’s life, they trigger memories that make Jessa realize their past relationship may not be exactly as she remembered. And she starts to question whether she really knew Caleb at all.
Each fragment of his life reveals a new clue that propels Jessa to search for the truth about Caleb’s accident. What really happened on the storm-swept bridge?
Praise for Megan Miranda’s All the Missing Girls:
“This thriller’s all of your fav page-turners (think: Luckiest Girl Alive, The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl) rolled into one.” —TheSkimm
“Fast-paced and frightening.” —Refinery29
“[The] perfect read for thriller fans.” —Bustle
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What can I say except that this is another brilliant book by Megan Miranda. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when I started it but I should have known that no matter what was inside I wouldn’t be able to put it down. That’s just how Miranda weaves stories. This story may not sound like her regular fair but it is in all the ways that matter. There are twists and turns, unexpected romance and heartbreak and sweetness and despair. By the end I felt like any of these characters could have been my friends and really, isn’t that what we are all looking for in our books? Highly recommend.
I couldn’t put it down. I ended up reading the whole book in one day!!!
Megan Miranda never disappoints! I didn’t want to put this book down and it left me with a major book hangover once I reached the end.
When Jessa Whitworth’s high school ex-boyfriend dies suddenly, it’s as if the world stops. One moment Caleb is at her track meet, taking the butterfly necklace she handed to him, and the next, he’s gone, his car washed over a flooded bridge on a stormy day. Caleb’s mom eventually asks Jessa to pack up his room–she blames Jessa for the accident, since Caleb had gone to see her that day, and Jessa feels she cannot say no. She’s left to clean out his room and winds up piecing together bits of Caleb’s life as she does. Each photograph, article of clothing, and notebook reminds her of parts of her life with Caleb. Even worse, she realizes there is so much she didn’t know about him. With that realization, Jessa wonders, what really happened the day Caleb went over the bridge?
This novel isn’t really what I expected at all, though I should have realized that it would be less teen angst and more teen angst and psychological mystery combined, as the two Megan Miranda novels I have read, The Perfect Stranger: A Novel and All the Missing Girls, are more in the suspense/thriller category.
The biggest issue for me was that this one starts off really slow. It’s hard to get into any kind of momentum as every forward plot movement is broken by Jessa finding something and immediately remembering back into her past with Caleb. I was a little frustrated in the beginning, wanting more to happen.
I really enjoyed the character of Jessa, though. She was a little hard on herself in relation to Caleb’s death, but she was also a teen dealing with both the death of a loved one and a recent breakup (their split occurring not too long before his death). She came across as pretty realistic. The supporting cast was a little more nebulous for me–Caleb’s mom was pretty harsh, and we didn’t see too much of Jessa’s family, though I liked her older brother, Julian. Caleb’s best friend and neighbor, Max, was probably the other character that was easiest to get to know and he was rather well fleshed out. Caleb himself–whom we learn about through Jessa’s point of view and flashbacks–is a hard one to figure out, but that only adds to the mystique of how he ended up at the bridge that day.
Overall, if you can bring a little patience, this book is one to enjoy. It eventually picks up and while the storyline is somewhat different (this whole novel is rather hard to describe), I really did enjoy it. I felt satisfied with the ending–it was worth reading. I enjoyed Miranda’s two adult mysteries and while this is the first of her YA novels that I’ve read, I will definitely investigate others. 3.5 stars. More at http://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/