Sprucewood High School changes everyone. The girl with sad eyes who walked out of the bathroom stall; she made herself puke. The star basketball player can’t read an entire sentence, so he takes his anger out on the introverted kid after third period. His face turned purple and blue.Olive was just a girl.Fletcher was just a boy.And there they were, together, wandering in the chaos of it all. … in the chaos of it all. Their paths crossed, all because of fate. She was the lost girl who wanted to love, but she also wanted to die. He was the mysterious new kid with golden eyes that held a story she wanted to know.
Together, they attempt to figure out a way to numb themselves from the pain of finding out who they are in this world, where they belong, and how to handle the memories that haunt them in their nightmares. Addiction in its nastiest of forms torments them, threatening their false paradise as they attempt to escape their pain.
Will their self-destructive ways be too much for the love they start to feel? Or is it even love when it is clouded by the H they shoot into their veins? Hearts break and souls get crushed at Sprucewood High.
more
Jeeesus!!! Where does Mary find in her heart the cruelty and apathy in perfect ratio to write this dark, sensitive story. The thought process required to plot such a heart wrenching narrative must be debilitating for her cause it sure as hell gouged out pieces of mine!!!
The girl, Olive Branch, could be any one of us. She’s just a girl who needs someone, to love her, to hold her, to protect her.
“Because I was just a girl. My protector became the one who harmed me, and I was starting to remember it all in my dreams.”
As women we have experienced abuse of some kind in our lives, some milder, some to the extent Olive goes through. Understandably she falls down the rabbit hole of her nightmares and to escape pain, she needs to cut herself open and let it bleed out
“I wish I could cry, but I can’t. Instead, I can only think about more ways to hurt myself for all my wrongdoings. I have tripped inside of a helix, and it is spinning out of control. The sad part is, I’m not so sure I want it to stop.”
I bled with her. I cried with her. Every abusive word, every humiliation, every jeer & taunt felt like molten lead in my ears. After constant debasement, Her pleas for mercy just die in her mouth and self hatred becomes her path to travel alone
“The first time I didn’t, but he simply opened the doors of my self-hatred. I have become addicted to it, a glutton for it, whether it be through physical or emotional pain.”
This story will make an empath out of you too. You will not be able to turn your heart away from this young girl crying for help. Abandonment issues compounded by heinous acts of sexual abuse pockmark her self-worth with punch- holes.
Unworthy.
Unlovable.
Unlikeable.
Their story progresses through bleek, dark passages of a wounded mind and future is almost promised as the end.
Here’s where Mary excels in bringing a twist to tie the end in a knot.
I wasn’t sure if was i happy or sad. There’s loss and there’s pain so it’s not a Happily Ever After, but a befitting end.
There’s agonizing tenderness that wafts through the whole book. A tense instability keeps you on tenterhooks throughout. The thin line between these two is what Mary keeps the readers straddle. I didn’t know till the end how she was gonna tie up the ending and was surprised, though not pleasantly, but that’s the course such ill fated stories take ultimately
I’ll be looking forward to Fletcher’s story with a bottle of wine and a box of tissues
4.5 stars for Self-Forgiveness
The prologue already set the tone for pain and darkness, and my heart ached for Olive and all of the feelings and mysterious memories swirling around inside her.
The anguish in Chapter 1 nearly took my breath away. I was screaming for Olive inside my own mind. I wanted to stop the scene and save her from it all.
Palmerin’s writing was so clear and powerful throughout this story. I felt trapped in Olive’s head. It was as if everything was playing out in bits and pieces, flickers and shadows. It was intoxicating and very well done.
The events in Chapter 2 practically ripped my heart from my body. I wanted to cry out, to stop it, but I was a prisoner on my side of the page.
Fletcher was quite charming. His chemistry with Olive was palpable. What happened in the dugout had me holding my breath. All I could do was stare at the pages. Olive’s need to feel nothing hurt my heart, and yet a part of me wanted her to achieve it at any cost.
As the story went on, Olive’s need to suffer and feel more and more pain was tearing my own soul open. I ached for her. However, the beauty and solace that she found in dance brought a certain peace to the pages. And when Fletcher reappeared, I wanted so much for them to heal one another, and yet I knew there was much more darkness to come. Together they were breath-taking.
The ending of About a Girl was beautiful and painful and brilliant. This story was fabulous and I absolutely loved it. Olive and Fletcher were incredible characters, so broken and yet so perfect. Once again Palmerin has created a masterpiece that will embed itself within the very fiber of my being.
Have you ever read a book that frustrated the mess out of you and broke your heart at the same time? No. Well neither did I until this book. The feelings that I got from this book was all over the place. Olive has so much going that I couldn’t tell where one issue ended and another started. Then comes Fletcher, the boy with golden eyes. He’s not a good person and yet there’s something about him that draws you. I was drawn from beginning to end and I could barely put the book down. Every story does not have a HEA and that is okay. This book ended how it needed to and as much as it hurt I accepted it. I recommend this book for those who can step out of their comfort zone. This is not a easy read but worth reading.
So I read an ARC of this book around 2 years ago just before it released. I can honestly say it was unlike anything I’ve ever read before. I can also say it’s the kind of book that I think EVERYONE should read. And I mean, everyone.
So beautiful and raw in it’s brokenness. I just couldn’t get enough of Olive and Fletcher. This is NOT your typical romance. It’s not a heart and flowers love story. This story is very much like the title, About A Girl.
I feel everyone needs to meet Ollie because there will most definitely be a part of her that every single female on the planet can relate to. Her struggles, her hardships, her feelings, her pain, her love, her heart. I know I personally love Olive because I relate to her a lot. Reading this book had me thinking about myself and really made me feel because I felt so connected to the character. It was painful and will tear you wide open but you will love every moment of it.
Fletcher…. Fletcher has my broken heart and soul in the palm of his hand. A character that you can’t help but love even when you don’t want to
Olive and Fletcher are both haunted and hurting and together I ached for them to help and heal each other which they did in some ways. A toxic combination of love, pain, hurt and so much more.
My heart ached so much for these two and still does till this day whenever I think about it. I highly recommend EVERYONE reads this book. I promise, if it doesn’t change you, there will definitely be something you can take away from it.
*Reviewed by Ali at Fallen For Books
Nothing could have prepared me for this book. Actually that sentiment could be said for all of Mary’s stories, but each and every one of them are worth the gamut of emotions that course through you. About a Girl is not a story of hope or love that will pull at your heartstrings. This story is one of the ugly side of life; life unfiltered without the rose colored glasses.
About a Girl will hold you victim and will manipulate your emotions. You become so invested in Olive’s story that you just need her to find happiness. Olive and Fletcher have let us – the reader – into their lives, trusted us with their secrets, witnessing their shame and heartache. We never fully understand the motivations underlying our choices, but it is made clear why the path they followed took them to where they ended up.
Sometimes a book just sits in your soul and touches you, and once you have finished it you have a hard time remembering it is just fiction. This is such a book. Don’t read this book unless you are prepared to cry and cringe at the vulnerability, personal mental turmoil, and the unjust of actions against these two unfortunate souls. But just let me say that the journey is worth it. UNFORGETTABLE. BRILLIANT BOOK!
A Beautifully Written Story.
I went into this book blind not knowing much about it other than being very intrigued by the blurb.
I’ve read a couple of books by this Author already so I’m familiar with her darker writing style, which I’m a huge fan of.
I thought that would prepare me for this book……It didn’t.
Dark reads are easy, this story was anything but.
About A Girl is a emotionally heart wrenching, yet beautifully tragic love story between two equally broken souls. Olive and Fletcher’s story isn’t hearts and flowers, it’s a painful and chaotic journey fraught with difficulties that leads them onto a path of destructive behaviour.
I feel very raw and emotional right now as I write this review but I wouldn’t change a thing about this book, no matter how much it hurt. This author did a phenomenal job dealing with the difficult subject of addiction as a way to numb the pain when nightmares and memories plague your very existence.
This story was so much more than I thought it would be, it’s one of those books that will have a massive impact on you as you’re reading it and leave a lasting impression long after you’ve finished. Not many stories have the ability to do that, so you know you’ve read something special.
Read this beautifully written thought provoking story today.
Am I ready to read Fletcher’s harrowing story? After that ending…..HELL.NO!!
But I need to read his book more than anything. So yes, I’m terrified knowing it’s going to destroy me. But the boy with the Golden eyes holds a piece of my heart. So I’m anxiously await with bated breath.
I have this uncanny obsession with books that are “dark” and have trigger warnings. About a Girl fits into this category, it is beautifully dark. Poetic. I had to inhale and exhale big breaths, at the beginning and end of each chapter, as I wiped away tears. I am really happy that I had a chance to read this story.
As soon as I read the blurb for About A Girl I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. I had a feeling the story would be hard to read and it was.
Olive’s a lost girl, struggling with depression and addiction. She wants to be loved but every time she lets someone in, all it does is hurt her. When she’s hurting, she hurts herself to numb the pain. My heart broke for her. There we’re times throughout the book, it took me back to when I was a teenager. I could sympathize with her. Similar experiences I wanted to forget and felt those same feelings.
Just like everyday in second period, Olive raises her hand to get a hall pass to the bathroom. No intentions of going, she sneaks out to hide behind the football bleachers for a smoke. She hears a noise and sees a boy with a skateboard next to him. She’s completely taken by him and surprised because she’s not one who looks at people. He doesn’t tell her his name the first time they meet. She finds out the mysterious new kid with golden eyes is Fletcher. They have a connection and she wants to know his story. What she didn’t know is his addiction would become hers and their lives would change forever.
This was a gut wrenching story with so many feels. Seeing the one you love suffering is heartbreaking especially when you feel somewhat responsible. Things happen in life we can’t explain. You’ve got one life, one chance and sometimes a second chance.
The ending was so unexpected. It left me speechless. Amazing writing Mary Palmerin.
“My soul has been pried open with a knife since I was a child, but this one night has erased all the sweet lies that have been told to me.” <3
**I voluntarily read an advanced copy**