ARC Review: Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls

Title: Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls

Author: Lynn Weingarten

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publication Date: July 7, 2015

Source: ARC from Simon Pulse

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Gone Girl meets 13 Reasons Why in this stylish, sexy, and atmospheric story about friendship packed with twists and turns that will leave you breathless.

They say Delia burned herself to death in her stepfather's shed. They say it was suicide.

But June doesn't believe it.

June and Delia used to be closer than anything. Best friends in that way that comes before everyone else-before guys, before family. It was like being in love, but more. They had a billion secrets, tying them together like thin silk cords.

But one night a year ago, everything changed. June, Delia, and June's boyfriend Ryan were just having a little fun. Their good time got out of hand. And in the cold blue light of morning, June knew only this-things would never be the same again.

And now, a year later, Delia is dead. June is certain she was murdered. And she owes it to her to find out the truth...which is far more complicated than she ever could have imagined.

Sexy, dark, and atmospheric, Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls will keep you guessing until the very last page.

My Review

When I first started Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls by Lynn Weingarten, I found little hints of Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The narrator of Suicide Notes, June, slightly reminded me of Charlie, so I was excited to read on and see if this book would be a thrilling and enjoyable read for me despite its comparisons to books that I have not enjoyed.

As I read more and more of Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls, the comparisons to Charlie stopped, and June became someone new in my eyes. The slight similarities wore off, and June became a completely different character, and one who is unlike a lot of the YA characters I've been introduced to lately. She's definitely one I'll remember for a while just because of her quietly strange disposition. She's normal, yet she's not normal, and that's okay with me. There's more to her than what everyone else at school really sees. There's more to her than what she sees in herself, and she soon discovers that by trying to figure out what happened to her former best friend, Delia.

Now that I've mentioned Delia, I feel like I should plaster a warning label on her because she's kind of insane! No really... she is insane, but you know what, I liked it. You get to know a little bit about her through flashbacks, and she's another character that readers won't soon forget. She's one of those characters that you love and hate at the same time. I don't want to spoil readers, but she messes with your mind! OMG. I can't even believe some of the stuff about her. It's insane, and if you like shocking characters, you'll probably love her.
Note: I don't know if I'd label Delia as a trigger warning, but some of the things mentioned very well could be, so please be cautious when reading this book.

One thing that I didn't enjoy about Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls is the amount of times that a shocker is attempted. I can understand a few, especially in a thriller, but sometimes, I just felt like it was shocker after shocker. They got annoying, and I was able to predict a lot of them just because of the pattern of their inclusion.

Another thing that I found to be quite odd was the way the book was actually assembled. This novel could have easily been broken up into two different sections or parts because of the two story arcs, but Weingarten and Simon Pulse keep everything together. Personally, I feel like breaking it up into two parts would have given the book a better flow, and I hope that this issue is corrected in the final printing of the book.

But that ending! OMG. I can't even with the ending because it's definitely a WTF ending. It is one of those ones that can be read different ways, but the way I took it... Well let's just say that Weingarten really knows how to mess with readers! It's definitely a crazy ending that I'm sure people will either love or hate, so be prepared for that when you start reading.

By the end of the book, I found that I had really enjoyed Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls even though I was not a fan of either of the two books that it is being compared to in the pitch. While I don't agree with a lot of the events and plot twists in the book, I found myself enjoying the whole story that Weingarten tells, and I can really see a lot of teenagers eating this one up because it's an addicting read! I would definitely recommend this new YA novel to the crowd that likes to be shocked when they are reading or fans of some of the more crazy Lifetime movies about teenagers.