With Malice by Eileen Cook --and why I couldn't put it down

Jill wakes up with a terrible headache.  She doesn't know where she is and she can't remember last night-- is this some sort of epic hangover??  

Then she realizes she's in a hospital with a broken leg and a traumatic head injury and has no clue how she got there.  She's missing the last 6 weeks of her life-- most importantly the lead-up to a car accident that killed one of her friends.  

With the police breathing down her neck, Jill struggles to find out what really happened on their school trip to Italy.  How did she end up behind the wheel of a car?  Why does everybody think she purposely hurt her friend?  One thing she knows is that she'd never do that.  

Now, she just has the rest of the world to convince...

HURRAY!!  I have found the elusive YA Mystery of my dreams!!  If you don't regularly read my blog, then you don't know this, but I've been on the HUNT for a great YA Mystery and have been having the hardest time finding THE ONE.  Well, search over :)  This book is everything I was looking for-- great writing, interesting characters, unputdownable, A+ plot, twisty ending... I loved everything about this book!

If you've read and loved Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas, and have been looking for a book to make you feel like that-- READ THIS.  This is the first mystery since I read Dangerous Girls 2 years ago, to make me feel like that (The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma is a close 2nd I would say).

The story-- Jill wakes up in a hospital and can't remember the last month or so of her life.  She can't remember her school trip to Italy, she can't remember the car accident that put her in the hospital and killed a classmate.  To the police, her memory (or lack there of) doesn't seem to matter.  They don't believe that this is just a case of a simple accident.  They believe there is more to it.... maybe even that this was completely intentional.

I know the whole "I have amnesia and can't remember this really important moment" thing is a little played out, but when it is done right, I love it.  I could read 100 books about traumatic amnesia if the stories are told like this one.  I loved that I wanted to like Jill and believe her, but since she didn't remember it was SO hard to trust!!  I loved that what I thought was going to happen, happened, but it didn't spoil the ending for me.  It actually made me really excited like-- holy shit, this is really happening, Eileen Cook rocks!!!

I can't tell you anything much else because it would take away from the Mystery/Thriller aspect of it. I will tell you it's a bit of a Amanda Knox retelling, but in a SUPER loose way.  Also,  Jill is WAY more likable and down-to-Earth than Amanda.  I will now go sing this book from the mountain-tops because I have found the YA Mystery that I've been looking for.

OVERALL: A perfect YA Mystery/Thriller.  If you liked/loved Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas, this is SO your book.  If you like books that keep you on the edge of your seat and make you want to tell Real Life to go away so that you can keep reading a marvelous book, THIS is your book.  I would rec this to everyone.

This Book Contains:

• Police interviews, blog posts, emails, media transcripts, guidebook excerpts
• Italy
• Friendship
• Romance, but it's practically nonexistent
• Economic class issues
• A rehab hospital
• A feminist blog
• Divorce

Add it to your To-Read List!!

My Rating: 5/5

Date Published: 6/7/2016

How I got this book: Thanks to Netgalley and HMH Children's Book Group for allowing me to read and honestly review this book.

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group

Character: Jill
Book: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

• With Malice never actually says what Jill's feminist views were on her blog, but I think this book would appeal to her.  She likes the classics, it's full of amazing quotes, and I could totally see Jo March being a hero to Jill.