A Good Idea by Cristina Moracho-- Contrary to what this cover might be telling you, its NOT YA Horror

A Good Idea

Fin and Betty have been best friends since grade school, and even kept in touch when Fin moved from Maine to NYC.  They spend every summer together and are planning to go to NYU together after high school.

But that was before Betty disappeared and her ex-boyfriend confessed to murdering her.  After his confession is thrown out on a technicality, Fin decides to return to her hometown to find out what really happened to Betty and get justice.

This book is total cover bait.  I thought I was going to get a creepy, horror-type book, but this was NOTHING like that.  This was a standard YA Mystery with a lot of sex, drugs, and nothing that thrilling happening.

While I didn't hate the book, I think that going into it with expectations of having creepy scenes in the woods threw me off.  The tub on the cover is mentioned briefly in the book, but plays no role in anything.

Here's what the book IS about: Finley is visiting her Maine hometown for the first time since her best friend has gone missing/presumed dead, and she's ready to set the town on fire (literally).  In a drug induced haze, she sets out to prove that Betty's ex-boyfriend, Calder, killed her.

Here's why this is a 3 star book instead of 5 star mystery: It's not even a mystery!!  We know what happened to Betty and nothing new comes to light as a result of Finley's antics.  There are drugs like WOAH.  Everyone is pill popping in this book-- and I'm no straight-edge, but it got annoying.  The last 50 pages were YAWN.  Nothing new or exciting happened and I was SO BORED.

I had major issues with the "love triangle" because it just didn't feel all that "loving" on any of the sides.  Serena could've been a really interesting character (she's a girl who crushed on Betty and Finley develops feelings for her), but she felt like a placeholder.  Owen (a guy Finley looks at like a big brother, but also has sex with) didn't do it for me either.  Maybe it was all the drugs??  Maybe they just weren't good people??  Something was definitely missing there.

OVERALL: Confusing cover for a non-horror book.  I was expecting creepy, but got a sub-par mystery.  I'm going to give it 3 stars because I did want to find out answers, but I was hoping for shocking revelations that never came.  I say read if you like YA that doesn't hold back on the drugs and sex.

Date Published: 2/28/2017
How I got this book: Library
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers/Penguin

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My Rating: 3/5

Character: Finley
Book Crank (#1) by Ellen Hopkins

• This just feels like a book Fin would read-- plus, it wouldn't hurt for her to read up on the dangers of drug use.