Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Please Don't Tell by Laura Tims-- Messed Up Characters Had Me Like ????

Please Don't Tell

Joy wanted Adam Gordon dead more than anything in the world.  And then he IS dead, and Joy can't remember what happened that night.  Is it just a coincidence. or is she responsible for his "accident"?

Someone knows though.  Someone claims to have witnessed what happened and tells Joy they will expose her if she doesn't expose other people's misdeeds.

Joy is juggling her fragile sister's state, the crushing guilt that she might have killed somebody, and now, the prospect of ruining other people's lives.

What would you do if the person you hated most in the world was suddenly gone?  Poof.  What if that person did something so horrendous to you or someone you knew, that you wished for their death everyday... until suddenly they DID die?  Would you be relieved?  Would you think Karma finally came to call?

This is the position Joy is in, except she can't remember what she was doing the night everything went down.  She'd been black-out drunk and at a party where the subject of her wrath just happened to fall into a quarry.  Did she confront him?  She's relieved that her sister doesn't have to fear him anymore, but she's terrified that she's turned into some sort of monster.

I'm all for a messed up character.  I like the girls that DON'T act the way I or you or society wants them to.  The girls in this book though??  Well, they were walking the line of "too far" for me.  Maybe because there were two of them that were completely messed up instead of just one?  Whatever it was, it was just a shade too much.

I wanted to love Joy, but she was SO frustrating.  Okay, so she's the twin who's super out-going, diarrhea-of-the-mouth, fearless.  But she's TOO far that way.  She's just BLAH BLAH BLAH and after a while I just wanted her to quit being annoyingly dumb.  Grace is the up-tight, OCD (real OCD, not the fake kind), eating disorder twin.  And her problems just felt so GIANT-- and that was BEFORE the terrible thing that happened to her.  It was a lot to deal with in one book, and I don't think her problems were completely dealt with.

The twist: Well, I knew what was coming.  It became pretty dang obvious who the blackmailer was, and I wish it wound up being someone that blew me away.  Knowing who it was didn't kill the book for me though.  I still wanted to see HOW things would work out.

The best part of this book:  Levi.  He's the estranged half-brother of the dead boy, and he's the bomb dot com.  I wish I knew someone as funny/quirky/self-laothing/dependable/adorable/silly as Levi.  He was the reason I kept reading.  I also did like that Joy stuck up for her sister and friends, and I respected her fearless attitude.  I just wished that she used her head a little and THOUGHT about things before reacting.

I kind of loved the ending??  I was really ready for this book to be over (it became a little draggy at times), but also I didn't want HEAs for these people.  They were far too turmoiled to get everything wrapped up neatly.  And just in case he's listening-- RUN LEVI, RUN!!!

OVERALL:  A book I didn't love but I thought it was a good try.  It was hard to read because the characters were just SO frustrating and HARD.  It was interesting, but besides Levi-- I didn't like anybody I read about.

Date Published: 5/24/2016
How I got this book: Library
Publisher: HarperCollins

Add it to your To- Read List!!

This Book Contains:
  • Sexual Assault
  • OCD
  • Mental illness
  • Drugs
  • Alcohol
  • A before and after storyline
  • Dual POVs
  • Family problems
  • Twins
  • Physical violence

My Rating: 3.5/5

Character: Levi Gordon
Book: Winger by Andrew Smith

  • Ryan Dean is the same kind of silly and adorable that Levi is.  There's so much in this book that Levi could relate to-- the girl problems, the sad part, the way Ryan Dean doesn't know how to stop talking.

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  1. This sounds interesting and I'm so glad you liked the ending -- honestly, I've found even with books I like the ending is usually a disappointment! Great review

  2. I read this a few months back and now I can't remember a single thing about it beyond the fact that there were two sisters. So I guess that's not a ringing endorsement on my end.
    Great review!
    Jen @ YA Romantics

  3. Aw, Levi sounds great. Sorry this was a bit TOO much for you to love. It does sound like too many things are happening with these girls and the MC isn't terribly likeable. Plus, it's a bummer you know who the blackmailer is, but despite all that, it does have an intriguing premise.