Littleport, Maine is like two different towns. For most of the year it is a small town with beautiful views and very little action, but in the summer it becomes a holiday destination for the rich and reckless, full of partying and excess. Although the town-people and the summer-crowd don't tend to mix, Sadie Loman and Avery Greer have managed to cross the divide, and become the best of friends.
However, when Sadie is found dead, everything changes for Avery. With her job and her reputation in jeopardy, she must put together the pieces to figure out what happened to her friend - before its too late.
This book has such a wonderful setting, I just couldn't pass it up. Small town America is always one of my favourite setting-types; it always gives me that dull ache of childhood.
The story shifts back and forth between the present and the summer that Sadie died, giving you more and more information to sift through as you try to figure out the mystery along with Avery. With wonderfully crafted characters and believable drama, I love the pace and content of this story. The idea of a town with two distinct faces is incredibly enticing, and I was drawn right into the secrecy and intrigue of it all.
Avery's character is strong but flawed, as many modern literary heroines tend to be. She has a complicated past, and a deep seeded drive for ambition and accomplishment. Sadie on the other hand is a rich girl with a power complex, teetering through life on the knife's edge of recklessness and refinement. She may be strong-willed, but she is also weak in her own over-confidence. The two characters are a classic pair; one rich, one poor. One an outcast, one the popular socialite. One in need of care, one in need of adoration.
The only real flaw to this book was unfortunately a fairly big one, in my opinion. Avery is incredibly sharp, and she has most of the facts that she needs to figure out what happened – it's all there in her memory of that fateful night, if only she can put together the pieces. The problem is, the author doesn't follow those thought processes through properly, and what we are given feels very much like Avery making things up randomly and then those things turning out to be true. She makes some serious jumps, and we are expected to believe that she has just put two and two together – only we were never given the first “two”. It frustrated me, because I think that Miranda had a very good idea going, she just didn't quite write it all out like she seems to think she did. It made the ending feel a little bit scrambled and random, even though I have a feeling it really was well charted in the author's mind.
Overall, I love the story and characters in this book. I want to visit Littleport, Maine and see the beautiful scenery Miranda describes so lovingly. Unfortunately, the oversimplified process takes The Last House Guest down from 4/5 to 3/5 for me. I really wanted to love this ending, but it felt too rushed and messy when it came down to it.
Recommended for fans of Pretty Little Liars.
However, when Sadie is found dead, everything changes for Avery. With her job and her reputation in jeopardy, she must put together the pieces to figure out what happened to her friend - before its too late.
This book has such a wonderful setting, I just couldn't pass it up. Small town America is always one of my favourite setting-types; it always gives me that dull ache of childhood.
The story shifts back and forth between the present and the summer that Sadie died, giving you more and more information to sift through as you try to figure out the mystery along with Avery. With wonderfully crafted characters and believable drama, I love the pace and content of this story. The idea of a town with two distinct faces is incredibly enticing, and I was drawn right into the secrecy and intrigue of it all.
Avery's character is strong but flawed, as many modern literary heroines tend to be. She has a complicated past, and a deep seeded drive for ambition and accomplishment. Sadie on the other hand is a rich girl with a power complex, teetering through life on the knife's edge of recklessness and refinement. She may be strong-willed, but she is also weak in her own over-confidence. The two characters are a classic pair; one rich, one poor. One an outcast, one the popular socialite. One in need of care, one in need of adoration.
The only real flaw to this book was unfortunately a fairly big one, in my opinion. Avery is incredibly sharp, and she has most of the facts that she needs to figure out what happened – it's all there in her memory of that fateful night, if only she can put together the pieces. The problem is, the author doesn't follow those thought processes through properly, and what we are given feels very much like Avery making things up randomly and then those things turning out to be true. She makes some serious jumps, and we are expected to believe that she has just put two and two together – only we were never given the first “two”. It frustrated me, because I think that Miranda had a very good idea going, she just didn't quite write it all out like she seems to think she did. It made the ending feel a little bit scrambled and random, even though I have a feeling it really was well charted in the author's mind.
Overall, I love the story and characters in this book. I want to visit Littleport, Maine and see the beautiful scenery Miranda describes so lovingly. Unfortunately, the oversimplified process takes The Last House Guest down from 4/5 to 3/5 for me. I really wanted to love this ending, but it felt too rushed and messy when it came down to it.
Recommended for fans of Pretty Little Liars.