BookTalk
Hartley is having a bad day. First, she finds a condom in her boyfriends locker. While icky under any situation…Hartley isn’t going quite that far with Josh and she doesn’t want to think about the rumors involving the guy she loves and the current president of the Hoover High School Chastity Club.
Nope.
That condom must be part of a reproductive science project.
Yep. If Hartley repeats that enough she’ll believe it…
While this travesty would be enough to ruin anybody’s week, in a misguided attempt to confront her boyfriend – via breaking into his house through a window – Hartley and her best friend Sam instead stumbles upon the body of said Hoover High School Chastity Club President…freshly strangled with iPod ear-buds.
Hartley is convinced that Josh isn’t a murderer [a cheater, yes, cold-blooded killer, no] Plus, she’s obviously not one to let things go. Thus, Hartley embarks on a crime solving spree. Not that she’s really any good at it…the girl can’t lie to save her life. But with a little luck and a very cute high school journalist Hartley may get her man yet…
Review
First off, loved her name: Hartley. So fun, loved that she wasn’t a natural Nancy Drew. And that while possessing healthy confidence in her body she was still a little aware of her bigger butt. Totally bonded with her over that. So often girls in YA are either totally comfortable with their bodies or slightly neurotic. It was great to see one that was just…normal.
Loved the romantic interest! Chase was really cute and had Hartley all tied up in knots from the beginning. I’m really looking forward to seeing how they move on with the relationship in future books. But I must say…it’s more of a tease than a spoiler…that scene under the bed…take it off! lol I totally would have let him keep stripping. Yes, this is wrong of me, No, my teenage self would have stopped him too…but my adult self was distracted by the abs! Oh *sigh* the abs on the muscular literary guy with great hair…as much of a work of fiction as the ability to choke someone with iPod ear-buds.
Ahh, then we have the asshole-ish ex-boyfriend. Hartley, poor thing, didn’t see it coming. Josh ended up being not such a bad guy in the end. Just a high school relationship run its course…ending in a bit of major drama. Love that Hartley had natural reactions to it…but didn’t go too far into revenge or back into his arms. Lets move on to the tall, dark, and handsome newspaper guy š
What really got me was the Hoover High School Chastity Club. Those girls managed to be the perfect mean girls. Body obsessed, perfectly dressed, and obsessed with a good girl image. You know anyone who openly berates people for not taking a chastity pledge is headed for a pretty big fall from grace.
I’m not going any further with plot or spoilers. The whole thing was a mystery anyway I’ll just end by saying: Totally didn’t see the killer coming. And, dang, that person was crazy!
Rating: 4/5 a fun mystery with a really cute guy (who I swear is over 18 so it’s ok for me to say that!)
*Book received [by accident! whoo hoo!!] via Me, MyShelf and I Book Tours…Thanks!
Sara O
thelibrarianreads 