This Young Adult novel follows Cody as she deals with the suicide of her best friend Meg.  When  Cody finds something off about the suicide of her best friend, it takes her on a journey to discover the parts of Meg’s life kept hidden that led up to her death.  It is an emotional experience of forgiveness and relationships – platonic and romantic.

I found Cody to be very relatable in dealing with her grief and the unknown life of her best friend.   Her relationships with other characters were interesting and complex, especially because the romance of the story took a backseat.  And the way she dealt with these new and old relationships after the death of her best friend was very authentic and felt true to Cody’s character. 

Although it was nice to see the romance in the story taking a backseat in the beginning, I felt that in the end it was too rushed.  Maybe it could have been actually more developed and worked with the story or left more open-ended to fit better.  In general, too, things of import were rushed or skipped over.  You could easily miss information that we were meant to be looking for or that maybe should have been fleshed out in detail. 

The mystery of the novel was compelling and really made me want to keep reading.  The mystery and the story of the suicide was a very unique one, unlike any other one I’ve read before.  The messages of mental health and forgiveness of oneself and others are also ones I appreciated most about this story, and why I read stories like it.  Though I wish the story and some relationships could have been developed more, it was an overall enjoyable read.

Rating: ★★★