Holy smokes, I can’t believe June is almost over already.
I’m really more of an autumnal person. Brisk winds, colourful, satisfyingly crunchy leaves, snuggly hoodies and oversized mugs of hot chocolate— that sort of thing. Compared to July and August— humidity that causes my hair to stage daily rebellions, heat so oppressive that the A/C doesn’t even feel like it’s on when it is, in fact, cranked up as high as it can go, obnoxious fireworks being set off by obnoxious teens, regardless of whether or not there’s a holiday, and… You get the gist, I’m sure. Fall is clearly the reigning champ.
Now, before I get a comments section full of people who (respectfully, I would hope) disagree, there are some great things about every season. But because I miss fall dearly, I think I’ve been subconsciously looking for books that have a certain “vibe.” Ali Land’s debut novel, Good Me Bad Me seemed like it would be the perfect fit.
We follow Milly, a teenage girl whose mother is a serial killer whose victims are all children.
Creepy, right? It gets worse. Good Me Bad Me works on the premise that Milly has turned her murderous mother into the police. As the court date looms, our main character acts as her own worst enemy, ultimately caught between nature and nurture: wanting to be different, but longing for her mother, sadistic proclivities and all. Milly is placed with a foster family that looks picture perfect on the outside, but behind closed doors, is marred with their own hellacious dysfunction. (Milly’s foster sister Phoebe is the wooooooorst).
Land strives to create a creepy psychological thriller wrapped with a ponderous bow: How far does the apple really fall from the tree? What if the whole tree is rotten, down to the roots?
Well, if you’re looking for a seriously unsettling psychological thriller: Good Me Bad Me is the right choice.
I was super creeped out and felt nervous swoops in my stomach every time Milly edged closer and closer to being a chip off the ol’ block. This novel treaded some horrifying territory, and for her debut, Land did amazingly.
But…
But I just didn’t click with this (and I’m definitely in the minority. The proof is in the Goodreads pudding). The writing style was fractured/ Milly’s narration was jagged. (But not in a way that worked. It just made me uncomfortable, which it was supposed to. But I didn’t actually enjoy it. I was distracted instead of engrossed). And the characters all felt like stock from the “UNLIKEABLE PEOPLE” catalogue. I couldn’t quite get invested in the story or the people, because I felt like I was watching the story unfold through an extremely foggy window.
One thing I did like was how utterly vicious and relentless the bullying was.
I feel like a lot of YA-focused literature barely skims the surface when it comes to how badly bullying can get. Good Me Bad Me doesn’t shy away from how nasty the vitriol between teenage girls can actually become, from physical assault to cyber-bullying. (I don’t know the actual term for spreading someone’s phone number around so slimy strangers can text you, thinking you’re a prostitute who will gladly service them).
Ultimately, all of the characters were a trainwreck, the story was SO fast-paced… But, the ending fell so short of the momentous build-up. It just felt like something I’d read before, and given the rest of the novel, I was expecting something a little more… well, unexpected.
I did enjoy aspects of this book. But on the whole, I don’t think this was for me. I paired it with these rainbow sprinkle cinnamon rolls, because who doesn’t love cinnamon rolls? Maybe next week, I’ll try a romance novel of some sort. Summer, while too hot, too sticky, and too ugh, generally has a lot of awesome romance and contemporary taking center stage in the book world.
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