But Does It End Well?

Conclusion: Worth It If you get to the end, Angie Thomas makes it worth your time in spades. But getting through this book was rough . We both felt it. Part of it was the way it picked at old sores for me—Bri's just trying to get through school okay, but she's worried about money. The rent's late. The electricity got turned off. There's no heat. They might get evicted. Her mom can't find a job. Thomas writes about this incredibly well, and if you've never experienced that kind of poverty as a child, you'll still get it. It feels like there's a vice grip around your chest. Like you can't breathe. If you've experienced some measure of childhood poverty, it'll strike much harder. So there's that. And then there's all the relationship drama. You'd think that a book about a girl wanting to be a rapper would be less intense than a book about a girl who saw her friend get killed by police, but  On the Come Up was so much mor...

Conclusion: It's Worth It This is a review of the musical, which I love. If you're looking for the review of the book, which I did not love, go here . The musical focuses a lot on suicide and how it effects those left behind. It also focuses a lot on loneliness and depression and how that effects you and how you see the world. As a person with depression and anxiety, I related very strongly to this and really enjoyed the story. There were so many sad emotions to wallow in! My favorite! And it does satisfy our most vital criteria: Does It End Well? Seriously, listen to "Words Fail," and if you ever felt alone in high school, I bet you will relate so hard. I was tempted to put this in It's Good, But... for two reasons: Patrick Ness, one of my all-time favorite authors, had to walk out of the musical because he didn't realize it was about suicide.  I found myself getting moody after obsessively listening to it. But at the end of the day....

My (signed!) copy of One of Us Is Lying . Cat for scale. Conclusion: Worth It Take the sleuthing of Nancy Drew and the angst that is high school , and you get a glimpse of this book. Picture a grungy Nancy Drew. Or, as Karen McManus herself described it... The Breakfast Club — with murder. This story does a phenomenal job of creating a mystery that’s worth reading in and of itself, but then it goes into the depths of the teenage struggle, too — parents, heartbreak, gossip, social media, and the pressure of grades and success. - Liss The story reads so well. It's a fast read that's fun, interesting, thrilling and, on top of all that, thought-provoking. No wonder it was on the New York Times Bestseller List for over a year . It's a great thriller with a great mystery, but what really makes itn are all the characters. A lot of books have a great plot, but every character in this story is incredible. Bronwyn is basically a muggle Hermione, Nate is an ou...