One Was Lost by Natalie D. Richards

Author: Natalie D. Richards
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Expected publication: October 4 2016
Pages: 320

*Received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.* 


Introduction

       Nobody is happy when rain falls during a mandatory senior hiking trip. Everybody is even less impressed when a flash flood cuts the group in half, each stuck on one side of the overflowing river.
   
       They all thought the rain was the largest of their worries, until Luke, Jude, Emily, and Sera wake up groggy and confused with words etched on the skin of their wrists. Luke got the word Dangerous. Jude got the word Deceptive. Emily got the word Damaged. Sera got the word Darling. They have no idea what these words mean, why they were drugged enough to sleep through the day, why their teacher won't wake up, or why all of their stuff is destroyed. What they do know is that they need to get out of the woods, although somebody in the forest with seems determined that they don't get out alive.

Cover

        Interesting cover, different from what I usually see with Natalie D. Richards' covers.

Sera (and Luke, kind of)

       I liked Sera mostly. I wasn't a huge fan of the backstory between her and Luke, or how she kept resisting everything because of her past with her mother. I'm struggling to explain what I mean, but I feel like if Sera was going to blame a lot of her trust issues on her mother, than more story should have been written in with the relationship between her and mother, instead of just continually mentioning that falling for someone like Luke is exactly what her mother would do.

Jude and Emily

       I liked these characters a lot individually, but the close friendship/relationship seemed to develop really fast and abruptly I wasn't very much into it.

Mystery

       I had my suspicions about who the psychopath was before the ending revealed it, but it was still very enjoyable to read, and the way that you are lead off course of the real person behind it was believable. Even though I say that I had my suspicions, I wasn't entirely sure, as I don't think it was that obvious, especially when thinking of the motive
Story progress

       The story takes a while to really get going, but in the book's defense it was written to be a suspenseful thriller, so there is supposed to be a lot of buildup, and it's completely understandable for the style.

Conclusion

       I had a few gripes with the relationships in this book, but nothing horrible or earth shattering. I enjoyed reading this book a lot. I would definitely read this book again. One Was Lost reminds me once again why Natalie D. Richards is my favourite author, and as always, I can not wait to read more from her.

     

My Secret to Tell by Natalie D. Richards

Author: Natalie D. Richards
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Expected publication: October 6 2015

Introduction

       Emmie is the good girl her parents need. She's on her way to getting into law school, she volunteers at the animal shelter, get's good grades, and does whatever she can do to make others happy.

       When her friend Deacon shows up at her house covered in blood and on the verge of hysteria, Emmie decided that she doesn't want to be the good girl anymore, she wants to make her own decisions, her first being helping Deacon, but helping Deacon might mean helping a criminal. But at this point? She doesn't really care. She just knows that the blood on Deacons hands is his father's, and if she doesn't find out who committed the crime, Deacon's going to go down for it.

Cover

       I'm seeing a theme in Richards' book covers. The main character of the book, featured on a white/light colored bright background. Regardless of that, I think this cover, and all of her other book covers are very pretty.

Writing

       One of the biggest reasons I love Richards' books is because of the style in which she writes. Her books are full of sentences like this:

       "His smile is a crime"

       "Getting into my denim shorts is an exercise in misery"

       "My heart lodges in the space between my tonsils, Banging out an SOS message in every beat"

       "His laugh is an oil stain in the putrid air"

       A lot of sentences are more poetic than that, but in my brief skim of the novel to find pretty sentences, I found these.

Romance

       Obviously, there's a love story between Deacon and Emmie, but it was only a small part of the book, seeing as Deacon has some bigger problems and he isn't aware that Emmie thinks about him in that way.

Emmie

       I liked Emmie, she had an interesting personality especially with her OCD-like tendencies as I haven't read about a character like that before.

Deacon

       I really liked Deacon. His backstory type deal was cool and I liked watching him progress with his fear of blood. He in some ways is the stereotypical bad boy, but he was still interesting.

Chelsea

       Chelsea annoyed me. A lot. She's Deacon's wholesome sister, and Emmie's best friend, but quite honestly, if I was Emmie, I would be angry at her a lot. I hated the fact that there was a big secret that she was keeping from Emmie, even when the secret started getting tangled in with Emmie's life. Of course, she apologized eventually, and I kind of understand why Chelsea wouldn't want anybody to know the secret, but c'mon.

Plot

       I liked the plot, but at some points nothing was really happening. It wasn't too often and I never considered putting the book down, I was too interested in the actual story, but some chapters were boring.

Conclusion

       I was super excited when I was granted access to the title, because I practically fall in love with anything this author writes,but this novel of hers wasn't my favorite of hers. It was still very captivating and I would probably buy it if I get the chance. I would recommend this to anybody, really. Boys or girls, as long as they like suspense/mystery type books.

Gone Too Far by Natalie D. Richards

Author: Natalie D. Richards
Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Author Website
Author Twitter
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Expected Publication Date: January 6, 2015 

Introduction

       Piper Woods is just like any average high school senior. Ready to leave the bustling hallways behind, and excited for the change of a college that she's been waiting for. She isn't popular, but she has friends, a good place on the yearbook committee to express her love for photography, and despite her parents crumbling marriage, she's pretty happy. Until Piper finds a notebook filled with many accounts of student sin. She tries to write it off as a joke until pretty, popular, Stella dies after a sex tape starring her goes viral. Piper saw Stella before she died, at school being teased about the tape. Piper knows she could have done something to stop it. But she didn't. Soon-after, Piper receives an anonymous text, proposing that if she sent a name of somebody who has done wrong, they could make it right, and for the first time in ages, justice could be served. All Piper has to do is text a name...

Cover
       I like the cover. I especially like that the camera that Piper almost always has throughout the book was included.

Piper
       I loved Piper as the protagonist. She is flawed, but not in ways that make me want to throw the book at the wall in annoyance, but in ways that make her realistic. Most of all, what I absolutely love about her is that she actually thinks about things before she acts. Another thing I really love about the character of Piper is that she has interests. Namely, photography. I feel like in many books the author will mention a talent or something that a character likes, and then and never mention it in the book again. Piper's love of photography is consistent throughout the book and it makes her interesting, because like any actual human being Piper has plans and didn't count on life throwing her a curve-ball. Lastly, it's not that important, but I really like the name Piper.

Nick
       Nick was the only character I had a problem with. He doesn't really have much of a personality. He's just, perfect. Nevertheless, I liked the relationship between Piper and him, I didn't feel like it moved to quickly or didn't progress at all.

Manny & Piper
      I don't really have much to say about Manny individually, but Piper and Manny's friendship however, is great. I am so, so happy that the book didn't lean towards a love triangle between them. I have read so many books where the two best friends fall in love and I suspected that, that was how it was going to play out in this book. It didn't. It did however state that Piper and Manny  dated before and it didn't work out, which in some ways is realistic. Just because people are best friends does not mean that a relationship would work out.
   
The Notebook and Texts (*Jumping right into pretty big spoilers here!)
       I would just like to point out that it doesn't make sense for the notebook and the texter to be two different people. The timing is just way too convenient. Any logical person would try to link it together. I mean sure, you could find a book full of student sins and then get texts telling you that you can help make them pay all in the same week, but it is very, very unlikely.

Conclusion
       I loved this book. The characters were great and the mystery kept kept me guessing. If a series of books ever came out with a protagonist like Piper, I would be all for it. I think that boys and girls would enjoy this book, as long as they are up for a mystery. I couldn't put this book down, and I would definitely read it again.