The Closet Library: Natalie D. Richards

Showing posts with label Natalie D. Richards. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Review: My Secret To Tell

Title: My Secret To Tell

Author: Natalie D. Richards

Pages: 320

Genre: Young Adult Mystery

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publication Date: October 6th 2015

I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for and honest review.

Synopsis (via Goodreads):

There was blood on his hands. Where was the guilt in his eyes?

Emmie's had a crush on her best friend's brother forever. Deacon is the town bad boy who's always in trouble, but she sees his soft side when he volunteers with her at the local animal shelter. She doesn't think he's dangerous…until he shows up in her bedroom with blood on his hands.

Deacon's father has been violently assaulted and Deacon is suspect number one. Emmie's smart enough to know how this looks, but she also knows Deacon's biggest secret—he's paralyzed by the sight of blood. She's sure he didn't do this. Or did he? Because even Deacon's own sister thinks he's guilty…

REVIEW:

I have been a big fan of Natalie D. Richards ever since I read her debut Six Months Later last year and then went straight onto to read her second book Gone Too Far. I think Natalie D. Richards is one of the better mystery writers in young adult today and her latest book My Secret To Tell just proved this point even more.

One thing I love about Natalie D. Richards books is that she chooses storylines that have not been overdone. A lot of the time in young adult mystery people use the same plot lines again and again and it gets old. But Richards spices things up. The mystery Richards has laid out for us in My Secret To Tell is original, complex, and high stakes. She also has a knack for throwing you curve balls you did not see coming. This has happened to me in her previous and books and this curbeball ending was by far the biggest surprise for me. I honestly had no idea who was behind the scheme until they said it themselves. Richards is very good at putting your suspicions on someone else until the very end. Another thing I enjoy is that the characters are trying to solve the crime too. I think it is more fun that way because you get to figure everything out with the characters.

I was thoroughly pleased with the characters. The main character Emmie was a strong and ambitious heroine. You also get to see Emmie evolve throughout the story. Emmie becomes more confident with who she is and learns to stand up for the things and people that she cares about. Emmie's love interest Deacon is the perfect bad boy with a good heart. You also get to learn a lot about his backstory and see him evolve as well, which was important to the story. The only character that got on my nerves was Emmie's mother. The way she wouldn't let Emmie follow her dreams or do basically anything she wanted and the way she acted drove me crazy. I do know that was probably one of her purposes in the book though.

Richards does a fantastic job balancing plot and romance. The romance in this book never took away from the main conflict but it was still satisfying and complete on its own. Emmie and Deacon have great chemistry. The two of them being on the run from the police and Deacon being the forbidden bad boy definitely added to the thrill of their romance.

If you enjoy a mystery with the back drop of a summer town I would definitely suggest picking this book up. I loved the setting of them being on the docks in a small summer town with tourists and attractions like charter boats. I also loved how Richards made the stakes higher by having the characters go on the run and hide from the police. It helped add more suspense and intrigue to the book.

My Secret To Tell did not disappoint, It was full of intrigue, mystery, romance, clues, and danger. If you are a fan of Natalie D. Richards I bet you will love this book and if you have not read her yet I highly recommend all of her books.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Review: Gone Too Far

Title: Gone Too Far

Author: Natalie D. Richards

Pages: 304

Genre: Young Adult Mystery

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Publication Date: January 6th 2015

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Keeping secrets ruined her life. But the truth might just kill her.

Piper Woods can't wait for the purgatory of senior year to end. She skirts the fringes of high school like a pro until the morning she finds a notebook with mutilated photographs and a list of student sins. She's sure the book is too gruesome to be true, until pretty, popular Stella dies after a sex-tape goes viral. Everyone's sure it's suicide, but Piper remembers Stella's name from the book and begins to suspect something much worse.

Drowning in secrets she doesn't want to keep, Piper's fears are confirmed when she receives an anonymous text message daring her to make things right. All she needs to do is choose a name, the name of someone who deserves to be punished...

REVIEW:

I thoroughly enjoyed Natalie D. Richards' debut novel Six Months Later. When her sophomore novel hit shelves I immediately scooped up to be taken on another whirlwind thrilling ride.

I expected this book to have a lot of the same feel of Six Months Later but I did not always find this. Six Months Later was much more of a high-stakes and life or death thriller. Gone Too Far is much more tamed and mainly based around high school social groups and popularity. I would say it has a small hint of a Pretty Little Liars feel with all the anonymous texts and blackmail. I still thoroughly enjoyed the story it just wasn't what I was expecting based off of Richards' debut novel.

I enjoyed the main character, Piper. Piper is a photographer and has a spot in the artsy clique, since I tend to lead more to this side I really enjoyed reading it. I have not read a lot of books lately that take place within an artistic group of young individuals. Piper becomes a sort of assistant vigilante after she feels guilt over a fellow students suicide. At first she is very satisfied with exposing these classmates who she believes have committed wrong doings but things soon start to spiral out of control as police get involved and students and teachers lives start to fall apart due to their vigilante "pranks".

I also liked Piper's love interest Nick. The thing that I liked most about him was that he helped Piper see that not everything is as it seems, especially when it comes to people. He helps show her that everybody has things going on in their lives too and that people can make mistakes and still be a good person. He helped her see past stereotypes and I give Richards' a lot of credit for putting that storyline into the book because most people still believe in stereotypes or at least follow them in high school. I was very glad she brought that subject to light. The one thing I had some trouble with was Nick and Piper's relationship. It seemed that before the start of the book Nick and Piper had never really talked and then all of a sudden Nick is pursuing her out of the blue. I did think they had chemistry and Nick brought out the good qualities in Piper but I just had a hard to time believing in and falling for the romance after their abrupt start.

The mystery itself was very well planned out. I thought it was many different people the whole time and so did Piper. Their are little clues that are actually just deceiving and lead you off the track of the vigilante. You will never guess who they are. I know I can be slow at finding the culprit but everybody else who I know has read this has also said they never saw that coming. And if you are like me and were hoping for a little more life or death action like in Richards' debut you do get one fight scene at the end that puts Piper's life in danger.

Natalie D. Richards' sophomore novel did not disappoint. I wish there had been some more high-stakes action but she did a great job of turning her mystery into a way to highlight the problems with stereotypes, how people are perceived and the issues with popularity in schools today. She also did a great job of keeping me guessing the whole time. I am very excited to see what thrilling ride she will take us on in her next novel.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

January 2015 Reading Wrap Up

In the month of January I was able to read 7 young adult novels. I was laughing at myself when I was putting this together because as most of you know I always rant on about how there is a lack of good thrillers/mysteries in YA. This month 4 out of the 7 books I read were classified as mystery and I read them all in a row. But now I have read a majority of the thrillers in my room and I'm on the look out for more so, if you know of any good ones let me know in the comments below. Check out below to see what books I read in January and the ratings I gave them. If I have wrote a review for the book you can access it by clicking on the title. Some of the reviews from books read at the end of the month are still to come later this week.