Monday, March 5, 2018

Recently Read: This Darkness Mine

Author: Mindy McGinnis
Genre: Young Adult/Thriller
Publication Date: 2017
Page Count: 376
Rating: 3.5/5

Add on Goodreads

Also by this author:
The Female of the Species  

Sasha Stone is the perfect girl. She's a gifted clarinet player destined to play for a top college, a straight A student, and has a perfectly polite boyfriend. But a bad-boy named Issac seems to have control of her heart, even more-so than she does. Sasha learns that before birth, she had a twin sister who was never born, but her sister may have found a way to get what, and who, she wants through Sasha. 

McGinnis is a brilliant writer. Her writing is so captivating and intense, and even though her stories are uncomfortable at times, I just can't look away. The Female of the Species really shocked and consumed me when I read it, and I knew I had to read more from McGinnis after finishing that one. I picked this one up at my library as soon as I saw it, and flew through it.

McGinnis is brilliant at writing unhinged characters. Her characters are so unlike anything else in YA. I love a well-done unreliable narrator, and McGinnis has the best in YA. This story is weird, mysterious, shocking, and at times uncomfortable, but McGinnis' story-telling makes it impossible to look away. I really didn't know where this story was headed and was surprised at every twist-and-turn. 

While I really enjoyed being immersed in this book, I don't think it was as strong of a novel as The Female of the Species. To me, The Female of the Species read like a very sophisticated literary fiction, and it dealt with themes and ideas that were vast and complex. This one read more like a typical YA thriller, but with a brilliantly well-done main character. I thought the first half of the book was a lot stronger than the second half, but I was still completely hooked the whole way through. 

McGinnis has made her way on to my 'auto-read' list, and I have picked up another one of her books since finishing this one. If you are looking for a book that will completely absorb you, or get you out of a slump, I recommend checking out McGinnis' works. What she's doing feels unique, and she's very good at what she does.  

If you have any recommendations for YA books with unreliable narrators, please let me know! 

No comments:

Post a Comment