Poor Little Dead Girls (review)

3/5 stars

At times, I really enjoyed Poor Little Dead Girls (Goodreads | Amazon) but at times it dragged.  When Sadie is awarded a scholarship to a fancy boarding school she's worried about the normal things - classes, making friends, being the poor scholarship girl, her roommates, etc.  But when Sadie is kidnapped by a secret society and tricked into joining, the really scary part of Keating Hall is only beginning to unveil itself.

This book had a strong beginning.  It starts off by showing a strong, caring relationship between Sadie and her father, then builds on that start when she arrives at Keating Hall.  The first few chapters are filled with mystery and secrets as Sadie slowly starts to discover pieces of her dead mother's past at the school.

Where this book falters in the mundane "teenage" clothes, drinking and relationship drama it includes.  I'm not saying these choices are always bad in YA books (in fact some books use some of these elements brilliantly, i.e. Spectacular Now).  In this book it just reeks of falseness.  There's this big mystery, a few dead girls and we're getting shopping montages with designer dresses.

After the beginning the book never really found its stride again.  There would be passages where you thought "this is picking up again" only to have something ridiculous happen like a girl get her period at a fancy ball and have no tampons or the main character would say something idiotic.  I also struggled with the main love interest because it never really developed in a meaningful way, they just were kinda thrown together but we were supposed to believe in their relationship because it served the story.

At times this book is fun, with a nice mystery that needs to be solved.  Other times, this book loses the plot.  I suspect some people will enjoy this, as there is a lot that can be enjoyed but overall I didn't connect with the book in the way that I hoped.

I received an advance reading e-book in exchange for an honest review.