That Night by Cyn Balog || Review

Some things are better left buried.

This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review by the publisher, via Netgalley. My thanks to both Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire. 

Name: That Night 

Author: Cyn Balog

Rating: 4 Stars

Pages: 320

Publisher: SOURCEBOOKS Fire

Published: June 4th 2019

^Please note: This is a trigger warning for suicide

A year ago, Declan killed himself in his family's shed with a gun. And Hailey's life fell apart. Her love, her forever, gone. No explanation, no hint, no nothing. Declan was the light of her life, the happiest person she knew and then he was gone. After spending time in an institution and several reckless activities later, the one year anniversary of his death is coming up and something isn't right. When Hailey is given a box of Declan's things, including a mysterious photograph with "This ends now," written on it, the fog in Hailey's memory starts to clear. Growing suspicious about the circumstances of Declan's death, she turns to her best friend and Declan's stepbrother, Kane, who appears to know more than he's letting on. What is everyone hiding from her, and does she want to know? 

Deciding that she does, Hailey's fog starts to lift and she finds herself uncovering the truth about Declan, his death and even herself. 

MY DUDES. I love a good mystery book, a what happened, a whodunnit, I LOVE THEM. So when I read the blurb of this book on Netgalley, I was immediately like "I need to read this book." And I wasn't disappointed. Drawn in by the opening chapter, I found myself wanting to know more about Declan and why he did commit suicide. The character building in this book was a breath of fresh air. I have recently read a book with two dimensional characters and this book was quite literally the opposite. The characters in this book had so much depth and so much potential, and a lot of it was lived up too. I liked who I was supposed to like, I hated who I was supposed to hate, the lines got blurred, I loved everyone, I hated everyone. I loved it. 

The story is split into flashbacks before Declan kills himself and the memories that Tina has before this event, and then the days following the one year anniversary where the fog is starting to lift. Declan is presented as a saint, but I loved the whole "Some saints don't get their atonement" conversation with Nina. Nina was a character I wish we got more of in this book as I think she had a lot of potential. 

Reading this book, I found myself really buying what the author was selling for the most part. The only thing I didn't really like about this book was the lack of parental input. I would've wanted to see more of the relationships with the parents being developed further, whether that be Declan and Kane's parents or Hailey's own. I wanted to gather their input of the situation at hand and whether they suspected something further went into Declan's death than a simple, unexplained suicide. 

Overall I would really recommend this book for fans of mystery, YA and contemporary books as I think it's a good read, it has a good plot and it's easy to follow. 

As always hit me up on my socials: 

Instagram: @conniedalt

Twitter: @connie_dalt

Email: conniedalton@hotmail.com

Goodreads: https://goodreads.com/sunstormsandthunderclouds

When the Light Went Out by Bridget Morrissey || Review

"You're a billion pieces, building and unbuilding, stacking and unstacking, hinging and unhinging, pushing, pulling, leaning, standing, falling, all to create something bigger than you." 

This book was kindly sent to me for review, via Netgalley, by SOURCEBOOKS Fire. Many thanks to both!

Name: When the Light Went Out 

Author: Bridget Morrissey

Rating: 3.5 Stars 

Pages: 320

Publisher: SOURCEBOOKS Fire

Published: June 1st 2019

Marley Bricket was the light of their friendship group, she kept everybody on their toes with their annual scavenger hunt called the Adventure, her stories and she made small town life bearable. Everybody knew they, Marley and her friends. When the Adventure comes around, they all get more than they bargained for. A gun that wasn't supposed to be loaded. An accidental shooting. Marley Bricket, dead. 

Five years later, her friends all get together after her memorial, the first one with them all together, for one last adventure. But will finishing what Marley started years ago raise more questions than answers and make everyone fall back into the spiral of grief and loss? 

I wanted to love this book. I really really did. 

And I didn't hate it. 

The writing was great, I really enjoyed the alternating point of view between the day that Marley died, and the days of the Adventure. It flowed well. But the present day point of view almost made parts of the throwback chapters redundant, it answered your questions too early I feel, which potentially made the book drag along a little. The ending was suspected. It made it hard to read and follow the flow. But the author really does have a lovely way with words, there were so many sections of this book I found myself taking note of and highlighting along the way because they encapsulate the process of grief so well. 

Grief is a really difficult topic to write about, especially grief from bereavement. How do you put loss in to words? Morrissey does it very well and the sections that spoke on grief were poignant and raw. They sat with you through the story and you can really feel what the main characters are expressing. 

That being said however, one reason this book isn't rated higher is the main characters. Ollie and Nick were the youngest two of the group and the two that were there when Marley died, Nick pulled the trigger and Ollie watched as Marley was killed by a gun that wasn't supposed to be loaded. That type of trauma is bound to mess anyone up, especially eleven year olds. But something about Ollie didn't sit well with me, I found her character reckless for the sake of being reckless and her unhealthy obsession with Marley was kind of unsettling in places. Particularly when she dresses as Marley to go to her memorial every year. That in particular made me feel a little weird. Ollie's voice is the narrator in this book, she's followed by the spirit of Marley, this presence of Marley was nice but I felt like it could have been developed further. 

I wanted a bit more from that aspect of the book. 

Now looking at Nick, he was a good character. But in terms of him and Ollie and their budding romance, it didn't seem like it was something that was for the best. It seemed too predictable and too cliche for the book, and in my opinion, Ollie forgave him way too fast for not talking to her in five years. 

Something that was unprecedented from this book were the conversations about mental health and whether Marley knew the gun was loaded when she told Nick to pull the trigger. It was a conversation that fit well into the story and made it even more harrowing than before. 

Overall Rating: 3.5 stars, this book didn't fully hit the mark with me, but it was also a good read. I wouldn't call it a favourite but I don't hate it.

As always hit me up on my socials: 

Instagram: @conniedalt

Twitter: @connie_dalt

Email: conniedalton@hotmail.com

Goodreads: https://goodreads.com/sunstormsandthunderclouds