Began reading: 22.6.2016
Completed reading: 28.6.2016
Overall rating: 3.9 stars
"This is our fault," she whispered. "We said those names. And now everyone's dying."
The Perfectionists are five senior high school girls who seemed to have it all. But then they were framed for murder.
They may have talked about getting revenge on their nemesis, Nolan, but they didn't mean to really hurt him. And just when they thought they'd figured out who did, the whole case has blown wide open again. Now it looks like someone's found their secret revenge list, and they're picking off the names on it one by one.
Who is really behind the killings? Can the girls trust anyone? And who will be the next to die?
The Good Girls by Sara Shepard is a contemporary young adult fiction novel that contains genres including mystery, thriller, romance and suspense. It is the second and final book from The Perfectionists series. As I mentioned in the previous review, I accidentally purchased this book first, then had to wait to find the previous book to be stocked. Anyway, after finishing this book, I have to admit that I didn’t enjoy it as much as its predecessor. It’s not to say that I disliked this book – it contained things that I didn’t really enjoy.
As I expected, the book was well-written, as it utilised literary techniques to better describe situations and characters. *WARNING: SPOILER* There weren’t that many notable quotes, but the ones that I enjoyed I’ll include here:
It was ironic – the girl she hated, the girl who hated her, might be the person who needed her the most right now (p. 137).
Julie was going to get rid of all the evidence – every drop, every fingerprint. Even the body.
That was what you did for best friends (p. 161).
Something else inside her, some deep dark part of her, had taken over when she’d done all those awful things.
How did she know that something wouldn’t take over again? (p. 201).
…they had all cried together, and it was like they had finally acknowledged that…thing… the shared pain that was there with them every moment of every day but was too great to even speak of. Just knowing that they were in it together made it hurt a tiny, microscopic bit less (p. 275).
More quotes from the book can be found here.
The book was well-structured, as it was clearly defined. There were some moments in the novel that didn’t really fit or seemed unnecessary; however, as I kept reading, everything fell into place. Because of this, I think that the plot flowed really well. The only thing that didn’t really flow was the conclusion, but I’ll get to that later.
Similar to The Perfectionists, there were some intriguing plot twists. Some were predictable, while some weren’t. Unfortunately, I went on Goodreads and found some spoilers – I regret this, haha! The ultimate plot twist wasn’t one that I liked, and I’ll discuss this further later. But I’ll admit that all of these plot twists contributed to the overall mystery of the series, so whether or not I enjoyed it, I must commend Shepard on creating these unique twists.
As in the previous book, the protagonists and secondary characters all had diverse personalities, which was great. I especially loved the protagonists, as I was able to get an insight into how they think and feel in various situations. I was also glad to see that some of the secondary characters played a more central or key role in the plot. For example, Claire made more of an appearance and was significant in assisting the girls with identifying the murderer. I wished more authors did this with their characters – it would help with diversity and give readers an opportunity to like other characters besides the protagonists.
I found the book to be juicy, but not as juicy as The Perfectionists. I felt that the plot was lacking some drama or suspense that the prior book had. I’m not too sure how to explain it, but it just felt like the novel was a little bland. The plot twists helped with keeping me interested, but I wasn’t as intrigued as I was in the first book. In the first book, the part where the girls raid Granger’s house was full of suspense and intensity, but there wasn’t really much of that in this novel.
I agree with many readers when they say that this book’s conclusion was anti-climactic. As I mentioned before, I foresaw the ultimate plot twist which affected my outlook on this book, but that wasn’t the only reason. *WARNING: SPOILER* I found the mental illness/split personality thing to be really confusing and disappointing. How could we go through just over one and a half books of interactions, situations, perceptions and relationships involving all five of these girls to find that one of them wasn’t even alive?! How does that work? How can we read about all five girls going into a house, working together to find evidence, only to find that only 4 girls existed?
My favourite character remains as Ava Jalali – she’s still loyal, courageous, studious and intelligent. I’m so glad that all of her issues were resolved, especially with her dad and boyfriend. I just wished Alex played a bigger role in this novel.
I’m still really confused about Fielder – I mean, is he crazy? Did he know about Julie’s split personality? I’m just SO confused! Still, I’m glad that a lot of the girls’ issues were resolved and their tormentors learnt their lessons (can I really say that about those that died?).
*WARNING: SPOILER* My favourite parts were anything that involved Ava – maybe her argument with Leslie in the café?, and the final party where Claire almost died. I enjoyed reading Leslie’s confrontation in the café because it was public and intense. I mean, why would someone do something like that? Would she get away with it? It also kick-started the suspicions on who the murderer was. I felt bad for Ava, but after reading this part, I hoped that she could tell her dad the truth about Leslie. I also enjoyed the final party because it was similar to the beginning of The Perfectionists – began with a party, ended with a party – and was full of mystery. It reached its climax, where all the girls realised who the murderer was and confronted them.
Recommendation time! If you like the Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard, Pretty Girl by J. C. Burke, Fake by Beck Nichols, Follow Me Back by Nicci Cloke, Maestra by L. S. Hilton, They All Fall Down by Roxanne St. Claire, and Kiss of Broken Glass by Madeleine Kuderick, you will love this book. Also, I recommend this book to anyone who likes Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, Scream Queens and How to Get Away with Murder.
My review for The Perfectionists can be found by clicking on the title.
Happy reading!
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