All the Pretty Things by Emily Arsenault
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
**2.5-stars**
Going into All the Pretty Things, I had some reservations. I had heard some mixed reviews and wasn’t quite sure what sort of experience I would have with this book.
First off, the synopsis describes this book as an ‘all new thriller about a boy who turns up dead under suspicious circumstances.’
I would not classify this as a Thriller and the death of the boy, which wasn’t the main plot BTW, didn’t seem that suspicious, certainly not so much so, that a girl not even involved in the incident would make it her life mission to investigate.
Okay, I think I am getting too far ahead of myself. Let’s go back.
High schooler, Ivy, spends her summers working at her Dad’s amusement park, Fabuland, in rural New Hampshire. She mainly makes cotton candy, but sometimes helps out with other positions as well.
After taking some time off to visit relatives, she returns to find the park in chaos. While she was away, one of the park’s employees, Ethan, died. Her best friend, Morgan, discovered his body.
Morgan, apparently distraught from her discovery, gets drunk one night and climbs to the top of the ferris wheel. Authorities, fearing she may try to take her own life, contact Ivy and have her go to the top of the wheel to talk Morgan down.
Plausible?
Morgan promptly gets sent to a psychiatric ward.
Ivy then begins an investigation into the death of Ethan.
There were some moments of interest for me within this story. I wouldn’t necessarily say this was a bad book, for me it just seemed like a poorly formulated story.
This is really, if you look at the actual biggest issue in the book, which I would not say is the death of poor Ethan, a hard-hitting YA Contemporary. Why it would try to be spun as a murder mystery is beyond me.
The more I think about it, the more I am turned off by the whole thing.
There were some fairly serious issues touched upon in this book, but in my opinion they were not handled well.
Yeah, that’s really all I have to say. Sorry I can’t provide more clarification. I certainly do not want to spoil anything for people who want to pick this one up.
Let me be clear, just because this book wasn’t for me, I know there are readers out there that will enjoy this a lot. Unfortunately, that just wasn’t me.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Delacorte Press, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. Although this wasn’t necessarily the story for me, I still greatly appreciate the opportunity!