Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone

Jennifer Pickrell was kind enough to share her ARC of AMELIA ANNE IS DEAD AND GONE with me. Thanks, Jennifer!

From Goodreads:
An arresting un-coming-of-age story, from a breathtaking talent

Becca has always longed to break free from her small, backwater hometown. But the discovery of an unidentified dead girl on the side of a dirt road sends the town--and Becca--into a tailspin. Unable to make sense of the violence of the outside world creeping into her backyard, Becca finds herself retreating inward, paralyzed from moving forward for the first time in her life.

Short chapters detailing the last days of Amelia Anne Richardson's life are intercut with Becca's own summer as the parallel stories of two young women struggling with self-identity and relationships on the edge twist the reader closer and closer to the truth about Amelia's death.

I don't want to say too much about this one for spoilery reasons. I will say: I finished reading this in under 24 hours, which is really fast for me. Chalk it up to the mood, tension, and excellent pacing in this literary YA. I don't want to call it a murder mystery--because I don't really think it falls under the mystery genre--but the questions and tone surrounding the death of Amelia Anne Richardson begged answers from the first chapter on.

I still feel unsettled after reading this one, thanks to the expertly created mood: wary, oppressive, foreboding.

Great writing, small-town setting, tumultuous romance, a mystery: this will be a perfect summer read when it pubs in July.

We've been discussing AMELIA ANNE since I finished reading--want to join us? I'll send the ARC to the first person to ask for it in the comments. (Sorry, but I can only mail this one to US/Canada addresses.)

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