Dangerous Girls – Abigail Haas

    It’s Spring Break of senior year. Anna, her boyfriend Tate, her best friend Elise, and a few other close friends are off to a debaucherous trip to Aruba that promises to be the time of their lives.
    But when Elise is found brutally murdered, Anna finds herself trapped in a country not her own, fighting against vile and contemptuous accusations. As Anna sets out to find her friend’s killer, she discovers harsh revelations about her friendships, the slippery nature of truth, and the ache of young love.
    Awaiting the judge’s decree, it becomes clear to Anna that everyone around her thinks she is not only guilty, but also dangerous. And when the whole story comes out, reality is more shocking than anyone could ever imagine...

I’ve been meaning to read DANGEROUS GIRLS for a long time. Ever since I got approved on Edelweiss (sorry for not reading it sooner, Simon Teen!), I was excited for a new YA mystery because I so rarely see YA mysteries much less read really great ones. After hearing so much praise from people like Estelle and Stormy, I knew I wouldn’t be steered wrong by reading this book. The time was finally right when I was off to BEA and I had a huge chunk of time to read in the airport and on the plane and thank goodness all you lovely blogger friends told me to pick a time where I didn’t have to put the book down because I read it straight through, cover to cover.

DANGEROUS GIRLS was the perfect YA mystery/thriller. Even with the glowing recommendations, I was still afraid of the fact that it happened over spring break and it was going to end up silly or very 90s slasher flick, but it was not at all. The book felt incredibly realistic, like I could personally be accused in the same way that Anna was after her best friend was mysteriously murdered on what was supposed to be the perfect spring break trip. I was SO happy to see exactly how realistic everything was and the book never once felt hokey or silly. It was very serious, very intense, and I was very nervous! The best way to describe the book is a situation like Amanda Knox or the case of Natalee Holloway — Anna gets caught in the accusation of murdering her best friend on their spring break in the Caribbean and she has to go through questioning, trials, and time in prison until the final verdict is made. It was a very frightening situation and my stomach was in knots the whole book!

The writing was just brilliant. This is how mystery/thrillers should be written. I honestly, until the VERY VERY end, did not know what was going on. I didn’t know who was responsible. I didn’t know what details were accurate. I didn’t know who was lying. I didn’t know who was involved. It was SO interesting and I really did just race through the whole book, dying to know. My attention was honestly held the entire time. Don’t worry — the answers are all revealed and the result is… Well, it’s quite surprising! I won’t say a single word more because it’s something you should really honestly read for yourself because the experience is so much better that way, but I will say that I’m glad I didn’t really read into reviews before I read the book because although I’m sure they wouldn’t give away the ending to a mystery, it was better to be completely in the dark and really feel like I was in Anna’s shoes to get the maximum experience out of the book. Trust me — this is one you’ll want to go into as blind as possible because it makes everything that much more exciting and that much more surprising!

I can’t believe I had doubts after all of those amazing reviews and tweets raving about how everyone needs to read this book right now because they were all incredibly true! This is a book I’d recommend to just about anyone and it really was not only one of the best YA mysteries I’ve read but one of the best books this year. It was such a fantastic read so if you’re at all interested in mysteries, thrillers, or crime dramas (or just good books), pick this one up ASAP and like was suggested to me, make sure you have enough time to read this one straight through because you won’t want to put it down!

“The View from Goodreads” is a new featured section in my reviews that I decided to incorporate! I tend to update my Goodreads status a LOT when I read — reactions, feelings, notes — so I thought it would be fun to share the sort of “reading process”! All status updates are spoiler-free (no specific plot points will be revealed) but will contain reactions to certain pages and/or characters!

Anna // Character Obsessions: Freedom, innocence, Elise, Tate. 
I felt so incredibly bad for Anna. I cannot even IMAGINE being accused of murdering my best friend, losing trust from my family and friends, and being locked up in a prison in a foreign country. I mean, OMG. That’s so incredibly scary. I admired her determination to really fight for her freedom. I really don’t know what I would do in that situation… Obviously I wouldn’t lie down and just take the blame and stay locked up in prison forever, but that’s a LONG HARD struggle and I don’t know how well I would hold up! There’s also so much more to her than meets the eye and it’s really interesting to read the whole book — flashbacks included — and see exactly how that shaped her life.
Tate // Character Obsessions: Fun, school, friends, a clean reputation.
Tate was the “golden boy” and also Anna’s boyfriend, but really he was just an average guy. Well, the average guy with rich parents who are grooming him to become a politician. Needless to say after this even and being involved in a murder scandal, he may not be running for office anymore. But Tate was all over the place for me — in a good way. I went from trusting him to being suspicious of him to being hurt by him to feeling sorry for him. His involvement in the story was so interesting! Another piece of the puzzle to really go back and just read the book all over again to know what you do and see how his past really affected everything that happened.

Kept Me Hooked On: YA mysteries. THIS is the YA mystery you want to read. Or maybe don’t start with it because it will ruin you for all other books. Not even mysteries. Just other books in general. It was SO good and so well put together. THIS is what mysteries should be like, regardless of age.
Left Me Wanting More: Resolution. The reader does find out how everything ends, but I also wanted just the TINIEST bit more at the end. I understand what happened and why but after the reveal I just wanted a SMIDGE more detail to really sort of round it out.

Addiction Rating
Buy it. Read it. RIGHT NOW.

The fangirling about this book is absolutely accurate. I had a serious book hangover from the book. It sat in my head the rest of the day (and the day after) and I needed to just think about it for a while before I picked up anything else! You probably want to read this book ASAP. Do yourself that favor! So really… Go buy it… Right now.

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(Click the cover to see my review!)