sunsetxcocktail

A good, enjoyable YA mystery. I came across this book whilst browsing in my local bookshop, the title got my attention immediately (it's one my favourite Pretty Reckless songs). The plot sounded interesting so I got it.

Its set at a posh English boarding school, Nigerian transfer student Adamma comes in from New York, and has to adjust to life at an English boarding school. She makes friends with the school's notorious wild child Scarlett. Something terrible happens to Scarlett.  The story is told in a then and now format. What happened after the event and what happened leading up to the event (this form of story telling is something I've started to notice in YA mysteries) It was a little confusing at first, but its pretty easy to pick up.

Adamma is a good student, kind of snooty and spoiled, and doesn't seem to make much apologies with this. I really liked her relationship with her parents. Her father a diplomat, a decent, good man with a strong character (I can't remember what the mother did but the mother was a lovely woman)  Little tid bits of information about life with her parents was filtered into to Adammas story. Adamma's relationship with her parents is tested quite a bit throughout the novel.

Scarlett was your typical YA wild child who did what she wanted regardless of rules or what anyone else thought of her, and got away with it. She and Adamma become friends pretty much immediately but as the story progresses things change quite dramatically.  There was a romance, its built around the two of them falling for the same boy and falling out over it, though there are a few boys both of them seem to go after. Its never clear which one is the cause of the animosity towards each other. Not until much later on in the story.

The mystery of what happens to Scarlett is quite compelling, and to be fair, I did not actually guess who the bad guy was. I didn't actually like the characters much, Scarlett was annoying and Adamma came across as quite irritating and stuck up in parts. However, the story was engrossing.

My only real issue with it was the ending. After everything is revealed it was like...that's it. Stop. I didn't get the feeling of conclusion or any sort of justice done once who the bad guy was and what really happened was revealed. I could have done with an epilogue or something to wrap things up.

That being said, it was still a good read and highly recommended to anyone who likes YA mystery novels.