Book Review | Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas

Title: Dangerous Girls
Author: Abigail Haas
Publication: May 6th 2014 by Simon Pulse (first published 2013)
Format:Finished copy/Paperback
Source: Purchased from Fully Booked
ISBN: 9781442486607

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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…

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Another YA mystery/thriller was cleared off my TBR pile. Although, it took me a while to get around reading through the first pages of Dangerous Girls. The sequence of the events in this book is not in order which is something that didn’t get me engaged at first but later on, I actually enjoyed it because every time a chapter ends, I anticipate for what the next scenario would be. I hope I’m making sense here. Scenes go back and forth through Anna’s trial, the day they arrived at Aruba, her first time meeting Elise and other events.

I’m not gonna be thorough with this review to avoid spoilers… and for you to go read and find out the mystery yourself. 😛

What is captivating in this book is the fact that the readers get to be inside Anna’s head. She’s locked up in a foreign land, “guilty until proven innocent”. The readers are placed in a position where they are rooting for the one being unjustly treated just because there was no one else to blame for her friends death. Readers will be wanting to prove Anna’s innocence and prove everyone that wronged her that they’re mistaken.

The title. Why is it Dangerous Girls? Who are these dangerous girls? I didn’t think about that until 40%-60% of the book and the reason why I had to ask myself that is because I just figured out who and why.

I wasn’t right about the culprit was though. I actually had a “wait, what??” moment in the freaking bathroom. That twisted ending just blew my wits out. I guess I was too tired at 4:30 am when I just read through the last parts. When I’ve finally put the book down and went to the bathroom, the story was still going through my head. I was sitting on the toilet (sorry for tmi) when I realized that I almost missed that major plot twist. Just 2 words in the last pages changed everything. And I had to go back and re-read just to be sure I’m not just imagining things.

Dangerous Girls wins at mind blowing endings.

Rating:

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• Snippets – Past events were only shown in fragments which worked for the whole book. It keeps the reader guessing all throughout the story. We learn about Anna and Elise’s relationship little by little and it’s up to the reader to piece them all together.

• MAJOR Plot Twist – Uh huh.

• It kept me up all night – If a book has got me reading til the break of day, it means it’s too good to put down, duh. (It also means I started reading it at night, not advisable) Dangerous Girls had me turning pages for the final verdict, awaiting for the truth to be revealed. But what really is the truth?

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Book Description and Cover Image from Goodreads