The Good Girl

My favourite book of all time is Stolen by Lucy Christopher which is about a kidnapping and after I read that in 2014 (and every year afterwards) ive been addicted to kidnapping stories as they really intrigue me. I love knowing what the kidnappees mind is like during being held captive and life afterwards. I love knowing why the kidnapper did what they did.
Ive read a million kidnapping stories and this has to be in the top 3.


Spoilers but not really? ahead!!

The ending kinda.. yeah im gonna forget that happened.

Terribly written on every level. Characters and plot were unbelievable, one note, and tiresome. Extremely contrived composition shtick (“before” and “after”) that did not serve any purpose in telling the story. Not a plot twist or suspenseful moment in the whole damn thing, nor an interesting or likable character to root for.

Sentences and paragraphs were clobbered together. The author does not know the meaning of several words that she chose to use anyway, especially when they sound hoity-toity (e.g., “The doctor and I decided amongst ourselves that we would increase her sessions to two times per week.” You mean “between,” there are only two people involved, and P.S., you're not British.) The writing was distractingly bad throughout.

I really like this book. The suspense was right on. Great characters. This book is being compared to Gone girl and it may seem like its a ressemblance but its not. The characters (Mia, Colin, Eve, Gabe) were well written. reading this book I thought I knew how it would end but I was totally wrong.I give this book 4/5!

Listened to the audiobook from Audible. I got it for free (the list price, I didn't use a free credit). An interesting story. A nice twist. Some relationships that might be a bit of a stretch. The detectives voice was a bit to stereotypical (only an issue with the audio book, of course). If I had paid for it or used a credit, it might have fallen a little short, but I enjoyed it for a free book.

Ok, so I have thought about this for a couple days now. I could not review it as soon as I finished it. I have decided to give the book 3 stars. First, let me mention a few things about this book that I think should be known since I feel like some people misunderstand what this book is actually about.

1) This book is not a thriller. It does have suspense and that's kind of the point but the real story behind it I think is an inside look into poverty and the human condition. The author juxtaposed poverty with extreme wealth and influence and tried to mention how each can be restrictive. I think she tried to do this at least, I couldn't quite tell. Anyway.

What I liked:

-The back and forth between time periods worked well, because there were some discoveries in the future that made me curious as to what would happen in the past so that was cool.
-It was a fast book and kept me entertained.
-The end was unexpected.

What I didn't like.
-The ending. I have thought about this a lot and I really didn't like the ending. The MC is really unlikable and honestly...? I didn't get it. Thinking back on everything else that happened in the novel I just cannot see how that ending could be justified and I think it is rather stupid. It kind of ruined the entire ride for me.
-Character development + Plot development. She had a lot of themes that could make for a very interesting story but it wasn't told very well. The dialogue wasn't really dialogue it was the POV explaining what happened. I don't know, I just felt very detached from everyone.

I just feel like she created a lot of interesting things and then just kind of let them fall for shock factor. I will be giving the other novel a try though. Let's see.

Twenty-four year old Mia Dennett is the daughter of Chicago Judge James Dennett, a man of old money and dismissive family responsibilities, and British Eve Dennett, a homemaker and socialite. Sister to Grace, the oldest and a lawyer just like their father, Mia doesn't buy into the family lifestyle; instead, she is an art teacher. Jason, her inconsistent boyfriend, is supposed to meet her on the night she is kidnapped but calls to say he has to work late.

From the beginning of the novel, the reader is aware that Mia has been taken by a man named Colin Thatcher and that he kept her in cabin in Minnesota. In fact, Mia has already been found only a few chapters in. What follows is a mixture of multiple perspectives, both before and after Mia is found, telling the story of how Mia, who refers to herself as Chloe, copes with her kidnapping, how Detective Gabe stops at nothing to find her, and how her mother Eve tries to solve Mia's trauma-induced amnesia and help her remember the truth.

While many will suggest that Kubica's novel follows in the same vein as Gone Girl, I actually found this to be much more entertaining. I could not put this book down whereas I struggled through Flynn's multiple narrators. What works for Kubica is her uncanny ability to seamlessly weave both time and storytelling. The chapters are short, and each character's narration adds something new and unique to the plot.

Colin's “Before” chapters are the most interesting because it is through his eyes that you see what actually happened to Mia, which she doesn't remember. I found myself anxiously skimming through some other chapters just to get to the Colin pages. Detective Gabe's chapters are interesting as well because you can watch as he puts the pieces together to find Mia while also developing a closer relationship with Eve. Perhaps least interesting are Eve's “Before” accounts because she tends to be a little “woe is me” whereas her “After” chapters are fascinating because the reader watches her become the mother she wants to be.

The Good Girl is filled with twists and turns leading all the way to the last two pages where you will be absolutely floored. Don't skip to the ending; it's worth the wait!

Believe it or not, I actually thought I was going to give this book only four stars until about the very end of the book, where it became so much more meaningful and everything made perfect sense and I wasn't conflicted anymore about how I feel about this novel and all the characters in it. So, for anyone reading this book keep that in mind, because it will keep you guessing and in the dark until the very end. For some readers that might be something they don't necessarily like but for me- I FREAKING LOVED IT! This whole book was so refreshing and different from what I have been reading lately and I absolutely loved every single part of it. It is definitely going down as one of my favorite books of all time, glad I brought the book because it was worth every penny.

To start of, the plot was twisty to say the least. It started off as a whirlwind and then settled into a comfortable, albeit slow pace that frustrated me only slightly. At that point I thought that was all there was to it but boy was I wrong. Little did I know that the most shocking revelations were yet to come. So, it's safe to say that I have never been taken so much by surprise in a plot twist within a book, ever. At first, I didn't know how I felt about it but upon further pondering I decided that it made sense in this book and that it truly tied everything together and brought the whole thing safe to home. Usually, I like when a book's pace is consistent and doesn't speed up or down too much but there was a beauty in this novel's slow pace areas that were agonizingly beautiful to witness as a reader. Hands down one of the best plots I have seen in a book yet.

Further on, the characters came alive to me and stopped being characters very early on in the book. They had whole histories that were revealed in components throughout the entirety of the book and each part made me realize more and more why the character did what he did and what motivated him to act a certain way in the story. Even the “villain” of the story was hard not to relate to and by the end of the book I found myself sharing in his pain and all his thoughts and dreams. These characters will stay with me for a long time after this book, they just felt so real, almost like good friends at this point. Kubica definitely knows how to do characterization and it goes without saying that I will be an avid fan of hers from this point forward and will read all her past and future releases.

The style of the writing was phenomenal as well, I liked how the book was divided into the characters story before and after the incident took place and then was resolved (for lack of a better way to put it without spoiling the book). It flowed effortlessly and I couldn't slow down for the life of me, I had to keep going because it intrigued my very soul and the story seeped into me and now will stay with me for the rest of my life.

In conclusion, I recommend this book to EVERYONE! It's profound and mesmerizing and genius and I can't contain my own elation at it while writing this review. It definitely has a little bit of something for everyone and a lot of truths contained in it about the human world and humanity as it is lived. I have read a lot of good books this year but this is one of the best books I have EVER read in my whole entire life, that's how much it has touched my very soul and made me ponder my very existence.

Pada suatu malam, Mia Dennett pergi ke bar untuk menemui pacarnya, Jason. Namun karena Jason tak kunjung datang, akhirnya Mia pergi dengan seorang asing, Colin. Namun mengikuti Colin ke apartemennya adalah kesalahan terbesar di hidup Mia. Colin memutuskan untuk menyembunyikan Mia di sebuah kabin telantar di daerah Minnesota. Ini berbeda dari rencana awalnya untuk menyerahkan Mia kepada Dalmar, bos Colin yang memerintahnya untuk menculik gadis itu. Colin tak punya pilihan lain. Hati nuraninya bingung dengan apa yang dia lakukan. Dia tak ingin menyerahkan Mia, tapi dia juga takut mati di tangan Dalmar.
Aku memilih memasukkan buku ini dalam fiksi umum, Karena setelah selesai membaca, kurang tepat jika buku ini digolongkan dalam genre mistery/thriller. Tidak terlalu mengecewakan seperti ulasan bagi bbrp yg sdh membacanya, menurutku. Hanya endingnya saja yg menghancurkan seluruh jalinan ceritanya secara keseluruhan. Jika endingnya seperti itu lantas untuk apa semua kesusahan yg mesti dilalui dari awal??

I read this for a book club and it's not something I would have picked up on my own, ever. That said, here is the audience for this book: People who like their thrillers to be thinly disguised romance novels. People who like Lifetime made for TV movies in which sort of scary things happen to well to do white girls. People who think the Beauty and The Beast plot is uber-romantic. The characters all fell flat for me, some of them are such stereotypes I couldn't stop my eyes from rolling in my head (the detective who hates all rich men and sees all females as needing rescue- gag). Even the cover is flat. Mia is not a ten year old girl with inhuman blue eyes.
It wasn't to my taste, but it's an easy read. I do not feel it even danced near any real issues or emotions, but I guess I could see where it could lead to discussions about real topics. I see YA crossover appeal here.

A very decent debut. The relationship between the main two characters is disturbing – is it a classic case of Stockholm syndrome or no? Although I do consider this a page-turner, it loses a couple of stars because of the mother and father's relationship towards one another – it was quite tedious having to read through those parts.