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Golden by Jessi Kirby Review

golden

Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.

Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.

Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.

Plot:

If we’re being completely honest, I thought this book was going to be a murder mystery. And an interesting one at that. Ten years ago Julianna and Shane, the golden couple, vanished, leaving nothing but a crashed car behind. Parker just happens by Julianna’s journal from the year she died and things start looking other than what the whole town believes about the two.

To save you some trouble, this was not a murder mystery.

However, it was a beautifully written book full of poetry and that makes one question the decisions they make and who they are making them for. Golden was about a girl who had everything and was living the dream, but finding Julianna’s story made her question whether that dream belonged to her or not.

So maybe this wasn’t a murder mystery, but I still think it was well worth my time.

Plot: 5 out of 5

Characters:

Parker is pretty much your perfect, all A’s student who never seems to disagree with the school staff and never ends up in detention. She steers clear of anything that might mess up her chances to win the Cruz-Farnetti Scholarship that will win her a full ride to Stanford.

Or so she thought.

I thought Parker’s character was perfect and very realistic. The things she questioned in her mind and the beliefs she held? Sometimes I felt like they mirrored my own. And I believe the struggle of discovering who you are and what you want to do with your life is a very real thing.

Kat and Trevor made for two very interesting sidekicks. Kat was the exact opposite of Parker. Always breaking rules and trying to pull Parker over to the dark and wild side. Trevor? I didn’t really care much for him, but that’s just personal opinion. He was an alright character, though, and fit the story really well.

Julianna and the characters of her story (which I won’t fully discuss, so it’s not spoiled for you) made things just as exciting as the actual story itself. All in all, two stories twisted together into one makes for an interesting story and excellent character development.

Characters: 4 out of 5

Setting/Writing Style:

This is my first time reading anything from Jessi Kirby, but I have to say that I think I’m a fan. Every chapter had part of a Robert Frost poem in front of it, and poetry was sprinkled pleasantly throughout the book. Kirby is definitely a master at the written word and does an excellent job at making you think.

Altogether, it was beautifully written.

The setting was wonderful too. It wasn’t too confusing and even though you were in a small town, you weren’t all over the place. I find that just a bit confusing. By the end, I could practically see the lake and Kat and Parker’s favorite coffee shop.

Setting/Writing Style: 5 out of 5

Overall: 4 out of 5. Wonderful book, but parents might want to take caution since some stronger language was used towards the end of the book. Want to purchase? You can find Golden on Amazon.

4 Comments


  1. // Reply

    I’ve been meaning to read this because I thought it was a murder mystery novel (thanks for the heads up that it isn’t!) And I’ll have to read it soon because of your high rating! Great review!


    1. // Reply

      Yeah, the blurb is really misleading. I’m just glad it didn’t disappoint.

      Thanks for commenting!

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