So this is one of those books that I had to sit back and think about for a time after finishing it. It’s more along the lines of, “What in the world did I just read?” And I absolutely mean that in the best possible way.

It’s the story of young Skylar, and to a slightly lesser extent her sister, Piper. They live in Gardnerville, at first glance an idyllic little town nestled in the mountains. But Gardnerville holds secrets both good and bad. And the bad definitely outweighs the good!

Every fourth year, the town’s teenagers are overcome with a compulsion to do very bad things. And Piper was one of those teens four years ago. Now Skylar is trying to come to terms with what happened. That means finding out where Piper is. Is she locked up in the town’s mysterious reformatory? Or did she make her escape that night four years ago high up on the train trestle?

To say this is a weird book would be quite an understatement. It’s the kind of story that had me stopping along the way to ponder what was happening. And, I found myself going back quite a bit to reread. It’s a challenging book because the answers are not given to you easily. There’s a ton of imagery which I’m still trying to sort out. There’s drug use, violence, and death. Still, the words are so beautifully put together that it was a joy to read even as I was trying to put it all together in my head. In this case, definitely judge a book by its cover because the words inside this one are just as appealing and beautiful as the outside package!

~Thalia

Buy It Now: (Don’t You) Forget About Me