Hey guys, and happy Tuesday! Today I am delighted to share with you a very late book review which I should have posted weeks ago, when I first finished it. A couple weeks ago I moved back to Manchester for uni and life has been hectic filled with unpacking, catching up with friends I haven't seen for over three months and trying to get through my gigantic pile of reading for second year! But now I have settled into my new house and am ready for a productive and book-filled term!
Today I am so excited to share with you a 5* book review of spellbinding YA novel 13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough. I was kindly sent 13 Minutes by the lovely Lucy at Gollancz just before Christmas but I never got around to reading it - so this summer when my aim was to make a considerable dent in my TBR it was high up on my list to read! The best kind of summer novels are the ones you can completely lose yourself in - and this was definitely the case with 13 Minutes.
13 Minutes is a spine-tingling, heart-racing, superbly paced YA thriller with fantastic characters and a compelling plot to rival the most addictive Netflix show. It follows ex-bestfriends Tasha and Becca and the aftermath of Tasha's 'accident' - when she is dragged unconscious from freezing water. Everyone is desperately trying to figure out what happened - the press, Tasha's parents, even Tasha herself, who for the life of her can't remember the event. The only people who don't seem to turn detective are Tasha's best friends, Hayley and Jenny. The story that evolves from this event is dark and deadly, with several treacherous turns and twists. Safe to say that I was hooked from the very first sentence and Pinborough didn't let me go until the last page. Pitched as Pretty Little Liars meets Mean Girls I couldn't wait to get stuck in, and believe me I was far from disappointed.
Intrigued? Check out the blurb here...
I was dead for 13 minutes.
I don't remember how I ended up in the icy water but I do know this - it wasn't an accident and I wasn't suicidal.
They say you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but when you're a teenage girl, it's hard to tell them apart. My friends love me, I'm sure of it. But that doesn't mean they didn't try to kill me. Does it?
To put it simply, I adored 13 Minutes. It was everything I could have wished for in a YA novel, and so much more. Although I read many, many great books during the summer few kept me up into the early hours of the morning, ferociously devouring every single page. The characters jumped right off the page and into my heart, including those like Tasha, Hayley and Jenny who I loved to hate. Although this is such a dark and seemingly far-fetched story (just like Pretty Little Liars), I believed every single word - Pinborough writes with such passion and effortless flair. I was immediately transported into the world of sex, drugs and mean girls who live their life as one big performance. 13 Minutes was a gritty and deadly dark exploration of female friendships and how dangerous toxic friendships can become.
After all - rivalry, jealousy and secrets are no fun when death is the final result. Probably one of the most normal girls in the whole story, Becca finds herself part of this dangerous game and her life is soon tainted with the deadly aftermath of the strange events that occur since Tasha is pulled from her almost certain death. And once you become involved in this dangerous game, where the mean girls rule supreme, there is no going back. And before the story reaches its knife-edge resolution, Becca finds this out for herself.
I wanted to write this review with no spoilers whatsoever, so it's pretty difficult for me to share all my thoughts about the book without giving away some of the biggest plot twists! But I will say this - 13 Minutes is a book that takes you on a heart-stopping adventure and holds you hostage until the very last page. If you're after a YA thriller that is fresh, vibrant, gritty and explosive, 13 Minutes is the book for you.
To put it simply, I adored 13 Minutes. It was everything I could have wished for in a YA novel, and so much more. Although I read many, many great books during the summer few kept me up into the early hours of the morning, ferociously devouring every single page. The characters jumped right off the page and into my heart, including those like Tasha, Hayley and Jenny who I loved to hate. Although this is such a dark and seemingly far-fetched story (just like Pretty Little Liars), I believed every single word - Pinborough writes with such passion and effortless flair. I was immediately transported into the world of sex, drugs and mean girls who live their life as one big performance. 13 Minutes was a gritty and deadly dark exploration of female friendships and how dangerous toxic friendships can become.After all - rivalry, jealousy and secrets are no fun when death is the final result. Probably one of the most normal girls in the whole story, Becca finds herself part of this dangerous game and her life is soon tainted with the deadly aftermath of the strange events that occur since Tasha is pulled from her almost certain death. And once you become involved in this dangerous game, where the mean girls rule supreme, there is no going back. And before the story reaches its knife-edge resolution, Becca finds this out for herself.
I wanted to write this review with no spoilers whatsoever, so it's pretty difficult for me to share all my thoughts about the book without giving away some of the biggest plot twists! But I will say this - 13 Minutes is a book that takes you on a heart-stopping adventure and holds you hostage until the very last page. If you're after a YA thriller that is fresh, vibrant, gritty and explosive, 13 Minutes is the book for you.
Buy 13 Minutes here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/13-Minutes-Sarah-Pinborough/dp/057509737X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474802743&sr=1-1&keywords=13+minutes
Check out Sarah Pinborough here: https://sarahpinborough.com
Until next time :)
