Review: This Is Our Story by Ashley Elston

This Is Our Story by Ashley Elston

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Received: Hachette Book Group Canada
Publication Date: November 15th 2016
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Point of View: 1st Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 13+
Pacing: Fast
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Crime, Contemporary, Mystery, Romance

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BLURB:

No one knows what happened that morning at River Point. Five boys went hunting. Four came back. The boys won’t say who fired the shot that killed their friend; the evidence shows it could have been any one of them.

Kate Marino’s senior year internship at the District Attorney’s Office isn’t exactly glamorous—more like an excuse to leave school early that looks good on college applications. Then the DA hands her boss, Mr. Stone, the biggest case her small town of Belle Terre has ever seen. The River Point Boys are all anyone can talk about. Despite their damning toxicology reports the morning of the accident, the DA wants the boys’ case swept under the rug. He owes his political office to their powerful families.

Kate won’t let that happen. Digging up secrets without revealing her own is a dangerous line to walk; Kate has her own reasons for seeking justice for Grant. As she and Stone investigate—the ageing prosecutor relying on Kate to see and hear what he cannot—she realizes that nothing about the case—or the boys—is what it seems. Grant wasn’t who she thought he was, and neither is Stone’s prime suspect. As Kate gets dangerously close to the truth, it becomes clear that the early morning accident might not have been an accident at all—and if Kate doesn’t uncover the true killer, more than one life could be on the line…including her own.

This is one of those books with a story so, so interesting and easy to get into and the kind that promises an outstanding denouement. The anticipation keeps on building and building until…

You’re there. You’re at the ending, and it’s nothing like you imagined. As in, you thought it would be completely unbelievable when in fact it just… makes sense. And that’s it.

But because I had a great time with it and the ending is, logically, only a couple of pages long, I can’t judge only that. Picture Everything, Everything: it’s incredibly original… until it isn’t anymore. If you’ve read it, you know what I mean.

The same thing happens with this book. But its characters are easy to like or hate – but the kind of hate you actually welcome because a story needs villains – and it’s got this eerie atmosphere that makes it really hard not to become involved with the mystery.

I especially enjoyed the uncommon setting and the crime itself. It also has a fascinating narration style, with interviews, POVs from the killer, text messages and the more traditional one, from the assistant of an attorney.

Although it’s around 300 pages long, it has the amount of substance a 400+ pages long novel usually does. And let’s not forget the amazing cover; kudos to the artist.

This novel may disappoint you in the end, but before you get to the ending itself, you certainly will not be. Plus this is only an opinion, so you might actually be surprised by it.

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