I'll Never Tell

This book is absolutely amazing. Without spoiling anything (which is really hard by the way), I'll say now that the way the setting and characters were presented was flawless. At times, as cliché as it is to say, I felt like I was in the room with them. You can feel the atmosphere biting at you, smell your surroundings, see each persons face. This book has a lot of time jumps, sometimes making it hard to keep up because one moment you'll be in the present, then the next you'll be in the past. Despite that it was sometimes hard to tell at what time things were taking place, this works really well for the presentation of the book. We'll learn of an event that took place in the past from Anna's point of view, before ending up in the courtroom, the details we just learned presumably having been laid out and established while the prosecution and defense fight with words; all the while Anna is riding an emotional roller-coaster. Sometimes she'll be introspective, at others she'll panic, and sometimes she is completely calm, but in ways that make sense.Now onto the more spoilery bits. Don't read these if you want to be surprised, however I think these parts are what make the book truly shine.Anna's mental state is absolutely fascinating. Her ability to lie and deceive is something she takes full advantage of, and her complete apathy regarding certain things and fabricated emotions when it comes to others is really interesting to read about. The best part though, is the reader is just as oblivious and clueless as everyone else trying desperately to find out the truth. This story perfectly executes the concept of an unreliable narrator. Anna hardly ever tells the full truth, most of the time using half truths or blatant lies to fabricate her story, not only to everyone she knows, not only to a courtroom full of people and a judge prepared to lock her away for years, but to the reader too. There are subtle hints of course, if you look closely, but the reader is left to figure it out for themselves. But beyond Anna's character, the story is great as well. With something as complicated as this situation it's hard to say what this book is truly about, but one thing stands out especially. Anna and Elise's relationship. It's quite obvious there is some sexual tension between the two. While this is never explicitly stated it is implied, and can be further reinforced by one specific scene I'll talk about in a second. Anna and Elise's relationship, even in the best and most stable of times, is very turbulent. They disagree and fight often, and beyond that, hurt each other in ways you really shouldn't. Though at the same time, each of them are sometimes the only thing holding the other together. Their relationship is full of toxicity and jealousy as much as it is dependence and care. In one scene, just after Anna's mom dies, Anna begs Elise to tell her that it won't hurt this way forever, and to never leave her. Elise kisses her, says that it won't always hurt this way, and that she'll always be by Anna, holding her hand. This is a lie, however I don't think it was at the time. Relationships between characters are complicated, and it's hard to tell who's feeling what. However, I think that Elise loved Anna as more than a friend. Anna might have been conflicted, maybe not, but ultimately didn't feel the same. She loved her boyfriend, Tate. That's an entire other can of worms, and why exactly she loves him is unclear, but I think she was aware of how Elise felt and took advantage of Elise's willingness to comfort her to do exactly that, likely giving Elise hope, before Anna pretends it never happened and things go back to "normal". Obviously Elise is hurt, being used and discarded in this way. Maybe she wants to get back at Anna and hurt her, maybe she wants to know what Anna likes so much about him and what it would be like to be her, maybe she honestly developed feelings for him, or maybe a mixture of all, but Elise ends up betraying Anna and having an affair with Tate. That promise to always be by her side, supporting her and holding her hand, telling her that things wouldn't hurt like this again, was broken when she went behind Anna's back. During their trip, Anna finds out.We're never told exactly what happened the day of the murder, never shown a scene of Anna making up her mind or doing the deed. But we do see the aftermath. We do see Anna's lies. And we do see her declared innocent, despite the evidence against her. It's very clear what type of person Anna is just from reading the last few paragraphs. She seems to have truly cared about Elise, at least in some way, and maybe even loved her back. She seems to mourn Elise's death, but not regret what she did. In the game of friendship, false promises, and deception, Anna comes out on top and, sitting at Elise's grave, pronounces her victory. "I win."I highly encourage anyone seeing this to read it. I had a great time myself and I honestly can't give a name to the feelings I felt throughout this read. Wonderfully done, author. :)

“After everything, I know how important a single shot can be, the story that can replace facts and hard evidence with just a singe, perfect frame.”Dangerous Girls is the type of book that will stay in your mind for hours, if not days after reading it. There were times when I had to put it down, needing a break that will only last me minutes because I just had to know what happened next. This book frustrated and angered me, at first because of the injustice that’s being done to Anna just because she was the perfect scapegoat; a girl that doesn’t really have the powerful family connections or financial backing like everyone else within that group. Then it hit me: no one in this group is completely innocent, not even the victim. Each one of these characters made stupid, hateful and selfish decisions without caring if they’re stepping on someone else or ruining other people’s lives. A part of me even think that the only way this could’ve been prevented is if Anna and Elise did not become friends in the first place.“Do you love me?”“You know I do.”“How much?”“Miles and miles.”The beginning of their friendship was innocent enough, something that I even rooted for despite knowing what’s going to happen in the future. Both girls were trapped in situations where they couldn’t be themselves. They pulled each other out of their cocoon…Anna out of her solidarity and Elise from becoming a mere follower. She may be in the “right” group but she was fated to never become the leader. At the same time it became apparent that as much as they brought out the best of each other, the worst came along with it. They broke free of high school cliques and politics but they pulled each other down to a path much darker. Although they blossomed together and eventually they found a group that they can be themselves in, they also went down a path of self-destruction, the term “sex, drugs and rock n’ roll” fit very much in what these high school students were partaking. High school! This is what’s so upsetting about this book. They are all just kids yet it’s like their innocence have been obliterated by their own doing.“One moment. One picture. One glimpse–that’s all it takes to make someone think they know the truth.”Because this book was mostly told through Anna’s POV, it was only natural that I sympathized with her plight of proving her innocence with only a handful of supporters by her side. From the start she was clearly the underdog, a victim of a corrupt and vindictive prosecutor’s witch hunt. Prosecutor Dekker’s character made me so angry I actually wished that there was a picture or sketch of him that I can print off and doodle big black horns in. Add that to the fact that she’s trapped in a country with a justice system none of the characters were familiar with. Soon, they were all just out to save their own hides, leaving poor Anna to fight hopelessly for her freedom.But then, you also see moments of her where you wonder, if in enough rage, perhaps Anna can be capable of murdering another person…even if it’s her best friend. Even through her POVs we see her act unnatural, the book’s timeline is non-linear so we see alternating glimpses of the past and present so you gradually find out exactly how deep the two girl’s relationship are. Though it seem so at the beginning, they are more than best friends who hang out for the sole purpose of fun and partying. Looking back I thought about the part where Anna acted so calm and composed after finding out about Elise’s murder, wherein after knowing how much she relies on their relationship she should’ve acted with more passion, or even quiet depression. After finding out how almost unhealthy their relationship were with their closeness I looked back and thought, this was her Elise who was murdered, why is she making jokes, demanding food and thinking about how much she needs sleep?“Wouldn’t we all look guilty, if someone searched hard enough?”But then again, I still couldn’t stop feeling sorry for Anna because so many people screwed her over. She was portrayed by the media as the bad influence, the sexual deviant that lured Elise and her upperclass friends to a world of underage drinking, drugs and partying. She was accused by former friends and classmates that she isolated popular Elise from everybody else when they in fact isolated themselves. Everyone in their group is equally a bad influence on each other and it was really frustrating how she’s taking all the blame. And even when she tried to defend her side of the story, her behavior was over analyzed and sensationalized to cast doubt on her sincerity. It seem hopeless…again the perfect scapegoat…because she is not as rich, not as connected, not as powerful.If I can describe this book in one sentence I would say that this book messed me up. It got me so angry on Anna’s behalf but at the same time I also questioned her innocence. I hated the characters, including Anna at times, for their selfishness and disregard for other people. I was horrified on how far a person will go just to win. This was not an easy book to read but I could not stop reading, it hooked me from beginning to end. And speaking of the end…man. That’s all I can say.Dangerous Girls was depressing, it made me question the good in humanity. It was brilliant. I hated this book. But I loved it. It made me so angry I wanted to just stop reading it. But I couldn’t stop. Again, this messed me up. And I highly recommend it.

First things first, before I even attempt to write a review for this book you should probably know that I just like or love this book, I devoured it. This review.. well it might be a little bit more fangirling than normal so just keep that in mind while reading it :PIt's crazy to think that I only heard about Abigail Haas / Abby McDonald this year, and thought Dangerous Girls was the book people were talking about, the first one I had the pleasure of reading was Dangerous Boys. God damn that book was good, I was hooked from start to finish and I had the two lovely bloggers who introduced this wonderful author to me, Amanda and Charnell, both telling me that if I liked that one I would enjoy Dangerous Girls more. Did I believe them, even though they have never told me lies or pointed me in the way of a bad book? no I'm sorry to say I didn't, I thought there couldn't possibly be anyway that I would love this one more because Dangerous Boys was just that good. Well I am eating my words ladies, because not only did I like this book more but I have now made the conscious decision to just read any and all of her books.The 3 main characters in this story is Anna, the shy girl, Elise, the popular one and Tate, Anna's boyfriend and one of the best looking guys in school. Anna was never the girl with a lot of friends and when she moved to a posh new private school she began to stick out like a sore thumb, always the outcast, but when Elise takes notice of her and shows her some kindness, everything changes. Slowly they start spending all their time together, they are joined at the hip and closer than sisters, sometimes bordering on unhealthy. Being friends with Elise opens more doors for Anna than she ever thought possible, finally she had someone to spend time with and confined in, and with her new found popularity came the attention of Tate. Suddenly Anna has a group of new friends, a loving boyfriend and a packed social calendar. Things could only get better right?. Wrong.Fast forward to the group of friends deciding to take their spring break holiday in Aruba, trying to make the most of their time together and determined to make some memories. The holiday starts of normal enough, drinking and night clubs, relaxing on the sand and chatting up the locals. Until one night they discover Elise has been brutally murdered and it looks like Anna and Tate are the prime suspects. But they couldn't have done it, they spent the afternoon together while the rest of the group were off doing other activities. They didn't leave each others side for a second..... or did they?As the finger pointing starts, and the alibi's and motives tot up, you may think you know who did it, you might think you even know why, but let me set your mind straight right now, YOU ARE WRONG!. I was convinced, like to the point that I didn't even think for one second that it could be anyone else, only to change my mind a few chapters after, back and forth all the time. The characters, the storyline, the twists and turns? JUST GIVE ME MORE!. I would pay good money for more books like this, hell I just want Abigail Haas to continue writing thriller novels because by god does she have a talent for it.Every now and again I will find a writer that everyone's talking about only to be disappointed by the book they have published, sometimes I am told about an author that not everyone knows about and end up shouting their name and the name of the books from the rooftop. Take an educated guess as to what I would do in this situation? haha.If you haven't read either Dangerous Boys or Dangerous Girls yet, then what are you waiting for? I dare you to read them and not fall in love with the brilliant way Abigail writes or the way she manages to make you second guess yourself to keep you on your toes, I dare you.Is the heartache and confusion worth it? Without a doubt. Well done Abigail Haas, much more of it and you'll be one of my favourite authors ;)

Anna's relationship with Elise was intense. They were close friends, but it always seemed like something more; an attraction neither of them could sort through. Even with Anna's boyfriend hovering in the foreground, there seemed to be an untouchable nature to her relationship with Elise. An obsessive friendship beyond compare. It made for some emotional flashbacks.It's hard not to feel for Anna. Despite her close friendship with Elise, she becomes the prime suspect in a witch hunt by local police. The whole world thinks she's guilty, even her friends. She's betrayed by everyone around her, scrutinised by the media, and left to rot in prison while her fate is argued.The evidence against her is patchy, but the way the prosecutors attack Anna's character, weaving through her life and selectively picking parts that prove their theories was frustratingly brilliant and made for an interesting question: wouldn't we all look guilty, if someone searched hard enough?Sandwiched between the intense trial scenes, we flashback to the night Elise was murdered and the events leading up to it. It made for some nail-biting storytelling, which had me flicking the pages as fast as I could to see what happened.This book was fast and addictive, with a distinct eerie cloud over every page. I was suspicious of every character and time and time again, my theories were proved wrong. I flitted between suspects, all the while never really committing to one. Nobody felt trustworthy to me. But with all the twists and turns lacing each page, it was no wonder!

This book was a really good read whereby I wanted to know what happened so got hooked, it was a little far fetched in the sense that no other investigations really took place into the murder which was odd and the evidence the police had was too flimsy? The ending was totally disappointing and I felt needed another chapter as clarification which left me thinking some of it really didn’t make sense. If this had happened then I would have rated it 4.5.

I really enjoyed this book, it's a great story with some interesting characters. It follows the story of Anna after she is accused of the murder of her best friend while on vacation. It jumps back and forth between now and before, giving us a good look into the lives of the characters. There is a twist at the end, which was unexpected but I have to admit I'm not 100% sure I liked it which is why I only gave 4 stars, but I won't say any more as I don't want to ruin it for anyone else.

This book has great suspense and really had me gripped. I read it really quickly and was dying to know what the truth was. However, when the truth was revealed I found it almost so unpredictable it was predictable (without giving anything away) Maybe this was because I had read another book recently with a similar ending. Either way it almost meant the rest of the book didn't make any sense. Worth a read anyway and others may enjoy the ending more than I did.