Book Review: Imaginary Girls

Chloe's older sister, ruby, is the girl everyone looks to and longs for, who can't be captured or caged. After a night with Ruby's friends goes horribly wrong and Chloe discovers a dead body floating in the reservoir, Chloe is sent away - away from home, away from Ruby.

 But Ruby will do anything to get her sister back, and when Chloe returns home at last, she finds a precarious and deadly balance waiting for her. As Chloe flirts with the truth that Ruby has hidden deeply away, the fragile line between life and death is redrawn by the complex bonds of sisterhood.

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In a Nutshell: Imaginary Girls is an eerie mix of contemporary and the paranormal that examines death, life, and the bonds of sisterhood.

Putdownability Factor: This book is haunting. Everytime I put it down it was like there was a voice in my head just begging me to pick it back up and finish it.

Cover Love: Ummmm GORGEOUS. I would read this book on the cover alone. Heck, I would buy this book on the cover alone. And once you read the book the cover makes even more sense! Its just perfect.

My Thoughts

Imaginary Girls is definitely one of the weirdest, scariest, most atmospheric books I've read all summer. I didn't really know what to expect when I started it because the summary is so oblique. Was I reading a contemporary? A paranormal? Or maybe a mystery thriller? I didn't know. And honestly, I still don't know. Imaginary Girls has so many different elements to it that you can't really categorize it. But the one thing I can say for sure about this book is that it is AMAZING.

One of the biggest elements to Imaginary Girls is mystery. Why does Ruby seem to have so much power over people? How on earth can a dead girl come back to life? And what does it have to do with the reservoir and the lost city of Olive? Nova Ren Suma's writing pulled me into the story and didn't let me go till the last page was turned.

I absolutely ADORED the prose of Imaginary Girls. It was creepy, alluring, and hypnotic. It would only take a few sentences for me to get engulfed into the story.

The one drawback I had to Imaginary Girls was the characterization. I didn't like Ruby from the get go. She was manipulative, and rude, and altogether unlikeable for me. Chloe on the other hand was just too much of a push over. I kept screaming in my head "Do something girl! How can you just let your sister get away with this?" *sigh*

But even with the poor characterization Imaginary Girls is worth reading. It's plot is intriguing and the writing style is absolutely amazing. I give it 4 and a half out of 5 ice cream cones!

Nova Ren Suma is a masterful author. I will definitely be reading anything she writes in the future! I am a fan. :)

Who would I recommend this to? Anyone with a love for mysterious and somewhat creepy novels. Especially those who like thrillers and the paranormal.

Julia :)