Dangerous Girls – Abigail Haas

Dangerous Girls – Abigail HaasTitle: Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas
Publishing Info: July 16, 2013 by Simon & Schuster
Source: Edelweiss
Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Thriller, Young Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: May 28, 2014

    It’s Spring Break of senior year. Anna, her boyfriend Tate, her best friend Elise, and a few other close friends are off to a debaucherous trip to Aruba that promises to be the time of their lives.
    But when Elise is found brutally murdered, Anna finds herself trapped in a country not her own, fighting against vile and contemptuous accusations. As Anna sets out to find her friend’s killer, she discovers harsh revelations about her friendships, the slippery nature of truth, and the ache of young love.
    Awaiting the judge’s decree, it becomes clear to Anna that everyone around her thinks she is not only guilty, but also dangerous. And when the whole story comes out, reality is more shocking than anyone could ever imagine...

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I’ve been meaning to read DANGEROUS GIRLS for a long time. Ever since I got approved on Edelweiss (sorry for not reading it sooner, Simon Teen!), I was excited for a new YA mystery because I so rarely see YA mysteries much less read really great ones. After hearing so much praise from people like Estelle and Stormy, I knew I wouldn’t be steered wrong by reading this book. The time was finally right when I was off to BEA and I had a huge chunk of time to read in the airport and on the plane and thank goodness all you lovely blogger friends told me to pick a time where I didn’t have to put the book down because I read it straight through, cover to cover.

DANGEROUS GIRLS was the perfect YA mystery/thriller. Even with the glowing recommendations, I was still afraid of the fact that it happened over spring break and it was going to end up silly or very 90s slasher flick, but it was not at all. The book felt incredibly realistic, like I could personally be accused in the same way that Anna was after her best friend was mysteriously murdered on what was supposed to be the perfect spring break trip. I was SO happy to see exactly how realistic everything was and the book never once felt hokey or silly. It was very serious, very intense, and I was very nervous! The best way to describe the book is a situation like Amanda Knox or the case of Natalee Holloway — Anna gets caught in the accusation of murdering her best friend on their spring break in the Caribbean and she has to go through questioning, trials, and time in prison until the final verdict is made. It was a very frightening situation and my stomach was in knots the whole book!

The writing was just brilliant. This is how mystery/thrillers should be written. I honestly, until the VERY VERY end, did not know what was going on. I didn’t know who was responsible. I didn’t know what details were accurate. I didn’t know who was lying. I didn’t know who was involved. It was SO interesting and I really did just race through the whole book, dying to know. My attention was honestly held the entire time. Don’t worry — the answers are all revealed and the result is… Well, it’s quite surprising! I won’t say a single word more because it’s something you should really honestly read for yourself because the experience is so much better that way, but I will say that I’m glad I didn’t really read into reviews before I read the book because although I’m sure they wouldn’t give away the ending to a mystery, it was better to be completely in the dark and really feel like I was in Anna’s shoes to get the maximum experience out of the book. Trust me — this is one you’ll want to go into as blind as possible because it makes everything that much more exciting and that much more surprising!

I can’t believe I had doubts after all of those amazing reviews and tweets raving about how everyone needs to read this book right now because they were all incredibly true! This is a book I’d recommend to just about anyone and it really was not only one of the best YA mysteries I’ve read but one of the best books this year. It was such a fantastic read so if you’re at all interested in mysteries, thrillers, or crime dramas (or just good books), pick this one up ASAP and like was suggested to me, make sure you have enough time to read this one straight through because you won’t want to put it down!

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“The View from Goodreads” is a new featured section in my reviews that I decided to incorporate! I tend to update my Goodreads status a LOT when I read — reactions, feelings, notes — so I thought it would be fun to share the sort of “reading process”! All status updates are spoiler-free (no specific plot points will be revealed) but will contain reactions to certain pages and/or characters!

Dangerous Girls - Abigal Haas

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Anna // Character Obsessions: Freedom, innocence, Elise, Tate. 
I felt so incredibly bad for Anna. I cannot even IMAGINE being accused of murdering my best friend, losing trust from my family and friends, and being locked up in a prison in a foreign country. I mean, OMG. That’s so incredibly scary. I admired her determination to really fight for her freedom. I really don’t know what I would do in that situation… Obviously I wouldn’t lie down and just take the blame and stay locked up in prison forever, but that’s a LONG HARD struggle and I don’t know how well I would hold up! There’s also so much more to her than meets the eye and it’s really interesting to read the whole book — flashbacks included — and see exactly how that shaped her life.
Tate // Character Obsessions: Fun, school, friends, a clean reputation.
Tate was the “golden boy” and also Anna’s boyfriend, but really he was just an average guy. Well, the average guy with rich parents who are grooming him to become a politician. Needless to say after this even and being involved in a murder scandal, he may not be running for office anymore. But Tate was all over the place for me — in a good way. I went from trusting him to being suspicious of him to being hurt by him to feeling sorry for him. His involvement in the story was so interesting! Another piece of the puzzle to really go back and just read the book all over again to know what you do and see how his past really affected everything that happened.

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Kept Me Hooked On: YA mysteries. THIS is the YA mystery you want to read. Or maybe don’t start with it because it will ruin you for all other books. Not even mysteries. Just other books in general. It was SO good and so well put together. THIS is what mysteries should be like, regardless of age.
Left Me Wanting More: Resolution. The reader does find out how everything ends, but I also wanted just the TINIEST bit more at the end. I understand what happened and why but after the reveal I just wanted a SMIDGE more detail to really sort of round it out.

Addiction Rating
Buy it. Read it. RIGHT NOW.

The fangirling about this book is absolutely accurate. I had a serious book hangover from the book. It sat in my head the rest of the day (and the day after) and I needed to just think about it for a while before I picked up anything else! You probably want to read this book ASAP. Do yourself that favor! So really… Go buy it… Right now.

book_recommendations1BOOKS LIKE DANGEROUS GIRLS

(Click the cover to see my review!)

       Shadowlands kate brian   Paper Valentine brenna yovanoff

Hi, I'm Brittany!
Hi, I'm Brittany!

I'm an avid reader, candle-maker, and audiobook lover! Here you'll find book reviews, fun blog posts, and my other loves of photography & craft beer!

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7 thoughts on “Dangerous Girls – Abigail Haas

  1. Estelle

    So pumped you gave this a shot & loved it. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT ONLY SOLD 400 COPIES? I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that. I’m tempted to buy a copy and add it into our end of the summer giveaway thingie.

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      And I have you to thank for it 😀 😀

      WAIT WAIT WAIT. It only sold 400 copies AT ALL? What in the… I honestly have some choice words to say about the publicity it was receiving (or rather NOT receiving) and I think it’s so, so sad that a book this good can go so unnoticed. I honestly feel like it is a TOTAL word of mouth book and I’m so sad that it didn’t pick up interest 🙁
      I’m REALLY glad they redid the cover for the paperback though because I just haaaaated the first cover. I feel so sad to say it but people really do judge by the cover. Even when I heard that it was so amazing, I was like, “That cover though…” So mad at some of these choices.

      Reply
  2. Kay

    YES! I loved your goodreads update while reading this one! I just finished reading this a little while ago and I loved it. Like you I told everyone in my review that they really just need to read the book. I think it is hard to find really good young adult mystery/thrillers but this one blew me away. I can’t wait to read Dangerous Boys!

    Reply
  3. Emily @ Books & Cleverness

    So glad that you enjoyed this one! I’ve seen this one around the blogosphere everywhere lately and I cannot wait to pick it up! I read and LOVED Shadowlands by Kate Brian, too, so I think I’ll definitely love this one! 🙂 Great review!

    Reply
  4. Kelsey

    I loved this book!! I finished it just the other week after another blogger recommended it and I’m so glad I did. I definitely think people should be reading it, and I’m glad you loved it so much 😀 I want my own copy of it now lol although the cover on my library copy was different than yours above.

    Reply
  5. Stormy

    This book really is everything I could want from a YA mystery/thriller–or any category mystery/thriller, really! I don’t normally enjoy mysteries because I find them predictable but this one was just all over the place in terms of my suspicion. I thought it did a really good job delving into all the nuances of the characters and how they all could have been the killer at times and then other times they just seemed like normal teenagers. I also really enjoyed the addition of the judicial processes and also how much of how a person is made to look innocent/guilty can be manufactured–like the TV interviews. It was just SO interesting and I never wanted to put it down while reading!

    Reply
  6. Wendy @ Book Scents

    So glad to see you loved this as well!! I could NOT put this down – I also read it straight through!!! My mind was racing with all the possibilities! Everthing was just so brilliant!! I loved the similarities to the Amanda Knox case – I’ve followed that case pretty closely just bc she was from UW and it happened at the same time that I was at UW. That case was EVERYWHERE. You’re totally right about just needing to be in the dark, i just want everyone to read this!!

    Reply

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