Review: 17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma

17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma

Release Date: March 21^st, 2013

Number of Pages: 354

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

Source: NetGalley

GR - Amazon - BD - Chapters

Seventeen-year-old Lauren is having visions of girls who have gone missing. And all these girls have just one thing in common—they are 17 and gone without a trace. As Lauren struggles to shake these waking nightmares, impossible questions demand urgent answers: Why are the girls speaking to Lauren? How can she help them? And… is she next? As Lauren searches for clues, everything begins to unravel, and when a brush with death lands her in the hospital, a shocking truth emerges, changing everything.  

With complexity and richness, Nova Ren Suma serves up a beautiful, visual, fresh interpretation of what it means to be lost. 

When I read Invisible Girls by Nova Ren Suma, I wasn’t the biggest fan. With her newest book, she did manage to charm me to a certain extend, but she didn’t wow me. If there is one thing I really loved about this book, it is the creepy atmosphere. I did enjoy the psychological side of the story, and I did enjoy the writing, but I did not love this book. 17 & Gone is a character-driven novel, and this may be part of why I didn’t love this novel. I simply had trouble loving her story as much as I wished I could.

Lauren is a 17-years-old, who suddenly starts to be haunted by the ghosts of 17-years-old missing girls. The thing is, her story is also laced by the stories of all the missing girls, and this leaves us with only some superficial knowledge of who Lauren really is. She is so obsessed with the girls that we don’t learn that much about who she really is. We do get some knowledge of who she was through the few peeks we get into her past, her life before her visions. I did like learning to know about all those girls, but I needed to know more about the main character. At the same time, it was heartbreaking to see Lauren lose herself because of her visions and her obsession. She loses herself, she loses her boyfriend Jamie, and she loses her relationship with her mother to a certain extant. There is one of the missing girls we do get to learn a lot about, Fiona, and I found myself really enjoying learning about her. Lauren knew Fiona before she went missing. She was a really interesting character, and I found myself wishing I could get to know more about her.

Overall, 17 & Gone was a great read. It won’t make it to my favorites list, but I did enjoy it. Those who enjoyed Invisible Girls will likely enjoy this book, as those two books do share many qualities. The writing and the atmosphere were two of this novel’s greatest strength.

About the Author:

From GoodReads

Nova grew up in small towns across the Hudson Valley and can currently be found in New York City and online at her blog distraction no. 99.

Nova Ren Suma has an MFA in fiction from Columbia University and a BA in writing & photography from Antioch College, and has been awarded fiction fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Corporation of Yaddo, and, twice, from the MacDowell Colony. She has published short stories for adults in literary journals including Gulf Coast, LIT, Small Spiral Notebook, and more, and is the author of the tween novel Dani Noir (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin, 2009).

Her Website

Her Twitter

Review: Imaginary Girls

Title: Imaginary Girls

Author:Nova Ren Suma

Release Date: June 14^th, 2011

Series: None

Number of Pages: 346

Publisher: Dutton

Source: e-ARC from NetGalley + Bought copy

-

Chloe's older sister, Ruby, is the girl everyone looks to and longs for, who can't be captured or caged. When a night with Ruby's friends goes horribly wrong and Chloe discovers the dead body of her classmate London Hayes left floating in the reservoir, Chloe is sent away from town and away from Ruby.

But Ruby will do anything to get her sister back, and when Chloe returns to town two years later, deadly surprises await. 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.

With palpable drama and delicious craft, Nova Ren Suma bursts onto the YA scene with the story that everyone will be talking about.

-

The first thing that really made me want to read this book was the cover. The cover is gorgeous. It made me really curious. After reading the book, I understood the meaning of the cover. Yet, the book left me a little on the fence.

The thing is, that the story confused me by moment. There was thing that I wasn’t sure if I had really understood the meaning, or the reasons behind Chloe’s action. Still, I have to say that I wouldn’t want to live in that town. What a messed up place! Still, it’s probably more because of Ruby than anything else. The ending fitted really well and it didn’t disappoint me. I felt that it the best way to end it, so that I, as a reader, could be satisfied.

Some of the characters kind of freaked me out. Ruby, for example, is not someone I would really want to spend time with. Chloe, on the other hand, was a character that I really liked. I found myself hoping that she would be able to get stronger, so that she could get control over her life, but not in a bad way. It was more in the way a friend would hope that you could overcome everything. Some other characters I really dislike at first, but when I understood why they were that way, I found myself liking them more.

Now, the best part of the book if I’m really honest was the writing. I think it was beautifully written. I loved how her words can make you feel, make you believe and make you dream. I can’t wait to read more from her.

Overall, I liked it. It wasn’t love, even though I loved the writing, but I would be eager to read more from her. 3.5/5