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nannykaren's review against another edition
5.0
I'm so broken hearted right now! The Girl Who Never Came Home really moved me. It's told by everyone involved's perspective from the teacher in charge to the girls family and friends.
I think a lot can be learned from this story. Bullying can happen to anyone by anyone. I also think, that in this world of social media, bullying happens even more. Everyone needs to be able to speak out about being bullied and expect to be believed. More should be done to deter bullies and we should all foster the "in a world were you can be anything, BE KIND"
I think a lot can be learned from this story. Bullying can happen to anyone by anyone. I also think, that in this world of social media, bullying happens even more. Everyone needs to be able to speak out about being bullied and expect to be believed. More should be done to deter bullies and we should all foster the "in a world were you can be anything, BE KIND"
markreadsbooks_sg's review against another edition
4.0
I got, The Girl Who Never Came Home, by Nicole Trope, from NetGally for a fair and honest review.
The Girl Who Never Came Home is an emotional story of what happens when a young girl is found dead, after going missing from a school camp.
This is a novel that works on a number of different levels, form a simple mystery of what happened to the young girl, in addition to those who remain how individuals deal with grief.
The Grief in the book takes many forms not only the grief of the close family members of the young girl, but of friends and people who were involved on the school trip. It also examines how we can still be affected by the death of a loved one, can have repercussions many years into the future.
The book is written through the views of a number of people from, he mother Lydia, her sister Jessia as well as a friend and the teacher who was in charge of the school trip. Each person has their own chapter which means you know when the perspective changes.
However a weakness of the story is the changing perspective, as when they changed sometimes it was difficult to work out the relationship, with Zoe at the start of the book, even though the chapters had the persons name at the start, it would have been nice if it had the relationship to zoe, as well as the name.
One of the advantages of the way the book was laid out, was the way that it enhanced the mystery, as each person gradually revealed their connection with the causes of Zoe’s death and how they feel guilty about what they could have done differently.
Who would I recommend this book for? As well as people who like novels that are based on relationships and how our actions can have an affect on individuals, when added to the action of others. In addition it is for every parent to realize, even though we think that our children tell us everything, even though we never did it ourselves as children.
If any of the above are tropes you enjoy in a book or you just like having a puzzle to solve then you should read Nicole Trope’s latest book The Girl Who Never Came Home.
The Girl Who Never Came Home is an emotional story of what happens when a young girl is found dead, after going missing from a school camp.
This is a novel that works on a number of different levels, form a simple mystery of what happened to the young girl, in addition to those who remain how individuals deal with grief.
The Grief in the book takes many forms not only the grief of the close family members of the young girl, but of friends and people who were involved on the school trip. It also examines how we can still be affected by the death of a loved one, can have repercussions many years into the future.
The book is written through the views of a number of people from, he mother Lydia, her sister Jessia as well as a friend and the teacher who was in charge of the school trip. Each person has their own chapter which means you know when the perspective changes.
However a weakness of the story is the changing perspective, as when they changed sometimes it was difficult to work out the relationship, with Zoe at the start of the book, even though the chapters had the persons name at the start, it would have been nice if it had the relationship to zoe, as well as the name.
One of the advantages of the way the book was laid out, was the way that it enhanced the mystery, as each person gradually revealed their connection with the causes of Zoe’s death and how they feel guilty about what they could have done differently.
Who would I recommend this book for? As well as people who like novels that are based on relationships and how our actions can have an affect on individuals, when added to the action of others. In addition it is for every parent to realize, even though we think that our children tell us everything, even though we never did it ourselves as children.
If any of the above are tropes you enjoy in a book or you just like having a puzzle to solve then you should read Nicole Trope’s latest book The Girl Who Never Came Home.
catreader18's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. It focuses on a sixteen year old girl, Zoe, who goes missing at a school camp. They find her body a few days later and everyone is devastated. How could a young girl die on a school trip? The answer has an impact on everyone. What really happened to Zoe?
This story is told from many characters point of view and the chapters name the person narrating that chapter. I loved this, especially at the beginning when I was learning everyone. The story is very complex because there are so many people involved but no so complex that it’s hard to follow. I can’t wait to read more books by this author!
This story is told from many characters point of view and the chapters name the person narrating that chapter. I loved this, especially at the beginning when I was learning everyone. The story is very complex because there are so many people involved but no so complex that it’s hard to follow. I can’t wait to read more books by this author!
melaniesreads's review against another edition
4.0
I love a book that starts with a body, unfortunately this body is Zoe’s. Found by a member of the search party after she went missing from a cabin on a school camping trip.
We then learn of the impression Zoe formed on all the characters, which in turn gives a different view to the popular girl she seemed to be. Think of the plastics in Mean girls, seemingly sweet and charming but with a hidden cruelty towards others. As each character narrates you get the feeling they aren’t being completely truthful and that many secrets are at play.
Bullying is far from new and as a parent it is one of the most complicated issues to deal with, especially to discover your child was the bully. Nowadays with social media involvement it is a constant torment and added peer pressure makes the people who standby and do nothing as bad as the bully themselves.
My youngest daughter is the same age as Zoe and I thought that would make me connect with her mother Lydia but I started to get angry with her blame of others. As a parent it is your job/duty to raise your child to know right from wrong. Bullying is wrong and Zoe was a spoilt brat, no excuses. However the fact that this book provoked such strong emotions towards the characters was down to the pure quality of characterisation. Like life nothing is just black or white and although Zoe is a bully she is also loved. That is the pure heartbreak of this book.
This is a great whodunnit with layers of mystery and an emotional core.
We then learn of the impression Zoe formed on all the characters, which in turn gives a different view to the popular girl she seemed to be. Think of the plastics in Mean girls, seemingly sweet and charming but with a hidden cruelty towards others. As each character narrates you get the feeling they aren’t being completely truthful and that many secrets are at play.
Bullying is far from new and as a parent it is one of the most complicated issues to deal with, especially to discover your child was the bully. Nowadays with social media involvement it is a constant torment and added peer pressure makes the people who standby and do nothing as bad as the bully themselves.
My youngest daughter is the same age as Zoe and I thought that would make me connect with her mother Lydia but I started to get angry with her blame of others. As a parent it is your job/duty to raise your child to know right from wrong. Bullying is wrong and Zoe was a spoilt brat, no excuses. However the fact that this book provoked such strong emotions towards the characters was down to the pure quality of characterisation. Like life nothing is just black or white and although Zoe is a bully she is also loved. That is the pure heartbreak of this book.
This is a great whodunnit with layers of mystery and an emotional core.
shelleyrae's review against another edition
4.0
“Zoe was sixteen. Zoe was beautiful, precocious, flirtatious, clever, funny, angry, defiant. Zoe was her baby and her baby is gone.”
It takes them twenty three hours to find the body of sixteen year old Zoe Bloom at the base of a small cliff, just metres from the edge of the school camp site she had been attending in the Blue Mountains. Her mother, Lydia, is devastated, and puzzled, and angry, desperate to know why her precious daughter won’t be coming home.
Unfolding from multiple perspectives The Girl Who Never Came Home is a heart rending, poignant drama about grief, secrets, betrayal, guilt and love.
Lydia is immediately a sympathetic character, the loss of a child is every parents worst nightmare, and Trope’s portrayal of a grieving mother’s volatile emotional state feels authentic. Having already lost her daughters father to cancer, this tragedy is almost more than Lydia can bear, and her grief is compounded by the questions that surround Zoe’s death.
Like most sixteen year olds Zoe was neither all one thing, nor the other - though often thought of as lively, bright, and charming, she could also be rebellious, selfish, petty, and mean-spirited. As the police investigate her untimely death they must consider all the possibilities- could it be suicide, and accident or murder?
In the aftermath, Zoe’s sister, Jessie; her best friends, Shayna and Becca; the teachers supervising the camp, Bernadette and Paula, among others, are forced to examine their conscience. Trope’s portrayal of each distinct character is convincing, and as each considers what role, if any, they played in Zoe’s demise, secrets are revealed, edging the reader closer to discovering the truth.
Trope thoughtfully touches on issues common in adolescence including friendship, bullying, eating disorders, dating, risk-taking and the use of social media, but it’s the often mercurial and complicated relationships between mothers and daughters that are in focus. With the revelations that come after Zoe’s death, Lydia can’t help but wonder if she knew her daughter at all, a feeling exacerbated when she learns that Jessie too has been keeping secrets.
The Girl Who Never Came Home is an emotional, suspenseful, and compulsive read. I think it would particularly be an excellent choice for a mother-daughter book club, sure to provoke much discussion.
It takes them twenty three hours to find the body of sixteen year old Zoe Bloom at the base of a small cliff, just metres from the edge of the school camp site she had been attending in the Blue Mountains. Her mother, Lydia, is devastated, and puzzled, and angry, desperate to know why her precious daughter won’t be coming home.
Unfolding from multiple perspectives The Girl Who Never Came Home is a heart rending, poignant drama about grief, secrets, betrayal, guilt and love.
Lydia is immediately a sympathetic character, the loss of a child is every parents worst nightmare, and Trope’s portrayal of a grieving mother’s volatile emotional state feels authentic. Having already lost her daughters father to cancer, this tragedy is almost more than Lydia can bear, and her grief is compounded by the questions that surround Zoe’s death.
Like most sixteen year olds Zoe was neither all one thing, nor the other - though often thought of as lively, bright, and charming, she could also be rebellious, selfish, petty, and mean-spirited. As the police investigate her untimely death they must consider all the possibilities- could it be suicide, and accident or murder?
In the aftermath, Zoe’s sister, Jessie; her best friends, Shayna and Becca; the teachers supervising the camp, Bernadette and Paula, among others, are forced to examine their conscience. Trope’s portrayal of each distinct character is convincing, and as each considers what role, if any, they played in Zoe’s demise, secrets are revealed, edging the reader closer to discovering the truth.
Trope thoughtfully touches on issues common in adolescence including friendship, bullying, eating disorders, dating, risk-taking and the use of social media, but it’s the often mercurial and complicated relationships between mothers and daughters that are in focus. With the revelations that come after Zoe’s death, Lydia can’t help but wonder if she knew her daughter at all, a feeling exacerbated when she learns that Jessie too has been keeping secrets.
The Girl Who Never Came Home is an emotional, suspenseful, and compulsive read. I think it would particularly be an excellent choice for a mother-daughter book club, sure to provoke much discussion.
robinlovesreading's review against another edition
4.0
Lydia is determined to find out why her teenage daughter disappeared at a camping trip, especially due to the fact that her body was found after an extensive search. How could the school's organizers let a teen leave the campsite, and who is responsible for her daughter's death? Lydia wants answers and will not stop until she unravels things.
As things begin to unfold in this thrilling book, Lydia's search for answers come with heartbreak. There were things about her daughter Zoe, things that she was unaware of until her untimely death. I love that this book grabbed my attention early on, especially as twists and turns change the course of Lydia's thinking and emotions, leaving her even more bereft.
The way this story is told - Lydia's search for answers, and events leading up to Zoe's death - made this book very intriguing, and most certainly, quite sad. As a mother and a grandmother, it hurt to put myself in Lydia's shoes, so I credit Nicole Trope for the emotional devastation I felt while reading.
When I read I want to feel connected, and that is what this book did. While greatly saddened over Zoe's death, especially as things about her slowly came to light, my heart was with Lydia the entire time. This is my third book by this author, and just like the previous two books I read by her, this one was an excellent read.
Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.
As things begin to unfold in this thrilling book, Lydia's search for answers come with heartbreak. There were things about her daughter Zoe, things that she was unaware of until her untimely death. I love that this book grabbed my attention early on, especially as twists and turns change the course of Lydia's thinking and emotions, leaving her even more bereft.
The way this story is told - Lydia's search for answers, and events leading up to Zoe's death - made this book very intriguing, and most certainly, quite sad. As a mother and a grandmother, it hurt to put myself in Lydia's shoes, so I credit Nicole Trope for the emotional devastation I felt while reading.
When I read I want to feel connected, and that is what this book did. While greatly saddened over Zoe's death, especially as things about her slowly came to light, my heart was with Lydia the entire time. This is my third book by this author, and just like the previous two books I read by her, this one was an excellent read.
Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.
amberrose94's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
corinne82's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The story is told from several characters points of view which I felt added to the story and gave you a real feel for each of the characters. A lot of them were very unlikeable and I didn’t really care for any of them. The storyline itself was slow paced and a little predictable. I had it worked out from early on. There were a few twists along the way but the final reveal was a bit of a let down. I did like the authors style of writing and the progression through the plot with the text format helped the story along but all in all the storyline itself wasn’t as engaging as I thought it would be.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this ARC that was published on the 4th of Nov 2020.
ajane13's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
adrianab's review
4.0
This book was predictable but, I liked it. Zoe, a teenager is missing from a school camp, and soon she is found dead. So many secrets in this story. I liked Lydia, Zoe's mom, a strong lady even after she went through so many things.
Thank you Netgalley for this book.
Thank you Netgalley for this book.
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