Summary and Thoughts: Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls

Spoiler Free Summary:

The novel follows June, a high school aged girl, through coping with the loss of her (former) best friend through suicide. June is persistent in the belief that there is something else to uncover and she hunts in the past and the present for answers. Not much more can be said without spoiling some major plot events.

The novel is told through multiple perspectives (mainly focusing on June's however) and includes flashbacks to anywhere from a few months to five years ago. The young adult fiction piece contains just enough mystery and thriller to keep the reader engaged and make this a very quick read. The author, Lynn Weingarten, has a fantastic ability to place you into the character's mind and creates a very unique voice for each character. Weingarten is not afraid to surprise the reader with some plot twists.

Spoiler Full Summary:

On her mission to find the truth behind Delia's suicide, June discovers much more then she bargained for. June hunts through an entire side of her best friend she hadn't realized existed. June's boyfriend Ryan suddenly doesn't seem so honest and perfect anymore as he appeared to be having an affair with Delia before her death. New friends of Delia are found and a trail is illuminated. With the help of Delia's boyfriend, Jeremiah, June comes very close to discovering the truth behind Delia's suicide. Before she can piece it all together herself, June is abducted by none other than the deceased Delia herself.

In a shocking reveal June discovers that Delia, with the help of her new family (Sebastian, Evan and Ashling) Delia had forged her death in order to start a new life, free of her stepfather. Delia confides in June how when her stepfather had attempted to rape her it had been the final straw. Delia (and Company) send June away again with a mission to persuade Jeremiah and the other people June had alarmed in her quest to find the truth that the truth was Delia had committed suicide. She only half succeeds, causing Delia to get her hands a little dirty. Delia is dead set on protecting June and keeping her close. Delia goes as far as to release fake tweets from June's ex-boyfriend making it seem as if he was into some very weird porn videos.

The next mission on Delia's list is her stepfather; to exact revenge and protect her future little sister/brother from him. June, believing this is a worthy cause, assists in any way she can. From slipping drugs in his coke to hiding some in his car the plan seems straightforward- make it appear as though Delia's stepfather was on drugs to ruin his reputation as a surgeon and possibly send him to jail. June feels whole again, with Delia and this new family of misfits (all hailing from situations similar to Delia's) and starts hitting it off with Sebastian. Then, in the final installment of Delia's plan for her stepfather June begins to have second thoughts. Delia is prepared to kill him and when June protests Delia reminds her that he mistreated her, he might do it again and June caves. June then returns to her own home, as unappealing and disjointed as it may be, to collect herself. It is there where she learns that Jeremiah had been in a fatal car accident. The pieces fall too perfectly together for June's liking. Delia had killed him too. Freaked out, and hoping she was wrong June goes to confront Delia about the situation. When Delia fails to deny it June knows the truth. Delia's stepfather had not attempted to rape her (at least not in the way she had described) and Delia had killed both him and Jeremiah.

The novel ends with a suicide note from June saying she had lost her best friend when Delia 'killed' herself and now the only way to be reunited and to find heaven is to be together.

Thoughts:

I had pretty middle ground expectations for this book seeing as that it is not the usual read I pick up and I had been having some trouble sticking with a book recently. It blew me away. I was instantly hooked. The author's style of placing you with June was well executed and the short chapters helped me blow through it. Then.... Delia came back to life. Now, this is very opinionated but I did not like her. Her character was fine and filled the role that was needed but as a person I was not pleased. So any time the book switched to her perspective I became a little more annoyed. Delia was always paired with the worst aspects of the book, drugs, alcohol (which there were a lot of) and death. She seemed too rash and crazy for my liking. Staging an elaborate death seemed far too extreme for what the situation called for, but whatever. By the time I reached the 200's (page wise) I was just ready for the book to be over. I am incredibly glad I hung on. The very last page turned my opinion around again. Another startling plot twist reminded me how much I loved June. My heart shattered for her. The author had managed to make me rethink everything I had read. It was once again a mind-blowingly amazing book.

In some final notes I love this cover and definitely will be adding some more Weingarten to my reading list. I would rate this a 4 star book. The writing was amazing and I loved the main character- just the plot twists through me through one too many loops. Please let me know if you agreed with how I felt or if I left something important out.