Review: Only the Good Die Young by Douglas Trueman

Title: Only the Good Die Young
Author: Douglas Trueman
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult
Publication date: July 26th 2014
Pages: 297 (ebook)
Source: Xpresso Book Tours







Rebecca Lockhart moved to Vancouver to start a new life. What she found felt more like the end.

Raised with Victorian values and classically trained as a pianist, seventeen-year-old Rebecca takes solace in the prose of Jane Austen and the music of Debussy. But when a virtuoso guitar player exposes her to the free spirit of rock and roll, Rebecca's outlook on the world begins to change. She dares to take risks her old self couldn't imagine.

Hallway rumors of her new behavior reach the high school office, and Rebecca comes face-to-face with vice-principal - Cahterine Lockhart, her mother. Desperate to remain in mom's good graces, she lies. Before she can blink, Rebecca is caught in a web of deceit that envelopes her entire life. If she reveals the truth, she and her mother will have to face an unspeakable secret from their past. If she doesn't, a fellow student could be sentenced to prison.

Only the Good Die Young is a coming-of-age story for the teenager in all of us, laced with the dry, deadpan humor of a shy girl struggling to find her way.

Goodreads

This is one of those hard books to rate. There were times that I thought this book is great but a minute later I was considering to put the book away. There were some things I just couldn’t get over. So in the end I settled for a 3.

Only the Good Die Young follows seventeen-year-old Rebecca. She just moved from Toronto to Vancouver mid semester in her senior year. Together with her mom she tries to escape and forget her past. But how long will it be until their past and their secrets catch up to them?

One of the things that I liked about this book was that the characters seemed real. When I look back to when I was in high school I remember all the troubles that seemed so big back then but are so small when you look back on it. I liked that the main characters learns something in this book, not only about herself but also about the people surrounding her.

But I didn’t like Rebecca at all. I know that she is going through a rough period but all the choices she made and the way she acted towards everyone, especially Kyle were so wrong. I really enjoyed Kyle, he is a great friend but unfortunately Rebecca can’t see it immediately. He had this sometimes annoying ability to come up with a song for every situation. Near the end of the book I finally found some respect for Rebecca. She finally made the right decision and it didn’t make up for all the mistakes she made in the past but it was a start in the right direction.

The book is well written and has a good pace. So while it wasn’t a perfect match for me I would still recommend it to other readers. It opened my eyes to certain subjects and it has potential to be a great book for others. 

El