Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.
Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.
Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.
It's been a long time since I could honestly say I've read a satisfying book, and I am delighted to say that Golden has broken my streak of unfulfilling reads. It's been a while since I've read a purely "chick-lit" book (I think it was Sarah Dessen's Along for the Ride) and this was a great leap back into the genre.
Parker Frost was definitely a character I could relate to in terms of her small-town home, her relationship with her mother and her best friend, and her love and desire for the romantic, dreamy way of life to play out in reality. I felt that Parker was relatable in the way her thoughts work and her decision-making process.
Things That I Liked:
I really appreciated how the story remained focused on Parker's relationship with Julianna's journal, and the story of her relationships with her friend Kat and her crush Trevor were always back-burner plots.
I thought that it was really interesting how Parker's vision of Julianna's "local legend" status changed for Parker as she read the journal. I wasn't expecting the revelation in Julianna's journal, and I definitely wasn't expecting Parker to be able to actually solve a mystery no one in her town knew needed solving.
I liked that the expected conclusion for the Julianna-plot came, but in a way I wasn't anticipating, and I definitely didn't see Parker's personal "conclusion" coming as it did.
Things That I Didn't Like:
I think my one complaint for this story is the lack of view on Shane, Julianna's boyfriend, but ultimately this book was focused on Julianna, her journal, and what she wrote in it. There wasn't much involvement of Shane and his thoughts and feelings because they both weren't sharing the journal and Julianna can't read minds.
Overall Impression:
A great, easy, and entertaining read from a new-to-me author. I had very few issues with this novel, and I highly recommend it for a summer read!
Blonde Rating: 4.5/5
Amazon Rating: 4.4/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.2/5
I hope you'll pick up a copy of this book and enjoy it as much as I did,
Thanks!
The Blonde
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