Review: Cold Light by Jenn Ashworth

Cold Light by Jenn Ashworth

Publisher: William Morrow 

Pages: 352

Format: ARC 

Buy the Book: Amazon  

Goodreads:  I'm sitting on my couch, watching the local news. There's Chloe's parents, the mayor, the hangers on, all grouped round the pond for the ceremony. It's ten years since Chloe and Carl drowned, and they've finally chosen a memorial-a stupid summerhouse. The mayor has a spade decked out in pink and white ribbon, and he's started to dig.

You can tell from their faces that something has gone wrong. But I'm the one who knows straightaway that the mayor has found a body. And I know who it is.

This is the tale of two fourteen-year-old girls, best friends, and one terrible summer when lies, secrets, jealousy, and perversion ended in tragedy more tangled and evil than a tight-knit community can possibly believe.


Kritters Thoughts:  A dark dark book that deals with depression, death and bad relationships - a hard read because at times I just wanted to rescue this character from this world and deposit her into something with sunshines and rainbows.  Lola is surrounded by negative things from her home life to her school life to her personal life - the author paints this dark world for her to live in and try to survive.  With a little too much whine to her, I fell more in love to her quirky best friend Chloe who had her moments also.

This book spans quite a few years with some chapters taking place in the past before the death and despair while other chapters occur in the present with Lola and Emma trying to recover from their horrendous childhoods.  While in the past in school, Chloe, Lola, and Emma were an odd threesome.  It was hard to root for this friendship of three because they each were mean to each other in a way.  One of the other things that kept me perplexed was the writing of the parents - the parents that were described were only partially involved in their children's lives and didn't seem real to me at all, they were also quite unloveable.  

I would not recommend this one to the reader who doesn't like a dark book, there is no breath of fresh air in this book.  But for the reader who enjoys a dark character in a dark world - this book did not drag, but instead the drama kept unfolding piece by piece.

Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

tour schedule: 

Tuesday, October 16th: My Book Retreat

Wednesday, October 17th: Stiletto Storytime

Thursday, October 18th: The Book Bag

Monday, October 22nd: Peeking Between the Pages

Tuesday, October 23rd: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Wednesday, October 24th: Twisting the Lens

Thursday, October 25th: Kritters Ramblings

Monday, October 29th: As I turn the pages

Tuesday, October 30th: Sweet Southern Home

Wednesday, October 31st: Book Hooked Blog

Thursday, November 1st: A Soul Unsung