Review: Golden Jessi Kirby

Where I got it: Library
Rating: 3.5 stars  
Cover Rating: 4 stars (It's fitting and a bit more elaborate than just a plain picture, so I approve.)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: May 14, 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Page Count: 278 p.
Add it: Goodreads

Parker is a good girl and has always had her life mapped out for her. She leads a safe--if boring--life and doesn't cause her mother any grief. But then she finds something, something that causes her to break out of her good girl mold a little. She finds the journal of a girl who died ten years ago and she takes it to read it. She just wants to know more about the girl who was half of the Golden Couple of Summit Lakes High. What she finds out is more then she bargained for, and Parker wonders if there could be even more to the story that isn't contained on those lined pages. With the help of her best friend and a boy she has a crush on Parker might finally start living her one wild and precious life.

I really enjoyed this novel. The mystery wasn't too hard to figure out, but it was a little different than I first suspected. There were enough twists to make me not lose interest. I fell like Parker is the slowest reader in the world though. Unless we didn't see everything she read. I feel like what we saw was like an hours worth of reading. I was dying for her to get a move on and finish reading it.

Parker was a really good girl and so it's surprising to see who her best friend and crush were. They certainly didn't seem like the top of the class types. I guess it's a case of different people gravitating towards each other.

I really enjoyed the journey in this novel. Parker's and the physical one. Parker comes a long way by the end of the book and to think that if she hadn't found that journal it may never have happened is astonishing. Such small moments can change the course of life so dramatically.

Definitely check this one out if your looking for a gentle mystery that isn't full of murder and mayhem. It was a great story.

First Line:
"Life is made of moments."

Favorite Line:
"He sat on the log next to me, dripping ice cold water, bare skin covered with goosebumps, and the biggest smile on his face."