e-ARC, 368 pages
Release Date: June 25, 2024
Published by: Balzer + Bray
Read from: June 4-20, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this e-ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Gun Violence, Physical abuse, Abortion
For Readers Interested In: Realistic Fiction, Legal Thrillers, Mysteries, Contemporary, Epistolary, YAA raw, gripping, authentic, and boldly original novel about a fifteen-year-old Texas girl set to stand trial for murder—and the one person who might be able to help her clear her name. A wealthy businessman is dead, and fifteen-year-old Ruby Monroe is in a Dallas jail awaiting trial for his murder. Ruby has no one she can count on—no one, except her state-appointed caseworker, a woman named Cadence Ware. In Ruby’s experience, that’s not anyone she can trust. Cadence is familiar with the cold reality of Ruby’s situation, even before she was arrested. Angry and alone, homeless and hungry, breaking the law just to survive, Ruby is the kind of girl no one wants to listen to, especially not the prosecutor who wants to put her away for life. But no one knows the story—the real story—of what happened the day Ruby met the man who would end up dead. As the layers of truth are peeled away and time is running out, Ruby and Cadence will both have desperate choices to make—choices that could mean the difference between Ruby spending her life in prison or her name being cleared. Told through a collection of letters, meeting notes, news articles, court transcripts, and more, Girls Like Her is a riveting and unflinching tale of the truths so often lost in the American justice system, and one girl’s fight to be heard.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was such an interesting book. It’s been a long time since I’ve read an epistolary book that was about something like this. Usually it’s all text messages or DMs, so this was enjoyable. But it was so much heavier than I thought it would be.
Ok so I hadn’t heard about this book until I was at TLA earlier this year. It wasn’t one that they were putting much marketing behind, so of course it was one that I was most excited about. The main character is incarcerated and awaiting trial for murder. But her story is of course, not as simple as it seems.
I know this might be weird, but I think what I liked most about this was the short chapters and the short like trial excerpts throughout the book. And each one ends on something like a cliff hanger or has like a bomb shell ending. It was very hard for me to stop reading at night because I wanted to keep going. It was so good and that format kept me hooked.
This is another one where we get all her information at the end of the story. But the beginning was a little different. Because it had something to work toward, it was ok. The only reason it didn’t necessarily work, was the repetitiveness. She spent the entire book acting like she didn’t need help or want it and she wasn’t listening to anyone, and it was the same way in scene after scene. And that got annoying. I think it would have been better had they showed some of her time in her cell or something other than all the fights she got in being recounted. Idk, I just got bored the more repetitive it got.
The ending was like a bit of a bombshell. I don’t want to say anything to give anything away, but I thought it was badass. I really wish I could shake all of their hands. Because that was excellent work. AND I just want to add on that this is yet another book where I hated every adult in it. What is it with y’all that don’t watch or talk to your kids? Why have them if you’re going to treat them like this? I know her mom’s excuse, but geez. To not even try now? To sell her out for a shorter sentence?! Gross
This was a hell of a book. I don’t want to say much because this is a slow moving legal thriller that will have you trying to guess the plot twist from the very beginning. But even though it’s so good, it is also filled to the brim with content warnings Please be mindful of them when reading.
Overall, I give this
