Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Purchase: Amazon
Synopsis via Goodreads:
Best friends Corey and Kyra were inseparable in their snow-covered town of Lost Creek, Alaska. When Corey moves away, she makes Kyra promise to stay strong during the long, dark winter, and wait for her return.
Just days before Corey is to return home to visit, Kyra dies. Corey is devastated―and confused. The entire Lost community speaks in hushed tones about the town's lost daughter, saying her death was meant to be. And they push Corey away like she's a stranger.
Corey knows something is wrong. With every hour, her suspicion grows. Lost is keeping secrets―chilling secrets. But piecing together the truth about what happened to her best friend may prove as difficult as lighting the sky in an Alaskan winter...
*Publisher approved request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I'm still a bit iffy about this novel. I didn't really connect with the main character and was often confused by the story, but I did like the setting and the subject of mental illness and how it is viewed in this small and eerie community. But while the writing is good, it came off somewhat poetic in dialogues and I found myself constantly wondering why these people are talking like this and how it doesn't really fit the time in which the story is set. Unless it's just me and this is how people speak in Alaska?
It's just a strange story, which I'm often drawn to, but with this one I feel like it could have been so much more. Whenever the atmosphere got tense, it would fizzle with not much resolve, and in the end it seems as though Corey left Lost Creek as confused as the moment she returned. I would have loved for something to happen, some kind of change or awakening in this crazy community, but I guess every story can't end like that. Still, I wish there was...more.
To conclude, Before I Let Go is certainly dark and intense and has an interesting premise. And while it didn't completely work for me, maybe I just didn't get the intention of the story and you might enjoy it more. So I still recommend giving it a read.
