12 December 2011

(ARC) YA Book Review: Still Waters by Emma Carlson Berne

Release Date: 20 December 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Format: ARC
Source: Around the World ARC Tours

Goodreads description:
Hannah can't wait to sneak off for a romantic weekend with her boyfriend, Colin. He’s leaving for college soon, and Hannah wants their trip to the lake house to be one they’ll never forget.

But once Hannah and Colin get there, things start to seem a bit...off. They can't find the town on any map. The house they are staying in looks as if someone's been living t...moreHannah can't wait to sneak off for a romantic weekend with her boyfriend, Colin. He’s leaving for college soon, and Hannah wants their trip to the lake house to be one they’ll never forget.

But once Hannah and Colin get there, things start to seem a bit...off. They can't find the town on any map. The house they are staying in looks as if someone's been living there, even though it's been deserted for years. And Colin doesn’t seem quite himself. As he grows more unstable, Hannah worries about Colin’s dark side, and her own safety.

Nothing is as perfect as it seems, and what lies beneath may haunt her forever.
My Thoughts...


I thought that the premise of Still Waters was really intriguing so I was excited to dive right into reading this one when it arrived in my PO box last week.  Maybe my expectations were too high or maybe I just wasn't in the right "mood" for this one, but it simply didn't quite live up to my expectations for the story.

Hannah and Colin are fairly typical teenagers.  Hannah lives with her single mom who works too many hours in order to support the family and her younger brother.  Colin lives with his slightly dysfunctional parents in a big house.  Hannah is a bit of a nerd and Colin is your typical golden-boy jock (except he's a lot sweeter than most jocks we read about).  Beyond that, I'm not sure that there's much I can really tell you about these characters. I didn't connect with them on a deeper level; they didn't really make me care any more about the story. (And characters are really important to me!!)  I didn't feel like the story gave them great depth and well-developed personalities.

As for the story itself, I have to be honest and say that it felt like not a lot happened.  I expected a lot more suspense and mystery throughout since this was such a short book, but I felt like the suspense didn't even really start to build until more than two-thirds of the way in and then there wasn't nearly enough time to develop the mystery.  I also would have liked to see a lot more done with the parents at the end and Colin and Hannah's questions about the past that were brought up.  They brushed it off like it was nothing and I truly thought there was going to be some discussion and unraveling of the mystery.

In the end, this was truly not a bad book, just a slightly underwhelming one.  I have nothing bad to say about the writing style itself and it was a fairly quick read.  It just wasn't the type of book that I was itching to finish quickly.  It had a lot of potential but fell flat for me.

Just because I didn't love this one doesn't mean you won't enjoy it! In case you're on the fence about this one, here are a couple of other reviews for it:

6 comments:

Heidi said...

Thanks for the honest review. I won't sign up for this on tour. Have a great week! I am super excited for your new blog!

Giselleco said...

Oh noes! I'm starting this one tonight and this is the second time I see someone not really liking it much. I hope I like it better but I won't get my hopes up.

Giselle
Xpresso Reads

Janiera Eldridge said...

I'm sad to see it wasn't good for you , i really wanted to read it. I'll still probably give it a shot, i just won't put too much stock in it.

Alexa Kalas said...

I also felt that this one fell a little flat. 

Jessica S, said...

I love reading honest reviews like this. I will probably still check it out and see how it is. Thanks for the balanced review! :)

Reflections of a Bookaholic said...

Underwhelming can be disappointing.  Love your honesty.  I love the cover though.

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