Mundie Moms

Friday, June 29, 2018

THE OPPOSITE OF HERE by Tara Altebrando / Book Review #TheOppositeofHere



By: Tara Altebrando
Published by: Bloomsbury YA
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository
Add to Goodreads
Source: Borrowed from library

There's no hiding on a cruise ship-not even from yourself.

Natalie's parents are taking her and her three best friends on a cruise for her seventeenth birthday. A sail-a-bration, they call it. But it's only been a few short months since Natalie's boyfriend died in a tragic accident, and she wants to be anywhere but here.


Then she meets a guy on the first night and sparks fly. After a moonlit conversation on a secluded deck of the ship, Natalie pops down to her cabin to get her swimsuit so they can go for a dip. But when she returns, he's gone. Something he said makes her think he might have . . . jumped? No, he couldn't have.


But why do her friends think she's crazy for wanting to make sure he's okay? Also, why do they seem to be hiding something from her? And how can she find him when she doesn't even know his name? Most importantly, why is the captain on the intercom announcing the urgent need for a headcount?


With her signature thrilling storytelling, the author of The Leaving and The Possible explores our vulnerability to the power of suggestion-and the lies we tell others and ourselves-in a twisting, Hitchcock-inspired mystery with high stakes and dark secrets.


I think that, maybe, this is the summer of thrillers for me. I'm finally getting into a genre that's so very popular these days. I know, I know, it's about time. But, you see what I don't like about thrillers is the whole twisty plot thing that has to happen. I usually see these plot twists a mile away and then, I, frankly, get bored.

That wasn't the case with The Opposite of Here. I've seen it hauled on instagram and BookTube, but I haven't seen a review of it, yet, which is good, because I knew zero about the plot. I'll admit the premise seemed a little far-fetched. A dead boyfriend causes parents to take their daughter and her friends on a birthday cruise. Oooooookay. For my own teens, who probably aren't reading this, ummm, this will never happen. Just sayin'. But, I jumped (forgive the pun) past this premise, and began to read a story about a girl, who was still grieving and very reluctant to move on form her last, tragic relationship. But, was that relationship all that she thought it was? Hold that thought, MMs (and yes, I'm going to write this with NO SPOILERS).

Tara introduces a stranger on the ship the exact way that Alfred Hitchcock would -- you just meet him and there's a fascinating conversation, but then, poof, he's gone. I loved the atmospheric way Tara presented this moment, and she continued to write a plot filled with suspense that just creeps up until it envelops everything, and you begin to trust no one. It even features a classic Hitchcock plot device, a MacGuffin, with its use of the headcount to drive the plot forward. I'll admit that I completely loved that.

This story surprised me with it's tricky plot (I even thought for a moment it was going to go the way of We Were Liars by e lockhart). I really enjoyed it, and I will definitely pick up more of Tara's stories. This one is definitely beach bag-worthy.

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