Review: The Shadow Girl

The Shadow Girl

Author: Jennifer Archer
Pages: 336
Publisher: Harper Teen
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
Sometimes I forget for an hour or two that she's with me. Sometimes I convince myself that she was only a dream. Or that I'm crazy.

For as long as Lily Winston can remember, she has never been alone. Iris, a shadowy figure who mimics Lily's movements and whispers in her ear, is with her always—but invisible to the rest of the world. Iris is Lily's secret.

But when Lily's father is killed in a tragic accident, his cryptic final words suggest that he and Lily's mother have been keeping secrets of their own. Suddenly, Iris begins pushing Lily more than ever, possessing her thoughts and urging her to put together the pieces of a strange puzzle her father left behind. As she searches for answers, Lily finds herself drawn to Ty Collier, a mysterious new boy in town. Together, Lily and Ty must untangle a web of deception to discover the truth about her family, Iris . . . and Lily's own identity.

First Sentence: "Ty Collier shivered as he paused in front of the Daily Grind coffee shop to wipe his boots on the mat beside the door."

Review:
Though The Shadow Girl has a potentially hard-hitting premise, the end result doesn't really wow. I feel like I probably should have disliked this, but I didn't really; instead I feel largely ambivalent towards it. I've got a fair amount of criticisms to deliver, but, overall, this was a nice easy read, and wasn't a struggle to get through.

On the plus side, there's the concept of Lily having this other person in her brain, Iris. At the beginning the reader doesn't know why Iris is in her head or if Iris is a sign of Lily's insanity, but the idea is still a compelling one. Such concepts appear fairly frequently in YA, I think because there's something about the idea of hearing voices, whether real or imagined that calls to the human imagination. Do we all inherently both fear and desire such a voice? Also, given the popularity of the themes covered, I do think Archer considers them in a slightly different way, a less harried, action-packed way, that is refreshing. Though The Shadow Girl does briefly appear to be heading for a climactic showdown, there's really nothing of that sort here; it's a mental journey for Lily, and that's it.

Sadly, I figured out what was going on early on in the book, and I do not think I was especially clever to have done so. In fact, I think that the 'twist' is glaringly obvious. Lily does not really think there's anything weird about some of the facts she's uncovering when they should have been setting off immediate warning bells. Archer implies that this is because Lily doesn't want to believe what's going on, but that's a bit far-fetched for a girl as well-educated as Lily.

Perhaps my favorite part involves the Stradivarius violin that Lily locates in the garage in the wake of her father's death. Now, I can't delve into this because of spoilers, but I'll do my best. Archer weaves the power of music into her story, and I just love the idea she puts forth. I would have liked to see her do more with that, since it takes a backseat to the investigation plot line, which, again, was heading for a super obvious conclusion.

Otherwise, all that's really going on in this book is romance, which is pretty unfortunate. There is yet another love triangle, and there's instalove, or at least insta-serious-feelings. As ever, the two players for Lily's affections are her best friend Wyatt and the mysterious newcomer Ty. Lily is torn between the two, finding both physically attractive, nice, and eminently kissable. Now, on the one hand, I don't have a big issue with her being torn between the two guys; she's not made a commitment to either one, and she's welcome to make out with whoever she wants to. However, she's a total dick to her best friend in the process. While she's not unfair to Wyatt as a dating prospect, she's a horrid friend, and never fully apologizes for that.

Further, Lily's crush on Ty boggles my mind. She essentially discovers that he's been stalking her family for reasons that are basically insane. Lily, however, is totally okay with this and still deems him totally datable. Even better, having stalked her and lied to her makes him a great candidate for a road trip buddy. Apparently, attending Columbia makes you totally respectable no matter what the circumstances. In real life, this would have ended with her death, as would that whole thing with Jake. This girl has NO survival skills at all. Well, actually, she does have one that puts her above most YA heroines, the ability to realize when she's holding her breath.

Then there's Lily's relationship with her mother, or lack of relationship. Even though it's obvious all of the information is coming out, the mom freaking refuses to say a single thing to Lily about what exactly is going on. This pushes Lily to ask other people. Why was the mother so against explaining? Why did she cave so easily once Lily left? Was her daughter driving across country with a possible serial killer really the only catalyst to push her to admit she has a problem and get over herself?

I realize that based on this review, it sounds like The Shadow Girl should have a lower rating, but I honestly didn't dislike it. Nor did I exactly like it. Meh.

Rating: 2.5/5

Favorite Quote: "I exhale the breath I've been holding."