Summary from Goodreads
From award-winning actress Bailee Madison and Reader’s Choice Award Finalist Stefne Miller, comes Losing Brave. More than a year has passed since seventeen-year-old Payton Brave’s twin sister went missing; and Payton, in her desperate attempt to hold on to what’s left of Dylan’s memory, is starting to crack.
Lost in the mystery and turmoil of her sister’s disappearance, Payton must overcome the aftermath of being the one left behind. She’s unable to remember even the smallest piece of what happened the day Dylan vanished. When sudden and reckless outbursts throw her from the graces of popularity to the outskirts of high school society, her new status attracts a crowd of friends she never anticipated—including a troubling romance with her sister’s boyfriend, Cole.
New clues unearth about the circumstances of her disappearance when another missing girl’s body is recovered from a nearby lake, the victim’s features eerily similar to Dylan’s. The more Payton pries open the clenches of her blocked memories, yielding to her need to know what happened, the further down the path of danger she goes. The darkness around her sister’s disappearance grows and the truth becomes more and more unbearable. And what she finds might just cost her her life.
My Thoughts
Yet another audio book for me, this one was a little confusing to listen to because at the beginning of each chapter it says the day, year, and time of when that chapter took place. AND if you happen to be in the middle of a workout, you may miss the year and then you’d be confused. I did end up reading the last few chapters from an ebook to help with my confusion.
This book is set in the South in a small town where everyone knows everyone, so when one of the Brave (that’s the last name of the main character’s family) girls goes missing, everyone knows.
The idea behind this story is really good. The writing, on the other hand, needed some help. Perhaps it was done on purpose to make the reader more in tune with Payton who is basically having a mental breakdown as she tries to remember what happened the day her sister went missing. But as a reader, I found myself confused a lot and having to reread (or relisten) to sections to figure out what I was missing.
Overall, I enjoyed the story, and it wasn’t like anything I had read before, so I always appreciate that. I just wish the writing would have been better. This book was on the list for the 50 possible Trumans for 2020-2021, but it didn’t make the cut to the list of 22.
Michelle Reads & Writes 