Book Review: This is W.A.R. - Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile

Media Type: Ebook (ARC)
Title: This is W.A.R.
Author: Lisa Roecker & Laura Roecker
Publisher: Soho Teen
Pages: Kindle; 288
Release Date: July 2, 2013
Source: Edelweiss
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Content Screening: Mild Violence; Mild Language

HDB Rating: 4 Keys to My Heart

Recommended to: Readers who love thrillers with strong female characters.

Add it on: Goodreads / Shelfari / Amazon / B&N

At Hawthorne Lake Country Club your trust fund can’t buy you happiness, but if it’s big enough, it almost always buys innocence. When Willa Ames-Rowan drowns in Hawthorne Lake everyone who’s anyone knows James Gregory is the one who killed her. But no one will ever say a word. Enter The W.A.R. Four girls, four motives to avenge Willa’s death, and only one rule: Destroy the Gregory brothers at any cost. The girls pool their trust funds and devise a series of elaborate pranks to deliver their own particular brand of vigilante justice. Innocence is lost, battles are won, but it’s the truth about what really happened that night that stands to destroy them all.

My reasons for requesting this book were two-fold. One, Soho Teen has amazing titles and two, the premise sounded so deliciously creepy. A country club that covers up lies? Definitely sounds like the perfect place for a thrilling mystery! Luckily, This is W.A.R. dove right into the mystery of Willa’s death. I found myself anxious to figure out why Willa died, and who the culprit was. I was hooked, and you couldn’t have stopped me from finishing if you’d tried.

The characters were really what made this story so much fun for me. Each had their own unique personality that really contributed to this vigilante battle. We have Lina, who is bold and brutally honest, Sloane who is lost, Madge who is bossy, and Rose who is just trying to fit in. It’s no surprise that I loved Rose the most. I always cheer on the underdog , and I loved watching her grow from an outcast into someone who was able to take charge. Best of all, every character has a secret that they are hiding and I found myself eagerly waiting to find out what they were.

That being said, there was a lot I loved about the mystery in this story. The clues are well laid out. Willa’s mystery unravels at a nice, even pace and expertly ties into each character’s life. No one is ever what they seem at Hawthorne Lake, and it creates delicious tension. Still, I have to admit that I just didn’t feel the excitement that I usually feel with mysteries like these. I wanted to see more sleuthing and more plotting for revenge. The girls have plenty of resources on their side, but I honestly felt like they didn’t always use them as well as they could have.

Still, I can’t deny that This is W.A.R. was a book that kept me reading until the very end. Despite slight issues I may have had with it, the story itself drew me in and the vivid characters sealed my reading fate. I had no choice but to read ravenously, and I had more than a few moments of intense emotion as the story unfolded. This was a story that I ended up loving, and I have a feeling that you will too.

FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for my opinion.

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