Two young ballet dancers, longtime friends.
Violet is rich, but Orianna is poor.
Violet has everything, but Orianna has a neglectful household with no mother.
Violet is kind of selfish and mean, but Orianna is friendly, kind and generous.
Violet is a good dancer, but Orianna is a transcendent dancer.
Violet hacked up two of her dance-class peers with a box cutter, and Orianna took the fall.
And now, Violet is on her way to dance ballet at Juilliard, while Orianna died in a freak poisoning along with every other girl at the juvenile detention center where she had been sent for Violet's crime.

But first, Violet is going to visit the site of the prison where all the girls died and say goodbye, but not "I'm sorry," because Violet isn't that type of person.

I really enjoyed Violet and Orianna's story, as well as our prison narrator, Amber's story. I could read a whole book about Amber and the rest of the girls in the prison.

I do wish that Violet and Ori's friendship in better times had been better developed. What did they feel for each other? What sort of things did they do together? What were things like before things went south?

I really liked Imaginary Girls, and this was just as good. There's one more Nova Ren Suma book I have yet to read. It would be cool if someone optioned the film rights, yeah? It's kind of David-Lynchian.

Finally, I managed to finish something!
I've had my eye on this book for a while, ever since there was a sample chapter available from my local library's ebook selection. I was pretty excited for this one to come out, and I've been seeing quite a bit about it now. I've been in a pretty bad reading slump for about two weeks, because finishing up not-so-great books kind of does that to me, so I decided that since YA stuff usually goes by pretty quick for me, that this would be a good choice.
This book was strange and unique, and I enjoyed every bit of it. There were some parts where the writing got a bit repetitive and started to annoy me, as though the author were going for something Stephen King-esque but not quite making it, but it wasn't so frequent as to put me off of the book.
I enjoyed the way the plot was presented. Although the basics of it were predictable and hinted at from the very beginning, I enjoyed being led along as each card was played and the pieces were slowly put together. It was suspenseful, but not overly so, as some books tend to be.
The ending caught me off guard, but I'm pretty satisfied with it. I really like the idea of it, and I'd be interested to see it incorporated into another story. I feel like this would be a book that could actually be deserving of being part of a trilogy, and that's not something that I say very often. I'm interested in seeing what some of the other works by thus author have to offer.

This was a really interesting book. The dual POV from the two girls was so different and then when they converge the real story starts to come to light and it's beautiful and tragic.

Solid like. I enjoyed the idea of it more than the actual it. Like, if I sit here and think about the format and interplay between characters, timelines and stories I'm all, whoa. But I wasn't galvanized by reading it.

A creepily satisfying ending!

This book is creepy and weird and deliciously atmospheric. The pacing and release of clues and details are just right to keep the reader interested and wanting more. This book plays with time and space in a really original way, while also telling compelling narratives of each of the girls involved. All of the major characters have such a depth of character and even the side characters seem like people rather than plot devices. Such a great YA horror/suspense read!

Spooky with unforeseen twists and turns...

Oh boy, I guess "ghost stories" are not for me. There were some very strong green lights that made me request this book from the library: a gorgeous cover, ballet dancers, and a crime/mystery component. Unfortunately, this book irritated me. Why was it written with ghosts/supernatural premise when the story of these girls would've been so realistic and powerful without that? I did skim-read it all but I think this is a YA book that is really best read by more forgiving young adults.

this was a really good ghost story despite the plot being predictable within the first 30 pages. the writing is so nice it doesn't matter than I saw the Big Twists coming.

it actually has a mostly happy ending which is great.

violet is absolutely awful and its hard to like her. she comes from money and has all the arrogance and entitlement that comes with it.

all in all I'm glad I gave this one a try. its not what I would usually pick up but I enjoyed it.