i'm giving this 4 stars purely based on entertainment.

as a mystery, this book was really lacking. the crime didn't occur until around halfway through, which isn't in itself a bad thing. it was just the lack of buildup that really got me.

stella was really endearing to me. she has some serious empathy issues, but something about her came across as raw and honest. like i can imagine other 17 year olds behaving in exactly the same way as her. ellie...not so much. in order not to spoil i wont go in further, but yeah. she was not my favorite!

the weakest character in this book was mila. we didnt see enough of her for me to care about what happened to her. and honestly, i didnt understand how she became so close with stella and ellie. she was just kind of flat.

i honestly think this book suffered by being a mystery. this book has very similar themes to other YA contemporaries. i really wanted to see more of stella's character development, but because of the constraints of the mystery element, it wasn't possible.

so yes, this is 4 stars for stella steckler. she CARRIED