Book Reviews: A Long Stretch of Bad Days and The Reunion

A Long Stretch of Bad Days by Mindy McGinnis

I love anything by Mindy McGinnis! Heroine is one of my faves, so I was looking forward to this one. It did not disappoint!

Set in a small town, all our MC wants is to get out, and go to college. Her family is well known, and known to be rich, powerful, and, I get the feeling, kind of snobs. When she finds out that she is short credits to graduate due to some serious incompetence on the part of her guidance counsellor, she strikes a deal - if she can use her podcast to tell a story about the history of the town, it will count as the missing credit, and she’ll be allowed to graduate.

Enter our secondary main character - the girl from the wrong side of the tracks, who also got screwed over. An unlikely paring, the two (grudgingly, on the part of MC2) decide to work together on the project, and eventually decide to cover the Stretch of Bad Days - a week when the town suffered a murder, a flood, and a tornado. But the more they dig, the more they find. There may have been more happening in the town than got recorded, and someone may want that knowledge kept hidden.

I don’t want to say much more, because spoilers, but there’s a big part of the story where the message is “don’t judge someone on the face they show to the world”.

Content warnings: death, murder, natural disasters, fire, tornado, ANIMAL DEATH. Overall Rating: 5 stars

The Reunion by Kit Frick

I started reading this one on Epic Reads, or RivitedLit - I don’t remember which one, but I do remember that I wanted to read the rest of it! A book where 11 people go on a remote vacation at a fancy resort, and only 10 leave alive? Sign me up.

I was… somewhat disappointed. There were 11 people, and at least four points of view. I did find myself flipping back to the start of the chapter regularly to see who was talking, which is always frustrating. I understand why the author did it, because it gave a sense of urgency and drove the story forward, and it made you want to keep reading so you would find out what was happening, and what the big secret was. But it just didn’t land right.

I enjoyed the characters, I just kind of wish they had been expanded on more. I wanted to know more about each character, but all I can remember is one was gay, one was all into school, one was a sports bro, and one had gay parents.

It was an easy read, I read it quickly and I did enjoy it - I know it doesn’t look like it from reading the above, but I really did! The plot was good, and I did like the ending. It will end up on a couple of genre lists for sure.

I can’t say more without spoiling things, but if you like a mystery, and you don’t mind characters that are a little less robust than some stories, 100%, it’s not a bad read.

Content warnings - discussion of death, violence. Overall Rating - 3 stars

8 March 2024

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