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** spoiler alert ** �� 3.25 stars

The Reappearance of Rachel Price revolves around Annabel “Bel�� Price �� a young girl whose mother, Rachel, vanished without a trace 16 years ago and nobody knows what happened to her. Bel was the sole witness and she could’ve been the one with answers as she was with Rachel when she disappeared, but she was too young to have any recollection of anything so it remained a mystery to everyone, including herself. when a documentary about Rachel’s disappearance is being made, she suddenly reappears leaving everyone shocked. Bel should be relieved that her mom is back and surprisingly alive, but she has a gut feeling that something is wrong and she suspects that Rachel is not telling the truth about where she was all those years.

it’s for sure an interesting and intriguing premise written by the one and only �� Holly Jackson �� and that’s why my expectations were extremely high. however, this story didn’t quite live up to my expectations and, unfortunately, i ended up feeling kind of disappointed.

*this review will be somewhat all over the place because i personally feel like i couldn’t gather my thoughts properly, so please bear with me.

first of all, let’s talk about the protagonist: Annabel Price.

i don’t like reading books where the main character is too perfect, too nice and doesn’t have any flaws. that’s boring to me. i prefer to read books with main characters that are imperfect and have flaws because that makes them realistic and easy to relate with. Bel checks all the boxes (sort of); she is not perfect, she is flawed and, in some way, she is relatable. on top of that, she is also sarcastic, headstrong, cynical and sharp tongued, which are things that i truly enjoy to see in a female protagonist because it can be entertaining. however, it was not entertaining here, not at all. it was actually unpleasant. for the majority of the book, Bel was an extremely unlikeable, selfish, disrespectful and arrogant character. i think there’s a huge difference between being a headstrong person who’s not afraid of speak their mind and being an annoying person who’s just plainly rude to everyone, even to those that don’t deserve. having a strong personality has nothing to do with being rude or disrespectful, let’s keep that in mind. sure, Bel had traumas that made her be the way she is and act the way she does and i can’t blame her for that, but i personally don’t think it justify some of her actions, sorry. don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying she’s the most terrible character out there, because she is not. she was... tolerable and funny at times, i’ll admit. but in general, i was just not particularly fond of Bel and her personality, which made it difficult for me to deeply connect with her and really understand her. Bel’s character could’ve been written better and a bit differently.

the only characters i liked to an extent were Rachel & Ash (view spoiler)[(still bummed that he barely appeared). (hide spoiler)] i felt pretty indifferent about the others. and let’s be honest, most of them weren’t even that likeable to begin with.

as i said earlier, the premise of this book is interesting and intriguing, there’s no doubt about it. but the execution? eh, definitely not perfect.

the story started off great and very promising. at the beginning, i was truly believing that this had potential to be a five star read as i was absolutely loving it and having the highest of hopes for the rest of the book. now, looking back, i realize how delusional i was. not 100 pages in and i was already thinking i would rate this book five stars... a bit early to make that assumption, isn’t it? yeah, i’m aware. but that shows how much i trust Holly Jackson (or used to trust, at least).

as i got further into the story, i realized that this book, in fact, did not deserve a five star rating.

i am not saying i didn’t enjoy reading this, i would be a liar if i said that �� even with its flaws, this managed to keep me hooked from beginning to end and i did like some aspects of it, but obviously, i disliked others.

like i said earlier, i didn’t like Bel; disliking the protagonist is the major problem for obvious reasons. but Bel was not the only problem here, i also had issues with other things that largely prevented me from giving this novel a higher rating.

�� �� hidden spoilers below. don’t click on them if you haven’t read the book yet.

�� 1. i wasn’t a fan of the way Holly handled Bel and Rachel’s relationship. (view spoiler)[the thing that bothered me the most is that Bel immediately starts distrusting Rachel as soon as she returns, she doesn’t even try to show some empathy to the woman who birthed her which is... strange. listen, i’m not saying she was wrong for being suspicious and wanting to know what happened and everything else, but the way Bel reacted was not the most realistic portrayal of a daughter who was seeing her mother for the first time after 16 years. it didn’t make sense to me, honestly. i thought they would at least build a relationship and then the suspicions would start, but no, that’s not what happens. unrealistic to say the least. and let’s be honest, Bel’s immediate distrust is kind of a spoiler that Rachel is definitely not guilty because that’s how thrillers work �� the suspect from the beginning of the book is never (or almost never) the one who is actually guilty, it’s just the way it works. that’s the reason why i never suspected her, even though we are “forced�� to do that. (hide spoiler)]

�� 2. most of the plot twists were sort of easy to predict for me and they weren’t as mind-blowing as i thought they would be. (view spoiler)[ as i mentioned above, it’s no hard to guess that Rachel was not guilty, so that means the suspect is another character and you have to use your brain and make your own theories. in the first half, i came up with this theory that Charlie was behind everything. how? well, i thought ��what character would shock the reader the most?�� and done, i had my answer: Charlie. see? not hard. i also had this brief thought that Carter was Rachel’s daughter �� though i thought i was wrong and i didn’t fully believe it would make a lot of sense, but turns out i was right about that too. needless to say, i was not very shocked by these twists. now, the grandfather’s involvement and the fact that Charlie sent him to kill Rachel were the only things i wasn’t able to guess, so at least there’s that. thankfully. that truly caught me off guard and genuinely shocked me. (hide spoiler)]

generally speaking, the twists, while predictable for me, weren’t necessarily bad. but the author should’ve worked a bit harder to deliver more insane and crazy twists and turns.

�� 3. a few things that happened in this book were not realistic at all. some stuff that happened were just too hard to believe. like for example: the conclusion. i just couldn’t get past how unrealistic the whole thing was and i can't really say it left me satisfied. it’s not news that Holly’s books require suspension of belief and i personally never had a problem with that (sometimes all we need is to turn off our brains and have a little fun), but this time i have to admit that i got a bit bothered.

�� 4. the writing was repetitive every so often. i literally lost count of how many times the knot in Bel’s gut was mentioned. what was the point of mentioning that every two seconds?

�� 5. the pacing was super slow in the middle and the storyline became repetitive. not a lot of relevant or interesting stuff was happening which made me come to the conclusion that this book didn’t need to be over 400 pages long, completely unnecessary in my view. it could’ve easily been 100-150 pages shorter and i stand by that.

fortunately, the pacing picked up towards the end; more specifically, in the last 25% and i liked that. the amount of things happening made me feel invested and i couldn’t put the book down for the life of me, literally finished in one sitting.

aside from all the flaws, i still could enjoy this book. as i mentioned, i was hooked from beginning to end so, overall, i can’t say i regret reading it. but of course, i expected much more from it and perhaps it’s my partially fault for having over the top expectations �� but i also think that Holly Jackson could’ve delivered something far more better. i’m the biggest enthusiast of the AGGGTM series and it hurts to say that her new books (this one and Five Survive) weren’t capable me of giving the same feels. such a letdown...

all in all, The Reappearance of Rachel Price didn’t live up to its full potential and might not be one of the greatest thrillers i’ve ever read, but it’s not a terrible story and it has its entertaining and enjoyable parts. i believe (or rather hope) that other people might like it way more than i did so of course i recommend it to anyone. just don’t expect something as a amazing as the A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder series (like i did) and you won’t be disappointed.

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�� �� pre–read: ��

i haven’t had a single 5 star read yet this year (*cries*) but i feel like this will be the one because in holly jackson we trust! 🤭 i’m just SO excited to read it. <3