Review: Golden by Jessi Kirby

Golden
Jessi Kirby
Series: None
Release Date: May 14th, 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster 
Number of Pages: 288
Star Rating: 5 stars
Word Rating: aahsujfja

Love, tragedy, and mystery converge in this compelling novel from “an author to watch” (Booklist).

Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.

Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.

Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.

"[...] sometimes we meet our destiny on the road we take to avoid it."

No words of mine can even come close to portraying the stunning beauty and finesse that takes up each and every page of Jessi Kirby's magnificent Golden. Running through my mind since reading the very last page of Golden to now, as I am writing these inevitably inadequate words, are an endless amount of positive adjectives that could be used to describe Golden truthfully--it's breathtaking, it's lovely, it's striking and it's stunning and it's poignant and it's beyond fantastic. And it's my favorite read of the year thus far.

And rest assured I will be rereading it.


It's not a rarity that my reviews are comprised of mostly incoherency, and while I strive to make at least semi-coherent points in the majority of my reviews, whether they're gushing or scathing, coherency is a lost cause concerning this review. There is simply no coherent way to put into words how much I love this novel and why, even though the 'why' would be incredibly evident to anyone should they pick up Golden and read just the first chapter.

The characters in Golden are exquisitely formed and developed, and the relationships, particularly the one between the main character, Parker, and her best friend, Kat, are excellently written. Are you, like me, tired of the main character's best friend eventually being revealed to be an awful, backstabbing character? Yes?

Read Golden.

Are you tired of the main character and the love interest falling in love the second they meet, with practically no relationship development between them whatsoever? Yes?

Read Golden.

Are you looking for a book that will make you cry, smile, gasp, blush, laugh, and everything in between within the span of its pages? Yes?

Read Golden.

Are you looking for a sensationally written novel, with a fantastically original and executed mystery, a tragic love story, spellbinding journal entries revealing astonishing revelations, amazing characters and relationship dynamics, and a road trip leading to an ultimately powerful ending?

Read Golden. This is probably one of the most incoherent reviews I've ever written, but my incoherency should be something to stand for how utterly amazing this novel is. It's beautiful, unforgettable, and I love it, I love it, I love it.