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 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 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 she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.
After In Honor, I wasn't sure how Jessi Kirby was going to top herself, but I was pretty confident she'd write a pretty awesome novel. I can't imagine her ever writing something I wouldn't like - she's kind of like Sarah Dessen that way. Anyways, Golden definitely lives up to Kirby's first two novels. It's a deeply rich, multi-layered story of a girl who is just trying to face down her future and live in the moment at the same time. Again, Kirby has written characters I came to care deeply for and has come up with another captivating snapshot of a short time in the life of one girl.
I'm impressed with the way poetry was woven through the story line, but it was never really pointed out or made a big deal. It's just really great in showing the way words can influence our lives. And Robert Frost is definitely a favorite of mine. My mother has always been so proud of how she knows "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by heart, so I grew up listening to this poem and, especially since reading Golden, those words are always somewhere in my head. I read this book reciting the lines in my head over and over, and it created a different reading experience for me. I've read a lot of retellings and even books and chapters with epigraphs, but never have I found myself reapeating the words from the original text so much while reading. It just colored everything a little differently.
It was especially cool when you look at the way the past and the present are colliding in Parker's world. While you have a classic poet influencing a contemporary novel, you have Parker and her life being influenced by the journal of a girl who died years ago. Honestly, I'm not a fan of reading journals; however, it was executed wonderfully in this context. I found both Parker and Julianna's stories fascinating and was really happy to read both storylines. Plus, I absolutely loved the idea that they had to keep journals and their teacher would send them back in 10 years. I started thinking about what I would have written down, and what I would think of my words when I hit my own 10 year mark (which is only, holy wow, 3 years away).
I also have to talk briefly about Kat and Trevor. For a contemp, romance wasn't really the main focus and I loved that. However, Trevor is amazing. He's fun and patient, which I give him major props for. And Kat. MCs who have awesome best friends are just some of the best MCs. And Kat certainly makes Parker a great heroine. She pushes her as much as she can, but she's just supportive and fun. It always makes me really happy when books highlight how important friendship is in high school, because I would not have gotten by with out it.
I absolutely adored this book and Jessi Kirby will keep her well earned place on my auto-read list. I don't even have to read the synopsis for her next book, I know I'll pick it up. Golden was incredible and beautiful and I'm really excited to share it. If you haven't read Jessi Kirby yet, please do. She's definitely worth it. I just can't wait to see what she'll do next.
