If You're Gone Review
After reading if you're gone by Brittany Goodwin the only words that I can think to describe my feelings were surprisingly satisfied. While reading I was scared they would be going in a certain direction I did not want them to go in. Namely, one involving some kind of magical fairytale love life ending. I do not want to give too much away or spoil too much but how it ended was definitely fitting and exactly how I hoped Lillian's story would end or at least somewhat. This story as a whole however is interesting, well written, and incorporates many different thinking points into the book.
This book follows the story of a girl named Lillian whose boyfriend Brad, has just gone missing. While the police do not seem to be very worried due to Brad having graduated high school the night of his disappearance and the fact that he has had a troubled past. With many odds and people seeming to be against Lillian, it is up to her to try to find out what happened to Brad and where he is.
This book was enjoyable from beginning to end. While I was hoping for something a little more dramatic regarding when we actually do discover what happened to Brad, it was surprising and not what I was expecting. I felt the book also touched on various issues regarding first love, betrayal, lies, family, friends, and even faith. I really liked how God was incorporated into the book. It was not preachy or overly religious, but was able to be sewn into the story quite nicely and never make me feel as though the book was being used to preach scripture at me. While books like that are just fine, I really do enjoy when an author can add topics like religion into their stories without having the book be completely about faith. I enjoy books with multiple themes and the fact that Christianity was a theme in the book, it was just one of the many elements to this novel and was very careful with how it was used. It did not mention it too little or too much and faith was brought up In regards to what was occurring in the novel, especially in the mind of Lillian and her feelings toward the entire situation involving Brad and his disappearance.
I also enjoyed that the author took the time to explain certain things regarding investigation cases. Because the author frequents Missing Persons blogs and is interested in the subject of investigating disappearances, I felt she knew how certain investigations would seem and even added in some facts and language to help back up that opinion such as explaining why Brad was not seen as such a dire missing persons case as someone else may be, certain lingo involving missing person investigations, and more.
Overall, this book was short, but sweet. The story was interesting, intriguing, sweet, sad, and more. The end was exactly how I hoped it would end and something I did not think the author would do, but caused me to be pleasantly surprised when I read the ending. If you enjoy books with mystery, suspense, romance, family, friendship, faith, etc. I would highly recommend this read.
3.5 our of 5 stars
