ARC Review: Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

Publisher: Balzer & Bray/Harper
Publishing Date: March 3rd, 2015
Genre: YA, Mystery, Magical Realism
Pages: 368 pgs
ISBN: 9780062317605

Source: Received from Harper Canada in exchange for an honest review.



Summary from Goodreads:

Everyone knows Bone Gap is full of gaps—gaps to trip you up, gaps to slide through so you can disappear forever. So when young, beautiful Roza went missing, the people of Bone Gap weren’t surprised. After all, it wasn’t the first time that someone had slipped away and left Finn and Sean O’Sullivan on their own. Just a few years before, their mother had high-tailed it to Oregon for a brand new guy, a brand new life. That’s just how things go, the people said. Who are you going to blame?

Finn knows that’s not what happened with Roza. He knows she was kidnapped, ripped from the cornfields by a dangerous man whose face he cannot remember. But the searches turned up nothing, and no one believes him anymore. Not even Sean, who has more reason to find Roza than anyone, and every reason to blame Finn for letting her go.

As we follow the stories of Finn, Roza, and the people of Bone Gap—their melancholy pasts, their terrifying presents, their uncertain futures—acclaimed author Laura Ruby weaves a heartbreaking tale of love and loss, magic and mystery, regret and forgiveness—a story about how the face the world sees is never the sum of who we are. 

My Review:

This book got a lot of buzz over the summer and I immediately wanted to read it. It is about a girl named Roza who goes missing. She is missing from the onset of the book and we are introduced to two brothers who fell in love with Roza, in different ways. Finn is a slightly strange guy who has a hard time reading people and because of this is made fun of by his peers. Most of the book Finn is trying to figure out what happened to Roza and throughout his investigation he begins dating a friend down the road who helps out with her family's honey/bee farm. 

I had high hopes for this book and didn't really expect the magical realism aspect. I don't know why I didn't realize this before requesting this book but I didn't. Usually I'm not a huge fan of magical realism but I think that it works quite well with this book. It's not too in your face but it keeps you intrigued. It makes you want to read more to find out exactly what in the world is going on. 

I motored through this book and liked the plot line and the writing. I am a sucker for any mystery novel and I've also been really into abduction storylines lately. I think that this book would make an very creepy movie. It has such a quirky cast of characters and I'd love to see it on the big screen. 

All this said, I only gave it 3 stars. For me, this book was fun to read while I was reading it but I'm not sure that it will be one that sticks with me. I didn't feel a strong connection to any of the characters. I liked them but they just didn't pull at my heartstrings. I do think that it is worth a read because it is definitely entertaining.