READING: These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

Publication date: October 27 2015
Published by: Random House
Genre: Young Adult, Historical, Crime, Mystery, Suspense 
Rating: 

Jo Montfort is beautiful and rich, and soon—like all the girls in her class—she’ll graduate from finishing school and be married off to a wealthy bachelor. Which is the last thing she wants. Jo secretly dreams of becoming a writer—a newspaper reporter like the trailblazing Nellie Bly.

Wild aspirations aside, Jo’s life seems perfect until tragedy strikes: her father is found dead. Charles Montfort accidentally shot himself while cleaning his revolver. One of New York City’s wealthiest men, he owned a newspaper and was partner in a massive shipping firm, and Jo knows he was far too smart to clean a loaded gun.

The more Jo uncovers about her father’s death, the more her suspicions grow. There are too many secrets. And they all seem to be buried in plain sight. Then she meets Eddie—a young, brash, infuriatingly handsome reporter at her father’s newspaper—and it becomes all too clear how much she stands to lose if she keeps searching for the truth. Only now it might be too late to stop.

I thought These Shallow Graves was going to be another one of Donnelly’s epic HRs, with strong characters and an exciting, addictive plot.
Though still enjoyable, I felt like it lacked the spark and that something extra that would make it stand out from other books of its kind.

The characters, whilst well written, were all one dimensional - the good guys all but wore a superman cape, and the bad guys might as well be sitting on a chair petting a cat with a ringed pinkie! Their reactions were a bit childish at times, especially Jo’s, and it reminded me more of a middle grade book than the books I was used to by Donnelly up until this point. 
That being said, Jo transforms right at the end, giving us a glimpse of how wonderful this book could be if the characters had more room to grow instead of spending all this time on the “whodunnit” aspect of the book.
After the legendary love stories Donnelly has given us, I admit I was unpleasantly surprised by Jo and Eddie’s insta love. Especially considering Jo’s upbringing; it was totally out of the blue and way early in the story for her to fall in love with a complete stranger. Fortunately, they did have chemistry, which was their saving grace, along with the amazing ending Donnelly decided to give them, showcasing Jo’s strength and determination to start her life and rebuild relationships from the beginning.

As for the mystery part of it, I wasn’t impressed. I knew from the start who was behind it all and I thought if my naive dumbass self is right, then it was pretty obvious. It just frustrated me even more when instead of learning more about and understanding the characters, the majority of the book was used up explaining in length what was basically a kid’s mystery plot.

If you’re looking for a murder/mystery book with a light and breezy romance targeted at very young adults, then These Shallow Graves is the book for you.
I wasn’t looking for that :/