Review: Golden

Golden by Jessi Kirby
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5 Golden stars!

This book... *sigh*... it was amazing. The descriptions, the words, the relationships... all beautiful. This is the first Jessi Kirby book I have read, but after reading Golden, I definitely plan on reading more of her work.

Parker Frost is a 17 year old, high school senior. She's been a good girl; she's stayed on the course that her mother approves of. Parker is the TA for the high school's English teacher, Mr. Kinney. Every year after spring break he gives his class a black-and-white marbled composition notebooks (we all know the ones, right?) and their only assignment is to write in it. Then on graduation day, you return the notebook to Mr. Kinney and ten years later, he mails them back to their authors. And as Mr. Kinney's TA, Parker is giving the task of mailing out the notebooks that the students 10 years prior had written. As Parker is addressing the notebooks, she comes across Julianna Farnetti's.

Julianna and her boyfriend, Shane Cruz, were the town's golden couple and they died tragically during a winter storm that ended with Shane's jeep in Summit Lake.

Parker is curious what Julianna wrote in her journal and with a conversation she recently had with her best friend Kat about doing something "unexpected, worthwhile and big" she decides to take the notebook. Eventually she begins reading it and the entries she reads about Julianna lead her, Kat and her long-time crush Trevor Collins on a road trip to discovery. There are twists and turns and full circles completed.

During the story we learn about the friendship between Kat and Parker and I adore it. They have such a true friendship, one that I would want for my own daughter some day. They're honest and always there for each other, regardless.

We also get to witness the beginnings of a relationship between Parker and Trevor. *sigh* This boy... he's pretty great. Parker's been crushing on him for years and they shared playful banter many times, but she never acted on her feelings. When she finally does, it's tummy fluttering.

Golden makes you stop and think about this "...what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" regardless of how old you are. There are parts of the story that will have you questioning your beliefs in fate and destiny. There's some mystery, there's friendship and there's romance. What more could you want?

I highly recommend this book... to any and all age groups!! It's such a beautiful story and I absolutely loved it!


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