Good Me, Bad Me by Ali Land Review

Hi ForeverBookers, 

NetGalley granted me permission to read Good Me Bad Me, and review it for you guys! I'm pleased to say that I enjoyed this. This book doesn't release until September 2017, according to Goodreads so add it to your TBR's if it sounds like something you might want to read. 

TRIGGER WARNING: Good Me, Bad Me explores the character of an abuse victim and how that abuse both mental and physical impacts on a family, ultimately.

3.5 Stars!

Good Me, Bad Me tells the story of a girl who has lost her mother through crime. Her mum has killed 10 other children, whilst in her job as a nurse. Annie, or Milly as the girl is known to her new family has to move in with a new family and try to get on as best she can. Mike, Milly's foster father is like her councillor and the one to go to for advice. Saskia, the foster mother was a pretty rubbish mother figure, even to her own daughter, Phoebe. She was more concerned with her own life that that of her daughter and Milly. Mike is the only one who really sees the trauma of what Milly has gone through, throughout the book. 

Milly does make a friend about half way through the book. However, she hurts that friend physically because she doesn't know how to really function around others. Milly gets bullied a lot at school. The bullies are named, all of which are in her class. Her foster sister is the main bully who gives Milly a hard time though. 

We see fifteen year old Milly go to court as a witness against her mother. This was interesting to read as I've only read one book that partly takes place in a court setting and it wasn't directly about the family of the accused, like this one was.

The story is told in first person narrative from Milly's POV. However, she refers to her mother as “you.” Her mother is the only known criminal of the book so if you're put off by this, maybe steer clear of Good Me, Bad Me because the "you" mother reference happens a lot. 

The ending of Good Me, Bad Me was the only thing that I didn't like so much as I thought that it came about quite abruptly. I thought the author could have maybe explored another couple of points before she gave us that ending. I don't want to spoil it here but as I said one second it wasn't there, and the next it was, I felt. It also would have been good to see Milly in a few other situations as I thought we just got a minimum of scenes with her dealing with her own mental health. 

I'm unsure if this will have a sequel. I feel it could but at the same time, the author mainly writes stand alone a, I believe so it's doubtful. I would be interested to read more about Milly, as we only saw snippets of her behaviour. 

I'm giving Good Me, Bad Me 3.5 stars because I ultimately enjoyed it. It was unlike anything I've ever read before. The only thing I disliked, as I said above was the abruptness of the ending. If you think about it, it's kind of obvious what kind of ending Good Me, Bad Me will have. I just wish there had been a few more happier scenes than just the mostly negative scenes. It does all play into the story, however.

I look forward to choosing my next read soon, so stand by for that review, coming soon...