
hello everyone! today i am going to be talking about some laneys died by Brooke Skipstone. i gave this book 3/5 stars. first off, thank you so much netgalley and skipstone publishing for an arc of this book! first off, this is going to be an honest review, and isn’t going to be changed by the publisher or the author, or be biased because i got an arc.
trigger warning- addiction, alcoholism, death, drug abuse, mental illness, physical abuse, rape, suicidal thoughts, suicide, blood, medical content, kidnapping, car accident, abortion, murder.
honestly, this book was such a mess, but like a good mess. like, most of this didn’t make sense, cause so many things were happening, and there was so many different plots and everything, it didn’t make sense, but then it made sense, but it didn’t make sense at the same time. and i don’t even know how to explain it, but i feel like i didn’t understand anything, but i also understood it.
and i think that went hand in hand with the whole parallel universe, since there was like 10 Laney’s, which was cool but also just such a mess, since you never really understand what was happening, and which Laney was that Laney or something. like, i really liked it, but then i was like confused but not. but, i kind of feel like the more confused the better in some books, which i feel like this was super confusing, but in a good way.
but, i do wish we got told more of the universe. since i feel like they were going back and forth between the two so much and i just don’t know/understand how they can just go between the different universes. like it honestly just didn’t make sense to me whatsoever. and i just wished they explained how these parallel universes worked. but, i guess they just explained everything more, since i feel like having these parallel universe just needs to be explained.
and with the jumps and different universes, i just didn’t understand this. like, i feel like there was so many jumps it really made everything made less and less sense as they went into another universe. and i feel like with every jump we took, i just lost more and more of the story, since nothing made sense. but, i guess that is just me.
but, i also don’t understand why Laney acted like the family therapist for this whole book. like, i feel like the adults in her life just pushed everything onto her, and also she was like so calm because she can go into these different universes, so we’ll just push it on her. and like most of the plot of this book could be completely fixed if everyone either a.) just talked to each other and wasn’t so closed off or b.) they went to group therapy.
for me, i feel like Laney was still such a powerful and strong character. like she did go threw so much in her family, with cheating and your parents getting with new people coming into the family, i feel like it was so cool to see all of it and to see how she handled everything that was going down. and i mean, good for her cause i don’t think i could keep it together as much as she did.
but, i will say, Skipstone did a good job with creating the different YA trends into one book. like, i feel like she really took down the whole mystery and thriller hype that is super powerful right now, so i thought it was pretty cool and i actually liked. but, also there was the whole sci fi element to it. like, with having them both woven together was cool, since they both go hand in hand honestly.
there also is so much chaotic writing in this book. with the whole jumping back and forth, it was like so chaotic, which was like cool but not cool, if that makes sense. and it kind of took some time to get into and to fully understand it all after it all. but, i feel like once i started to figure it out, the book like just ended. also, i feel like this is some trend in books by older authors with the whole trying to write like teens would speak, but this book honestly failed with that completely.
and also there was so many chanced that it could have just had better and smoother writing. like, there was so many things that could have just been fixed and made a little bit easier to read. but, i feel like it kind of worked, since this book was kind of a mess and it was just kind of odd. but, i also feel like there was jokes in this book, that were just weird.
i also really like that we were able to get the whole different parts with the life, death, and the multiple universes all combined into one. i personally really liked the whole narrative about how different things worked once something happened like that, and also the whole someone died in the other universe was pretty cool. and i really liked it honestly.
but, i do feel like Laney had such a one track mind honestly, like she really only cared about one thing in her mind at all times, which got to be a bit annoying. so, having her have this one track mind, it got to be so annoying and it was really hard to actually know what is happening, and to be able to tell if these things are real or not.
and i mean, the side characters are all kind of odd. like, they have these different random things. of course, you have this random group of friends in the start of the novel with their party, and also the whole creepy high school flirt / perv. so, that was just adding more and more to the story, since i feel like there was more layers to the story, which was just interesting.
anyway, that is all for today! i hope you enjoyed this post, even though it was kind of a mess since this book was a bit of a mess. but, thank you so much netgalley and the publisher for an arc of this book. and of course, like i said, this was an honest review.


