I received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

I'm conflicted in how I feel about this book. Part of me was completely sucked in and wanting to read more. But another part of me feels like not much happened in this book.

I liked that each chapter told a different person's perspective, but the stories didn't intertwine in an intriguing way.

It was a cool idea, and all in all, I liked the book!

Lucinda a beautiful girl is found murdered in the snow lying on a merry-go-rouns. No one can figure out who may have hated the young girl enough to have killed her. Was it the stalker, watching her each night, the boyfriend? Perhaps it was the girl that was dumped by Lucinda boyfriend. Maybe the police are involved. Or how about a teacher. As every suspect is questioned and marked off as a suspect, secrets are revealed about the town's people.
Great read, powerful, interesting.
5 Stars

Great story! I liked how the story was told in different points of view and that all the way till the end I had zero idea of who the killer was, I never suspected at all. For the majority of the story I was leaning towards a specific character and then the author completely surprised me. Also there was a twist that I never saw, a few actually with 2 characters and it was a total surprise.
Love all the details and how the author made me feel like I was there, specially with Cameron.
I read somewhere that this book was compared to Everything I never told you and I have to say that I am glad that I didn't find it similar at all. I really didn't like EINT and I definitely loved this one.
This is a great story, I am definitely recommending and buying a hardcopy of this book as soon as it becomes available.

Beautiful prose. As her neighbours lives, public and unseen are unravelled, we get a glimpse at the life before the girl and what happens after her death.

This book was interesting but tended to circle the story instead of directly addressing the plot line.

This is the best fiction book of 2017 I've read thus far. I'm not sure if it's intended to be marketed as higher-end YA or literary fiction. As a YA piece, I would rate it five stars because it would easily be the most beautifully written book in the genre I've read. It's incredible that Kukafka wrote this at only twenty-four-- she is going to be a force with which to be reckoned as she continues to grow and develop her skills, and I can't wait to follow her along on her journey.
In my opinion, this is the perfect book for someone who enjoyed 13 Reasons Why and is looking for a more complex, literary version, or for someone looking for a more highbrow version of Jodi Picoult's mysteries that unfold through multiple perspectives. It has a similar dark, raw vibe as Ottessa Mossfegh's writings, though I think this is a more accessible and compelling read than Eileen. Highly recommend.

Sincere thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This was probably a case of "it's not you, it's me."
The writing is clearly strong and I am glad I couldn't guess "whodunnit." I appreciate when this genre still has surprises for me.

However, while the writing was strong, it also felt pretentious. It seemed like each passage or chapter's last sentence was supposed to ~mean something deep~ but I didn't always grasp what exactly the author was implying. It came off as overly dramatic, like a teenager's Livejournal posts (well, a teenager from the early 2000s since no one uses Livejournal anymore). . This peeved me as a reader because I would like to think I'm not stupid. I even took some literature classes in college. Yet I still couldn't grasp what the author was trying to convey with these overwrought, wannabe-profound sentences. As a reader, if I end up wanting to defend my intelligence, then I can't give the book 4 stars. Maybe this was a personal problem but this one was definitely too high brow for me. I felt like the book was talking down to me.

Also, for the love of all things good in this world, can mystery/thriller books stop including the word "girl" in their titles?! SO OVERDONE!

I did not expect to like this one as much as I did. It sounded interesting, but there was too much YAness too it, most of the principal characters 15 year olds. Thing is, though, in the end the simplicity of style the author employs which is (for me anyway) often associated with YA literature, doesn't restrict the novel in any way, in fact in serves to highlight the motional poignancy of isolation, the every man is an island adage that applies irrespective of age, gender or social circumstances. And so this debut novel explores an aftermath of a murder in a small town over a few wintery Colorado days with such a striking emotional astuteness that I found it utterly engaging. It's a quiet story about the proverbial quiet desperation and it envelops a reader much like snow. Funny how a novel about essential aloneness can make a person feel less alone. Books (great books) can do that. Not sure if this is a genuinely great book, objectivity to that extent is difficult, but it is a very good one and well worth a read. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

If this moment were a song, Cameron thought, it would be a quiet song- the sort of song that drowned you in your own miserable chest.”

Every school seems to have their ‘golden girl’, some have several, and usually they aren’t so golden. I think of the quote by Leo Tolstoy, “What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness.” So many people are blinded by it, just as much as being different often leads to shunning. Let’s face it, people that are misunderstood are often feared. Any deviation from the norm is suspect. So what happens when a beautiful, popular darling Lucinda is found brutally murdered?

Cameron Whitley loved Lucinda, he knew her more intimately than anyone, though they didn’t speak. Everyone knows he is weird, that he was obsessed and watched her. Love makes people do strange things, but with her death he begins to unravel. He deals with his grief and horror through his art, but do the drawings tell a story of their own, one he doesn’t want anyone to know? His actions are getting even crazier, and people have him pegged as the killer, after-all, unrequited love is often a motive! He is a watcher, but he isn’t dangerous, is he? How caged he feels, how animal simply because of his inability to navigate the world just like all the ordinary people. Why, why does he have always have to be cast out? Why does he flip between a childlike innocence and creepy stalker? As they say, even serial killers have mothers who love them.

Then there is the hateful, angry, bitter Jade Dixon-Burns who could always see right through Lucinda’s phoniness. She knows firsthand how imperfect the darling was. Jade knows that she wasn’t the angel everyone imagined her to be. Lucinda cost her so much more than her job! Lucinda’s beauty, her very existence was a black-hole that ripped everything Jade had from her. The wounds were bad enough, but the salt was Lucinda’s indifference to the hurt she caused. Jade had genuine love, in her best friend Zap (Édouard) but she took that too. It’s no wonder she can’t dredge up enough empathy for her little sister Amy, mourning the loss of her friend’s older sister, but it’s a bitter brew when someone eclipses you. If such suffering isn’t enough, her mother is an abusive nightmare. While Lucinda lived the charmed existence of a beloved daughter, admired older sister and popular school girl, Jade suffers at her mother’s hands for adding to the disappointment her mother feels about her own miserable life, her looks guarantee she’d never be popular among her peers, and her family’s financial situation made her job vital. She is no one’s ‘beloved.’ Her tongue is vicious, the result of her poisonous surroundings. Hiding her suffering, only one person was allowed access to the bruises on her skin and pain in her heart and that was Zap. If only she could go back in time, if only her changing body didn’t betray her, if only life wasn’t a popularity contest some of us are bound to lose, then maybe she wouldn’t despise Lucinda’s golden life, then maybe she could feel sorry for her and squeeze out a lone tear. What ifs are fantasies, and Jade knows this more than anyone. So the princess suffered, so what? But did she kill her? Could she hate Lucinda so much that she would leave her lying dead in the snow?

Officer Russ Fletcher has ties to Cameron, and a heavy guilt that he carries. Will his past cloud his investigation? Everyone is pointing at the strange boy, and there seems to be a lot of signs that point to Cameron, which sets a personal dilemma for the detective. The town itself “knows the truth”, they have their criminal drawn and quartered in their mind. It’s easy to solve the case, it could be no one else but Cameron, right? Cameron and Jade are pulled together, and every one of Lucinda’s secrets come out, reminding us we never truly know things in the way we think we do.

I wouldn’t compare this to other novels, it stands perfectly fine on it’s own. It made me feel people’s most common thoughts can be their worst. I’ll be watching this author.

Publication Date: August 22, 2017

Simon and Schuster

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The story had plenty of mystic and the characters were colorful and well developed. The suspense kept me reading and trying to figure out who murdered Lucinda. The story took a twist I didn't see coming although the discovery was a bit underwhelming and could have been delivered in a much better way.

I always enjoy a book when the story is told like this in alternating character voice, this one told by Russ, Cameron and Jade, all very troubled individuals connected to the murder victim in one way or another as well as connected to each other.

I found the authors writing style of this book very frustrating. In the beginning of the book when Jade, Russ and Cameron each introduce their circle friends and entanglements, there was a lot to digest quickly. Jade had an abusive mother, her sister Amy, friend Zac and a homeless man she befriended. Cameron had his mom, teacher Mr. O, his father Lee that was a cop with many problems of his own and friends from school that picked on him. Russ was a local cop, who happened to be the ex-partner of Cameron's dad Lee on the police force, Ines Russ's wife and Ivan his wife's brother that is a story in itself. While trying to keep track of all the players and what was going on in each of their circles, the delivery of the story kept moving back and forth from pre to post murder without any clear delineation. I found I was rereading and scratching my head trying to figure out what just happened, only to figure out, oh I'm pre murder not post murder. Then to add to this confusion was the delivery of content. One example was the delivery of "Cameron going to Hum" without us having a clue as to what the heck "hum" was. Only to find a little later it was a quiet place in Cameron's head where he would go to get "untangled". I like to understand what I read as I read it, not hope it all comes together in the next 5 chapters. This author seems to enjoy this type of information delivery because it's done often throughout the book and for me this writing style put a negative spin on this otherwise very good story.

Girl in Snow is a unique and intoxicating novel that I couldn't put down... Not even for a minute. To see that this is a debut novel is utterly fascinating to me. I mean this is the work of a pro. It's engrossing, intriguing, and downright devious. I can't wait to read more by the author. She's going to the top of my "must reads" list.

This is an entertaining, easily flowing read by first-time author Danja Kukafka. She does a great job slowly unfolding the 3 main voices of the book; one schoolmate, Cameron, who loved and obsessed over Lucinda, a girl found murdered in the park; another schoolmate, Jade, who tries to say she hated Lucinda but actually hates other things in her life and blames Lucinda; and Russ, the cop investigating the murder, who is reeling from his feelings of infatuation for and deceit by his former work partner.
The plot doesn’t dwell on the murder victim but instead dwells on the various hang-ups and troubling patterns of behavior by those who knew Lucinda. Kukafka’s vivid descriptions of the characters really bring them to life. Their personal demons are realistic and disturbing, causing compassion but from a safe distance. It’s a sad story, not a huggy-feely read. I would recommend this for a good beach this summer.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for making it available.)

Excellent story! Looking forward to reading more by this author! Highly recommend!

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32920254-girl-in-snow" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Girl in Snow: A Novel" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1482353807m/32920254.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32920254-girl-in-snow">Girl in Snow: A Novel</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16056148.Danya_Kukafka">Danya Kukafka</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1957135783">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I thought this was great for a debut novel. It's a story about a killing, but the killing is not really what the story line revolves around. The novel is about relationships, honesty, secrets and how they affect us. The story is told from three perspectives and I thought the author did a good job interweaving the narratives. This kept my interest the entire time and I wouldn't mind a re-read down the road.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5459937-katyak79">View all my reviews</a>

Everyone has secrets in their lives that they keep hidden away. A murdered girl, a stalker who sketches, a rebellious girl hoping for revenge, and a cop struggling with his past comprise the main ensemble of characters in Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka, and the secret lives of these characters become connected to solve the mystery of murder.

The murder of Lucinda Hayes brings together three unlikely people to solve her death. Cameron Whitley has watched and loved Lucinda from afar, sketching her from his memory. Jade Dixon-Burns despises Lucinda because she appears to be perfect and she took her lucrative babysitting job. Russ Fletcher is a cop investigating Lucinda's death, who feels the need to protect two suspects, Cameron, the son of his former partner, and Ivan, the brother of his wife. In order to uncover the truth of who killed Lucinda, Cameron, Jade, and Russ must piece together bits of their lives to complete the picture of what happened to Lucinda.

The alternating points of view of the three characters helped to slowly reveal the details leading to the resolution of who killed Lucinda, pulling the mystery out to a length necessary to incorporate the unique insights of the main three characters without dragging it out to the point of being frustrating. As each of the three perspectives rely much upon observation and recollection rather than actual interaction, the intricacies of human relationships and communities come into play. The story is written quite well and thoughtfully with the shifting perspectives well managed, presenting Cameron, Jade, and Russ with both their likable and unlikable characteristics.

Overall, I'd give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

3 and 1 / 2 stars

This story is about the death of a fifteen-year old girl named Lucinda Hayes and the three people who for one reason or another either hated her, loved her, or is investigating her death.

Each of the three main characters tells his or her own story about Lucinda. This book is really a psychological study of life in small town Colorado. The suspicions, finger-pointing and blame that occurs whenever something like this happens is illustrated very well.

Cameron is “in love” with Lucinda, indeed he becomes her stalker. He thinks he knows her better than anyone else in town and he makes a great suspect.

Jade hates Lucinda for stealing her job and her boyfriend. The odd thing is that Lucinda appears to be oblivious to her “thefts.”

Russ is the police officer who is investigating Lucinda’s death. The odd thing is that he is the former partner of Cameron’s father. Russ harbors deep secrets that he must confront if he is to find Lucinda’s killer.

It’s hard to believe that this is a debut novel. Ms. Kukafka is a good writer who turns a phrase very well. I am anxiously looking forward to her next book.

I want to thank Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for forwarding to me a copy of this book to read.

Girl in Snow centers around the murder of Lucinda Hayes, a ninth grader in a small Colorado town. Lucinda had a reputation for being practically perfect, so naturally local authorities are stumped when her body is discovered. Throughout the novel we get three viewpoints (2 fellow ninth graders and one police officer) as the mystery of what, why and who unfolds!

One day! I devoured this entire novel in one day because I was completely and utterly consumed!! Danya Kukafka brilliantly crafts a plot that will keep you up into the wee hours of the night repeating to yourself "just one more page"...over and over! Just when I thought I had a handle on where this novel was going, several cleverly timed twists would completely change my conspiracy theory! I love everything about Danya Kukafka's writing style! Girl in Snow is Ms. Kukafka's first published novel, but she writes likes a seasoned pro! I am truly excited to see what Danya has up her sleeve next! Girl in Snow is a 5+++ star novel that is a 2017 favorite for me!!

Disappointment, blasé, and boredom -- that is what I feel after having read this book. It wasn't that it was necessarily a bad story, but it wasn't good either. In fact I'm left wondering why I just wasted as much of my life as I did on it. Those are hours I'll never get back on a weak story line that never really delivered the punch it seemed to be alluding to. I feel cheated. Especially since the publisher put a note at the beginning saying that I simply wouldn't be able to put it down. I'm let down, and I hate that.

Read some Agatha Christie. You'll be happier with that.