Thank you Simon and Schuster Children’s publishing for the eARC from Netgalley.

3.5 / 5 stars

*I will include book trigger warnings in my review, so these may be slight spoilers. I note when I do this.

Sydney dreads spending the summer with her absentee mother. Sydney is used to being last on the famous Lila Shore’s list. Sydney is staying with Lila and her new boyfriend, Jake, for the summer in California. Soon Sydney realizes that her mom and Jake seem to be involved in some suspicious art dealings. Sydney’s mom is self obsessed and barely takes the time to worry about anyone but herself. Sydney, used to her mother’s absence, finds herself exploring more of the seaside town throughout the summer.

This title is listed as a “thriller” in multiple synopsis for this book. I would say this is misinforming. I believe the more appropriate classification would be a coming of age story with a hint of mystery. However, I do feel a bit hesitant to classify this in this way, but it is the closest comparison I can think of. This is not a thriller. This book does include brief descriptions at the beginning of each chapter that seem to display testimony entries from multiple people. However, the arc copy does not go into detail with these, so I would assume that there may be photos or some other form of visual in the final copy. These snippets do support a sense of mystery / intrigue, but I would not say that this helps make the book into a thriller or anything of the sort.

*content spoiler warning*

*Book trigger warnings: I feel like this book should include some trigger warnings at the beginning of the book. When you pitch this as a thriller/mystery you are potentially bringing a different audience in. 

*Topics included: violence / abuse / forceful grabbing, mention of rape, violence from an intoxicated person, predatory behavior / targeting of a minor, touching of a minor, possessive behavior, parent ignoring warning signs / putting a child in danger, lewd behavior

This book was very tough to read at times. Based on the synopsis I knew that it may be a harder read, but I truly did not expect all of this. I personally think that a content warning should be given and the inclusion of “thriller” genre should be removed.

Overall, I did enjoy this for what it was. Important topics were brought up throughout the book. The main character showed quite a bit of strength. It was sad to see Sydney be put in troubling situations by her mother. I was disgusted with the male predatory behavior in this book, and it was hard to witness Sydney dealing with all of it over and over again. Sydney definitely feels much older and wiser by the end of the book. 

I do wish this book would have included more outside support though. I wish Sydney's friend and Nicco would have supported her a little more. More could have been done. 

I enjoyed this, but based on the synopsis my expectations were a bit different. I know this book hits a lot of triggers for people, so please keep that in mind.

“Of course, being looked at and being seen are two entirely different things. And when you are looked at but not seen, you are an object. An owned thing. A napkin. A magazine. A knife.”

This book follows Sydney in the summer she turns 16. She flies from Seattle to California to live with her movie star mother. From the beginning of the book you know a crime will be committed but you don't know what that crime is or who committed it. 

This book is being marketed as a YA thriller but I think it's really a hard hitting coming-of-age story. This is a book about all the way women's bodies become objects. It's hard and at times uncomfortable to read but it's powerful. The story itself is a fairly quiet story. Most of the chapters are just quick glimpses into an ordinary day in Sydney's life. What makes this book special is the writing. Deb Caletti does so many things that are structurally interesting. For example, she uses parallelism often to show Sydney's conflicting thoughts: "sexy was something you wanted to be. Sexy was something you should never be." Lines like these I thought were brilliant. They show how confusing it is to be a teenage girl. 

One theme this book really explores is sexuality. On one hand, as a beautiful young girl Sydney wants to be desired. She wants to touch and be touched by her boyfriend Nicco. But the same things that make her attractive to Nicco, leering men are noticing and Sydney struggles with her discomfort at suddenly being "seen." I think this is a feeling all women can relate to, no matter how old we get. We want to be beautiful but not ogled. 

This book reminded me of both Sadie and The Female of the Species. If you were a fan of either of those books, I think you'll really enjoy the commentary in this book.

This book is the story of a white family that is fractured. The mother, Lila, is an actress and we meet her when she is living with an abusive boyfriend. The daughter, Sydney, lives between her grandmother's house and her boarding school, where she is popular and happy. Sydney's relationship with her mother is challenging, as her mother is insecure, easily dominated by the men in her life, and jealous of Sydney's budding sexuality. When Sydney goes to visit her mother for a summer, she discovers her own attractiveness to boys (and to men) while also having to confront the many ways in which her mother is flawed. There is an element of suspense in this book as each chapter begins with court documents and evidence, so there is foreshadowing as to what is to come. 

The downside of this book is that it is exactly like a Lifetime movie, complete with melodrama and shallow and predictable dialogue and inner monologue.. I could picture watching it unfold, especially the ending.

Deb Caletti is a master of foreshadowing and ratcheting up the tension as the story progresses.  That is one of the things I enjoy the most about her writing and this book does not disappoint.  Sydney is a strong, female protagonist and the development of her character was spot on.  I enjoyed being privy to her thoughts as she started to question how girls and women are portrayed in books and film, as well as how they are treated in everyday life.  The ending was really satisfying, but no spoilers here.  Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the digital ARC!

A smart, page-turning thriller about a young woman caught up in the male gaze and its violent, dehumanizing effect. The San Francisco setting and confessional, first-person narration evoke post-WWII noir... with a feminist twist. Sydney is no femme fatale. She's a 16-year-old emerging into her sexuality while fighting against objectification and worse.

I received this eARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. 

Sydney loves her life at school in Seattle, she has an awesome group of friends that she enjoys spending time with as well as her grandmother. But, she flies to LA to spend the summer with her mother who is a “washed up” actress who is very self-centered, naive, and honestly, an absentee parent. However, when she leaves the plane she isn't met by her mother, but rather her mother's boyfriend, Jake. Jake is supposedly a real estate agent and an art dealer, but there are many things about Jake that Sydney “Syd” just doesn’t like. He doesn’t treat her or her mom the way she feels they should be treated and he really makes her uncomfortable. Sydney also begins to find herself and her voice in many ways throughout the novel whether it is through her relationship with the nice young man, Nicco that she meets or whether it is learning to stand up to her mother and Jake. 

Personal opinion: 

Honestly, this book tried to cover so many things, domestic violence/abuse, a girl finding her voice and working her way into becoming a woman, etc. I personally felt that this book fell flat when it came to being a “thriller”. The mystery/thriller part of the book was kept a mystery until about 93% of the way through the book which was really frustrating to me and did not really make me want to continue reading. I also felt like the mystery in the end was then rushed and not really shown in as much detail as the rest of the entire book.

This one hurt. It is a book about the millions of ways that men treat women of all ages like objects. It is also a book about a girl who's mother prioritizes her own beauty and the opinion of men over her own daughter and.. this book hit me hard. It hit me SO personally in ways that a book never has before and I am going to be thinking about this one for a LONG time.

TW: sexual harassment, domestic abuse, emotional manipulation

I cannot recommend this book enough. I was excited to read something different and this book did not disappoint me.

4 1/2 stars!

This was my first introduction to Deb Caletti's work and I have to say I am a fan.  This thrilling coming-of-age book is the story all teen girls need to read.  Sydney might be the daughter of a movie star, spending the summer in a multi-million dollar beach house, but she is remarkably relatable.  I think many young women can remember that summer when men suddenly noticed you, and not necessarily in a good way.  Caletti took every girl's dream life and removed the rose colored glasses.  What we are left with is a deeply disturbing tale of modern femininity, societal expectations, and abuse.

This book is like a bomb and the timer starts ticking on page one.  The tension was immediate and, before I knew it, I was on the edge of my seat, frantically flipping pages to see what came next.  I didn't know where the hit was coming from, but I expected it around every corner.  

The relationships in this book gave me all the feels.  I wanted to smack Lila, hug Meredith, kiss Nicco, and surreptitiously shove Jake off a cliff.  Each character feels well developed and unique.  Lila was particularly complex and I was intrigued by the role she played and how it differed each chapter.  

My biggest issue with this book was that it ended.  I am so engaged in Sydney's story and I just want to know what happens next.  I wasn't dissatisfied with the ending, but I could have read on for many more chapters (or maybe a sequel?).  There is also a lot of use of the phrase "you know" when referencing things we don't actually know, like "you know what he looks like" in reference to a character who is famous in the book, but ultimately fictional.  I understand the purpose of this device and it even fits the voice of a sixteen-year-old girl, but it was overdone in my opinion.  

This exciting YA novel will leave you white-knuckled and sleep deprived in the best way.

Sydney is growing up and that means her body is changing too.  She has started noticing that boys and men both are giving her attention and she starts to wonder where the line between flattery and obsession is.  Sydney is supposed to spend the summer with her mother, but since her mom is the famous Lila Shore, Sydney knows that she will not be on the top of her mother’s plans.  Will Sydney be able to decipher when attention is good and when it is bad?  Will Sydney be able to keep herself safe when so many young ladies before her could not?

Girl, Unframed is a standalone realistic fiction story that covers many truths about growing up in today’s society.  The actions that take place in this book may have been extremes from the entertainment industry, but that does not mean they only happen there.  Caletti gives hints about what may or may not be coming with titles of what seems to be evidence of proof … of what; you must read further into the book to find out.  Although this book is listed as a thriller, it is the story BEFORE the action with the mystery being dangled in front of the reader during the majority of the book.  A good book, but requires a little bit of perseverance.

This was a great coming of age YA with a bit of a thriller sidestory. Deb Caletti's writing is so powerful. This book was great and I highly recommend for lovers of YA!

I  might be biased a little bit, because I've read almost every book by Deb Caletti. Her books just get better and better. After the Printz-honor A Heart in a Body in the World, I wasn't sure what the follow-up would be.
Girl, Unframed was all that I hoped. Caletti has learned how to master the tension when you know something bad is coming. While the ending is different than Heart, the whole book has that same sense of dread where you know you are hurtling towards something big.
The Goodreads description says this book is a thriller, but I would say that it is only a thriller in the way that every woman who has experienced the male gaze and been terrified is living in a thriller. That is what this book is at its core- social commentary that every woman can relate to, if not because she has experienced it, then because she has heard other women's experiences.
My only note- I wish the cover had a girl with brown hair instead of blond, since that is how Sydney is described in the book.

Another brilliant, timely novel from notable author Deb Caletti. Although intended for a teen audience, women of all ages will be able to relate to the experience of main character Sydney, as she navigates the conflicting messages and feelings about sexuality experienced by many young women, including adolescent girls. While this aspect of the novel is reminiscent of Caletti’s 2019 Printz Honor Award winner A Heart in a Body in the World, this novel takes the reader on a whole different journey. Sydney’s emotional and sometimes troubling experience as a young woman makes for a worthy read alone, but used in conjunction with the suspense surrounding an unknown tragedy involving Sydney,                    Girl, Unframed becomes a must read for summer! I nervously read my way through the novel in anticipation of the tragic event promised to the reader through each chapter’s presentation of evidence from a criminal trial, and I was not disappointed! Definitely one of my favorite books of 2020! Thank you to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review the e-galley.

I enjoyed this book but found myself comparing it to her last book which I adored. Good story and I liked the mystery. The discussion of relevant topics is something this author is great at and I really felt she did a good job with this story. It fell a tiny bit short for me only because I loved the last one so much.

This is hands down one of the best YA books I've ever read. Not so much because of the story itself (a compelling coming-of-age tale with an unraveling crime mixed in) but because throughout it, Deb Caletti meticulously reveals the internal rage & confusion felt by teenage girls who grow up in a patriarchal society. The reader sees 16-year-old Sydney work through her feelings regarding how teen girls are expected to be desirable without having their own desires, how they (& we) often push down their own feelings of discomfort in order to be polite to men, how street harassment buries itself deep down in our bones & makes us feel unsafe, always. And SO MUCH MORE. Parts of this book destroyed me with its realness. I underlined so many passages, thinking YES YES EXACTLY THIS. It's wildly, devastatingly good & you should absolutely read it as soon as possible.

Deb Caletti writes smart, feminist YA like no one else. I loved her last book (A Heart in a Body in the World) and had high hopes for this one, and it did not disappoint! It’s somewhat grittier than Heart, in that readers may not always agree with how Sydney handles difficult circumstances in her life and her family is pretty terrible from all sides. At times, I just wanted her to tell of her mom, mom’s boyfriend, dad, even grandma, and run away somewhere where people would care for her, but her journey was more impactful for happening the way it did. It showed a lot of the nuanced experiences of being a girl/woman, having your body and sexuality commodified, learning who you are amidst it all—it was emotional to read but so powerful and important. I think this book is a worthwhile read for every girl!

I like thrillers. I like books about complex mother-daughter relationships. I like books that engage with femininity and the unquestioned misogyny embedded in modern culture. By that metric, I should've liked this book, right?

... Right?

You see, the problem with this book is that, for all its ~deep~ meditations of sexual objectification, it doesn't... DO anything with its observations. Discussing catcalling, the predatory control wielded by fathers or father figures over their daughters' sexuality, why "strong women" stay in bad relationships, and the double standard of sexual activity aren't exactly novel in 2020. We live in an age where teenage girls, in particular, are fiercely defensive of their friendships and their bodies, and the idea that sexual exploits would be looked down upon is a relic of another time. You don't have to be an ardent feminist to recognize that catcalling is gross, men who have a predatory interest in the purity of young women are just that (predators), and that teenage girls are just as capable of desire as teenage boys. None of those, in today's day and age, are revolutionary.

I could buy this book as a period piece - perhaps the 80s or 90s, when slut-shaming was commonplace and not something to be accused of doing. I could also buy this book as one where the thriller elements were darker and more integral to the plot. But as it stands - this middling, neither a thriller nor family drama, sort of book - I really don't see the point of retreading common feminist arguments and presenting them as revolutionary. I really don't.

This is such a hard book to review because there were just so many elements to it. So many surprises and so many hard, uncomfortable things about it.

Sometimes being thrown out of your comfort zone isn't a bad thing. It helps us grow, think of things in a new light and can even make us exam things around us that we never noticed before.

Girl, Unframed most of all, is a story about self discovery. A story about growing up, finding out who you are and what you want in life with all the bumps and bruises that growing up gives you along the way. Really, it's the good, the bad, and the sometimes ugly about it all with a few brighter, sunnier moments thrown in.

It is not a thriller although it does have some pretty intense moments, it is not the mystery read you might be lead to believe from the description but it is captivating and rough, and completely will have you turning the pages wondering what will happen next.

Deb Caletti blew me away with her last book, A Heart in a Body in the World. She returns with Girl, Unframed exploring a lot of the same topics, but in a new, thrilling way. 

Girl, Unframed follows Sydney Reilly as she spends the summer with her famous actress mother. Before she even arrives in San Francisco, Sydney has a bad feeling about the visit. Her feeling proves justified as she meets her mom's leering, dangerous boyfriend, deals with the harassment from the construction worker next door, and confronts loneliness and anxiety of the entire situation by herself.

The book teases out a crime and each chapter starts with evidence presented in the trial for whatever the crime is. Slowly we realize where the ending is going, but you are still left with one last twist. You feel anxious with Sydney, you feel lonely with her. Caletti is great at making you feel like one with the character.

But the strongest part of Girl, Unframed is the exploration of being a woman in society. Sydney is 16 years old and is starting to get a lot of unwanted attention. This is offset by her aging actress mother who is trying to do everything she can to stay relevant and desirable. Caletti subtly shows how women are treated in the world and how men and others try to control and dominate. 

A lot of Girl, Unframed felt familiar to A Heart in a Body in the World, especially in the story of a teen girl coming to terms with what it means to be a woman and the good and bad that comes with it. Yet, Girl, Unframed still takes a unique approach and shows this same theme in a different light.

Highly recommended.

**eARC was provided by Netgalley**

I did not enjoy the writing in this book and found the story line hard to follow. The characters were underdeveloped.