Single Sundays: On the Edge by Allison van Diepen

Single Sundays: While this blog may be focused on reviewing book series as a whole, we can’t forget about the good ole’ standalone novel! On Sundays, I will review a novel that is considered to be a standalone novel. Here is this week’s offering + my choice for my standalone novel for my Everything YA Mini-Reading Challenge for January:

Synopsis for On the Edge (from Goodreads):
From Allison van Diepen, author of Snitch and Street Pharm, comes a sexy, dangerous novel about a teen who witnesses a murder and gets caught up in the seedy world of Miami’s gangs.

Maddie Diaz never should have taken that shortcut through the park. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have seen two members of the Reyes gang attacking a homeless man. Now, as the only witness, she knows there’s a target on her back.

But when the Reyes jump her on the street, Maddie is protected by a second gang and their secretive leader, Lobo, who is determined to take down the Reyes himself. Lobo is mysterious and passionate, and Maddie begins to fall for him. But when they live this close to the edge, can their love survive?

On the Edge is a compelling story about fighting for what’s right and figuring out where you belong. The novel showcases a gritty, realistic voice and earth–shattering romance that will intrigue readers of Simone Elkeles and Paul Griffin and captivate fans of Allison van Diepen’s other novels.

Review:

What drew me to this book was the cover and the tagline “Love is a Dangerous Thing”. I enjoy thriller movies but I haven’t really found any good thriller books–especially in the Young Adult department. So when I saw that this book was going to deal with gangs (another plot elements I haven’t had too much exposure too) my interest to read this book grew.

This book started pretty slow–as in the second part of the synopsis doesn’t kick in until a solid quarter of the book has passed. And while a lot didn’t happen up until that point plot-wise, I still found myself easily reading the story and not loosing interest. Maybe it was because Maddie’s world is a foreign one to me so I found it interesting in that sense or maybe it was simply the anticipation for what was to come.

However, I wouldn’t go out of my way to call this book a “thriller”. It was suspenseful for sure in the last little bit but nothing that had me gripping to the edge of my seat (see what I did there ;)). I actually found certain parts of the plot to be predictable so it lost some of the excitement for me. I kept waiting for a good twist to come and while there were a few good spins here and there, it wasn’t enough to make me gasp and go “wow!” or “no way!”.

I also could have done without the somewhat petty friend drama Maddie has going on. I suppose it was there to add to the “growing up” plot of the book since Maddie is leaving for college and while it did add some realism to the story (which seemed fairly realistic to me), it just didn’t do anything for me. I guess part of the reason I felt that way was because Maddie seemed like she was five years older than she was so it didn’t seem appropriate. She actually reminded me a lot of Zoe Barnes from House of Cards because of her passion for journalism (minus the sleeping with politicians bit). But she and the rest of the cast were nothing special or anything I haven’t really read before.

Conclusion:

I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. Nothing “wowed” me about it and as such it wasn’t all that memorable but I wouldn’t say it was a waste of time. If you want to read a tame (and by tame I mean not overly suspenseful because there are some heavier subjects like murder, sex trafficking and drug usage mentioned) and grounded gang-related story, this is the one for you!

Rating: 3.5/5
Would I Recommend this Book to a Friend: No

Shorthand Stats:
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Realistic, Suspense, Gangs
Recommended for: 16+ *does deal with mature subject matter like sex trafficking, drugs, sex and murder
Heat Rating: warm
Point of View: First Person, Single
Similar Reads: Crossing Stars by Nicole Williams