Surviving Valencia by Holly Tierney-Bedord – Review by Krista Beck

Surviving Valencia by Holly Tierney-Bedord
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Van and Valencia are the perfect kids for their parents. Their younger sibling overlooked except by Val. Van and Valencia die in a car crash on their way home from college for Thanksgiving. Everyone’s life is changed.

The story flashes back between the present and the past. As I write this review, I can’t tell you the main character’s name, because I don’t believe it is every mentioned in the book. Which makes sense considering how she feels invisible all the time. That’s actually pretty brilliant!

The story is good, but I felt some of the flashbacks were not necessary for the book and made it feel slow to me. Things picked up for me when the envelopes started showing up. I found myself getting aggravated with her because she comes across so wishy washy and she is always giving into Adrian and never seems to stand up for herself. Until the end of the book, then I cheered for her.

When her past comes back to haunt her, and Adrian, things get really interesting. I would have liked to have seen more emphasis on this. While the ending does make sense with the way the book went, you still can’t help but want to see a tearful reunion. But, like I said, the ending actually makes sense.

View all my reviews