The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson Review: "Family First"

JUST WANNA PREFACE THAT THERE ARE NO SPOILERS IN THIS POST!

Okay!!! So I have to say it: this is a must-read! I loved this book so much that I had to create a mood board so you can see the vibes & aesthetic!

First, we'll start with a quick summary! Bel Price is being filmed for a documentary about her mother's disappearance 16 years ago! Her mother disappears without a trace and baby Bel is found in the back seat alone, and Bel has lived in that shadow for all of her life! Now, Rachel has reappeared, and Bel thinks she's hiding something!

In this book, we follow Bel as she tries to fill in the blank spots and to find out the mystery of where Rachel was, what happened, and what is she hiding! There is so much mystery in this book, that I ended up binging it in two days! I honestly couldn't put it down! If you have read Holly Jackson's other book, "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder", I'll say it's very similar; a young girl doing a lot of detective work to solve a local mystery! There's a lot of snooping, theorizing, and teamwork with a possible love interest. It was so entertaining, plenty of mystery, suspicion, and family drama!!!

I've read other reviews on Goodreads that mention it being slow in the beginning, I guess I can see that but I honestly felt it wasn't slow in a boring way. It felt like necessary groundwork, for us to get to know the characters and their personality traits (good and bad), and also getting to know the Rachel Price mystery and what it's done to the Price family.

Another complaint I've seen is some don't like the character Bel, saying they couldn't get attached to her like they did with Pippa (from "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder"). But I think that's the problem, they compared her too much to Pippa and they are just different people. I can agree that Bel is not as kind or likable, but her behaviors are definite consequences of the trauma from her childhood, so she wouldn't be like Pippa. I am not excusing her behaviors in any way, I just don't think it's fair to compare them, but again I get why that bothers some people!

In the end, I recommend this book and am giving it a rating of 5 stars. If you love a female main character, local mystery, detective work, family drama, and a minor subgenre (and it's very minor) of romance, then this is definitely for you. I also think it's an easy fast read, perfect if you are in a book slump! Anyway, I hope you like this review, if you've read it and want to share your thoughts please leave a comment below, I'd love to read it!

Disclaimer: I do not have a degree in English or Journalism, I am just a girl who likes to read books and talk about them! Let's be Book Besties!