Before We Were Innocent

A bit of a pause before this title as I was trying to force my way through a different novel. Reading avoidance is a big red flag and after a few weeks of this, I resigned it to the DNF pile and moved on. 

I purchased Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman after reading about it on the “Beyond the Bookends” blog and was not disappointed for the most part.

My assessment:

• The characters were carved out of various materials, making them not quite fit together yet somehow work as a set. 
  
• The narrator jumps between past and present fairly effortlessly, though her voice is understandably colored by the event that transformed her existence.
  
• Ancillary characters were not as well-developed until the latter portion of the story.
  
• A few diabolical twists added to my enjoyment.
  
• I reread the last few paragraphs multiple times and was left a little deflated and puzzled.
  

All of this said, I read the book in one day as I was intrigued by the plot and invested in the characters. I would give this a solid 3.5 stars.