Review #1- High and Dry by Sarah Skilton

*Goodreads Page*

Goodreads synopsis: "Framed for a stranger's near-fatal overdose at a party, blackmailed into finding a mysterious flash drive everyone in school seems anxious to suppress, and pressured by his shady best friend to throw an upcoming game, high school soccer player Charlie Dixon spends a frantic week trying to clear his name, win back the girl of his dreams, and escape a past that may be responsible for all his current problems."

I received a proof copy of High and Dry through a Goodreads giveaway and finished the book the day I got it. It's listed as a children's fiction and teen & YA book on NetGalley and specified as a book for readers aged 14 and up. While I do agree that this book is more aimed toward teenagers, I don't think I'd let a 14 year old read it. I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, mainly because while I did thoroughly enjoy the book, I felt that it had way to much going on for such a short book (about 250 pages).

Anyway, on to the real review.  So, basically, this book follows high school senior Charlie Dixon through a week of mystery and secrets. As the synopsis says, he get's framed for a girl's LSD overdose after his car is stolen from a party that he was driven home from and had left his car at. He is then enlisted to find a flashdrive by his ex Bridget, soon finding that she isn't quite telling the truth about what's on the flashdrive and also that she isn't the only one looking for it. Not to mention, while all of this is going on, his friend Ryder, a drug user, asks Charlie to throw a big soccer game with the promise of a big payoff for Charlie and Ryder both so Ryder can escape his hell of a life at home. To add onto all of this, Charlie is also trying desperately to win back his ex-girlfriend, Ellie. Add in a complicated high school hierarchy, a few twists and turns, and you've got High and Dry. 

All in all, I thought this book was really good. I read it in one sitting and couldn't finish it fast enough. My only qualm was the layers upon layers of mystery and secrets and plot turns. It felt like a little much for such a short novel. It almost gave me whiplash. However, Sarah Skilton was able to tie it all off nice and neatly, and the ending did sneak up on me. As I said above, the book is aimed toward 14 year olds and older, but I do think that's a little young as there is a bit of strong drug and alcohol reference. Maybe 16 and up would be better. Overall the book was excellent, a quick read, and I strongly recommend it.



P.S. Apologies for the crappy review. I promise I'll try to get better as time goes on. Leave a note on what I can do to make this better! Thanks for reading! :)