Title: Girl Underwater
Author: Claire Kells
Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: March 2015
Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Contemporary, Thriller
Series or Stand Alone: Stand Alone
Synopsis can be found here.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Review:
Avery’s plane goes down in the Rockies and she is one of the only survivors. Included are three young children and Colin Shea, a young man she knows from her swim team. Together they fight for survival. But even after the rescue, it’s only the beginning.
The premise of Girl Underwater was so interesting, I just had to read it. Personally, I am not a good flyer by any stretch of the imagination so this was a good challenge for me to even read about a plane crash and the aftermath of that crash. The novel jumps between the crash and the five days of survival to after the rescue, and Avery coming to terms with how her life is now forever changed. I really enjoyed both timelines of the story, but it did feel pretty disjointed going back and forth so much. The chapters were short and I felt like as soon as I was getting the momentum in one section, it would switch and I’d be thrown back to all these other emotions and tension in the other section.
I really like the story and the characters. Avery is suffering from some real issues after the crash and has a lot of healing and growing to do. She’s a very sympathetic character and you can’t help but root for her and hope she’s going to be okay. Colin is so strong and it’s easy to see how they feed off of each others’ strengths when the plane goes down. I think their relationship felt pretty organic and natural, considering the circumstances.
There were some plot holes in the book that brought me out of the story. I don’t want to spoil it here but some things happen, (in regards to wildlife and rescue) that seemed a bit far fetched or didn’t really make sense. And then there was how Avery was more reality television survival girl. She says her father, an ER doctor, taught her how to do a bunch of stuff that obviously, comes in handy when she’s stranded in the cold Rockies. But this seemed a little too unbelievable to me, but maybe that’s just me.
Side Note: I should have really paid more attention in girl scouts.
Overall, Girl Underwater is a fast and suspenseful read. It’s not so much about survival in the wilderness, but about survival after the wilderness. It’s about dealing with who you are after tragedy and who you want to stick by. It’s about Before and After, and how you choose to reconcile both moving forward.
Rating 7 Would Recommend
Kimberly majored in Songwriting and currently works full time in the music industry. When she's not listening to music, knitting or writing, you can find her outside reading her favorite genres: Young Adult, Adult Fiction, Mystery, and Romance.