How Far She’s Come by Holly Brown (Review by Julie Ramhold)
Rating: 4.5/5*
“I write my own ending.” How Far She’s Come jumps into the action right away and honestly never seems to slow down. It’s a very timely, relevant title for what’s been happening in the national media over the last couple of years. But the present-day story is connected to a story that’s nearly thirty years old and shows quite accurately that as far as women have come, there’s still a long way to go.
There were times reading this that I felt that it was easy to forget it’s fiction. I spent a lot of time reading the book and trying to decide if the diary entries were from a friend or foe. The book does a good job of building tension. I felt at times that the diary entries were slightly unrealistic, but only because of the dialogue written in them. I found myself wondering if I would have been able to accurately detail a conversation I had with someone when I was still writing in a diary regularly. It wasn’t a bad thing though, more just a curiosity. The combination of the first person storytelling from Cheyenne as well as the diary entries, Wikipedia articles, and pop culture references worked really well to tell this excellent story. There’s more than one mystery to discover with this book, and it kept me reading long past midnight because I couldn’t put it down. Although I wasn’t happy with the ending (at least part of it), I can definitely say it’s a realistic ending. This is a strong book, and I feel like Holly Brown definitely did her research. I’ll be recommending it to all my friends for sure.
Is it a good GBC future choice? Definitely.