Girl Reflected in Knife

"A haunting, bold portrait of a young woman whose world has reached fever pitch, whose grief has taken on a life of its own. Unputdownable and exquisitely written, Girl Reflected in Knife is chilling yet beautiful, fantastical yet all too real, as we follow one girl through the looking glass. I will be thinking about this book for a very long time to come.” —Amber Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Way I Used to Be and The Way I Am Now

Destiny cannot count on anyone but herself. Her mother has struggled with addiction for all of Destiny’s seventeen years, moving them from town to town, bad boyfriend to bad boyfriend—including a particularly dark period in Texas, where Destiny ended up in a psychiatric hospital. But now they’re in a small town in a new state and her mother’s new boyfriend is sober and stable. And even more remarkable, Destiny has caught the eye of local golden boy Ryan.

But Destiny’s fairy tale bubble bursts when Ryan says their summer romance has to give way to football season. Destiny spirals hard, retreating into the same delusional and dissociative patterns that landed her in psychiatric care as a child, but this time the breakdown culminates in a pregnancy that can’t possibly be real.

Destiny’s skill as an artist is alternately a lifeline and a millstone as she struggles to resurface and reconnect with reality.

"Be careful of the story you tell yourself. It might become the one you believe."

Haunting

4.5 STARS

Destiny’s chronically addicted mother leads to a childhood of instability. She doesn’t trust her mom’s newfound sobriety or the boyfriend in whose house they’re living. Somehow, against all odds she’s dating a gorgeous, popular guy. A pregnancy scare triggers old mental illness issues causing Destiny to believe she’s pregnant while also understanding she’s probably not.

GIRL REFLECTED IN KNIFE was a solid 5 star book right up until the abrupt ending. Anica Mrose Rissi gave me GIRL IN PIECES vibes as Destiny’s mind blurs fantasy with reality. As a child she created a fictitious world to escape her tumultuous home life. Hospitalized and cured of her delusions they come crashing back.

I really, really wish Rissi had given readers an epilogue or at least a better ending than to leave us hanging about Destiny’s reliability as a narrator in the last chapter.