A guilty pleasure read

Sara Shepard, an icon and pioneer in young adult fiction. Recently, even though I'm 22 years old, I picked up one of her books. I remember how much fun I had reading Pretty Little Liars as a teenager and felt like indulging in something to hopefully recreate that experience.

I think I had my hopes too high.

I decided to read The Amateurs, a book about a modge podge group of teens who meet on an website dedicated to solving unsolved crimes. The premise had me hooked.

Things I loved about the book:

-The mystery, obviously! Shepard is great at creating intrigue as readers attempt to piece together all the clues and solve the mystery before the last chapter

-The scare factor. I was on the edge of my seat majority of the story due to the intense situations and creepy details

Things that weren't all that:

-The character development. The characters had pretty shoddy attempts at any real depth. They all fit stereotypes like "pretty blonde mean girl" "goofball who doesn't get the girl" "hot jock with heart of gold."

-The writing quality. I was shocked Sara Shepard had written this. Or has her writing always been that bad? Either way, don't read this book expecting stellar sentences and captivating dialogue because you will not find it.

Overall, I recommend if you're a fan of Sara Shepard and her recognizable style of overly-attractive teens engaging in all sorts of adult behavior while narrowly avoiding being killed.

What's your guilty pleasure book?