TW - this book contains sexual abuse, rape, and abortion. Please proceed with caution before you read it.

I've gone down the middle with a 3 star review, because whilst this book was good it just lacked the depth it needed to be excellent.

I wish it the story delved a little bit deeper into certain areas than it did, and other areas didn't need quite as much focus as they got.

On the surface, it covered everything and gave us a clear ending, I just wished that certain side plot lines were enhanced, I feel that would have helped with us feeling an attachment to the characters.

I liked the way the book was laid out though, bouncing between the past and the trial and it was good to have that background as we approached the next trial chapter.

The characters I struggled to vibe with and found them hard to feel anything for, but I think that could have been helped by just adding a little more backstory for them and introducing them more.

On the whole, it was good and whilst it did have some heavy topics (and I implore people to check the trigger warnings before they read) it did so well.

I think I would have liked this book more if I had not heard all the hype about it. I was disappointed that it did not live up to all I had heard. It was a hard story to read.

While flipping back and forth between the past and present helped move the story line along, I read it on my kindle and it was hard to flip back to remind myself where we were.

I wish I had gone into this reading not knowing or expecting anything - I think I would have enjoyed it more that way.

Brilliant debut. Jumping back and forward from thd past to current day was especially good and made me keep reading as you just want to know more. There’s some real morals in here. You’ll love to hate some characters and be rooting for others. I thought this was very well written and I look forward to the next book.

This book was great but it was obvious that it was serious and heavy with dramatic and serious topics. A lot of the struggles were easy to relate to, especially those of wanting to fit in, to hide your upbringing and making decisions and choices that do not match up to what people expect of you.

we purchased this book for our library
Will you recommend this title through Readers’ Advisory, book clubs, events, etc?
Yes
Do you nominate this title for the LibraryReads List? By pressing YES, you also consent to your email address being shared with LibraryReads.
Yes
Is your library likely to purchase this title?
yes

Twisty and gripping; I liked the different viewpoints from past to present and family dynamics but it wasn't as thought-provoking as I had hoped. Lots of content warnings to be aware of too.

Girl on Trial is a brutal, emotive and thought-provoking. A suspense filled and cleverly constructed narrative which is told through current and past time lines. Lots of depths and a narrator who you are not wholly sure is reliable make the book a very enjoyable read.

An engaging read that I thoroughly enjoyed! Not my usual subject matter, but I was hooked! Highly recommend and will purchase several physical and digital copies for library collections. Thank you!!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was a really quick engaging read. The subject matter and story are a bit dark. That being said, the story was well done and so were the characters.

This was a book I really enjoyed. I connected to the writing style very quickly and it made it a very quick read for me. I’ll be looking for more titles by Kathleen Fine!

Great courtroom drama feels, loved having dual pov throughout this, I think that worked really well for this story.

I wish I’d remembered that this was meant to be YA before I started reading this book. I would have adjusted my expectations accordingly. However, even when I did adjust those expectations later on, I still could not get past the legal inconsistencies to really appreciate the story. What is depicted here is just now how trials work. Video evidence would not be first given to the defense in the middle of trial. I appreciated the dual timeline and thought it was a great way to tell this story, but none of the testimony related to what happened prior to that night would have been allowed at trial, and any good defense attorney would have objected to it.

The characters were well written, and the dialogue was pretty good, too. It was a story that was easy to read and I enjoyed various parts of it while reading it. I just could not forget how unrealistic the trial was, and that colored my view of the entire novel.

Whew this book was so dark! I did not expect it coming into it knowing it was a YA book. It felt at times that the author was literally piling on traumatic and triggering subjects (rape, alcoholism, drug abuse, etc etc) for the fun of it? I don't know, it was a bit much for me. While I say that, I was enthralled with finding out what actually happened on the night in question, and if the main character Emily could have potentially accidentally murdered the family that she babysat for. The writing certainly felt as though it was a YA novel, nothing truly ground breaking, but I will say that I did enjoy the story. I don't know, I'm just on the fence with this book. Look up trigger warnings before reading if that is an issue for you, but it did keep my attention for the time while I was reading it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

This novel focuses on sixteen year old Emily's trial for manslaughter and the events leading up to the fateful night that killed four people. This story is told through a dual timeline: the trial itself and "the past".

The State says she accidentally left a stove on while babystitting, killing the family via carbon monoxide poisoning, but is that really the case?

This was definitely a YA novel. I was expecting more depth for the characters and more evenness throughout the plot, but overall this was a pretty good read. I felt that Emily's daily life was very well portrayed along with the complex portrayal of her mother. It was well paced, but I felt like the courtroom chapters were a bit disconnected and could have been better written.

I really enjoyed this book! Here’s what I thought worked and didn’t:
Positives—
-the innocuous references to Berger cookies. If you don’t know Baltimore, you likely have no idea what these are. And your life is lacking something you don’t even know it’s missing yet.
-the three timeline narratives. I loved seeing the story come together a piece at a time.
-the very real poverty narrative, including the struggles of belonging and wanting more. I thought this was heartbreaking and really made me think more about poverty in my community.
-the portrayal of addiction, and how easy it is to fall into it without thinking about the path you’re headed down.
-the very real perspective of peer pressure for teens. It’s real and it’s an incredibly powerful force.

Negatives—
-the trial came across as unrealistic (from a lawyer’s POV), but maybe it was just the selection of trial narrative included in the book. I did think Emily’s testimony was compelling.

Overall, a solid read that I’m glad to have read!

This was an interesting story and I was engaged during the reading. However, it will be one that I forget easily. I liked the mystery and tension of the trial, and how this was dealt. A few trigger warnings to be aware of.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Girl on Trial is an easy read, but I felt it only skimmed the surface and lacked some of the emotive aspects, at times I felt I was just reading words as opposed to feeling. Having said this it was very descriptive and I was able to picture aspects, e.g. the caravan park, the layout of the home environment etc. I don't know why but sadly it didn't have an impact on me and at times it felt predictable. However, it did keep me curious as to what actually happened to the Thompsons. 3/5 stars

Really enjoyed this one. I wasn't sure about the time changes, but it was done really well. A little confusing but it all worked out in the end.

A mesmerizing and suspenseful journey into the darkest corners of family secrets. This domestic thriller is sure to keep you up all night

This was such a fascinating read! I really enjoyed that the timeline was both present day during the trial for Emily, and in the past of all the events leading up to the trial. This book really got me thinking because what happened in this book is unfortunately something that could so easily happen to others. The way the prologue is setup is really intriguing too because as you are reading and going into the trial, you think Emily is going to be convicted of one thing, and then boom, it's something else. I enjoyed the way the author explored Emily's friendships and used internal monologue throughout all the events.