Review: Here Lies Bridget by Paige Harbison

Here Lies BridgetWhat do you do when the five people you meet in limbo all want you to go to hell?
Bridget Duke is the uncontested ruler of her school. The meanest girl with the biggest secret insecurities. And when new girl Anna Judge arrives, things start to fall apart for Bridget: friends don’t worship as attentively, teachers don’t fall for her wide-eyed “who me?” look, expulsion looms ahead and the one boy she’s always loved—Liam Ward—can barely even look at her anymore.

When a desperate Bridget drives too fast and crashes her car, she ends up in limbo, facing everyone she’s wronged and walking a few uncomfortable miles in their shoes. Now she has only one chance to make a last impression. Though she might end up dead, she has one last shot at redemption and the chance to right the wrongs she’s inflicted on the people who mean the most to her.

And Bridget’s about to learn that, sometimes, saying you’re sorry just isn’t enough.…




Why I Read It: I heard great things about it, and it has been compared to Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, which I loved.


Review: This book was enjoyable enough, but I didn't love it, maybe because I went into it with such large expectations due to the comparisons to Before I Fall, one of my favorite books this year. I read Here Lies Bridget in three hours, I never got bored and at so many points I was totally absorbed.


My issues actually lie a little with the story itself - the story is quite cliche with a mean girl given a chance to redeem herself. Bridget is the typical mean girl and there wasn't really that much to her, she was mean and trying to give herself reasons for the things she did but it all seemed a bit one dimensional to me. The main event sort of thing didn't come in until quite late in the story and the first half was a bit repeptitive, with Bridget ruining peoples lives.


The other characters didn't have much meat either, Jillian and Michelle were the typical sidekicks, they didn't agree with how Bridget behaved but didn't tell her. They weren't unlikeable characters but they weren't amazing either.The only characters that weren't as one dimensional were Liam and Meredith, because you could see how hard they tried to change Bridget and how much they had changed. The voice was written very well though, Bridget did sound like a teenage girl. 


I was interested in how the story played out, and I was absorbed and never got bored, but I wasn't massively connected to the characters or the storyline. The ending was also unbelievable cheesy but cute as well.


Overall, here Lies Bridget was a quick and easy read with good pacing, but an overly cliche story and some badly written characters. I would recommend it but only if you haven't read Before I fall, because it is nothing compared to that.


Overall Rating: C+



Stand Alone/Series: Stand Alone
UK Publisher: Mira Ink
UK  Release Date: June 17th 2011
Book recieved via Read It, Swap It

2 comments

  1. Sounds like something to pick up if you're bored. I think I'd be annoyed by the shallow characters, though. Characters are the most important part of a novel, I think. Great review!

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  2. oh no! I was really looking forward to this one, its sat on my tbr and everything! :( oh well. I hope you found something more enjoyable to read after it!

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