**I received an ARC from Netgalley. These are my honest opinions, and in no way was I compensated for this review.**
Girl on the Verge by Pintip Dunn
Release Date: June 27, 2017
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Summary: How far would you go to belong?
In her small Kansas town, at her predominantly white school, Kanchana doesn’t look like anyone else. But at home, her Thai grandmother chides her for being too westernized. Only through the clothing Kan designs in secret can she find a way to fuse both cultures into something distinctly her own.
When her mother agrees to provide a home for a teenage girl named Shelly, Kan sees a chance to prove herself useful. Making Shelly feel comfortable is easy at first—her new friend is eager to please, embraces the family’s Thai traditions, and clearly looks up to Kan. Perhaps too much. Shelly seems to want everything Kanchana has, even the blond, blue-eyed boy she has a crush on. As Kan’s growing discomfort compels her to investigate Shelly’s past, she’s shocked to find how much it intersects with her own—and just how far Shelly will go to belong…
I was really excited for Girl on the Verge because of the Thai representation. I've never read one with a Thai-American main character so I decided I needed to. However, I didn't really realize the genre of this book, and I'm not really a horror kind of person, hence my rating :/.
Kanchana is stuck in two worlds: her school life at a mostly white school with students who consider her too Asian and her home life with her Thai grandmother who consider her too American. She's crushing on a boy in her grade who dances, but she doesn't think he'd ever like her because she doesn't look like the typical girl in her small Kansas town. Kan also loves to make clothing and wants to pursue a career in fashion, but her grandmother disapproves. Then Kan's mother decides to take in a white girl named Shelly whose mother committed suicide. Shelly is nice at first, but quickly shows another side to her.
I really liked Kan; she's a strong character, and she's very caring, to her detriment in this book. She welcomes Shelly with open arms because she knows what it's like to be an outsider in this town. Her romance with Ethan was really cute, though I wish we got to see a little more of it.
Again, the main reason I didn't really like this book was because of the genre. I am really just not a horror kind of person, but if you are, you'll love this book. It reminded me of the movie The Roommate with Leighton Meester. Both are insanely creepy but not enough that you don't want to watch/read it.
Girl on the Verge was a thrilling read. I was mostly glad for the Thai representation, and there's a lot. Kan's grandmother cooks, so there's a lot of mentions of Thai food and how it's made. If you like horror and/or psychological thrillers, you'll love Girl on the Verge.
Pintip’s first novel, FORGET TOMORROW won the RWA RITA® award for Best First Book. Her other novels include THE DARKEST LIE, REMEMBER YESTERDAY, and the novella, BEFORE TOMORROW. She is represented by literary agent Beth Miller of Writers House.
She lives with her husband and children in Maryland.
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