First of all, thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for approving my request and sending me an eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.

Real rating: 3,5 stars.

So, the blurb led me to believe this was a mystery book.
Well, it's not - not in way you would expect.
It's a contemporary about grief and loss, mental illness and suicide.

There was a group of kids - the kids of Albany Lane - that used to spend all their summers together getting in trouble and chasing the end of the Great Adventure their leader created.
When tragedy happened, the eldest was fifteen and the youngest ones were eleven.
And just the three of them were present at the moment: Marley died from a gunshot wound, Nick was dared to pull the trigger from Marley herself and Olivia witnessed her idol dying 'cause of a gun that they were told was unloaded.

Marley's death changed everything: the way the group interacted, the way the parents let their children running around, the way the city reacted as a whole.
After that, the group disbanded and Olivia began to carry Marley everywhere she went - she slowly forgot herself and her own personality trying to fit in what was left of Marley.

On the fifth anniversary, Olivia sees Nick for the first time since that day and she takes it as a sign that now is the right moment for their group to reunite and finish the Adventure.
The finding of a box of letters Marley left behind brings memories and questions about her death and what really happened that day.


I didn't always like Olivia.
Her grief was evident, but her obsession about Marley bordered on unhealthy and I often wondered if she suffered from a mental illness. Her actions and personality did a complete 180 on the same page and it was hard for me to undestand her though a twist clarified her actions and her motivation.
She always carried Marley alone because her friends talked about her loss and how she was gone, not seeing Marley was still with them. She always carried Marley on her own and along the way it became an heavy weight, so now that she can "share" her Marley with the group, her personality starts to resurface. But it's not easy: she wants to be the leader, she had a vision about the way the Adventure should go but now things are out of her control and her friends constantly remind her of the "little Ollie" she was.
Her often dramatic way of seeing things sometimes annoyed me a little.

On the other side, I liked the way her relationship with her sister grew and matured and how the rest of group began to respect her.
I also liked the way it alternates between the present and the past, recounting the events on that day.

Nick was my favorite character because he had to face his pain alone, while the others had more or less support from each other.

It wasn't always easy for me to read - sometimes I had to reread a couple of times a phrase to really catch its meaning. But still I liked the message the author wanted to deliver and I cried when I read the acknowledgments.

Everyone deals with grief in a different way.
Everyone is haunted by something in a way or another.
The way we relive our memories is not the same for everyone else - we give a meaning to our memories that can change and alter the way we perceive things and life.
Don't always believe when someone says they're okay - that could be a lie.

You need to face grief to really heal and to find closure - and all the kids here didn't realize they had unresolved issues about the day Marley died.
You need to voice your loss out loud and this is what Olivia forces the others to do: they needed to remember Marley the way they knew her, not the way they were supposed to for the annual memorial - Marley was a bully, Marley was a friend, Marley was a force of nature, Marley was insecure, Marley wished and Marley wished to stop wishing.

And maybe not in the absorbing way Olivia did, but everyone of us carries on the shoulders those we have lost.
But if we carry them, have we really lost them?

When I picked this up I was expecting an adventurous mystery where a group of friends discover long-held secrets and answers as to what happened in the lead up to the day one of their friends died. While you do get somewhat of an adventure amongst friends, this ended up being less of a mystery and more of a look into how grief affects youth.

When the Albany Street kids lose their group leader Marley in an accidental shooting one summer day, they're all deeply affected but none more so than Olivia and Nick; Olivia because she idolized Marley and watched the shooting happen, and Nick because he was the one who pulled the trigger. After that day, they all drift away from Olivia and Nick is shunned in the community. But on the fifth year deathiversary, a plan is set into motion by Marley's spirit via Olivia and the group comes back together to undertake one last adventure and to understand what really happened the day Marley died.

Honestly, I was deeply confused for a majority of the book, especially at the start. The writing felt very jumbled up and to me it read like stream of consciousness, without any clear demarcation of where one thought ended and another began. I don't know if there was meant to be any magical realism elements in the story as well, especially when Marley was referred to in basically everything -- in the sky, the wind, the ground, the air-- and since I'm not such a big fan of magical realism, this only served to add to my confusion. The story started to get a bit more clear for me at about the 80% mark, and the last 20% of the book is the reason why I'm giving this book a 3.5 star rating because it resolves a lot of the irritation I felt while reading. Olivia was so young when Marley died in front of her, and the abandonment by her friends, and the rigid structure that the parents' enforced after her death, only served to isolate Olivia and make her retreat into her own world, one where Marley was guiding her every move; one where she embraced and became Marley. There was a twist towards the end of the book that was a bit of an "aha!" moment when you realized just how affected Olivia has been all these years. I thought this story painted a poignant picture of how grief can really affect a person when they experience it at such a young age.

While I actually didn't like many of the characters at the start of the novel, some of them really did grow on me, while others remained somewhat side characters (even though they were part of the friendship group) because they didn't get a lot of 'page time' or growth. I have to say that my least favorite character was actually Olivia. She was always acting so competitive and felt this desperate need to always be seen as the person who comes up with great ideas and who's the leader and it just came off as very irritating and immature. Yes, she's only 16 in the present day, but I found this part of her personality very annoying. I really liked Nick, although I wish that we had learned more about him throughout the novel, and not as just the person who accidentally fired the gun all those years ago, and not as the boy who Olivia had a crush on. I think it would have been interesting to have some chapters from his PoV seeing as how his presence essentially played such a big role in what happened.

Overall, this wasn't what I was expecting, and although the narrative was confusing for the most part, it was a fairly easy read (I finished it in 1.5 days). Thanks to NetGalley, author Bridget Morrissey and the publisher for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

While I really enjoyed this, I agree with other reviewers that the synopsis is a bit misleading. It's not so much a mystery/thriller, but more of a contemporary. Overall, I enjoyed the characters, but didn't love the ending.

3 for neutral. I had tried on multiple occasions to get into this book, but could not. It was not at all what I expected by the synopsis. It’s more of a drama, with heartache than a mystery/thriller. I am a moody reader and will update at a later time, if able to get into and enjoy it.

I feel like the blurb and the marketing of this book was very misleading. I went into this thinking it was a thriller/ mystery and actually it was a contemporary.

I really couldn't get into the story or the writing. I think the plot was promising and could have been done really well but I don't know, I just feel like there was something lacking in this book.

I was incredibly bored while reading and started to loss interest quite quickly. It's not the worst book I've ever read but it certainly isn't the best.

I thought the characters were pretty bland and it took a while for anything to get going.

If I knew this wasn't a thriller going in, I might of enjoyed it more but it definitely didn't capture my attention or interest. I was quite disappointed in this one

There was a great deal to love about this book.

Five years after the accidental shooting of Marley Bricket, her friends, who were there the day she died, reunite when a box of letters from Marley is found in her former home. The discovery leads them on a scavenger hunt that reopens old memories, wounds, and betrayals, and leads them to question what they thought they knew about Marley’s death.

It was an in-depth look at best friends during their childhood as they grappled with their grief. There were many poignant and thought-provoking moments and Bridget Morrissey's writing style was really lovely. There were moments when I would have liked more exploration of some of the supporting characters. For me, "When the Light Went Out" was more of a book of reflection on life's particular events, though there were also some twists and turns and drama. It was not so much about typical teen angst, rather it's focus was more about the journey of self-discovery.

Overall. I really enjoyed this novel and I certainly recommend it.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

This book had a mixture of everything. From gun violence to grief to adventures, this contemporary explores many emotions. 

We follow a group of friends as they recollect the memories of their lost friend and the different social reactions that can surround an accidental shooting. Which all comes together to make this a pertinent story for the modern age. 

I think the author does an amazing job in conveying the importance of how grief and friendship can come hand-in-hand. I highly recommend that if you want a stronger YA Contemporary story, this is it! 

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. You can feel the writing's impact long after putting it down. It is a sadder read so make sure to bring the tissues, but it's one that you'll be happy to have read.

This novel is awfully convoluted for as little as it accomplishes. I like the central themes. WE have the ways that a single event alters a number of lives and the influence of an entire town on those lives. Not to mention the ways different people remember an individual. Interesting to be sure. I"m just not sure there's enough story here to actually support its length. Too many diversion.

There are so many kinds of grief that I've read about. It's angry, it's vicious, and it can be consuming for an awfully lone time. This book stands out to me because of its unique kind of grief. Everything about this book, down to the alternating style in which it's told, contributes to this atmosphere thick with mystery. Letting go of memories is hard, moving on from lost ones is hard, and I really commend this book for getting so much right.

This was a complex book for me. It deals with grief and keeping memories alive and allowing the ones who passed to live on through them. Its about friendship and honestly the innocence of growing up (weird way to say it) Its a story also about finding hope which is why the titled impacted me so much. When the Light Went Out. to me it meant when you are faced with darkness, you must search to find the light (hope)
It is an emotional book. There are pure and honest descriptions of loss.
There is a trigger warning with this book - There is a lot of discussions on death, talks of suicide and gun violence (accidental, but still).

It is an intense book, but its also a impactful book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bridget Morrissey and the publisher for the ARC.

When I read the synopsis I thought this was a thriller and thought this through out the entire book. It wasn't until completing the book I find out that it is actually a contemporary and not a thriller/mystery. I wish I would have known that going in. I didn't get the big reveal that I was expecting or any shocking moments. After reading what the author wrote on good read abut the book and what we should expect out of it I now understand the point of the book.

This is a failure on the part of the synopsis writer and the author not being on the same page when it came time to market the book. Even the cover prompts ominous feelings that never came to me while reading the book. I really wish I could re-read this book with a fresh mind having only read the author's note to the read on Goodreads and not the synopsis. I would have enjoyed it so much more. Unfortunately, that was not the case and and I did not enjoy this at all.

This incredibly sad book focuses on a group of childhood friends who lose one of their members to a terrible accident. On the five year anniversary of Marley’s death the friends, now teens and young adults, get together at her memorial. While the story flashes back to what happened the day of the accident the focus is on how these kids have dealt with the trauma. Some of them seem fairly unscathed by the incident while others were scarred and never recovered. Through it all their friendship remained strong or in one case is rekindled at the memorial.

The bonds of friendship are a huge theme along with the nature of memory and how it is shaped by grief. The vast majority of the book occurs inside one character’s head, Olivia. This plays out as a ton of amateur psychoanalyzing of themselves and each other. There is the activity of a scavenger hunt but for the most part it’s a very “internal” story. It is a deep dive into these kid’s minds, especially Olivia’s. It’s not an easy read or a particularly pleasant one but I think it would be helpful for anyone dealing with a similar loss and trying to overcome their grief. It’s a melancholy story but one that ends with a bit of hope. Even those who were incredibly damaged by the accident and losing their friend find the strength to move on and let go of the past to some extent. There is light at the end of the dark tunnel of loss. You just have to be willing to rearrange the furniture.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

YA is my sweet spot with reading. It always has been and even now as I'm no longer a young adult it is still what I gravitate to the most. That being said, recently, I haven't been reading as much YA as I usually do. So, maybe that is why the beginning of this book was a slow start for me. It took me a while to get into it and get a grasp of what it was leading up to. In a way, I felt like I was supposed to already know these characters -- that I had happened upon the middle of the story for these kids. And I suppose I did. It was the most frustrating part of the book-- the feeling that I should know more about the kids than I did and trying to fit it all together with the now, but in the end, none of that mattered. It didn't take long to get a feel for the characters...and then to want more of them.

I got sucked into this story and where it was going. At some point or another, to me, each character was unlikable. But I loved them all the same and wanted to wrap them all up and help them heal. I honestly want more of the characters. I want to know more and follow them after this. I want to see where they go and what they do without the weight of Marley. There was a lot of diverse characters in the book and by the nature of the story they weren't all as fleshed out and complex as they could be given their stories. I could be content with a book for each of them!

So, for me, that is a testament to Morrissey's writing. It kept me engaged and wanting more. Hopefully, we see more of her books in the future!

This was a solid 4 star read for me. So far it is one of my favorites of the year!

4/5: ★★★★☆

When the Light Went Out
by Bridget Morrissey


SOURCEBOOKS Fire

Sourcebooks Fire

Teens & YA

Pub Date 01 Jun 2019



I am reviewing a copy of When the Lights Went Out Through Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley:







I wanted to love this book, I really did, but there were just parts of this book that didn’t mesh. It was okay, but certainly not what I was expecting!


Sixteen year old Marley, the oldest of eight neighborhood friends commands Nick only eleven at the time to shoot her with her Fathers gun, a gun she assured Nick
was not loaded. Did Marley really believe the gun was not loaded or did she commit suicide by having her younger friend pull the trigger?



Olivia whose only eleven at the time Marley is killed witnesses it all, and of course it changes her. She can no longer talk to Nick or the others really, that day changed her.


There had been the Marley her friends knew and the one her family knew. There was the Marley her friends thought of as strong and the one Olivia discovered needed help and didn’t know how to ask for it she discovered this five years after Marley’s death.


When the Lights Went Out had some good parts to it, and as I stated earlier the idea was a good one, a teenage girl struggling until the end, secretly struggling, therefore I found this book to be worthy of four out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

15 year old Marley is dead by 11 year old Nick's hand. 5 years later their teenaged group of friends- 'the Albany kids'- revisit what really happened that fateful summer day and consider what Marley was really like beneath her rebellious exterior.

Once again I was drawn to the story of a childhood summer. I love these coming of age, nostalgic bike rides through time.
As is often the case with this type the timeline is split between past and present. Written from the POV of Olivia the youngest of 8 small town friends When The Light Went Out explores friendship, family and the dangerous games unattended children will play.

One of my favourite plot lines is a good scavenger hunt. 'The Adventure' is exactly that, a game annually created by Marley and never before completed by the group.
On the eve of the towns 5th Marley memorial Olivia discovers the first clue in one final Adventure. But did Marley set this up knowing she would die before they ever began?

As the estranged friends follow the scavenger trail across town through their old haunts they unearth memories of Marley and consider the meaning behind them. Ultimately pulling them closer together, confronting their grief and bringing them the closure they all secretly craved.

There were moments that felt a little juvenile for present tense Albany kids. I'm pretty sure if I had returned from college I wouldn't be letting my parents take away my phone and ground me! Though in truth these aspects added to the immaturity and irresponsibility of the characters- reminding me they weren't equipped to handle the events befalling them. That strange uncertain age between childhood and adulthood.

Again the parents were rarely to be found during the children's escapades, this time I was pleased to see their absence noted. The Albany kids were known around town as being left to run riot, much of the other residents judgemental but grudgingly accepting of the parents casual neglect.

I identified a little with each of the characters, all of them with strong individual personalities, easy to discern from the outset.

When The Lights Went Out holds a few surprises, and asks a question that can never truly be answered. Trauma and grief in children was handled well and resonated with my own experience of sudden loss.
The relationships formed were complicated and well written, the perfect amount of confusion, angst, loyalty and love. Bridget Morrissey made me yearn for my childhood friends and summers long gone.

The idea of this book -- a group of friends reuniting on the five-year anniversary of an incomprehensible tragedy -- seemed a compelling plot. There were moments when I was totally engaged and following Olivia and the gang as they attempted one last adventure together. In between all the great action parts there was so much introspection and it seemed to be so repetitive. It was boring and I found myself skimming whole pages looking for the next crumb of the plot.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Giving this 3.2 stars
There was the Marley the neighborhood kids knew and the Marley only her family knew. I am really not sure how I feel about this story a 16 year commands a 11 year old to shoot her after stealing her father's gun and telling the poor boy it wasn't loaded. The kids seem to idolize this young lady. Was it suicide by friend or an horrible accident! At some point I was reading this just to finish and get to the end. Every life is a gift and Marley just didn't know how special she was.


My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

‘Everything is something.’

Marley was the oldest of eight neighbourhood friends, known as the Albany kids, and the mastermind behind their summer Adventures. Aidy, Teeny, Bigs, Harrison, Ruby, Nick and Olivia would join Marley, riding their bicycles around Cadence, California, enjoying the camaraderie and excitement of their scavenger hunts, never once reaching the end, always “in pursuit of a goal Marley never fully explained.”

Then Nick accidentally shot Marley. He and Olivia are the only ones who really know what happened that day. Five years have passed and Olivia is now older than Marley was when she died. The seven remaining Albany kids have all reunited for the first time since Marley died for one final Adventure.

“Trust me. The Adventure is going to have a different purpose this year.”

The story unfolds through mostly alternating chapters, some focusing on the lead up to Marley’s death and the others beginning the morning of the fifth annual memorial held at the City Hall. This provides a picture of the effect this tragedy has had on the individual Albany kids, their group dynamics, some of their family members, and the town of Cadence as a whole.

‘No one in Cadence wanted to remember what Marley’s death actually did to the living.’

Marley was a complex character and I was never entirely sure if I liked her or not. I loved that she wasn’t portrayed in an entirely positive or negative way. I liked Olivia’s tenacity but at times her dramatic way of seeing everything irked me, although I understood the reasons behind it. I adored Nick, who was 11 when he accidentally shot Marley, and has had to essentially live with his pain alone, even though it wasn’t his fault. I enjoyed getting to know so many multifaceted characters, many of whom were keeping secrets, from others and sometimes themselves as well.

I hear a lot about gun violence but I consider myself very lucky that I can’t personally comment on its effects on the minds and lives of the adults and children who are left to try to pick up the pieces of their forever changed lives. If there’s one thing recent news items have shown it’s that we are currently failing survivors of this type of violence. It’s painful to read about but books like this are so important for young adults and the young at heart.

Just some of my takeaways from this book are:
* We need to be sensitive to the different ways people grieve
* We can be haunted in so many ways
* The meanings we attribute to our memories and experiences can alter our perceptions
* People may be wearing social masks to pretend they’re okay when they’re really not at all. Don’t be afraid to look beneath the surface.

“Let’s make it so that we never again have to ask ourselves, How did this happen?”

Content warnings include discussion surrounding accidental death and suicide, description of a character’s death as a result of a gunshot wound, and body shaming.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc., for the opportunity to read this book. I’m rounding up from 4.5 stars.

Thanks so much to Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy of this book!

..........huh?

Honestly, guys, I feel like I'm missing something. This entire book went over my head.

The story follows a group of friends who are brought back together on the fifth anniversary of their friend's death by accidental shooting. The group is then thrown into an incredibly intense scavenger hunt that forces them to question everything that they've always known about the incident, and whether it was really an accident at all.

Honestly, I could not tell you what happened in this book. It flipped back and forth between the present and the day of the shooting, but I found this transition so choppy and I could not discern what was happening at all.

I liked the diversity obviously. There's several people of color, and a queer character, but none of them really felt all that developed and their dynamics were really confusing. Also.... the romance??? huh????
I just.... y'all what the hell happened in this book? Am I just dumb?

Am I too dumb for this book?

Trigger and Content Warnings: Accidental shooting, gun violence, gun death (fairly graphic), mentions of mental illness/suicide, mentions of body shaming

I wanted to love this book. I really really did.

And I didn't hate it.

The writing was great, I really enjoyed the alternating point of view between the day that Marley died, and the days of the Adventure. It flowed well. But the present day point of view almost made parts of the throwback chapters redundant, it answered your questions too early I feel, which potentially made the book drag along a little. The ending was suspected. It made it hard to read and follow the flow. But the author really does have a lovely way with words, there were so many sections of this book I found myself taking note of and highlighting along the way because they encapsulate the process of grief so well.

Grief is a really difficult topic to write about, especially grief from bereavement. How do you put loss in to words? Morrissey does it very well and the sections that spoke on grief were poignant and raw. They sat with you through the story and you can really feel what the main characters are expressing.

That being said however, one reason this book isn't rated higher is the main characters. Ollie and Nick were the youngest two of the group and the two that were there when Marley died, Nick pulled the trigger and Ollie watched as Marley was killed by a gun that wasn't supposed to be loaded. That type of trauma is bound to mess anyone up, especially eleven year olds. But something about Ollie didn't sit well with me, I found her character reckless for the sake of being reckless and her unhealthy obsession with Marley was kind of unsettling in places. Particularly when she dresses as Marley to go to her memorial every year. That in particular made me feel a little weird. Ollie's voice is the narrator in this book, she's followed by the spirit of Marley, this presence of Marley was nice but I felt like it could have been developed further.

I wanted a bit more from that aspect of the book.

Now looking at Nick, he was a good character. But in terms of him and Ollie and their budding romance, it didn't seem like it was something that was for the best. It seemed too predictable and too cliche for the book, and in my opinion, Ollie forgave him way too fast for not talking to her in five years.

Something that was unprecedented from this book were the conversations about mental health and whether Marley knew the gun was loaded when she told Nick to pull the trigger. It was a conversation that fit well into the story and made it even more harrowing than before.

Overall Rating: 3.5 stars, this book didn't fully hit the mark with me, but it was also a good read. I wouldn't call it a favourite but I don't hate it.