Title: I Am Margaret Moore
Author: Hannah Capin
Genre: YA
Rating: 3.0 out of 5

I am a girl. I am a monster, too.

Each summer the girls of Deck Five come back to Marshall Naval School. They sail on jewel-blue waters; they march on green drill-fields; they earn sunburns and honors. They push until they break apart and heal again, stronger.

Each summer Margaret and Rose and Flor and Nisreen come back to the place where they are girls, safe away from the world: sisters bound by something more than blood.

But this summer everything has changed. Girls are missing and a boy is dead. It’s because of Margaret Moore, the boys say. It’s because of what happened that night in the storm.

Margaret’s friends vanish one by one, swallowed up into the lies she has told about what happened between her and a boy with the world at his feet. Can she unravel the secrets of this summer and last, or will she be pulled under by the place she once called home?

This book just didn’t work for me. I found it very disjointed and confusing. I figured out the twist—if you can call it that—pretty early on, but that didn’t make the confusion any less chaotic. I also wish I’d known when the girls were at the school, as that might have made it slightly less confusing.

Hannah Capin lives in Virginia. I Am Margaret Moore, is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Every summer Margaret and her friends, Rose, Flor and Nisreen return to Marshall Naval School. They spend their summer together in their own Neverland…away from all the worries of the world. Everything changes when Margaret meets a boy and their perfect summer slowly falls apart.

So I’m a little bummed that I did not enjoy this book more. To be honest the cover is what caught my attention and when I read the synopsis…it made me super interested in reading this book. *Sigh* however it didn’t really live up to what I expected. The book is written in this very beautiful kind of poetic style which gives the whole book this haunting feel. However that it also kind of its downfall because it honestly took me forever to understand what was going on. The book also jumps timelines, which kind of added to the confusion. There was a brief moment in the middle of the book were it made sense but for a good 60% I was kind of confused. I think I would have enjoyed the book more if it was different writing style. It just really stinks that I didn’t enjoy it more.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the advanced digital copy!

*I received a advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Unfortunately, I am Margaret Moore wasn't for me.

Things I liked: The naval school/summer getaway setting (reminded me of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart and Where Secrets Lie by Eva V. Gibson), the girls' friendships, the overall spooky vibe

Things I didn't like: The writing style made the story feel disorganized. It was hard to lose myself in the plot--instead, I just felt lost and confused. It felt like a lot of words with not a lot of substance.

I would love to see a re-write of this novel in more modern, straightforward prose, but as it stands, I would hesitate to recommend it to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the advance review copy of this book.

beautiful writing but very confusing, justice, revenge, what happens to girls and what girls do. better in concept than in actuality

Summer camp and teenage girls are like catnip to me and I enjoyed this one. It was atmospheric and unexpectedly spooky. A big storm, girls missing, a boy is dead---it all added up to a lively plot that kept me turning the page.

I Am Margaret Moore is written in beautiful, flowing, poetic language, but was not enjoyable for me, as I found myself reading to understand instead of enjoyment. I can’t even tell you exactly what happened with the story, because I found myself confused after finishing it. I think a girl fell in love with a boy, got pregnant, and he murdered her. I think her friends then killed him, but I’m not sure what is dreamed or imagined. This was not for me.

I Am Margaret Moore read more like a poem but at the same time, it didn’t. This book confused me so much at the beginning until it didn’t. This story made me so incredibly mad for women every where & especially women in places where their rights aren’t respected or are ignored.

“I do not believe in monsters that curl beneath girls’ beds and suck their blood. I believe in monsters with wide smiles, beautiful and bright, that live in grand old Victorians; that push girls into the mud; that take our voices and tell us what we are.” - Hannah Capin

I Am Margaret Moore tells the story of one girl and her group of friends who are just screaming to tell the story of a girl who was wronged by a man who promised her the moon and then some only to turn his back on her. It also showed just what happens to girls and women who dare to speak out against injustices against them & pin the consequences of actions on a man of “influence”. Because.. this man was never held accountable by the law or his peers. This man was able to keep his stature and influence while the young girl was labeled as a cautionary tale.

I thoroughly enjoyed the entirety of this book that made me so mad and yet so incredibly sad at the same time.

Maybe it’s the ebook format, but this story was very hard to get into. I had difficulty following the disjointed storyline and ended up abandoning this one after about 10% in. Maybe I’ll give it a try again sometime, but for now I’ll read a different book. Thanks for the opportunity to read this one before its publishing date.

This book is a unique take on the prep school thriller. Every summer, boys and girls gather at Marshall Naval School to show off their sailing prowess, and despite the strict discipline, they find moments to themselves, where their secrets both bind them together and tear them apart.

Capin's writing is both lyrical and repetitive, revealing the plot thread by thread. Her style is reminiscent of novels in verse, but sheers slightly more on the side of prose. I wasn't totally sold on the style.

I guessed the first of two twists in the first few pages. So quickly, in fact, that I'm not totally sure if it was supposed to be a twist? But it isn't explicitly stated until much later in the book. I'm staying vague here in case it was a twist. But I was motivated to keep reading to get the full story.

I loved the ending details so much, especially how the glass on a certain photo kept cracking inexplicably. Great finish to a unique story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the advance review copy of this book.

I really love Hannah Capin's writing style, lyrical prose yet modern, easy to read but poetic. Her stories are deliciously feminist and powerful in a way that is so important to women everywhere, now more than ever. I Am Margaret Moore is no exception and even though it was a heartbreaking yet all too familiar narrative it is also a battle cry and a promise of sisterhood throughout the ages.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am Margaret Moore is an experience that I can't really explain as I don't fully understand it. I cannot give an accurate summary for you as it would give too much away (though you will find it obvious).

I very rarely ever give books a one star rating. I practically have to loathe everything about it as many books may fail on one level but shine on another. I Am Margaret Moore does not shine at all. It is written in some kind of poetic verse where the flow of words means more than what is actually being said. You have to wade through all that nonsense to try and pick out the plot. That opens a whole other list of problems. There are so many characters and time jumps that I found myself begging for it to amount to something and end. The attempt at a massive reveal falls flat and you begin to wonder if you've read it before due to similar plot points to other novels.

I cannot, in my right mind, recommend this novel to anyone. This choppy attempt at art missed the mark and did not find it's audience with this reviewer. Read at your own risk, and we'll be here when you're frustrated beyond belief.

DNF @ 10%

The story is incredibly confusing bcuz of the authors lyrical writing. It’s telling everything instead of showing us literally anything. At 10%, I felt like I should have learned something at all about these characters, and I hadn’t. I just don’t think I’ll get through this and enjoy any of it.

I went into this book open minded, but unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. The actual story and content wasn't bad, it just wasn't something that I enjoyed and had a hard time getting through. 

To start off, I didn't like Hannah's other book, Foul is Fair either. Honestly, I was kind of vibing with the plot and the prose, but the triggering plot line that had no warning, sent me into a full panic attack and that was not fun. I wanted to give her new book a fair shot, but unfortunately, I just wasn't vibing with it and had to DNF.

The biggest difference between the two books was that the prose was strange and I've never been a fan of trying to be ultra-lyrical to create confusion or mystery in a book. I couldn't follow along with anything that was going on because it was being coded or extra confusing and I understood nothing. It was like the book was written for prose, but decided to be poetry instead. Now, I usually don't have a problem with poetry or poetry based stories, but this was just made no sense to me. In addition, I don't want to have to reread paragraphs of text in order to understand of the story and the scene. 

It's sad too, because I was kind of interested in what the mystery of this boy was and what was going to happen. We hadn't gotten into the full plot line yet but I was too lost to keep going forward. The setting, the writing style, and really everything about this book was just not for me. I wasn't vibing with it and couldn't push myself to keep going. So, unfortunately, I had to DNF at 25%. 

I'm not sure if this author's books are meant for me, but I'm glad I at least gave this book a try.

I DNF'd this one. I couldn't get behind the writing style and upon looking at other reviews, it seems like it doesn't get much better.

DNF @41%

Well, I tried. But this book is just too confusing, and half of the time I don't know what's going on. The writing style also isn't my favorite. There were a lot of repetitive sentences and the story was all over the place. This book just wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The first half was so confusing and it left a lot to be desired. You basically in this book are left trying to figure out what happened to Margaret Moore but you don’t start to even have a semblance of an idea until around 60%? and I almost didn’t finish it but powered through due to this being an ARC. I wish I liked this more because there were so many interesting bits and I love YA mysteries. they’re so much fun! However this was just a complete miss for me and the pacing felt really weird and off. 1.5 stars. Thank you netgalley for providing an arc!

So this book is not going to be for everyone..

The writing style was a bit strange and it’s prose-like. It was hard to work out what was going on and really place the people, setting, and timeframe together. It was choppy sometimes back and forth in time. If that idea frustrates you, it might not be the book for you.

However, if you can just sort of go with the flow and let the story unfold the way it wants to without trying to work out all the details, it was totally worth the effort and absolutely amazing.

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed Margaret and her rage and I felt so emotionally invested in her.

Sometimes I read books without reading the synopsis.. I’ve had the book on my TBR for awhile and it sounded good when I snagged an early copy and I just kind of assumed it was a summer contemporary. It was.. but it wasn’t. I’m glad I didn’t reread the synopsis or try to expect a genre or anything because I felt surprised by the direction of the story and I felt like I did not see any of it coming. I mean.. I don’t want to spoil anything at all, but there were just so many emotions and shock! I am still so outraged about what happened..

I highly recommend this book, but I also highly recommend maybe checking out a sample before deciding.. it’s not an easy book to just slide into, but it was absolutely worth the read.

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't like this book. It took me forever to drag through it. I kept hoping it would make more sense, but it seemed to keep repeating itself over and over and it wasn't until literally the VERY end that it made any kind of sense. And while I might have been willing to wait that long to find out the truth (spoiler, I knew Margaret was dead from almost the get go), the style of the book and the characters really weren't enough to keep me engaged. I only finished it because I kept hoping it would improve.

Disappointing, but thank you for the opportunity to review.

This was another clever read from Hannah Capin, although, this novel had a different vulnerability present. It did tend to fall too heavy on the particulars of the sport but still remained a solid read.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for my copy in exchange for an honest review.
This was genuinely a good book just not my style. Once I got further into it, it was easier to read.
3,5 stars.