REVIEW: Deadly Cool (Deadly Cool #1) by Gemma Halliday

 

Author: Gemma Halliday

Series: Deadly Cool

Genre: Young Adult

Publisher: HarperTeen

Pages: 320

Amazon: Deadly Cool

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

Hartley Grace Featherstone is having a very bad day. First she finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her with the president of the Herbert Hoover High School Chastity Club. Then he's pegged as the #1 suspect in a murder. And if that weren't enough, now he's depending on Hartley to clear his name. Seriously? Not cool.

But as much as Hartley wouldn't mind seeing him squirm, she knows he's innocent, and she's the only one who can help him. Along with her best friend, Sam, and the school's resident Bad Boy, Chase, Hartley starts investigating on her own. But as the dead bodies begin to pile up, the mystery deepens, the suspects multiply, and Hartley begins to fear that she may be the killer's next victim.

REVIEW: 4 out of 5 stars

I honestly didn’t know what to expect from Deadly Cool but was pleasantly surprised, it was a fun, quick and easy read with an outcome I certainly didn’t expect.

Hartley Grace Featherstone has found a condom wrapper in her boyfriend Josh DuPont’s locker, knowing it is definitely not her he is doing the deed with she seeks him out to confront him but he is avoiding her so she turns up on his doorstep but with no answer breaks in only to find the girl he cheated with, the president of the Herbert Hoover High School Chastity Club, Courtney Cline in his closet; the only problem is she is dead.

The police arrive to investigate and Josh becomes the prime suspect in Courtney’s murder, especially since he has disappeared but Hartley doubts he could be the culprit and sets out to prove his innocence with the help of her best friend Sam and the Editor of the school paper, bad boy Chase Erikson. As their investigation progresses another body shows up and it appears the killer may be targeting the color guard cheerleaders as well as Hartley for doing her own investigating.

Chase was a fantastic male lead, he was all about the hot story whilst Hartley was trying to clear Josh’s name, I loved the way they worked together despite his reputation; they made a great team and I am glad that as the story progressed so too did their trust for each other, I hope to see a Hartley/Chase hook-up in the sequel.

I literally devoured this book in one sitting; I loved each of the characters, all were fleshed out beautifully – the humor between Hartley and her best friend Sam was entertaining and had me giggling on numerous occasions and I actually enjoyed the banter she had with police officer Raley and the OTT behavior of her mother.

The only thing that had me stumped was the reasoning behind Hartley wanting to help Josh! I would have turned him in for his betrayal and his poor excuse for cheating but she seemed to take it better than I would.

I loved the murder, mystery plot and Ms Halliday’s writing was fantastic, I am so eager to get hold of the next book in the series, Social Suicide.

A fun, humorous, quick and enjoyable read.