A book about running. A book about murder. A book about competition. Sadly, while still 3 stars.. I am disappointed.

This was one of my most OMG I Need To Read Books, and while I did have moments that I enjoyed (hence the 3 stars), there were just too many moments that weren’t my favourites. Since I am tad tired I will do a good/not so good review.

Good:
😍 Mila. I just adored Mila. I loved how open she was and how, despite being dragged to a town known for its cold cases, still tried to make friends. Was friendly to everyone. I would have definitely loved to get to know her better, because she was one of my favourites.
😍 The Cover. I know it is just a shoe, but it fits perfect with the book. The blood on the shoe. Perfection. The tags that tell us the title of the book, love it.
😍 The killer. I had 2 main suspects, but neither of them were IT. And that is what I just adore in books. I always love it when an author makes it seem like x but then it is surprise time and it is a.
😍 I love that the killer got a POV in the end, which made it so cool because we found out about the whys and the whats. It was fun (well, you know what I mean) to see what went into their head.
😍 I loved the town. I mean, it had major creepy vibes. I would definitely not have stayed. Not if my kid was a runner at least. XD Plus, I would have loved to visit this town in autumn. Yes, for the creepiness, but also because all those events they have sound amazing and for someone who is a big fan of autumn it sounds like heaven.
😍 While the writing style was slow (more on that in the not so good section), there were also plenty of moments that just flew by. The writing style did hold my attention.
😍 I did love that it wasn’t just about murder. About someone who disappeared. I also love that we see what running does to these girls. The stress, the expectations, the pain, the food that they cannot eat, all the other things. I was very proud of the girls at the ending and what they did there. For Mila, but also for their own sakes.
😍 Since I have to be secretive as it is a thing that doesn’t happen until later. I love it when during the later pages two people found each other.

😑 How nothing seemed to happen for almost half of the book and even after that it is just one murder. One disappearance. Nothing more. For a book like this, with a blurb and title like that, I had expected MUCH more.
😑 Stella was just meh. She does get better later on or well, to be better said, we learn a bit more about why she is the way she is, but for most I just wanted to shake and put some emotion in her. She was just so emotionless at times. I mean, Mila just disappeared and while I can understand that missing practice sucks, the things she said/did then, were just WTF is wrong with you? Also that charity race thing, what the fuck is wrong with you?
😑 The cheating and thus Ellie. I HATE cheating. For personal reasons as well as normal reasons. I dislike people who go along with that shit, like Ellie did. Oh, you are with Tamara, but I like it when you shove your hand in my bathing suit so let’s just make out. Teehee. No. Fuck no. flips a table So yeah, Ellie was, from the start, a character I never liked. And throughout the book she kept making the worst mistakes. Plus, hello, her constant doing what Stella did just was rolls eyes. But in the mean time, confusingly, she also didn’t want to be in Stella’s shadow…. mmmmmmmmm.
😑 I get that this book is about running, but really there is just too much running. I am already not that interested in running but reading this book made me never want to consider running again. XD It also definitely didn’t help seeing how competitive people got, that was just a bit too much for me. WTF people.

So yeah, a disappointment for me. I had high hopes for this one as I loved the author’s previous book and again the blurb/cover looked awesome for this one. Sadly, I just cannot give it more than 3 stars. Which sadly means that it is going on the bye-bye stack and will be sold when I have time to set things up.