Hysteria

Author: Megan Miranda
Goodreads Rating: 3.84
Pages: 336
Format: E-ARC from Netgalley

Mallory killed her boyfriend, Brian.
She can't remember the details of that night but everyone knows it was self-defense, so she isn't charged. But Mallory still feels Brian's presence in her life. Is it all in her head? Or is it something more? In desperate need of a fresh start, Mallory is sent to Monroe, a fancy prep school where no one knows her . . . or anything about her past. But the feeling follows her, as do her secrets.
Then, one of her new classmates turns up dead.
As suspicion falls on Mallory, she must find a way to remember the details of both deadly nights so she can prove her innocence-to herself and others.
In another riveting tale of life and death, Megan Miranda's masterful storytelling brings readers along for a ride to the edge of sanity and back again.

At first when I started this book, I felt a little blah mostly because I was really lost. e started this book with this terrible thing having happened to Mallory and her boyfriend and we have no idea what it was why it happened or anything else surrounding it. We know that her mother has hidden the knife block and that her parents are shipping her off to school in New Hampshire and that she is not happy about it at all. I guess thats what you do as a parent when your daughter kills her boyfriend in self defense and his mother won't leave you alone.

Miranda's writing was a combination of present time and flashback to the night that the accident took place and other times surrounding it. A lot of the flashbacks have to do with her boyfriend Brian, and others have to do with her stellar best friend Colleen, who you cannot but help and love for her devotion to Mallory and visa versa. Right from the start you seem to find out that Brian was a shit and had no business being with Mallory, and while tragic, its a good thing that she was able to escape him while she could. While we don't know right away what happened the night that Brian was killed the facts are quickly established so you're not left hanging until the end of the book, which while it adds to the suspense, really drives me crazy.

Once we get to New Hampshire, the plot really takes off and we're introduced to a handful of other students who really matter to moving the plot forward. One of them is Reid, and my god is he one of the best book boyfriends ever. Like really, as suspicious surrounded Mallory regarding the different events that take place including the subsequent murder, he seems to never, not ever lose faith in what she told him what happened. And THAT my friends, was great because it wasn't instalove, it was based on him having known her for years and his trust in her, not that he loved her having seen her again after ages. The entire book I just wanted to take a Mallory doll and a Reid doll and smash their faces together making kissey noises. Because thats all they should do all the time.

I loved that there was a development of the relationships, I've seen in a lot of books, authors that will declare two characters best friends and back it up with some actions that show it, but in this book we really see how Colleen and Mallory were really there for one another. We saw how their relationship grew through the awful experiences they were both going through. The same thing went for Reid and Mallory as we saw flashbacks from when his father died when they were in high school. That was a relationship of substance.

I was a little confused as to the development of Mallory's problem. She seems to be having hallucinations of Brian sort of stalking her life. She feels like she keeps hearing the pounding of his heart and then she starts to develop these bruises on her shoulder and then other instances occur in her room that make you wonder who was the culprit and what was going on. It was frustrating at times because you could never be sure, and of course there isn't just one person working against her sanity.

All in all, this book just made me more excited to read Fracture which has been on my shelves for quite some time now. 

The Courts Decision: