Though Natalie Symons is a successful playwright, Lies in Bone is her first novel and as a Book Reviewer I received a free ebook copy. This is my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor any review.

Lies in Bone is told through the eyes of a teenage girl who lives in a dysfunctional family. She also has a younger sister. The story is set in a small town in Pennsylvania in the mid to late 1980s. The characters are well developed and Ms. Symons seems to have knowledge of what it’s like to be a teenager in difficult circumstances, as Frank is very well written, very realistic, and believable.

Though well written, I found the story’s pacing slow. It held my attention enough to keep me reading because Ms. Symons did a good job of gaining my sympathy for the main characters. I continued reading because I hoped to see their lives change for the better.

However, I was disappointed that not a single character in Slippery Elm seemed to have any happiness in their life. They were all struggling or causing problems for other characters. I disliked all of the profanity in the story, especially when it came from the mouths of children. There were also characters in the novel that I felt were represented in the extreme or in a stereotypical or negative way, with no characters from those particular people groups being represented in a more favorable light.

Though the ending of the story had clear resolution, if you like happy endings, I’m afraid you won’t really find it here. Probably the most disappointing thing was that the biggest conflict that happened in the story didn’t bring about the redemption I had hoped to see.

So, all in all, though the story was very well written and had well-developed characters, I found the story disturbing and depressing. Therefore, I give Lies in Bone by Natalie Symons three stars.