First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirowy

First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirowy
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Izzie and her three best friends, Vivian, Harry, and Graham, would do anything for one another and have always been on the outside of the social order but have had each other. When they were twelve Izzie, Viv and Graham had found the body of a young girl that had been murdered which drew Harry into the group when he came to investigate what the police and first responders were doing.

Now five years later the memory of that day and the girl Izzie had nicknamed Goldilocks still haunts the friends. The police hadn’t done a thing stating she was just another runaway asking for it and now the four friends have decided to do something about it. Forming their own secret society known as the Order of IV the begin to cause mayhem and bring attention to the murder long forgotten by the town.

First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirowy is a young adult mystery/thriller with a tad bit of romance and a whole lot of teen angst added into the story. The synopsis and idea behind this book is one that really should earn five stars from me when reading but unfortunately as with another of Sirowy’s books I have read this one fell short of that mark yet again.

First, I had the same problem when reading another by this author but the main character, Izzie, narrates most of the book and I just find her personality lacking. There’s just sort of a dullness or odd feel to the somewhat monotone narration but then it would pick up during the action and times with dialogue with the other characters.

Even with lacking a connection to Izzie I was finding the story quite interesting. There are several other things that this group of four have had in their lives that left them wanting answers and struggling with dealing with things to keep up interest as the Order is formed and begins their missions. But at some point during the middle I also felt it start to stall out not giving much progress to the things going on and perhaps dare I say getting a tad repetitive just giving the same details to these events.

Then I got to the end of this book….oh how I wanted this one to redeem itself with an awesome ending after being on the fence throughout the read. However, for this reader I found the ending quite unsatisfying. Some of the events leading to the end went a tad too far in my opinion so I’m not sure what I expected to pull this one out but it wasn’t what I found. The answers to the mystery side weren’t necessarily bad though, a bit unexpected but the overall just didn’t sit well with me. In the end I’d only give this one 2.5 stars, some great ideas but just not a fan of how it was all executed.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.