Rebecca Maney Reviews ~ Stone and Snow by Sibella Giorello

Published November 9th 2015 by Running Girl Productions

Raleigh Harmon, teen geologist, has a seriously dysfunctional southern family, an encyclopedic knowledge of criminal codes, and a literally odd best friend named Drew Levinson.

After surviving a terrifying experience, Raleigh's ready to relax and enjoy the Christmas season with her new boyfriend.

But her smart and kind classmate Sloane Stillman is suddenly found dead—by suicide. Only Drew refuses to believe it. Drew says science can prove Sloane didn’t kill herself. And the harder Raleigh tries to show Drew the truth, the more she herself questions the facts, and the people she once trusted.

Christmas swirls in like a snowstorm, and Drew spirals downward, burying Raleigh under mountains of evidence about Sloane’s suicide, threatening to destroy everything, including Raleigh’s new relationship with her boyfriend.

Desperate to put the pieces back together, Raleigh digs for answers, trying to uncover what really happened on that cold, silent night when Sloane Stillman lost her life.

Stone and Snow is the second book in the Raleigh Harmon mystery series introducing the girl who will become a forensic geologist and FBI agent—provided she survives the high school years. 

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Reviewed by Rebecca Maney

 4 STARS!!!

 

Intriguing barely describes "Stone and Snow" with its highly colorful and varied characters, combined with a riveting story of two very determined teen-age sleuths who set out to prove scientifically that their high school friend did not commit suicide but was senselessly murdered. It's a dangerous game they are playing, if what they believe is true.

Following Sloane Stillman's funeral, mathematical genius Drew Levinson obsessively catalogs intricate details as she tries to convince her best friend Raleigh Harmon that the facts of Sloane's case just don't "add up". Raleigh and Drew ignite a firestorm of resistance from everyone, when they begin their own version of investigation among some of Richmond's elite. Drew's idiosyncrasies only magnify the opinion that both girls have adopted a certain insanity, until the facts prove everyone else terribly wrong.

It's quite refreshing when a teen mystery is so well written that even an adult reader never figures it out until the characters do, and this is that kind of story.

I received a copy of this story from the author in exchange for my honest opinion. 

 

 Rebecca is a graduate of Bryan College with a degree in Christian Education, and is currently serving at the First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Gastonia, North Carolina as the Director of Children's Ministry. With nearly 28 years of experience in her field, she has had many opportunities to use her love of reading and writing in creative ways across the generations. A wife, mother of four "nearly" grown children, and grandmother to four beautiful grandchildren, Rebecca has been able to return to her love of reading and more recently reviewing, with a renewed passion for the "beauty of story".