Book Review: Swallowing Stones

sschneider Uncategorized


The book that I am reviewing today is Swallowing Stones by Joyce McDonald. I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars. This book’s genre is betrayal and a murder mystery. This book takes you to a setting in Briarwood on a normal 4th of July day with fireworks popping and parties partying. One party in particular there were two guys, Michael Mackenzie and Joe Sadowski, they went outside to try a gun and accidentally shot the gun in the air.

This started a good setting for the book but as you continue to read they switch points of view with Michael and Jenna,a girl on the other side of town,every 2 chapters. It was very hard to follow this sometimes and remembering what happened 2 chapters earlier. Romance fills a lot of the plot and keeps you on your toes to see what happens to certain relationships. I feel like this book could go without the cursing because I believe it is unnecessary to get a point across.

Since there is cursing and some mention of ‘messing around’ I do not really recommend this book for kids that aren’t ‘mature enough’ to handle some of the content. Swallowing Stones is an award winning book for best young adult author. After spending hours of reading the ending was very disappointing and definitely not what I expected it to be and I wish I could take back the hours I spent on it.