Good Girls Stay Quiet

Written by Jo Cassidy

Narrated by Alexa Elmy

Stay silent...

To stay alive.

Fifteen-year-old Cora Snow has a dark secret she only shares with her journal and her best friend, Noah, who happens to be her talking stuffed elephant. Well, and Sally, a wrench and trusted confidant for when Cora's locked in the basement after breaking one of "Daddy's" rules.

House rules: Keep hair neatly braided. Prepare Daddy's favorite meals. Keep the house perfect. Stay locked in room when Daddy isn't home. Call Daddy "Daddy."

School rules: Get good grades. No friends. No boys. Don't EVER attract attention.

And the most important rule of all: Never, ever make Daddy angry.

Cora follows all of the rules to avoid suffering the painful consequences until one day her journal goes missing. A note appears in her locker saying, "I know your secret," and its followed by a series of blackmail demands that take Cora far out of her comfort zone.

For most girls, losing your diary might be embarrassing, but for Cora? Finding the missing journal could be a matter of life and death - and uncovering who took it requires breaking all the rules.

Question is, how far is Cora Snow willing to go to protect her and "Daddy"?

An intense psychological thriller for fans of Natasha Preston, Good Girls Stay Quiet will take you on an emotional journey and help you uncover the importance of finding your voice in dangerous situations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Awkward Pepper, LLC
• Release date: Jun 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781732183285

Reviews for Good Girls Stay Quiet

[librarianryan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Until I saw this book on Hoopla, I had never heard of it or it’s author. It seemed like it would be akin to Living Dead Girl, one of my favorites reads, so I decided to give it a try. I was amazed at how quickly it pulled me in. Maybe it was the long car ride and the child like reader. The story follows Cora, an abused “little” girl who copes by writing in journals. Cora is actually 15, but was kept in such seclusion that she comes off much younger many times. She is in high school for the first time ever. The neighbor was getting suspicious. Her “Daddy” keeps her locked in her bedroom at night, and locked in the basement when she is in trouble. Cora is a trafficked child. No sexual abuse, but physical and emotional. It would be hard for some to read/listen to this story. When Cora is in school she is only supposed to talk when talked to, make no friends, and be as invisible as possible. But that is pretty hard when you sit next to someone in French class who could make friends with a rock. Then there is Brenden. He is the cute boy who works at the pizza place. He has figured out Cora’s secret, but he is not really the problem. The person who stole her journal is the real problem.It is when the journal goes missing that this book jumps the shark. It does it at least one other time, but these jumps need to be make for the ending to make sense. Warning Spoilers below!Someone starts to blackmail Cora. If she does not do what they say, Cora’s journal will be turned over to the police and Daddy will go to jail. I would like to think that if a modern teenager found that journal they would not black mail a potential victim, but help, or seek help. This almost had me turning the book off. Part of the ending is just flat out crazy (see the jumping the shark reference above) while the rest it just too easy. There is threats of death, a house fire, a shooting, a second father, etc. And in the end everything is just hunky dory. It’s too easy. We see in the book that Cora has mental problems from long time abuse. She sees her stuffed animal as a real person, and her “toy” wrench as another real person. This reader can see that they are the other parts of Cora, the parts that do not believe Daddy to be a good man, trying to overcome Cora’s fear of going back into the foster system, and that daddy is actually a horrible person that she needs to get away from. The only thing this book acknowledges about this is when Cora realizes that the two toys know each other, and that they can talk in her head when they are not in the same room. As an audiobook, I had to finish this story, but if i was reading it in print form, there is no way i would have reached the last page. If someone really wants to read a tragic story about child trafficking, pick up Living Dead Girl. It says so much more in a third of the pages.#KillyourTBR #neverheardof