(I took a star off because of some of the content.) 
 a bruise you can't stop worrying 
 Reading Nova Ren's beautiful prose is like a sucker punch to your heart. The image of the flooded town, Olive, beneath the reservoir, haunted me in my dreams. The bond between the two sisters, so believable to me as an elder sister myself - that need to protect your siblings from things that are often out of your control - grows sickly-sweet with hidden secrets and, on Chloe's part, a seeming edge of denial that, despite the often sinister turn of her sister's manipulations, she is above all fault. 
 a piece of marzipan - delicious at the first bite, gradually too sweet to handle 
 Ruby. The type of character you aren't sure whether you should love or hate, sympathize with or condemn. She keeps men hanging, has nearly the entire town twisted around her finger, both adoring and resentful of her, and is obsessed with keeping her younger sister safe, even though her own dare in the very first chapter got her into that mess in the first place. Her life is exactly what a blurb on the back cover describes it to be: a surreal little nightmare, the type that freaks you out when you first have it and then, later when the sun shines through the curtains and you can see everything clearly, you struggle to remember why you were so afraid. 
 the word fin at the end of a horror movie - it always feels premature 
 The twists within this story will not please everyone. To me, it fit, but yet left me feeling a bit cheated. The aftermath is exactly as it should be. A small town moves on, regardless of who lives or dies or disappears in a mysterious way. Some mysteries are left unwound, for you to puzzle out for yourself. 
 In any case, if you do read it, here's my only warning: The ending matches the story. Take that as you will. 
 Good points: The writing. If you read it for anything, read it for the writing style and the choice of words. If Nova Ren Suma ever gives a writing class, I'm definitely going to go and take it from her. Because she knows what she's doing. 
 Bad points (or the warnings - didn't think I'd end the review without them, did you?): Quite a bit of teenage debauchery - drugs and the like. Ruby lives with her boyfriend Jonah. There are hints at some pre-marital...stuff. Just putting that out there. 
 Final verdict: I don't want to do the yes, no, maybe so thing any more. It's not fair to any author to be given a sharp, negative stamp. I've sometimes turned away from a book I later find I might enjoy because of the word choice a reviewer uses. In reference to this review, I'd say that yes, you should read it, if only to see how magical realism should be done. It's all up to you.