MURDER ON A SCHOOL NIGHT By Kate Weston

June 26, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

MURDER ON A SCHOOL NIGHT By Kate WestonMurder on a School Night by Kate Weston
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 7/4/23
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 376
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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There’s never a good time to find a dead body, sure. But what about finding a dead body while you’re trying to kiss your crush?

Kerry had different plans for her first high school party—like not going. All she wanted to do was stay home in the safety of retro rom-coms and her strict retainer schedule. Instead her BFF, fiercely outgoing mystery-fanatic Annie, has roped her into going to the party to investigate who’s cyberbullying Heather, the most popular girl in school.

Finding herself getting close with her dreamy crush is odd enough, but when the two of them discover Heather’s second in command, Selena, suffocated with a menstrual cup, things get really weird.

And when a second student turns up dead, this time with a sanitary pad across the eyes, Annie and Kerry—no matter how much she resists—are officially on the case to stop the menstrual murderer . . . period.

Short and Sweet Review

Kerry and her best friend Annie have different ideas about going to their first high school party. Kerry wants to stay home but Annie is determined to go and have a good time. At the party the girls find out that Heather one of the popular girls is being cyber bullied and offer to investigate. Kerry finds herself getting close to her crush but their romantic night ends when they find Heather’s friend Selena dead with a menstrual cup in her mouth. Things only get weirder when another student is found dead with a pad covering their eyes. No matter how hard she tries to resist Kerry knows Annie is right and they have to figure out who the Menstrual Murderer is.

This book was good at points and at other points it was a book that I didn’t want to finish. Kerry and Annie are total opposites, but their friendship works out because opposites attract. Annie is outgoing and Kerry is more of an introvert. The girls are very proud and don’t shy away from the fact that their body positive and sex positive and I got it, it was cool at first but I think they went overboard that it became cringey. Annie and Kerry end up hanging out with Heather and her group of friends after the murder mainly because they think that Annie and Kerry can solve the murder of their friend. Kerry also has a bit of a romance with a guy named Scott, which was okay there wasn’t really sparks flying everywhere in my opinion. The murders are weird and the culprit had a thing for using menstrual items, Kerry and Annie think that they’re the ones who need to solve this murder because they’re able to freely talk about periods and vaginas. Anyway the murder is a cover up for something larger and these girls are in a little deeper than they thought they would be.

Overall, this book was not what I thought it would be. I found the premise interesting, but I think the characters, mainly Annie were off-putting, she just inserted herself everywhere and she was just too much. The body and sex positivity were cool and I can see what the author was going for but it became cringey, it was like someone doing it to get attention and not for the actual cause. Anyway there was a lot of potential for this book to be funny and a good mystery but it ended up being a mess.

Filed Under: Reviews

YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE TONIGHT By Kalynn Bayron

June 23, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE TONIGHT By Kalynn BayronYou're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron
Published by Bloomsbury YA on 6/20/23
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, LGBT, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 204
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Charity has the summer job of her dreams, playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake. Guests pay to be scared in this full-contact terror game, as Charity and her summer crew recreate scenes from a classic slasher film, The Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. The more realistic the fear, the better for business.

But the last weekend of the season, Charity's co-workers begin disappearing. And when one ends up dead, Charity's role as the final girl suddenly becomes all too real. If Charity and her girlfriend Bezi hope to survive the night, they'll need figure out what this killer is after. As they unravel the bloody history of the real Mirror Lake, Charity discovers that there may be more to the story than she ever suspected . . .

Short and Sweet Review

Charity is working her dream job, she plays the final girl at Camp Mirror Lake. Guests who come to the camp pay to be scared. Charity and her coworkers reenact scenes from the horror film The Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. Charity begins to notice that some of her coworkers are disappearing but she brushes it off and thinks its a lack of work ethic. Charity calls up her friend Paige and girlfriend Bezi to come up and help with the final two days of scares and to close down afterwards. But everything at Camp Mirror Lake becomes real when Charity realizes that there actually is a killer who’s coming for her and her friends and now everyone has to figure out how to survive the night.

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight is a horror/slasher film, but in a book version. Bayron did a great job setting up the atmosphere and the creepy vibe. You know a horror book is good when you’re on edge and wondering if you locked the doors, but I’m here to tell the tale because I made it through the night. Charity is one of those people that takes her job very seriously, she’s basically running the operation herself because the owner is never there. This summer is different though, Charity is used to turnover, but she wasn’t expecting to be short people so she invites her friend and girlfriend up to help cover those gaps. Charity starts to notice a mysterious person around camp and even worse her friends start to go missing. Charity finally learns the truth about the camp site and she knows that she has to get out of there. The camp history and the ending was pretty interesting, I’m still not sure what I think about the secret society it honestly threw me off and I’m not sure if it was good or bad, but it did add to the book.

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight, is a good horror novel and even though it takes place in the summer I think it’d also be a good read in October during Halloween. I would recommend this book, its short and it definitely delivers on the scare factor!

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THREE DROPS OF BLOOD By Gretchen McNeil

June 21, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THREE DROPS OF BLOOD By Gretchen McNeilThree Drops of Blood by Gretchen McNeil
Published by Disney-Hyperion on 3/21/23
Genres: Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 315
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Being an actress, Kate is no stranger to drama. And when her chance at a leading role gets cancelled, she is willing to do whatever it takes to get her acting career back on track even if that means getting a boring office job at her best friend's father's law firm so she can prove to her parents she can to support herself rather than go back to high school. Now, rather than living life on the big screen, she is stuck filing mundane contracts and watching the people in the office across from hers live their equally boring lives. But when Kate sees things heat up between a woman and her assistant, her new source of entertainment take a turn for the worse when she witnesses a double murder. Now, she must get anyone to believe her and find out who this mystery woman is to get answers. But as she learns more and more about the circumstances leading to the gruesome act, she begins to realize there is a bigger mystery under the surface... In this voyeuristic thriller filled with twists and turns, can Kate get anyone to believe her before she becomes the next victim?

Short and Sweet Review

Kate is an actress but after a scandal the show that she’s on gets canceled. Kate is now stuck working an office job its pretty boring, but when Kate sees an office worker and her assistant spice things up she becomes interested. Kate ends up witnessing a double murder, but no one around seems to believe her. Now Kate has to find out who this woman is and get proof that these murders happened.

Kate wants acting to be her career, but after the cancelation of the show she was on her parents except her to go back to high school and go down the academic path. Kate is determined to get her career on track but in the mean time she ends up working at a law office after hours filing papers. This is when Kate sees the women in the other office live her juicy life and Kate takes interest because it’s not everyday you see someone have an affair, but things take a turn for the worse when Kate witnesses the double murder. The book is interesting because the murders don’t happen until 60% through so Kate basically has to try to convince everyone around her that she’s not crazy. The book mainly focuses on Kates failed acting career, and also the fact that she’s plus sized. We also see the strain between her and her friend Rowan and a romance between Kate and Rowans brother Ty. I would have enjoyed the book more if the murder took place earlier, because the point from when the murders took place and the end of the book everything felt so rushed and a little unbelievable. It was interesting to see what got Kate into the office job but I wish we could have stopped focusing on the acting career because nothing was working out for Kate. The one thing I did like was Kate learning that adulting isn’t easy and neither is show biz.

I usually love books by Gretchen McNeil, but this book was not it. The plot that is introduced in the synopsis doesn’t take place until after the halfway point and the beginning of the book is slow and when things do pick up it seems unrealistic.

Filed Under: Reviews

THE CHEERLEADERS BY Kara Thomas

June 16, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THE CHEERLEADERS BY Kara ThomasThe Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas
Published by Delacorte Press on 7/31/18
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 402
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook.

First there was the car accident--two girls dead after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know his reasons. Monica's sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they'd lost.

That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it's not that easy. She just wants to forget.

Only, Monica's world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad's desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn't over. Some people in town know more than they're saying. And somehow, Monica is at the center of it all.

There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn't mean anyone else is safe.

Short and Sweet Review

The town of Sunnybrook no longer has cheerleaders. After two died in a car crash and two more were killed by a neighbor and one committed suicide, the team was disbanded. Monica’s sister was the last cheerleader to die and now five years later the faculty at the high school want to remember the cheerleaders they lost, but Monica isn’t sure she can handle all of the pain that comes with remembering. Monica decides to actually look into what happened five years ago and she learns that some people in town know a lot more than they’re willing to share.

There’s a lot of layers to this novel, it deals with a lot of tough topics: abortion, murder, and suicide. Monica is our main character and she’s been through a lot, she lost a sister to suicide and she recently had an abortion. Monica is asked by one of the teachers to participate in a memorial for the cheerleaders who died five years ago and this stirs up something in Monica. Monica starts to do a little digging into her sister Jen’s death and she ends up learning a lot. She finds Jen’s old phone and starts reading through the texts and she also finds some letters in her stepdads office, which leads her to believe that all of the deaths of the cheerleaders are connected. I liked the mystery of it all and also how Monica became friends with Ginny who was willing to help her with all the investigating. There was a lot of twists and turns when it came to Monica learning information about how the cheerleaders died and how what everyone thought was a closed case is actually something that should have been more closely looked at. I liked how real this book was in dealing with the tough topics, but I do wish Monica was able to confide in her friends. I also liked how we did get to see some things from Jens POV and see how she was feeling and what was happening during the time of some of her teammates deaths.

The ending of the book was pretty good and everything did make sense. I was also pretty surprised by the last chapter from Ginny but all in all it was good. The cheerleaders was a good book to read and it kept me engaged from beginning to end.

Filed Under: Reviews

PROM HOUSE By Chelsea Mueller

June 9, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

PROM HOUSE By Chelsea MuellerProm House by Chelsea Mueller
Published by Underlined on 5/4/21
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 245
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

A KILLER AFTERPARTY . . .

When Kylie walks into the gorgeous beach house, it’s a dream come true. She still can’t believe she talked her parents into letting her spend the weekend down the shore with her boyfriend, Liam, after prom. Kylie, Liam, and their friends have rented the most amazing party house—and it’s all theirs. Prom was awesome, but this is going to be even better.

Except there’s a little problem. A violent storm hits the beach and the power goes out—with no sign that it’s coming back anytime soon. Roughing it with candles and camping lanterns isn’t the vibe they were going for, but everyone wants to make the most of it. Until people start disappearing . . . and turning up dead. Kylie is terrified. Is somebody’s prom date a killer?

Short and Sweet Review

After Prom, Kylie and her boyfriend head to the prom house, a house that her friends rented for an after party. But a violent storm is coming and when the power goes out the teens realize that their friends are starting to go missing and found dead.

Prom House reminds me of other books that follow the same premise of a group going in a house and then people end up dead and now we’re at a point where we have to find out who did it. Anyway these teens think they’re going to party it up at the house but when the they find one of their friends dead they call the cops, when the cops come the body has disappeared. The cops think the group is lying and leaves the group to hunker down while a tropical storm is on the way. Kylie is suspicious of everyone but doesn’t know who could possibly be trying to kill them, but she comes to the realization that the killer is one of her friends in the house. Kylie’s thoughts were all over the place and it made her unlikeable. Prom House was predictable but very poorly executed. There’s a lot of books that follow this same concept that are entertaining and worth the read, but this book missed the mark by a lot.

Filed Under: Reviews

WE WERE LIARS By E. Lockhart

June 7, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

WE WERE LIARS By E. LockhartWe Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Series: We Were Liars #1
Published by Delacorte Press on 5/13/14
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Romance, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 256
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Short and Sweet Review

We Were Liars, focuses on Cadence Sinclair and her wealthy family. Cadence visits the family’s private island every summer and she looks forward to seeing her cousins Johnny and Mirren and her crush Gat. We’re introduced to a bit of mystery mainly because Cadence had some kind of accident but she doesn’t remember what happened, so that story unravels throughout the book. We also see how the wealth affects the family and how the adults try to win their fathers favor in order to inherit things from the island. The book started off slow, but the more we get into family dynamics and seeing Cadence slowly remember what happened to her is when things start to pick up. Cadence had some kind of accident where she is blocking out what happened the night of it. I liked that Cadence, Johnny, Mirren, and Gat were a group that didn’t want their parents to influence them and they made a group called the liars. The relationship between Cadence and Gat is interesting because her family obviously thinks she’s above them because of their social status. When we get to the end of the book the ending surprised me but it all made sense, and I really enjoyed it. This book is a good read for the summer and its short and will keep you guessing, I’m interested to see what the next book has in store!

Filed Under: Reviews

WHERE ECHOES DIE By Courtney Gould

June 2, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

WHERE ECHOES DIE By Courtney GouldWhere Echoes Die by Courtney Gould
Published by Wednesday Books on 6/20/23
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, LGBT, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 346
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Beck Birsching has been adrift since the death of her mother, a brilliant but troubled investigative reporter. She can’t stop herself from slipping into memories of happier days, longing for a time when things were more normal. So when a mysterious letter in her mother’s handwriting arrives in the mail that reads Come and find me, pointing to the small town at the center of her last investigation, Beck hopes that it may hold the answers.

But when Beck and her sister Riley arrive in Backravel, Arizona, it’s clear that something’s off. There are no cars, no cemeteries, no churches. The town is a mix of dilapidated military structures and new, shiny buildings, all overseen by a gleaming treatment center high on a plateau. No one seems to remember when they got there, and when Beck digs deeper into the town’s enigmatic leader and his daughter, Avery, she begins to suspect that they know more than they’re letting on.

As Beck and her sister search for answers about their mother, she and Avery are increasingly drawn together, and their unexpected connection brings up emotions Beck has fought to keep buried. Beck is desperate to hold onto the way things used to be, but when she starts losing herself in Backravel—and its connection to her mother— she risks losing her way back out.

Short and Sweet Review

Ever since the death of her mother, Beck hasn’t been quite right, she’s always thinking about her mom and why she was obsessed with a town called Backravel. When Beck gets a note in the mail in her mothers handwriting saying Come and find me, Beck thinks this is her chance to go to Backravel and get some answers. In Backravel, Beck and her sister Riley quickly learn that things are off in this town. People have memory lapse and they always seem to turn to the town founder and his daughter Avery. Beck and Avery are drawn together and Beck seems to be slowly finding answers about her mother, but the longer she stays in Backravel the more she begins to lose herself.

Where Echoes Die, was an interesting read, Beck is on the hunt for answers about Backravel a town her mother was obsessed with. She brings her sister Riley along not necessarily being completely honest about what they’re doing there. Ever since her moms death Beck has been trying to find what drew her to Backravel, Beck has also been a shell of her former self. When Beck and Riley see how strange things are in this town, including the fact that they don’t have a church or any cemeteries they just brush it off, until they see how strange the townspeople act. Beck knows the only way to get answers is to talk to the town leader Ricky and the only way to get to him is through Avery. Avery has an air of mystery about her, but for some reason her and Beck click. There is a bit of romance between the two, I wasn’t really invested in this relationship mainly because of the thing that’s affecting everyone in town. It was interesting that everyone gets treatment by Ricky. I did like that Beck was getting some answers about her mom and what exactly kept bringing her back to this town. The ending was good and I didn’t want to put the book down, I wanted to know what was going to happen.

Where Echoes Die, has a great premise and it is an engaging read, especially when we learn about Becks mom and what it is about the town of Backravel that makes it different. I do wish that the pacing was better, otherwise this is an interesting read for people who like mysteries with a bit of sci-fi.

Filed Under: Reviews

THE NIGHT IN QUESTION By Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson

May 22, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THE NIGHT IN QUESTION By Kathleen Glasgow and Liz LawsonThe Night in Question by Kathleen Glasgow, Liz Lawson
Series: The Agathas #2
Published by Delacorte Press on 5/30/23
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 415
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Last October, Alice Ogilvie's ex-best friend, Brooke Donovan, was killed—and if it weren't for Alice's unlikely alliance with her tutor, Iris Adams, and her library of the complete works of Agatha Christie, the wrong person would almost certainly be sitting in prison for the crime. The Castle Cove police aren't exactly great at solving crimes. In fact, they're notorious for not solving crimes.

Which is why, on the night of Castle Cove High's annual Sadie Hawkins dance, Alice takes the opportunity to explore Levy Castle—the site of one of Castle Cove's most infamous deaths. Mona Moody—­the classic film star—died there almost a century ago, and Alice is pretty sure the police got that invest­igation wrong, too. But before she can even think about digging deeper, she walks right into the scene of a new crime. Rebecca Kennedy, on the ground in a pool of blood. And standing over Kennedy? Another one of Alice's ex-friends—Helen Park.

The Castle Cove Police Department thinks it's an open-and-shut case, but Alice and Iris are sure it can't be that simple. Park isn't a murderer—and the girls know all too well that in life, and in mysteries, things are rarely what they appear to be. To understand the present, sometimes you need to look to the past.

Castle Cove is full of secrets, and Alice and Iris are about to uncover one of its biggest—and most dangerous—secrets of all.

Short and Sweet Review

Alice and Iris are back to solve another mystery in The Night In Question. Castle Cove High School’s annual Sadie Hawkins dance is being held at Levy Castle, and Alice thinks this is the perfect time to do some exploring. Levy Castle is where the famous actress Mona Moody died almost a century ago, and knowing Castle Cove police Alice thinks that investigation wrong, but she doesn’t have much time to think about that because she just walked in on Kennedy laying on the ground in a pool of her own blood and Park standing over her. Castle Cove police believe this is an open and shut case, and Park is about to face some serious charges, but Alice and Iris believe they can help her. This case involves more than meets the eye and this time the girls are about to look into the past to help them in the present.

After solving Brooke Donovan’s case, Alice and Iris have learned that the Castle Cove Police aren’t always reliable or competent when it comes to these matters so they decide to offer their new found expertise to try to prove Park’s innocence. Alice and Iris find themselves in dangerous situations that always put me on edge because they’re usually on the right trail but some people don’t want them to be and they end up in more trouble just for thwarting the police. I love how Alice still uses what she has learned from Agatha Christie novels and applies it to solve mysteries. I will say that I do love the friendship between Iris and Alice, they’re an unlikely pair and I think they still have a lot to learn about each other. They do get on each others nerves and still may say things to trigger or set the other one off but they do genuinely care for each other, and we see their friendship grow and evolve. We also get to see our other friends who help with the mystery solving: Raf, Neil, Spike, Zora, and Angelik. All of the characters add something to this book that truly makes it special. I will say this mystery is pretty complex and it not only involves what happened to Kennedy but also Mona Moody. I love the direction that this book took and we see Iris and Alice become better detectives but also learn that this is a dangerous job especially when others don’t want you to succeed. We also get to see a bit more of Alice’s parents in this book and see their relationship and how much their absence has actually affected Alice.

Everything about this book was amazing to me. I did end up figuring out who the culprit was but that didn’t ruin anything for me mainly because trying to figure out what their motive was and learning about it was crazy. I love this series, it’s actually one of my favorites and I just can’t get enough of Alice and Iris and their crew of mystery solvers. I’m excited to see what book 3 has in store!

Filed Under: Reviews

THIS IS NOT THE REAL WORLD By Anna Carey

May 12, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THIS IS NOT THE REAL WORLD By Anna CareyThis Is Not the Real World by Anna Carey
Series: This Is Not the Jess Show #2
Published by Quirk Books on 5/24/22
Genres: Dystopian, Mystery & Detective, Science Fiction, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 288
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Months after Jess escaped from the set of Stuck in the ’90s, the nostalgic reality show she believed was her real life, the teen star is getting to know the outside world for the first time. But she can’t outrun her fictional life forever—or the media empire that owns it.

After Like-Life Productions tracks her down and forces her boyfriend to return to the show, Jess teams up with an underground network fighting to uncover Like-Life’s schemes. To expose the truth, Jess must go back to the set and take Like-Life down from the inside . . . but getting revenge might just cost her everything.

Short and Sweet Review

Jess and Kipp have been in hiding for months, but Life Like Productions (LLP) have finally tracked them down and force Kipp to return to Swickley to finish out the rest of his contract. Jess knows that she needs to go back for Kipp, but she’s also helping Beyond1998 a group that is trying to expose LLP for who they really are and they need someone on the inside to get the intel. Even though Jess used to be the star of the show her return isn’t the welcome home she thought it would be and some people are really out to get her.

I felt bad that Jess and Kipp were thrown back into a life that they tried so hard to leave and now they’re back on set and you can tell that people are treating them like they’re less than. Anyway the other actors on set are not right, they think what they’re doing is right and they basically profit off of exploiting Jess’s life. Theres also Chrysalis one of the producers and she’s trying to keep Jess on a tight leash. There’s always cameras following Jess and she usually has a mic so she has to be careful about sneaking around set and that’s when things are pretty suspenseful because we don’t know if she actually got away with anything or if someone was watching the whole time.

This book was pretty good, we didn’t know who we could trust, but there was always an end goal. Things got dangerous on set and there were some twists that I wasn’t expecting. I will say the book is short so things felt rushed, the ending shows that not everything has a happy ending but I was pretty pleased with how everything was wrapped up.

Filed Under: Reviews

THE LAST ONE TO FALL By Gabriella Lepore

May 1, 2023 by Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THE LAST ONE TO FALL By Gabriella LeporeThe Last One to Fall by Gabriella Lepore
Published by Inkyard Press on 5/9/23
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 316
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Six friends. Five suspects. One murder.

Savana Caruso and Jesse Melo have known each other since they were kids, so when Jesse texts Savana in the middle of the night and asks her to meet him at Cray’s Warehouse, she doesn’t hesitate. But before Savana can find Jesse, she bears witness to a horrifying murder, standing helpless on the ground as a mysterious figure is pushed out of the fourth floor of the warehouse.

Six teens were there that night, and five of them are now potential suspects. With the police circling, Savana knows what will happen if the wrong person is charged, particularly once she starts getting threatening anonymous text messages.

As she attempts to uncover the truth, Savana learns that everyone is keeping secrets—and someone is willing to do whatever it takes to keep those secrets from coming to light.

Short and Sweet Review

Savana and Jesse have been friends since they were kids, so when he texts her late at night asking her to come to Cray’s warehouse she doesn’t question it. When Savana arrives she sees someone falling from one of the windows, turns out it was murder. Now Jesse, Savana, and three others (Tara, Owen, and Freddie) are being looked at for murder. Everyone has their secrets and Savana has been getting anonymous text messages about what will happen if the wrong person is implicated.

The Last One to Fall, starts off in a timeline before the murder and we see everything that leads up to what happens. I liked this because we got to see the dynamic between the group of friends. Raf is the teen who gets murdered and he has a pretty manipulative personality and to be honest I’m not surprised one of his friends finally had enough. We alternate between Jesse and Savana’s POV. Jesse has more of a hard home life and Savana is there for him, so when it looks like Jesse is the main suspect Savana tries to help prove his innocence. Savana wasn’t in the warehouse like the others so she isn’t really looked at that closely but she does start to try to unravel everyones stories. It’s not hard to tell that Savana is on Jesses side and she won’t let him go down for something he didn’t do. This book held my attention with all of the secrets and twists. Savana and Jesse were characters you could relate to. I did enjoy seeing the snippets of news articles and the police interviews. When we did get to the timeline after the murder it was interesting to see how everyone started turning on each other. Even after death Raf was still very influential in this group of friends.

The Last One to Fall, held my attention until the very end and the mystery was told very well. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries, and this one is full of shocking revelations and twists and turns to keep you guessing!

Filed Under: Reviews