UNDER THIS RED ROCK By Mindy McGinnis

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.

UNDER THIS RED ROCK By Mindy McGinnisUnder This Red Rock by Mindy McGinnis
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 3/19/24
Genres: Contemporary, LGBT, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 331
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Neely’s monsters don’t always follow her rules, so when the little girl under her bed, the man in her closet, and the disembodied voice that shadows her every move become louder, she knows she’s in trouble. With a history of mental illness in her family and the suicide of her older brother heavy on her mind, Neely takes a job as a tour guide in the one place her monsters can’t follow—the caverns. There . . . she meets Mila. Mila is everything Neely isn’t—beautiful, strong, and confident. As the two become closer, Neely’s innocent crush grows into something more. When a midnight staff party exposes Neely to drugs, she follows Mila’s lead . . . only to have her hallucinations escalate.

When Mila is found brutally murdered in the caverns, Neely has to admit that her memories of that night are vague at best. With her monsters now out in the open and her grip on reality slipping, Neely must figure out who killed Mila . . . and face the possibility that it might have been her.

Short and Sweet Review

Neely has monsters and they don’t always follow her rules. There’s a history of mental illness in her family and she recently lost her older brother Lance to suicide. Neely decides to get a first job where her monsters won’t follow her, so she becomes a tour guide at the caverns. At the caverns she meets Mila who seems to understand her and give her a chance. When the employees have a staff party to get to know each other. Neely ends up trying drugs and her hallucinations seem to go from 0-100. When the staff comes back after the weekend Mila is found dead and Neely has no idea what happened or if she was even the cause of it.

Let me start by saying mental health is really important and our main character Neely is suffering from something that I can’t diagnose but I can tell you guys that she hears multiple different voices in her head, from the girl under her bed to the guy in her closet. It was interesting to see how Neely would deal with this and honestly she would just go with it and have conversations with these voices so she looked crazy to everyone around her especially her coworkers. I think because its a small town and people knew about her brothers suicide it didn’t make it any better that she would be in public having conversations with herself and doing different voices. Neely lives with her grandparents and they know something isn’t quite right with her but I wish they would have gotten her help sooner. I also think because Neely has been so isolated she doesn’t have great social skills so when she does start asking people questions about Mila’s murder she’s not so tactful. The setting of the caverns were pretty cool and I liked that Neely was somewhat okay while she was there. It’s there that she meets Mila and eventually gets a crush on her. I think on Neely’s side it was more of a crush and in her head it could go places but Mila really just saw their interactions as friendship. When Mila dies Neely kind of spirals and I think people take the fact that there’s something wrong with her to pin the murder on her. I think because of this we have a narrator we don’t know if we could trust or not which I liked because we have to think about what could have happened in the caverns that night.

Under This Red Rock, was a great book. I liked McGinnis’s portrayal of mental health and the plot of this book. Neely is a character you want to root for but there’s also seeds of doubt that make you question her. I definitely recommend this book, it was a unique and a captivating read!

MURDER ON A SCHOOL NIGHT By Kate Weston

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.

ALL THE DEAD LIE DOWN By Kyrie McCauley

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.

ALL THE DEAD LIE DOWN By Kyrie McCauleyAll the Dead Lie Down by Kyrie McCauley
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 5/16/23
Genres: Gothic, Horror & Ghost Stories, LGBT, Mystery & Detective, Young Adult
Pages: 363
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Days after a tragedy leaves Marin Blythe alone in the world, she receives a surprising invitation from Alice Lovelace—an acclaimed horror writer and childhood friend of Marin’s mother. Alice offers her a nanny position at Lovelace House, the family’s coastal Maine estate.

Marin accepts and soon finds herself minding Alice’s peculiar girls. Thea buries her dolls one by one, hosting a series of funerals, while Wren does everything in her power to drive Marin away. Then Alice’s eldest daughter returns home unexpectedly. Evie Hallowell is every bit as strange as her younger sisters, and yet Marin is quickly drawn in by Evie’s compelling behavior and ethereal grace.

But as Marin settles in, she can’t escape the anxiety that follows her like a shadow. Dead birds appear in Marin’s room. The children’s pranks escalate. Something dangerous lurks in the woods, leaving mutilated animals in its wake. All is not well at Lovelace House, and Marin must unravel its secrets before they consume her.

Short and Sweet Review

After the passing of her mother, Marin is now alone in the world. When Marin gets a surprise invitation from Alice Lovelace, an old friend of her mother’s to come and nanny for her over the summer she accepts. Thea and Wren are a bit strange, Thea likes to bury her dolls and hold funerals for them and Wren just goes out of her way to try to make Marin leave. Evie the girls older sister comes back unexpectedly and that when things really start to get weird at Lovelace house. Marin has to figure out what’s going on before she’s taken down too.

The atmosphere in All the Dead Lie Down is what really makes the book amazing. Marin needs to be at Lovelace house because she doesn’t really have any where else to go. Alice Lovelace is an author and she shuts herself in a room most of the time, so Marin mainly interacts with Thea and Wren. The girls play some practical jokes on Marin, but she has nowhere else to go so she tries to brush it off and try to get the girls to accept her as their nanny. When Evie the oldest sister comes back home, Marin starts to see strange creatures in the woods that leave other animals mutilated. Marin ends up having to tutor Evie and there’s some romance there but I wasn’t really feeling it mainly because they tended to have their romantic moments during times when a lot was going on around them. It was interesting to learn the secrets that the girls were hiding and the final thing we learned really made my jaw drop.

All the Dead Lie Down, is a captivating book and I couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed the creepy atmosphere and learning about the girls and the history of Lovelace. Marin is a lot braver than me because I would have been out of there! If you want a chilling book that’s full of surprises to read this summer than this is the book for you!

MY FLAWLESS LIFE By Yvonne Woon

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.

MY FLAWLESS LIFE By Yvonne WoonMy Flawless Life by Yvonne Woon
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 2/14/23
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 345
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher
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At the most elite private school in Washington, DC., whenever anyone has a problem that they need to go away, they hire Hana Yang Lerner.

Hana is a fixer. She knows who to call, what to say, and how to make sure secrets stay where they belong—buried. She can fix anything. Except her own life, which was destroyed when her father, senator Skip Lerner, was arrested for an accident that left one woman nearly dead.

Now Hana’s reputation is ruined and her friends are gone. So when she gets a job from an anonymous client called “Three” to follow her former best friend, Luce Herrera, Hana realizes this might be her way of getting back her old life.

But the dangerous thing about digging is that you never know what you’ll unearth. As Hana uncovers a dark truth about her supposedly flawless classmates, she’s forced to face a secret of her own.

Short and Sweet Review

When students at Hana’s elite private school in Washington D.C need a problem to go away they hire her, she’s a fixer. She can fix most of her classmates problems, the one thing she’s having trouble fixing is her own life. After her Senator father was arrested for an accident that nearly left a woman dead, Hana’s reputation was ruined and all her friends left her side. When someone contacts Hana for a job that includes following her former best friend, Luce, she takes it hoping this could help her get her old life back. The more Hana tries to figure out with Luce the more she has to dig into her own past and face everything that has happened.

It took my a while to get into this book, but once I did it really held my attention. I liked seeing how Hana used her contacts to fix problems. We get to see how the events of Hana’s father has affected her life, and how she’s dealing with everything or trying to avoid it. The case that she’s currently working on concerning Luce also involves Hana’s past and Hana knows she has to confront her past in order to solve this case. The plot was interesting and the pacing was great. Hana had a lot of character development and she realized that its never too late to fix your mistakes. Hana also teamed up with James, a friend from childhood and I liked the teamwork between them and seeing them reconnect. It was fun seeing Hana talk to other classmates and following leads, the life of a fixer is very interesting although it seems like a lot of work. I will say that the book went back and forth between the past and present and sometimes it was hard to tell what time period I was reading.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Seeing Hana take this case that’s really about her and she didn’t even know it was great. There were some things that surprised me but these elements were beneficial to the story and really worked. Hana was a good character and someone to relate to she wasn’t perfect, she had her flaws, but she was willing to work on it. This book was engaging and I would recommend it.


A LONG STRETCH OF BAD DAYS By Mindy McGinnis

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.

A LONG STRETCH OF BAD DAYS By Mindy McGinnisA Long Stretch of Bad Days by Mindy McGinnis
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 3/14/23
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 366
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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A lifetime of hard work has put Lydia Chass on track to attend a prestigious journalism program and leave Henley behind—until a school error leaves her a credit short of graduating.

Bristal Jamison has a bad reputation and a foul mouth, but she also needs one more credit to graduate. An unexpected partnership forms as the two remake Lydia’s town history podcast to investigate the Long Stretch of Bad Days—a week when Henley was hit by a tornado, a flash food, as well as its first, only, and unsolved murder.

As their investigation unearths buried secrets, some don’t want them to see the light. When the threats escalate, the girls have to uncover the truth before the dark history of Henley catches up with them.

Short and Sweet Review

Lydia Cass has worked hard her whole life to be able to get into a prestigious journalism program and leave her small town of Henley behind, but that plan comes to a halt when an error at the school leaves Lydia one credit short of graduating. The school offers Lydia a chance to do a project and she decides to use this as a chance to cover the Long Stretch of Bad Days, which was a time in Henley where there was a tornado, a flash flood, and the town’s only murder. Lydia knows she needs to jazz up her regularly straight laced podcast so she recruits Bristal Jamison to help her especially since Bristal is in the same predicament as Lydia. The more Bristal and Lydia dig the more they realize the town has dark secrets that they don’t want coming out and maybe some things are better left swept under the rug.

This book works and I think it was the characters that really brought it to another level, Lydia and Bristal are polar opposites, but the more we read we see that Lydia is more like Bristal than she would like to admit. Lydia is a rule follower and likes things to be a certain way so when she decides to do the podcast in a way that could upset the town her parents are worried. It doesn’t help that her dad is a defense lawyer who just took on a case people are pretty upset about, so when the threats start rolling in they don’t know if they’re for Lydia or her dad. Bristal is a Jamison and they have quite the reputation in town. Bristal is rough around the edges but she honestly has a good heart and I loved her dialogue because she was mostly the comedic relief. When Bristal and Lydia team up they start doing some research and find out that during that time of the tornado not all of the missing people were found and this is what really gets the wheels turning. So now we have a missing person, a murder, and maybe some treasure. The girls are good at finding people in town who would remember important things about that time, but they also have to be careful not to ruffle any feathers. This is a small town and like most towns this one has its far share of dark secrets and watching them get revealed was so satisfying. I did appreciate the clips of the podcast that we got to read and see what exactly the girls were saying to piss everyone in town off. I will say the ending made my jaw drop but it was so well executed.

A Long Stretch of Bad Days was amazing, its probably one of my favorites for the year of 2023. The way Lydia and Bristal were able to bounce off of each other and have such an easy way of conversing, I loved it. The plot was captivating and will really keep you reading from the first page until the very end. Definitely pick this book up and enter the town of Henley where the Long Stretch of Bad Days was actually more than anyone bargained for.

ALLEGEDLY By Tiffany D. Jackson

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.

ALLEGEDLY By Tiffany D. JacksonAllegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 1/24/17
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 394
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Mary B. Addison killed a baby.

Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: a white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it?

There wasn’t a point to setting the record straight before, but now she’s got Ted—and their unborn child—to think about. When the state threatens to take her baby, Mary’s fate now lies in the hands of the one person she distrusts the most: her Momma. No one knows the real Momma. But does anyone know the real Mary?

Short and Sweet Review

Mary B Addison killed a baby, allegedly. No one really knows what happened that night except for Mary and her mother, Mary didn’t say much to the detectives but she did end up taking the fall for baby Alyssa’s death. Now Mary is 15 and living in a group home, she has a secret boyfriend and she’s pregnant. Because Mary is a ward of the state, when her baby is born she isn’t going to be able to keep it and Mary is determined to keep her baby even if it means finally telling the truth about what happened that night.

When we meet Mary she’s in a group home and she doesn’t really talk to anyone. The girls in that group home are crazy, Mary couldn’t really trust anyone in there especially the people running the home. We see Mary working at a nursing home and also trying to take her SAT and maybe try to go to college. When Mary finds out she’s pregnant she learns that she won’t be able to keep her baby. Mary tells one of the girls in the house what actually happened that night and they suggest Mary gets a lawyer and get her verdict reversed. Mary and her lawyer start the proceedings but things with Mary’s story start to get complicated. We also meet Mary’s mom and she isn’t all there, she’s very spacey. The more we learn about Mary and her indecision about whether she really wants to go through with this it makes us question her story.

Allegedly is such an interesting book and it keeps you reading until the very end trying to figure out what happened the night Alyssa died. There’s a lot of twist and we learn that Mary may not be the most reliable narrator. This book is crazy but I’ve learned to expect nothing less from Tiffany D. Jackson. I love her books and this one was just as good as the other books I’ve read by Jackson. This book will have you on the edge trying to figure out what happened that night and what Mary’s fate will be. Definitely recommend this book!

THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES By Mindy McGinnis

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 FEMALE OF THE SPECIES By Mindy McGinnisThe Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 9/20/16
Genres: Contemporary, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 348
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it.

Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence.

While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.

As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.

Short and Sweet Review

Alex Craft is known as the girl who has a dead older sister. Alex’s sister Anna was murdered and the killer walk free and that’s when Alex learned how to kill somebody and she doesn’t feel bad about knowing this. Alex’s crime has gone unpunished but she knows she can’t be trusted around other people, but eventually she becomes friends with Jack the star athlete and Peekay the preachers kid. Over time more of Alex’s violent nature comes out and it sets these three teens down a road they never thought they’d be on.

When I first started reading this book I wasn’t really sure what to expect but I liked each of these characters. We get to read from the POVs of Alex, Jack, and Peekay. Alex is different from a lot of characters I’ve read before, she’s smart and she hasn’t had a lot of human interaction so she’s a bit awkward but in an endearing way. Alex’s violent nature is one that could be compared to an animal in the wild, if she feels threatened or if she feels that her friends are in danger she’ll attack. Peekay is the preachers kid and she meets Alex at the animal shelter and they become friends, Peekay is caring and she is good but sometimes she wants to be bad, and that’s where Alex usually brings her back to Earth. Jack likes Alex but he’s a typical teenage boy and he sometimes thinks with other extremities instead of his head.

We see Alex act on her violent nature a few times and it throws people off about how casual she is about it, on one hand people are for it and the other people are concerned about what else she could do. There’s a lot of tough topics discussed in this book and a lot of stereotypes that are tackled. I enjoyed this book and the ending is one that is bittersweet but I get it.

This book was powerful and one I’ll think about for a long time, its just so fascinating and a book I recommend!

NINE LIARS By Maureen Johnson

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.

NINE LIARS By Maureen JohnsonNine Liars by Maureen Johnson
Series: Truly Devious #5
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 12/27/22
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 457
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Senior year at Ellingham Academy for Stevie Bell isn’t going well. Her boyfriend, David, is studying in London. Her friends are obsessed with college applications. With the cold case of the century solved, Stevie is adrift. There is nothing to distract her from the questions pinging around her brain—questions about college, love, and life in general.

Relief comes when David invites Stevie and her friends to join him for study abroad, and his new friend Izzy introduces her to a double-murder cold case. In 1995, nine friends from Cambridge University went to a country house and played a drunken game of hide-and-seek. Two were found in the woodshed the next day, murdered with an ax.

The case was assumed to be a burglary gone wrong, but one of the remaining seven saw something she can’t explain. This was no break-in. Someone’s lying about what happened in the woodshed.

Seven suspects. Two murders. One killer still playing a deadly game.

Short and Sweet Review

It’s senior year at Ellingham Academy for Stevie and its not going well, she needs to start thinking about colleges but she’d rather not. So when her boyfriend in David who is currently in London invites Stevie and her friends to London it’s a welcome distraction. In London David introduces Stevie to Izzy who just happens to mention a double murder from 1995 that was never solved and involves her aunt and her remaining six friends.

In 1995 a group of nine friends decided to play hide and go seek late at night and sometime in the morning it was discovered that two of them were murdered with an ax, also this group of friends have been hiding the truth about what actually happened that night.

When Stevie hears about this the wheels start turning and when she meets Angela, Izzy’s aunt, Stevie starts to wonder what really happened that night, but the thing is Stevie is supposed to be in London for a cultural immersion and learning things that she’ll eventually have to report back to Dr. Quinn who is keeping close tabs on the group. The rest of the group, especially Janelle is trying to stick to the schedule, but when Angela goes missing Stevie feels compelled to solve this case.

This was actually a pretty interesting case, a game of hide and seek a group of friends, an axe murderer, and now a missing woman. I will say the book started off slow but once the case was told to Stevie things start to pick up. This one was a little more complicated because Stevie had to make sure Dr. Quinn didn’t know what she was up to and Stevie kind of felt constricted by her friends because she didn’t want them to get in trouble because she felt the need to stray from their original plans. I will say Stevie made some bad decisions when it came to her friends, on one hand I understand why she did what she did, but on the other she really ended up hurting her friends. Also there was a bigger focus on Stevie and her relationship with David and all I’ll say is I still don’t understand why she likes him and everything I’ve said about him in my other reviews for the previous books in the series just made me see that I was right about him all along. Anyway Stevie is still determined to solve mysteries and catch culprits and we see in this book how much it may lead to her detriment. The ending was okay I was expecting some arrests, a few cop cars, and satisfaction. The book left off on a cliffhanger and I really want to know what Stevie’s next moves are because things seem pretty crappy for her at the moment.

The Truly Devious series is perfect for anyone who likes mysteries and Nine Liars is as compelling as the previous four books in the series. Join Stevie as she solves another mystery and also puts her heart on the line.

THE WEIGHT OF BLOOD By Tiffany D. Jackson

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 WEIGHT OF BLOOD By Tiffany D. JacksonThe Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 9/6/22
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Retellings, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 411
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

When Springville residents—at least the ones still alive—are questioned about what happened on prom night, they all have the same explanation . . . Maddy did it.

An outcast at her small-town Georgia high school, Madison Washington has always been a teasing target for bullies. And she's dealt with it because she has more pressing problems to manage. Until the morning a surprise rainstorm reveals her most closely kept secret: Maddy is biracial. She has been passing for white her entire life at the behest of her fanatical white father, Thomas Washington.

After a viral bullying video pulls back the curtain on Springville High's racist roots, student leaders come up with a plan to change their image: host the school's first integrated prom as a show of unity. The popular white class president convinces her Black superstar quarterback boyfriend to ask Maddy to be his date, leaving Maddy wondering if it's possible to have a normal life.

But some of her classmates aren't done with her just yet. And what they don't know is that Maddy still has another secret . . . one that will cost them all their lives.

Short and Sweet Review

The town of Springville, Georgia is small and doesn’t have a lot of residents and the number of residents is about to get smaller after Maddy is through with them. After prom the only thing that people remember is that Maddy did it, but what led her to cause all of that destruction?

Madison Washington is biracial but she’s light enough that she can pass as white and that’s exactly what her father wants, and her years of hiding that she’s black are about to come to an end when a rainstorm shows the actually texture of her hair. Maddy hasn’t been treated well by her fellow classmates but things get worse after it comes out that she’s black. Madison is mainly tormented by Jules and her friends one of them being Wendy. Wendy has a black boyfriend named Kenny and I think he only fits into their friend group because he’s the star of the football team. Anyhoo Wendy starts to feel a little bad but she still has her own motives to make herself look good so she decides to suggest that for this years prom instead of their usual segregated prom they throw an all together prom and that Kenny should take Maddy. Maddy obviously think she’s being punk’d these kids have been awful to her and all of a sudden they want her to go to prom. Maddy has also been working on learning how to use her telekinesis which usually comes into play when she’s in fight or flight mode. Maddy has had a difficult life, her mother is gone, her dad is super religious and abusive, and she’s been hiding who she really is. So its easy to see why Maddy is the way she is. As the story progresses we see Kenny start to fall for Maddy which I didn’t like because first of all, he already had a girlfriend and second, it just seemed like he was infatuated with Maddy and it got a little weird. Well at prom we see that some kids have one last prank in store for Maddy, but little do they know its going to be the straw that broke the camels back.

This was such a good book! I loved the podcast aspect and the interviews and how Michael the host of the podcast was trying to piece everything together to see what took place on prom night. Maddy is a good character you just want to root for her and see her win because she did not deserve the way the kids at school were treating her. This is a carrie retelling and we all know what happened there and I was just waiting for Maddy to get her comeuppance. The book has a few different POVs but it doesn’t take away from the book it just adds to the story telling. This book had so many layers and the build up had me on the edge of my seat. The Weight of Blood does not disappoint, run to your nearest book store and get this book in your hands immediately!

THE LAST LAUGH By Mindy McGinnis

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 LAUGH By Mindy McGinnisThe Last Laugh by Mindy McGinnis
Series: The Initial Insult #2
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 3/15/22
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 382
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Tress Montor murdered Felicity Turnado—but she might not have to live with the guilt for long. With an infected arm held together by duct tape, the panther who clawed her open on the loose, and the whole town on the hunt for the lost homecoming queen, the odds are stacked against Tress. As her mind slides deeper into delirium, Tress is haunted by the growing sound of Felicity’s heartbeat pulsing from the “best friend” charm around her fevered neck.

Ribbit Usher has been a punchline his whole life—from his nickname to his latest turn as the unwitting star of a humiliating viral video. In the past he’s willingly played the fool, but now it’s time to fulfill his destiny. That means saving the girl, so that Felicity can take her place at his side and Ribbit can exact revenge on all who have done him wrong—which includes his cousin, Tress. Ribbit is held by a pact he made with his mother long ago, a pact that must be delivered upon in four days.

With time ticking down and an enemy she considers a friend lurking in the shadows, Tress’s grip on reality is failing. Can she keep both mind and body together long enough to finally find out what happened to her parents?

The Last Laugh picks up right where the Initial Insult left off. Tress just finished leaving Felicity behind a brick wall and walked away leaving her to die. But now Tress is starting to feel guilty but if the guilt doesn’t eat away at her, the infection in her arm will. The only thing Tress cares about before the infection takes her is finding out what happened to her parents. Ribbit Usher Tress’s cousin has been in a humiliating video that gives him his 15 minutes of fame but he’s tired of being the butt of everyones jokes. Ribbit plans on finding Felicity and having her be his and then exacting on everyone who has done him wrong including Tress.

In the Last Laugh we get the POVs of Tress, Ribbit, and Rue (the orangutan). I liked Tress’s POV the most the girl is on a mission and some how not dead even with the infection in her arm giving her fevers and hallucinations. Ribbit on the other hand is a momma’s boy he’ll do anything to please her and he plans on doing exactly that in four days. Honestly Ribbit is messed up in the head he may not show it often but the kid is off his rocker. Rue’s POV I feel like was unnecessary it just felt like nonsense.

I enjoyed this book more than the first book mainly because there’s a lot more at stake for the characters. Tress is doing a little digging on what happened to her parents and she learns more than she bargained for and there’s still the panther running around town that she has to take care of. Ribbit plans on doing something he should have done years ago. This book was just crazy but it worked and it added a level of intensity. I didn’t like Tress in the first book but in this one I was definitely rooting for her.

The Last Laugh was hard to put down and it delivered. I didn’t know what to expect from this sequel but it was amazing! Check out this duology if you’re into darker YA reads!