HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL By Nita Tyndall

May 9, 2024 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.

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL By Nita TyndallHave You Seen This Girl by Nita Tyndall
Published by HarperTeen on 5/21/24
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, LGBT, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 272
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

Another girl has gone missing in Cardinal Creek.

Sid knows their dad didn’t do it—this time. He’s currently serving a life sentence for the five girls he murdered ten years ago. Girls whose bodies he dumped into the lake. The same lake where June Hargrove was just found. And while Sid’s dad couldn’t have done it, suspicion is now directed at Sid. The only person who doesn’t suspect Sid is the new girl, Mavis—as long as Sid doesn’t let her find out about their past.

But Sid has another secret: They’re being haunted by the ghosts of the five girls their father killed. Except now there are six. And unlike the others, June isn’t content to just whisper in Sid’s ear. She wants them to find out who’s killing again, especially as another girl goes missing. If Sid wants any chance of solving the current disappearances, they’re going to have to face what their father did—or risk being haunted forever.

Short and Sweet Review

When a girl goes missing all eyes are on Sid. Ten years ago Sids dad murdered 5 girls, but Sid knows he couldn’t have done it this time because he’s serving a life sentence. The girl who recently went missing, June, is found in the lake, the same lake that Sids dad used to leave his victims. There’s a copycat killer in town and Sid knows they needs to find the killer because they’re being blamed and the victims are haunting them.

Sid lives in a small town so it’s hard for her to escape what their dad did. Everyone in town knows who they are and basically doesn’t want anything to do with them and when the latest stint of murders start people think Sid is following in their dad’s footsteps. There’s also a new girl in town, Mavis, who doesn’t know about Sids dad and they’re hoping it stays that way so she can at least have one friend. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s a build up of things and I thought the pacing was great. Girls start to go missing and we learn that someone is copying the way Sids dad murdered his victims. Sid feels bad about what her dad did but the ghosts haunting her remind her that things aren’t about her. I feel like in other books we see ghost try to be helpful in solving cases but not in this one, they like to let Sid know that they shouldn’t be the one feeling bad for themself because they’re still alive and they’re not. If you’re confused by all my uses of they/them/theirs, it’s because those are the pronouns Sid wants to go by. Anyway this killer is following a pattern of when he’s killing the girls, and Sid eventually has to turn to their father and ask what to do because Sid knows if they don’t they’re going to be next on the killers hit list. I did like the friendship and little romance between Sid and Mavis mainly because you can tell a lot of people don’t give Sid a chance mainly because they spend their time judging her. I do like books where there’s a small town and crimes are taking place, because there’s not a lot of people we can really suspect and that’s the treatment Sid is getting. Sid is a good character and you can tell they’ve been through a lot but they have good intentions. The little inserts from the girls who have been murdered and their last moments alive was a good touch to really understand what happened on the days they went missing. There were a few twists and the ending was unexpected but so good.

Overall, I think I loved this book. It’s not long so it can be read in one sitting and you’re going to want to find out what’s going to happen next and finish it. Don’t miss out, read this book ASAP!

Filed Under: Reviews

THE REAPPEARANCE OF RACHEL PRICE By Holly Jackson

May 5, 2024 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 REAPPEARANCE OF RACHEL PRICE By Holly JacksonThe Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
Published by Delacorte Press on 4/2/24
Genres: Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 441
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Lights. Camera. Lies.

Eighteen-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom’s mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness, but she has no memory of it. Rachel is gone, long presumed dead, and Bel wishes everyone would just move on.

But the case is dredged up from the past when the Price family agrees to a true crime documentary. Bel can’t wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. And then the impossible happens. Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again.

Rachel has an unbelievable story about what happened to her. Unbelievable, because Bel isn’t sure it’s real. If Rachel is lying, then where has she been all this time? And—could she be dangerous? With the cameras still rolling, Bel must uncover the truth about her mother, and find out why Rachel Price really came back from the dead . . .

Short and Sweet Review

Bel’s mom disappeared sixteen years ago when she was two. Now Bel is being interviewed for a documentary about the disappearance of Rachel Price. Bel was the only witness but as a two year old she doesn’t really remember anything. Bel just wants filming to end and for life to go back to normal, but that’s not going to happen because Rachel Price reappears. Rachel comes back with an interesting story about what happened and Bel can’t bring herself to believe her so she decides to do some investigating of her own.

I love Holly Jackson’s books all of them have been pretty good so I was excited when this one was released. I will say this book started off slow and it does pick up but not when Rachel comes back but when someone else goes missing. Bel grew up with her dad for most of her life except when he was in jail because he was a suspect in her mom’s disappearance. Bel is also close to her cousin Carter and her grandfather and aunt and uncle. Bel doesn’t know much about Rachel except for what she’s heard from other people. When Rachel comes back Bel doesn’t immediately warm up to her, she thinks something is off about Rachel. Bel teams up with Ash one of the cameramen for the documentary. I think Bel and Ash are more so friends than anything especially because we know that Bel has a history of pushing people away if they get too close. Bel starts digging into Rachels past and its interesting because Bel doesn’t trust Rachel and I know Rachel can tell but she just pastes on a smile and you can really feel the tension. I did like that Bel went around interviewing people who could have seen Rachel before she disappeared and just try to put the puzzle pieces together. I will say that there’s a lot of secrets that are revealed and they were juicy secrets and you don’t know who to trust. The further we go in the book the more on the edge of your seat you’ll be. I was just trying to figure out what was going on and I was not disappointed when the reveal happened.

This book was so good! It’s one that makes you want more. This is the kind of plot you see in true crime docs and it was well written! I loved the mystery behind it all and even though it starts off slow it definitely picks up and you’ll want to be buckled in. Pick this book up and don’t miss out!

Filed Under: Reviews

SECRET ADMIRER By R.L. Stine

April 26, 2024 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.

SECRET ADMIRER By R.L. StineSecret Admirer by R.L. Stine
Series: Fear Street #36
Published by Simon Pulse on 6/30/08
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 164
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Selena has it all. She just scored the lead in her high school play, and everyone adores her. So when she starts receiving dead flowers from a secret “admirer” named The Sun, she just assumes it’s a harmless fan.

But Selena soon realizes that The Sun is serious...dead serious. First, her understudy is injured in a suspicious accident. Then, a speeding car almost kills her! Selena doesn’t know what this psycho wants. All she knows is that her number-one fan has become her number-one nightmare.

Short and Sweet Review

Selena is a great actress and she’s about to audition for the lead in the schools next play. When Selena gets dead flowers from a secret admirer she just brushes it off as a harmless prank until it becomes obvious that she’s in actual danger.

I will admit the Secret Admirer was a better read than the last Fear Street book I reviewed which is a few posts down. Selena comes across as someone who mainly cares about herself and not anyone around her. When Selena starts getting these threats from the secret admirer she tries to confide in people but they think she’s just looking for attention. Anyway there’s three guys vying for her attention and she has her eyes on Eddy a college student who is at the play rehearsals as a student consultant. So I think Stine did a good job making it seem like the culprit was obvious but in the end it was someone/ else. There’s not a lot of substance to these books we have a main character who is going through some issue that comes across as spooky and then we have the ending. Overall Secret Admirer got the bad taste out of my mouth that The Dare left and hopefully the other Fear Street books can hold up too. I just think these books are fun to read for nostalgias sake. Pick these books up for a short thriller but keep in mind some are hit or miss.

Filed Under: Reviews

THE DARE By R.L. Stine

April 22, 2024 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 DARE By R.L. StineThe Dare by R.L. Stine
Series: Fear Street #21
Published by Simon Pulse on 6/30/08
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 164
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Johanna Wise has always longed to be part of Dennis Arthur’s rich, popular crowd, and she can’t believe it when he finally asks her out. She thought she’d do anything to keep Dennis, but when he dares her to kill their teacher, she’s not so sure. Will she really kill for love?

Short and Sweet Review

The Dare follows our main character Johanna on her quest to be apart of the popular crowd. Johanna sees an in when she overhears that Dennis wants their teacher dead and for some reason our dummy of a main character offers to off him. Johanna thinks her offer is just a joke but Dennis and his crew take her seriously. Dennis and his friends start to hangout at Johannas house and they dare each other to do stupid things and it’s just so convenient that Johanna happens to be neighbors with the teacher they’re targeting. Let me just say Dennis and his friends are rich so they’re not used to dealing with consequences which is why when the teacher won’t just let Dennis pass he becomes so enraged he thinks about murder. Anywho Johanna has violent fantasies throughout the book and she feels the pressure to do what Dennis says but she can’t because she’s not a killer just an idiot. I’m not sure why she thought that his was love because Dennis was just using her and he had a girlfriend. The real victim of the story was the teacher, who doesn’t get paid enough to deal with this nonsense. Johanna was a horrible main character and quite frankly very stupid. The decision making in this book was awful and it’s obvious that their frontal lobes aren’t fully developed. This book was originally published in the 90s and you can tell. The writing and gimmicks of this book just don’t work in the 2000s. I have a few more Fear Street novels to read and I’m not sure if those will also disappoint or be a pleasant surprise. I would say just skip this book, I don’t give out a lot of 1s as ratings but this book deserves it.

Filed Under: Reviews

KILL HER TWICE By Stacey Lee

April 16, 2024 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.

KILL HER TWICE By Stacey LeeKill Her Twice by Stacey Lee
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on 4/23/24
Genres: Historical, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

LOS ANGELES, 1932: Lulu Wong, star of the silver screen and the pride of Chinatown, has a face known to practically everyone, especially the Chow sisters—May, Gemma, and Peony—Lulu’s former classmates and neighbors. So the girls instantly know it’s Lulu when they discover a body one morning in an out-of-the-way stable, far from the Beverly Hills home where she lived after her fame skyrocketed.

The sisters suspect Lulu’s death is the result of foul play, but the police don’t seem motivated to investigate. Even worse, there are signs that point to a cover-up, and powerful forces in the city want to frame the killing as evidence that Chinatown is a den of iniquity and crime, even more reason it should be demolished to make room for the construction of a new railway depot, Union Station.

Worried that neither the police nor the papers will treat Lulu fairly—no matter her fame and wealth—the sisters set out to solve their friend’s murder themselves, and maybe save their neighborhood in the bargain. But with Lulu’s killer still on the loose, the girls’ investigation just might put them square in the crosshairs of a cold-blooded murderer.

Short and Sweet Review

Lulu Wong has become a star and is a familiar face to most but especially those who live in China town. The Chow girls, May, Gemma, and Penelope are former classmates and neighbors of Lulu so when they find a body they instantly know that it’s Lulu. When it becomes apparent that the police aren’t taking the investigation seriously, the girls start to investigate themselves but have to keep their wits about them because a killer is out there.

Kill Her Twice, mainly follows sisters Gemma and May as they try to solve the murder of a former friend Lulu Wong. We alternate between Gemma and May’s POVs as they each take on different clues and follow different leads to try to get closer to the truth. I did enjoy the fact that this took place in the 1930s and in Chinatown the descriptions felt realistic to what would have been going on during that time period. I also learned a lot about the history of Chinatown and during this period the girls are living in what is considered old Chinatown and its about to transition into the new Chinatown which is probably what is currently in LA now. I will say there’s also a lot of people looking down on the girls because they believe there should be a man around, but their father is currently sick and undergoing treatment. In Chinese culture it is believed that the number four is bad luck and their mom is currently pregnant so they’re kind of hoping for a boy. Anyway May and Gemma are two totally different characters and in this case I didn’t prefer one over the other I throughly enjoyed reading from both of their POVs. May is more cautious and as the older sibling she tries to please her parents and also look out for her younger siblings. Gemma is more carefree and she isn’t afraid to let people know what she really thinks about a situation and she happens to find herself in more trouble because of that. We also see a bit of their younger sister Penelope who wants to be a part of the action but is more of a background because she’s at home taking care of their mom but she does have great insights into how to solve mysteries from all of the novels she reads. The family owns a flower shop business which ends up being a good cover for when the girls need to go out investigating. I did like how invested they were to see that Lulu’s killer would be brought to justice. We see Gemma and May take on different angles to the mystery where May ends up going to the studio as an extra to try to learn more about Lulu, where Gemma ends up going to the coroner and meeting a doctor who knew Lulu. I will say I wasn’t sure who the murderer could be and when I got to the reveal I was surprised.

Overall, this was a solid mystery. Gemma and May are by no means detectives but I do love the time and effort they spent to make sure their friend’s case got the attention it deserved. This book was amazing and I loved the historical aspects as well as the cultural elements, I did learn a lot. May and Gemma are great characters basically Yin and Yang. This book was hard to put down and it’s definitely one I would recommend everyone reads!

Filed Under: Reviews

THE NATURALS By Jennifer Lynn Barnes

April 4, 2024 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 NATURALS By Jennifer Lynn BarnesThe Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: The Naturals #1
Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on 11/5/13
Genres: Mystery & Detective, Romance, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 321
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But, it's not a skill that she's ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they've begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn't realize is that there's more at risk than a few unsolved homicides-especially when she's sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own. Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms close. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.

Short and Sweet Review

Cassie has the ability to read people and piece together things she notices about them to form a full picture. She’s had this skill for a while but its not anything she’s taken seriously until the FBI comes knocking and offers her the chance to join the naturals, a group of young adults with skills similar to her. Cassie accepts the offer in hopes that she can solve her mom’s cold case. Cassie is sent to live with the other naturals and hone her skills and look over unsolved crimes. There’s a new killer and this one is closer than anyone thought, and the naturals have to come together to solve this new case.

Cassie has the skills of a profiler, think about the FBI agents on Criminal Minds. When Cassie is recruited to join the naturals she meets, Michael, Dean, Lia, and Sloane. Each of these teens has a certain ability that allows them to figure someone out. Dean is another profiler, while Michael can spot someone’s emotions, Sloane is into math and statistics, and I think Lia is able to tell if someone is lying. Anyway they all live in this house together and they have FBI agents who are their mentors Agent Locke and Agent Briggs. I think this is different from other mysteries because of the profiling aspect. We get to see Cassie train and learn how to use her skills to be better. I will say because Dean was another profiler they had a connection but there was a love triangle. I found the love triangle to be unnecessary and I’m glad that by the end of the book we reigned that whole situation in. My least favorite character in this book was Lia, she just seemed like she enjoyed starting problems and for that reason she can go. We see Cassie learn what it takes to be a profiler and also she’s put in danger when someone starts to recreate her mothers murder and it seems like they’re trying to lure Cassie to the same fate. The ending was good but I will say it was kind of predictable but that could just be because I read so many mystery books that not much can surprise me.

Overall, this was a solid first book. I do think if you like Criminal Minds you’ll enjoy this book. I’m looking forward to reading the next books in the series just to see more growth from these characters and also to see how well they’ll solve future crimes as a team.

Filed Under: Reviews

FOUR LETTER WORD By Gretchen McNeil

March 26, 2024 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.

FOUR LETTER WORD By Gretchen McNeilFour Letter Word by Gretchen McNeil
Published by Disney-Hyperion on 3/5/24
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 320
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
Buy on Amazon

For most of her life, Izzy has been looking forward to fulfilling her mother’s dream of studying abroad in Italy. Going into her senior year, Izzy is counting down the days until she can leave her humdrum life behind, until Alberto, a handsome and mysterious Italian exchange student shows up for his stay with her family. Now life in her hometown doesn’t seem so drab, as Izzy, and everyone else, is immediately charmed by Alberto and his irresistible accent.
But something about Alberto isn’t quite…right. As an avid true crime fan, Izzy has been following a serial killer case in San Francisco and the murderer, whose description bears a passing resemblance to the Italian exchange student living in her house, seems to have made his way north. As Izzy pays closer attention to Alberto—his actions, his temper—she finds more and more holes in his story that he has trouble explaining away.
When a local girl is murdered, Izzy thinks Alberto might not be who he seems. Worse, a series of “accidents” seem to target Izzy herself. In a race against the clock, Izzy must convince anyone that Alberto could be a notorious killer before another girl ends up dead.

Short and Sweet Review

Izzy has wanted to follow her mothers dream of living in Italy and now that it’s her senior year she’s counting down the days until she can leave. When Alberto an Italian exchange student comes for his stay with Izzy’s family things in town don’t seem so dull anymore. Alberto is able to charm everyone around him with his Italian accent and curiosity but Izzy feels that something is off with him. Izzy have been following a crime case about a serial killer in San Fransico and she thinks it may be Alberto. When a girl is murdered Izzy knows she needs to convince everyone around her about who Alberto really is before someone else ends up dead.

Let me start by saying I usually love McNeils books but this one was not good, in the slightest. I gave it a rating of 2 and I think that was being generous. Izzy and her family are dysfunctional, her dad is around but not really there and her mom has anger issues and is taking them out on people around her. The only thing that seems to make her mom happy is Albertos pressence. Izzy has a horrible best friend Peyton who has a boyfriend but likes to flirt with Alberto, and this ends up causing a lot of trouble. Anyway we see how Peyton doesn’t like to take the blame for her actions and she’s also keeping a big secret from Izzy. I won’t ruin it for you guys but Peyton would not be my friend after the way she acted in this book. Anyway someone ends up murdered and the gears in Izzy’s head start turning and then someone attempts to kill her multiple times. The only person who believes Izzy is Jake and she spent most of the book trying to avoid him because she thought he was trying to break things off with her. I think Izzy was a hard character to root for and honestly everything about this book is a mess. The characters are just off and its called four letter word because the mom doesn’t like four letter cuss words. Oh and the ending and what the mom does is just crazy like she definitely needed to be in a psych ward.

The premise of this book sounds great, a thiller/mystery with an italian exchange student who might also be a serial killer sounds like it’ll be intriguing. Instead I got a book full of dysfunctional characters some who just had blinders on and their heads in the clouds. It was also very predictable. I think this book would have been better off it was just Izzy facing off with Alberto and she didn’t have all her crazy family members and friends get in the way. This book is a prime example of if your child is telling you something you should believe them but the only people who believed Izzy were Jake and the police. As hard as this is for me to say this I think this is a book that should be skipped.

Filed Under: Reviews

UNDER THIS RED ROCK By Mindy McGinnis

March 18, 2024 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.

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
Buy on Amazon

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!

Filed Under: Reviews

THE OTHER LOLA By Ripley Jones

March 9, 2024 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 OTHER LOLA By Ripley JonesThe Other Lola by Ripley Jones
Published by Wednesday Books on 3/12/24
Genres: LGBT, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 329
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon

In the months after Cam and Blair broke their small hometown’s legendary missing-girl story and catapulted to accidental fame, they vowed never to do it again. No more mysteries, no more podcasts, and no more sticking their heads where they don’t belong.

Until Mattie Brosillard, a freshman at their high school, shows up on their doorstep, begging Cam and Blair for help. Mattie's sister Lola disappeared mysteriously five years ago. No trace of her was ever found. Now, she's back--but Mattie is convinced the girl who returned is an impostor. Nobody believes Mattie's wild story--not Mattie's brother, not Mattie's mother, and not even Cam and Blair. But something is definitely wrong in the Brosillard family. And Blair has her own reasons for wanting to know what really happened to Lola while she was gone.

With Cam and Blair still struggling with the aftermath of their first mystery—and with new secrets swirling between them

Short and Sweet Review

Five years ago Mattie’s older sister Lola went missing, and out of the blue someone claiming to be Lola is trying to come back into Mattie’s life. Everyone in Mattie’s life including her older brother and mom believe Lola is back but Mattie knows that this stranger isn’t her sister and that’s when she decides to ask Cam and Blair for help, after all they did solve a case before.

After what happened in Missing Clarissa when Cam and Blair solved the case of Clarissa and shot themselves to fame, they declared they would never do another podcast or solve another case. When Mattie comes to them asking for help Blair is more willing to accept the case but Cam is very adamant she wants no parts of this. We see that the aftermath of the last case really took a toll on Cam, she has nightmares and she realizes that the people closest to her could have gotten hurt, and even worse there’s a whole bunch of internet trolls who keep coming for her and Blair. Cam is sticking to her guns in this book, and at some points her attitude about it is kind of off-putting but I understand where she’s coming from, but because of her attitude I found myself enjoying Blairs POV more. In the last book we saw Blair was the reluctant one but in this book she takes more of a lead. Blairs motivation for solving this case comes from the fact that a publisher from New York called her about a book deal and Blair needed a story and Mattie came at the perfect time. Both Blair and Cam don’t exactly believe Mattie because her story does sound far fetched especially because when Lola went missing Mattie was a little kid so how good is her memory about what happened that night. Cam and Blair are cautious about how they approach this case, they know for sure that their won’t be a podcast but they’re also not sure about what danger is involved. Mattie was an okay character she annoyed me more often than not. I thought of Mattie being more of a hinderance than an asset. Whenever Blair and Cam would suspect someone Mattie would kind of freak out and say no that person couldn’t have done it because they were always nice to me, I just thought she let her feelings dictate what was actually logical.

I found myself enjoying this book a lot more than the first, and I think it’s because in Missing Clarissa they really didn’t know what they were doing with solving mysteries or even starting a podcast. In this book it seems a little more cut and dry, interview people that were with Lola the night she went missing and try to figure out what happened that night. I did like the story and seeing the character development that both Blair and Cam had. The Other Lola is actually a pretty good book and its not often that someone comes back from going missing and isn’t actually the person they’re claiming to be but it does happen so it wasn’t a crazy idea that I couldn’t believe. I think the best thing about this book was that Lola wasn’t immediately accused of being someone else by Cam and Blair but they did have their evidence first.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot! I will say that I think Missing Clarissa needs to be read first just so you can have the background knowledge about why our characters are the way they are now. I truly believe that this book was better than the first and I definitely recommend it!

Filed Under: Reviews

ONE LAST BREATH By Ginny Myers Sain

February 28, 2024 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.

ONE LAST BREATH By Ginny Myers SainOne Last Breath by Ginny Myers Sain
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on 3/5/24
Genres: LGBT, Mystery & Detective, Romance, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Mount Orange, Florida, is famous for two things: Cerulean freshwater springs, ideal for free divers who aren't afraid of lurking gators. And the gruesome cold case murder of best friends, Bailey and Celeste, twenty years ago.

Bailey and Celeste's murders cast a permanent darkness over sunny Mount Orange. Tru has always lived in that shadow. Now she's supposed to head to FSU in the fall with her boyfriend, but those unsolved murders -- and the death of her own sister -- invade her every thought. It’s only in the shadowy deep of Hidden Glen Springs that she can breathe.

When a strange girl named Rio rolls into town, hell-bent on figuring out who killed Bailey and Celeste, Tru can't resist entangling herself in the thrill of solving the decades old mystery any more than she can resist her familiar, aching attraction to Rio.

As the summer heat ignites, so does the spark between Tru and Rio...along with their other-worldy connection to Bailey and Celeste. But when someone begins stalking them, the girls become convinced the killer is back in town. And if they keep digging into the past, Tru and Rio know this time, it could be their blood that makes the springs run red.

Short and Sweet Review

Years ago two teen girls, Bailey and Celeste were murdered in Mount Orange, Florida, and since than that’s what the town is famous for. Tru wasn’t even alive when the murders occurred but she feels connected to the girls and can’t get them out of her head. Tru lives in a small town, where everyone knows everyone, so it’s pretty shocking when newcomer Rio comes into town. Tru feels like she has a connection to Rio and it gets even weirder that Rio says she also feels a connection with Bailey in Celeste. Tru and Rio start to dig around for more information but the killer is still out there and they don’t want to be found after all these years.

Our main character is Tru and she hasn’t had the easiest life, her sister died and she blames herself for it, and also her mom has an alcohol problem. Tru usually escapes her problems by going diving with a few people she knows. Tru is dating East which is the mayors nephew. I will say I didn’t like their relationship, it felt like they were together because they’ve known each other since childhood and it’s just something you do. You could also tell that East liked Tru more than she liked him especially when Rio rolled into town. Anyway we learn that Tru has been obsessed over the case of Bailey and Celeste mainly because its a cold case and she really can’t put her finger on why she cares so much. Rio is like an anomaly, she’s new to town, likes diving, and is also very interested in the case. But Rio’s interest in the case makes everyone weary of her and her actual intentions. We see these two spend time together and also try to figure out what happened on the night Bailey and Celeste were killed. I will say I thought their connection of past lives was a little far out there but I guess it could be possible. I think two of my problems with this book were one, Tru going back and forth with whether or not she could trust Rio, and two, both of them not doing the greatest detective work and someone getting hurt because of false accusations. I did like the mystery and it was hard to tell who could have done it. I thought it was interesting that Tru and Rio were using their connection to Bailey and Celeste to find clues about the case and try to piece things together.

Overall, this was an enjoyable book that did have some flaws. I do think the idea of two people from a past life reuniting to solve their murder was interesting and it took a while for me to wrap my head around but I can get with the idea. I liked the small town feel of everything, I do think the relationship between Tru and Rio could have been better if there was more trust but looking back at it Tru jumped in real quick with her feelings and it left a lot of room for doubt. This was a good read and I recommend it to anyone who likes cold cases and small town mysteries!

Filed Under: Reviews