Overall Take:
This was a fun and suspenseful read.
Star Rating:
4 Stars
Genre:
YA Thriller
Synopsis:
Ella was the most popular girl, and for every kid who admired her, there was more than hated her. When she’s murdered, there is no shortage of suspects, and they all think she deserved it. The prime suspect is the new girl, Dawn. She was the last to give Ella a drink at the party she died at.
Dawn refuses to go down without a fight and is determined to clear her name. As she starts to dive into Ella’s past, she uncovers some enemies, and someone is out for revenge. She must figure out who killed Ella before the police pin the murder on her.
Thoughts:
This was a fun book to watch the week after we watched the new Mean Girls reboot.
This book is well paced and on the quicker side. I enjoyed that it kept me guessing the entire time! I think that this one did a good job of making me wonder who the culprit was the entire time, with plenty of red herrings. Looking back, all things were leading to the big reveal and the character who was the culprit, but I was so caught up in it that I didn’t see it coming – and that’s the way that I like it!
I really enjoyed getting to know all the characters in this one. I felt that they were well developed, despite being quite a few of them. It was pretty obvious that the book was centered around teenagers, because a lot of the behavior was juvenile. Sometimes this is a hard part about reading YA books as an adult because I have to remind myself, they are kids. I enjoyed reading about it, and it was a lot of fun.
Mental health was the main focus of this book, and despite the unhinged behavior present, I felt that the author did a good job of showing the different ways mental health can affect us. It’s not always a pretty journey, and we can often lash out. I don’t think that this book was perfect, but I think that it did a good job.
This book also dealt with teen bullying and suicide attempts, so please read with care.
Publication Date:
May 7, 2024
Author:
Cindy R.X. He
Page Length:
336 pages
Publisher:
Sourcebooks Fire
Thank you to:
Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Fire @Sourcebooksfire and Netgalley @Netgalley for this e-arc. All thoughts are my own.
Link to buy
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