Review: Last Seen

Read if you like: dark, twisty thrillers, mysteries that keep you guessing, and a tight-knit gang of friends

Last Seen | Sara Shepard

Series: The Amateurs

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller
Released: October 4th 2018
Pages: 293
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

At first, the mystery they're tasked with seems to have nothing to do with Aerin or her kidnapper. But as Seneca, Maddox and Madison hit the Jersey Shore to gather clues, they begin to uncover the true background of the killer and the horrors that shaped him into who he is. The scavenger hunt leads them to the family of a recently kidnapped boy and dark secrets they could never have seen coming. 

As Aerin struggles to play nice with the person who killed her sister in order to buy herself time, her friends work feverishly against the ticking clock that could mean her life, and every clue they uncover leads Seneca to suspect she's more connected to the killer's history than she ever realised ... 

Weirdly, this was my least favourite book of the series, even though we got loads of answers and the story arc wrapped up. I did enjoy it, and the mystery built nicely. I liked the insight into Brett, and how his past tied into the present case. I did like how it all wrapped up, and everyone got their happily ever after, whatever form that took, but the end ... something about it felt flat for me. Possibly because the book actually ended around 85%, so I thought something more was going to happen. And absolutely no hint in the blurb that this was the final book, which was irritating. But still, it was a really good book and I'd highly recommend this series to anyone who loves a twisty, compelling murder mystery.

4 stars

Review: Gilt Hollow

Read if you like: bad boys and sweet girls, angsty romance, dark thriller vibes in your contemporary, and an underlying mystery.

Gilt Hollow | Lorie Langdon

Series: N/A

Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Mystery, Romance
Released: September 27th 2016
Pages: 304
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

Willow Lamott’s best friend is a murderer, and no one in the small town of Gilt Hollow will let her forget it. For four long years, she’s tried to fade into the background—but none of that matters when Ashton Keller comes striding into school, fresh out of juvie and fueled by revenge. The moment their eyes meet, Willow no longer feels invisible. Drawn to the vulnerability behind Ashton’s mask of rage, she sinks deeper into his sinister world and begins to question whether he’s a villain, a savior, or both.

Ashton thought he wanted vengeance, until Willow reminded him what he’d been missing. Now he longs to clear his name and become the person she sees in him. But the closer they get to uncovering the truth, the darker the secrets become, and Ashton fears his return to Gilt Hollow will destroy everyone he loves, especially the girl he left behind. 

A bad boy out for revenge against those who wrongfully convicted him. A best friend trying to live in the aftermath of defending him. An angst-ridden, emotional romance, and a quest to clear his name PLUS death threats, secrets, and a conspiracy? Damn, I should have read this book sooner. I loved the characters, the little quirks of Halloween parties and the record shop and the motorbike, and all the details made this book something more and bigger than a regular mystery. I really loved it.

4.5 stars

Review: All Of This Is True

Read if you like: messed up mysteries, deeply flawed characters, and stories that keep you guessing right to the end.

All of This is True | Lygia Day Penaflor

Series: N/A

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery
Released: May 15th 2018
Pages: 432
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

Miri Tan loved the book Undertow like it was a living being. So when she and her friends went to a book signing to meet the author, Fatima Ro, they concocted a plan to get close to her, even if her friends won’t admit it now. As for Jonah, well—Miri knows none of that was Fatima’s fault.

Soleil Johnston wanted to be a writer herself one day. When she and her friends started hanging out with her favorite author, Fatima Ro, she couldn’t believe their luck—especially when Jonah Nicholls started hanging out with them, too. Now, looking back, Soleil can’t believe she let Fatima manipulate her and Jonah like that. She can’t believe that she got used for a book.

Penny Panzarella was more than the materialistic party girl everyone at the Graham School thought she was. She desperately wanted Fatima Ro to see that, and she saw her chance when Fatima asked the girls to be transparent with her. If only she’d known what would happen when Fatima learned Jonah’s secret. If only she’d known that the line between fiction and truth was more complicated than any of them imagined. . . .

This book is messed up. I enjoyed it ... I think. I liked some characters but others were just ... odd. But then there's some serious brainwashing going on in this book. And so many secrets. Basically: a group of teens befriend their favourite author, and she manipulates them into doing things she can write a book about. Super creepy and unsettling, but really well written. You'll never read anything like this, I can promise you that.

4.5 stars

Review: Follow Me

Read if you like: thrillers that leave you guessing, mysteries that throw twist after twist, a seriously strong cast of characters.

Follow Me | Sara Shepard

Series: The Amateurs

Genre: YA Mystery, Thriller
Released: October 5th 2017
Pages: 288
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

Everyone knows Chelsea Dawson. Day and night, her tens of thousands of followers on Instagram watch her every move. So when she goes missing from the sunny beachside town of Lafayette, it makes headlines.

The police are searching everywhere for her kidnapper, but when eighteen-year-old Seneca Frazier sees Chelsea's picture, she knows instantly who took her. Chelsea looks exactly like her friend Aerin Kelly's murdered sister - and Seneca's own mother, who was killed five years ago.

Seneca's suspicions are confirmed when the killer contacts her, threatening to hurt Chelsea if Seneca goes to the police with what she knows. Seneca makes the only move she can, reaching out to Aerin and Maddox and Madison Wright, her friends from Case Not Closed, an amateur crime-solving community. Together they go to Lafayette to work the case, to save Chelsea, and to bring the killer to justice.

But the killer has a plan of his own. He wants Seneca and her friends in Lafayette, but he wants them to play by his rules. One wrong step could mean the end for Chelsea - or the Amateurs. 

Not quite as good as the Amateurs but just as exciting and deadly. The secrets keep piling in this book, and not even the Amateurs can predict the next move of the killer - someone they thought was their friend. I loved every element of this, from insights into Brett's twisted mind to all the clues and cleverness. There's just enough emotional bits to temper the mystery and crime solving too, which I loved. These characters are so interesting and varied, a really strong team. And that ending... I'm so excited for book three!

This series is awesome.

5 stars

Review: Things We Have In Common

Things We Have In Common | Tasha Kavanaugh

Published by: MIRA, January 31st 2017

Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: Ebook

Source: MIRA, via Netgalley

Fifteen-year-old Yasmin Doner is a social misfit—obese, obsessive and deemed a freak by her peers at school. With her father dead and her mother in a new relationship, Yasmin yearns for a sense of belonging, finding comfort only in food and the fantasy of being close to Alice Taylor, a girl at school. Yasmin will do anything to become friends with pretty and popular Alice—even if Alice, like everyone else, thinks she's a freak. 

When Yasmin notices a sinister-looking man watching Alice from the school fence, she sees a way of finally winning Alice's affection—because how this stranger is staring is far more than just looking, it's wanting. Because this stranger, Yasmin believes, is going to take Alice. Yasmin decides to find out more about this man so that when he does take Alice, Yasmin will be the only one who knows his name and where he lives…the only one who can save her. 

But as Yasmin discovers more about him, her affections begin to shift. Perhaps she was wrong about him. Perhaps she doesn't need Alice after all. 

And then Alice vanishes.

What this book should have been: highly disturbing, upsetting, icky. What this book somehow managed to be: captivating, thrilling, oddly romantic. I'm so confused that I like this book. Well maybe not that I DO like it, but WHY I like it. I like the relationship between Yasmin and Samuel. I love how close you get to Yasmin's thoughts, feelings, and desires. I know they're massively messed up, and wrong, but somehow I understood why she did everything she did. What this book very cleverly does is explain from near the beginning that Yasmin has an obsessive personality - without that, this book would be odd. It'd be like 'why are you talking to a strange older guy, are you crazy, do you want to be murdered????' but instead, she's fascinated by him and obsessed and utterly consumed. It makes total sense. And because she's consumed, I got consumed too. I ended up thinking this potential kidnapper was a pretty great guy? How? I don't know. This book is subtle and clever and trapped me without me ever noticing. You know how people say you can't look away from a car crash? This book is like that. I know it's wrong, and I should stop reading, but I was glued to the page. I loved it. Every minute of it. I would happily read more of Yasmin and Samuel (is it wrong that I kinda want them to become a serial killer couple??)

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world ★★★☆☆

Writing ★★★★★

Review: False Hearts

False Hearts: False Hearts | Laura Lam

Published by: Macmillan, June 16th 2016

Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller

Pages: 366

Format: Ebook

Source: Macmillan, via Netgalley

Orphan Black meets Inception: Two formerly conjoined sisters are ensnared in a murderous plot involving psychoactive drugs, shared dreaming, organized crime, and a sinister cult. 

One night Tila stumbles home, terrified and covered in blood.

She’s arrested for murder, the first by a civilian in decades. The San Francisco police suspect involvement with Verve, a powerful drug, and offer her twin sister Taema a chilling deal. Taema must assume Tila’s identity and gather information – then if she brings down the drug syndicate, the police may let her sister live. But Taema’s investigation raises ghosts from the twins’ past.

The sisters were raised by a cult, which banned modern medicine. But as conjoined twins, they needed surgery to divide their shared heart – and escaped. Taema now finds Tila discovered links between the cult and the city’s underground. Once unable to keep secrets, the sisters will discover the true cost of lies.

This book really throws everything into the mix, but instead of that being really confusing, it's just awesome. Formerly conjoined twins keeping secrets, a criminal organisation, a woman going undercover as her twin in said criminal organisation. Add to that technology that downloads information straight into your HEAD, a drug that is seriously dangerous, and a super sweet romance, and this book has everything you could possibly want. It even has a cult for Christ's sake. Plus it's so well written, packed with tension and thrills and threats, and its underlying drive is the love of one sister for another. There's nothing I didn't love. Gimme the sequel!

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★☆

Review: The Last of August

Charlotte Holmes: The Last of August | Brittany Cavallaro

Published by: Katherine Tegen, February 14th 2017

Genre: YA, Mystery, Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: Ebook

Source: Katherine Tegen, via Edelweiss

In the second brilliant, action-packed book in the Charlotte Holmes trilogy, Jamie and Charlotte are in a chase across Europe to untangle a web of shocking truths about the Holmes and Moriarty families.

Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes are looking for a winter break reprieve in Sussex after a fall semester that almost got them killed. But nothing about their time off is proving simple, including Holmes and Watson’s growing feelings for each other. When Charlotte’s beloved uncle Leander goes missing from the Holmes estate—after being oddly private about his latest assignment in a German art forgery ring—the game is afoot once again, and Charlotte throws herself into a search for answers.

So begins a dangerous race through the gritty underground scene in Berlin and glittering art houses in Prague, where Holmes and Watson discover that this complicated case might change everything they know about their families, themselves, and each other. 

Oh yeah, the last of August. REAL FUNNY TITLE THERE. 

Aside from tricking me into thinking August was safe and tricking me into liking him, this book is pretty great. Not as good as the first book, but I like how it takes place away from the school. I thought they'd all be set in the school so it was fun to mix it up with Europe.

The plot is interesting, and has a tonne of different elements, but I didn't connect with it in a way I did the first book. It didn't really feel urgent, or important, even with Leander being in danger and Charlotte's mum poisoned. But I liked the relationships between everyone, and it had enough of that Charlotte Holmes spark (genuis and inventive and destructive all at once) that I read it quickly, and it didn't bore me once. Plus it wraps up nicely and cleverly and feels a lot like the ending of a Sherlock Holmes story.

Just as smart and thoughtful and moving as book one - I just didn't love it quite as much. Still can't wait to see what happens to Charlotte and Jamie next! Just hope it involves less emotional turmoil!

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★☆

Review: Dare You

Nikki Kill: Dare You | Jennifer Brown

Published by: Katherine Tegen, February 14th 2017

Genre: YA, Mystery, Thriller

Pages: 480

Format: Ebook

Source: Katherine Tegen, via Edelweiss

In the second book of the suspenseful Shade Me trilogy, Nikki Kill becomes embroiled in another mystery where only her synesthesia can help her unravel the dark truth.

Nikki Kill didn’t realize that trying to find out who killed Peyton Hollis would tangle her in a web of dangerous family secrets that would rock her identity to the core. But now that Nikki knows the truth, the all-powerful Hollises want to frame her for Peyton’s murder.

And now Nikki’s only chance at escaping the cold black bars of prison or the crimson grip of death is teaming up with the enigmatic Detective Martinez and relying on an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of clues.... 

Mark this down as my favourite mystery/thriller series - even if it treats me cruelly and hurts my favourite characters.

I wasn't sure if this would be as high octane or high impact at the first book, but it SO was. I wasn't sure if Nikki wouldn't continue to grow, but she grew SO MUCH. (She's still a crappy person and I still love her so, so much for it.) I wasn't sure if Nikki would ever have a thing with the bae, Martinez, but it looks hopeful on the romance front ... even if every other front is 100% hopeless.

Basically - epic action, thrilling mystery, twists and awesome reveals, a really unique set of antagonists, a beating sarcastic heart, and just enough kissing to make my happy. Love this series. Dying to read the next one!

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★☆

Review: How To Disappear

How To Disappear | Ann Redisch Stampler

Published by: Simon Pulse, June 14th 2016

Genre: YA, Mystery, Thriller

Pages: 416

Format: Ebook

Source: Simon Pulse, via Edelweiss

This electric cross-country thriller follows the game of cat and mouse between a girl on the run from a murder she witnessed—or committed?—and the boy who’s sent to kill her.

Nicolette Holland is the girl everyone likes. Up for adventure. Loyal to a fault. And she’s pretty sure she can get away with anything...until a young woman is brutally murdered in the woods near Nicolette’s house. Which is why she has to disappear.

Jack Manx has always been the stand-up guy with the killer last name. But straight A’s and athletic trophies can’t make people forget that his father was a hit man and his brother is doing time for armed assault. Just when Jack is about to graduate from his Las Vegas high school and head east for college, his brother pulls him into the family business with inescapable instructions: find this ruthless Nicolette Holland and get rid of her. Or else Jack and everyone he loves will pay the price.

As Nicolette and Jack race to outsmart each other, tensions—and attractions—run high. Told in alternating voices, this tightly plotted mystery and tense love story challenges our assumptions about right and wrong, guilt and innocence, truth and lies.

The first line of the summary says it all. How To Disappear really is electric.

Nicolette and Jack have AMAZING chemistry, and made this book seriously, seriously addictive. Their bickering was hilarious and sweet (especially when Nicolette was holding a gun to Jack's head.) The main characters and the interactions made this book amazing, but the plot and the tense, twisty danger made it epic. It kept me guessing the whole way through, and I didn't actually predict the end which was awesome. So many layers and secrets and lies.

Dangerous, romantic, and clever. I loved it.

Characters ★★★★★
Setting/World ★★★☆☆

Writing ★★★★☆

ARC Review: The Amateurs

The Amateurs: The Amateurs | Sara Shepard

Published by: Hot Key Books, October 6th 2016

Genre: YA, Mystery, Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: Ebook

Source: Hot Key Books, via Netgalley

Everyone's dying to know the truth . . .

When Aerin Kelly was eleven, she idolised her seventeen-year-old sister, Helena, and they did everything together. They made Claymation movies and posted them to YouTube. They made fun of Windmere-Carruthers, the private school they attended, they invented new flavours for their parents' organic ice cream shop, and they dressed up their golden retriever, Buster. But when Helena went into senior year things started to change. Rather than being Aerin's inseparable sister, she started to push her away. Then, on a snowy winter's day, Helena vanished. 

Four years later, Helena's body is found. Wracked with grief and refusing to give up on her sister, Aerin spends months trying to figure out what exactly happened to Helena and who killed her. But the police have no leads. A young, familiar officer named Thomas wants to help and suggests she checks out a website called Case Not Closed. Hesitantly, she posts, and when teenagers Seneca and Maddox show up on her doorstep offering to help investigate she accepts in desperation. Both have suffered their own losses and also posted to the site with no luck, so they are hoping this case might be the one they crack. But as their investigation begins, it seems that maybe it's no accident that they are all together, and that maybe the crimes have something - or someone - in common.

Thank God the next book comes out next summer because I don't think I can wait a full year. Actually, I could easily read another five books in this series right now. The mystery is next level, tense, dangerous, and twisty as hell (I expected nothing less.) 

But the characters! Look, I loved everyone, even That Guy (who I felt BAD FOR when Aerin didn't reciprocate.) Seneca especially - she's awesome and smart and I connect with her a whole lot. Everyone in this book is flawed, and messed up, and they're all the more real for it. Plus, two of them are WOC. Even minor characters have their secrets and are completely dynamic, I'm dying to know what happens to the amateurs next. 

I'm just stunned by how good this book is, and where it went. Holy hell, Sara Shepard, you don't do things by halves.

Characters ★★★★★
Setting/World ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★★

Book Blitz: Vial Things

Leah Clifford is back with a BLOODY good young adult novel that you don’t want to miss. And at $2.99 – there’s no reason to!  

Vial Things Synopsis

As an eighteen-year-old resurrectionist, Allie knows staying vigilant means staying alive. The blood of the resurrectionists is heavily regulated, only used with the express permission of the group’s leaders for fear of being discovered. She’s taken every precaution--self-defense classes since childhood, extensive weapons training with knives, and even going so far as to befriend a homeless boy named Ploy, who unknowingly trades a few nights a week on her couch in exchange for being a human tripwire to those after her blood.
But as Allie and Ploy’s feelings for each other grow, and a hunter starts taking out the resurrectionists of Fissure’s Whipp, Allie begins to realize even her best laid plans won’t be enough to keep both Ploy and herself safe.
Protecting a girl he shouldn’t love, from a threat he understands too well, Ploy must face his past to save his future in Allie’s world--a world where bringing back the dead can cost you your life.

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About The Author

Leah Clifford was born and raised outside of Cleveland Ohio. She has an affinity for all things weird and creepy as made evident by her oddity shop Petite Grotesque and her previous young adult novels, A Touch Mortal, A Touch Morbid and A Touch Menacing.
You can find her on Twitter

Cover Reveal: Lost Girls, by Merrie Destefano

Hi guys! Today I'm sharing the cover of Lost Girls, by Merrie Destafano, hosted by YAInterrobang

Lost Girls | Merrie Destefano

Release Date: January 3, 2017
Genre: YA Psychological Thriller

Yesterday, Rachel went to sleep listening to Taylor Swift, curled up in her grammy’s quilt, worrying about geometry. Today, she woke up in a ditch, bloodied, bruised, and missing a year of her life.

She doesn’t recognize the person she’s become: she’s popular. She wears nothing but black.

Black to cover the blood.

And she can fight.

Tell no one.

She’s not the only girl to go missing within the last year…but she’s the only girl to come back. She desperately wants to unravel what happened to her, to try and recover the rest of the Lost Girls.

But the more she discovers, the more her memories return. And as much as her new life scares her, it calls to her. Seductively. The good girl gone bad, sex, drugs, and raves, and something darker…something she still craves—the rush of the fight, the thrill of the win—something she can’t resist, that might still get her killed…

The only rule is: There are no rules.

 
 

About the Author:

Born in the Midwest, former magazine editor Merrie Destefano currently lives in Southern California with her husband, two German shepherds, a Siamese cat, and the occasional wandering possum. Her favorite hobbies are reading speculative fiction and watching old Star Trek episodes, and her incurable addiction is writing. She loves to camp in the mountains, walk on the beach, watch old movies, and listen to alternative music—although rarely all at the same time. 

http://www.merriedestefano.com/

Group Blog: http://supernaturalunderground.blogspot.ca/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MerrieDestefano

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/merrie.destefano

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/816280.Merrie_Destefano

Newsletter: http://www.merriedestefano.com/ (Sign up under the Newsletter tab.)

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