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3.06 AVERAGE
3.06 AVERAGE
Such a cool premise, but it just fell flat. I’m not a mystery reader and this is exactly why. The characters are always whiny teenagers that are pretending to be adults, making stupid decisions and being assholes to each other. I mean, the characters in this book are either boring or completely insufferable. The interesting parts of them being at camp and doing stuff for Violet are few and far between. The only thing that surprised me was that ~that person~ was still alive. I skimmed the ending because I was over it. I will continue trying to find a mystery book that truly shocks me and makes me want to read it.
Disclaimer: I received an advanced finished copy from Blackstone Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
TW: grooming
I haven’t read a YA thriller before so I went into this with no expectations, but I really was not impressed with this one. It truthfully read like a direct copy and paste of Pretty Little Liars, just at a summer camp setting, even down to the character personalities. I will say, I read it very quickly in one sitting. I liked that the chapters were short and the juxtaposition between the summer camp flashbacks and real time years later was interesting, but the characters started to all blend together and it became harder to remember who’s POV I was reading the further along I got. The pacing was also incredibly off, and the ending felt far too rushed.
My biggest gripe was that there was very clear grooming going on with one of the characters- truthfully all of the girls were being groomed at a young age by someone years older than them, but one of girls was groomed sexually, and the book should’ve included a trigger/content warning for that.
Unfortunately for those reasons, I wouldn’t recommend this book.
TW: grooming
I haven’t read a YA thriller before so I went into this with no expectations, but I really was not impressed with this one. It truthfully read like a direct copy and paste of Pretty Little Liars, just at a summer camp setting, even down to the character personalities. I will say, I read it very quickly in one sitting. I liked that the chapters were short and the juxtaposition between the summer camp flashbacks and real time years later was interesting, but the characters started to all blend together and it became harder to remember who’s POV I was reading the further along I got. The pacing was also incredibly off, and the ending felt far too rushed.
My biggest gripe was that there was very clear grooming going on with one of the characters- truthfully all of the girls were being groomed at a young age by someone years older than them, but one of girls was groomed sexually, and the book should’ve included a trigger/content warning for that.
Unfortunately for those reasons, I wouldn’t recommend this book.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
I enjoyed this mystery. It was suspenseful and surprising in parts. It was good for a YA novel. I liked the structure of the flipping back and forth between their past middle school selves to their high school selves. This really had the potential to go deeper with more flashbacks to really show the massive changes that they all were supposed to have made. We didn't really get a sense of who they were in Hush Cabin. Overall, their personalities were just icky. I didn't like any of them. I would have liked it if they had some redeeming characteristics that came out. Denise was like a Panicking Panda the entire time, Holly was a total pushover, Calista was just a Judgmental Judy, Zoe wqs just a boy-crazed ditz, and Violet seemed like a selfish psychopath. But, I liked the story/mystery.
So that... sucked?
The characters were all incredibly annoying and spent most of the time either fighting or jumping to dumb conclusions. Honestly not sure why the villains felt the need to get rid of them since they were too stupid to be a problem.
The characters were all incredibly annoying and spent most of the time either fighting or jumping to dumb conclusions. Honestly not sure why the villains felt the need to get rid of them since they were too stupid to be a problem.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A solid mystery/thriller that centers around a closely connected group of girls. Each group member has their own secret from years past but must reunite and team up to help solve the murder of their beloved camp counselor Violet. Things heat up when their investigating provokes the interest of an anonymous threat who terrifies them and tries to get them to stop.
The book cycles through the different girls and their perspectives, giving us nice insight into the group. I do wish some of the audiobook voices were a bit more distinct but as long as you were following along with the story the narrator changes were easy to note. The premise was interesting even if it was a little predictable at times, but it was a fun, dramatic listen overall.
The book cycles through the different girls and their perspectives, giving us nice insight into the group. I do wish some of the audiobook voices were a bit more distinct but as long as you were following along with the story the narrator changes were easy to note. The premise was interesting even if it was a little predictable at times, but it was a fun, dramatic listen overall.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse
Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Minor: Suicide, Death of parent
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It seemed pretty pointless to have 4 different points of view when they were all telling the same story and the personalities were too similar. There wasn’t enough diversity or back story of each character for the different points of view.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No