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siennaflynn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Hate crime, and Outing
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mass/school shootings, Cursing, Grief, Mental illness, Medical content, and Murder
Minor: Cancer, Death, Gun violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Transphobia, Car accident, Sexism, and Death of parent
ewarde's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Outing, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Transphobia, Mass/school shootings, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism
emmacb16's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
In the beginning, I loved how she set it up so that you didn’t know what each of them were trying to hide and no one trusted anyone. This made it interesting when you got to read it from all of the different perspectives.
All of the stories pulled together very nicely, and I like how much the characters developed by the end of the book. Very excited to read the next book!!
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicide, Murder, Bullying, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Self harm and Transphobia
syd991's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Each of the main 4 characters felt like a typical high-schooler cliche, you have the brains, the jock, the criminal, and the popular one. It’s part of the story, but it almost felt superficial for me.
I enjoyed the mystery aspect, although I feel like I could guess at it from the first few chapters. It almost felt too obvious.
I don’t know if I’ll pick up the sequel just yet, but I’m intrigued enough to watch the TV show adaptation. Overall, it was okay, I just didn’t love it.
Graphic: Violence, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Terminal illness, Transphobia, Self harm, Physical abuse, Outing, and Mass/school shootings
Minor: Car accident
allyhoo811's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Overall, I found this to an engaging YA mystery. The characters and their secrets/motives were pretty cliche and easily guessed, but the overall character development (especially with Addy) was wonderful and I would definitely recommend this one to most people. It gave me huge Breakfast Club vibes and I think fans of 80s/90s teen movies would especially enjoy the nostalgia factor even though it has a contemporary setting.
I did not love the ending/epilogue,
My 2 Big Issues (contain major spoilers):
1. Simon killing himself was a really interesting (if somewhat predictable) twist, but the portrayal of Simon as someone suffering from depression was unfortunate. Many people (teens included) suffer from depression, but they don't create elaborate, evil revenge plots to take out everyone who ever looked at them funny. Most people with depression have a hard time getting out of bed. And Simon had been destroying people's lives for years, portraying him as someone who was depressed and felt like an outsider when he was actually probably suffering from some severe personality disorders puts a bad light on depression, especially in a YA book.
2. Jake's character arc. This is a thriller trope I hate, and I hate it even more in a YA mystery. Jake the "perfect" boyfriend with some controlling tendances turns into a psycho killer at the end of the novel. This is just so overdone and not logical. Yes, people who attempt to control their partners are more likely to engage in emotional and physical abuse. But Jake had gone months without the slightest indication that he was escalating after he found out about the cheating (and kept it to himself). His mask didn't even slip once. And by the end we have a crazy action sequence where he is trying to kill two people without any hesitation. It felt forced, and I think Addy's character arc would have been better served without the killer boyfriend trope.
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Classism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, and Sexual content
Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Stalking, and Transphobia
andie_jk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Suicide
Minor: Homophobia, Outing, and Transphobia
brendaxxo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Nate watches them for a few seconds, tilts his chair back, and looks at Officer Budapest. "Everybody's got secrets," he says. "Right?"
my library was sick of me. i kept borrowing the book and letting the loan lapse. for months, something kept me from picking this up. when i finally did, i read this in one sitting. my friends thought i died. three and a half stars.
i loved so much about this book: the premise, the characters (for the most part), but above all, the MESS. whoever said secrets weren’t fun was a damn liar. despite all of this, i have some major qualms with one of us is lying. based solely on my enjoyment, this would have been a four star read! it stirred up the right feelings and kept me curious until the end. however, the writing and the book in general left a lot to be desired.
the ending, the reveal, and the entire mystery was so underwhelming! the bayview four's secrets were honestly not that deep and the reveal was predictable. not that it's a bad thing; i don't think that knowing the outcome ruins a book but the way mcmanus reached the destination felt far fetched, clumsy, and contrived. a character was outed and the author touched upon topics like depression and suicide, all of which were not handled carefully in my opinion.
the romance between nate and bronwyn was a highlight at the start of the book. there was just enough romance to keep you hooked* but not so much that it eclipsed the overarching story... until we reach the end and mcmanus loses the plot. (what the hell was up with the epilogue and that epi-epilogue??)
*we do not acknowledge the cafeteria kiss in this household. i pretend i do not see it.
Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Death, and Self harm
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia
Minor: Racism and Mass/school shootings
ekmoore11's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Vomit, Bullying, Murder, Outing, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Transphobia, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Self harm, and Racism
agoldendear's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Parts that did annoy me (a bit more spoilery, so I'm sticking them all in a spoiler warning):
2. Man, those teenagers were horny. They were often either making out with someone or thinking about making out with someone. I mean, that's probably realistic to teenagers, I guess? Not that it took away from the rest of the plot, it's just not something I am particularly interested in, so take my frustration with a grain of salt. I did like the main relationship in the book, though. Those two were fun together.
3. I did not like the breakup at the end. To clarify--I understood why Nate wanted to do it, but it was frustrating because it felt tacked onto the end of the book and he was tuning out everyone who was trying to be on his side. And then we don't get to see any of his perspective from the time he broke up with her to the time when they got back together, so I'm not sure why he decided to fix things. He just got convinced to do it...somehow.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Car accident, Addiction, Drug use, Murder, and Sexism
Minor: Vomit and Transphobia
joylynnreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Hate crime, and Cursing