Reviews

Ski Weekend by Rektok Ross

greeneyedbookworm's review against another edition

2.0

Overall, this just wasn't my cup of tea. But I can see why others would enjoy it.

Things that were on point:
- wintery setting of the Sierra Nevada Mountains
- the sibling relationship
- strong female lead characters
- interesting premise
- quick read

Things that missed the mark:
- a bit slow and anticlimactic
- for a thriller there's not much suspense or sense of urgency - they're trapped on a mountain for crying out loud
- while strong, the main character got really annoying
- very stereotypical characters
- the God/faith talk was a bit excessive the second half of the book

carmelita89's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

iammaied's review against another edition

emotional

2.5

peguevara's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

3.5

bookswithemily's review against another edition

3.0

I listened to this as an audiobook, I thought the narrator was captivating and really brought the characters to life. There was so much emotion portrayed by the narrator and the different tones for the different characters. I do get worried when picking up audiobooks because I need interesting narrators, but this book did not disappoint.

I liked the plot of this book, it was entertaining and full of twists. I was excited to find out what was going to happen to the characters. I thought it was educational because there were some good tips throughout the book.

I found I didn’t connect with any of the characters in this book unfortunately. I did love a Champion, the dog. Who doesn’t love a dog?! I did like the variety of different characters, but it was a strange bunch. There was some trauma to unpack with some of the characters which gave the characters some depth.

Overall I did enjoy listening to this book and it made my car journeys much more entertaining.

sarahflorence's review against another edition

Boring and I am not in the mood for snowed in YA horror right now.

multicoloredbookreviews's review against another edition

2.0

I think for a survival thriller, tone-wise this book missed the mark. The mood was all wrong.

Young Adult stories can be dark and serious, while staying true to the genre and being suitable for teenagers, but instead, here we got a group of six high school seniors discussing movies, school, crushes and religion like they were sitting around, chilling in a cozy coffee shop instead of stranded on a mountain (!), in the middle of nowhere (!!), in the dead of winter(!!!), during a snow storm(!!!!!!!).



For a vast majority of the book they seemed unconcerned with the dire situation they were in. There was a disconnect between what was going on and their overall responses. It killed all feeling of danger and the one essential factor every good thriller should have: the constant sense of dread.



I believe, cast-wise, better choices could have been made, too. The book description explicitly talks about the set of characters being diverse, but of our six protagonists, four (Sam, Stuart, Gavin and Britney) were, as far as I could tell, Caucasian; one (Lily) was pretty stereotypically Asian and the last one (Hunter) was an African American modern day cowboy. Honestly, if ethnicities hadn't been specified I'd have assumed they were all upper-middle class white kids. They all came across as very entitled and shallow most of the book. Sam in particular, the narrator, was very self-centered and judgmental. I thought her quite unlikable.



An aspect I found odd was how the fact that Sam was vegetarian kept being brought up in the story. She kept harping on about how "meat is murder" and "meat is disgusting" and it all felt very preachy. I have no way to know this, but maybe the author herself is vegetarian? That was the vibe I got. I couldn't care less about people's dietary choices. You do you. Eat whatever the heck you want. But don't come demonize the consumption of meat.



The topic of racism was broached too. When you're trapped on a mountain with your friends, why would skin color be relevant? Why start discussing the whitewashing of history and how the movie industry can be quite racist (however much of a real issue this is)? How is that relevant to the plot? It felt very unrelated and out of place.

At the same time, there were quite a few misogynistic comments and behaviors that went completely unaddressed. Britney, the stereotypically popular, pretty girl, who was also a cheerleader because apparently she had to be as cliche as possible was constantly being dismissed and judged by the other two female characters as vapid, stupid and promiscuous. Sam was constantly belittling her in her internal monologues and rambling about Britney's supposed anorexia. Then there were comments from the boys like "The slut is always a chick […] guys can't be the slut in horror movies" and how girls are weaker and less equipped in survival situations (just based on their gender). Hunter and Gavin were even verbally idolized by the Stuart for being sexually active shortly after Sam internally called into question Britney's virginity just because of her own prejudices: "She said she was still a virgin […] but you never know". There was a lot of internalized misogyny that just didn't sit well with me.



The other thing I felt was an issue was the inconsistency in the character's behaviors and actions, and this ties back to the whole "book tone" thing. They were fighting and then laughing until they couldn't breathe. They were motivated and in high spirits and the very next paragraph defeatism and gloom had taken over. It became impossible for me to gauge what was going on and I didn't know how the characters were truly feeling. And thus, I couldn't empathize with them.

I was detached all throughout this book because the tonal cues were constantly contradicting themselves. It made the reading experience messy, and as a reader I felt like I couldn't quite find my footing. Tone should set the mood and give the reader the necessary clues to make them feel what the author intended them to feel. I would not be able to tell you what that was.



The bones for a great story were there, but I was pretty dissatisfied with the execution.

**I recieved an advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and Spark Press for the opportunity**

nixbix_reads's review against another edition

3.0

I found this to be a great binge read. I liked the fact that it was a thriller where there was no bad guy - it was the environment & their own decisions that were causing their issues. While none of the characters were particularly endearing, I did enjoy the different dynamics each brought to the story.

Thanks to SparkPress & NetGalley for the DRC in exchange for an honest review.

cboddie's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.5

8th & up

pages_and_ash's review

3.0

3.5

I did enjoy this story. The stakes were high and I loved the snowy atmosphere. There were some cheesy moments and it did feel a bit slow paced at times. Overall a fun book sure to make you never drive in the snowy mountains.