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chris_reads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, and Bullying
Minor: Vomit
libraryghost's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Addiction
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Drug use
bookishgoob's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This is the second book by this author that i’ve read and i throughly enjoyed every minute of reading it. The plot twists, the characters, everything about it was interesting and fun. Having the book set during fall in New England was also a plus for me. YA thrillers are fun, fast paced, and not gory which is why i enjoy them so much. I highly recommend taking the time to read some of this authors work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Murder
Minor: Car accident, Addiction, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Medical content
just_a_bibliophile's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
As much as I love McManus's usual books, this one sort of fell a little flat for me. Two Can Keep a Secret follows twins Ellery and Ezra, who move to small-town Echo Ridge. Echo Ridge has a track record of unusual cases, with a girl being found murdered in recent years, and even the twins' own aunt mysteriously going missing when she was growing up as a teenager there. The story is set up for more bizarre events unfolding as the twins arrive, with Ellery - a true crime addict - already invested in the town's many mysteries.
I really liked the characters in this, with the relationships between all of the characters being particularly nice to read about. While I thought some of the characters could have done with a little more fleshing out, I thought Malcolm's character was probably the most developed of them all, and was definitely interesting to read about. I did think that there was a lot of name dropping at the start, and I know I got seriously confused trying to remember who everyone was and how they linked to the story for the first 25% of the book. Not all of these characters were even particularly relevant, I thought it could have done with a little less minor characters who contributed nothing to the actual plot, and a little more development for the main characters. There were so many characters that I really liked the sound of (Mia being a particular favourite of mine), but I just didn't feel they'd been developed enough for me to be able to properly understand them on the level I'd have liked.
It felt very cliche. From the dialogue to the plot and the characters, it felt very YA-typical. It also seemed incredibly similar to many other of the author's books and other YA murder mysteries out there (we're talking small town 'cursed' with lots of cases of disappearing or murdered teenagers, until our MC teenager who just so happens to be really into true crime comes along to solve the mystery). And I mean, that can be quite enjoyable - I've always really enjoyed the rest of McManus's books. I don't think this book is necessarily any worse than her others, it just came across as a little repetitive and honestly kind of dull to me personally - potentially because I've read so many of the author's books by now. I just feel like I've read this book before, as there simply wasn't enough to set it apart from the many, many other YA mysteries out there.
There were some aspects that I did just have to sit and go oh come on, as parts of the plot were quite frankly ridiculously unbelievable, which took away from the usual effect these plot twists have on me. In all honesty, some of the dialogue nearer to the end of the story just made me cringe, it felt so young adult stereotyped and even slightly childish in parts.
Saying this, no, I didn't see what was coming or who was behind it all, and it still had the usual shock factor that I'd expect from one of these books. Undoubtedly worth a read for any McManus fans (although I do think there are better books of hers out there) or murder mystery lovers in general, but maybe not the best for anyone who's read way too many of these sorts of books already.
Rating: 3 stars
I really liked the characters in this, with the relationships between all of the characters being particularly nice to read about. While I thought some of the characters could have done with a little more fleshing out, I thought Malcolm's character was probably the most developed of them all, and was definitely interesting to read about. I did think that there was a lot of name dropping at the start, and I know I got seriously confused trying to remember who everyone was and how they linked to the story for the first 25% of the book. Not all of these characters were even particularly relevant, I thought it could have done with a little less minor characters who contributed nothing to the actual plot, and a little more development for the main characters. There were so many characters that I really liked the sound of (Mia being a particular favourite of mine), but I just didn't feel they'd been developed enough for me to be able to properly understand them on the level I'd have liked.
It felt very cliche. From the dialogue to the plot and the characters, it felt very YA-typical. It also seemed incredibly similar to many other of the author's books and other YA murder mysteries out there (we're talking small town 'cursed' with lots of cases of disappearing or murdered teenagers, until our MC teenager who just so happens to be really into true crime comes along to solve the mystery). And I mean, that can be quite enjoyable - I've always really enjoyed the rest of McManus's books. I don't think this book is necessarily any worse than her others, it just came across as a little repetitive and honestly kind of dull to me personally - potentially because I've read so many of the author's books by now. I just feel like I've read this book before, as there simply wasn't enough to set it apart from the many, many other YA mysteries out there.
There were some aspects that I did just have to sit and go oh come on, as parts of the plot were quite frankly ridiculously unbelievable, which took away from the usual effect these plot twists have on me. In all honesty, some of the dialogue nearer to the end of the story just made me cringe, it felt so young adult stereotyped and even slightly childish in parts.
Saying this, no, I didn't see what was coming or who was behind it all, and it still had the usual shock factor that I'd expect from one of these books. Undoubtedly worth a read for any McManus fans (although I do think there are better books of hers out there) or murder mystery lovers in general, but maybe not the best for anyone who's read way too many of these sorts of books already.
Rating: 3 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Murder
Moderate: Violence, Addiction, and Car accident
ilo_the_duck's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Murder, Addiction, and Physical abuse
bujo_bellel's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-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
5.0
I really enjoyed this book, there were so many plot twists and I could not guess any of them. The vibes was really fun and I loved the romance side plot. The ending shocked me and what was revealed by Ellery at the end sent chills fr. The book was rather amusing at times and the plot got wilder and wilder. I was very entertained.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Car accident, Addiction, and Bullying
deadgirlwalking23's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Addiction, Pedophilia, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Car accident
rayne_1906's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
3 hours 12 minutes - I was enjoying this book immensely up until the ending was revealed, and don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, but I was slightly disappointed, mainly because I didn't like how a lot of the information was relayed to Ellery via Ryan, almost an infodump of facts that the author couldn't figure out how to relay in a more natural way. However, I do think the reveal was good for the most part, unexpected but not unrealistic/far-fetched. I thought the character's were fairly interesting: Ellery maybe fell a little flat as a character but for the most part she was mostly fleshed out.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Drug abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcohol and Vomit
inejstan's review against another edition
so boring. se siente como esos libros pretensiosos de wattpad. los personajes no tienen ni una gracia, y cuando piensas que se va a poner bueno, no lo hace
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Grief, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Toxic relationship
bornachoker's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Addiction, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Car accident, Drug abuse, Grief, Murder, and Vomit
Moderate: Alcohol and Gun violence
Minor: Sexual content and Biphobia