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3.16 AVERAGE
3.16 AVERAGE
Copy received through NetGalley.
Review taken from my blog illbefinealonereads
I Know What You Did Last Summer meets Pretty Little Liars. I am torn between recommending and not. Lots of mixed emotion. I expected to love it, however, I am utterly disappointed.
Review taken from my blog illbefinealonereads
I Know What You Did Last Summer meets Pretty Little Liars. I am torn between recommending and not. Lots of mixed emotion. I expected to love it, however, I am utterly disappointed.
There were some major continuity errors through out this book. For example, when exactly did Charlie move to Englewood? Apparently at the beginning, he moved sometime around middle school so he could go to englewood for soccer. But Sarah had apparently been ignored by Charlie since first grade, he had a crush on another girl from englewood in the third grade, etc. Also, some issues with Sarah Castro-Tanner's name. Her mom's last name was Castro but later Sarah's sister uses her mom's maiden name and it's Hara?
There were a lot more continuity errors throughout, but these really stuck out to me. Also, let's address that "letter" in Charlie's mom's room. He has 178 days to figure out what to confess to. Why not use one of those damn days to get the letter out of his mom's room?
Interesting premise, but so totally unrealistic and could definitely use another read through by author and editor.
There were a lot more continuity errors throughout, but these really stuck out to me. Also, let's address that "letter" in Charlie's mom's room. He has 178 days to figure out what to confess to. Why not use one of those damn days to get the letter out of his mom's room?
Interesting premise, but so totally unrealistic and could definitely use another read through by author and editor.
This book is a good story. I enjoyed it! I loved the ending that left me wanting more. I still have my mind spinning over this ending. I think the characters made the book for me. I could read this book as much as I wanted and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The suspense was very good. * I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
3.5 stars
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my review.
Laura Rivers first day at Englewood High is supposed to be different, she's not following the crowd anymore, she's being who she wants to be. Except, everyone's staring at her and whispering about her, because she looks like dead girl, Sarah Castro-Tanner. Laura doesn't let this stop her though, she's got her eye on soccer hottie Charlie Sanders, even though he's got a pile of secrets he won't let her in on. Things are made weirder by the fact that no one will talk to her about Sarah and Charlie and his friends seem to have some kind of involvement in her death that are making them act stranger and stranger.
This book messed with me and not in a good way, I mean I started looking over my shoulder and looking at people differently. The storyline is incredibly interesting, a girl is dead and while it's been marked as a suicide her bodies never been found. Laura, a beautiful blonde Californian, happens to look like her in several ways. People are on edge, especially the four friends that may have had some kind of involvement. I really like Laura, at first. Her willingness to be the new girl was refreshing and her slow investigation into Sarah's death is intriguing. Then there's Charlie, the popular guy, who's slowly losing his mind. His three friends, with more secrets than I knew what to do with and finally there's Sasha, a hacker who's determined to prove that Sarah's death was far more than just a suicide.
This book is so suspenseful and the quote, "revenge is dish best served cold," totally fits Dead Ringer. It's told in third person from the alternate perspectives of Laura, Charlie, and Sasha. As the students go through the motions of high school things just keep happening, bringing the thought of Sarah into the front of every student's mind. There's secret videos, hidden conversations, and moments that terrify the characters. The characters are so multidimensional that I never felt like I knew them 100% and even after finishing the book, I know there's more to them. The emotions I went through in this book kept turning the pages nonstop and I couldn't have predicted the ending.
Several of the twists are predictable, even if the ending is not. Unfortunately, Dead Ringer also ends in a cliffhanger like no other. As everything and everyone is unraveling, it just ends. Several characters are introduced to us right near the end and their stories aren't closed, so even though a sequel hasn't been mentioned, I am hoping for one. The abrupt closure and cliffhanger took this from a sold 4 stars to 3.5 for me.
If you're a fan of suspenseful thrillers, I definitely suggest you pick this up, whether you are a YA reader or not. It blew my mind and I would absolutely call it Gone Girl turned YA.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my review.
Laura Rivers first day at Englewood High is supposed to be different, she's not following the crowd anymore, she's being who she wants to be. Except, everyone's staring at her and whispering about her, because she looks like dead girl, Sarah Castro-Tanner. Laura doesn't let this stop her though, she's got her eye on soccer hottie Charlie Sanders, even though he's got a pile of secrets he won't let her in on. Things are made weirder by the fact that no one will talk to her about Sarah and Charlie and his friends seem to have some kind of involvement in her death that are making them act stranger and stranger.
This book messed with me and not in a good way, I mean I started looking over my shoulder and looking at people differently. The storyline is incredibly interesting, a girl is dead and while it's been marked as a suicide her bodies never been found. Laura, a beautiful blonde Californian, happens to look like her in several ways. People are on edge, especially the four friends that may have had some kind of involvement. I really like Laura, at first. Her willingness to be the new girl was refreshing and her slow investigation into Sarah's death is intriguing. Then there's Charlie, the popular guy, who's slowly losing his mind. His three friends, with more secrets than I knew what to do with and finally there's Sasha, a hacker who's determined to prove that Sarah's death was far more than just a suicide.
This book is so suspenseful and the quote, "revenge is dish best served cold," totally fits Dead Ringer. It's told in third person from the alternate perspectives of Laura, Charlie, and Sasha. As the students go through the motions of high school things just keep happening, bringing the thought of Sarah into the front of every student's mind. There's secret videos, hidden conversations, and moments that terrify the characters. The characters are so multidimensional that I never felt like I knew them 100% and even after finishing the book, I know there's more to them. The emotions I went through in this book kept turning the pages nonstop and I couldn't have predicted the ending.
Several of the twists are predictable, even if the ending is not. Unfortunately, Dead Ringer also ends in a cliffhanger like no other. As everything and everyone is unraveling, it just ends. Several characters are introduced to us right near the end and their stories aren't closed, so even though a sequel hasn't been mentioned, I am hoping for one. The abrupt closure and cliffhanger took this from a sold 4 stars to 3.5 for me.
If you're a fan of suspenseful thrillers, I definitely suggest you pick this up, whether you are a YA reader or not. It blew my mind and I would absolutely call it Gone Girl turned YA.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me this book in exchange for an honest review.
Dead Ringer is basically Pretty Little Liars, except not as well-written (and if you've read Pretty Little Liars, I hope you can recognize the insult that it is) This book is just....not good. The writing is mediocre and the plot doesn't make up for that fact. The story is at times boring, and at times way too over-the-top, but not in a really fun way. And oh yeah - this is the first book in a series, though there is no indication of this in the blurb or anywhere on the book itself. We are left with a cliffhanger, though the story isn't interesting enough to justify multiple volumes.
Overall, this book just annoyed me. It's not very long or difficult to read, but it took me awhile anyway since it didn't interest me much. I think the author was trying to make some point about bullying here, but I'm not sure what? I'm not sure what the author is going for? And though the beginning of the book isn't the same, by the end of the book I realized that plot bore a remarkable similarity to I gave this book a 2, which is probably being generous. There are so many better books out there, I wouldn't recommend this one.
Dead Ringer is basically Pretty Little Liars, except not as well-written (and if you've read Pretty Little Liars, I hope you can recognize the insult that it is) This book is just....not good. The writing is mediocre and the plot doesn't make up for that fact. The story is at times boring, and at times way too over-the-top, but not in a really fun way. And oh yeah - this is the first book in a series, though there is no indication of this in the blurb or anywhere on the book itself. We are left with a cliffhanger, though the story isn't interesting enough to justify multiple volumes.
Overall, this book just annoyed me. It's not very long or difficult to read, but it took me awhile anyway since it didn't interest me much. I think the author was trying to make some point about bullying here, but I'm not sure what?
Spoiler
In this book, the "bullies" never actually do anything that bad, and the "victim" is proven to be a creepy sociopath almost from day one.Spoiler
Pretty Little Liars. A "dead" girl who gets a lot of plastic surgery, spends thousands of dollars, and cooks up an insane plot in order to enact revenge on a clique of high schoolers? Been there, done that.
I enjoyed this mystery a lot. I loved the way it was paced and the way it strung the reader along. I liked the characters and how I was never sure which was the real version of them. The twist even surprised me. The only thing that kept this from being a solid five star book for me was that once the twist was revealed, the means for the plot to go through seemed unbelievable to me. Outside of that, a really solid mystery.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I actually didn’t think I was going to like Dead Ringer at all when I first started reading it. The point of view started with the new girl in school, Laura, then started jumping to other characters and I’m honestly not a real big fan of that. It has it’s moments, and it has to be done right. I forced myself to keep reading and I came to appreciate the multiple POV’s, ultimately they did work, I just wish the transition had been smoother.
As I said, Laura is the new girl at school and she looks eerily similar to Sarah, the girl who died almost two years prior. As Laura adjusts to live in her new school she begins digging around the past, trying to figure out what really happened to Sarah.
We also get into the head of Charlie, he’s the schools star soccer player. He has his own secrets to hide about Sarah and he’s also getting close to Laura. I really liked Charlie, I liked how his character was developed. I was able to sympathize with and root for him.
The third character from whom we see a POV is Sasha. She’s also out for answers to Sarah’s death and an enigma herself for much of the book. We initially don’t know her motivation or how she even knows about Sarah. I think she was a great addition to the story and added a nice extra layer of mystery.
All of this was great, except... details were given in the beginning of the book don’t match up with the end game. I really can’t say a whole lot or else it will ruin the book for those who have not yet read it. The ending is fabulous, minus the terrible cliffhanger the author leaves us with. But, the motives and inner thoughts from the beginning of the book do not fit with the character after the big twist. There’s suspension of believe in fiction, and I’m pretty lenient with what I’ll let slide, but this stuff was big. Like the author changed the ending as she was writing it and didn’t go back to change those earlier details.
The characters were likable though, and trying to solve the mystery was fun, but I’m a stickler for the details and I’m just really irritated with this one
Will I read the next book? If NetGalley offers it up to me, I will happily take it to see if the resolution to the cliffhanger will make up for the details in this book that didn’t make sense.
Ultimately, I’d say this book is average. It had a lot of potential but it needed some reworking in order to make the pieces fit together properly. If you’re less of a stickler for details and are just looking for a nice mystery with some interesting twists, this may be the book for you.
I actually didn’t think I was going to like Dead Ringer at all when I first started reading it. The point of view started with the new girl in school, Laura, then started jumping to other characters and I’m honestly not a real big fan of that. It has it’s moments, and it has to be done right. I forced myself to keep reading and I came to appreciate the multiple POV’s, ultimately they did work, I just wish the transition had been smoother.
As I said, Laura is the new girl at school and she looks eerily similar to Sarah, the girl who died almost two years prior. As Laura adjusts to live in her new school she begins digging around the past, trying to figure out what really happened to Sarah.
We also get into the head of Charlie, he’s the schools star soccer player. He has his own secrets to hide about Sarah and he’s also getting close to Laura. I really liked Charlie, I liked how his character was developed. I was able to sympathize with and root for him.
The third character from whom we see a POV is Sasha. She’s also out for answers to Sarah’s death and an enigma herself for much of the book. We initially don’t know her motivation or how she even knows about Sarah. I think she was a great addition to the story and added a nice extra layer of mystery.
All of this was great, except... details were given in the beginning of the book don’t match up with the end game. I really can’t say a whole lot or else it will ruin the book for those who have not yet read it. The ending is fabulous, minus the terrible cliffhanger the author leaves us with. But, the motives and inner thoughts from the beginning of the book do not fit with the character after the big twist. There’s suspension of believe in fiction, and I’m pretty lenient with what I’ll let slide, but this stuff was big. Like the author changed the ending as she was writing it and didn’t go back to change those earlier details.
The characters were likable though, and trying to solve the mystery was fun, but I’m a stickler for the details and I’m just really irritated with this one
Will I read the next book? If NetGalley offers it up to me, I will happily take it to see if the resolution to the cliffhanger will make up for the details in this book that didn’t make sense.
Ultimately, I’d say this book is average. It had a lot of potential but it needed some reworking in order to make the pieces fit together properly. If you’re less of a stickler for details and are just looking for a nice mystery with some interesting twists, this may be the book for you.
Not usually a fan of YA (I teach Eighth Grade English, job hazard; need to read for ME over the summer) but when I saw the author was from my hometown I decided to give it a try. There were some twists, some predictable turns, and the ending definitely is open for a second book. It was fun to see mentions of my hometown sprinkled throughout the story .
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me this book in exchange for an honest review.
Dead Ringer is basically Pretty Little Liars, except not as well-written (and if you've read Pretty Little Liars, I hope you can recognize the insult that it is) This book is just....not good. The writing is mediocre and the plot doesn't make up for that fact. The story is at times boring, and at times way too over-the-top, but not in a really fun way. And oh yeah - this is the first book in a series, though there is no indication of this in the blurb or anywhere on the book itself. We are left with a cliffhanger, though the story isn't interesting enough to justify multiple volumes.
Overall, this book just annoyed me. It's not very long or difficult to read, but it took me awhile anyway since it didn't interest me much. I think the author was trying to make some point about bullying here, but I'm not sure what?In this book, the "bullies" never actually do anything that bad, and the "victim" is proven to be a creepy sociopath almost from day one. I'm not sure what the author is going for? And though the beginning of the book isn't the same, by the end of the book I realized that plot bore a remarkable similarity to Pretty Little Liars. A "dead" girl who gets a lot of plastic surgery, spends thousands of dollars, and cooks up an insane plot in order to enact revenge on a clique of high schoolers? Been there, done that. I gave this book a 2, which is probably being generous. There are so many better books out there, I wouldn't recommend this one.
Dead Ringer is basically Pretty Little Liars, except not as well-written (and if you've read Pretty Little Liars, I hope you can recognize the insult that it is) This book is just....not good. The writing is mediocre and the plot doesn't make up for that fact. The story is at times boring, and at times way too over-the-top, but not in a really fun way. And oh yeah - this is the first book in a series, though there is no indication of this in the blurb or anywhere on the book itself. We are left with a cliffhanger, though the story isn't interesting enough to justify multiple volumes.
Overall, this book just annoyed me. It's not very long or difficult to read, but it took me awhile anyway since it didn't interest me much. I think the author was trying to make some point about bullying here, but I'm not sure what?