Reviews with content warning for Violence - You'll Be the Death of Me

Although I have generally loved this author's works (she has become one of my faves and must read), this one was a little bit of a letdown. It's on par with my meh feelings on "one of us is next". I wasn't super excited or pulled to finish it like many of her others but I still enjoyed it enough so it didn't feel like a waste of my time.
I both liked and hated the ending because

Lara is out and about and got engaged to Mateo's dad?! The hell? But I liked Ivy deciding to go "scorched earth" because that woman should be in jail not only for her involvement with the drugs but also because she's a predator

.
The characters were nice but I feel they were the least developed/interesting out of all her books that I've read (which is all of them except for her 2022 release). Or maybe I feel like they were too similar to her other characters maybe? Not sure, but I wasn't as invested in them as some of her previous characters.
The book has it's slow parts but really speeds up towards the end when stuff starts coming together.

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z_thatsit's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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calamitywindpetal's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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emily_mh's review against another edition

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mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

If I was rating this solely based off enjoyment, it would be 5 stars. There were some definite issues with quality that meant I felt I should dock it a full star. But first, the positives! It was incredibly fast-paced and gripping, taking place over just a day (to this end, I thought it lived up to the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off gone wrong premise). Actual investigation took place, and the romance was actually believable (unlike the other two romances I’ve read of McManus). Finally, the situations and subsequent developments of the characters were really strong.

In terms of negatives, the character personalities (despite their diverse circumstances) were all fairly generic. More significantly, it was a little messy.

For example, it didn’t really tie up who the Coach got to kill Brian.

Finally, while I didn’t hate the resolution, I didn’t love it either.

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lewbug's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

It really picked up towards then end. I enjoyed this book a lot and it had a lot of interesting characters with complex motives. It had a lot of the intensity of a typical murder mystery while still feeling geared towards a young adult crowd. I also was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t completely predict the ending of the mystery which doesn’t always happen for me. I did feel like the book kept going longer than I expected and I didn’t really care that much about the final reveal which just seemed to be a set up for a sequel. Overall a good read

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