Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Virée mortelle

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be best friends. Several years later they find themselves skipping school together and it’s a lot more than they bargained for.

I was immediately hooked by this book, through the perspective of all three friends. There was a bit where I was a bit annoyed at their choices, but they are high schoolers and aren’t expected to make smart decisions all the time.

I didn’t expect this story to primarily take place in one day, but I thought it added to the story that there was kind of a “deadline” at the end of the day.

I thought it was going to wrap up vaguely neatly; not perfectly but most ducks in a row. However, after finishing it I’m really hoping for a sequel.

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readbydusk's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious 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? No

4.0

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sigreads_'s review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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itsmeyseniab's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

This was my third experience with a Karen M. McManus novel, and sadly it has been my least favorite so far.

Right off the bat I noticed that McManus follows a pretty clear "recipe" for her novels, which is normally fine (I mean if it isn't broken, don't fix it right?) but one thing I could not overlook was how... juvenile the writing felt. It has been nearly two years since I picked up One of Us Is Next, and since then I've read primarily New Adult and Adult literature (so my reading tastes may have changed), but I truly felt like I was reading from the perspective of 14 year olds and not high school seniors. The character that I had the most issues with in this regard was Ivy - the majority of her plot was her acting out based on petty things and she basically got off scot-free for all the wrongs she committed throughout the novel. Although I didn't necessarily have problems with our other two leads, Mateo and Cal, I just found the trio to be very forgettable, along with all of the supporting characters. Along with the underwhelming characters, I felt the plot to be very lukewarm as well. It was very predictable (specifically the "dramatic" plot points having to deal with Ivy, Mateo and Cal's relationships with one another) and the reveal, albeit fast-paced and exciting, wasn't incredibly shocking to me. The cliffhanger ending didn't really do it for me either - I don't necessarily want to see how to story may continue.

I will say that I read this mostly via audiobook, and I wouldn't recommend it. It was nice that there were several narrators, but I wish each narrator was the voice of their respective character. For example, the individuals reading Mateo and Cal's chapters had really over-the-top voices for and female characters dialogue, and vice versa for the individual reading Ivy's chapters, and it was distracting to say the least.

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kassidyreads's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.0

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