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kenziecriswell's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
michelle_pink_polka_dot's review
4.0
So this is book 5 and we find Emma still pretending to be Sutton. This time she's trying to clear Becky, her bio mom. Becky is hanging around and is obviously mental, so Emma (and ghost Sutton) start to believe that she could be the killer. Ghost Sutton remembers having a confrontation in the canyon the night she died and Emma sees first-hand that Becky is capable of violence, so she goes to the top of the suspect list. In addition to this, there's a new "new-age" girl at school that seems to be challenging Emma/Sutton at every turn. A Lying Game will clearly be needed to deal with her. There's also quite a bit of Thayer vs. Ethan drama going on in this book with both boys being jealous and aggressive towards one another. In the end Becky reveals some surprising info and someone who was getting too close to the investigation meets their end.
(I usually don't do reviews this far into a series, but what the hell! Also this review may contain spoilers if you haven't read books 1-4.)
My Thoughts:
So this series has been getting a little blah for me at this point, but book 5 stepped it up a little. It wasn't just same old Emma tracking down leads you knew were going to be false. This time the lead suspect had some serious info to give. She told Emma and Sutton's adoptive dad (and Nisha's dad) some things that were pretty shocking and can actually be of use. Up until this book someone would be suspected hardcore and then all of a sudden they are cleared and Emma's like "duh why did I ever think it was her/him again?". Kind of aggravating. Now at least things are starting to heat up and Emma's finding out serious answers about her family and what the heck is going on with her bio mom.
So I STILL can't believe that Emma hasn't confided in Thayer yet!!! HELLO WTF!! He's clearly trustworthy and he's lusting after Emma because he thinks she's Sutton. Put the poor boy out of his misery and get his frickin help!
On a side note: It's starting to get ridiculous that Emma would not out herself to her family and the police by now. She says she's doing it because she's protecting her family and Sutton's friends by keeping quiet, but all she's been getting are some stupid notes. Everyone would just be safer if they knew the truth... I'm mean I know it's a book, but it's starting to be too unbelievable.
OVERALL: Better than the 3rd & 4th book, but at this point I'm just reading it to find out where Sutton's body is and who killed her. The final book is up next, so it's going to happen soon!!!
My Blog:
(I usually don't do reviews this far into a series, but what the hell! Also this review may contain spoilers if you haven't read books 1-4.)
My Thoughts:
So this series has been getting a little blah for me at this point, but book 5 stepped it up a little. It wasn't just same old Emma tracking down leads you knew were going to be false. This time the lead suspect had some serious info to give. She told Emma and Sutton's adoptive dad (and Nisha's dad) some things that were pretty shocking and can actually be of use. Up until this book someone would be suspected hardcore and then all of a sudden they are cleared and Emma's like "duh why did I ever think it was her/him again?". Kind of aggravating. Now at least things are starting to heat up and Emma's finding out serious answers about her family and what the heck is going on with her bio mom.
So I STILL can't believe that Emma hasn't confided in Thayer yet!!! HELLO WTF!! He's clearly trustworthy and he's lusting after Emma because he thinks she's Sutton. Put the poor boy out of his misery and get his frickin help!
Spoiler
Also can I just say it's so freaking obv that it's Ethan. Emma finds a psych file on him, he stays home from school the day Nisha (his next door neighbor) has an accident, and Nisha just happens to be the one who helped Emma find the psych file?!?!?! He's applied to the college Sutton's dad went to (obsessed much??), and of course there's the whole sleeping with him thing. You know when a girl has sex in a horror/suspense movie they die or the person they are doing it with turns out to be bad. So following that formula Emma is going to die in the next book or Ethan is the bad guy. My bets are on Ethan.On a side note: It's starting to get ridiculous that Emma would not out herself to her family and the police by now. She says she's doing it because she's protecting her family and Sutton's friends by keeping quiet, but all she's been getting are some stupid notes. Everyone would just be safer if they knew the truth... I'm mean I know it's a book, but it's starting to be too unbelievable.
OVERALL: Better than the 3rd & 4th book, but at this point I'm just reading it to find out where Sutton's body is and who killed her. The final book is up next, so it's going to happen soon!!!
My Blog:
ange_moun's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.25
rosexgold's review
3.0
It's basically what you'd expect if you have read the rest of the series. The same formula- suspecting one person throughout the first 3/4 of the book and then all of a sudden Sutton sees a memory that they'd been wrong the whole time, clearing that person near the end of the book.
I feel like this book was a lot more productive though than some of the others in this series that seemed to just be milking the story for more unnecessary books. I think it had some nice reveals and the ending actually made me feel pretty sad :( I think it was set up nicely though to allow for the next book in the series. As of now, the next one is supposed to be the last one. That BETTER stay the case or I will flip my shit. We don't need another Pretty Little Liars fiasco.
One thing I noticed though is there were a lot of continuity errors. Like the sun would already be shining through windows, and then all of a sudden Emma is watching a sunrise a couple min later. Also, Shepard's whole "the clouds moved away from/over to cover the full moon" line was still used two or three times. That always stands out to me because it's like her go-to descriptive, "eerie" line. Every night has a full moon. No matter what. Which reminds me of something that reeeeeeeally pissed me off. There was a bit about the constellation Emma made up and about how Ethan is such a star/space junkie so he tells her that one of the stars she uses for it next to Orion is actually the planet Venus. Uh, NO! Venus doesn't just stay in the same place all the time like that. There's no way that Emma would be able to look up at the stars at any point in the year throughout her whole life and just see Venus always in the same place. NO. That made me so mad :)
I feel like this book was a lot more productive though than some of the others in this series that seemed to just be milking the story for more unnecessary books. I think it had some nice reveals and the ending actually made me feel pretty sad :( I think it was set up nicely though to allow for the next book in the series. As of now, the next one is supposed to be the last one. That BETTER stay the case or I will flip my shit. We don't need another Pretty Little Liars fiasco.
One thing I noticed though is there were a lot of continuity errors. Like the sun would already be shining through windows, and then all of a sudden Emma is watching a sunrise a couple min later. Also, Shepard's whole "the clouds moved away from/over to cover the full moon" line was still used two or three times. That always stands out to me because it's like her go-to descriptive, "eerie" line. Every night has a full moon. No matter what. Which reminds me of something that reeeeeeeally pissed me off. There was a bit about the constellation Emma made up and about how Ethan is such a star/space junkie so he tells her that one of the stars she uses for it next to Orion is actually the planet Venus. Uh, NO! Venus doesn't just stay in the same place all the time like that. There's no way that Emma would be able to look up at the stars at any point in the year throughout her whole life and just see Venus always in the same place. NO. That made me so mad :)
juliahoermayer's review
4.0
Like the previous one, this book really strained my nerves - in a bad way. It was totally useless to the whole story and you knew from the beginning on that Becky can't be the killer because there still is another book and it would've been to obvious. But more than that it annoys me that the EVIDENCES ARE ALWAYS SO OBVIOUS THIS IS NOT HOW LIFE WORKS, it's just totally surreal and it makes no sense to the plot BECAUSE NOBODY FALLS FOR IT ANYWAY! Everything would have worked out just as fine leaving out the fifth and the fourth book.
But why did I still give this book four stars, you may ask? I have no idea. Maybe just on principle? Or because I have my read-incredibly-much-time and so I read in in less than two days and thought that meant it can't be too bad.
At least in the end, SOMETHING happened. I'll start the last book right now and I hope that it'll have an ingenious ending, otherwise I'd be pretty pissed.
But why did I still give this book four stars, you may ask? I have no idea. Maybe just on principle? Or because I have my read-incredibly-much-time and so I read in in less than two days and thought that meant it can't be too bad.
At least in the end, SOMETHING happened. I'll start the last book right now and I hope that it'll have an ingenious ending, otherwise I'd be pretty pissed.
jwilson4444's review
medium-paced
4.0
What to say about this book other than Sara Shepard’s writing scratches my slightly mysterious teen drama itch like no one else can
bellezey's review
4.0
I'm gonna cry now, i neeeed the final book like right freaking now.
Just when i started to like nishaaaa, like god why did that happen???
And how stupid and cliche move of sara Shepard with that chapter before the final.
My heart hurts so badly
I swear if ethan is the killer i might definitely kill myself or kill sara, i'm just saying!
Just when i started to like nishaaaa, like god why did that happen???
And how stupid and cliche move of sara Shepard with that chapter before the final.
My heart hurts so badly
I swear if ethan is the killer i might definitely kill myself or kill sara, i'm just saying!
genia_sh95's review
1.0
Dnf at 75%
I couldn't care less about the books but I wanted to keep reading to know who's the killer. But I hated so much the portrayal of mental illness unit as a dangerous place. They treated mental health like a horrible thing, as if people who were hospitalized are like criminals put in prison.
Gonna read some spoilery reviews to know who's the killer. But I'm done
I couldn't care less about the books but I wanted to keep reading to know who's the killer. But I hated so much the portrayal of mental illness unit as a dangerous place. They treated mental health like a horrible thing, as if people who were hospitalized are like criminals put in prison.
Gonna read some spoilery reviews to know who's the killer. But I'm done