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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
I thought I figured out the murderer within the first 10 or so chapters. I had picked up on the right clues but the WRONG END RESULT DAMNIT MAUREEN YOU GOT ME
4.5 probably, trying not to let my personal opinions bring down this book lmaooo
Stevie and the gang are in a transitional period. Janelle, Vi, and Nate are looking at colleges. Stevie should be too but she cannot manage to do anything about college applications or even apply herself in regular school. She feels a little lost in regards to her future, and she's really missing David, who's living in London and going to school there.
So when David invites the group to come study abroad in London for a week, it rejuvenates Stevie. It's a way to look like she's putting in effort at school while also spending time with David. Plus she gets to go to London.
It starts off great - Stevie and David being couply and touristy, her best friends with her, a week pretty much unsupervised (other than her headmaster who has pretty much said she can call at any minute and expects the kids to be following their itinerary any time they speak to her)
Until the group meets David's classmate Izzy who tells them about, you guessed it, an unsolved murder.
The murder took place in 1995, and as you're reading the lead-in of Stevie's story this go round, there are chapters about the murder circumstances as well. A group of 9 friends went to a country mansion after graduation to celebrate, and basically not everybody made it home. Izzy's aunt Angela was one of the friends in the group, and has let it spill to her niece while on painkillers that she thinks the murders were intentional, caused by one of the 9.
People who are not fans of realism in their YA will not like this story, as they probably have not liked the other installments. Stevie can be frustrating because she's realistic. She has insecurities about her relationship, WHICH MAKE SENSE because they're two teenagers living across the world from each other, and she confronts David about them. Her worries about the situation are compounded when David seems to spend a lot of time with Izzy.
But, it might be because Izzy's aunt goes missing after the gang chatted with her about the 1995 deaths. And now Izzy wants Stevie to help find her aunt and potentially also figure out what happened in 1995 too.
Stevie has insecurities about sex (mainly the lack of having had it), insecurities about her outfits, about her talents, basically about everything. She's seeing the people around her get ready for college, or in David's case, already be in college, and she just can't seem to pin down what kind of person she is and what she wants. It's interesting, because it's not the plot of this book like some contemporaries, it's just part of Stevie's story, and that means it doesn't have a conclusion with a pretty bow on it at the end like it would if it was the bulk of the story. It's hard to read just being a person who is very attached to Stevie, and people who claim to not like YA probably would think it was hard to read because it shows an unsure character who makes somewhat bad decisions sometimes. Personally I think it's the kind of thing that will resonate with kids, shit, it resonates with me as a full grown adult. Seeing people have goals, ambitions, and dreams can be really othering when you just aren't wired to have that.
There's almost a parallel between the murder story and Stevie's story. The group of 9 friends were graduating college and about to begin their separate lives for the first time in years, with the week at the country mansion being their last hurrah. Stevie's group is going to be graduating high school, but they also will be splitting up assumedly.
Stevie also is very moony over David, which her friends are simultaneously annoyed by and think is cute. It seems a little out of character, at first, for her to be basing so much of her well-being around a boy, but you have to remember she is going through a life crisis and also she hasn't seen him in months and he lives across the actual world. She deserves a little grace when it comes to being boy-crazy
Janelle is dealing with picking a college - she and Vi want to go to school in the same vicinity as one another even though they may not want to go to the same school. She seems more on board about choosing than Vi by the end of the book, which is a little curious. Nate is being weird, as usual, and has finally been doing a lot of writing, and it's in this book that he tells Stevie that he's asexual, which was a really really sweet moment. Nate also seems to be very low on money which alarms Stevie. David is acting carefree as usual, but he's dealing with issues with his father as usual and he also just feels like he isn't quite as special as anyone else in the group. Basically, everybody has something going on that fleshes them out in the story as usual and just makes you care about the characters so much.
I can't say I guessed the ending to the mystery - I did not really have a guess, but Stevie solved the hell out of it, and I was very glad to see she did her signature Holmes-esque reveal in front of a crowd. I am growing to bank on these moments in the books so I hope it continues as long as the series does.
The very ending of this book, which is tied to a part that happens a little earlier, is one of the worst things that has ever happened to me!!!! I read the last few paragraphs out loud to my fiance and he was literally like "oh my god I feel so bad for you" lmao SOS, it's definitely something I can not talk about until ya'll read this, but I swear to god if we do not get a sixth book you will have to call the swat team, the fbi, the cia, the united states marshals, the navy seals, the fire squad, and our lord and savior jesus christ to hold me back from completely going feral and ruining this nation
Stevie and the gang are in a transitional period. Janelle, Vi, and Nate are looking at colleges. Stevie should be too but she cannot manage to do anything about college applications or even apply herself in regular school. She feels a little lost in regards to her future, and she's really missing David, who's living in London and going to school there.
So when David invites the group to come study abroad in London for a week, it rejuvenates Stevie. It's a way to look like she's putting in effort at school while also spending time with David. Plus she gets to go to London.
It starts off great - Stevie and David being couply and touristy, her best friends with her, a week pretty much unsupervised (other than her headmaster who has pretty much said she can call at any minute and expects the kids to be following their itinerary any time they speak to her)
Until the group meets David's classmate Izzy who tells them about, you guessed it, an unsolved murder.
The murder took place in 1995, and as you're reading the lead-in of Stevie's story this go round, there are chapters about the murder circumstances as well. A group of 9 friends went to a country mansion after graduation to celebrate, and basically not everybody made it home. Izzy's aunt Angela was one of the friends in the group, and has let it spill to her niece while on painkillers that she thinks the murders were intentional, caused by one of the 9.
People who are not fans of realism in their YA will not like this story, as they probably have not liked the other installments. Stevie can be frustrating because she's realistic. She has insecurities about her relationship, WHICH MAKE SENSE because they're two teenagers living across the world from each other, and she confronts David about them. Her worries about the situation are compounded when David seems to spend a lot of time with Izzy.
But, it might be because Izzy's aunt goes missing after the gang chatted with her about the 1995 deaths. And now Izzy wants Stevie to help find her aunt and potentially also figure out what happened in 1995 too.
Stevie has insecurities about sex (mainly the lack of having had it), insecurities about her outfits, about her talents, basically about everything. She's seeing the people around her get ready for college, or in David's case, already be in college, and she just can't seem to pin down what kind of person she is and what she wants. It's interesting, because it's not the plot of this book like some contemporaries, it's just part of Stevie's story, and that means it doesn't have a conclusion with a pretty bow on it at the end like it would if it was the bulk of the story. It's hard to read just being a person who is very attached to Stevie, and people who claim to not like YA probably would think it was hard to read because it shows an unsure character who makes somewhat bad decisions sometimes. Personally I think it's the kind of thing that will resonate with kids, shit, it resonates with me as a full grown adult. Seeing people have goals, ambitions, and dreams can be really othering when you just aren't wired to have that.
There's almost a parallel between the murder story and Stevie's story. The group of 9 friends were graduating college and about to begin their separate lives for the first time in years, with the week at the country mansion being their last hurrah. Stevie's group is going to be graduating high school, but they also will be splitting up assumedly.
Stevie also is very moony over David, which her friends are simultaneously annoyed by and think is cute. It seems a little out of character, at first, for her to be basing so much of her well-being around a boy, but you have to remember she is going through a life crisis and also she hasn't seen him in months and he lives across the actual world. She deserves a little grace when it comes to being boy-crazy
Janelle is dealing with picking a college - she and Vi want to go to school in the same vicinity as one another even though they may not want to go to the same school. She seems more on board about choosing than Vi by the end of the book, which is a little curious. Nate is being weird, as usual, and has finally been doing a lot of writing, and it's in this book that he tells Stevie that he's asexual, which was a really really sweet moment. Nate also seems to be very low on money which alarms Stevie. David is acting carefree as usual, but he's dealing with issues with his father as usual and he also just feels like he isn't quite as special as anyone else in the group. Basically, everybody has something going on that fleshes them out in the story as usual and just makes you care about the characters so much.
I can't say I guessed the ending to the mystery - I did not really have a guess, but Stevie solved the hell out of it, and I was very glad to see she did her signature Holmes-esque reveal in front of a crowd. I am growing to bank on these moments in the books so I hope it continues as long as the series does.
The very ending of this book, which is tied to a part that happens a little earlier, is one of the worst things that has ever happened to me!!!! I read the last few paragraphs out loud to my fiance and he was literally like "oh my god I feel so bad for you" lmao SOS, it's definitely something I can not talk about until ya'll read this, but I swear to god if we do not get a sixth book you will have to call the swat team, the fbi, the cia, the united states marshals, the navy seals, the fire squad, and our lord and savior jesus christ to hold me back from completely going feral and ruining this nation
when i first saw this book, i was filled with a personality-changing, life-defining, character-destroying rage. HOW COULD THEY NOT TELL ME ABOUT THIS BOOK, i demanded of a THEY that does not exist. WHY DID NO ONE SEE FIT TO INFORM ME OF ITS EXISTENCE, i followed up, also of the nameless THEY that had swiftly become my enemy.
but it turns out that the enemy i thought was my enemy was actually my friend.
not telling me about this book is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. and because no one told me about this book, everyone in the world is, it turns out, actually nice.
so the good news is we can probably have world peace now.
the bad news is: this book sucks.
the first installment of this series was very fun. it had several things that made it that way — mainly a sick and lovely new-england-in-the-fall boarding-school-yay setting and a fun original mystery from History.
those things are no longer here.
over the four (!) books since that first promising start, those things have slowly faded, and they have been replaced with a series of nightmares.
the things that made this series good were not here, and the things that made this series bad — our protagonist stevie's never-progressing identical character arc, side character david as a presence, david as a romantic lead, stevie in general, the attempts at emotion — were here in spades!
and to prove it, this book, WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE FIFTH BOOK IN WHAT IS ALLEGEDLY A MYSTERY SERIES, had a cliffhanger centered around the romance that i, as indicated, ABHOR.
a cliffhanger that acts as a warning not to continue...interesting tactic.
and yet, sadly, i will probably just keep reading these, continuing to grow the hate in my heart like a reverse grinch.
bottom line: i love everyone and i hate this book.
1.5
but it turns out that the enemy i thought was my enemy was actually my friend.
not telling me about this book is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. and because no one told me about this book, everyone in the world is, it turns out, actually nice.
so the good news is we can probably have world peace now.
the bad news is: this book sucks.
the first installment of this series was very fun. it had several things that made it that way — mainly a sick and lovely new-england-in-the-fall boarding-school-yay setting and a fun original mystery from History.
those things are no longer here.
over the four (!) books since that first promising start, those things have slowly faded, and they have been replaced with a series of nightmares.
the things that made this series good were not here, and the things that made this series bad — our protagonist stevie's never-progressing identical character arc, side character david as a presence, david as a romantic lead, stevie in general, the attempts at emotion — were here in spades!
and to prove it, this book, WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE FIFTH BOOK IN WHAT IS ALLEGEDLY A MYSTERY SERIES, had a cliffhanger centered around the romance that i, as indicated, ABHOR.
a cliffhanger that acts as a warning not to continue...interesting tactic.
and yet, sadly, i will probably just keep reading these, continuing to grow the hate in my heart like a reverse grinch.
bottom line: i love everyone and i hate this book.
1.5
*3.5
Do I like this series all that much? Not really. Did I only continue reading the series initially because I wanted to know what happened at Ellingham? Yes. Is there really any point in me reading any other books in this series since the initial mystery is over, especially since I hated the last one? No. Am I going to continue reading this series anyway? Yes. Does that make any sense? No.
Do I like this series all that much? Not really. Did I only continue reading the series initially because I wanted to know what happened at Ellingham? Yes. Is there really any point in me reading any other books in this series since the initial mystery is over, especially since I hated the last one? No. Am I going to continue reading this series anyway? Yes. Does that make any sense? No.
Every time I read this book I fell asleep. This series needs to stop I don’t like the main characters at all and the way this book did not feel like a YA book why were talking about drinking and sexual relations all the time??? I wished the murder mystery aspect was written well but unfortunately it was not and it made no sense and the fact that it all ended on a cliffhanger read almost 500 for it to end on a cliffhanger???? Expected more but I guess what can you do
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Despite giving this book a decently good rating, I was really disappointed by it...
In the fifth installment of the Truly Devious series we follow Stevie and her friends as she goes to London (where David is studying). They meet Izzy, and her aunt, whose friends were murdered in 1995. Stevie sets out to solve this case, during this there is also lots of personal drama (way too much).
First of all the mystery: it was fine. I actually really enjoyed the dynamics of the Nine in the flashbacks we got, they were interesting and so were their relationships. However, due to there being 9 of them, it was really hard to get to know them, therefore I also wasn't that invested (emotionally). I didn't like that in the beginning of the book we get this paragraph about each person to present them. It's just not how I like my characters to be introduced. There are 2 main "reveals" of the mystery. First of all,that they were all lying (this is on the cover though lol). But why they were lying we didn't know. I liked this reveal, it was realistic without being obvious. Then, the second reveal: who did it. So, it was Peter. I don't know what to think of this, to be honest I didn't really care. Because we barely knew the characters for me it was more as to why the person did it, not who. The explanation was pretty shitty in my opinion, not because it's bad. Just because once we saw the newspaper article on Samantha Gravis the why was so glaringly obvious. Sure, I didn't guess all the details. But for me, if I even guess a little (and it was more than a little) it's too much. I have seen that there will be 2 more books in this series. I honestly think the author should have stopped after the triology, which I loved. I think the Box in the Woods was fine, and this book is just meh. I hope that for the next 2 books Johnson will go back to a bigger mystery spread over multiple books, so that it can be more layered.
Next, the characters. The most important - and annoying - one is Stevie. I liked her in the other books but here she was such a whining annoying bitch (sorry for my language but multiple BIG notes complaining about her were written during my read). First of all I DO NOT CARE that she wants to have sex with David. I literally could not care less. It was so awkward to read about, especially when she bought that fucking weird sex-fursuit or something. I still have no idea what it's supposed to look like. I never really cared for Stevie and David as a couple, in the second book I even wanted her to be with Hunter. David is an intriguing character, but he was also the ONLY THING (besides murder) Stevie could think about in this book. "David this", "David that" and the fact that she was SO SCARED that he was cheating with Izzy. She is INSUFFERABLE and nearly drove me insane.
But it's not just her David-obsession that irks me. She is very irresponsible and frankly egotistical. What irritated me the most was when she LIED to everybody and made them come to Merryweather with her. (Also, Janelle was not NEARLY mad enough when she found out). Yes, she said she would take full responsability, but you don't know how the principal would react. Especially since they ended up lying for her. That's not even mentioning that they were seeing a potential killer, which would have put all of them at risk in a much more serious way. I also wrote this in my notes, it encapsulates my feelings well.
"Yes, it's important to find Angela, but that's not why she wants to go, is it? She wants to go because she's lost and all she can think about is David, David and David. She's a mess who has no idea what to do in her life so she hyperfocuses on the one thing that she knows she's good at. She doesn't actually care about Angela or Rosie or Noel."
This is pretty harsh, but it is pretty much how I feel. I am not against flawed characters AT ALL, it's important so they are realistic. But here it annoyed me so much because it was throughout the WHOLE book, and it wasn't mentioned as something she should really change. (Before they left just that she is that typical girl who has a long-distance bf, but that was quickly dropped once they got there).
Next, a more personal pet peeve, but I do not give a flying fuck that you don't know how to dress. It felt a bit pick-me. Also, personally I find it dirty (in the way you present yourself) that she wears a stained hoodie. Like, just buy a new one? She doesn't care about style anyways.
That's pretty much all of it for Stevie (it's a lot I know). Janelle was fine and so were Nate and Vi. I feel like we barely got to see them because Stevie was just so obsessed with David. I also feel like Vi's character isn't fleshed out enough. Vi is bascially just "Janelle's partner", and only becomes important when it comes to her.
So, David. I know a lot of people hate him, but I don't. Do I think he's a good boyfriend? Not really, no. I think they should break-up. But I don't hate him as a person. I honestly would break up with Stevie too. And I know there is this bullshit explanation that it was self-sabotage or whatever but honestly he should have just broken up with her because she's annoying. Especially this passage was actually insane to me (her behaviour). For context, Izzy had just discovered that her aunt had died. Izzy and David are close friends, and Stevie had been insecure about it for literally the whole book. It was Stevie's last day in London, and she wanted to spend it with David. However he decided to stay with Izzy and didn't immediatly contact Stevie once he was back from Merryweather.
SPOILER!
In the fifth installment of the Truly Devious series we follow Stevie and her friends as she goes to London (where David is studying). They meet Izzy, and her aunt, whose friends were murdered in 1995. Stevie sets out to solve this case, during this there is also lots of personal drama (way too much).
First of all the mystery: it was fine. I actually really enjoyed the dynamics of the Nine in the flashbacks we got, they were interesting and so were their relationships. However, due to there being 9 of them, it was really hard to get to know them, therefore I also wasn't that invested (emotionally). I didn't like that in the beginning of the book we get this paragraph about each person to present them. It's just not how I like my characters to be introduced. There are 2 main "reveals" of the mystery. First of all,
Next, the characters. The most important - and annoying - one is Stevie. I liked her in the other books but here she was such a whining annoying bitch (sorry for my language but multiple BIG notes complaining about her were written during my read). First of all I DO NOT CARE that she wants to have sex with David. I literally could not care less. It was so awkward to read about, especially when she bought that fucking weird sex-fursuit or something. I still have no idea what it's supposed to look like. I never really cared for Stevie and David as a couple, in the second book I even wanted her to be with Hunter. David is an intriguing character, but he was also the ONLY THING (besides murder) Stevie could think about in this book. "David this", "David that" and the fact that she was SO SCARED that he was cheating with Izzy. She is INSUFFERABLE and nearly drove me insane.
But it's not just her David-obsession that irks me. She is very irresponsible and frankly egotistical.
"Yes, it's important to find Angela, but that's not why she wants to go, is it? She wants to go because she's lost and all she can think about is David, David and David. She's a mess who has no idea what to do in her life so she hyperfocuses on the one thing that she knows she's good at. She doesn't actually care about Angela or Rosie or Noel."
This is pretty harsh, but it is pretty much how I feel. I am not against flawed characters AT ALL, it's important so they are realistic. But here it annoyed me so much because it was throughout the WHOLE book, and it wasn't mentioned as something she should really change. (Before they left just that she is that typical girl who has a long-distance bf, but that was quickly dropped once they got there).
Next, a more personal pet peeve, but I do not give a flying fuck that you don't know how to dress. It felt a bit pick-me. Also, personally I find it dirty (in the way you present yourself) that she wears a stained hoodie. Like, just buy a new one? She doesn't care about style anyways.
That's pretty much all of it for Stevie (it's a lot I know). Janelle was fine and so were Nate and Vi. I feel like we barely got to see them because Stevie was just so obsessed with David. I also feel like Vi's character isn't fleshed out enough. Vi is bascially just "Janelle's partner", and only becomes important when it comes to her.
So, David. I know a lot of people hate him, but I don't. Do I think he's a good boyfriend? Not really, no. I think they should break-up. But I don't hate him as a person.
SPOILER!
"But you've been gone all day," she said. It didn't come out the way she wanted it to. It was sharp. Peevish.
"Her aunt just died," he said.
"I know that," Stevie said.
"I just need to make sure she's okay and then I'll come over."
"Are you mad at me?" she asked.
"What?"
"Because I failed," she said. She lowered her voice, conscious of the other people coming in and out of their rooms, and Izzy just beyond the door. "This isn't about you," he said. "It's not about whether or not you solved it, like you always do."
The words were like a slap. Stevie reeled. He'd gotten her feelings, but also her pride.
"Her aunt just died," he said.
"I know that," Stevie said.
"I just need to make sure she's okay and then I'll come over."
"Are you mad at me?" she asked.
"What?"
"Because I failed," she said. She lowered her voice, conscious of the other people coming in and out of their rooms, and Izzy just beyond the door. "This isn't about you," he said. "It's not about whether or not you solved it, like you always do."
The words were like a slap. Stevie reeled. He'd gotten her feelings, but also her pride.
I understand she's upset, but still...
So I think here we are supposed to dislike David, but I was SO HAPPY someone FINALLY told her. I was happy when he broke up with her, maybe she will finally get a personality (I think it was fine in the other books, I liked her character). I like the ending, but I don't like that it will probably be solved with some bullshit reason that he was drunk or whatever. JUST BREAK UP OMG!
So, those are my thoughts. I will probably keep reading this series, but I won't buy the book physically.
i love stevie i want to read 7483736 books about her solving murders
oh and fuck david
oh and fuck david
The flow of this book was much better. Cliffhanger ending on the personal side too!