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itsabritt's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
shh_mariaisreading's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
becphe's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
susanneverreads's review
3.0
I read other books by Nastasha Preston and this one felt off. The book had a good story line but I feel it wasn't executed that well. I had a suspicion who the killer was about halfway through. Overall, I enjoyed the story. The ending was slightly disappointing though. If there is another book coming after this one, I would be okay with the ending but as far as I know, there isn't.
nanzi38's review
4.0
What a crazy read! 4 stars bc I didn’t like how it ended and bc I was still able to guess who the stalker/murderer was. Was a great twist but I saw it coming lol
rhuby84's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
levans0816's review against another edition
3.0
The plot was really decent, but the writing itself needs work.
hypnosicelos's review
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.0
paulabrandon's review
2.0
Lylah is dreading the approach of Valentine's Day. She's especially not into it because it's the anniversary of her parents' deaths. She is now living in a house with five university friends. On a night before they're all supposed to go out, one of them, Sonny, receives a threatening message saying, "Your heart will be mine." It's shrugged off, they go out...and Sonny doesn't come home. His dead body is soon discovered, and then Lylah and her friends start receiving more messages, indicating they're all still in danger.
I didn't know this was YA when I bought it, but I was still excited once I learned more about it, because who doesn't love a thriller centered around Valentine's Day? As I read it, it played out a lot like a YA Point Horror from the 90s, except with more bad language. At first I was enjoying it, but that was slowly sapped away. One big problem is the first person narrative. This sort of story needs third person omnipotent, so that we can experience the fear of the actual potential victims. When it's just our protagonist discovering the odd dead body - to the point of her actively going out while her life is under threat with the specific purpose of finding a dead body - it just kills any suspense. We know our protagonist isn't going to get killed straight off the bat. Up the stakes and give us the perspective of those who are immediately in danger.
The police aspect rang false. The detectives here immediately accept the theory of Lylah and her friends that this is the work of Jake, a boy whose advances Lylah previously rejected and didn't take well. They're letting Lylah and her friends take part in all sorts of police operations to try and draw Jake out, when this is patently absurd. Police aren't going to put multiple citizens' lives at risk for a police operation (think of the inquests!), but they also have zero proof that Jake is behind anything. Aren't they going to follow any leads???
And that's the books' big failing. Lylah and her friends identify Jake as their main suspect. The police accept that without question. (Huh?) The rest of it is all Jake, Jake, Jake. "He's doing this. What a maniac. We must stop him." He's the only suspect. Yet anyone who's ever read a single other mystery thriller is going to recognise this as the massive red herring it is. And when you've only got one red herring for your entire f***ing book, I begin to get bored. I know it's not Jake by the very nature of the genre. It's not as if Preston is writing for five year olds. Anyone over the age of nine is going to recognise Jake as a red herring.
On top of this, the book uses TSTL behaviour from its characters to keep the kill count up. Lylah's obsession with best-friend-she-fancies Chace takes up too much space. Their relationship should have progressed much faster than it did. When lots of people are dying around her, Lylah is mostly all, "Chace is so hot, I love him, does he love me? Or like me?" Priorities, Lylah!
It's a bad sign when a YA horror centered around Valentine's Day takes me four days to read. The plot was obvious, the characters were obnoxious and too stupid to live, and the suspense was low because everything was filtered through our main character due to the first person narrative. The book also had several spelling and grammatical errors. I wanted to enjoy it, but the exclusive focus on just one red herring killed any suspense.
I didn't know this was YA when I bought it, but I was still excited once I learned more about it, because who doesn't love a thriller centered around Valentine's Day? As I read it, it played out a lot like a YA Point Horror from the 90s, except with more bad language. At first I was enjoying it, but that was slowly sapped away. One big problem is the first person narrative. This sort of story needs third person omnipotent, so that we can experience the fear of the actual potential victims. When it's just our protagonist discovering the odd dead body - to the point of her actively going out while her life is under threat with the specific purpose of finding a dead body - it just kills any suspense. We know our protagonist isn't going to get killed straight off the bat. Up the stakes and give us the perspective of those who are immediately in danger.
The police aspect rang false. The detectives here immediately accept the theory of Lylah and her friends that this is the work of Jake, a boy whose advances Lylah previously rejected and didn't take well. They're letting Lylah and her friends take part in all sorts of police operations to try and draw Jake out, when this is patently absurd. Police aren't going to put multiple citizens' lives at risk for a police operation (think of the inquests!), but they also have zero proof that Jake is behind anything. Aren't they going to follow any leads???
And that's the books' big failing. Lylah and her friends identify Jake as their main suspect. The police accept that without question. (Huh?) The rest of it is all Jake, Jake, Jake. "He's doing this. What a maniac. We must stop him." He's the only suspect. Yet anyone who's ever read a single other mystery thriller is going to recognise this as the massive red herring it is. And when you've only got one red herring for your entire f***ing book, I begin to get bored. I know it's not Jake by the very nature of the genre. It's not as if Preston is writing for five year olds. Anyone over the age of nine is going to recognise Jake as a red herring.
On top of this, the book uses TSTL behaviour from its characters to keep the kill count up. Lylah's obsession with best-friend-she-fancies Chace takes up too much space. Their relationship should have progressed much faster than it did. When lots of people are dying around her, Lylah is mostly all, "Chace is so hot, I love him, does he love me? Or like me?" Priorities, Lylah!
It's a bad sign when a YA horror centered around Valentine's Day takes me four days to read. The plot was obvious, the characters were obnoxious and too stupid to live, and the suspense was low because everything was filtered through our main character due to the first person narrative. The book also had several spelling and grammatical errors. I wanted to enjoy it, but the exclusive focus on just one red herring killed any suspense.