3.68 AVERAGE


Yet another big thumbs-down.

3.5 stars. What is the price of fame and what lengths might someone go to in order to achieve it? Social media, as well as other forms of media in general, take this to a whole new level as we see in this twisty novel written by Hannah Mary McKinnon. Vienna is a high schooler in a new school and quickly becomes an unlikely friend of Madison. The two come from totally different backgrounds but share of love of music and decide to join together to make a band. Their friendship has some flaws and is a complicated one. Down the road they add others to their duet. When the band travels during a storm to get to an event, tragedy ensues. The author bounces between “the time of the accident”, “before the accident “, and “after the accident “. Social media enthusiasts weigh in on their theories about what happened. The tragedy turns into a whodunnit and why with a twist. I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll just leave that with you.
The story reminds me of something you’d see in a Black Mirror episode with a mystery and technology added in. I do feel like your technology part made this a bit different than other books similar to this and made me think about how the modern world has changed things. I wish there was a little more mystery in the second half of the book and a few more twists. The book as a whole was pretty easy to get through.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Publishing for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Sharing the spotlight can be murder …

Hannah Mary McKinnon has crafted a spectacular thriller about a rock group, The Bittersweet, that will evoke memories of your teenage years and early twenties. I was transported back in time by reading the girls’ high school experience and the bands/songs referenced.

McKinnon’s story not only showcases the author’s immense talent at crafting a spectacular, twisty, and creepy story but also at penning the beautiful lyrics featured in Bittersweet’s songs. I went back and re-read some of the lyrics and was amazed at how they gave insight into Vienna’s thoughts. McKinnon’s ability to intertwine the main and subplots with blog posts, news articles, radio transcripts, and social media comments is astounding.

I enjoyed the spotlight on friendship, peer pressure, and dysfunctional relationships, as much as I liked McKinnon’s characters (yes, even the fantastic villains and no, not their actions), the wonderful character development, and her twisty plot. I had to reign in my indignation, ease my discomfort through the creepy parts, and read slowly and reread to make sense of the ‘nothing is as it seems’ plot. It was interesting to see the parallels between the transition of EmVee to Bittersweet with the growth of the girls and stardom.

For someone who has worked with teens for years, I could almost imagine the body language and facial expressions of Vienna and Madison ‘that day’ in the school office. I smiled, re-read it, and nodded as my smirk grew. I’d seen it many times before. McKinnon aced it.

I was gifted this copy by Harlequin Tade Publishing, MIRA and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.
dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was a slightly disturbing read in the end. It turned out better than I expected. I swore I could see the ending coming from five pages into this book, but I will have to admit that the twists got me. 

None of the characters in this book are remotely likeable or redeemable. I also find the group’s meteoric rise to fame and the fascination with a group just breaking into the music scene impossible to believe. I get that the author was going for the fickleness of fame and taking a jab at internet culture, but still….it took way more than a simple suspension of disbelief to think that people would care this much about Madison and Vienna…

This was a good little thriller, but nothing world-changing. The plot itself was interesting and it moved at a quick pace

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

This book was heavy on character development and the relationships between them. It got to be a little much for me and I felt it got slightly repetitive. Aside from that, it’s a great storyline and does throw you a curve ball. If you’re someone who likes dual timelines and good character development, this book is for you.

“Only One Survives” is a unique thriller that had many twists and turns along the way, and I’m surprised to say that I have never quite read anything like it!

Main character, Vienna, tells the story of her music career from the beginning up to the tragic accident involving her and her band members. As a reader, we know from the beginning that she is the only supposed survivor- what we don’t know is how and why? Throughout the novel, we as the reader are left to navigate the present with the past and put the pieces back together and figure out what happened.

Overall Thoughts: (including why it received it’s rating)
Rating 3.5/5

The first half of the book took me by storm. Starting with the dramatic car crash on page one, we are immediately, as readers, left to wonder, “how did we get here?” Immediately thrusted into the past, the book took me on a wild ride, always wanting more, and constantly trying to find clues about how the accident started. With the boo being from the first person point of view, we deeply learned the thoughts of one character, and I found this to be an effective way to communicate emotions of the story. Finding out the whole first part of the novel was actually a manipulation of the true story leaves me to wonder “what really ever happened?” This was such a unique question to have as a reader!

What I didn’t like was that after we found out who the killer was, it felt like the novel started to fall flat a bit. Characters had already developed, so we were left analyzing the psychotic behavior of our killer which made the book hard to relate to. Some instances felt far-fetched and unrealistic, but I did love that the book explored the effect of fame and lack of privacy on seemingly the most normal of people. Toying with this from the beginning through the end of the novel was the string that held this story all together for me.

Overall this is a read that I would recommend to friends and family that were looking for a twisty, thought-provoking thriller!

malloryelsie's review

4.0

The book delivers a couple great twist and was difficult to put down for me! I loved the having the blogpost and other media mixed in. The two timelines were easy to follow, the plot interesting, and the characters had good dimension. Highly recommend this to any suspense lover.

Read if you like
- Bands / rock music
- Easy to dislike characters
- Split timelines
- Hard to guess twist
- Moody settings


Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade publishing for the eARC. All opinions my own!

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for a gifted ARC copy.

I've been on such a thriller kick this summer and I was in love with the cover of Only One Survives when I saw it. I love the concept of a thriller that revolves around an all-girl band because I knew we'd have a cast of interesting characters. I found the dual timelines to be engaging as the story flipped back and forth between post-accident and senior year in high school.

One thing I really enjoyed about this book is how it tackled the issue of parasocial fans and social media. It's something I've noticed and thought about a lot in recent years. The way people act like they personally know celebrities and spend hours online speculating about their lives is so unsettling to me. I'm also always down for people behaving badly which this book has plenty of!

It's kind of difficult to talk about the book without spoiling anything, but as a big thriller fan, I was entertained! My only criticism is that it felt like some parts of the books were meandering in pace- like the scenes and conversations were maybe overexplained instead of trusting the reader to fill in gaps and keep up. Other than that though, I would recommend going into this one blind because it was quite a ride!

This was an ARC from NetGalley. That being said, this book is in need of some heavy editing. The typos and formatting errors made it very hard to get through this book. Then moving on to the plot, it felt far too long for the story being told. The plot twist happened in the middle of the story, and was very difficult to but into. It It didn't feel unique or believable. There needed to be more revisiting the first half, and applying the new point of view. Instead, it felt like two different stories. This needs a lot of work to be memorable to its audience.

I am a huge fan of Hannah Mary McKinnon so I couldn’t wait to read this book. The story follows Vienna and Madison. Some chapters are told in the past and we learn about their story and how they became friends and then we have the current timeline which consists of their band The Bittersweet. The band is driving in the Catskills when they have an accident. The five women are able to take shelter in an abandoned cabin. However, Vienna is the only one that survives the night. Three of the girls have died, and Madison has disappeared. What happened? I loved learning about Madison and Vienna’s toxic friendship as teens in the past chapters. This thriller had me second-guessing many times what I thought I knew. And then again we are delivered a shocking twist at the end. I loved this book! Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advanced reader copy.