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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Canada has some very talented thriller writers!
When the author reached out to let me know she had a new book coming in July 2024, I jumped at the chance to read it early. I have been a strong supporter of hers since the beginning.
Only One Survives features an all girl rock group up and coming on the music scene and quickly heading to stardom when they are involved in a terrible car crash in a winter storm in the Catskills. Right off the bat, one doesn’t survive the crash, and as time goes on others also die. The young women hunker down in a creepy cabin they find to wait out the storm and go for help. When Vienna Taylor, the band’s drummer and lead singer is rescued along with the band’s documentary filmmaker, questions arise as to what happened to Madison Pierce, the co-creator of the original band. Madison is missing and the police don’t know if she is dead or alive.
The author has some great contacts that help make her books stronger and well researched and it always shows. I loved the pacing of Only One Survives and am always surprised at how different each of her books are.
I will leave one spoiler (not really a spoiler at all) and that is that the kitten is fine. I almost put this book down when one of the characters finds a kitten in distress as I am so sensitive to cruelty to animals but kept with it and forgive Hannah for the temporary emotional distress.
Thank you to @mirabooks @htpbooks @netgalley and @hannahmarymckinnon for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. Only One Survives publishes July 16, 2024. Definitely pick this one up!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Medical trauma, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book took me quite a bit to get into, but it definitely peaked my interest. I love a book with an unreliable narrator and this was definitely well done!
This book gave me a bad vibe with every single character. There were moments where I second guessed their character, and I ended up being right a few times.
This author really went heavy with the plot twists, so much so that I have whiplash. Just when I decided on what was happening, something else was revealed. It was chaos but well written chaos.
I loved that the story was written about an all female pop group, loved that there was a bit of a podcast vibe, and a duel timeline.
If you like a book that’ll keep you on your toes and rip the rug out from under you, this one should be a good summer read for you!
This book gave me a bad vibe with every single character. There were moments where I second guessed their character, and I ended up being right a few times.
This author really went heavy with the plot twists, so much so that I have whiplash. Just when I decided on what was happening, something else was revealed. It was chaos but well written chaos.
I loved that the story was written about an all female pop group, loved that there was a bit of a podcast vibe, and a duel timeline.
If you like a book that’ll keep you on your toes and rip the rug out from under you, this one should be a good summer read for you!
This is the story of an all girl band who has a car accident before their big break in the music industry. They end up stranded in the woods in a blizzard and have to spend the night in an abandoned cabin, but only one member of the band is alive when they’re rescued. The idea had promise but really didn’t come through for me. Vienna and Madison both are very unlikeable characters and honestly I would have been fine if everyone died. I guess the pull of fame and dangers of social media are supposed to be the causes of the drama and the girls’ choices, but it was just predictable. The plot just kept jumping back and forth and was a little exhausting.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin for allowing me to read this and provide my honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin for allowing me to read this and provide my honest review.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Wow, wow, WOW!
The Bittersweet, a band composed of five women, is on the rise to fame. It starts off initially with the dynamic duo, Vienna & Madison, also know as EmVee.
As these ladies lives change going from nobodies to somebodies, they venture out to The Catskills for the weekend, also accompanied by Libby who's documenting them.
Suddenly, there's a horrible crash. People are injured, dead, missing, & worse...
Stuck in literally the middle of nowhere, Madison & Vienna go out to search and see if they can get help. When it's apparent they can't, they do their best to just survive through the night. So what exactly happened after their car crashed? Is Madison to blame for it & where is she anyhow? Could this all be accident or did someone intentionally kill some of the girls?
Many thanks to the publisher, NetGalley & author for this amazing book! I can't wait to read more from this author
"Sometimes we hold onto people because of the past when there's nothing left in the present, never mind the future."
This is just so predictable - I checked a few reviews to see if somehow the incredibly obvious clues were a red herring, but it doesn’t seem so. The MC is a bit too naive, this reads pretty YA, and despite the premise seeming like you might be stuck in a remote cabin in the woods - it’s mostly back story about a toxic friendship at the 48% mark. I rarely DNF, but I just can’t stop rolling my eyes.
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really loved the first half of this book.
Five band members and a videographer are in a car accident in the Catskills during a snowstorm. They have no way to find help with weather conditions worsening and night quickly approaching. Thankfully the group finds an abandoned cabin to shelter in overnight; however, by the next morning three of the women are dead, one is missing, and one has no memory of the night, leaving only one with the knowledge of what happened.
The first half of the book is dual timeline between the events of the accident and how the two main band members met in high school and came to expand the group. I really enjoyed this aspect and honestly wanted even more backstory on the girls and their toxic relationship. However, after the halfway point I feel like the pace started to drag. I really enjoyed the twist, but the main character reveals something that I feel made the ending fairly predictable.
I feel like once we knew where Madison was there really wasn't a lot of suspense left and it left only one option for who could be behind the rest of the weird things happening to Vienna. I also felt the ending was a bit weak and wasn't convinced that the murderer would offer up their confession like that.
I enjoyed the writing style and the inclusions of other forms of media like articles, podcast transcripts, etc. I also loved the setting of a creepy cabin all alone in the middle of a snow storm- very atmospheric and added a lot to the overall suspense of the plot.
*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital review copy in exchange for an honest review
Five band members and a videographer are in a car accident in the Catskills during a snowstorm. They have no way to find help with weather conditions worsening and night quickly approaching. Thankfully the group finds an abandoned cabin to shelter in overnight; however, by the next morning three of the women are dead, one is missing, and one has no memory of the night, leaving only one with the knowledge of what happened.
The first half of the book is dual timeline between the events of the accident and how the two main band members met in high school and came to expand the group. I really enjoyed this aspect and honestly wanted even more backstory on the girls and their toxic relationship. However, after the halfway point I feel like the pace started to drag. I really enjoyed the twist, but the main character reveals something that I feel made the ending fairly predictable.
I enjoyed the writing style and the inclusions of other forms of media like articles, podcast transcripts, etc. I also loved the setting of a creepy cabin all alone in the middle of a snow storm- very atmospheric and added a lot to the overall suspense of the plot.
*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital review copy in exchange for an honest review
adventurous
emotional
tense
Music runs a very close second to me, only to books. So any book that encompasses anything about music has definitely got me interested. Only One Survives is many of the things I love in a book- music (obviously), dual timeline, interview type/mixed media format, and suspense. I thoroughly enjoyed Hannah Mary McKinnon’s writing style & felt that this was a very good story. I will add I’m usually good at predicting the twists and I did not see this one coming. If you liked Daisy Jones & The Six (forever a favorite for me), you would enjoy this book!
Thank you NetGalley & Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA for an ARC copy of this book.