Tag: young adult mystery

ARC Book Review: We Fell Apart (We Were Liars #3) by E. Lockhart

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Rating: ★★
Audience: YA Mystery
Length: 330 pages
Author: E. Lockhart
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: November 4th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A girl arrives at her long-lost artist father’s isolated seaside compound to find him missing, a mansion in neglect, and three teenage boys whose dark secrets might hold the key to her own family saga.

#1 New York Times bestselling author E. Lockhart delivers a standalone novel in the world of TikTok sensation We Were Liars, filled with her signature beachy gothic atmosphere, family intrigue, and high stakes romance.

Matilda has been through a lot. Her mum has run off to Mexico, her boyfriend has dumped her, and her friends have cut their ties.

So when her long-lost father, the famous and reclusive painter Kingsley Cello, invites Matilda to spend the summer at his seaside home, Hidden Beach, there’s nothing to stop her crossing the country to see him.

When she arrives, instead of a father, she finds a crumbling house in a state of neglect, filled with mysterious paintings and locked towers, and three teenaged

Meer – her open-hearted, tattoo-obsessed half-brother, who embraces Matilda as a sister, but is hiding a dark secret;
Brock – the damaged, professionally charming former-child star who is dealing with more than just the demons of his past;
and Tatum – sullen, wild, and hardworking – who for some reason wants Matilda to leave Hidden Beach as soon as possible.

With Kingsley nowhere to be seen, Matilda must delve into the twisted heart of Hidden Beach to uncover the answers she’s desperately craving. But secrets run thicker than blood, and blood runs like seawater.

And everyone here is lying.

Thank you Get Underlined for the gifted ARC.

IDK Y’ALL.

Honestly after not loving the second book I should have just stopped but I’m committed when handed an ARC so here we are.

I don’t know the point of this one? Its another mystery, but it feels like you can guess the entire thing from the beginning. The writing style didn’t work for me and I didn’t feel any connection between the characters.

There just wasn’t anything engaging about this book.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Mystery
  • Language: mild
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content warnings: loss of life, a loved one with dementia

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Book Review: The Grandest Game (The Grandest Game #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Mystery
Length: 384 pages
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Release Date: July 30th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Get caught up in the puzzles, games, danger, romance, and riches of this lush new chapter in the #1 bestselling Inheritance Games saga.

Seven tickets. An island of dreams. The chance of a lifetime.

Welcome to the Grandest Game, an annual competition run by billionaire Avery Grambs and the four infamous Hawthorne brothers, whose family fortune she inherited. Designed to give anyone a shot at fame and fortune, this year’s game requires one of seven golden tickets to enter. With millions on the line, those seven players will do whatever it takes to win.

Some of the players are in it for the money. Some for power. Some for reasons all their own. Every single one of them has secrets. Amidst it all is Grayson Hawthorne, tasked with a vital role in this year’s game. But as tensions rise and the mind-bending challenges push the players to their limits—physically, mentally, and emotionally—it soon becomes clear that not everyone is playing by the rules.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Lynn Barnes delivers a brand-new series in the world of The Inheritance Games, where fan-favorite and new characters collide in a game you’ll never forget.

Do you have what it takes to play?

AN INTERESTING SPIN-OFF.

I had a good time with this one and definitely recommend the audiobook. I love having multiple narrators for multiple characters. I enjoyed the original The Inheritance Games series and was excited to pick this up. I loved that there was still so much mystery and puzzling involved. I am eternally amazed at how Jennifer Lynn Barnes crafts all of the intricate details of the game.

The new POV’s and characters were good additions too. I didn’t have any issues with them and thought they brought new angles and personalities to the story. I want to see and learn more about them. And see the dashes of romance I got too.

There weren’t any moments that I found shocking or big twists that left me gasping, but I still like and enjoy these books a lot.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Mystery
  • Language: low
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low

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Book Review: We Were Liars (We Were Liars #1) by E. Lockhart

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Rating: ★★★.5
Audience: YA Mystery
Length: 242 pages
Author: E. Lockhart
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: May 13th, 2014
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.

And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Thank you Get Underlined for the gifted copy.

WELL WELL WELL.

Honestly this book didn’t have a lot going for it but I will give it up for the twist, that one got me (and now I understand more why there’s over a million ratings for this on goodreads). The writing style is definitely unique and I actually enjoy an unreliable narrator so those were all good points for me.

Somehow for 250 pages though there were scenes that dragged or didn’t feel totally necessary. As previously mentioned though, the twist was interesting and gave me a better view point of the whole book.

I’m curious how this has a sequel?? I’m going to pick that one up soon.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Mystery
  • Language: low
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content warnings: traumatic brain injury, loss of loved ones, arson

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Book Review: Thieves’ Gambit (Thieves’ Gambit #1) by Kayvion Lewis

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Mystery/Thriller
Length: 384 pages
Author: Kayvion Lewis
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen
Release Date: September 26th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The Inheritance Games meets Ocean’s Eleven in this cinematic heist thriller where a cutthroat competition brings together the world’s best thieves and one thief is playing for the highest stakes of all: her mother’s life.

At only seventeen years old, Ross Quest is already a master thief, especially adept at escape plans. Until her plan to run away from her legendary family of thieves takes an unexpected turn, leaving her mother’s life hanging in the balance.

In a desperate bid, she enters the Thieves’ Gambit, a series of dangerous, international heists where killing the competition isn’t exactly off limits, but the grand prize is a wish for anything in the world–a wish that could save her mom. When she learns two of her competitors include her childhood nemesis and a handsome, smooth-talking guy who might also want to steal her heart, winning the Gambit becomes trickier than she imagined.

Ross tries her best to stick to the family creed: trust no one whose last name isn’t Quest. But with the stakes this high, Ross will have to decide who to con and who to trust before time runs out. After all, only one of them can win.

INTRIGUED.

This wasn’t initially on my radar but I’m so happy I picked it up! It was a great heist book that I really enjoyed seeing the unveiling and action and chaos as the gambit continued. I loved the main character and her commitment to helping her mom. The side characters were also wonderful and I liked the dynamics that played out as the game progressed.

There’s even a sweet little sub-plot romance that had me smiling and questioning all the motives. I absolutely LOVED the ending. There were so many good twists that I had no idea were coming and kept me guessing and racing towards the end. I’ll definitely be picking up the next book to see where this story continues!

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Thriller
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: moderate
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: parental abandonment, death of a parent, knife/gun violence, kidnapping

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