Tag: young adult mystery

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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Book Review: The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: YA Mystery
Length: 336 pages
Author: Kara Thomas
Publisher: Delacorte
Release Date: April 19th, 2016
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The Darkest Corners is a psychological thriller about the lies little girls tell, and the deadly truths those lies become.

There are ghosts around every corner in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about it after what happened there that last summer. Memories of things so dark will burn themselves into your mind if you let them.

Callie never left. She moved to another house, so she doesn’t have to walk those same halls, but then Callie always was the stronger one. She can handle staring into the faces of her demons—and if she parties hard enough, maybe one day they’ll disappear for good.

Tessa and Callie have never talked about what they saw that night. After the trial, Callie drifted and Tessa moved, and childhood friends just have a way of losing touch.

But ever since she left, Tessa has had questions. Things have never quite added up. And now she has to go back to Fayette—to Wyatt Stokes, sitting on death row; to Lori Cawley, Callie’s dead cousin; and to the one other person who may be hiding the truth.

Only the closer Tessa gets to the truth, the closer she gets to a killer—and this time, it won’t be so easy to run away.

Thank you GetUnderlined for the gifted copy!

NOT TOO BAD.

Another Kara Thomas book down and I liked this one too! It’s another fast paced read with some good drama with betrayals and twists I didn’t see coming. I didn’t get as involved with this story though. I don’t know why, just missing something. I would still recommend this book! I think the writing is fantastic and there is this quality of reading that draws you in. I love the complex characters and relationship dynamics that leave me guessing in the best ways.

It all came together well and I liked how things wrapped up. I can’t wait to read more by this author!

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Mystery
  • Language: low
  • Romance: none
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content Warnings: murder, death, kidnapping, abuse, drugging, gun violence, underage drinking, suicide, false imprisonment

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Book Review: The Brothers Hawthorne (The Inheritance Games #4) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Mystery
Length: 480 pages
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Release Date: August 29th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Four brothers. Two missions. One explosive read. Jennifer Lynn Barnes returns to the world of her #1 bestselling Inheritance Games trilogy, and the stakes have never been higher.  
 
Grayson Hawthorne was raised as the heir apparent to his billionaire grandfather, taught from the cradle to put family first. Now the great Tobias Hawthorne is dead and his family disinherited, but some lessons linger. When Grayson’s half-sisters find themselves in trouble, he swoops in to do what he does best: take care of the problem—efficiently, effectively, mercilessly. And without getting bogged down in emotional entanglements.
 
Jameson Hawthorne is a risk-taker, a sensation-seeker, a player of games. When his mysterious father appears and asks for a favor, Jameson can’t resist the challenge. Now he must infiltrate London’s most exclusive underground gambling club, which caters to the rich, the powerful, and the aristocratic, and win an impossible game of greatest stakes. Luckily, Jameson Hawthorne lives for impossible.
 
Drawn into twisted games on opposite sides of the globe, Grayson and Jameson—with the help of their brothers and the girl who inherited their grandfather’s fortune—must dig deep to decide who they want to be and what each of them will sacrifice to win.

A WEE BIT SLOW.

I was not as impressed by this as I had hyped myself for (and maybe that was my undoing???). I really enjoyed the first trilogy and thought we’d finally get some Grayson moments and instead I felt like that poor guy just kept getting beat down more and that we were all back at square one with the characters.

Some aspects of the mystery were intriguing, I loved seeing all of the brothers interact again. I am curious enough to read the next book and I did enjoy listening to this. While there was good, I’m overall a little perplexed (and cautious) at how the next book with further open these plot lines. I did like a few of the twists and betrayals.

And can we please give Grayson a dang break??!

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Mystery
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: Closed door
  • Violence: moderate
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: parental abandonment, brief mentions of cheating spouse, death of loved one recounted

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