We Are Hunted by Tomi Oyemakinde

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Books in exchange for an honest review.

We Are Hunted is the story of a teenager named Femi who goes to a Jurassic-Park style island with his family for a exclusive vacation. Things start to go wrong in expected and not so expected ways, and he's left trying to escape the island with his life.

I will admit, this book ended up being a lot different than I was expecting. It is listed as a horror which is not necessarily unfair, but I think sci-fi fits it much better as a label. There aren't too many horror elements apart from descriptions of violence/attacks (which are fairly gruesome), and there is more in common with traditional sci-fi stories in terms of characters and plot. The action scenes are the best written however and I thought that part of the story was handled really well.

Overall while this book ended up not really being my typical genre, I still really enjoyed reading it. I won't be seeking out anymore in the series but it was a fun one-off and I'm glad I read it.

Overall Rating:

3/5

An Unlikely Proposition by Rosalyn Eves

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Macmillan Children's Books in exchange for an honest review.

An Unlikely Proposition is the second book in the Unexpected Seasons series, although you can read it without having read the first one and pick up on most of the story beats. This book focuses on Thalia (from the first book) and Eleanor (new) as they navigate romance and their livelihoods on the London marriage scene.

I'm going to be honest, Thalia was not the character I particularly wanted to read more about. She was my least favourite from the first book and I wasn't really looking forward to spending more time around her. Having said that, she is much less infuriating this time around. She still makes some bad decisions and I still found her poetry stuff a little annoying. 

Unfortunately though, the main takeaway was this book didn't really make me feel anything. I only read it about a month ago and already I can remember so little about it. Eleanor is fine as a protagonist but she is quite flat. She is prim, to the point where I found it really hard to buy that she is only 17. I had to keep reminding myself that she was a young woman because it was almost jarring when she started doing what Thalia was. I kept mixing up the two love interests and now I couldn't tell you a single thing about them. I don't want to be mean, I just generally can't recall even their names.

Overall, I unfortunately can't recommend this book. The first one is still a good time for most of it so I'd give that a read, but this didn't really offer me anything new

Overall Rating:

.5

An Improbable Season by Rosalyn Eves

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Macmillan Children's Books in exchange for an honest review.

I, like most of the world right now, am obsessed with Bridgerton, so when the opportunity to read a romance book set in a similar period came up, I was more than a little curious. An Improbable Season is the tale of three young women coming out to society in Regency London, some more eager to meet their husbands than other. We have Kalli, a starry-eyed romantic who is immediately forced to make a match when she is caught in scandal, her sister Thalia who dreams of being a poet (and has zero common sense) and finally Charis, my personal favourite being autistic-coded and obsessed with science. Each of the three girls has their own romance plotline which gets explored throughout the book.

As with any book with multiple plots/characters, people are bound to have favourites. In my case, I thought the Charis romance was by far the most interesting. Kalli's was fine but predictable, and Thalia's outright annoyed me. Minor spoilers here but Thalia gets immediately taken in by an obvious hot guy rake, and every decision she makes with regards to this is frustrating and predictable. There was little tension, just annoyance at how stupid she was being. Kalli fairs a little better, being predictable but enjoyable still. There is a little doubt as to which suitor she will end up with, which is also nice.

Charis's romance is good. There isn't much representation of someone like her in this kind of romance (at least, not to my admittedly-limited knowledge) and it was really refreshing. I loved that she bonded with her romantic partner through science, that her attitudes and behaviours weren't a problem for him and that she had a small breakdown anytime she thought she might have romantic feelings for someone. I adored her story and if the whole book was focused on her, it would be an easy 4-5 stars.

Overall, this book is definitely worth checking out if you're enjoying Bridgerton and want more of the same with a YA twist. The historical elements aren't too heavy so that might irritate readers of the genre, but it's still a lot of fun for the most part. Just be aware there are a few obvious tropes/cliches alongside the good stuff

Overall Rating:

.5

Suddenly a Murder by Lauren Muñoz

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Bonnier Books UK in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book a lot better when it was called Knives Out.

Perhaps that is a bit unfair but I can't help but feel the movie's influence throughout the whole of this book, and not in a good way. Young female protagonist who seems undoubtedly guilty early on? Check. Determined sleuth who teams up with said young protagonist to add stress to their situation? Check. Heck, the other detective in the audiobook even has the same accent as Daniel Craig! It was very distracting.

Despite all this, the main reason I have an issue with this book has nothing to do with Knives Out and everything to do with the fact it doesn't play fair. From the very start of the murder, we are told the main character goes into the room of the victim with a knife. We are not told what she does in that room. She then talks mysteriously about her 'secret' for the rest of the book. The clear implication is that she has killed him, and yet (despite being the POV character) she never actually says those words so it is painfully obvious that we are being misled. I don't like this and it left a sour taste in my mouth, particularly because without this subterfuge I think it becomes incredibly obvious who is the real killer.

There are some strengths of this book. I liked the characters well-enough. They were a bit more fleshed out than your typical YA thriller/mystery, and while I found the love interest to be the blandest, I liked reading about everyone else. The detective is pretty good and I feel like the book would have been stronger written from her POV, not the least bit because it would solve the POV issue from above. There is one genuine twist which was clever and surprised me, although admittedly that's because I was actually expecting the book to go for a darker option.

Overall, I would say I love the writing style of this book but the elements themselves didn't work for me. If this author releases another book, I would definitely give it a try for the aforementioned strengths mentioned. I just wish this book was a little more original and a little less unfair with its mystery

Overall Rating:

Down with this Ship by Katie Kingman

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Flux in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this but unfortunately, I just couldn't get into the story. Down with the Ship is the story of Kole, a girl who enjoys writing romantic fanfic for a popular sci-fi TV show. Her fic wins a prize online and she is thrust into the limelight, having to deal with haters and her fellow pupils finding out she writes it.

I think this book was just a bit too...simple? I couldn't really get into the story or characters, even 50% of the way through. Kole has two love interests; the hot guy who just moved in next door who she has nothing in common with, and the snarky guy who admires her work and her mind. Whoever will she pick?

I stopped when there was a classic 'bully blackmails Kole into being his date' because, even though it was not because he likes her, I did not want to read that scene or any of the ensuing drama. I did read the last chapter and it seems everything got tied up perfectly, which just kind of confirmed my concerns. 

I think if you're on the younger side of YA, then there's probably a lot to be enjoyed here. The issue is YA has become a catch-all label so I would typically expect something a bit more involved. But I liked the idea of the premise and I don't want to fault a book too harshly for not conforming to my expectations

Overall Rating:

NR

Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Penguin Random House UK Children's in exchange for an honest review.

It has been a hot minute since I fell so completely in love with a book the way I did with this one.

Their Vicious Games is the story of Adina, a young black woman who has had her future snatched away after an unfortunate incident with a fellow classmate and ex-friend. Desperate to reclaim her spot at Yale, she persuades the richest guy at her school to let her join a prestigious competition that happens yearly to help propel the winner into their ideal future. What she doesn't know is that this year is a particularly special year for the competition, and things are far more deadly and intense than she expected...

This book has a fantastic premise. It is essentially The Bachelor meets Hunger Games in all the best ways. Unlike some YA thriller/horrors, it does not shy away from the dark stuff and I adore it for that. This kind of plot deserves real stakes and horrible deaths, and this book provides buckets of both.

Many YA books have a message but this one is woven so solidly through every detail of the book that is really is executed impossibly well. Every character is deliciously complex, with even those who aren't around for very long feeling like they could be real people. This in turn provides the heart which really propels the message of the book. This is 'rich people suck' done right and, despite the fictional extremities, it reflects the real world chillingly well.

Overall, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It really is the best YA thriller I've read in a long time by quite a large amount (and might be the best one I've ever read tbh) and I genuinely could not put it down. I am so excited to see what this author does next and I hope this book gets the praise and attention it deserves

Overall Rating:

This is the Way the World Ends by Jen Wilde

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Little, Brown Book Group UK, Atom in exchange for an honest review.

This book is not what I expected.

This is the Way the World Ends bills itself as a YA thriller of sorts, at least from the vague description, but it is more of a dystopian than I was expecting. When Waverly gets the chance to attend an exclusive party she could never afford, she jumps at going. Unfortunately while she is there, the world literally starts to end and she discovers there has been an evil plot by the elite and wealthy to make sure only the 'appropriate' kind of people survive.

I must confess, my favourite part of this book was before any of the party stuff happened. I was enjoying reading about Waverly and her friends, and I found the reveal that the world was literally ending to be jarring and not what I wanted. Yes, it's there in the title but so many titles like this are metaphorical, especially in YA. It seems to be trying to come across as much more of a Gossip Girl/Pretty Little Liars vibe from the blurb, and this is not accurate at all.

Putting that aside however, this book was fine. I think it skews close to the unbearable in terms of the 'wokeness' for me, and I say that as someone who adores representation in books. The rep was just a bit too deliberate and obvious in a clumsy way, with it being brought up almost constantly in ways which were unrealistic and didn't make sense. This is compounded by the villains, a bunch of old, white rich men. I hate people like that as much as the next feminist, but it was lacking the depth and realism to stop it being cartoonish. I support the intention, I just think the execution wasn't the best. This is especially clear when it comes to Freddie, the nice guy best friend who is just genuinely a nice guy for the most part, but gets punished by the narrative for...being male?

It also ends on a cliffhanger/sequel hook and that was a real pet peeve for me. The pacing felt a bit odd while I was reading it, and it was painfully clear by the end that it was purely to leave material for the next book. It didn't feel like a complete story by itself and that is always disappointing.

Overall, this book is a ton of fun in parts and it was nice to see such a wide range of representation. I just wish it had all been executed a bit better, and also that the blurb of the book told me more what kind of genre/experience to expect

Overall Rating:

Lord of the Fly Fest by Goldy Moldavsky

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK Audio in exchange for an honest review.

This book is completely different tonally than what I was expecting from the cover. This looks kinda like a horror/thriller, but really it's a straight contemporary in tone. Lord of the Fly Fest is a retelling of Lord of the Flies, shifted to be a YA comedy. Our protagonist Rafi runs a true crime podcast and decides to attend the next big music festival, Fly Fest, to try and interview popstar River Stone. River's girlfriend went missing and Rafi is convinced he killed her, though her conviction looks more like she has a crush on him at times.

As mentioned, this book is pretty much a straight comedy. One of the main model characters is called Hella Badid, the name that made me realise I wasn't getting the horror I wanted. It's also way more like Lord of the Flies than I expected, with characters and some (loose) plot elements being lifted from it. This may sound odd and if it does, that's because it is. The end third of the book tries to ramp up the serious plot developments with increased comical farce, and the result is very hard to get what the author was going for.

Once I got over my disappointment about the lack of horror, this book was fine I guess. It feels a little dated already, making fun of influencers and popstars in a way which feels very 2016. Characters are often clear parodies of real people (Hella Badid, James Charles -> Jack, Harry Styles -> River Stone) and it all feels a bit mean. The main character is mocked mercilessly for running a podcast, even though podcasts are mega popular and tons of influencers either have their own or frequently guest on them.

I will say, I really enjoyed the audiobook. I think the narrator does some fun voices for the characters, and it was a lot more palatable to hear the humour than it would have been to just read it on the page. If you do decide to pick this up, the audiobook might be the way to go.

Ultimately, this book was a fun time but it's a big step down in my opinion from Moldavsky's other work. I also think it needs clearer marketing to avoid disappointed readers

Overall Rating:

Five Survive by Holly Jackson

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK Audio in exchange for an honest review.

I have long given up on finding a YA thriller which will genuinely surprise me, and sadly Five Survive is no exception. Having said that, this is a genuinely enjoyable listen and is by far one of the best examples of its genre.

Five Survive is the story of a group of friends on their way to spring break when they get caught in a nightmare situation. After going off road, a sniper shoots out all of their tyres and holds them hostage. Their only hope for escape is for them to correctly identify the secret the sniper wants, and potentially sacrifice that person to the sniper.

As mentioned, this book did not surprise me once. I think it is painfully clear from the first few chapters why the teens are held hostage, as well as a few other 'reveals' from later on. It would be nice if a few of these story elements were masked a bit better because it does undercut a lot of the tension.

The main strength of this book is the characters and the tension they provide from being trapped. Oliver in particular is a super interesting character, and Red herself made for a reasonable enough protagonist. I do think there was scope to develop characters even further. Maddy in particular is very important to the narrative throughout, but we barely learn anything about her despite her being Red's best friend. They never speak independently of the group or really interact properly, which seems super weird.

I had a few issues with the audiobook specifically. Some of Red's inner narration is quite annoying when it is read aloud to you, though I think this would be better in print. Several times the narrator says a line and then the speech tags say a completely different delivery (for example, shouting a line then following it with 'Maddy said quietly') which was just jarring to listen to.

Overall, I think this book would be very much enjoyed by a teen audience but it doesn't have much reach beyond that. In terms of YA thrillers, it is one of the better ones out there. I would probably recommend the text version over the audiobook, just because of the minor narration issues I pointed out

Overall Rating:

.5

Dead Lucky by Andreina Cordani

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Little, Brown Book Group UK, Atom in exchange for an honest review.

What a great surprise this book was!

Dead Lucky is the story of Maxine, a content creator whose world gets turned upside down when a video of her fellow influencer Xav being murdered on camera is posted online. Her friends don't seem too interested by it but she is worried that there is more to the video than it seems, and so she decides to investigate with the help of her new friend.

I adore thrillers about influencers and I hoped this would be a fun read, but it ended up exceeding my expectations. Dead Lucky is the rare YA thriller which is actually very good, with interesting characters and a fun examination of what it means to be famous as a teenager. The story is split between Maxine struggling to investigate Xav's death while she juggles being famous and unhappy, and segments set in the past when all the characters originally decided to start a video channel. Maxine's struggles seem very genuine, and in fact all the characters as a whole are pretty grounded. This is something many YA thrillers fail at and it was part of what made the book so enjoyable.

The writing style is also a strength of this book, and it is surprisingly funny. Maxine had a strong voice as a narrating character and it made her really likeable.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book if you find the blurbs of a lot of YA thrillers intriguing, but then find they never live up to those premises. This is a rare exception and is absolutely worth checking out as a result.

Overall Rating:

Liar's Beach by Katie Cotugno

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Penguin Random House Children’s UK in exchange for an honest review.

Liar's Beach is the story of Linden, a poor college boy who gets invited to his rich friend's beach house for the summer. Things are going reasonably well when one night, after a party, the local bully is found with his head cracked in on the side of the pool. Linden's childhood friend Holiday happens to be there and she seems to think that it wasn't an accident, so they start investigating together.

There was a lot to like about this book. It was light, entertaining without needing to pay too much attention to it and full of some interesting characters. As is too often the case for YA thrillers, the thriller aspect lets it down though. It was incredibly obvious to me who the culprit was from the start, and there were almost no surprises along the way to keep that side of it interesting.

Having said that, this is an enjoyable beach/holiday read. The characters are a step above some YA ones and this kept things ticking along nicely. The writing style is decent enough and it kept me entertained whilst waiting for an incredibly delayed flight, so I can't complain too much. It didn't blow me away but it was good summer fun.

Overall Rating:

At the End of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review.

For some reason I thought this was a zombie book but I was wrong. At the End of Everything is a book about a group of young offenders who get abandoned and forgotten once a deadly plague breaks out. They must fight for their own survival and navigate their new situation, which leads to a lot of drama and unpleasant situations.

If I'd known this was just a plague book and not a zombie book, I honestly wouldn't have requested it. This book hangs uncomfortably in the shadow of the pandemic and that made it a very difficult read. The deadly disease is a cough that kills people, and much of the book is just reading about teenagers slowly dying. There is not much outside of death and interpersonal struggles happening, and even the latter is a little sparse. There are a lot of narrating characters at first, and that made it difficult to get to grips with everyone. I understand that you need a lot of characters because most of them will die in a book like this, but I would have rather met them more slowly and had more time to get to grips with each one. The beginning was hard to get into for this reason.

Having said that, the characters are probably the strongest part of this book. I think the plot could have been more strongly emotion-driven as everything is a little distant, as unpleasant as the events which happen are. This is something I've experienced from this author before with previous books, so I guess it's more of a feature than a bug. I also wish we'd gotten a split narrative as one group goes out to try their luck in the outside world, and I think it would have been more interesting to see what happened to them as well rather than just the sad monotony of the institute.

Overall, I think if you enjoy other works by this author and like the sound of the premise, then you should give this a try. For me, there were too many factors which prevented me from enjoying it. It's a very bleak read and a potentially triggering one, so be aware of that too

Overall Rating:

Lock the Doors by Vincent Ralph

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Penguin Random House Children’s UK in exchange for an honest review.

Lock the Doors is a bit of a hard book to categorise. It is a mix somewhere between a thriller and a drama, and it skews on the younger side of YA fiction. It tells the story of Tom, a young teenager who moves into a new home and gets creeped out when he sees the remnants of locks on the outside of the bedroom doors. When a new girl starts at his school and he realises she used to live in his house, he becomes determined to get answers from her.

I did enjoy this book a lot. I think the plot is interesting and unpredictable, and that really packs a punch in terms of the thriller aspect. The characters were likeable (if a little basic) and I was mostly engaged throughout.

There were however a few issues. Firstly, the writing was a little simplistic at times. I get that it is meant to mimic the writing of children but I felt some of the tension was lost. I also had mild problems with the pacing, with the last section in particular feeling like the book had overstayed its welcome a little bit. This definitely wasn't a huge issue but it was a bit of a shame as I feel like the ending of a book like this should be snappy and fast-paced.

Overall, this is an interesting story and I'm sure if I was the target demographic, the issues I pointed out wouldn't bother me at all. I really like that it was unpredictable and I think the direction it went in resulted in a great story. Some of the emotions are conveyed really well here. It does cover quite a lot of difficult topics so just bear that in mind.

Overall Rating:

.5

Ski Weekend by Rektok Ross

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher SparkPress in exchange for an honest review.

This book was intense! Ski Weekend is the story of Sam and her group of friends who get stranded on their way to a winter ski break. Stuck in their car while a snow storm rages outside, things quickly turn south as it becomes an intense survival situation.

I was really impressed with how this book managed to suck me in. I'm not the biggest fan of survival stories but I thought the closed location premise and the wintery setting would make this the perfect read for my Christmas break, and I was right. The real strength of this book is its characters. When you have a bunch of people stranded together, their relationships and dynamics are what really drives the story and Ross has done a fantastic job of creating nuanced and realistic teenagers. Sam was a perfect main character and I found her interactions with the other two girls (Lily and Brittany) particularly compelling.

This book also does not shy away from the gruesome. It definitely reads as a YA and is more survival than thriller or anything else, but some of the things the teenagers go through are pretty graphic and provide a good dose of physical and psychological horror. Again, there's a real sense of dread and desperation that just sucks you in as a reader, and I genuinely didn't know what kind of an ending there would be which I think is particularly great. Usually you know the protagonist is going to survive no matter what, but I never felt that sense of security with this book.

Overall, this is a great read for those colder months. The characters really carry the survival concept and there are some interesting, if brief, examinations of human nature found here. I really enjoyed it and I recommend giving it a try if you want that kind of experience.

Overall Rating: