This book gave me serious “I know what you did last summer” vibes paired with “Pretty little liars” and I was completely here for it! The story was fast paced and kept me hooked the whole time.

I added this to my TBR years ago and picked it up once-only got a chapter in. I’m glad I decided to give it another go! The story was fast faced and interesting. The red herring definitely did it’s job of throwing me off and I didn’t see the ending coming. With that, I do wish the ending had more umph to it. I feel like there was a ton of build up and then a let down. It felt rushed, hence the 4 stars instead of 5.

2.5 ⭐️
I loved the premise for this book. A senior scavenger hunt turned into a slasher? Yes please! However, I quickly found that this book was not it for me.

I couldn’t get over the fact that they all seemed too calm when a killer was literally chasing them. I’m sorry, being high is not an excuse to not care if you live or die. They were even laughing ffs! I didn’t understand why Violet didn’t leave and go get help right at the beginning, regardless of what Claire said. Logically, it doesn’t make sense to go deeper into the carnival when there’s a killer on the loose!

Chloe wakes up from a study hall nap with dirt under her fingernails and a deep realization that her whole world has changed. She has no recollection of the last six months and all of a sudden she has the boyfriend she’s always wanted and the GPA to go along with it, but is everything as great as it seems?

Let me try to put my thoughts out there without giving spoilers…

I found Chloe to be a likable character in this book. I can understand that she’s confused and doesn’t want anyone to think that she’s crazy due to previous anxiety attacks so she keeps her sudden memory loss from most people sans a guy who is not her boyfriend and her ex best friend. I did enjoy the kinda love triangle between Blake, Adam and Chloe. I’m a sucker for a good love triangle and that was one of my favorite parts of this book. I thought it was interesting, that she didn’t feel comfortable with her boyfriend, but something was telling her to trust the other guy who seems to come from the wrong side of the tracks. Something is to be said about trusting your gut, even when your brain doesn’t remember anything.

I could sense there was something going on with Blake and her therapist right away, and that they couldn’t be trusted. Blake gave off a ton red flags straight from the beginning that got worse with every interaction. But maybe Adam also knows something he’s not telling? Everyone is guilty until proven innocent after all.

Her ex best friend Maggie completely wrote her off for some reason, but we’re not sure why. As time goes on, she seems to be coming around and tries to help Chloe figure out what happened to her. The one thing I couldn’t figure out is why no one came straight out and told Chloe about things that had happened to her or what had gone on. Like not everyone lost their memory, right?? I didn’t understand why literally everything had to be a mystery. I understood more at the end though.

Then there’s this thing with Julien, a girl who moved away to California even though her family had been in the town for generations. It appeared that she thought Chloe knew something and that it had something to do what was happening to Chloe, but of course Chloe can’t remember. Chloe goes on to stalk Julien‘s social media, but never picks up the phone and calls her? When they finally get to the bottom of it, will it be too late for Julien?

I feel like there are a lot of layers to this book that all point to drama and I’m completely here for that. It keeps me wanting to read more and I really couldn’t put this book down. The ending felt a little rushed, but I wasn’t mad due to the rest of the book’s pacing and kept my 5 ⭐️ rating. Highly recommend!

I adored Jessica Simpson in the 2000s even after all her scandals and her being painted as just another dumb blonde. I knew there was more to her than that.

This little story/essay, give insight into what it was like to be her at that time. The way they obsessed over her weight and the way she looked didn’t surprise me if that’s how we all grew up back then. I wasn’t even surprised to learn that she was an avid reader, reading Jane Austen, and the Brontë sisters. I always knew that she was smarter than they made her out to be.

Her story takes us through what it was like to be dating at that time, and how shy she was, and scared to make new connections. She definitely had a sense of naivety, but she also seems to be self aware of that fact.

My only pet peeve about this, while I know why she did it, was that she didn’t use the names of of people she was interacting with, other than Nick who we all know means Nick Lachey. *side note that’s not important: my phone autocorrected Lachey to Lachrymose and I have no idea what that is* It was easy to pick up on some context clues and guess, but we can’t know for sure. If anyone knows who “movie star” is, let your girl know!

Bre opens her locker to find a black envelope insinuating she had been dared. She must complete the dare by the end of the school dance or face the consequences. Bre can’t understand why someone would dare her as it’s usually popular kids who participate in the game and she is far from one of them. When she opens her envelope to find her dare, will the contents ruin her friendship?

This was a cute, heartwarming, short read! It’s definitely geared toward middle schoolers, but sometimes I just need a lighthearted read with no strings attached.

Belly (I’m sorry, but what a terrible nickname) has never felt pretty, but this summer, something is different. She’s growing into her womanly body and has more confidence than ever before. She no longer wants to play the annoying little sister roll; she wants boys to notice her now more than ever. Her and her family visit her mother’s best friend’s beach house in Cousins each summer. Her best friends are there, one she’s been crushing on for years. Will this be the summer he finally notices her? Does she even want him to anymore?

Conrad is hot, brooding and acting like a dick all summer. Belly doesn’t know what she’s done to make him treat her this way. First he’s hot, then he’s cold. He’s quit the football team and took up smoking and Belly doesn’t know how to help him so most of the time, she just avoids him. Jeremiah is there as a buffer and she’s happy she at least has someone, especially since this is the first summer her brother won’t be there the whole time.

Enter Cam, a boy who she’s seen around and who calls her Isabel. He’s intriguing and gets bonus points from Belly since he knew her before she was “pretty”. He’s sweet, endearing and even deals with her built in bodyguards, Jeremiah and Conrad (her best friends). Will she be able to give her all to Cam or will her love for the boys stop her?

Like most, I found Belly to be whiny and self centered, but do you remember when you were 15? You were whiny and self centered too. I can definitely put myself in her shoes-the younger sister, getting older, but of course never old enough to be treated like an equal. Wanting to grab boys’ attention and feel like you matter. Feeling like everyone is prettier than you and you could never get a boy’ to look twice at you, especially one that you were crushing on. We’ve all been there. However, for someone who doesn’t want to be treated like a baby, she sure does stick her tongue out a lot…

Reading this felt like reading my 12 year old diary. I had a crush on a different boy every other week and I always thought someone was mad at me. This book completely reads like a typical Jenny Han novel, so if you like her other work, you’ll like this as well!

I’m a huge fan of Natalie D. Richards and this story just cemented that love for her work!

A compilation of short stories by some of my favorite authors?? Count me in!

I ❤️ NY. I also love how these stories intertwine in some way. One character from one story knows one from another. In city where all the power just went out and there’s no telling how long it will take to come back on, anything can happen. What a time for a love story!

If I had to choose a favorite, it would be Tremaine and JJ who are trapped in the subway. Although I wish their story was longer, I was enthralled from the very beginning. It was beautiful, touching and honestly gut wrenching.

I also really enjoyed Joss and Nella who find each other in a senior living home. Out of all, there’s was probably the most romantic. Although, I did find Nella a bit annoying as she was so pessimistic.

Okay, you got me, they were all my favorite! Kareem and Tammi were once a thing, but a misunderstanding tore them apart. Will the long walk back to their neighborhood bring them back together? It was exciting to see them work through their issues while trying to fight their feelings.

Tristan and Lana are stuck in my favorite place in the world: the library. They’re best friends and have been since they were little. Lana is leaving for school, but not before she tells Tristan her true feelings. I would read an entire novel about these two.

Kayla and Tre’Shawn are on a school field trip from Mississippi to the city when everything cuts to black and they get stuck in traffic on a bus. Kayla is navigating her feelings for another boy which isn’t easy when your boyfriend is sitting right next to you.

Grace and Seymour meet in a Ryde share where he is the driver. They bond over their minds, rather than their looks. When the car runs out of gas, will this be the end for them or will the 30 minute walk to the block party bring them even closer together?

The big drawback of short stories is that each one doesn’t have enough time to develop. I kinda felt that way with this as well. I wanted a few of these stories to continue. However, I enjoyed it overall and would definitely recommend. I loved all the representation in this book. I hope to see this on the big screen one day!

I was so excited to read this! Unfortunately , I felt a bit misled…

A thriller set in an amusement park? Um, yes! It started off promising- a boy with Down Syndrome who everyone loved found dead at Fabuland-owned by our MC’s (Ivy) father. Her best friend Morgan was the one to find him. Did Ethan just fall or was he pushed or worse?

Morgan is understandably losing it and is leaving it up to Ivy to find out the truth. But how is she supposed to do that when Morgan is keeping secrets from her? She barely even wants to see Ivy and acts happy to see her one moment and is wanting her gone the next. Ivy doesn’t understand what’s going on with her bestie, but she’s determined to figure it out.

She starts questioning everyone and everything she can think of to get to the bottom of it. Will she push too far? The end of this story was not what I was expecting and took a turn I didn’t sign up for, but to be honest, it was the most exciting part of the whole thing. In a way, I felt like I was reading two different books with two different plots. Ethan’s death almost became an afterthought by the end.

My main issue with this book was that it was slow to get to the point and I found myself getting bored. Boring is never a word I want to use to describe a book I’m reading. However, the mystery of what happened to poor Ethan kept me engaged enough. I wanted more action, but it was seriously lacking in that department.

Maybe I just went in with too many expectations, but this book let me down. This was marketed as a thriller, but it wasn’t very thrilling…