This was a delightful debut, but in opinion this should have been obvious from the now famous dedication page. Philippe has a wry sense of humor and was masterful with the tone of a displaced teenager having to adjust to a new familial situation in a new country. And not just any part of the country but Austin, Texas. As someone who was born and bred here, I can attest to that it is a lot to take in if you're not fully prepared and that is just the wonky and ever changing weather. I will admit that the fact that it took place in my home city and state drew me to this, as well as the premise of the novel itself so I dove in eager to read it. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Admittedly, Norris is not 100% likable. He is prickly, rude, and borderline obnoxiously judgmental of everyone. However, to be fair I doubt anyone at that age in that situation would have approached it much better. They may have tried to be friends but we all know how cliquish high school can be and when yo're the new fish in that pond, people aren't always welcoming. His observations were hilarious because I feel everyone has had the same ones about others or themselves. And his moodiness and just general selfishness was just so realistic. I really liked that about this novel.
Most YA paints the kids as paragons of their generation or wrongly accused and that gets tedious. Many times Norris gets called an a**hole and he is in fact being an a**hole. So I really enjoyed that aspect.

Another thing is that there were touches of realness in it, such as the fight he had with his mom after prom and the why and the ending. It was a bit of a shock since I did sit there after I read the second to last chapter and was like, 'Did I just read what I thought I read?' Bug again it brought a touch of realism to the story that was like a bit of fresh air to me.

There were a few things that did make me wrinkle my nose, such as where the author placed Anderson High School, which is real. He said it was near Pflugerville, which is not the case. I'm guessing this was his bit of creative licensing since the author did attend the University of Texas at Austin according to his biography so it was easily overlooked although it did have me questioning if I knew where the high school was.

Overall I enjoyed this, would recommend, would re-read, and would read more by this author. I'm not sure if he is planning on writing more on Norris or not but either way I'm interested to see in what else this author has for us.

Unreliable narrators are usually a deal breaker for me in novels especially in first person. I think this is because I read more extreme stories about this when as an undergrad but I can't say for sure where or when the distaste started. Slowly over the years I've gotten more comfortable with the concept of it, which is why it was one of my personal book challenges this year. This book had been on my radar for a bit although I would personally classify this more as 'The Breakfast Club' meets 'And Then There Were None' due to the locked room aspect.

The premise is all there; five kids go into detention and only four walked out. It's a great whodunit with an awesome twist that I admit I did not see coming but I enjoyed it and it didn't feel like pandering, like so many 'twists' do. There's not a lot I can say about it without risk of spoiling, but I'll do my best.

One thing I feel that author did well was keeping the secrets secret until they wanted them revealed and that was good. The pace of the reveal was well done too; it didn't feel rushed or that it was dragged out which isn't always the case in books like this. The one drawback i felt was that it was a little difficult to tell the difference between the four narrators. It always indicated who was talking but the same cadence was used and there really wasn't a different in language either. However that was a minor thing and didn't change my opinion of the book either. I really enjoyed this to the point that I stayed up later than I probably should have finishing it. I will be reading the author's second book as well and look forward to it.

This short book packs quite a punch and I have to admit I was a bit floored by it. My only complaint was that it had a slow start, at least for me. A lot of that was due to the author's engaging language and how he wanted to set the story up. I wouldn't say it was bogged down with too many details since those were necessary but it still made for a rough start for me. Once I got going though I couldn't put it down. I think once it snagged me I ended up finishing it in one night, which may not be a big deal because it's a novella but I do have other obligations and responsibilities that sometimes keep me from reading. With this story though I didn't care and had to finish it. Nevermind that the horror aspect of it made it a little difficult for me to fall asleep that night.

I haven't read a lot of Lovecraft so I feel like most of the subtle nods to him went over my head. But that didn't take away from the enjoyment of it and isn't required to read it. The ending was shocking but some aspects of it were satisfying. I would recommend this for a rainy evening at home with a glass of your preferred beverage; although you might want to have a light literary chaser after you finish.

I snatched this up when it was a Kindle freebie awhile back and just now got around to reading it. And I thoroughly enjoyed it enough to purchase another one while it was a low price (waiting for the others to drop a little as well). It opens with a man from Mira's past, Jason who climbs into bed thinking she's someone else. At first I was a little irritated with her because as other reviewers have said she's a bit spineless when it comes to this jerk but I forgave that when the story got rolling a little more. Mira has a wonderful sense of humor and wit and I laughed out loud while reading some of her commentary on her fellow neighbors. Lourey has a good way of dropping enough red herrings in the story so you're not 100% sure who is the bad guy, especially with a diamond necklace being thrown in because money always brings out the worst even in the best of people. I also like how there was just enough of Mira's background to be given to give a little insight on the person she was but not enough to drag the story down overall and it opened it up for more to be released in the later books. Come into reading this book with an open mind because I found it to not be like other mystery series and that Mira is special on her own so don't try comparing her of Lourey's sense of writing to other's in the craft and genre and I think you'll enjoy it as well.