ratnix's review against another edition
2.0
I was sent an arc through net galley
I'm very conflicted by this one. The plot seemed promising, at first, but in the end... eh... I was underwhelmed.
I have two main issues: the writing and the main character.
Firstly, I found the writing odd. Even in the first chapter there's this sentence that made my skin crawl: Piper keeps an extra sweater stuffed inside her locker because she's always cold.No meat on her skinny bones. Like... was it necessary? Another example is this 2010s YA inspired sentence: I wasn't a sister.I wasn't even a friend.I was the darkness.
But even the jokes felt flat considering the plot and vibe of this book, at least to me. Personally, if I'm investigating how and why my sister fell off a cliff, the last thing I'd do is crack jokes. I get that it could be a copying mechanism but... it just didn't work. Example:
Get it? Because Abby hums a lot.
Let's move on to Savannah, the main character who with no exaggeration deserves the award for "one of the most annoying characters". I felt that the author tried to paint her as an unreliable narrator but as the end what came out was... Savannah. I can see why she was disliked by some characters based on her actions. She's selfish,impulsive,acts before she thinks etc,etc...
Even the plot at some points was dumb(the plot was focused on Savannah's actions,wow what a shock.
I will say however that the book is fast paced and an easy read which is a plus. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough.
I'm very conflicted by this one. The plot seemed promising, at first, but in the end... eh... I was underwhelmed.
I have two main issues: the writing and the main character.
Firstly, I found the writing odd. Even in the first chapter there's this sentence that made my skin crawl: Piper keeps an extra sweater stuffed inside her locker because she's always cold.No meat on her skinny bones. Like... was it necessary? Another example is this 2010s YA inspired sentence: I wasn't a sister.I wasn't even a friend.I was the darkness.
But even the jokes felt flat considering the plot and vibe of this book, at least to me. Personally, if I'm investigating how and why my sister fell off a cliff, the last thing I'd do is crack jokes. I get that it could be a copying mechanism but... it just didn't work. Example:
"If you talk to Abby, she'll just make up a story. She's a drama queen."
"I mean, technically she's an opera queen."
Get it? Because Abby hums a lot.
Let's move on to Savannah, the main character who with no exaggeration deserves the award for "one of the most annoying characters". I felt that the author tried to paint her as an unreliable narrator but as the end what came out was... Savannah. I can see why she was disliked by some characters based on her actions. She's selfish,impulsive,acts before she thinks etc,etc...
Spoiler
So, Savannah has the idea that Mr. Davis is the one who pushed Piper off the cliff so she heads down to a path to inform the police but realized she's lost her necklace somewhere so she tries to find it but before she does, the teacher finds her. Naturally, her teacher offers to help her by reminding her how much trouble he'll get if something bad happens to a member of their group. To which Savannah replies "You're going to be in trouble either way". And thus begins a mouse and cat tag between them. Listen, I'm not smart but if the person I thought had tried to murder my sister was near me, I would try to play it cool, that nothing's wrong and certainly wouldn't indirectly confess that I know something.Even the plot at some points was dumb(the plot was focused on Savannah's actions,wow what a shock.
Spoiler
Here's an example. The group thinks that Sam and Abby were the ones responsible for Piper falling off a cliff so what do they do? They steal Sam's phone to search it, which is a great idea, I'll admit. But, Savannah,having found what she was looking for, decides to take a screenshot and message it to herself through Sam's phone because she "doesn't have time to take her phone to take a photo?" You're telling me it's less time consumming to take a screenshot,dial your number, send that screenshot to yourself and wait for it to be delivered, delete the message and the screenshot than grab your phone from your pocket and take a picture of the message?Spoiler
Also, now that I was writing the paragraph above, I noticed a plot hole: The message Savannah found said: "Abby: Piper's asking questions Sam: I'll take care of it" But we never found out what he meant by "I'll take care of it"? Because it certainly has an ominous echo behind it so why did they ignore it even after the reveal?It seems that they completely forgot about it.I will say however that the book is fast paced and an easy read which is a plus. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough.
mouseo5's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
maddidance4life's review against another edition
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kerasalwaysreading's review against another edition
2.0
I appreciate the effort the author made to tell this story. But it was done in a way that the main character was absolutely intolerable.
Savannah is trying to figure out exactly what happened to her little sister who took a terrible fall on a hike, putting her in a coma. She is determined to find out who is responsible for hurting her.
I couldn’t get past Savannah’s self centered-ness. While she is noble in the way of stopping at nothing to find the truth, her methods are still so self serving. And her accuse, rinse, repeat interrogation method was exhausting.
This was a mediocre ya mystery, but it wasn’t unreadable. There were plenty of twists and turns but I felt dizzy by the end. An unfortunate feeling when the conclusion was lackluster.
Savannah is trying to figure out exactly what happened to her little sister who took a terrible fall on a hike, putting her in a coma. She is determined to find out who is responsible for hurting her.
I couldn’t get past Savannah’s self centered-ness. While she is noble in the way of stopping at nothing to find the truth, her methods are still so self serving. And her accuse, rinse, repeat interrogation method was exhausting.
This was a mediocre ya mystery, but it wasn’t unreadable. There were plenty of twists and turns but I felt dizzy by the end. An unfortunate feeling when the conclusion was lackluster.
kyleebudai's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
aloretoni's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
morguebooks's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
After Savannah's sister Piper falls from Suicide Point, she is racked with guilt. But did she jump as the police officers say or was she pushed? As Savannah starts to find clues that lead away from her sister jumping, she ends up following the Wilderness Club on a trip as all arrows point towards one of the members as being at fault.
The narrator was terrible, overly dramatic, and just hard to tolerate. I think she made the already unlikable narrator, Savannah, even harder to stand. Both Savannah and Piper were extremely self-centered and mean to each other and at times, to others. To be honest none of the characters were very likable.
I didn't end up caring much about what had or hadn't happened to Piper and usually, I'd feel bad for someone obviously going through something but the way the book was written, it was hard.
The suspects were pretty obvious, and I was suspicious of everyone on the trip. But some were more obvious than others and the author made a very obvious choice for who the culprit was. Though at least she chose the way everything went down to not be as obvious.
Overall, a subpar book with unlikable characters who were hard to care about. I'm glad the book was short since I didn't waste much time on it and can move on to a better book now.
Extra ratings: Fluff - NA Heartfelt- 4/5 Helpful-NA Horror-0/5 Inspiration- NA Love aka Romance- 2/5 Mystery-4/5 Predictability- 4.5/5 Spice-0/5 Suspense- 1/5 Tear 2.5/5 Thrill- 3/5 Humor-0/5
The narrator was terrible, overly dramatic, and just hard to tolerate. I think she made the already unlikable narrator, Savannah, even harder to stand. Both Savannah and Piper were extremely self-centered and mean to each other and at times, to others. To be honest none of the characters were very likable.
I didn't end up caring much about what had or hadn't happened to Piper and usually, I'd feel bad for someone obviously going through something but the way the book was written, it was hard.
The suspects were pretty obvious, and I was suspicious of everyone on the trip. But some were more obvious than others and the author made a very obvious choice for who the culprit was. Though at least she chose the way everything went down to not be as obvious.
Overall, a subpar book with unlikable characters who were hard to care about. I'm glad the book was short since I didn't waste much time on it and can move on to a better book now.
Extra ratings: Fluff - NA Heartfelt- 4/5 Helpful-NA Horror-0/5 Inspiration- NA Love aka Romance- 2/5 Mystery-4/5 Predictability- 4.5/5 Spice-0/5 Suspense- 1/5 Tear 2.5/5 Thrill- 3/5 Humor-0/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical content, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, and Violence
Minor: Bullying and Vomit
rinne77's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I will start off by stating that I liked the concept of the book and there were some parts that were engaging and well written.
However, the execution was the problem. The complete selfishness of the main character was disgusting. Now that wasn’t what bothered me as it could have been a great character arc with redemption at the end but that’s not really what happened.
The “cliffhanger” was not one. What happened wasn’t necessarily indicative of anything positive which is what I think the author wanted the audience to believe.
Also, the problem with setting a book in the real world is that you should make it believable even if some main parts are far fetched. But when you have every action be unbelievable it just doesn’t work.
It’s almost as though the author had 3 good premises for a book and tried to smash them all together and that just ends in disaster as they didn’t weave together very well.
So it needed up in enjoyable in the collective sense. It’s as quick read so I give it that.
However, the execution was the problem. The complete selfishness of the main character was disgusting. Now that wasn’t what bothered me as it could have been a great character arc with redemption at the end but that’s not really what happened.
The “cliffhanger” was not one. What happened wasn’t necessarily indicative of anything positive which is what I think the author wanted the audience to believe.
Also, the problem with setting a book in the real world is that you should make it believable even if some main parts are far fetched. But when you have every action be unbelievable it just doesn’t work.
It’s almost as though the author had 3 good premises for a book and tried to smash them all together and that just ends in disaster as they didn’t weave together very well.
So it needed up in enjoyable in the collective sense. It’s as quick read so I give it that.
rissabees's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25