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her_littleclouds's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
THE FACT THAT THIS BOOK ISNT MORE POPULAR IS SUCH A CRIME!!!
My finals are screaming for attention but the moment i started this book i knew i was going to love it and be obsessed, and i was (i finished it in less than 2 days). The formatting with the interviews is so fun and i wish it was in more books! Absolutely loved the short chapters, but also how do u manage to fit 91 chapters into a book thats 440 pages long? Absolute wizardry!!
I loved pretty much everything about this book! From the setting, to the plot(twists), to the characters! There were moments throughout the book where i thought “this could’ve been written more cleanly” and then i finished the book and all those moments made so much more sense and fit so well into the book! All the characters are so different from each other without being boring, almost all the characters are important to the story and fucking loved that!
My finals are screaming for attention but the moment i started this book i knew i was going to love it and be obsessed, and i was (i finished it in less than 2 days). The formatting with the interviews is so fun and i wish it was in more books! Absolutely loved the short chapters, but also how do u manage to fit 91 chapters into a book thats 440 pages long? Absolute wizardry!!
I loved pretty much everything about this book! From the setting, to the plot(twists), to the characters! There were moments throughout the book where i thought “this could’ve been written more cleanly” and then i finished the book and all those moments made so much more sense and fit so well into the book! All the characters are so different from each other without being boring, almost all the characters are important to the story and fucking loved that!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
chapters_and_pages's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
To be perfectly honest, this book just wasn’t for me…
When Devi, Lizzie and Jayne find themselves stranded overnight at the remote home of wealthy Emily Vanforte, the last thing they expected was to be trapped within a murder plot, with a killer on the loose and a mystery to solve. The three girls must come together to make it out of a house filled with corruption and lies alive.
I think if I had read this book about 8 or so years ago, I would’ve really enjoyed it, however I didn’t and I had some problems with it.
Firstly, I wasn’t a fan of the characters. Devi was irritating and rude, and I got the sense that Devi thought she was really cool for being rude. If she were a real person, she’d have a rude awakening when she reached adulthood. Lizzie was so whiny and I have to say, the amount of times Lizzie’s dialogue was described as ‘moaning’ was just a bit too repetitive for me. I felt that Jayne was a very two dimensional character, and I kind of understand why, given the outcome of the story, however it just meant that I really didn’t care about her as a character, and often forgotten about her altogether.
The writing style felt a little too juvenile for my liking, and I think that really affected my opinions on the characters as well, given this was written in first person. I also thought that the plot twist wasn’t all that surprising, but that could just be me…
Overall, this wasn’t a terrible book, I just don’t think this book was a good fit for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
xvicesx's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
5.0
The voices of each of the girls were very distinctive in a pleasant surprise, because it can be pretty hard to think up three teenagers together and then not fall for the trap of making them similar.
There were some really interesting emotions unpacked throughout the mystery, which I appreciated, seeing as baggage is such a large part of what this book is about. I especially liked some of the passages where Devi thought back on her reason for being at the estate and how time had done little for her healing process.
On the side of the mystery, I found it a very pleasant rollercoaster ride, with the many red herrings and surprise reveals. Emily and Charles were rather grim individuals, but at the end things come to a fairly nice happy for now conclusion. Indeed, a good follow-up for fans of Holly Jackson and Karen M. McManus.
There were some really interesting emotions unpacked throughout the mystery, which I appreciated, seeing as baggage is such a large part of what this book is about. I especially liked some of the passages where Devi thought back on her reason for being at the estate and how time had done little for her healing process.
On the side of the mystery, I found it a very pleasant rollercoaster ride, with the many red herrings and surprise reveals. Emily and Charles were rather grim individuals, but at the end things come to a fairly nice happy for now conclusion. Indeed, a good follow-up for fans of Holly Jackson and Karen M. McManus.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
styxx's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Chronic illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Abandonment
natashaleighton_'s review
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Ravena Guron’s second YA Thriller was a masterfully executed and beautifully compulsive, locked room murder mystery that Cluedo-loving fans of Holly Jackson and Agatha Christie are gonna absolutely devour!
Told from the POV of three protagonists (Devi, Lizzie and Jayne) who all find themselves stranded at the grand Bramble Estate during a snowstorm and inadvertently end up at the heart of a sophisticated murder plot.
For wealthy hostess, Emily Vanforte has been poisoned (at her own dinner party no less), and as they’re already trapped until morning—Devi, Lizzie and Jayne decide to solve the case themselves.
Having loved Guron’s debut YA Thriller (This Book Kills) back in January, I was beyond excited to get my hands on an early copy of Catch Your Death and can finally confirm that it surpassed all my expectations.
I loved our protagonists Devi, Lizzie and Jayne (who ranged from fabulously sharp witted and impulsive to socially awkward and endearingly compassionate) and found them all really intriguing. Their complexity, depth and meticulously crafted backstories were phenomenally compelling and really helped to keep the narrative flowing.
Though if I had to pick a fave I would probably be Devi, who’s opinionated take charge attitude (and ability to speak her mind) was utterly entertaining.
Like Jess from This Book Kills, Devi gives us a refreshingly candid view on how wildly out of touch the extremely wealthy can be, and the power imbalance which allows them to ruin lives (or break laws) with little consequence. I can’t really go into too much detail on this (for fear of spoilers), but it’s an aspect that’s startlingly relevant right now and something that really resonated with me.
Like Jess from This Book Kills, Devi gives us a refreshingly candid view on how wildly out of touch the extremely wealthy can be, and the power imbalance which allows them to ruin lives (or break laws) with little consequence. I can’t really go into too much detail on this (for fear of spoilers), but it’s an aspect that’s startlingly relevant right now and something that really resonated with me.
If you love the classic whodunnit-style, murder mystery format—where pretty much every character is a suspect— then you will definitely appreciate how intricately woven and plot twisty this is. The moral ambiguity of every character and the lies and secrets exposed along the way had me on the edge of my seat —which I loved!
I also enjoyed the interactive elements (note pages to write down our guesses for who the culprit was) which gave us the chance to really think through our suspects, and get into the mindset of a detective (or the killer) —which I had soo much fun with. Though as mine was a proof I’m unsure if this will be included in the final copies.
Unfortunately I didn’t manage to guess who Emily’s killler was, (the revelation of which I’m still impressed by.) But I did manage work out one of the other twists, which did make me feel quite clever.
Overall, a satisfyingly empowering, YA Murder Mystery with more plot twists than you can shake a stick at —amateur sleuths and arm chair detectives alike will definitely want to add this to their TBRs this winter.
Also, a huge thank you to Jess over at Usborne for the proof.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Classism
Minor: Infidelity, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
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