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jltaggart's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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? Yes
4.5
audreynyhui5's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.0
tfpeel's review against another edition
5.0
Altro bellissimo libro grazie Hope (anche stavolta ansia fino alla penultima riga
beckyrendon's review against another edition
4.0
The Surviving Girls is definitely going to keep you on your toes. It's one of those mysteries that will leave you so enthralled that you won't have time to hypothesize. You will just be along for a ride hoping and praying that all goes well.
I'm not sure that I would ever classify it as a romance unless one sided serial killer stalker romance is where the classifying came from. There are romantic elements not involving a psychotic sociopath but the focus is definitely on the crime and the unraveling of its master plan.
I was completely enthralled by the story and am now going to have to go back and read others in the series.
I'm not sure that I would ever classify it as a romance unless one sided serial killer stalker romance is where the classifying came from. There are romantic elements not involving a psychotic sociopath but the focus is definitely on the crime and the unraveling of its master plan.
I was completely enthralled by the story and am now going to have to go back and read others in the series.
harveyjoy53's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Miscarriage
amym84's review against another edition
5.0
4.5
Twelve years ago Lei Zhang and her friend Emma Nilsson were the only two survivors of the notorious Sorority Row Murders that left twenty-one of their sorority sisters dead. In the intervening years, Lei and Emma have found ways to help other victims and their families all while still dealing with the trauma of that horrible night. For the most part, they've at least been moving forward if not exactly moving on with their lives. They've been, for lack of a better word, surviving. That is, until an apparent copycat killer begins targeting Lei and Emma in the places they feel the safest.
When FBI Agent Dante Young is called in to investigate, he doesn't know what to expect from the women who lived to tell their stories, but he definitely wasn't expecting Lei. As the killer ups their game and inches ever so closer to the final confrontation, Dante and Lei's attraction for one another will prove another hurdle the pair will have to work through if they want to survive to the end.
With The Surviving Girls Katee Robert certainly ups her thriller game. This story was simply chilling in places. I found myself reading until the late hours of the night, but then I'd have to turn out the lights and, Oh My, did my imagination mess with me. It was filled with quite a lot of dark and twisting turns. I'm pretty sure I was kept guessing until close to the end. I was convinced everyone had a motive and pretty much no one was safe from my scrutiny.
I loved that Katee Robert really chose to put the romance in the backseat to the more dominant thriller aspect of the story. Yes, it's there, and I might even go so far as to say it was quite the insta-love, but I liked that the focus remained on the case. Seeing as how the murders are linked so closely to Lei and Emma, if any other choice had been made, I probably would have done a huge eye-roll, but as it was, I thought it was the right decision to make this more thriller, less romance.
That being said, I did like the emphasis put on the relationship between Lei and Emma. Their shared trauma and survival links these women inextricably together, probably for the rest of their lives. They lean on each other, they help each other survive. While Lei is a bit more independent than Emma - Emma is unable to even leave the house - she still needs to comfort of her other half. The only other person who could possibly understand the panic that seems to arise out of nowhere or waking up in the middle of the night with a scream on your lips. Despite the fact that they are joined together due to what they went through, I liked the way Katee Robert portrays their relationship.
I think this is the best one of the Hidden Sins series so far. There were a couple of threads that I felt weren't completely tied up at the end, but I kinda think that's par for the course sometimes in investigations. You might not know the full motivations behind every act. That's at least how I'm looking at it as it doesn't impact my overall enjoyment of the story.
While I can't remember if Lei and Emma's story was mentioned in either of the previous two books in the series or not, I am interested to see if Katee Robert decides to move any of the secondary characters to the main character spotlight in upcoming books. There are definitely a couple that I have pegged as favorites. Regardless, The Surviving Girls works well as a standalone. Any glimpses, or mentions of characters, of previous books does nothing to detract from the focus of this story.
Trust me, this one will have you looking over your shoulder.
Twelve years ago Lei Zhang and her friend Emma Nilsson were the only two survivors of the notorious Sorority Row Murders that left twenty-one of their sorority sisters dead. In the intervening years, Lei and Emma have found ways to help other victims and their families all while still dealing with the trauma of that horrible night. For the most part, they've at least been moving forward if not exactly moving on with their lives. They've been, for lack of a better word, surviving. That is, until an apparent copycat killer begins targeting Lei and Emma in the places they feel the safest.
When FBI Agent Dante Young is called in to investigate, he doesn't know what to expect from the women who lived to tell their stories, but he definitely wasn't expecting Lei. As the killer ups their game and inches ever so closer to the final confrontation, Dante and Lei's attraction for one another will prove another hurdle the pair will have to work through if they want to survive to the end.
With The Surviving Girls Katee Robert certainly ups her thriller game. This story was simply chilling in places. I found myself reading until the late hours of the night, but then I'd have to turn out the lights and, Oh My, did my imagination mess with me. It was filled with quite a lot of dark and twisting turns. I'm pretty sure I was kept guessing until close to the end. I was convinced everyone had a motive and pretty much no one was safe from my scrutiny.
I loved that Katee Robert really chose to put the romance in the backseat to the more dominant thriller aspect of the story. Yes, it's there, and I might even go so far as to say it was quite the insta-love, but I liked that the focus remained on the case. Seeing as how the murders are linked so closely to Lei and Emma, if any other choice had been made, I probably would have done a huge eye-roll, but as it was, I thought it was the right decision to make this more thriller, less romance.
That being said, I did like the emphasis put on the relationship between Lei and Emma. Their shared trauma and survival links these women inextricably together, probably for the rest of their lives. They lean on each other, they help each other survive. While Lei is a bit more independent than Emma - Emma is unable to even leave the house - she still needs to comfort of her other half. The only other person who could possibly understand the panic that seems to arise out of nowhere or waking up in the middle of the night with a scream on your lips. Despite the fact that they are joined together due to what they went through, I liked the way Katee Robert portrays their relationship.
I think this is the best one of the Hidden Sins series so far. There were a couple of threads that I felt weren't completely tied up at the end, but I kinda think that's par for the course sometimes in investigations. You might not know the full motivations behind every act. That's at least how I'm looking at it as it doesn't impact my overall enjoyment of the story.
While I can't remember if Lei and Emma's story was mentioned in either of the previous two books in the series or not, I am interested to see if Katee Robert decides to move any of the secondary characters to the main character spotlight in upcoming books. There are definitely a couple that I have pegged as favorites. Regardless, The Surviving Girls works well as a standalone. Any glimpses, or mentions of characters, of previous books does nothing to detract from the focus of this story.
Trust me, this one will have you looking over your shoulder.
amym84's review against another edition
5.0
4.5
Twelve years ago Lei Zhang and her friend Emma Nilsson were the only two survivors of the notorious Sorority Row Murders that left twenty-one of their sorority sisters dead. In the intervening years, Lei and Emma have found ways to help other victims and their families all while still dealing with the trauma of that horrible night. For the most part, they've at least been moving forward if not exactly moving on with their lives. They've been, for lack of a better word, surviving. That is, until an apparent copycat killer begins targeting Lei and Emma in the places they feel the safest.
When FBI Agent Dante Young is called in to investigate, he doesn't know what to expect from the women who lived to tell their stories, but he definitely wasn't expecting Lei. As the killer ups their game and inches ever so closer to the final confrontation, Dante and Lei's attraction for one another will prove another hurdle the pair will have to work through if they want to survive to the end.
With The Surviving Girls Katee Robert certainly ups her thriller game. This story was simply chilling in places. I found myself reading until the late hours of the night, but then I'd have to turn out the lights and, Oh My, did my imagination mess with me. It was filled with quite a lot of dark and twisting turns. I'm pretty sure I was kept guessing until close to the end. I was convinced everyone had a motive and pretty much no one was safe from my scrutiny.
I loved that Katee Robert really chose to put the romance in the backseat to the more dominant thriller aspect of the story. Yes, it's there, and I might even go so far as to say it was quite the insta-love, but I liked that the focus remained on the case. Seeing as how the murders are linked so closely to Lei and Emma, if any other choice had been made, I probably would have done a huge eye-roll, but as it was, I thought it was the right decision to make this more thriller, less romance.
That being said, I did like the emphasis put on the relationship between Lei and Emma. Their shared trauma and survival links these women inextricably together, probably for the rest of their lives. They lean on each other, they help each other survive. While Lei is a bit more independent than Emma - Emma is unable to even leave the house - she still needs to comfort of her other half. The only other person who could possibly understand the panic that seems to arise out of nowhere or waking up in the middle of the night with a scream on your lips. Despite the fact that they are joined together due to what they went through, I liked the way Katee Robert portrays their relationship.
I think this is the best one of the Hidden Sins series so far. There were a couple of threads that I felt weren't completely tied up at the end, but I kinda think that's par for the course sometimes in investigations. You might not know the full motivations behind every act. That's at least how I'm looking at it as it doesn't impact my overall enjoyment of the story.
While I can't remember if Lei and Emma's story was mentioned in either of the previous two books in the series or not, I am interested to see if Katee Robert decides to move any of the secondary characters to the main character spotlight in upcoming books. There are definitely a couple that I have pegged as favorites. Regardless, The Surviving Girls works well as a standalone. Any glimpses, or mentions of characters, of previous books does nothing to detract from the focus of this story.
Trust me, this one will have you looking over your shoulder.
*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Twelve years ago Lei Zhang and her friend Emma Nilsson were the only two survivors of the notorious Sorority Row Murders that left twenty-one of their sorority sisters dead. In the intervening years, Lei and Emma have found ways to help other victims and their families all while still dealing with the trauma of that horrible night. For the most part, they've at least been moving forward if not exactly moving on with their lives. They've been, for lack of a better word, surviving. That is, until an apparent copycat killer begins targeting Lei and Emma in the places they feel the safest.
When FBI Agent Dante Young is called in to investigate, he doesn't know what to expect from the women who lived to tell their stories, but he definitely wasn't expecting Lei. As the killer ups their game and inches ever so closer to the final confrontation, Dante and Lei's attraction for one another will prove another hurdle the pair will have to work through if they want to survive to the end.
With The Surviving Girls Katee Robert certainly ups her thriller game. This story was simply chilling in places. I found myself reading until the late hours of the night, but then I'd have to turn out the lights and, Oh My, did my imagination mess with me. It was filled with quite a lot of dark and twisting turns. I'm pretty sure I was kept guessing until close to the end. I was convinced everyone had a motive and pretty much no one was safe from my scrutiny.
I loved that Katee Robert really chose to put the romance in the backseat to the more dominant thriller aspect of the story. Yes, it's there, and I might even go so far as to say it was quite the insta-love, but I liked that the focus remained on the case. Seeing as how the murders are linked so closely to Lei and Emma, if any other choice had been made, I probably would have done a huge eye-roll, but as it was, I thought it was the right decision to make this more thriller, less romance.
That being said, I did like the emphasis put on the relationship between Lei and Emma. Their shared trauma and survival links these women inextricably together, probably for the rest of their lives. They lean on each other, they help each other survive. While Lei is a bit more independent than Emma - Emma is unable to even leave the house - she still needs to comfort of her other half. The only other person who could possibly understand the panic that seems to arise out of nowhere or waking up in the middle of the night with a scream on your lips. Despite the fact that they are joined together due to what they went through, I liked the way Katee Robert portrays their relationship.
I think this is the best one of the Hidden Sins series so far. There were a couple of threads that I felt weren't completely tied up at the end, but I kinda think that's par for the course sometimes in investigations. You might not know the full motivations behind every act. That's at least how I'm looking at it as it doesn't impact my overall enjoyment of the story.
While I can't remember if Lei and Emma's story was mentioned in either of the previous two books in the series or not, I am interested to see if Katee Robert decides to move any of the secondary characters to the main character spotlight in upcoming books. There are definitely a couple that I have pegged as favorites. Regardless, The Surviving Girls works well as a standalone. Any glimpses, or mentions of characters, of previous books does nothing to detract from the focus of this story.
Trust me, this one will have you looking over your shoulder.
*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
jillyrabb101's review against another edition
4.0
Not what I was used to from Katee. A nice change of scenery.