ŷ������

WOW i am truly convinced there is no genre that julie soto cannot write.

this book had me in an insane chokehold from start to finish?! i was a little hesitant when this book was first put on netgalley as i tend to only really read YA when its fantasy, but im so happy i decided to give it a shot with the audio!! it was incredible how well julie wrote out every single character, i felt like i was constantly being pulled in different directions with each friend whether or not i wanted to trust them or like/dislike them. all of the characters in this book felt extremely real and flawed and it really threw me back in time to my experiences and feelings as a teenager (and making me SO fucking happy i am no longer one 😂).

i am also so impressed with how easily julie was able to make me feel about certain characters, there was one of the friends that i just did NOT care for but i ended up feeling so soft (for lack of a better word??) towards. somewhere along the way i really found myself rooting for that character in general but also with jodi until the very end and i will remain extremely delulu that they did get to show up to that spring play and that maybe just maybe they got their happy ending 🥹

one thing i was totally not expecting with this book was the paranormal aspect, which i thought was WILD and really cool?! it kind of made me reminiscent of PLL??? and ill be straight up with you there were so many points where i was fully convinced emily was gonna come out with a “gotcha�� moment simply bc of how much it reminded me of it 😂

this entire book was a rollercoaster of emotions honestly, it just felt like absolutely no one could catch a break and right when you thought they might be able to breathe for a second something else insane happens and brings the fear factor back in 😂

i will say the end feels very predictable, i dont feel like there were really any big surprises but not in a bad way??? i really liked how it was able to bring closure while still keeping everything a bit open ended. the epilogue was honestly fun as hell, it felt a little diabolical because wdym youre leaving me there and this potentially isnt going to be expanded on ever??? LOL

overall i had a really enjoyable experience with this book, i really look forward to seeing what julie does in the thriller genre (if she does more) eventually. i would honestly kind of really love seeing a time jump of these characters maybe getting tormented once again?? (too PLL of me??? 😜) i think it would be fun to see where that epilogue could take things for this friend group 🫣.

if you dont mind YA books then i would highly suggest giving this a try, i dont necessarily think its going to be for everyone whose a fan of julie’s previous work BUT if youre someone like me who doesnt go out of her way to try YA books but doesnt mind them in the grand scheme of things then i think you may have a great time with this one!!