As I read this book, I kept thinking how much teenage girls will love it. Kara Thomas gives them everything: friendships, jealousies, sibling kinship and conflicts, parental anxiety, betrayals, the hint of romance, and a whopper of a whodunit.

In fact, the only thing really missing is a Kate and Leo, Titanic-esque love story.

Kacey is new in town, having moved in with the father she doesn't know, his wife, a stepbrother, and a half-sister. It's a very different life from what she knew with her mother, a chaotic, self-indulged woman. Her adjustment is made all the easier by the quick proffering of a friendship with Jade and Bailey.

Not that Kacey doesn't experience disconcerting moments. Her half-sister Lauren is almost obsessed with her, something exacerbated by Lauren being subjected to bullying by some of her classmates. And Jade and Bailey seem to have a push-pull with Kacey. When they go to a big party and fail to invite her, Kacey is, understandably, upset and hurt. The next day, though, Jade calls to tell her that Bailey is missing.

Thomas introduces this mystery with atmospheric flair. Dark nights, a mysterious legend, a seance, a psychic, a missing knife, a bloody handprint - what teen can resist these? Even better, Thomas weaves a story that will suck you in and hold you captive. Red herrings erupt, and you even find yourself wondering if Kacey is a reliable narrator.

While the ending disappoints in that it feels rushed and unnecessary, this is a must-read for teenagers looking for a heart-pounding mystery. Or anyone, really. I haven't been a teenager in multiple decades, and I liked it. Thomas understands both the claustrophobia of small town life and the anxious yearning to both break away and not leave the pack.

It's beyond me why I wasted so long to pick up this book because it turned out amazing. First off interesting set of people. I loved that there was plenty of clues and suspicion to throw around in this book. I kept making assumptions on who the killer could've have been, even for a brief period thinking maybe the main character was maybe intoxicated one night and just couldn't remember killing her friend wondering if what happen between the two was enough to make her want to. There was so much mystery about what happened, wondering who it could be and this book was more then I could've hoped for. This book was such a fun read ended up binge reading this book in one day because it was that good. Highly recommend you lovely readers to check out this book! I'd rate this book a 4.5 of 5 stars!

This book was a real page turner. Unfortunately, I found the ending extremely rushed and unbelievable. Could been better.

I've seen good reviews about this book and even my friends told me to read it soon so when I was about to start reading it, I saw my inbox from Rockstar Book Tours, from there I decided to join right away and I am so glad to be part of this. It is my first time to read a Kara Thomas book (I knooow I haven't read Darkest Corners yet and I am sorry for that, I promise I will!).

Anyway, Little Monsters? WOW. I enjoyed reading it so much and I managed to squeeze the reading time and work, I read it during break time if I could because putting it down is hard. I already have clues what will happen at the end but I really want to know how twisted the story is. So many clues, so many people involved but who really is the killer? that is what the reader needs to find out. The book isn't hard to read though, it is puzzling a little but as you understand the story and the POVs of both Kacey and Bailey, everything will be in place.

The characters are the typical teenagers who badly want to be the center of attention. Kacey, the new girl in town and she have two step siblings, Lauren and Andrew. When she moved in, every thing just changed around her without her noticing until the time when the murder of Bailey Hammond happened. Jade and Bailey are Kacey's best friends, the girls are inseparable but then some thing happened that ruined their friendship and this is also the cause why Bailey is missing. Every one blames Kacey and her brother Andrew but something doesn't matched. Will the detectives find the reason of the murder? Will they find the real murder? I leave it to all the readers.

Right now, I could say that this book is a must read! Little Monsters just brought my reading energy back. I'm glad I am still sane after reading this (ROLF). AND before I end this, can I just say I love the cover??? I honestly thought it was a horror story at first, sorry about that but I love it for real.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the opportunity to read and review Little Monsters by Kara Thomas! Kacey and her younger stepsister, Lauren, sneak out of the house with Bailey and Jade, two of Kacey's friends. On a Friday night, they venture to the local haunted site and the snowy roof collapses in on them. They're spooked and run away. Alternately, Bailey tells the story of the night she supposedly caused the popular high school football player to wreck and her story continues to be told throughout the rest of the book using her journal entries in interspersing chapters. Bailey and Jade attend a party and Bailey is not seen again. She's reported missing and the community rallies together to help find her. The suspect list changes and grows while Bailey is still missing and presumed dead by most of the community. The suspicion and the suspense keep twisting and kept me riveted to the very end. 5 stars for this realistic mystery!

This is exactly what I needed right now. It was thrilling and suspenseful and took my mind off work and thoughts of going home immediately. Little Monsters starts with the disappearance of Bailey. Kacey, the new girl in town, considers Bailey one of her few friends and her weird behaviour before the disappearance has her worried.

And then it seems like Kacey just keeps stumbling over clues. Is it a coincidence, or is there something more to it? The more Kacey tries to hide, the more she ends up finding and the truth may not be what she wants.

What made this book stand out to me was the fact that Kacey's chapters were interspersed with Bailey's diary entries which heightened the tension.

Kacey was a good character too. She was easy to empathise with and I liked her voice. Her relationship with her step-siblings were interesting and to the end, a bit heartbreaking. (Warning: the mystery is solved but it's not a happy ending) Even though Bailey provided a completely different picture of Kacey, I never believed that version. I guess Kacey's voice was just so strong that I believed in it.

While I wouldn't recommend this to younger teens (there is some bad language and mature topics are mentioned although nothing is explicit), I'd say that this book will be perfect for people who want to be scared (in a good way). The mystery is pretty solid, I like how the characters were developed, and the twist at the end was good.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

As a fan of mysteries and thrillers, I was excited to read Kara Thomas’s second psychological thriller, Little Monsters. This novel does not disappoint and it will keep you on the edge of your seat in anticipation.

Kacey is new to Broken Falls. She’s sent to live with the father she never met and his blended family after everything escalates past the breaking point with her mother. One night, Kacey’s two new friends, Bailey and Jade, force her to sneak out with them to conduct a séance in a haunted barn. Her younger half-sister, Lauren, tags along by chance and ends up freaking out. After their failed séance attempt, the strangest thing happens. Bailey disappears, and Kacey knows it in her gut that she’s dead. As Kacey tries to figure out where Bailey is, darkness within in herself and those surrounding her begins to unravel.

Since this is a thriller-type-mystery, I really do not want to spoil anything so I will keep this review short. The pacing of the novel is on the slower side, but I liked it this way because it really adds to intensity of Kacey trying to solve this mystery. There are no pop-out-to-scare-you moments. The most terrifying aspect is the darkness people are capable of acting upon. If anything, Kara’s prequel short story Wrath is the creepy story that will freak you out and leave you sleeping with the lights on.

Throughout the novel, several of Bailey’s journal entries are woven in between Kacey’s narrative. I think these journals might be my favorite part. I loved seeing inside Bailey’s head and witnessing her dark descent. Watching her fixation on Kacey worsen was fascinating, and I eagerly awaited the next entry. By the time I read the last journal entry, my mouth had fallen open in shock, horror, and realization.

Overall, Little Monsters is a fantastic thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat gasping until the shocking final reveal.

I started and finished LITTLE MONSTERS in one day. This unputdownable thriller is dark and twisty and leaves you guessing up until the final page.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this. Fast plot, interesting characters and an ending I didn't see coming. I will definitely have to check out "The Darkest Corners" now because "Little Monsters" is exactly what I wanted.

https://lifeofamberm.wordpress.com/2017/07/26/little-monsters-by-kara-thomas-review/

I've finally found it! After years of reading mediocre young adult thrillers, I've finally found the one that kept me guessing until the very end. Little Monsters had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. Kara Thomas has a very twisted mind and I love it!

Little Monsters grabs you from the very first page. The synopsis really only gives you the base of this story. It's very much a mystery but there is so much more to it than that. There's little bit of horror, a little self discovery, and more than a touch of Mean Girls. It reads like a crossover between YA and adult. There truly is so much more to this story than meets the eye.

Kacey is an interesting main character. She is easy to like even though it's clear that she is keeping many secrets. She has not had an easy life and while things were looking up when she first moved to Broken Falls, they took a dark turn very quickly. Her family is the one bright spot in all of this and even they may not be as perfect as they first appear. Every person in Kacey's life had secrets of their own, some darker than Kacey ever could have guessed. When the police started looking at her as a suspect in Bailey's disappearance, she took it upon herself to solve the mystery and in the process, brought all the dark secrets to light.

Kacey's family may have had some secrets but I liked them all very much. This wasn't your typical story about a girl being taken in to her father's new family of wicked stepsiblings and an evil stepmother. Instead, Kacey found a family that actually wanted her and wanted what was best for her. Her step brother and half-sister embraced her like she'd been there all along. Kacey may have stood out like a sore thumb in the town of Broken Falls but her family didn't care. I won't lie and say they didn't have some suspicions when Kacey became a suspect in Bailey's disappearance but I think I would have judged them more if they hadn't thought her relationship with Bailey made her a likely candidate.

Also, while it's not a huge part of the story, the town legend of the Red Woman really captivated me. I'm not much for creepy stories and I'm easily scared but I loved that aspect of this story. The Red Woman's story had a lot to do with the overall story and every single mention of her creeped me the hell out! Little Monsters is not a horror novel and nobody would ever classify it as one but it is still one you might want to read with the lights on.

Overall, Little Monsters could not have been better. Both adult and YA thriller fans will find something to love about this one. I'll definitely be checking out Kara Thomas' previous novel as well as whatever she decides to write next!

I was late to the party on Thomas' last book, and after that ending I vowed that I never would be again. I was a bit worried about sophomore syndrome, but I shouldn't have been. Her sophomore book was just as good as her first, better in my opinion.
Kacey comes to a new place, to live with her new family. The town where she moves is small, so everyone seems nice. She's immediately taken in by a small group of friends. Then everything halts when Bailey goes missing. Kacy sees that everything she thought she knew.... She really had no idea about.
I think what I loved the most about this, was the fact that not only was it super good as a thriller and kept me guessing, but with the ghost story added in, it was definitely a good way to keep me spooked. I found myself being afraid of the ghost AND whoever the culprit turned out to be. Thomas also released a good short story on Underlined that I was able to read because I'm a member. Ever that short snippet scared the crap out of me, so I knew this was going to be good.
I also loved the fact that I couldn't guess who the culprit was! If you know me and my love of thrillers, you also know I have a really bad habit of trying to guess who did it, and I usually get it right. This time, I WAS right, but not 100% and that made all the difference. Whoever can fool me is quickly added to my list of favorite authors because it's a rare occasion where I'm wrong. (Not tooting my own horn or anything, just trying to show what I mean when I say it's hard to trick me.)
My only issue with this one was the end. It seemed rushed. Like it happened so fast and I wasn't ready for it to end. She named who the culprit was and then instantly, it was like "Ok, that's it. Here's the epilogue." I guess I would have liked it more had there been some kind of big fight or something. It just seemed after that awesome story the ending wasn't really there.
This book was everything that I hoped it would be and then some. I have officially joined Kara Thomas' fan club and will most definitely read anything she writes. With Little Monsters, Thomas has taught me to look more and trust less.

This was a fast-paced, exciting read. I finished it quickly because I was so intrigued to work out what happened to Bailey. I really enjoyed trying to answer the question that hung over the book: was there a supernatural influence or a human explanation? The diary entries were very effective in adding extra insights about an important character. A couple of plot elements disappointed me, but overall I found this book thrilling and tightly plotted.

I dare you to pick up this book and be okay at the end. If you are, I'd like to talk to you about moving far, far away from me, you messed up person. 😵

That was when I decided that all the ghost stories got it wrong: evil isn’t a spirit or a monster or a ghost. It lives inside regular people, and it doesn’t know the difference between night and day.

Throughout this story, you'll find yourself suspicious of everyone and rooting to figure out who is trying to screw over Kacey, who is new to town with more packed baggage than the average teen. I had myself wondering if the local legend was at play. I was half convinced that maybe the Winchester brothers were going to pop out and clean up some mean ghosties. But no, just your run of the mill HUMAN PSYCHOPATH. As to who it is, well, you'll have to read to find out. Or listen, and be totally creeped out like I was.

I really love thrillers and I really love thrillers where you uncover these intense, mosaic teen relationships that remind you that girls are not all sugar and spice and everything nice. I like a little murder, too. I also like when they're solved and you can go back and see the pieces you missed along the way. Little Monsters drops hints like The Sixth Sense and at the end you're like OF COURSE...but wait, what?

I also love small towns and complicated family dynamics. I totally got a Stepford meets Cruel Intensions vibe along the way here. This book is dark and twisted and I am here for Kara dominating this market.

High school can be brutal.  Even more so when you're the new girl.  Finding new friends can be a lifesaver.  Or not...

Kacey's only known the dysfunction of life with her mother.  So when she moves in with her dad, things are shockingly normal. Including her stepmother and step siblings.  She even makes new friends, tops among them being Bailey and Jade.  Amazing how quickly they took her in and made her one of their own.  Maybe a bit too quickly?

When Bailey goes missing, all eyes turn to Kacey.  What does she know about Bailey's disappearance?  And does it have anything to do with the legend of that creepy ghost lady everyone likes to talk about?  Kacey soon finds out that her new friends aren't at all what they seem to be.  

This is mean girls at its finest. Two's company, three's a crowd and all that.  The real thrill, though, comes from the many twists and turns along the way.  It'll keep you guessing up until the very end.  And after you're done guessing, you'll just be shocked.

Little Monsters is one unexpected, kind of messed up and shocking but definitely good read. The blurb sure is intriguing and the cover is pretty cool. But I was not prepared for what’s inside the beautiful cover. What I like most about it is that the characters are quite unreliable, including Kacey. She had a troubled past which still haunts her every once in a while and the other characters have their own issues to deal with as well. Everyone is not what they appear to be that you can’t help suspecting them to be involved in Bailey’s disappearance. There’s a hint of paranormal stuff going on that will certainly make you wonder and there are also a lot of red herrings thrown that make it hard to guess what really happened. I even had a Gone Girl vibe into it but was proved wrong come revelation. And what a revelation that is. It is one shocking reveal that I never saw coming.

Though it is a quick-read, I find the build up to the big reveal quite slow. I find Kacey frustrating and her decisions questionable at times but I attributed it to her being young and reckless. One more thing is the lack of story on Kacey’s background. Yes, it was implied that she’d been in a real messed up situation but I just want to know more about it.

Little Monsters is not only about the mysterious disappearance of a teenage girl. It also shows how dangerous one can get when driven by hate and jealousy. Kara Thomas will take you on a twisted tale of teenage betrayal, manipulation, obsession, secrets and mystery that is full of twist and turn until the end. It is a surprisingly good mystery thriller that will surely appeal to people who likes to read YA mystery.

I don't know if this is obvious, I love thrillers.

"Kacey is the new girl in Broken Falls. When she moved in with her father, she stepped into a brand-new life. A life with a stepbrother, a stepmother, and strangest of all, an adoring younger half sister.

Kacey’s new life is eerily charming compared with the wild highs and lows of the old one she lived with her volatile mother. And everyone is so nice in Broken Falls—she’s even been welcomed into a tight new circle of friends. Bailey and Jade invite her to do everything with them.

Which is why it’s so odd when they start acting distant. And when they don’t invite her to the biggest party of the year, it doesn’t exactly feel like an accident.

But Kacey will never be able to ask, because Bailey never makes it home from that party. Suddenly, Broken Falls doesn’t seem so welcoming after all—especially once everyone starts looking to the new girl for answers.

Kacey is about to learn some very important lessons: Sometimes appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes when you’re the new girl, you shouldn’t trust anyone."

Recently, I posted a big long list of YA tropes, which you can view here. On it, are evil (cheerleader-esque) teenage girls. And there were a lot of them in Little Monsters. BUT... I love them so much. They're so evil I love it. I'm a terrible person. 

Kacey is a new girl in a small town. She had a big fight with her highly unstable mother and moved in with her father, whom she's never met, and his family in Broken Falls. But lucky for her she made new friends: Bailey and Jade. 

Queue my other least favorite tropes: girl goes to party, girl doesn't make it home.

Okay, the party is presented like the usual "girl goes to party and tries drugs for the first time," it's a legitimate social gathering here and it's huge, because Kacey wasn't invited. As the summary says.

In a small town where everyone already has tight and long-form relationships, it's not long before everyone suspects Kacey and she, rightfully so, begins to retreat inward and keep her loyalties to herself.

I did, despite many red herrings, guess the culprit, but I did suspect a few others before that. 

I really loved the depiction of the small town, complete with its own local legends and universal small town culture. It really added to the general mood of Little Monsters.

I also loved the friendships. It was all so accurate about how complicated teenaged friendships can be. All the obsessions and jealousy was turned up for the sake of the story but it never popped me out of the book. 

One thing that did bother me is Kacey's "Mysterious Past," which is never fully pinned down. It added to the mystery for sure, but definitely took away from the project as a whole. I think if Bailey's journal entries, our only alternate viewpoint, could have been expanded to help us better understand Kacey. 

Definitely a solid YA thriller and it's already out! So go pick it up and... you know... don't read it before bed. (You've been warned)

REVIEW WILL BE LIVE JULY 31, 2017

The synopsis of this book was exactly my favorite type of story and I can't believe I waited so long to read it.

Kacey is an interesting MC. She's got a lot of baggage and it definitely shapes the way she acts and the face she shows everyone. It was interesting to be in her head while reading the decisions she makes. I'm. It going to say anything else about the other characters because I don't want to ruin anything.

Plot wise, it was everything I could have asked for. I didn't trust anyone, I was second guessing every word out of everyone's mouth, and just when I thought I had it figured out, something else would pop up. There are journal entries scattered throughout and it's a genius idea to show a different perspective...again, spoilers.

Overall, it was a quick and captivating read. I'm sure I'll be reading it again, just to see if I can find the hints this time.

**Huge thanks to Delacorte Press for providing the arc free of charge**

This book can pass The Best Book of The Year! I love this book so much! It's very mysterious and thrilling definitely a must read!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the author for providing me with an e-ARC of this book for an honest review as a Little Monsters Street Team member. As always, all opinions are my own.

I went into this book with the memory of how much Thomas's previous novel, The Darkest Corners, wowed me and while I really enjoyed this book, I think having loved that book put my expectations a little too high with this one. It's a great book, but just not quite as good as I thought it would be.

The book follows Kacey, the new girl in town. After a fight with her mother, Kacey ends up living with her father, someone she only knew from the cheques she got on her birthday, and his family, including a stepmother, a stepbrother, and a half sister. She finds herself wedged into the duo that is JadeAndBailey and their two becomes three. But after Kacey is snubbed on the night of the biggest party in Broken Falls, she begins to wonder what their relationship is really all about. The next morning, Bailey is discovered to have not made it home after the party. Questions get asked and fingers are pointed, everyone in Broken Falls knows that anyone from their tight-knit town isn't capable of murder, so what happened to Bailey?

I only knew a brief synopsis of this book going in, I was pretty much on board with anything Thomas wrote. Once the plot started going, I was nervous that this would become another one of those stories. You know the usual "my best friend is missing, these small town cops don't care, etc." And there is a little bit of this going on. But, I stuck with it, because I just KNEW Thomas had something up her sleeve, and boy, oh boy, did she ever.

I won't get into a lot about the plot or the mystery specifics because that would be a spoiler and ruin the story but I will say that this book definitely has more than a few twists. What I love about Thomas's story writing, in both this and her previous book, is that she doesn't use the old one red herring and then real ending trick. She will throw a bunch of things in there and you just have to wade through the suspects. She plays her cards close and doesn't reveal anything until the very end. I found this was a refreshing way to liven up a well-used genre.

Family is also a major element of this book, both just in general and in the mystery. I think Thomas does a really good job of writing the family dynamic as well as avoiding the plot holes that often go along with blended families. Kacey's stepbrother, Andrew, was from his mother's first marriage before his dad died. Then Kacey's stepmother, Ashley, and her dad got married and had Lauren, Kacey's half-sister. While I've read plenty of books with blended families, this one just felt really, real I guess. The siblings accepted Kacey as if she had never been apart of the family and Ashley wasn't a horrendous stepmother.

I can't speak to the comparisons to Pretty Little Liars because I am not familiar with the show/books. But I do think from the general knowledge I have about it, it's a decent jump. This book has a twisted group of friends and secrets that run deep. I think that there are some similarities once everything is explained but I don't want to spoil anything.

As I briefly mentioned before, I think the only reason that I didn't love this book as much as I wanted to was that I absolutely loved her previous book and I had unrealistic expectations. Don't get me wrong, I loved this book too, but I just felt like it was missing something that TDC had to push it over the top for me.

Overall, a refreshing take on the usual small town missing teen trope that I highly recommend!