Superficial me was sold by the cover of this and read nothing more of the synopsis than, 'For fans of Pretty Little Liars'. Those two things were enough to intrigue me and I am so glad this book lived up to my early excitement!

Kacey is the new girl in town with a mysterious past. Her new step-family are wholly accepting of their newest addition and so are her new friendship group - Bailey and Jade. But when Bailey disappears one night, fingers start to point and a few of them are turned her way.

I adore books that encroach on the dark, secret lives of teenage girls and this book did so in an exciting yet unpredictable way. From sneaking out at midnight to parties, to holding seances in haunted and remote buildings - this book was a series of exhilarating scenes tied together with the dark undertone of both the reader and the characters second-guessing everyone's motives. No emotion was spared and I spent much of my time reading this breathless with either suspense or terror.

There were so many layers to this dark and disturbing thriller and my mind was constantly attempting to assume and presume where the plot would take the reader. I did ultimately guess who the perpetrator was... but not before also guessing every other character the book alongside them!

I felt this book was a bit slower than her previous novel, but I can't deny it packed a punch especially at the end.

I think the story really took off once we started to get Bailey's POV. Kacey just couldn't carry it for me, but when Bailey jumped in I was hooked. She brought a whole other creepy thriller vibe that I had been waiting for and man was it amazing.

There were a couple of things that bothered me besides the pacing. One thing was that the author only touched on Kacey's past. The author would mention this big dark past, but then just skirt around the details. I wish she would have just gone there because it would have given me a reason to feel something for Kacey. It almost felt like the author didn't know what kind of background to give her character so she just gave a semi vague violent one. I have all kinds of questions about her past and I am bummed I won't get them answered. I am also bummed that Kacey went back to her moms after a supposedly horrible childhood. That part really bothered me.

Another thing that bothered me was the whole Andrew and Kacey relationship. It again felt like the author wasn't sure if she wanted to go there like the whole background info situation so she just left it up in the air. We get just enough to make us what more and then she takes it all away. I'm not saying I would have wanted them to be together, but I would have liked a more concrete ending for them.

I loved the twist though. When I finally figured it out I was like WHAT! I realized what was happening two pages before the author spilled the beans and I thought it was fantastic. It was a believable ending that had me in awe of the authors masterminding. Plus the words that Lauren spoke gave me chills.

All in all I loved this I just wish the author would have gone where she was going fully with all of her characters.

Didn't love this, but didn't hate it either. In fact, I think it started out really strong and then started to lose some steam towards the end. Regardless - Thomas delivers an adequate mystery/thriller, one that will allow teens to become easily engrossed and appreciative of the twist. Definitely worthy of a purchase, especially for collections looking to bulk up in genre fiction.

Little Monsters by Kara Thomas
Kacey is a character you can relate to, Broken Falls, WI is a town most of us grew up in, and the story of the Red Woman is every small town's token lore--it's a story chalk full of connections and suspense for the reader. YA readers will love nodding their head every time the author comments on life in a small town & the mystery and mayhem that descends on Broken Falls will NOT allow you to put this one down! A must purchase for YA collections where readers of April Henry, Ashley Elston, and Sara Shepard are frequent patrons. A perfect book club choice for rural public libraries looking to increase circulation & dissect a sensational mystery.

Meg Oppelt, School Librarian & professional reader

I just couldn't get into this one. I can't put my finger on why, and I am so sorry. I think it probably wasn't the right book for me at this time. Thank you for the opportunity to try it, though!

A local murder legend adds a creepy undertone to this YA suspense thriller about a trio of friends, one of whom has gone missing. The main character's troubled backstory adds emotional complexity to the mystery. It's rare that I don't figure out the culprit before the big reveal, but this book had some surprises in store, which is what I'm looking for in a thriller. Would have liked a clearer picture of the main character's previous troubles with her mom (we're told only in broad strokes, not shown in detail), but as a thriller this hits the marks.

This was the first book I read by Kara Thomas and I have to say that even though at the beginning I wasn't feeling it, I ended up quite surprised with the novel.
The story was so addicting and made me want to keep reading to know what happened with Bailey and it was a very good mystery/thriller book.
I wasn't a big fan of the characters at the beginning but throughout the story you get to know them better.
The ending was a bit less mindblowing than I expected even though there was that big revelation, and the epilogue was kind of off for me.

well that was a surprisingly great book. i received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. i was honestly not planning to read it today, i was just checking on my e-reader to see about how long it would take me to read it but then i got sucked in from page 1 and finished it in 3 hours.

the main character of kacey has some severe emotional/psychological problems and PTSD from a toxic relationship with her mother. she's living with her father and his family at the beginning of the book so we learn that from small reveals. she's moved to town relatively recently and made some friends with girls who seem a little messed up in their own right from the very beginning. and then one of them disappears and there's a lot of questions and suspicion that falls on kacey. as she struggles to figure out what happened without losing her mind we watch other characters of the town/family come unhinged too. new details on the case are released sporadically throughout and each one makes you rethink everything and question what will happen next. generally with mysteries, i cannot handle the slow reveal and will fully go and read the end out of curiosity. or i'll manage to figure it out by myself because i find a lot of mysteries to be painfully obvious (including the one in the mystery novel i myself wrote). but in this one i neither figured it out OR went to cheat read it. i was basically enthralled by the slightly crazy kacey from the very beginning and just read and discovered things with her.

there are some parts which start to intersperse in the latter half of the books - diary chapters from the missing girl - which i liked because they gave me more information and were interesting but which i also didn't like because it didn't feel like we as the reader should get to know more than kacey did.

overall though, it was an interesting and compelling read with good plotting and follow through on the mystery. i'd recommend it to teenage girls and boys from about 13-18.

Wow. I "picked" this book (ARC) on Netgalley because I was pre approved and the cover looked interesting. I didn't not expect to find such an addictive, well written, and frightening book on a whim. This book legitimately gave me nightmares and I'm not one to scare easily. It's a psychological thriller that does not rely on cheap tricks or crazy premises. To anyone who was ever been a teenage girl, this book is strangely relatable. Overall, the well developed characters, and original plot make this a very satisfying read.

After reading Kara's first novel, I knew that she truly understood the mystery and true crime genres. Her way of building the tension in this book is purposeful and well crafted. At first I thought this would be a book I could pace myself on, reading a couple chapters every day but by chapter four, I was hurtling through this book at breakneck speed, trying to keep up with the twists and turns of the plot. It has been a long time since I've read quality mystery books that sucked me in like this, and it wasn't until Kara's work that I found something that does just that. Little Monsters delves into the darkness of female friendships and small town living. It had a similar feeling to Fargo, the movie, of events snowballing quickly beyond what the small town can handle. I am a middle school librarian and would recommend it for 8th grade and up. I am going to speak to the High School librarian in my district and urge her to add it to the collection when it comes out!

Kara Thomas comes out swinging once again! Little Monsters is a story about Kacey, a young girl who lives with an unstable mother and does not know her father until she is in her later teens. She goes to live with her father and learns she has a step-brother and a younger half-sister. She comes to adore both siblings and finally meets two girls in school and they become fast friends......or so Kacey thought. Certain events occur that leave Casey feeling unsettled and not sure who she can trust.

If you want a book where you will be a bit shocked by the "Who Done It" then this book is for you!

I wasn't expecting to love this as much as I did seeing that i'm not the biggest fan of YA thrillers. This is a page-turner that will keep you up all night reading trying to find out who is the killer.

I love, love, loved THE DARKEST CORNERS. So when I heard that Thomas was releasing another novel, with the same premise (fictionalized True Crime for YAs), I couldn't wait. And then, I found out she was semi-local and invited her to YA Fest. I met her, and literally gushed all over her. She's a fellow #murderino.

Okay, I'm done. Now, onto the story...

I loved it. Honestly, there's not much else I can say. To make it clear and cohesive, I'm just going to bullet point for you what was awesome about it:

It was extremely well-written.
There are a lot of twists throughout the story that keeps the reader guessing.
The ending has a HOLY SH!T moment that made me gasp out loud.
It includes some of my personal favorite things: local ghost stories and crime/mystery.
Kacey is an unreliable narrator, which makes the story even harder to figure out.
Jade is an absolute bitch, but plays the part well.
Kacey's backstory makes it hard to believe she's completely innocent.
The plot all wrapped up REALLY nicely for the reader.
This was one of those books that I will continue to buy (in every edition), and hand out to my friends and go YOU HAVE TO READ THIS, all while still making heart-eyes in Kara Thomas's direction.

Seriously. If you like murder-mysteries, true crime adaptations, or conniving BFFs, this book is for you.

Rating... 12/10 stars!

Now, when's the next one coming out...?

Can PRH just send me Kara Thomas so she can be my pocket author and I can carry her around to tell me stories on demand? K, thanks :) That's how I felt about The Darkest Corners and also about this little gem of a book. I'm not gonna give anything away, and I'm not going into the details of why I liked it because it's still months from publication. Just know that I do not usually read mysteries, especially YA mysteries, because I almost always figure them out from even the subtlest clues. But I will always read a Kara Thomas story. Even though I wasn't shocked by the ending, I still had book shimmies. Not only would I suggest this book to my YA readers, I might actually throw it at them :) 4.5/5 stars for me.

What a great read! I spent a Saturday afternoon engrossed in this book. The twists and turns kept me interested and the conclusion was a punch in the gut. I really enjoyed the relationships between all the characters. I would definitely recommend this book to my students.

Thank you for the advanced copy.