A fun fast paced thriller reminiscent of Riverdale. I throughly enjoyed the mystery and suspense as well as the tarot/ tea leaf reading elements

For a more in-depth review watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0tNa...

I received an eARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

Marnie Wells knows what people want to hear and she uses that power to sell her tea leaf readings to her classmates. But when one of her classmates goes missing Marnie starts finding messages in her readings that may help solve a murder.

This book all good concept without the needed likable characters or plausible conclusion. It is definitely a solid mystery with believable and well placed red herrings but I just didn't care about the characters.

Has the spooky, gothic, high-school-drama feel of Riverdale, mixed with a bit of Pretty Little Liars. Most of it takes place in the month of October, and it is an excellent October read, with the damp foggy feeling of the month felt throughout. I loved the tea reading aspect - the author clearly had a lot of knowledge on the subject, and it is an interesting and antiquated form of fortune-telling that is never seen in fiction, where tarot reigns supreme.

Parts of it felt sloppy and undeveloped; the relationships and characters in this book needed tightening. There were a lot of characters floating around and not enough development, the story could have benefited from cutting a few names and fleshing out the others. Carson felt like a friend that was added merely for the purpose of a sounding board. Phoenix gave off serious Cheryl Blossom vibes, and the romance seemed like a halfhearted addition, as if the author heard that YA won't sell unless there's a romance aspect but didn't really want it there.

There is great potential here and I have confidence that if Arsenault continues to write her stories will improve. I'd recommend this particular story for those looking for a quick October read.

A good teen mystery that fans of Girl on a Train would enjoy. Would have liked a touch more description and less conversation, as I felt I had to guess what was going on and how things really looked like.

Kept me on my toes and fully engaged the whole way through. Perfect mix of dark mystery!

I was looking forward to reading Emily Arsenault's first YA book and I was not disappointed! Good storytelling that kept me interested all the way through. My favorite character was G. Clara, probably because I'm closer to her age than to the teenagers, but also because she tried to be there for everyone and make the best of the situation she was dealt. Thanks to Soho Teen for a fun ARC.

This mystery novel uses tasseography as a means of propelling the plot forward, and as a reason for main character Marnie to be involved in finding out what really happened to Andrea Quinley. The fortune telling aspect was incredibly interesting, and could be used a hook to entice readers who are interested in symbols, psychics, and the occult in general. However, the mystery aspect was flimsy, and the characters were not engaging at all.

Marnie has picked up tea leaf reading and several of her classmates believe that she is extremely accurate in her predictions. After a fellow classmate has gone missing, Marnie is asked search the leaves for answers. Matt, the missing teen's best friend, asks Marnie to join him in either finding his friend (or more likely her body). Marnie begins to uncover a secret world of her hometown and her family and learns to trust her gift.

The characters weren't particularly likeable, but there was a realness to Marnie that kept me connected. I was fascinated by the plot and the gift the main character had. I even found the mystery compelling. It took some time for me to get into the story and to stay in the story, but overall, it was worth it.

I haven’t read any of Arsenault’s adult novels, but what hooked me here was the possibly paranormal element of the main character’s tea-leaf reading. That part of the book was interesting, but I felt like overall the story was lacking something in its execution.

Marnie feels like an outsider at her high school, so she decides to embrace it by becoming known as the girl with the odd hobby of telling fortunes by reading tea leaves. Desperate for answers, popular kid Matt comes to her with questions related to the disappearance of his friend Andrea. Nobody knows what happened to her, but Matt has been getting strange emails that might be from Andrea. Marnie tries to help Matt figure out what’s going on, and as they investigate, Marnie realizes that Andrea’s disappearance may somehow be related to the activities of a drug dealer, Jimmy, who was a childhood friend of Marnie and her brother Noah. Nobody seems to really know where Jimmy is, either. Are Andrea and Jimmy connected? If so, how?

I feel conflicted about this book. Arsenault writes well, the resolution of the mystery was somewhat surprising (I guessed the broad outlines of what happened, but not all the details), and the “is she or isn’t she psychic” aspect of Marnie’s fortunetelling abilities was well handled. And yet, I didn’t like the book as much as I wanted to.

Part of that may be due to the fact that the description of the book is a little misleading. It sounds like Matt and Marnie are going to become involved in a deep romantic relationship in spite of the fact that Marnie believes he might have done something wrong. But their romance doesn’t get very far, and Marnie doesn’t really seem to believe that Matt himself is somehow dangerous. So the story I was expecting to read never quite developed.

The other part of my disappointment with the novel is related to Marnie herself, I think. At one point, another student she’s doing a reading for suggests that she should be a guidance counselor, and that kind of sums up Marnie’s voice. Her narration sounded to me more like that of an adult than a teenager, and a very calm adult at that. It’s not what I would expect from a teen caught up in a possible murder mystery, and it struck a bit of an off note.

So, it’s a decent book, but it didn’t wow me. I’m curious whether Arsenault has further adventures in store for Marnie, though, and I’ll probably give the next book a try if she does.

An eARC of this novel was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Very enjoyable read, following the path of Marnie, who reads tea leaves for fun, but when her readings become more accurate, she gets pulled into a suspenseful, mysterious missing person case. I hope to read other things by Arsenault. Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for the advanced copy.

A refreshing new idea for a YA heroine (tea-reading). Love Marnie (self taught tea-reader) , love this book! Stayed up too late finishing it - hey, it gets pretty intense at the end!!!!!!!!!!! And for once I hadn't figured out the end way before it happened.

Slow start but surprisingly quick middle and ending once the story is set up. I feel like Marnie's friendships with other female characters could have been more fully developed, and it felt like there was more to the story of her mother than the book gives. It did surprise me with a couple of twists. Enjoyable story!

<i>The Leaf Reader</i> took me pleasantly by surprise. I requested it from NetGalley some time ago and then promptly forgot all about it. When I stumbled across it on a day off I did not expect to finish it that same day. It's a relatively short read but it's pacy and intriguing and I enjoyed it a lot. Plenty of magic realism and just enough suspense. Well worth picking up.

Marnie's mother is an alcoholic, her brother survived a recent overdose, and her grandmother, who raised her, is practically a hoarder. Her house has mice behind the stove and mushrooms growing on the bathroom floor. So really, reading people's futures in their tea leaves isn't the strangest thing she could do with her time. Or it wouldn't be, if Matt Cottrell wasn't so interested in her readings, and if he didn't keep asking her about his friend Andrea, who disappeared months ago.

Reading tea leaves was supposed to be a hobby, nothing more. But now Marnie is seeing symbols outside of a teacup, and her readings are starting to hit a little close to home. What exactly happened on the night that Andrea disappeared? And what does it have to do with the creepy, abandoned amusement park outside of town?

An enjoyable slow-build mystery that toys with the reader's expectations. Recommended for teens and young adults.