I really enjoyed this book. this was just what I needed to get out of my mini slump that I had in January.

All the Pretty Things is a solid atmospheric mystery set in an amusement park. When Ivy's best friend Morgan finds a dead body one morning at the park, everything will change. It's their former classmate and coworker Ethan. Soon after, Morgan ends up in the psych ward and isn't talking. Ivy is left wondering what happened to Ethan? She begins to investigate and as she discovers more and more secrets, she gets closer to the dark truth. The setting is written beautifully. Readers will be able to picture the small town amusement park, Fabuland, which truly feels so real. There is a creepy feel throughout. Highly recommended to readers looking for a strong YA mystery that will keep them guessing.

Thank you netgally for this arc to review. I loved this. I loved the unique setting in Fabuland. I like how the book opens with the murder and we get this fact finding mission throughout. I love the creepy vibe insinuated throughout. I absolutely love how messy Ivy is. I am so bored of perfect MC and love how this book makes everything so real and raw. Definitely a winner!

***TRIGGER WARNING***
Death, sexual assault

This book suffers from false advertising. When reading the summary, you are led to believe this is a mystery thriller. And while there is a sort of mystery being unraveled, this reads much more like a familial drama. Our main character Ivy comes home from a week's vacation with her whole world upside down. One of her coworkers is dead and her best friend, Morgan, found the body. As Morgan is in no shape to answer any questions, Ivy takes it upon herself to figure out what's going on.

Ivy always wanted to be her father's right-hand man; she loved his crazy ideas, his love of the spectacle, and his flair. It was the second year as the owner of the local amusement park, Fabuland, and this summer was Ivy's chance to be her father's second in command. We follow Ivy as she goes around the theme park, questioning fellow employees about the days leading up to that fateful day. 

Ivy's dad was a total creep. By a few chapters in, it's clear he had a part in this tragedy. He really only cared about business, cutting corners wherever he can to save money, and make money. He makes crude jokes and has wandering eyes. As the story progresses, Ivy takes a step back to see her dad more clearly. That is pretty much the main plot line through the book, the figuring out of why Ivy's coworker died is secondary.

I liked the setting of a theme park. I think it was a great way to keep everything focused into one area—the drama, the people Ivy questions, and the source of conversation. I found this to be pretty entertaining, though I could see where readers might feel misled—expecting more of a thriller mystery. 

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This one is a bit of a slow burn, for fans of "slice of life" YA contemporary who like messy characters and bits of suspense. I was drawn in initially by the "set at a small town amusement park" angle, which indeed is the book's strong suit. Fabuland felt so real, and I love all the weird quirks of the world.

Even though it starts off with a death of one of the park's employees, the book isn't a typical "someone died and I must investigate!" thriller because Ivy's drive is to get to the bottom of things on behalf of her friend Morgan, who found the body but is out of commission, mental health wise, for most of the book. That plus the entanglement of Ivy's dad owning the amusement park and that conflict of interest (daughter of owner snooping around colored a lot of her interactions), gave the first half an oblique, slow burn quality. Ultimately this isn't a thriller that's a straight-forward whodunit. It's more of a "how messed up are all these relationships and what is everyone hiding" book.

Once the book got going and all the threads started coming together, I was all-in. I loved all the complicated emotional entanglements, and even though Ivy was frustrating at times in how passive she was, her emotional arc felt organic and was fascinating. That said, LORD, was Ivy passive sometimes! It was all in the service of character, but there were moments where she just rolled over and took people's abuse. I was definitely on her side in those scenes, and wanted to see her stand up for herself, but she didn't. Her character arc ultimately feels earned, though I do think she'll frustrate some readers.

Thank you to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of All The Pretty Things.

I was intrigued by the premise (and the cover! Spooky and dark!) and excited when my request was approved.

But, it wasn't what I expected.

This isn't so much a thriller than it is about a young woman struggling to come to terms with the harsh realities of her life and family.

When a young, mentally disabled man who works at her dad's amusement park is found dead, Ivy plays Columbo and tries to find out what happened.

To make matters worse, her BFF Morgan, was the one who discovered her body.

As Ivy interviews the staff and classmates, she doesn't realize she is on the road to discovering painful truths about her own family, and what that may cost her.

Ivy as a character was okay, though she was only 17, at times, her thoughts and actions were painfully immature, or maybe I'm officially too old for YA books.

The writing was fine, but the story was uneven, disjointed, as if the author wasn't sure what she was trying to say.

Is she referring to #MeToo when she brings up sexual harassment and predatory behavior in the workplace?

Is the book about domestic drama and family relations?

We see only what we want to see?

I was hoping for a mystery to solve, a suspenseful story, or something spooky, and though there are dark themes here including sexual violence, All the Pretty Things wasn't for me.

Cool cover, btw.

**My thanks to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. **

All the Pretty Things is a YA mystery set in a small town who's teenagers flock for their summer jobs to a carnival ground called Fabuland. Our protagonist, Ivy Cork, is the daughter of the owner and is considered to be one of his most valuable assets(as opposed to just his kid). When Ethan, the cousin of Ivy's best friend Morgan is found dead, and Morgan withdraws into herself, Ivy is drawn to the unanswered questions surrounding the death and what really might have happened. But Ivy's questions start to unravel a series of events that she never would have expected—or maybe, more accurately, that she never wanted to see.

This book surprised me in places. I was unsure of the setup in the first third. It felt lagging in places, the dialogue threw me out of the story more often than not, but once Ivy had her self-imposed mission it was honestly a fun ride to the climax. There was a character I despised, immediately, from the first few pages, and I could not figure out at first if that was on purpose. Thankfully, it was absolutely on purpose, and it made all of the layers gathering around the mystery even more enjoyable when you realized who the true players were. The plot was not overtly contrived, though you're pretty sure you know what the twist is at the end, it was still a very fluid read. If you enjoy fast-paced, small town mysteries, this will do the trick.

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Emily Arsenault's second YA novel, All the Pretty Things, is part slice of life, part mystery, and part hard-hitting contemporary. Readers follow Ivy Cork whose father owns a doughnut franchise and amusement park. When a local kid shows up dead, things just don't seem quite right and Ivy takes it upon herself to investigate his death.This book does mention mental health struggles and sexual assault, so please be mindful of those items.

Arsenault's writing style has a natural flow to it, and the book was easy to read and progress through. Readers experience the story from Ivy's perspective, which was particularly effective and impactful since she was away at the time of the death. The reader's lens is limited to Ivy's, so Arsenault is easily able to control the flow of information to the reader in that way. Ivy's investigation and the rationale for her even taking on the investigation seemed a little odd, especially since there was no real mention of the police investigating beyond the initial questioning at the time of the event.

The choices Arsenault made, in the end, could be predicted based on the information she previously gave, but were executed well.

Ultimately, I don't feel that this story will particularly stick with me, though I enjoyed it for what it was. I would not hesitate to read more of Arsenault's work in the future.

I had high hopes for this book and was enthralled by the mystery of who dun it right away. And that's where my interest stopped. It's written at a very low level for YA- I'd recommend middle grades if not for the dark matter and themes. The "twists" were expected and not at all fulfilling. It was a really good premise, I wanted to like it more but it just left a sour taste in my mind. I didn't care for the procedure of "I must ask this person. Now this person. Now this person...." ad nauseam.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this ARC; it was one of the most thrilling mysteries I have read in a long time. I had the hardest time putting it down once I had started it-- all of the chapters ended in a question being answered but like a sapling, the intrigue just grew and grew until there were so many branches. Some branches might be questions that hit a dead end. Others bore fruit and continued the life of the story. The majority of them had this in common: even if one mystery seemed solved, a million more concerns kept coming up. It kept me guessing until the end, but still a spectacular job of sowing seeds so that the ending didn't blindside the reader. Emily played her cards exactly right, and this devastating look into how trauma can bring a town (and its inhabitants) to its knees was exactly what I needed to break my reading slump.

Now, at first glance, you can see what this book is about. The synopsis will tell you of Ethan, a young man who fell to his death not far from the amusement park where he worked. You hear of the girl who found him, Morgan, and her best friend Ivy, whose father runs the amusement park. Ivy was gone to another state to visit her grandparents, and so was not there to witness the chaos of the immediate time frame after the boy's body was found. All she knows upon returning home is that Morgan is missing, and when she finds her, she is inconsolable. Ivy chalks it up to grief and mental stress from discovering Ethan, but after talking with Morgan as she recovers in the hospital, she senses something more is amiss. So, she begins to ask around her small town, trying to see what she can uncover. She's hoping to help Morgan get better, but what she begins to piece together threatens to tear her own life apart. There is more to this plot than meets the eye, and you can feel the tension of it in between every line.

These characters are so expertly crafted. I fell in love with Ivy, which I think is extremely important for a protagonist who is going to be kicking up a lot of dust. If you're not with her, while she's asking personal questions to these heartbroken acquaintances you would not be able to root for her. However, you can tell it comes out of a place of love, because she is trying to get to the bottom of it for her best friend, and this colors the way that she looks at everything and everyone. She is oblivious to most of the dangers, and even if she wasn't, I think she would still press on. She is strong, capable, and smart. We see her split her time between sleuthing and pleasing her overeager doughnut dynasty father, who she loves but is also a frightening kind of oblivious as well, or so it comes across. He makes comments throughout the book that made me extremely uncomfortable, and it was very interesting to watch Ivy see him (as well as her mother) for the first time. The tragedy makes her take a magnifying glass to her own life, and as she's discovering the truth about Ethan, she is also finding her way out of her father's shadow.

At the book's conclusion, my jaw was on the floor. I even had to take a few minutes after finishing to just breathe-- the finale happens a bit like life and roller coasters, once it drops you're in for a few minutes of breathless screaming before it's all over. When the dust settles, it's not only a thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, it's also a story about how well you know the people around you. This goes for family, best friends, coworkers, and even that person you see around but never get a chance to interact with. You have no idea the battles these people are fighting. You can't ever tell who has malice pulsing through their veins. Most days, you're not even sure who you can really trust. In the end, though, these things will out for better or for worse. And what better setting than a fairground for this coming-of-age revelation. It looks so beautiful in the dark of the night. But are you ready for what it looks like when the lights go up?

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of ALL THE PRETTY THINGS by Emily Arsenault in exchange for my honest review

This book seemed like a promising mystery. One boy, Ethan who is also staff member, suffering from Down Syndrome found dead at an amusement park by his coworker Morgan. Ivy daughter of the owner and friend to Morgan, tries to figure out how and why Ethan died. Ivy was very insensitive to the other people in Ethan's life the way she dug around for answers. I wanted to like this book but I think it fell short on the whole mystery part, it was easy to figure out what happened to Ethan and I did not feel any kind of connection to any of the characters. Morgan I thought was kind of bratty and a terrible friend to shut Ivy out all summer, I get that she was going through some hard times but she just seemed like she was a little immature. the focus of the mystery shifts from murder to the secrets hidden in Ivy's own family. I think there were much better was the sexual assault and death of a friend could have been handled.

I think my problem is that I was expecting a thriller, and I got a contemporary story. There weren’t really thriller aspects, much as I wish there were. It’s not the author as much as it’s maybe the marketing?

When I first started reading this book I thought it was gonna some great mystery but it wasnt. This book was just kinda meh. I just kinda wanted it to be over to be honest. I kinda figured as much about the bad guy because of how they would act. I mean he was really weird. The characters just gave basic answers to Ivy's questions just to try to keep a mystery but not really. It felt like everything was trying way too hard.

Thanks to Netgalley for my copy of this book to read and review.

I went into this expecting an exciting thriller that would have me on the edge of my seat, but it was pretty lack luster. The setting for this book is fun. I enjoyed reading about the theme park and all the different rides. And the characters/workers within the theme park were interesting. The different parts they brought to the story kept me intrigued enough to find out the truth. The ending and big reveal, though, left me feeling confused. I think it's a good way to take the story with the plot twist, but I feel like the author wanted to write about a specific topic that took away from the mystery/thriller aspect. I never felt like I had to keep reading the book because I was so invested in finding out what really happened to Ethan. I feel like it was more about Ivy's relationship with her dad and her history than anything else, and the mystery surrounding Ethan's death was the side story rather than the opposite. I appreciate what the author was going for, but as far as this being a mystery/thriller, I didn't really enjoy that aspect about it.

I LOVED this book. The mystery was awesome and creepy. I did not see the ending coming. Very exciting read.

The premise of the book was very promising. However, from the 10% mark onwards, it was obvious how slow this book was gonna be. Not to mention that the killer in the book is pretty obvious cause he's a creep. This was such a miss when it could've been so good.

This book was just the epitome of “meh.” It started off so strong and I was immediately excited to read more but it felt like it plateaued and I was extremely disappointed the rest of the book, even with the ending.

Although I did not particularly care for this title, I look forward to seeing more from this author in the future. The setting was unique and engaging, and with a different storyline could have been quite entertaining.

All the Pretty Things is a young adult mystery that held my attention, but never really grabbed me. It's the story of Ivy, a teenager who's investigating a mystery and coming to terms with her very dysfunctional family. Ivy gets involved in the mystery after her best friend finds a the dead body of a boy they knew and then (understandably) cracks up a bit.

There were things I liked about the book. it's set mostly in a small-town amusement park. Ivy's father owns the park and she's working there on her summer break. The setting is really well described and it's a cool and interesting setting for a mystery. I also thought the family dynamics were really well done. Ivy's relationship with her brother is interesting, and the contrast between them and how differently they deal with their father was one of the best parts of the book for me.

My main issue with the book is Ivy. Her playing Nancy Drew doesn't make all that much sense at the beginning of the story. Her friend has been freaked out by finding a body and has some questions, so Ivy decides that she needs to investigate the death, even after her friend stops speaking to her. But Ivy keeps blundering along, trying to solve a mystery and upsetting everyone around her while she does it.

I also found the reveal of the villain to be less than surprising given that this character is portrayed as a really awful person throughout the book.

This wasn't the book I expected it to be, and I'm okay with that.

I expected a murder mystery set in a small town amusement park, but instead, the focus of the mystery shifts from murder to the secrets hidden in Ivy's own family. I was honestly really impressed by how the author subtly wove in this shift - from the very beginning, I picked up a hint of this secondary plot (that soon took over), but then took the main character's non-reaction as an indication that I was over-reacting instead of realizing she was choosing ignorance. It wasn't until I finished the book that I realized how many clues we'd been given throughout the story and now I think a reread would make me more appreciative.

The downside of having a "secret" mystery lurking beneath the more obvious mystery is that I found myself wondering "is this it?" several time as I read through. The catalyst for Ivy's initial investigation didn't feel like it was enough to propel her throughout the story, and I think if we'd had more time with the characters before the story launches off, the emotional stakes may have been raised enough to justify why Ivy couldn't let this go.

It wasn't until the final 10% of the book that I realized what the author had been doing the entire time, and it made my enjoyment and appreciation increase drastically. That's a risky decision, I think, and while it does make for a skillful plot when I think back, I did almost not finish it several times because I found myself just not caring enough around the middle of the book to see what happens.