I wanted to give another novel by Nijkamp another go, but unfortunately I found no growth the author's writing, character development, or plot from her debut novel.

EVEN IF WE BREAK gave me some Until Dawn vibes as we follow five teenagers up to a cabin in the woods for a weekend of D&D style role-play, but everything starts to go wrong when music boxes begin to play and bodies start to surface. The murder-mystery is lackluster and fairly obvious while motives are not well drawn-out. The character development is poor, with limited backstory or failure to truly expand upon backstory. There wasn't much divulged as to why this group of friends was breaking at the seams, only that bad things happened in the past, some people were involved but others weren't yet everyone was implicated in the receding friendship.

Unfortunately, I did not find a wow-factor for the plot of this book nor did I enjoy reading about any of these characters. I found most of their issues very trivial, and a lot of their traumatic backstory told rather than shown/exposed, which made it more of a passive experience when trying to relate, which made it difficult to relate at all.

There's a lot going on in this book, but once I put it all together I really liked it. Following five teens on their last night together, playing their role-playing game they have been playing together for three years before they end the game for good and go their separate ways. Playing in a cabin on the mountainside,, could the murders in the game be happening in real life?

Each of the five main characters has their own role in the game, which also matches their personality pretty closely. Liva is the rich one and she's not afraid to flaunt it. Her family owns the cabin where they are all playing. She also creates all the costumes for their game to fit each character. Like most rich girls she uses her friend's quirks to her advantage to further prove she's better than them.

Carter envies Liva in the fact that she has money. Throughout the story, he goes above and beyond to act like he fits in with Liva, forever lusting after her family money.

Ever is the leader and the creator of their game. They wanted the game to feel the same three years after its creation as it did when it began. They were tasked with setting up the cabin the night before the big game, trying to tie-in ghost stories. Little did she know how far it would go.

Finn wasn't a very exciting character other than being a love interest of Evers'. I didn't find his character as interesting as I did the others.

Maddy just wants to be normal and fit in. Her character seemed somewhat of an afterthought but I enjoyed her character all the same.

Thank you, NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this arc in return for an honest review.

This book was very different from what I expected when reading the synopsis. And while that is often not a bad thing, I found myself a little let down when reading this one.

In this book, we follow a group of friends who all role-play together. Prior to the events of this book, they had a bit of a falling out and this weekend was to be their last hurrah before they go their separate ways. Each of them have secrets they have been keeping from each other, and these secrets have led to someone trying to kill them off one by one.

This book has a lot of diversity going for it, which was great to see. I appreciated the authors portrayals of these characters and how their sexualoty/gender identity were not the characters only trait.

However, the plot seemed a little all over the place for me. We had a murder mystery and a role playing experience happening at one time, and because of this, both seemed a little under explained. I wish the author either made the story longer to really expand on these plots. I also found the reasoning as to why the murderer was doing what they were doing to be a little unrealistic, for lack of a better word.

In the end, I think this book has a lot of promise, and it did touch on some important societal issues, but I wish these things, and other plot points, could have been unpacked more.

was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the advanced reading copy of Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp.

Even If We Break is about a group of five misfit high school students who are about to graduate and go their separate ways. In an attempt to say goodbye to one another they decide to play the role playing game they have done for the past three years.

This novel felt more like a contemporary novel with mystery aspects thrown in. The author created an interesting concept around the RPG. I liked that there was a diverse cast of characters and that the beginning half was more fast paced. Unfortunately, the second half of the novel slowly got worse for me. It felt angsty, repetitive and could have been condensed down.

I've really enjoyed this author's books and was delighted to read this! Fantastic! Unlikeable characters (a plus for me) well written, twists, turns and what an ending! Thank you so much!

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was diverse and it was a thrilling mystery, and I enjoyed reading about most of these characters! The role playing that they did, that gave them this group of friends, I loved how they were tight knit, but have been drifting apart for a while.

This book pretty diverse, except for race and maybe religion. Religion wasn't talked about, but it was an one off line that Ever wanted to add someone of a different race to the group because they were all white. But there was neuro-diverse rep, as well as LGBTIAA+ rep. The characters were caring and open and respectful, at least the ones I liked. But the way it was written, in the first chapter from each character, I didn't know that, except for Ever, because of their pronouns. It was just a part of them, that was mentioned in later chapters.

I didn't like 2 of the characters. And I'm kinda glad, because they're the ones we had the fewest perspectives of. Which would kinda make me a bad person, expect that they weren't the best people, and besides that, they aren't real, this is a book after all.

There were a few poor choices made, like going somewhere alone, or staying behind, but over all, they do a pretty good job using their brains. There was a lot going on, from fearing for their lives, as well as working out relationship issues, romantic and friendship. What with their strained bonds at the beginning of the book.

I did guess who the bad guy was. I mean, there were only a few options, but I wasn't totally sure. We do get their perspective in the end, but still, the reasoning makes for a poor person in life, but an interesting on in fiction. But it made sense given what we knew about them and their previous actions, and I'm glad that it worked out the way that it did!

This was a really great mystery thriller, and I'm really glad that I read it!

Rating: 4.75 stars

I loved this book!
The writing was appropriately warm, spooky and dangerous when it needed to be. I loved how it explored friendships, their deterioration, the fear of losing someone, and so much more. It is a very character driven book which I think is its strength. I absolutely adored the way all the representation in this book is handled, given that the author is OwnVoices for a couple of them. This includes a trans boy with EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome), nonbinary character, and a bisexual character who is autistic; and it also showed how even people's best friends can be so casually ableist and queerphobic. I especially loved the depth that autism and the autistic character was given, when we so often encounter such formulaic representations of autism that they are borderline offensive. I loved the way the story was set-up and the murder-mystery fantasy TTRPG was incorporated into the story.

The consensus seems that the reveal of the "villain" and their motivations was a bit of a reach, I could see it being realistic because their motivation was rooted in entitlement, and we see entitled people do heinous things every day.

Highly recommended for its diverse characters (queer and disabled) and the way it explores relationships.

I had high hopes for this YA thriller, but it mostly disappointed. The premise was fun, and some of the characters seemed interesting--or had the potential to be very interesting. I loved that out of 5 main protagonists, one was trans and one was non-binary, someone had a physical disability and another was neuroatypical. This was fabulous, though I didn't love each 'voice' for each of the characters' POV chapters. The writing was uneven for me, though the plot was really what didn't work and led me to skim much of the novel.

This isn't much of a review. I personally couldn't get into it, and thus had to drop it. I was interested in the summary, but once I started reading I found myself not really enjoying myself.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review.
I went into this book almost completely blind and I actually wish I'd heard the premise beforehand because it's genuinely very original and cool. This is a YA thriller centered around a live action roleplay game. A group of five teenagers, all dealing with their various struggles, meet up at a cabin in the woods for one final LARP session before they go their separate ways. Once the game begins however, things start to go very wrong after one of the characters dies in-game and then vanishes in real life.

This book manages to do a lot of difficult things well and it deserves credit for that. Firstly, it manages to be a compelling YA thriller without being over the top and campy. Secondly, it manages to juggle 5 narrating characters in a short space of time and keeps most of them fairly distinctive. I don't think there was enough time for me to really bond to the characters but I enjoyed reading about them and I never confused them with each other, which is a huge bonus. Finally, there is good solid representation here which is woven seamlessly into the narrative (specifically trans and nonbinary rep if you're curious).

I enjoyed this book a lot but there was just something missing to stop me from loving it. I think it was that personal attachment to the characters which just wasn't there, although they were better written than most characters in YA thrillers. Having read a book by this author before, I think it isn't so much a flaw as it is a product of their style. I also struggled a little bit to keep track what was going on, not in terms of complexity but more clarity. Again, because I didn't feel that attachment to the characters, my mind would often drift and I had to reread parts several times to really absorb it.

Having said that, I still recommend giving Even If We Break a try. It's really cool to read a book centered around LARPing, especially a thriller, and that premise is used to great effect. I suspect the fact that this book is about LARPing isn't advertised because the publishers are afraid it will either alienate people or turn them off, but I genuinely think it's the strongest aspect of the story. I'm glad I'm drawn to books about games anyway because otherwise I probably wouldn't have picked this up and that would have been a shame.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Many thanks to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this book because it had what I considered to be endless potential. This book is written from different POVs which is one of my favorite ways of storytelling. Not to mention, it was awesome to read a story centered around trans, non-binary, disabled, and neurodiverse teens where they are represented as interesting and complex characters.

This suspenseful teen drama is about five former friends that decide to spend one final weekend together playing their favorite RPG before they all go their separate ways. But when one of the friends becomes a victim and the game becomes a crime scene it leaves the rest to fight for their lives while fearing that their deepest secrets could be exposed.
The first half of the book began by building anxiety and suspense while creating an incredibly spooky ambiance. I thought this was going to be a great twisty and dark thriller.

However, the back half of the book started to slow and it felt like all of the suspense and tension kind of began to evaporate and came to a stand still. Due to how quickly the story shifted it made it feel a bit disjointed. As the story went on it seemed more and more unrealistic. The ending fell pretty flat.


I think what I appreciated the most was the gender diversity and the neurodiversity of the characters. Otherwise, I am somewhat indifferent on how I felt about this story. It wasn’t my favorite but I didn’t hate it either. I would recommend it as a story with great diverse representation.

I really loved the representation in this one, including a teen with chronic pain, a nonbinary character, a transgender character, a teen with addiction ... Nijkamp is known for her diverse casts, and this story is no exception. I am not a LARP participant myself, and I admit I know very little about that world, but I think this book would be really fun for readers who enjoy role-playing games. Quite a fast read for October.

This book was a miss for me, but that is on me and not the author.

I didn’t understand the role playing game at all and found it super distracting and confusing. If I had known how detailed the RPG would be and how huge a role it played in the story, I would not have requested this book.

I did really love this author's debut book and I do enjoy her writing style. I feel she has a strong grasp on her characters and appreciate the diversity she presents, which has been lacking in YA books. Yay for representation!

Found I couldn't get into this one, but that's not the book's fault. Sure this will find the readership who needs it. 4 stars to be fair.

I wanted to like this book more. I think students will love it because of its themes of belonging and friendship and combined with the thriller aspect. I just wanted the characters to be more well developed and the reasoning behind the murder storyline was never resolved for me.

A spooky, well-written book with a nice cast of characters. I certainly had fun and got curious while reading.
If you like the genre, it's a good one.

Thanks a lot to the publisher and NG for my copy.

I loved the diversity of the cast, and I liked the spookiness. The story made me think of Christopher Pike (though I haven't read anything by him in at least 30 years). The characters were complex and I enjoyed the multiple perspectives.

I loved the diversity and representation of marginalized LGBTQ characters. Unfortunately, that was about the only interesting thing about the story. I couldn't connect to any of the characters, and the story seemed to drag on without ever really accomplishing anything.

This is my first book by Marieke Nijkamp. Based off the description it sounded super interesting and was excited to read it. A thriller set around a cabin in the woods I expected to get chills but it fell a little flat for me. Shifting from the role playing game to real life was a little confusing. The changing narrator was nice we got to see the events from all the characters. It was a little hard to connect with the characters but I did enjoy the diversity. Overall the book wasn’t exscrly what I thought it would be, I didn’t love but didn’t hate this book either.

As a fan of the author, I was disappointed with this one. I found it hard to connect with the character, although I did love the diversity. The transitions between the role playing game and the real life were kind of confusing. I also found the flow of the narrative to be slow.