This book is a page turner! Mira is a high schooler, who finds herself trying to get home for Christmas in the midst of a Blizzard. She decides to join four other passengers from her delayed flight as they drive across Pennsylvania. Things begin to go wrong quickly. This is a great thriller book that will keep you sitting on the edge of your seat and questioning all of the characters, but who do you trust?

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mia needs to go home for Christmas badly. But her layover gets cancelled because of a blizzard, and it looks like she's going to be stuck at the airport in Philadelphia. Until Harper, Mia's seatmate, comes to the rescue and offers her a ride along with three other friends. But as they begin driving, the weather gets worse. To make things scarier, she finds out none of the passengers know each other--they're all strangers.

There's a lot of built of suspense throughout the story, and I really liked the excerpts from another voice throughout the story. It added a chilling edge to the book.

This is a quick and entertaining YA thriller! I enjoyed it..

Not a bad book but less thrilling than I would have liked.

“5 Total Strangers” follows Mira as she works to make her way home for Christmas when her flight gets delayed and she joins a group of friends as they attempt to make the journey in a rental car but things quickly go sideways as she realizes that this group just met and as the snow falls a more sinister plot is revealed.

So this is a bit like “You” in that it sets up a stalker like figure lurking in the snowy shadows of the road trip from hell and while I enjoyed that element that’s as far as it went in terms of amping up suspense before the climax. The group were all written in a way that anyone of them could have been this mysterious shadow and there were some good moments of are they or aren’t they for each but the payoff didn’t really hold up.

The atmosphere was nice as we follow along on this trip where things go from bad to worse pretty quickly and at times you could feel the claustrophobic atmosphere of being stuck somewhere with people you don’t know but it never managed to last i found myself drifting in and out of being totally invested and then checking the progress on my kindle to see how much farther I had before getting some answers.

It’s a shame that this didn’t quite work for me but hopefully it will for the next reader!

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

Normally I’m a little tough grader when it comes to YA thrillers and after seeing some unpopular reviews I was afraid of being bad guy with a acidic taste in my mouth after reading something illogical and not entertainingly crazy enough for my picky taste! But thanks to literature Gods, I couldn’t be so wrong because I was already hooked and felt like watching a fast paced, breath taking, captivating, low budget Blumhouse teenage thriller movie which is 6.5 IMDb and %70 rotten tomatoes rated, mostly takes in one place: a haunted, disturbing car! It was entertaining, mind blowing, surprising, twisting and plot idea was also simple, action packed and brilliant!

Our heroine, sweet, artsy, good daughter, 18 years old Mira wants to go to Pittsburgh for Christmas holiday but after unexpected canceled layover because of sudden terrifying blizzard lurking around and her urgent wish to be at home just in time(Her mother keeps secret her divorce news and she is at the verge of nervous breakdown after her sister passed away) forces her make a quick decision to travel with four strangers trapped in a car at snow blizzard.

Yes, not a wise choice! But her seat mate at the plane, Harper seems like cool, sophisticated and friendly. She cannot be a bad person, can she?

The guy with crutches, blonde hair seems charming and nice, too. His name is Josh. And the med student, tall, wealthy boy Brecken seems like a little pretentious but he seems harmless. And Kayla the weird girl who reminds us of sleeping beauty contest winner seems like quiet, introvert,silent one. Yes, they are a bunch of cool college kids and they cannot cause any harm throughout their exciting, thrilling journey. Right?

Sorry Mira, you cannot be so wrong because one of them is ugly soul twin of Joe Goldberg and she or he is watching every step you take and every move you make!

Harper- she is way too friendly and secretive
Brecken seems like violent one
Josh becomes more agitated at each moment and Kayla seems like a drug addict with sociopathic tendencies.

One of them is after her and he/she won’t stop till his/her mission accomplished.

The ending was a little foreseeable and there are so many coincidental facts to bring those five strangers together.

But overall: I drank whole bottle of Chardonnay in twenty minutes and I became more agitated, jumpy during the horrifying action packed scenes. I screamed, I jumped, I shouted too many OMGs (my neighbors thought I was performing a rite. Coincidentally my husband was listening” I’m a believer” from the Monkees at the highest volume: he loves 60s music and I endure everything for him leaving me alone when I’m reading) It was fun, it was joyful and I had amazing time.

Of course I’m cutting points for illogical and coincidental events affect the credibility of the story but I’m still rounding 3.5 to 4 stars!

It was a quick, nail biter, hair splitter, couch jumper, husband disturber, witty journey for me! I enjoyed it so much!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for sharing this interesting ARC with me . Thankfully it was soooo much better than I expected.

I want to thank Edelweiss/NetGalley, the publisher, and author Natalie D. Richards for providing me with an ARC of this novel!

Holy claustrophobic! Wow! This was an awesome read. I couldn’t stop reading this until I knew for sure what happened and what the conclusion was going to be. We follow five strangers who are trapped in a car during a snow storm, and you will be kept constantly guessing who you can and cannot trust. You will be kept on the absolute edge of your seat. The descriptions of the wreck and the ensuing storm were perfectly done. An awesome read, pick it up if you get the chance to. You won’t be disappointed!

Thank you to those named above for the opportunity to read and review this novel!

I think for a YA thriller, this was a really strong contender that held my attention and kept me reading more. The interspersing of the letters from the stalker along the narrative made me wonder who  the stalker was and I felt certain it was different people in the car throughout the story. The action was overall strong.  The beginning and ending were well paced, but I did personally feel that the middle was a little drawn out with not a lot happening action wise. The writer did a great job of casting suspicion and leaving the reader second guessing themselves.

Rating 4.5

I read the book "Five Total Strangers'' written by Natalie D. Richards in one sitting because I was determined to find out what was going on. This book is about 5 strangers who agree to share a rental car in the hopes of getting home for Christmas. On the way the weather worsens, items get stolen, and one gets the feeling that they are being watched. This book was executed beautifully. It had the perfect mixture of mystery and suspense. I liked all five characters and found them all to have their own personalities that added to the story. What I liked about the main character was that she acted like a teenager would in that situation. She was innocent and native while still trying to question what was going on around her. Overall, the author did a good job and I really enjoyed this story.

Should you read Five Total Strangers?
Yes! Such a great mystery/thriller/suspense story. I do believe knowing less about the book is crucial before reading the story.

** Received an advanced copy through NetGalley in return for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **

The book builds up some great suspense and leaves the reader trying to figure out which character is the “bad” one. But once that is resolved, the story ends quickly and without telling us much of anything about most of the characters. Would have enjoyed it more if more was written after we knew who the “bad” one was.

A solid scare that ratchets up the tension, has some terrific jump moments but doesn’t go all-out with gore.
Our main character is Mira, a girl travelling home for the Christmas holidays. Bad weather causes problems, and Mira needs to get home to be with her mother as it’s a year since a close relative died of cancer. So, even though the safest thing would be to wait it out we have a plausible reason to explain what comes next.
Mira makes a plan to get a lift with Harper, the young woman she sat next to on the plane, and her friends. The journey begins smoothly enough, but the weather quickly becomes more threatening and as the journey progresses Mira realises that every single one in the car is a stranger to the others. Objects start going missing and before we know it every one of those in the car - and even some of those they encounter along the way - is a potential threat.
As we follow the journey we see the increase in tension. Fascinating to watch how they turn on each other as they gradually realise that someone is lying.
Interspersed with the narrative are excerpts from another voice - someone who has been watching Mira and who is determined that she’ll notice them. Naturally, this means we know Mira has good reason to feel uneasy, and we get caught up in the game of trying to work out just who is responsible before they get too close.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for my thoughts. It might not stick with you, but in the moments you’re reading it’ll definitely get under your skin.

This was an excellent read, suitably creepy and although initially it reminded me of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, once all the weird things started happening it merely reminded me never to travel with strangers!
Clever and a bit twisted I really enjoyed this.

5 Total Strangers

Remember what your mother said about not talking to strangers? It all comes true here. There were times when I had to put the book down because of what was happening in the scene, it was so upsetting and real. I was right there with them, trying to be the voice of reason but they wouldn’t listen to me. The main character seemed to have more sense than to get herself in this situation and at times I wanted her father to be more upset about his daughter. I would have been.
The underlying message throughout is how we judge people. How they dress, act, talk and how easily we can be duped. It also used the phrase “use your instincts” frequently. In this case they weren't always accurate.

Five Total Strangers
by Natalie D. Richards
Pub Date: 06 Oct 2020
read courtesy of Netgalley.com

This was a quick read because the reader wants to know what's going to happen... and that's a good thing. However, some of the things that happen are a wee bit beyond belief. (Wait 'til you keep encountering the mysterious man with the gnarled hand.)

As a thriller, this story I feel like I'm reading a version of the GEICO commercial where the afraid people in the woods want to hide in a shed full of chainsaws. The reader yells, "Don't go in there," and the character goes in there.

Richards did a good job of creating doubt and confusion as to whom the 'bad guy' is; I vacillated along with Mira. But I also felt manipulated with characterizations that vacillated to move the story forward rather than represent real character personalities.

It was a fun, quick read if the reader doesn't take it too seriously and just goes along for the ride (yeh, I went there LOL).

3 1/2 ⭐⭐⭐⚡

Though you do have to get past the fact that the main character is the mayor of bad decision town, this book does a great job of keeping up the creeping doom kind of atmosphere. Read it on a warm day and you may even get chills.

Five Total Strangers is obviously about a group of people who turn out NOT to be total strangers, and while I am down for a Hitchcockian thriller, this one relied a little too heavily on coincidence to keep me engaged. Mira’s on her way from her fancy California art high school back home to her mom, who’s still a bit of wreck a year after her twin sister — Mira’s aunt — died from cancer. Mira’s not doing so great either — and she’d probably be doing even worse if she knew that she’d been being stalked for the past year. Lucky (??) for her, she doesn’t know because her stalker has been sending mail to the wrong address — but that’s okay, because Mira’s stalker is on her flight, and when the airport shuts down during a snowstorm, Mira’s stalker is one of the FIVE TOTAL STRANGERS who agree to rent a car and drive together. I mean, OK, Mira’s stalker is biding their time, and this opportunity just kind of presents itself, but this seems like an increasingly big reach as the squad of teens gets into a series of snow-related accidents, gets chased down by an angry convenience store owner with a gun, and keeps running into the same creepy hitchhiker wherever they stop. Because Mira has no idea she’s being stalked, the big reveal is basically her discovering a stack of letters addressed to her in the trunk of the car, freaking out, and immediately getting into a cliffside shove-off with her stalker. It’s pretty unsatisfying, especially since the letters from her stalker are sprinkled throughout, hinting at a more nuanced resolution. If you can get over the more and more unlikely incidents and just relax into the drama, this is an entertaining soap opera-y stalker story (but with none of the psychic dread of actually being stalked), but it broke my willing suspension of disbelief pretty early and never got it back.

I just love Natalie D. Richards's books I find her stories full of suspense and I just can't put them down. So, of course, I just loved Five Total Strangers. This was a great story and I can't wait to read her next novel.

High school senior Mira is on her way home for the holidays but her connecting flight is cancelled because of snow, so she decides to get into a rental car with a woman she met on her flight and three other strangers. As they head out, the weather is clear but soon a blizzard comes in and the roads get increasingly dangerous. To up the tension, letters to Mira from an anonymous stalker are threaded into the narrative. Once things start going missing - a wallet, Mira’s phone, a spare phone battery - and the charging points in the car are sabotaged, it becomes clear that someone is trying to isolate them. Add to that the stranger who keeps turning up at the service stations they stop at, and the suspense is tightened even further.

The simple set up and ratcheting tension grabbed me pretty much right from the start. I got my nose stuck in and was in “just one more chapter” mode for most of the way through. There are quite a lot of “why didn’t she…” moments, and some of the red herrings just don’t make a lot of sense in retrospect, but, honestly, when I’m gobbling down a book that quickly, that’s fine.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

Great new thriller by Natalie D. Richards! A good mystery that makes you wonder about who you can truly trust and how well you know your own instincts. This grabbed me from the start and kept my interest until the end. A good YA thriller! Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Quick read, had me guessing until the end. The writers description of the storms and wrecks were spot on. That had me in the edge of my seat. I would recommend this to readers looking for something suspenseful. In the end, the protagonist was running for more than just help...

This YA thriller is a solid 3 stars. The moment I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down. Resulting in me finishing the book in one sitting. Which is not something I can complain about. I love it when a book captivates my attention so hard that I MUST keep reading.

The idea of this book, girl gets in a car with a bunch of strangers was such a great plot. Desperate to get home makes for a thrilling tale. And the concept that we know more than the characters is one of my favorite tropes.

The problem that I usually find with thrillers is that they are predictable. Five Total Strangers was no exception. It became obvious where the storyline was going early on. But I must admit I was pleasantly surprised to discover the letters that were being written. That I did not see coming.

The characters were great, Mira was pretty straight forward and I like that she wasn’t a doormat in such an intense situation. I think I would have crawled up into a ball the entire trip and had a million panic attacks. But Mira called out people on their crap and voiced her opinions out loud which I appreciated. I also liked Harper! She was very talkative so it was nice to see them all get along even if it was for a short period.

Overall, this book was great. If you enjoy a good thriller then definitely give this one a go. It’s easy to guess where the story is going, but it catches your attention from the get-go. Five Total Strangers is suspenseful and satisfying.