I listened to the audiobook and it was a synthetic voice as the book is not out yet. It was very hard to get into the book listing to the voice. Next time I will just request a written copy. As for the story, The book is about two ex-best friends and what drove them apart. Tress's parents when missing and Felicity her ex bestie was the only witness, and she doesn't remember what happened. Tress decides to try to get the info out of her at a party. Also there is a mysterious illness and a loose panther. I liked how fleshed out the characters, including some of the side characters. The back story and relationships were also interesting . I think I missed parts only because of the narration. But over all I enjoyed the book. I would say if you like weird stories and unlikeable characters., this is a good book to check out. I will reread the book when it comes out and continue with the series.

The Initial Insult tells the story of Tress and Felicity and the dissolution of their friendship. Tress and Felicity were best friends in elementary school, despite coming from two different social circles. When Felicity is present (although basically unconscious) at the time of Tress's parents' disappearance, their friendship is strained. Add to that the fact that Tress is then under the guardianship of her grandfather and helps him run their "White Trash Zoo," and Tress and Felicity lead totally different lives. Flash forward to high school, where Tress and Felicity have a tenuous relationship involving drugs. Tress decides to use this connection to kidnap Felicity and force her to reveal what she knows about Tress's parents.

The Initial Insult has an intriguing premise and combines elements of Tiger King, Edgar Allen Poe, and What Happened to Cass McBride. That being said, there were elements that just didn't seem to work and complicated the story. The side plot of Tress's cousin, Ribbit, is extensive but distracting, as well as the underdeveloped repeated mention of a contagious "flu." I also feel like Tress's character isn't developed enough to explain her choices when it comes to Felicity.

Exceptionally well written! A great YA that actually feels like it's written for people of all ages, and doesn't "speak down" because of the audience. I've heard that the actual narrator for the final copy was amazing and wish I had the opportunity to listen to that

I loved this book way more than I thought I would. I was hooked from the very first chapter. The writing style is extremely anxiety inducing and I could not stop listening until I got to the heartbreaking conclusion. Extremely dark and at times a bit depressing, but it just added to the tremendous depth of the story. I really do hope their is a second book because the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger and the flashbacks really lead you to care for the characters involved and what will happen to them.

I received an audio ARC of The Initial Insult from NetGalley and in the opening of the audiobook it is stated that this is not the final product and it is sales material created with a synthesized voice for retailers and reviewers only. Therefore I know I shouldn’t hold it against them that the overall quality of the audiobook was pretty poor, but then I cannot deny that it affected how I perceived the book and enjoyed it, in a not so good way.
I didn’t like this book, because I didn’t get it. I kept zoning out and disengaging from what was going on solely because of its robotic narration and therefore I’m not going to review this book because it won’t be fair.
I will get back to this one when I can get my hands on its paperback and then will share my review.
Thank you NetGalley and Katherine Tegen Books for the ARC.

LOVED this! It was another hit for Mindy, though I hate having to wait for the second one! She truly can write in any genre.

The dual POV is perfect and even the animal thought inserts were great. What DID happen to Tris' parents? What's going to happen now that [redacted] is totally [redacted] and thought [redacted]?!

Thank you, Harper Children's and Katherine Tegen books, for the chance to listen to this voice galley!

The initial insult is the first book of a YA duology and I really liked it! The story is captivating and full of interesting and complex characters in a dark and thrilling mystery. I really liked listening to this story and to discover more and more about Tress and Felicity, their lives and lies and truths.
The synthetic voice was a bit weird to get used to, but the story is really good and I totally recommend it! I will definitely reading the book when it comes out!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Audio for the ALC.

Unfortunately, I will not be posting a full review for this title. It is completely my fault in that I did not see the synthetic voice note on the audiobook synopsis until after I requested the audiobook. I saw a Mindy McGinnis audiobook and automatically hit request! I really enjoy her novels, particularly the audiobook versions narrated by Brittany Pressley, and the synthetic voice was taking away from the reading experience. I will be checking for the synthetic voice note from now on. I did not get approved for the ebook copy, so I look forward to picking this book up on audio when it releases on 2/23/21!

I’ve read a book by Mindy MicGinnes in the past and I was a big fan so I was super excited to get an advanced audiobook from Netgalley for her newest novel!

So the audiobook is told by a synthetic voice narrator until the actual audiobook is published…. I don’t know why they just didn’t wait till they started real production. The voice drove me insane, I felt like Siri was reading to me and it’s not the most enjoyable experience. Hopefully when the final copy is out it will add to the experience because for me, it personally ruined it. I had to start it over three times because I had a hard time paying attention.

Okay now that I got that out of the way, let’s move on to the actual book itself. This reminded me of Tiger King (even though I never watched it) mixed with Edgar Allan Poe. Our main characters Tress and Felicity are ex-best friends. Tress’s parents disappear when they give Felicity a ride home and she has no recollection of what happened to them. Tress lives with her alcoholic grandpa who has a zoo (Tiger King) while Felicity is off living her best life. Tress takes matters into her own hands to try to scare Felicity into telling her what really happened that night by sealing her shut in a basement brick by brick (my worst nightmare).

We get to hear from both girls and while you feel bad for them both, Tress was not that likable. It jumps around from when the girls were friends and what happened for their inevitable break up. Tress is too petty and immature, I know it’s the point to not like her but damn, she’s crazy. They both are messy and complicated so the relationship surrounding them was pretty intriguing. I will definitely continue with the series HOWEVER I will not ever be reviewing a synthetic voice ever again, I have to make sure I look out for that because I think this made it a lot less enjoyable. I tried to not like it affect my review too much but it does, sorry.

The Initial Insult will be published February 23rd, 2021. Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Children’s, and Katherine Tegen books for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I will not be reading this as I don’t the audiobook will be good as it is basically a robot voice audiobook. But I have Mindy McGinnis and do want to read the book.

Published on February 23, 2021

I received an ARC of the audiobook version The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis thanks to the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Content warning; bullying, animal injury, animal death, torture, child neglect and emotional (bordering on physical) abuse, illness shame

Review:
I will not be talking about the narration as this copy had a computer narrator and will have a person narrating when released.

Tress and Felicity. Ooh boy. That is a super complex relationship. Really the whole book is filled with layers upon layers that need to be slowly peeled back and picked apart. My first listen though I made it halfway and felt a bit lost. Second listen I realized why I struggled initially (ha!). I missed some really important details that were subtle early on 100% due to the format and not the story. This is definitely not a book to listen to, at least not for the first read. There are a lot of flashbacks that can be easily missed if 100% of your attention isn't on the book. I play Sudoku while listening to audiobooks and that was too distracting for this book because every sentence, every word, matters. This is not a book to listen to and have a general sense of what is going on. Every detail is important and so so good. (may be a different situation with human narration, but I don't think so. Better to be caution and read rather than listen)

I also want to note that this book is DARK. This is definitely not something to read when you are sensitized to any form of trauma. You definitely need to be prepared going in because it starts off running. That being said, I absolutely LOVE the way McGinnis handles these situations. It is very real while clearly highlighting those dark parts of Tress's and Felicity's lives.

The Initial Insult is a great teen contemporary horror that has best friends-to-enemies, exotic animals, and super intricate story building.

I cannot wait to get a physical copy so I read this again (February hurry up) and then 2022 for the sequel because THAT ENDING. O_O

Definitely preorder your copy ASAP because this is going to be one of the best books of 2021.

A haunting audiobook that brings this story to life. While the version I listened to was not the finished product, I look forward to hearing it!

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

Amazing book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Left me wanting to know about what was happening between Tress and Felicity. Or maybe was it the cat I want to know more about. Interesting incite into the mind high school teenage girls that are drive apart by an unforseen event. This is a must read.

This was my first experience with an audiobook narrated by a synthetic voice. I didn’t hate it.

The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis is an ambitious work of fiction. The plot is multifaceted and the characters are complicated and layered. The content is appropriate for the YA category and parties, drunks, drugs, abuse, drama, and violence abound.

So, about the story itself. Missing parents, a missing panther, a neurological condition, a dysfunctional family, a soured friendship, a shady zoo, and a combination of typical and seriously atypical teen behavior all take turns as the focus in this novel. It is obvious that the author invested enormous energy and love in her writing. You can feel it in how the characters are brought to life. Although the resolution ties together all of the disparate pieces, the story was lacking in focus for me and didn’t come together well-enough to justify the numerous plot points.

Thank you NetGalley, author, and publisher for access to this voice galley in exchange for my honest review.

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I'm not posting this review on Goodreads. Unfortunately, I was unable to finished the book or get a good feel for it due to the emotionless synthesized voice narrating the story. Hopefully when the book is published, the audiobook will be much better. I plan on attempting another read of the book when it's actually published with a different narrator.

Too many chapters, many of which were just a few sentences and very unnecessary to have.

The synthetic voice messed up my ability to really get into the story and follow super closely, so if I missed some details, that is who I blame.

The cat. A problematic and honestly useless plot device. I didn't need to hear it's point of view. I actually really disliked that.

Overall I felt like it was a lot of buildup for very little pay off. Tress just assumes she's dead? You don't die and then revive after a seizure.

I won't post to goodreads since I currently have a negative view. I may be willing to read/listen again when they have a real narrator and the final edits are made, but overall...not a fan.

When Mindy McGinnus puts pen to paper i know the story will be extraordinary. This is no exception, and DAMN you for making we wait for book 2 when book one isn’t even out yet. Now that that is out of my system…

Friends drift apart. It’s natural, it happens, especially when transitioning between grades. However, there is a difference between drifting and being torn apart. In this case the tear is a set of missing parents, and a ride home that never made it there.

Tess is a parentless girl. She now lives in the “white trash zoo” with a poor excuse for a grandfather. She has an important family name and family line Montor, but she is no longer important, just a girl on the fringes of society who acts as a punching bag for those who see themselves as her betters.

Felicity turnado, may not have the name, but her family has the money. As long as they don’t show it off too much that is. Felicity was present when Tess’s parents disappeared but remembers none of it. She knows she is the reason Tess is a pirah, but between her secret health issues, mistrust of others around her, and her want to remain at the top of the social ladder, she is a mess.

Then Halloween happens and a grand master plan kicks off. However, Halloween is not just Halloween. There is some flu going around the town, and they have canceled everything, including football games and dances. But teens will be teens and the party must go on. But unknown to a lot of them, there has been an escapee from the local zoo, who stalks his prey and will get what they want, blood and all.

This story is super unique. There are so many things going one. The story is told in multiple points of view including the view of the animals at the zoo. I was privileged to listen to this as an audiobook. And even though the narrator was an AI reader, it didn’t matter. I was hooked. I binged it and could not stop. I had to know what happened next!!! I still need to know what happens next. This book is one of the best horror/thriller books for YA I have ever read, and I can't shut up about it. It’s not out til Feb 23, but add it to your TBR, put your preorder in, or ask your library to buy it, because I can guarantee you don’t want to miss this book.

I was provided a free copy of the audiobook from NetGalley for an honest review*

A retelling of Poe with Mindy McGinnis raw, dark and gritty writing is the story I didn't know I needed. I loved the play on names and how she twisted the story to make it fit her style just perfectly. Exceptional story that kept me drawn in. Betrayal of friendship, big cats, seeking revenge, and a long waited answer to the question of what happened to her parents.

I've always been a Poe fan and McGinnis has taken one of my favorites and turned it on its head in the best way. While the myriad nods to Poe are a fun diversion, the story itself is layered and intriguing, building on characters and revealing different facets as the story progresses. What seems at first a simple revenge story turns into so much more and I was left guessing what would happen next. I'm dying to get my hands on the next book to see where the story goes!

I got this audiobook because I adore Mindy McGinnis! I own every one of her books and I have loved them all and this one was just as great as those. This waa such a great thriller. The back and forth narrative made this book a bit confusing and wild but I loved it. Neither narrator seemed fully reliable which just added to the confusing whirlwind that was this book.
McGinnis is the super star when it comes to making books feel wild and brilliant with just her writing style and this book is a shinning example of that. You are racing to get answers along with Tress and Felicity. The later it gets the fast and more manic the characters get and it is brilliant making your heart race and the pages fly by. This book is just a shinning example of what a good YA thriller could be!