KAREN MCMANUS WHO??!!

Kara Thomas is an amazing writer. Let me just say that first. The Cheerleaders was a phenomenal book, and That Weekend far surpassed it.

Claire wakes up on a mountain, seriously injured and in need of rescue, with no memory of the previous 36 hours. Her friends are missing and she can't remember what happened.

The story snowballs from there, with suspense building at every turn as the mystery unfolds and we're left with more questions than answers.

I gotta say, the twist is one I hadn't considered, so bonus points for that!

My favorite part, however, wasn't the twists and turns and thrills and chills. No, it was the depiction of trauma; the aftermath of how a person REALLY would be after such a traumatic experience. I read a lot of novels where the main character will just brush off missing friends and assault as if it were nothing, but in real life, most people would suffer from PTSD. Claire does, and it was refreshing and reassuring to read, even though I felt horrible for her.

Bottom line is, read this book. I really hope it gets turned into a movie; it would be amazing to see!

We are delightfully once again in Kara Thomas’s niche: an atmospheric thriller with an on-the-edge teen girl at the center. While it delivers the anticipated revelations and slippery reality, I got a little confused by the complicated timelines.

Claire wakes up on the side of a mountain - she has a head injury, a cut on her hand, and no recollection of the last 36 hours. As it becomes clear that the two people she was meant to be with - her best friend Kat and Kat’s boyfriend (and Claire’s crush) Jesse - have disappeared, the police and the FBI seem to be circling around Claire as a suspect.

As with all Ms Thomas’s mystery novels, she creates vivid and authentic characters that inhabit a real world. Claire’s middle class background contrasts with Kat’s upper crust family and Jesse’s slightly wrong side of the track upbringing. The scene of the disappearance, Sunfish Creek, echoes those contrasts with the gated private lakeside community and the working class village attached to it.

The novel starts out with a typical Now and Then structure but then adds in some further complexity. Maybe I was reading a bit too fast, but I got somewhat bogged down in the different stories of what ‘actually’ happened and a little confused about why some things happened as they did.

Anyway, this is still an absolutely solid mystery that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys well-grounded thrillers led by teen girls.

Thanks to Delacorte and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

Full review on Goodreads. I don’t really love it and found it unrealistic, but I can see some young people really liking the mystery and characters and twists. So, I’m going with a 2.5/3 rating for how young people would like it. Probably just 2 stars for me because it at least had a lot going on, but I would’ve been much happier reading something else.

That Weekend by Kara Thomas is WHOA! I’m still very mad at some people. I’m still shook at certain events. I still have questions! Kara Thomas does it again!

I really enjoyed this one. It captivated me from start to finished and I love all the secrets in this story. It had me guessing the whole way through.

Kara Thomas is an auto-buy author for me. Will definitely be recommending this for purchase and for patrons who enjoy a dark twisty mystery (a la Ruth Ware, etc.) I have to confess, I read enough thrillers that I can usually figure out what's going on. Not this time. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to spoil anything. But I loved that it didn't follow the traditional route of main character wakes with amnesia and must figure out what's happening before time runs out. The author completely upends that (beloved) trope, and I thought it was fantastic!

This was full of twists and turns and it was hard for me to put it down! I loved the way Thomas jumps back and forth in time and how I really had no idea what was going to happen next! Hard to say much without spoilers, but I really enjoyed this and I will continue to check out more by Thomas! Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

LOVED this title. Really liked how as soon as I thought everything was going to settle down, it very much didn’t! It was twisty and turny and my students will devour it. Thank you for allowing me to read!

I love Kara Thomas’ books. When I found out she was local author I was even more excited to get my hands on her upcoming title, which partially takes place on Long Island, That Weekend. That Weekend follows Claire, who is found injured in the woods after a weekend she was spending with her two friends in a cabin. Her friends? Missing. Her memory? Gone.

This book is filled with plot twists. I mean FILLED. Right when you think the story is heading down one road, Kara grabs the steering wheel and jerks it so that you veer off into the woods. I read this book is one sitting because I needed to know the truth and what had happened. The story is very reminiscent of one of those true crime shows that combs over every little detail and thing that’s said. Definitely check this book out if you love true crime and complex characters.

I received an advanced copy of this title in exchange for my honest opinion.

After her recent breakup, Claire is invited to spend prom weekend at a lake house with her best friends, Jesse and Kat. Things seem to be going well until Claire wakes up alone in the mountains, with her friends missing, and no memory of the weekend. She spends the following weeks and months digging for clues in her memory and in real life to figure out what happened to Kat and Jesse and why she can’t seem to remember any of it.

That Weekend is a GREAT YA mystery. A lot of the mystery genre in YA is watered down and feels so unauthentic to real teenage lives, but not this one. Kara Thomas did not hold back from all the real things teenagers deal with, especially in the face of tragedy. Some of the timeline did get a little hazy to me while reading. I’m used to the back and forth past/present chapter style but for some reason I had several instances where I had to go back and reread sections of text to clarify.

I could never have imagined how this book would end - it was a wild ride. This twisty novel of suspense is impossible to put down until the very last page!

Definitely Kara Thomas's best book yet! If you have not read her others, do that next!
That Weekend is a fast paced thriller that I was unable to put down.
Claire wakes up on a hiking trail, with no memory of how she got there, or the day before at all. She knows she went to her two best friends, but they are nowhere to be seen. So, what happened to Kat and Jesse?
That Weekend jumps around in time to give the readers some background information about what was really going on between the three friends. Kat and Jesse had been together for about a year, but Claire was struggling with her feelings for Jesse. She and him had been best friends for years, and she knew him better than anyone. When the police, and the public alike, begin to think Jesse must have hurt Kat, Claire knows that is not possible. She is determined to get to the truth about that weekend, even if it means putting herself in danger. Again.
A MUST read for fans of thrillers! I loved it!

This was a great, immersive read. From the first page you wanted to know what had happened to Claire and her friends, and it was a slow burn to the end to get to the bottom of everything that happened. In the vein of We Were Liars, the reader is left with only a guess as to what happened until Claire, the protagonist, finds out herself. This kind of writing makes you want to keep reading and not put it down and I live for those books.
It's complicated to say without spoiling, but there are a few plot points that make you sympathize with two people for very different reasons, and it creates a small division in that I didn't know who to feel sorry for the most. Usually there's a very clear cut 'enemy' or reason to dislike someone, but that wasn't the case in this book. I appreciate the additional resources found at the end of the book.

You’ll start to think you’ve figured this out and then you’ll realize that this is a Kara Thomas book so you haven’t really figured it out. This was compelling and you will compulsively read this just to find out what happens! So good and twisty!

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started on That Weekend, and it was a huge shift in genre from what I had been reading previously. The story of Claire and her friends and the weekend that changed their lives was suspenseful and completely different from what I was expecting when I went into it. My mystery and suspense readers will definitely enjoy this book.

Kara Thomas has done it again! That Weekend is a whirlwind from start to finish. It has drama, romance, and tons of twists that were super unexpected. I absolutely could not out this one down. This is the perfect pick for anyone who enjoys YA thrillers!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of That Weekend by Kara Thomas. All opinions are my own.

Kara Thomas is a go-to read for me, so when I saw this on here, it was a no-brainer. That being said- this book did not let me down. With a haunting storyline and compelling characters, I basically read this in one sitting and truly couldn't put it down. Thomas is a master at sucking you in and keeping your attention to the very last page. This is just another Kara Thomas book that will be added to my ever growing list of YA thrillers that I recommend to patrons!

I have loved all of Kara Thomas' books and was very much looking forward to this one. Three friends go on a weekend trip together and only one friend comes back with no memory of what happened. The story is meticulously crafted with twists and turns and plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing at who could be the bad guy. Upon starting the novel I was not as interested in this story as Thomas' previous works because none of the characters seemed that likeable and that feeling only grew whilst reading further. The story was still enjoyable; it's just one that leaves you not really knowing how to feel about any of the characters when it's over. The use of flashbacks and differing points of view made for good pacing and an entertaining read. I would definitely recommend to fans of thrillers and Kara Thomas specifically.

I read this book almost entirely in one sitting. It had more twists and turns and ups and downs than a game of Chutes and Ladders! Every time I thought I had it figured out, the plot shifted and I found I was almost completely wrong. Mesmerizing right to the final pages. Hope to read more like this!
Definitely a YA book due to situations and content; it’s length may discourage some readers.

That weekend was supposed to be a fun, secret getaway. Ditching prom, a lake house, hiking, camping, drinking, just Claire and her best friends, Kat and Jesse. But something goes horribly wrong and Claire can't tell anyone what happened. She has no idea why she was the only one to come down from the mountain they all three hiked. Claire struggles to regain her memories and as the months pass with no news of her friends' whereabouts she grows more frustrated. Taking matters in to her own hands, she resolves to get answers. This was a fun thriller. Complex relationships, plenty of red herrings, and big twist will keep readers wondering about what really happened that weekend.

Kara Thomas is a master storyteller.
That Weekend has it all. There are a few twists I didn’t see coming and some that made me sit up and think.
Kara is a must read.