Three best friends go on a secret trip, what could go wrong?
Sunday morning Claire wakes up with no memory of anything that has happened since she went to sleep Friday night. She's covered in blood and has no idea where she is on Bobcat mountain. Her two best friends, Kat and Jesse, are nowhere in sight. Clearly, their camping trip took a wrong turn. Why can't she remember anything and where are her friends? What possibly could have happened in those missing hours of her life?
I am blown away! Kara Thomas did an excellent job creating a story that has you on the edge of your seat, begging to know more. There were some twists I never saw coming. I didn't want to put this book down and when I did, I couldn't wait for a moment to pick it back up! I look forward to reading more of her work and highly recommend this to anyone who loves thrillers!
I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

A suspenseful, finger-pointing, whodunit mystery. Three friends travel to a mountain cabin for the weekend, choosing to ditch the traditional prom festivities. Only one friend (Claire) returns, hurt, and with no memory of what happened after they all went to bed Friday evening. One of the missing friends, Kat, comes from an influential political family so the FBI is called in to help with the investigation and search for her and Jesse.

Overall, I found this to be a fast-paced read with some unrealistic events and a slightly predictable plot, which made me feel a bit deflated after reading the ending. That being said, I would recommend this to teens who love psychological thrillers noting that there is some teen drinking, drug use, and assault.

Thanks to NetGalley, Kara Thomas, and Random House Children's Delacorte Press for an advanced eBook in exchange for my honest review.

This was a really great, fast paced read. While I might recommend it to a more mature student, I won’t teach it simply because I’m not sure the content is educational enough to justify the amount of sexual content, drug usage, and other intense stuff in a classroom text. I do think there’s a lot there that students could benefit from, though; if nothing else, the book could inspire some great dialogue about wealth inequality and abuse.

Great book!

suspense-filled YA thriller with a shocking ending I’m still not over.
💭
Claire wakes up alone, bloodied with no memory of the past 48 hours. The last thing Claire remembers is skipping prom to go camping with her best friend, Kat, and her boyfriend, Jesse, who Claire has always had a crush on. But now both are missing while Claire tries deserpately to get her memory back. As she tries to put the pieces back together of what happened, Claire uncovers deadly secrets and wonders if she ever really knew those in her life at all.
💭
This young adult thriller started out like many others. In fact, I wasn’t connecting to it at all and set it aside for a few days (which was a mistake!) before picking it up and devouring it in one sitting. The lead up to the shocking ending blew me away! This book released last week and is available now! Everyone grab a copy immediately!

Kara Thomas is one of my favorite authors of YA fiction and I love her dark, twisty stories. THAT WEEKEND, with its creepy premise and mountain setting, is totally my catnip, so I went in with very high expectations. Another excellent novel from Kara Thomas! Breakneck narrative and pacing, red herrings galore, and a plot twist that bowled me over. I'm pleased to say they were totally blown away! I don't want to say much more because this is the kind of story you should go into knowing as little as possible. But it's thrilling, captivating, unpredictable (still reeling over those twists!!!) and will consume your life until you've finished! And then it will haunt you afterward...

Full of twists and turns, by the time I found out what actually happened That Weekend, I was shell-shocked!

Written from different perspectives across looping timelines, Thomas does a great job of only revealing enough of the story to keep you hooked... until the final explanation I went from loving all the characters to hating them equally multiple times.

A fun read, with an important resonating message.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

That Weekend is an excellent slow burn thriller. There were plenty of twists and red herrings that kept me guessing, even though there were a few times I was certain I had it all figured out. A fun and wild ride!

I liked it. I didn't love it like I anticipated from the reviews. I had already guessed one of the twists and the others just weren't that compelling.The build up was good but the payoff was flat. It was a quick read. I finished it in a weekend. Thank you to netgalley and Random House Children's for the eARC.

Another good book by Kara. This was more of a mystery then a thriller to find out what happen to Claire and her two best friends that faithful weekend in the mountains. It is a must read book

"It's Sunday, and the last thing I remember is Friday night. Between that awful, humiliating conversation with Jesse on the dock and waking up on Bobcat Mountain, there are thirty-six missing hours during which everything went wrong."

The weekend after prom at Kat's grandmother's house in Sunfish Creek, hiking, camping, swimming. Ben and Claire, Kat and Jesse. Although Claire's parents would have had no problem with this plan, she didn't tell them, knowing they would check with Kat's parents', who would NOT approve. So it was a good thing that a hiker and her dog found Claire when she woke up, injured and alone, on Bobcat Mountain, far from home. What happened? Claire's only clues are her injuries - a cut palm and a head injury that seems to be the cause of her memory loss. Her memory prior to Saturday is intact. She remembers the breakup with Ben, driving out to the house with Kat and Jesse, stopping for directions at a dive bar, and talking with Jesse on the dock Friday night. And then, nothing, until the hiker's dog woke her up. Claire may be physically healing in the hospital, but her memories aren't returning, and no one knows what happened to Kat and Jesse...

A very twisty mystery! There's a mix of timelines and perspectives. The final twist jumped the shark for me, but your mileage may vary. This one would be good for fans of Thomas' other works, and similar titles such as Lost in the Never Woods.

CWs are spoilery: death, abuse, violence, suicidal ideation, kidnapping, incest, alcohol abuse, doxxing

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the eARC. That Weekend was published 29 June 2021.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a DRC of this title for review. All opinions are my own.

Overall, this was a solid YA mystery. I'll be honest . . . I didn't see the ending coming. So there's that.

Claire goes on a weekend trek to the mountains with her friends Kat and Jesse. Two days later she is found in the middle of nowhere with a head injury and no memory of the last two days. Kat and Jesse are nowhere to be found. As Claire tries to figure out what could have happened to Kat and Jesse, as well as work through her feelings about what might have been between herself and Jesse, the search turns from rescue to recovery. But no bodies are found and the questions continue to pile up.

I don't want to give any more of the synopsis than that . . . just trust me, you want to read this one. Highly recommend.

Kara Thomas blew me away in her first book- the cheerleaders. This one was pretty good as well and you can tell this author was born to write these types of creepy novels.
It was certainly intriguing and I couldn’t put it down. I’m looking forward to adding it to my Halloween tbr for a reread

The story arc that Kara built was phenomenal. Following Claire’s life after it got completely turned upside down after a weekend in the woods with her two best friends that she can’t remember a single thing from was so well written. The multiple parts to the story were all twists and turns I did not see coming AT ALL. This is one I could NOT put down.
CW: drinking, drugs, abuse, trauma, death

Is there anything better than a lazy day in the hammock, reading an entire book? Especially when its YA fiction - my guilty pleasure! What was the book? That Weekend by Kara Thomas.

Claire, her best friend Kat and her boyfriend Jesse all decide to head to Kat's family's mountain getaway instead of going to prom. A great idea....but things don't go to plan....Claire wakes up in the woods with a severe head injury and amnesia. And Jesse and Kat are missing....

A great premise that opens up all kinds of avenues for the plot to take. And the lead character has amnesia? Another device that I really like - trying to figure out what the truth is and what is misconception.

Now, I'm years past, but I think Thomas has nailed the dialogue, the worries, the pressures and the complicated relationships that the teen years bring. I liked Claire as a lead character and was behind her as she tries to deal with the aftermath, the guilt and the suspicion. It is her voice we hear for the most part, but Kat is also given a voice. Thomas artfully manipulates the reader as the book continues - I had bought into the lies being told by some of the supporting characters and was caught completely off guard by the twists and turns woven into the last bit of the book. Especially that last one - I'm still not completely on board with it, but it's a darn good one. I did have to suspend disbelief for some of the police procedures (or lack of), but that's just my pragmatic nature. Just go with it. That Weekend makes for some entertaining summer reading.

I really liked Thomas's writing. This was a first read of her, but won't be my last!

Pros
Fractured Timeline: A lot of thrillers employ a fractured timeline, so this book is by no means unique. However, though this technique is common, it is employed for good reason, and Kara Thomas wields it well. Without a fractured and disjointed timeline, this storyline might otherwise be dull and commonplace in the genre, but jumping back and forth between past, present, and future adds an unsettling air of mystery to the tale. The readers alongside the characters are forced to fill in the gaps, and the fractured state of the timeline fractures the narrative as well, allowing for doubt and suspicion to creep in.

Trust Issues: Messing with trust is a great way to build tension in a thriller, and Kara Thomas certainly does that. Because Claire doesn't remember, she can't trust her memory. She can't rely on herself, and she is seemingly the only one who made it off the mountain that weekend. The others involved are missing, and so their close family members and friends, those who previously trusted Claire, start to doubt and distrust Claire as well. This adds nervous tension to the dynamic, because Claire can't trust anyone involved. And anyone could be involved--even Claire herself.

Hard Topic: Though this book is on many levels a generic thriller, woven into it is a very real and important topic: domestic abuse. From allegations to reality, this book is sprinkled with references and reasons. No one likes to talk about domestic abuse, but it is something that happens, and it is something that should be represented in all of its shades of gray. Because of this undercurrent throughout the book, this book is pinned up by hard, fear-fueled choices--adding a layer to this thriller that otherwise would not exist.


Cons
Rude ER Staff: I get that it adds to the trauma of Claire's experience, but even in a busy ER, there can be enough time to explain some things to the patient. I would hope most nurses would have the decency to be courteous to a concussed, traumatized teenaged girl all alone in their ER. In fact, I think many would, and I don't like that this isn't included. Especially now, after the year we've had, a more positive spin on the nurse character (and a spin that is also more accurate, frankly, than the caricature provided) would be a better deal.

Inaccurate Medical Experience: Yeah, yeah, suspension of disbelief--believe me, I know. Suspension of disbelief is not usually a problem for me, all things considered, but in this particular book, everything was just so glaringly wrong. No one with a brain injury traumatic enough to end up in the ICU will just be, point blank, handed sleeping pills by trained medical professionals. Anyone who has stayed in a hospital knows that you are constantly being woken up, and that's even more true with something like a brain injury on board. No one will be able to simply "slip away" from an ER nurse either, and that Claire is able to run out of the ICU in a dream-induced panic? Crazy. I don't buy it. This is just the tip of the iceberg, unfortunately, and it was hard for me to ignore these problems. Such issues created a distance from the text, and I found it hard to sink into the book even once the plot moved on.

Middle Grade Adjacent: Perhaps the biggest problem with this book is that it just doesn't read like YA. The plot, the narrative, the voice are all too simple. It might be a good read for someone just moving up from lower level books--for someone, perhaps, without any experience reading thrillers. Suspension of disbelief, as I've mentioned, will be difficult for anyone who is not, perhaps, a legitimate child, which means it isn't really good for an audience that's much older. Some of the topics covered are not topics for a children's book, but the story most definitely is.


Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐
4/10

Anyone who enjoyed the tangled contemporary thriller All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban should check out this new page-turner. Those who were enamored by the glamorously deadly world of Wendy Heard's She's Too Pretty to Burn should sink into the unsettlingly deadly choices of this book as well.

A fun weekend at a house in the mountains with her two best friends ends up being a nightmare for Claire. Waking up on a hiking trail alone, injured and confused, she can't recall how she ended up there. With Kat and Jesse missing, time is running out as she struggles to figure out what happened. But as Claire inches closer to the truth, someone will go to great lengths to make sure she never finds out.

Not knowing what happened with Kat and Jesse prevents Claire from fully moving on. As months go by she digs deeper into her friend's personal lives and discovers secrets, making her question the depth of their friendship. I thought this was a good YA mystery book and my first time reading this author. It's a slow-paced read and there were many secrets and twists along the way that kept my attention. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Children's for the opportunity to read this book.

The first half of this book is an amazing mystery. Kara Thomas is a master at building suspense, and Claire's experience on the mountain is perfectly suspenseful. However, halfway through the book, a major twist is revealed that didn't work for me. The second half of the book feels unbelievable filled with unnecessary twists. Kara Thomas is an excellent mystery writer, and I plan to read more of her books, but That Weekend was disappointing.

thanks to random house children’s on @netgalley for a copy in return for an honest review.
release date: june 29, 2021 (today!!)

when you pick up this book, make sure you’re ready to settle in for a slow, slow burn of a mystery. the majority of this book is from the point of view of a narrator who was with her friends when they went missing, but thanks to a giant bump on the head and the diagnosis of post traumatic amnesia, doesn’t remember a single thing that happened that day.

most of the book is police and fbi trying to find out what happened to her best friends as she tries to uncover what happened and why she’s not also missing.

the book takes a while to offer up any answers but fear not because i’m here to tell you that all will be revealed in the end. and like, holy shit, the twists. there are definite trigger warnings you should be aware of before reading this book, but my jaw dropped like ten times in the last 30% of the book.

while it was slow for a good part of the book, the last chunk really makes the scenic route worth it. i just finished it and i’m still just sitting here like what the eff.

i don’t recall enough of the other books kara thomas has written, but the only other one that really made my head spin was little monsters, which i had to a giveaway for a couple years ago. if you read and liked that, i think you’ll like this. this is a book i will not forget.

tw: medical trauma, post traumatic amnesia, anxiety, cyber bullying, mention of suicide, depression, kidnapping, murder, manipulation, abuse, incest, racism, implied rape

“But I do know that I’ve seen people wait years to find out what happened to their loved ones, and when they finally do, the answers aren’t enough. The emptiness is still there. Sometimes it’s even worse.”

It has been ages since I last reviewed a book and it feels like I don’t know how to do these things anymore! *insert laughing/crying emoji here*

Anyway, I really have enjoyed reading this book by Kara Thomas, and so far, this is my top favorite from all of her books. It gets better and better. Fans of mystery and suspense books will definitely enjoy reading this one. Another gem introduced in the literary world!

Imagine my joy when I was invited to review this book, at this time of year. Again, I cannot thank PRH enough for the endless invites and books! I was just browsing and saw Kara’s name. I immediately started reading, without knowing what the book is even about. And honestly, I’m very happy I did. I went in blind.

Back to my review. I cannot describe how incredible Kara wrote this book. Each time she releases a YA mystery, it just gets better and better. She’s found her sweet spot in this kind of novel, her way with words that just really falls into place, and her mind boggling plot twists are purely magnificent and just out of this world. I swear to you the ending will just blow your mind. Because I was, and until to this writing, I still am.

*Read at your own risk. This part of review may contain spoilers. I cannot guarantee a spoiler-free review. Hehe.

The story started when Claire was found in a hiking trail by a woman named Sunshine and her dog. Claire couldn’t remember what happened to her and her friends 48 hours ago. All she can remember was that they ditched prom and were supposed to be secretly hiking in Bobcat Mountain. Apparently, when she was found, her two other friends, Kat and Jesse, were nowhere to be found. No one knows if they’re dead or still alive. Claire tries so hard to remember everything that happened to them that weekend in order to find answers. Claire’s hardheaded-ness on trying to find answers on her own paid off as she finally found a clue. A small thing that would connect her to Kat and Jesse. And the thrill starts here. This is where the mindfuck lies, where it questions you if you should trust this person or not. It morphed into a whole new level of wickedness and unpredictable events.

The story was told in two time frames — before and after everything happened — it really worked out for me because it’s somehow connecting the now and then. There will be a time where you think you knew what finally happened, why it happened but everything you thought you knew was just. The back and forth time frames will insanely open your mind and let you think what happened before or even give you an insight why this certain event happened or why this certain person said such thing. I honestly want to give more information but I want to stay clean and not give off too much information. Hehe. 😈

Overall, I am truly head over heels amazed at how this book turned out. And ew (read it and you’ll know why 😈)

My new favorite YA summer thriller - That Weekend feels like a cross between The Last Mrs. Parrish and Flowers in the Attic. The story starts with a bang from Claire's point of view but halfway the reader gets a new narrator. Thomas earns 5 stars for plot and intrigue - so many unpredictable twists and turns that I could not put it down. I might have liked a little more character development all the way around, especially some of the ancillary characters like Novak.Cummings and Mike Dorsey. I know I won't be able to keep this book on my classroom shelves. Thanks so much to #NetGalley for the opportunity to preview #ThatWeekend by author Kara Thomas. I absolutely loved it!