4.5 stars
Seven Dirty Secrets by Natalie Richards is a YA thriller, set after a rafting trip goes wrong. Seven friends go away on a rafting trip, but only six come back alive. When a year later, Cleo receives a shady scavenger hunt on her birthday, it seems as though someone knows more than they have led on and may know more about that trip than Cleo wishes they knew. Declan, the one who drowned on the trip, was Cleo’s boyfriend after all. How will this scavenger hunt end and what really happened on that rafting trip?

Wow, I absolutely loved this book. It had me hooked right off of the bat. Once I started, I could not put it down, until the thrilling ending. I absolutely did not see the ending coming. This book was action packed throughout and I really enjoyed that final twist of the book. The characters in this book were well-developed and I felt myself very attached to Cleo and her brother Connor. I also loved the romance between Connor and Hope.

I also just loved the premise of the mystery scavenger as a means to piece together the story. I couldn’t wait until Cleo and Hope found the next clue to piece together the scavenger hunt. Was it Declan doing the scavenger hunt? No one really did see him die that day and no body was found? It was a very good YA mystery.

I recommend this YA thriller novel for anyone looking for a fast-paced, quick, easy read.

Since first reading one of Richards' books last year, I have been looking forward to reading more from her. I really enjoyed this fast-paced YA Thriller. Cleo has just turned eighteen and when she gets out of the shower on her birthday, a gift waits for her on the sink... but no one else is home. The gift kicks off a scavenger hunt - complete with riddles as clues. But the clues point toward Cleo's own past memories - along with her small group of friends who took a trip to West Virginia the year before - though only six of the seven returned to Ohio.

The story moves quickly, highlighting the close friendships as well as the strengths of sibling bonds. I really enjoyed it. And while I did see the big twist coming, there were still plenty of other surprises along the way to the ending. I am definitely looking forward to reading more from Richards in the future!

This is my fourth Natalie D. Richards book and I feel like she is getting better and better each time. I quite enjoyed Five Total Strangers and was very excited when I saw Seven Dirty Secrets come across my screen. I could not wait to pick it up and I was not disappointed.

The story follows Cleo on her birthday weekend as her and her friends go on a twisted scavenger hunt being led by someone who is clearly not happy with them. This is also one year to the day that her and her 6 other friends went on a rafting trip and only 6 total returned.

I really like Cleo. She is a true crime fanatic and wants to study crime scene forensics. She’s weary of most people and untrusting as well. I’d totally hang out with her. I also quite like her best friend, but some of these other characters we meet are not my cup of tea. Not a big fan of Valeri and her brother or her own brother Connor. He seems too… something for me. But the general guide here is that I felt strongly about most of the characters, which means Richards did her job as a writer. I connected. The story was also fantastic. It flowed really well and I found myself literally biting my nails and flipping pages almost faster than I could read to see what would happen next. It is also important to note that I did guess who the bad guy was about 75% into the story, but I still felt anxious and worried at the end. Plus Richards made me second guess myself a few times.

Overall this story is phenomenal. It reads easy, keeps you hooked from the beginning, and is a literal page-turner. Could not put it down! Check out more from Natalie D. Richards along with this book, which is out now. You will not regret it. Richards is always keeping me at the edge of my seat.

This was so well written. I was engrossed from the first page and it ticked all the boxes of my expectations. I would definitely recommend to others.

It’s Cleo’s birthday, and she’s turning 18. After a very difficult year, she’s ready to put the past behind her, graduate from high school, and head to Michigan State to study forensics.

There’s just one problem. She can’t put the past behind her. Because one year ago on her birthday, her brother Connor put together a rafting trip for her and her friends. Seven people left on the trip, but only six came back. Cleo’s boyfriend Declan didn’t make it out of the river. It was called an accident, but Cleo knew that there was more to it than that. She knew the truth. She was there when he fell into the river, but she couldn’t do anything to help because she didn’t know how to swim.

Now she just wants to forget and move forward, but someone else won’t let her. When Cleo gets out of the shower, she finds a small white box with a green ribbon on it. At first, she thinks it’s her best friend Hope who left the gift, but Hope swears it’s not her. Connor says it wasn’t him. And when Cleo opens it, she finds the first clue in a mystery scavenger hunt.

As Cleo and Hope set out to find where the first clue takes them, Cleo tries to figure out who is behind the clues. The fact that she was in the shower when the first clue showed up feels vaguely threatening, but Cleo can’t figure out who would come after her. The only person she knows of who she feels threatened by died in that river . . . or did he?

As each clue in the hunt takes Cleo to a place that was significant in her relationship with Declan, she goes back through their time together, from when he moved into their house, just a friend of her brother who needed a place to stay for a while to their first kiss to the first time he hit her. All the memories are coming back, and the fear is making the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

But she has a scholarship to Michigan State, and her brother Connor just got an internship in the state prosecutor’s office, and Hope has plans to go to Vassar, so Cleo knows that if the truth comes out about what happened on the rafting trip, it could jeopardize all of their futures. But the person behind the clues hints that he or she has something that could ruin them all, that they are willing to release that information to social media or even to the police if Cleo stops following the clues. So Cleo has to keep going. She has to go through every painful memory, every scar, every lie, and every secret, until she finds out who is behind the hunt, even if it’s the last thing she’ll ever do.

Seven Dirty Secrets is the latest thriller from Natalie D. Richards, a master storyteller who can keep you guessing until the end. With realistic characters and taut plotting, Richards weaves together the kind of thriller that keeps you engaged until the very end.

I got sucked into Seven Dirty Secrets, and I didn’t want to stop reading until I found out what was really going on. Throughout this story, there are always several possibilities of who could be pulling the strings, so there was never a dull moment. There are nuances in the story, layers of secrets, lies that characters tell each other and themselves, all twisting together into a thriller that won’t let you go. Don’t start reading this one late at night!

Egalleys for Seven Dirty Secrets were provided by Sourcebooks Fire through NetGalley with many thanks.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. For the most part I enjoyed this book. I have always liked thrillers and this one kept interested from the first page to the last. The characters did seem to be a bit more on the reckless side, but it wasn't to stop me from enjoying this book.

Disclaimer: I was granted an early copy of the book by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I always love a good murder mystery book, and this book was very reminiscent of all the ones I've read before. I love the journey of figuring things out! There were parts that really put me on a slump, but this book is still a good read if you want a little bit of sleuthing! This book is out now, so please make sure to grab your copy!

If you're looking for a good YA Thriller, I definitely recommend picking up this book. Honestly, you can pick up all of Natalie Richards' books and get a great story with interesting characters every time.

This book involves a group of friends who went on a rafting trip where all but one of them survived. The main character is Cleo and the story revolves around a scavenger hunt. On her birthday, she starts to receive clues that lead her to places and things that she and her boyfriend did when he was alive. Now she has a set amount of time to figure out who is behind the clues (with the help of those who were with her on the trip) before something happens.

As the story unfolds, you learn more and more about the trip and what really happened along with what Cleo's relationship with her boyfriend really was like. It was definitely a book I didn't want to put down as I wanted to learn all the things and see if I could figure out who was behind it all.

Be sure to pick this up when you can. There are secrets, friendships, and of course the mystery behind who is leaving the clues that leads to a surprising ending!

3.5 stars

What a twisted and deranged book. I don't think there was one character that didn't have something wrong with them. That definitely helps when you are listening/reading a mystery/thriller book.

I love a good scavenger hunt plotline and I find it entertaining trying to figure them out. There were some moments when I was a little annoyed with the MC Cleo. She was just a little too naive for me, but that is a typical character trait in most YA books. There were several times that this book was written for a YA reader.

I will say, if a trigger for you is domestic abuse, I don't recommend this book. This book is very well written to make you feel what Cleo is feeling. I definitely felt her fear and rage.

Thanks Netgalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

I liked this, but didn't love it. It felt like your average run of the mill mystery. I think I'm starting to understand that mysteries and thrillers really aren't my jam. At least I learned something about myself from reading this!

3.5 stars, decent YA mystery, very engaging.

This is the third book I've read by this author and her plots are gripping and so full of action and adventure. This one centers around a creepy scavenger hunt, which captured my attention from the beginning and propelled the plot forward until the end. Overall it's not too difficult to figure out the identity of the person behind the hunt, but the reasons why don't become clear until the end.

Exactly one year ago, Cleo and her group of friends went on a rafting trip and one of them ended up dead. She feels an extreme amount of guilt surrounding the incident, and has worked to move forward toward her dream goal of attending college to get a degree in forensics. She and her best friend Hope are huge mystery and escape room buffs. When a mysterious package appears on the day of her 18th birthday, she assumes that it is Hope playing a prank or giving her a gift, yet Hope claims to know nothing and the box contains a clue to a scavenger hunt, one that will have dire consequences for Cleo if she fails to participate. Who set this up and why?

Although this is a fast-paced thriller on the surface, there are also some deeper themes about domestic violence and how insidious it is in the lives of everyone it touches, not just the person suffering from the abuse. I viscerally felt each of the incidents as they were described, and they felt extremely realistic, especially with regards to the denial, how victims find it difficult to break away from their abusers, and how friends and family members often struggle to know how to intervene. This element elevated the book for me.

As with many YA books, the characters' actions do border on the reckless and, at times, stupid. There are some choices they make that no sane person would (especially at the end), and the perceived power that this villain had seemed to trump common sense throughout. However, if you are looking for an engaging YA thriller, Richards is the author to choose.

I listened to part of this as an audiobook, which kept me thoroughly enthralled. Natasha Soudek does an excellent job giving voice to Cleo complete with her guilt and growing fear as the hunt progresses.

If you're looking for a YA thriller/mystery with just the right amount of suspense and genuine teen angst, this is the book for you. It's quite nicely written, and it's just a fun read!

This book will have you hooked from the first page, filled with twists and turns its sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.

How have I not read anything by Natalie D. Richards before?!? I love a good YA Mystery/Thriller and Seven Dirty Secrets really hit the spot for me. It was eerie and deliciously spooky without being too frightening, all while having an air of mystery. The story sends the protagonists on a sinister scavenger hunt in which their secrets are unveiled in spooky and suspenseful ways. The plot was evenly paced and the story was well done, I enjoyed reading from start to finish! I’ll definitely have to pick up more from Natalie D. Richards for future spooky reads.

“I always thought I was the one who kept secrets. Looks like I was wrong.”

Seven Dirty Secrets is a YA thriller that starts with a creepy gift and ends with a handful of secrets revealed. We follow Cleo on her 18th birthday as she’s sent on a scavenger hunt by an unknown party. While Cleo is big on scavenger hunts and mysteries, this hunt starts to feel more and more like she’s being hunted as clues are revealed. All of the clues seem to lead her to places that were important to her and her ex-boyfriend. The ex-boyfriend that died last year on her birthday trip that they took with 5 other people.

Anyway. I don’t want to spill any beans, so what I will say is that I enjoyed this read. It covers some heavy themes and honestly had some moments that were very impactful that were outside of the mystery plot. I think what I enjoyed most about this story is that we know a big chunk of the what happened and why things are going on, but we don’t know the end game for the antagonist in this read so it’s what keeps it thrilling. Also the fact that more details are added to the story as we go and it’s just exciting, like truly solving a mystery that you thought you had the answers to already.

To the point, I highly recommend this book if you want a YA thriller/mystery that has that perfect mix of suspense and actual teen angst. It’s incredibly well written and honestly just a good read!

This was a wild ride. Seven Dirty Secrets is a fast paced YA thriller that keeps you guessing until the end. Every time I thought I had it figured out, something would happen and have me questioning my suspicions. I enjoyed this quick read and I’ll be reading more from this author in the future.

This book was good but not great. I will be picking up more from the author because I loved her writing style. Honestly for a teen thriller it was a good whodunit story.

Seven Dirty Secrets was an enjoyable, yet pretty standart ya mystery/thriller with a good amount of action that kept me reading until the end.
What it didn't do is keep me guessing until the end, which is in itself not automatically a bad thing, in this case I just needed a bit more explanation, a bit more drama in the end. Plus, this is one of those stories where there are absolutely no parents around that could have told these teenagers way earlier that they should have just gone to the police.
Besides that, I thought the characters were nice to read about and I liked the dynamic among them.

This is the perfect example of character and story building. You’re hooked from the first page until the last! The ending is a major shock, and you won’t see it coming, This book is full of suspense and is a great mystery. It does not read like just a YA thriller. Very well done and I will definitely be purchasing more novels by Natalie D. Richards in the future!

Thank you to Natalie D. Richards, SourceFire Books, and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

“ One caused the fall.
One did nothing.
One saw it all.
One didn’t care.
One used their head.
One played the hero.
One was left for dead. “

Seven teens walked into a camping trip but only six walked out. Cleo’s boyfriend Declan was left for dead and now someone knows what she did. She must solve a scavenger hunt before time is out or risk someone possibly ruining her future.

I freaking enjoyed this book so much! This is definitely binge worthy and I could have completely read it in one day if I wasn’t reading two books at once time! This felt like I know what you did last summer but with a twisty scavenger hunt on top of it all!

Honestly the twist HAD me. There was a moment where I thought it could be who it was but then brushed it off and said “nah” , it wouldn’t have made sense to me.

Seven Dirty Secrets was full of twists and turns, riddles and slasher movie vibes and I just seriously couldn’t put it down! This is perfect for spooky season or for something that you’ll want to keep reading when you should probably be cleaning or cooking!