Seven Dirty Secrets is a weird name for this book. I get it but it really doesn't match what you are reading. This is a young adult novel in the genre of all of those that showcase children who really should have some adults around every once in a while. The seven friends here don't seem to have that. They are all older teenagers or young 20s but I just can't help but wonder sometimes.

One of the seven dies and you just can't feel too badly about it. He was an abusive mess. And everyone knew it. Through a birthday scavenger hunt, the reader is brought back to the death and the events leading to it. The actual bad guy was not too hard to guess, but the clues were fun to follow and the descriptions of the city made it a place I'd like to visit, and I have never thought that before of anywhere in Ohio. In my defense I've only been to Toledo. Now I have a book store to visit.

This was a quick and easy read with non stop action to keep you wanting to finish.

Due out in November, this is a whirlwind of a read. Huge thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in advance of publication in exchange for my honest thoughts.
The story focuses on Cleo, and someone’s desperate attempts to get vengeance for something that happened a year earlier. Cleo and her group of friends haven’t talked about it, but we know something major took place.
We begin in a seemingly innocent fashion, with a clue being left for Cleo that appears to be part of a scavenger hunt. Her first reaction is to thank her best friend and boyfriend. Neither appears to know anything. Then she tries her brother. Nothing. Knowing someone got into her locked house to leave this clue is unsettling…and the tension is ramped up from this moment on.
The clues become increasingly strange, but we are privy to Cleo’s thoughts. We know each has significance to her and her ex-boyfriend, Declan. What we only find out later is exactly who Declan was and how his death a year ago may not have been quite the accident it was made out to be.
While the scenario is not new, the fun in this comes from Cleo and her brother trying to establish what is happening. There’s real questions about how such a scenario could have come to pass, but while reading this wasn’t a big consideration.
By the end we were running out of plausible contenders for who might be determined to make Cleo pay. The reality seemed a step too far if we look at it logically, but things made sense during reading and this was great fun.

My first book by Natalie D. Richards and definitely not my last! I liked the character building which initially made you feel like you knew the characters then made you question loyalties and motives. Well paced for a YA thriller with a few surprises at the end!

This is a compelling and well-crafted mystery. 

Cleo is a high school student who’s about to graduate and has grand plans of going to college for forensic science. I did my undergraduate degree in forensics, and I couldn’t help but relate to her. The authenticity of her personality and her chosen career path rang true throughout the narrative, from the way that she occasionally chastised herself for not being observant enough in her personal life, to when she off-handly referenced Locard’s principle, which is the basic tenet on which all forensic science is based. 

At first, Cleo is intrigued about having a scavenger hunt for her birthday, despite the creepy way that it starts. But her excitement is quickly dampened when it becomes clear that it has something to do with her abusive boyfriend’s suspicious death almost exactly a year earlier. Clearly someone wants her to pay for what happened – but who? 

This novel is rocket-fast paced, and every single one of the clues is both ominous and intriguing. The chapters are short, making it easy to fall into the “just one more chapter!” trap that good thrillers lay out for unsuspecting readers like myself. 

The book opens with a poem, which is included in the synopsis (scroll up!) and I bookmarked it and kept referring to it throughout the novel. It reminds me of Agatha Christie's  And Then There Were None. I kept trying to figure out which of the friends was who in the poem, and who could possibly be orchestrating this elaborate blackmail scheme. 

A couple of the twists were quite obvious, but the final twist was very satisfying, both in the explanation of who did it and in its execution. At one point or another, I basically suspected every single person of being the perpetrator of this malicious scavenger hunt. I was swinging back and forth with my suspicions, and I felt more paranoid than Cleo herself while trying to predict how the book would end. 

All in all, this is an incredibly entertaining read. 

I recommend this book for those who want to read a classic whodunnit masked as a deadly scavenger hunt with lots of tension and a few heartfelt moments.

Interesting premise and quite suspenseful for a younger audience. The plot dealt with some difficult topics such as abuse.

After the death of her abusive ex, a teen receives a scavenger hunt from a stalker who claims the death wasn't an accident.

Fast-moving and packed full of clues and suspects, SEVEN DIRTY SECRETS will satisfy teen thriller fans who love a mystery to solve. Well-founded twists and complicated characters add depth to the edge-of-your seat plot. A fun, quick read for YA thriller readers!

Definitely a fun, dark, twisty, delicious thrill ride! Well written, with great amazing character development made ur easy to be captivated and glued to the pages. Definitely can tell it’s a ya book, gut still quite enjoyable for myself, whom I would consider a veteran in thrills! Would highly recommend, especially to those whom like the YA thrills best!

Will buzz around and use Top Amazon reviewer number on release!

Seven Dirty Secrets is yet another thrilling YA suspense novel by Natalie D. Richards. Having read all of her previous books, I am familiar with the author's style of writing- once again this is another hit! With a cast of characters that all could find motive for murder, this is a great mystery that saves the best for last. Seven Dirty Secrets finds the main character, Cleo, who was abused by her boyfriend, Declan, dealing with his death and trying to move on with life. The mystery unfolds as Cleo and her friends uncover clues on a scavenger hunt designed by someone out for revenge. The story casts both doubt and suspect on all of the characters. It also gives a nod to Agatha Christie with the clever rhymes that continue throughout the story. Although it had more cursing than most of her previous books, it was a believable tale and most YA readers will take it in stride. This is face-paced and twisty tale of death, deception and mystery.

Thank you netgalley for this free arc in exchange for my review.

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.

It's Cleo's birthday. She should be having fun, instead she stumbles across a cryptic white box wrapped in a green ribbon that has been left in her bathroom while she was showering. This little box kicks off a scavenger hunt of a life time. It has to be one of her friends right? So what can possibly go wrong...?

This book easily took me a day to get through and I was vested in what happened but not necessarily the characters. I like the cryptic scavenger hunt vibes. The end felt a little rushed to me and I wasn't really satisfied with it. It was an okay read.

First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way. Also, fun fact: as of today, the Goodreads synopsis identifies Cleo's boyfriend as "Cyrus" instead of "Declan". I assume that it was his name in a previous draft.

SAVORY STAPLES

In theory, I love mysteries, but I rarely request or buy one (whether YA or adult), because having been raised on a diet of Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen and the likes (not to mention, being a Christopher Pike fan) it's difficult for me to read a blurb and get the feeling that the book in question might tell me something new - or be a fresh take on an old trope. And even when I cave in and request/buy the book, it's difficult for me to be impressed. So, take my review with a grain of salt, because I'm a seasoned reader of classic and semi-classic mysteries, and I might be looking for a thrill that is difficult to replicate.
Seven Dirty Secrets isn't a bad book by any means, though I wish it had been MORE. There's a scavenger hunt (who doesn't love those?) with high stakes involved; a (racially diverse) sibling relationship that's central to the plot; and a protagonist with an interest in forensics and a history of abuse at the hands of her boyfriend, still scarred (in more than a way) by her past, and now forced by an unknown stalker to confront it once and for all. The pacing is all right, steady without being too frantic, with lots of tense scenes, the right amount of flashbacks and a nice side of clues or supposed ones. I must admit that until the end I wasn't sure about the culprit, though some of the clues sounded too much like false flags, and some of the characters, despite the author's setting them up as suspects, didn't really have a motive that I could fathom.

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

I can't talk more specifically about the mystery itself and some of the relationships, because that would spoil certain aspects of the story; but I can give you my two cents about other things not directly related to the whodunnit:

- Cleo is a likeable lead, ultimately stronger than her past would suggest, and her interest in forensics is an intriguing trait - but either than mentioning it multiple times, she doesn't seem to put it to much use (also, it's actually her best friends who does most of the internet scouting);

- some of the characters aren't particularly well-developed (or even have much page time or agency, for that matter), and that results in their sounding either like improbable suspects, or only probable if the author went for shock value (I can't tell you if one of those things does happen though, or I'll spoil the whole book);

- SDS reprises the old, convenient tradition of having the parents out of the picture, and that might work better if Cleo had to actively lie to them on the phone while pursuing her potentially deadly scavenger hunt. It turns out instead that they're the epitome of neglectful, especially considering that their daughter (or, well, the mum's daughter, but still) was abused and almost killed by her boyfriend more than once...I don't thing that any parent in their right mind could treat such a thing so nonchalantly, not to mention, still keep the dead boyfriend's room (because he used to rent at their house!) the way it was when he got missing, with all his old stuff inside...It's just not believable.

Now, as I said above, I'm a seasoned mystery aficionado, so I'm sure that most readers (especially the younger ones) won't get particularly fazed by some of the issues I had with this story. If you're looking for a fast-paced thriller and a cat-and-mouse game in reverse with a side of diversity, Seven Dirty Secrets delivers, and you'll probably have more fun than I had (mind you, not that I regret the time I spent on it) both following Cleo's adventures and formulating hypotheses about her stalker 🙂.

This was dark & twisty and I loved it! It was so easy to get hooked into the story - wanting to know what happened on that rafting trip & who was toying with Cleo. I loved the misdirection that kept me guessing right to the end!

A nice, little YA mystery. I think all ages will enjoy this book. It had a nice twist and it flows nicely.

TW: domestic/emotional abuse, death, alcohol and drug abuse

On her 18th birthday Cleo receives a scavenger hunt but neither her brother Connor or best friend Hope confesses to giving it to her. As she and Hope begin the quest Cleo begins to realise every clue is leading her to places she visited with her now dead boyfriend Declan. Who died in a rafting accident the year before. It's clear someone knows what happened and wants Cleo and her friends to pay but how far are they really willing to go?

This was a good YA mystery/thriller this is my first Natalie D. Richards but it certainly won't be my last. I managed to read this in less than 24 hours as it kept me gripped wanting to know if my theories were right.

The characters were well written and it was a very fast paced read with many red herrings thrown in to keep you guessing. There was a lot about domestic abuse but there wasn't much about what someone should do in that situation or how it should be handled which I feel could have been dealt with and Aidens drug addiction and grief I felt could've been dealt with differently too.

This was overall a good read I didnt know much going into this and I think that's the best way with any mystery/thriller. Overall a very enjoyable read.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book! I had such a fun time reading this. I have read one other book by this author previously (Five Total Strangers) which I really enjoyed. Even though it was a bit predictable, the ride was still so enjoyable. The same can be said for Seven Dirty Secrets. The story follows our main character Cleo who was in an abusive relationship with the deceased. On her birthday she receives a box with instructions inside and thus begins the mystery/scavenger hunt of the book. I thought the cast of characters was really interesting--not very relatable as I'm about 6 years removed from Highschool, but I had fun nontheless. I thought that, just like Five Total Strangers, it became evident quite quickly how the story was going to pan out/what the ultimate twist was, but it was still fun to read. I don't want to dive too deeply into the mystery because I think, given that this book is pretty fast paced and predictable, saying too much will spoil it. However! I do highly recommend this book if you're just looking for something fun and quick! Will definitely be recommending this to the library I work as an a purchase!

Genre: YA Suspense, YA Mystery Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

I was so excited to see that I was approved to read an ARC of Seven Dirty Secrets by Natalie D. Richards on NetGalley! I have all of Richards’ books, and have thoroughly enjoyed most of them. Thrillers are not really my favorite types of books, but Natalie D. Richards never fails to wrap me up in a story I can’t put down, and Seven Dirty Secrets was no different.

Basically, the book is about Cleo, who starts receiving strange clues in a scavenger hunt on her birthday. She quickly realizes that the scavenger hunt is related to her ex-boyfriend’s drowning, which happened a year prior on a floating trip for Cleo’s birthday. Not only does this scavenger hunt bring up painful memories and uncomfortable tension between Cleo and her friends who were also on the trip, whoever is sending these clues also seems to be putting Cleo’s future at risk, maybe even her life.

Probably my favorite thing about Natalie D. Richards’ books is that they are very quick reads because the suspense won’t allow me to put the book down! While a lot of the “big reveals” were pretty obvious, I still couldn’t help but to keep reading.

Furthermore, I really enjoyed the scavenger hunt aspect of the novel. I haven’t read a thriller like this before, so it was fun to read with the unique plot.

Overall, nothing necessarily stands out about this book, but it is an enjoyable and easy read. If you enjoy thrillers, or if you’ve liked Richards’ previous books, you will certainly like this one too!

I loved the suspense built in this book and the red herrings thrown in as well as the not so red red herrings! An excellent mystery suspense book for middle schoolers!

Cleo’s abusive boyfriend hurt her one time too many. Trying to escape his choking grip, she shoves him hard! Right into a raging river. Now on her 18th birthday she gets a mysterious pkg and the start of a nightmare of bad memories. Declan drowned, but all the clues seem like maybe he is alive and back for revenge..

Wow this is such a great immersive book. I really loved the characters, and it’s the kind of book that I wanted to keep on reading. I highly recommend checking out this book if you want to be kept at the edge of your seat!

Cleo gets done showering and sees a gift- wrapped package on the bathroom sink that wasn’t there before she got in the shower. She assumes it’s from a family member or friend but when she asks about it, no one has any idea about the package. This freaks Cleo out so she calls the police and the cop is respectful and helps her realize that she did the right thing by calling. No victim shaming. Her best friend Hope shows up in the meantime. The officer finds a few windows unlocked in her house but nothing else. After the officer leaves, the two friends find another box containing a scavenger hunt clue like the first package. The hunt grows creepier as the clues dredge up memories that Cleo would like to forget. This mystery gets more interesting as the creep factor cranks up! A fun, fantastic horror story, 5 stars!

Seven Dirty Secerts was an awesome YA mystery. I think that it is a book that can easily be recommended to students, and they will enjoy reading it. many of them will be guessing until the very end.