Karen McManus has done it again! My favorite YA mystery author has so many great ideas and I gulp her new books down in one day and think about them for a while.

You'll Be the Death of Me features her signature multi-POV style, three students: Mateo, Cal, and Ivy. All three of them have varied backgrounds and were middle school friends before drifting apart in high school. By serendipitous circumstances, they come together to relive their Best Day Ever. However, shortly into their adventure, they find a classmate dead in an art studio, and their Best Day Ever quickly becomes the Worst Day Ever. Ivy looks especially suspicious, as she had particular motive and is seen by news cameras near the scene of the crime. Together, these friends have one day to solve the mystery before one of them takes the fall.

This was a great book with many twists and turns. I flew threw it, eyes glued to the Kindle determined to get to the end to know the reveal. In true McManus style, the ultimate twist at the end was one I never saw coming, but made sense once she revealed it. I gave it four stars instead of five because I do think it was one of her weaker books, but even a McManus weak book is still an exceptional YA mystery and was so much fun to read. I know my kids will love this one.

A bad day for 3 high schoolers who used to be a close knit middle school group and decide to skip school Ferris Bueller style take a trip to Chicago that starts with them stumbling upon a murder. Well so much for a relaxing day off.

Ivy just lost the school election and Cal and Mateo just aren't feeling the day due to bring stood up and working two jobs, respectively.

They quickly are implicated in a murder of a fellow student and start to uncover a bigger conspiracy and all their secrets began to unravel.

All the while Ivy has a countdown to her mom's award ceremony that night. They really picked a bad day to not go to school!

This book was non-stop and really entertaining. I really didn't know where it was going. I have seen these covers for this author all over here but haven't read one until now. I will definitely be picking up the others.

I can't figure out what else to say that won't give anything away but there were multiple people that could have done it and there was so much gossip happening that was not helping our MCs as we are sure they didn't do it I think, right. Lol. But seriously you'll be the death of me is a succinct title for this time of year for having teenagers.

Thank you delacortepress and netgalley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

To be honest, I had higher hopes based on the authors previous titles. The story was predictably basic and the back and forth between the characters seemed silly. It was an ok read for fun, but nothing incredible. The characters could’ve been fleshed out a bit more, felt no real connection to them.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

You’ll Be the Death of Me stars three protagonists: Ivy Sterling-Shepard, Mateo Wojcik, and Cal O’Shea-Wallace. Three former best friends who decide to skip school and, in the process, witness the murder of a classmate. As they try to make sense of what happened, secrets come out, and they begin to realize they all have ties to this case. But just who murdered Brian “Boney” Mahoney?

In true Karen M. McManus fashion, this book took me on a journey all the way until the end. Her way of using multiple perspectives benefitted the story, as each of these leading characters had layers upon layers of secrets and were all desperate to prove themselves in some way. I loved the tie of romance between Ivy and Mateo, and how that affected the story as a whole, but I also loved trying to figure out how the secondary characters played a role in this case. Overall this book was very enjoyable to read, and I look forward to purchasing it once it is released. 4.5 stars

MS. MCMANUS YOU'VE DONE IT AGAIN!!!!
While at times predictable I still very much enjoyed myself on this rollercoaster of a mystery!! I've very excited for next years big read for her!!

I love Karen M. McManus. Her newest offering, You'll Be the Death of Me, is no exception. This book tells the story of three teens who were friends once upon a time, when they skipped out of a field trip together and had a fun day all on their own. Time has separated the three, but on one day, as they are in the school parking lot, each for his/her own reasons not wanting to be there, they decide to skip again and go into Boston together.

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal, each harboring secrets from one another, stumble onto a fourth schoolmate - the one who's supposed to be giving the Student Council Presidential speech that Ivy feels is rightfully hers - also skipping school. They follow him, and when Ivy wants to go give him a piece of her mind, they discover he's been murdered. Not long after, they learn that a woman fitting Ivy's description is a suspect/person of interest, and a couple of podcasters from her school leak the information that she was also not in school.

The story unwinds as the trio tries to figure out whodunnit - because it wasn't Ivy! - before the people who did do it come after them. As it happens, each of the secrets being kept has a tie to the murder victim.

Another amazing book from this author. The twists and turns keep the reader guessing until the very end. The characters are robust and interesting. A totally worthy read!

Ivy lost the election yesterday and will not be the senior class president. She doesn’t want to go to school and face the class clown … the new president. Mateo feels overwhelmed since he is working two jobs to help support his family and Cal feels alone since he was stood up. When these three seniors randomly meet up outside of school, they decide to skip school and go to the city. They were friends years ago, after all. They quickly learn they don’t have much in common anymore, but when they spot another student ditching school, they decide to follow him and stumble across his murdered body. They flee the scene, but what should they do next?

You’ll Be the Death of Me is a stand-alone mystery that promises to be exciting but doesn’t fully pull it off. I enjoyed the premise of the story and was turning pages to see how it was going to end, but the overall storyline felt like it was trying too hard to be Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. If you want a fun and quick mystery to read, this is the book. If you are looking for McManus’ next masterpiece, you might be waiting a little longer.

Thank you to the publisher, Penguin, and NetGalley for providing this eARC as part of a blog tour with The Write Reads in exchange for an honest review.

Ivy, Mateo and Cal used to be close friends, but have drifted apart, until one day in high school, when they are all having a terrible start to the day. None of them are eager to face their problems and so they decide to skip school and head into the city, just like old times, but things turn awkward within minutes. What initially promised to be a dull day quickly takes a turn when the trio spot another student from their school also skipping and out of curiosity follow him – only to walk into the scene of his murder. As they try to figure out what happened, it becomes clear that each of them is hiding something and they have just been caught up in something bigger than they realize.

I have literally had my fingers crossed for this ARC since January this year, so I may have screamed when I actually got it and also read it about six months in advance because I couldn’t bear the suspense. Anything Karen McManus writes is an auto add to my TBR at this point, and book after book continues to prove that decision right – this was no exception. While admittedly, it took me a while to really get into the story because the first couple of chapters were kind of slow, what was different about this book was that unlike the author’s previous books, the story takes place over the span of a single day, which meant things picked up pretty quickly and made it impossible to put the book down.

This was a quick and easy read and the plot comes together beautifully in a series of well executed twists and the reveal at the climax of the story took me completely by surprise. The three main characters were intriguing and I was very impressed with how much character development this book managed to fit in for each of them despite the rapid pace and shorter length. The side characters were pretty good too, though I do wish that the culprit had more page time and they could have definitely been fleshed out better so the big reveal wouldn’t have been so out of the blue.

The only thing I didn’t like about this book was the open ending. When it comes to mysteries and thrillers, I find it really annoying when the plot isn’t wrapped up thoroughly. Throwing in a twist like that on literally the last page is just not fair, especially when, despite this ending leaving scope for a sequel, it didn’t feel like there was going to be one. I do hope I’m wrong about this though, because I spent several hours trying to think about what might happen in a potential sequel. Also, while this was a marvelously constructed read, I think the YA high school drama setting is starting to feel a bit overdone. It might just be that I’ve thoroughly outgrown this type of story, but I would love to see something different in her next book.

Overall, this was another amazing read from Karen McManus, and while it wasn’t quite up to the same mark as The Cousins, it was entertaining and certainly kept me at the edge of my seat. You’ll Be The Death of Me should definitely be on your TBR this December and I can’t wait to see what she writes next! Highly recommended!

I love Karen M. McManus. She’s great. Can’t write a bad book. Just a terrific plotter and writer in general......I flew through this one in two days....so obviously I liked it. It has good bones to it. But it has the same problem that I had with her last book....it’s pacing is just a little off. The first half is a bit of a slog and then the ending is rushed. For someone who has as much talent as Karen, her first three books were so amazing. you’d think she could fix out these kinks, but I think her publisher is just making her crank them out too fast.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off re-told but they come across a dead body.....it was really a fun unique storyline; I just wanted more and wanted it to be more suspenseish/thrilling. Her last few books are starting to feel less mystery and more just ya contemporary with a dead body. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

3.75 ⭐️

You’ll Be The Death Of Me

By: Karen M. McManus

Random House Children’s

Delacorte Press

Mystery & Thrillers/Teens & YA

Publish Date 30 November 2021

#You’llBetheDeathofMe#NetGalley

100 Book ReviewsProfessional Reader

I would like to first thank both NetGalley and Delacote Press for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Good Reads Synopsis:

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Now all they have in common is Carlton High and the beginning of a very bad day.

Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out–he’s been working two jobs since his family’s business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up…. again.

So when Cal pulls into campus late for class and runs into Ivy and Mateo, it seems like the perfect opportunity to turn a bad day around. They’ll ditch and go into the city. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they’ve barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say…

Until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school–and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it’s about to get worse.

It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common. They all have a connection to the dead kid. And they’re all hiding something.

Now they’re all wondering–could it be that their chance reconnection wasn’t by chance after all?

Book Review:

I really enjoyed reading this mystery and gave it 4 stars. The story in this book mostly takes in one day. There is some flash back about the three main characters and at the end of the book of course there is a time difference.

This story is about three friends who have not connected since they started high school but one day they decide to take a day off and just hang out. They decide to go to go Boston for the day and be back by the time school let’s out. While they are in Boston they see another class mate who should be in school giving a speech. They decide to follow him and then find him dead in an abandoned building.

They spend most of the day trying to solve his death. They end up on some adventures and find things out about each other that they never knew. Some of it is good and some it not so great.

There are some surprises and some heart breaks but in all it is an awaking for the three students.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the advance Kindle copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for this YA thriller, which is out on 11.30.21. Three friends who have drifted apart decide to take a day off school together and wind up at a murder scene. The victim, one of their classmates, and the reason they are at the warehouse where they find him, a teacher stringing along a student, set them on a path to figuring out what happened. I wanted to love this, but it fell flat at the end for me. Recommended for grades 9+ for drinking and drug use.

Another day, another book with a similar esthetic, am I right? Anyway, I loved this.
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When I saw this advertisers as #FerrisBuellersDayOff with murder I was all in! Ivy, Mateo and Cal used to be the best of friends. They tried to relive the greatest day ever from years earlier and ended up with the worse day ever.
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I most definitely thought I had this ending figured out, but that twist at the end left my jaw dropped!
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I don’t want to say too much but I love a great twist and it successfully got me!
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Thank you #delacorte and #netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

“We’re doing so many things wrong that it’s almost physically painful. But, every alternative comes with its own set of problems, and I’m not ready to face any of them.”

Cal, Ivy, and Mateo were good friends in middle school who drifted apart when they got to high school. On an average Tuesday they encounter one another in the parking lot before school and decide to escape their daily disasters and ditch school. What should have been a day trip into Boston turns dangerous and deadly when they discover the body of a classmate in a friend’s art studio. All of them hide secrets, failures and loneliness.

Sure to be popular with McManus’s legion of fans. This mystery thriller is told in alternating voices by the three friends. The propulsive narrative reads like One of Us Is Lying. The entire story consists of a single runaway train of a day. The rekindled friendship; random events and disastrous decision-making feel authentic. The story is a solid satisfying stand alone volume until the last three pages. The final twist felt unnecessary but probably sets up an upcoming additional volume.

Thanks to #netgalley for the opportunity to preview this title. Look for it 11/30/21.

CW: opioid dealing, intoxication, teacher / student relationship

What I Enjoyed
You'll Be the Death of Me by Karen McManus is my newest guilty pleasure. Fast-paced, gripping, dark, and thrilling, I stayed glued to the pages from beginning to end.

I enjoyed the play on Ferris Bueller's Day Off but with dangerous twist after dangerous twist and loads of suspense. This novel starts with the fun of an unplanned adventure like the group had many years ago but quickly turns dark as the stakes get higher and higher. So many secrets are hinted at and later revealed. So many that my head was swimming in all the twists they brought to the story. The story is laser-focused on the mystery at hand, and because of that, I found the mystery gripping and well-thought-out. Not a plot gap to be found anywhere.

I enjoyed the well-developed characters. It's not easy to develop characters who harbor such important secrets, yet each slowly and strategically reveals layer after layer of themselves as the story unfolds. They each are relatable and, I think, ultimately likable.

Being told from three perspectives could have been confusing in any other book, but in this tale, it creates another layer of suspense and heightens the tension. As I grew to care about each character and their relationships, I also was made privy to things that could derail the progress made. This keeps those pages turning faster and faster.

Characters

The three main characters are Ivy Sterling-Shepherd, Mateo Wojcik, and Calvin O'Shea-Wallace.

Ivy lives with her mother, father, and brother Daniel. She strives not to get lost in her younger brother's shadow. It pushes her, molds her, and defines her.

Mateo is being raised by his single mother. His cousin, Autumn, is more like a sister to him now that she lives with Mateo and his mother after her parents passed away.

Cal is being raised by his two dads, one of which is an administrator at a local college.

They all have a great support system in their loving families, and together they solve the mystery of who killed one of their classmates.

Reminds Me Of

You'll Be the Death of Me has all the delightful deviousness of other books by McManus with a twist on an all-time favorite tale in Ferris Buller's Day Off.

What I Wish

I love my guilty pleasures, so what more can I wish for a story that tops that list. NOTHING!

To Read or Not to Read
If you love dark, twisty tales with plenty of secrets and lots of fast-paced sleuthing, You'll Be the Death of Me is your next guilty pleasure.

Karen McManus is one of those authors for me where I know I can pick up any of her books and I am going to enjoy them. As a matter of fact, I have read and enjoyed all of her books, including "You'll Be the Death of Me".

Three former friends, Ivy, Cal, and Mateo, spontaneously decide to skip school one day, each for their own reasons. During their day off, they happen across a dead body. And it just so happens that each of them has a decent connection to the victim. The book tells the story of their day, exposing each of their secrets, and eventually revealing who the killer was.

I could not put this one down. I had my suspicions as to who the killer was, and I was right! It was a quick read for me but definitely a good rainy day fireside mystery.

Once upon a time, Ivy, Cal and Mateo used to be the best of friends but this all changed once middle school ended. Now, it’s senior year and they barely know each other so the decision to ditch school together on a whim seems fairly innocuous – each of them have their own reasons for ditching and besides, what could go wrong? Turns out, a whole heck of a lot! Things take a bad turn almost from the start with the murder of Ivy’s nemesis, Boney and when the trio try to solve the murder themselves, they figure out that the web is tangled, indeed.

I listened to the majority of You’ll Be the Death of Me (YBtDoM) and what a fantastic production it is! Full cast narration gives this fast-paced thriller all the dramatic effect I love from McManus’s stories. Nobody does teen thrillers quite like McManus and YBtDoM is twisty with characters that work really well in the story, playing perfectly off one another, each distinctively flawed and progressive. I have to say, you did me dirty with that cliffhanger, though!

My thanks to @PRHAudio and @DelacortePress for the gifted copies.

Okay everything Karen McManus writes is gold. I finished this book in a day. Stayed up late after work reading this. Such a good book. If you like who dunnit books or trying to figure out a mystery, this book is for you. I totally related to Ivy and her type A personality. The main premise of the book is that these friends from high school skip school (as we all did at one point or another) and watch someone get killed. But they are hiding something. I loved it.

Thank you so much to Delacorte Press and Netgalley for a free copy of You'll be the Death of Me.

You'll Be the Death of Me is told from the point of view of three teen protagonist, each trying to relive their middle school "greatest day ever" , they embark on the senior skip day from hell. They venture together into the big city and witness a murder. Even worse, one of them gets framed for it, Hence, the rest of the book is a lot of finding out who is hiding secrets, strange assumptions by the police, high school gossip wreaking havoc and some pretty uninvolved parents.

I found the book to be easy to read but very slow to produce action for the first half at least. and the ending left me a little unhappy. McManus is a genius at writing YA thrillers, and definitely a lot of people will love this book, I think I was little hard on it as I just finished Holly Jackson's AGGGTM series and comparing it to that and One of Us is Lying, this one was not quite as entertaining. Still great writing, and great characters but for me it just wasn't as gripping as her other works.

This was a good book! It's a Ferris Bueller's day off retelling but with a murder. This book wasn't the best compared to Karen's other books in my opinion. The story plot line was still great but the murder mystery was meh. Comparing to the writing from her other books, I was disappointed with how the story wasn't as vivid as much. The murder of the story was good in a way where I didn't know who the murderer was but the characters kind of ruined it. The pacing was well done and the author did drop some twists here and there to keep readers entertained. I also haver to say that I was confused if this entire book took place in one day or if it was multiple days.

This book is written in three POVs. Ivy, Mateo and Cal. I enjoyed Mateo and Cal's character but let me say that Ivy annoyed me. These three characters did have a great character development where they all developed their friendships and their personal self. There was some great side characters in the book which helped keep the story entertained and made it harder to guess who the murderer was. I was kind of confused how the parents weren't involved in the story as much as the time capacity of the book also didn't make sense. There is romance between the main characters but it's not the main factor of the story.

The ending was well done with so many happy endings for the characters. I did have some minor problems with this book but I think it's mostly because I compared this one to Karen's other books. I still think this book is a must read and that so many readers will enjoy it. McManus is clever with her murder mysteries which I hope don't end.

The digital arc was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Three used-to-be-friends come together by accident one day and decide to ditch school. What follows next is something that none of them could've predicted. Mystery and intrigue follow as the teens try and figure out who killed their classmate.

This is not exactly what I was expecting. I am a huge Karen McManus fan and this felt a bit different to her other books. Not necessarily in a bad way, just different. I didn't enjoy it as much as the others, but I did still enjoy it.

The book takes place over the course of a day, so it's very fast-paced. It really picks up in the second half. I couldn't put it down and ended up staying late just to finish it. I didn't feel that connection with the characters and actually found them to be a bit unlikable. However, the story itself was interesting enough, though a bit predictable.