Six teenagers are headed for a ski weekend when they decide to take a shortcut. When their car crashes, they’re sure help will come soon, but as the days and nights pass and injuries become life threatening, they might have to accept no-one is coming.

Stories about being stuck out in the elements, especially elements as unforgiving as the ones in this story, absolutely terrify me (so of course, I love them 🤷🏼‍♀️). Ski Weekend managed to keep up an atmosphere of dread, within the confines of a small set and only a few characters. The feelings of helplessness, terror and despair felt by the characters was palpable and breathed life into the story.

I just wish the characters hadn’t been so cliche. The cheerleader is pretty , blonde, suspected anorexic and cares more about her hair getting messy than surviving, the Asian girl is only interested in her textbooks, the jock is super hot, smells amazing and is a ladies man, most popular guy in school likes nerdy girl - you get the idea. Some of these characters left their stereotypes behind on occasion, but as suspected, the MC was Super Surprised when they turned out not to be (in very small measures) as cookie cutter as she’d first thought.

I could also have done without the constant references to animal abuse. Reading about animals being ’chopped up alive’ etc every 5 seconds, because a character was vegetarian and needed to mention every awful thing that happens in the animal industry, just felt like the author was trying to make a point, rather than adding anything relevant to the story.

All in all though Ski Weekend provided a claustrophobic, edge of your seat thriller that made me glad we have no snowy mountains around here!

*Read and reviewed as an ARC*

Ski Weekend was an engaging, quick YA read. Six teenagers venture into the mountains for a Seniors weekend at a local resort, just before Christmas. Things quickly go sideways when they head off on a side road, looking for another way to get there. Throughout the course of the book, their personal situations become more dire, and it's easy to see how things could devolve in a similar real-life event. It's a bit farfetched at times, even for fiction, but entertaining nonetheless.

I found the editing to be weak at times, with a couple of sections needlessly added to the book. However, I would recommend this read to anyone that likes mysteries, and is looking for something quick to read over a weekend. Appropriate for readers 14+.

Wow. This book. It’s a lot. Going into it, I thought it was going to be in the “locked room, someone-is-a-bad-guy” genre. Nope. Not at all. This is an intense survival story.

I have got to stop reading the Goodreads review before writing my own. But, in this case, I missed something. Apparently the blurb for this book mentions the “diverse” cast, and I have to say I agree with reviewers here: I didn’t notice a diverse cast…. So I think they may have overstated things here.

Basic premise here is that our narrator, Sam, is on her way with a carload of classmates to their Senior Ski Weekend. In an attempt to take a shortcut, the car ends up in a snowbank, and the teens are stranded. No cell reception, very little food, and terrible weather combine to leave them stuck, hoping for rescue.

This whole book is about the relationships between our teens. Sam’s younger brother, Stuart, has been plagued with serious health issues since birth - issues that Sam has always felt she needs to work around. She had been trying to protect him all her life, and, deep down, she kind of hates it. When the teens try to walk to rescue, Stuart ends up injured, and Sam’s best friend may have a head injury. Hoping for rescue, they hunker down.

I think this book may not appeal if you are into books like Hatchet. While this book is definitely a survival book, and there are some pretty gnarly scenes - injuries, the smell of a car filled with six unwashed teens and a dog, death - like I said above, it’s all about the relationships between the teens. We get to learn more about Sam, and her place in the group (a group that does not usually exist together), and she learns things about herself as well.

The story flows really well; the trapped in a car in the snow situation could have easily become slow and stale (like the air), but it didn’t. There was enough internal and external drama to make the plot keep racing along, despite the short time frame the story was set in. I do think a couple of the characters could have been more explored, namely Hunter (African American) and Lily (Asian). Huh, yeah, okay, “featuring a diverse cast of teens” was definitely a stretch, given that I had to search reviews to find Lily’s name (especially given she was Sam’s best friend AND Stuart’s girlfriend). I was feeling feelings by the end of the book, which is always a good sign, and I would definitely recommend this to others.

Content Warnings: Death, injuries, discussions of illness, discussions of eating disorders, starvation (mentions of the Donner Party).

Overall Rating: 4 stars

this was just a flat novel for me. these characters had nothing original to say or to do. I am not sure if it is just because i like YA fantasy and adult thrillers, but i could not make the jump into YA thriller.

This book is a page turner, you will finish it in one sitting. I think young adults and adults will equally like this book and I recommend it to both.

Ski Weekend
by Rektok Ross
⭐⭐⭐ 3

Six teenagers and a dog going on a ski trip when they end up getting in a car accident and getting trapped during a snowstorm in the Sierra Nevada. While trying to find help, Stuart, the narrator's brother, injures his ankle and as the days pass it gets infected and gets worst. With limited food and running out of gas to keep the trapped car warm, some of them need to go out and look for help, but not everyone comes back. As the days passes things gets worst, some of them decide to go look for help again while the other ones stay in the car. Some will survive, some won't.

This book is a YA survival thriller and emotional read but it didn't feel very original. For me most parts were predictable and I didn't really feel connected to the characters. It brings up subjects like dietary choices and issues, racism, gender, and religion that felt irrelevant to the plot while some teenagers are trapped in the middle of nowhere, talking about these stuff like they're adults instead of trying to figure out how to save themselves. I skipped some pages when they started talking about these subjects because it made the story lose its thriller and that danger feeling and there were some comments against Christianity that I didn't like and I almost DNF it. Overall it was an enjoyable quick read. There was no wow factor or mind-blowing twist for me. The ending was a little like "they were in the right place at the right time" kinda thing, not really like reality. I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Very rarely do I write bad reviews—most of mine veer on mediocre or "meh," but seeing as I got a free copy of this book in exchange for an HONEST review, I guess I'll have to review this. :P

First of all, I want to clarify that in this review, I'm in no way attacking the author. There were some parts of the book that I really enjoyed and would have loved to see more of, and there were others I didn't prefer. But in all, I've concluded that this book really wasn't for me.

WHAT I LIKED

- The diverse cast of characters! They all had their unique personalities and strengths and weaknesses, which provided a lot of tension in certain parts of the story. And Champion *hugs him*

- The sibling relationship. I really liked how the author didn't make it overdone or unrealistic, but realistically showed how they had areas to work on.

- The themes. The ending was totally unexpected, but I loved it anyway because it provided a backdrop for so many themes.

- The writing style. It was easy to follow, and while the book was novel-length, it felt short to me because of all the tension. I wanted to know what would happen next, if they would survive, etc.

With all that said, there were some parts of the book that made me consider DNFing it for a while. These are all definitely personal preferences, but there was SO much profanity—to the point where almost everything the characters said was filled with it. There were a bunch of scenes that (for me) were extremely uncomfortable to read. And the drama just didn't seem to fit with the setting (though I did enjoy some of the more humorous scenes).

I think a lot of it is the author was trying to portray teenagers accurately. But in my opinion, it came across as a tad bit forced and overdone.

Not to mention I just never really felt connected to any of the characters. I'm not sure, but they may have felt veering on stereotypical, and they acted more like middle schoolers than high school/college-aged.

Another thing that bothered me was the only "Christian" in the book didn't act like a Christian at all. Sure, she prayed and read the Bible and quoted Scripture, but when she wasn't doing that, she was using profanity and flirting and in all, being extremely annoying. I just felt like that wasn't at all an accurate portrayal of true Christians—which of course isn't to say Christian characters should be perfect! But our lives should be lived focused on God, not ourselves. And we shouldn't fall into the sinful patterns of this world. :P

But of course, a lot of those things could've just been that this type of book isn't really my thing, and while there were good parts in the story, I've concluded that the better parts don't outweigh the bad. And while I could see this appealing to some teen readers nowadays, for readers like me—I'd sadly have to say I would not recommend this book at all purely because, if nothing more, the content.

I really struggled when deciding how to rate this book, for many reasons. On one level, there is a level of suspense that kept me gripped and wondering what would happen next.

That said, it wasn't at all what I expected. The introduction discusses the diversity of the book, and I was expecting to love it. The premise of six teenagers from very different backgrounds being stuck in the mountains and battling for survival had the potential to be a classic favourite, but unfortunately it missed the mark too many times for me. It felt like these 'diverse' characteristics were an afterthought. A lot of the 'important messages' were either mishandled or completely irrelevant to the plot and so obviously preachy and disjointed that it was clear they were included just to be 'socially aware' or 'diverse'.

The narrator, Sam, was incredibly unlikeable and judgemental. She was petty and honestly spent more time thinking about her romantic life than surviving. Her only redeeming quality was her love for her brother, which also seemed to appear and disappear at convenient timing.

I did enjoy the more thrilling, survival parts, but the priorities of the characters were so wrong. The mood would change entirely in a matter of paragraphs, and they seemed more concerned with trading gossip and stories than finding a way out of their situation. A lot of the more dramatic, life-threatening points came out of nowhere and actually made me check to see if I accidentally skipped a page as they didn't make much sense outside of adding drama.

A lot of scenes were quite good and I did like a couple of the characters, but tonally the book felt off, and a lot of the subplots didn't make much sense within the context of the story.

I think for a survival thriller, tone-wise this book missed the mark. The mood was all wrong.

Young Adult stories can be dark and serious, while staying true to the genre and being suitable for teenagers, but instead, here we got a group of six high school seniors discussing movies, school, crushes and religion like they were sitting around, chilling in a cozy coffee shop instead of stranded in a mountain (!), in the middle of nowhere (!), in the dead of winter(!), during a snow storm(!!!).

For a vast majority of the book they seemed unconcerned with the dire situation they were in. There was a disconnect between what was going on and their overall responses. It killed all feeling of danger and the one essential factor every good thriller should have: the constant sense of dread.

I believe, cast-wise, better choices could have been made, too. The book description explicitly talks about the set of characters being diverse, but of our six protagonists, four (Sam, Stuart, Gavin and Britney) were, as far as I could tell, Caucasian; one (Lily) was pretty stereotypically Asian and the last one (Hunter) was an African American modern day cowboy. Honestly, if ethnicities hadn't been specified I'd have assumed they were all upper-middle class white kids. They all came across as very entitled and shallow most of the book. Sam in particular, the narrator, was very self-centered and judgmental. I thought her quite unlikable.

An aspect I found odd was how the fact that Sam was vegetarian kept being brought up in the story. She kept harping on about how "meat is murder" and "meat is disgusting" and it all felt very preachy. I couldn't care less about people's dietary choices. You do you. Eat whatever the heck you want. But don't come demonize the consumption of meat.

The topic of racism was broached too. When you're trapped in a mountain with your friends, why would skin color be relevant? Why start discussing the whitewashing of history and how the movie industry can be quite racist (however much of a real issue this is)? How is that relevant to the plot? It felt very unrelated and out of place.

At the same time, there were quite a few misogynistic comments and behaviors that went completely unaddressed. Britney, the stereotypically popular, pretty girl, who was also a cheerleader (because apparently she had to be as cliche as possible) was constantly being dismissed and judged by the other two female characters as vapid, stupid and promiscuous. Sam was constantly belittling her in her internal monologues and rambling about Britney's supposed anorexia. Then there were comments from the boys like "The slut is always a chick […] guys can't be the slut in horror movies" and how girls are weaker and less equipped in survival situations (just based on their gender). Hunter and Gavin were even verbally idolized by the Stuart for being sexually active shortly after Sam internally called into question Britney's virginity just because of her own prejudices: "She said she was still a virgin […] but you never know". There was a lot of internalized misogyny that just didn't sit well with me.

The other thing I felt was an issue was the inconsistency in the character's behaviors and actions, and this ties back to the whole "book tone" thing. They were fighting and then laughing until they couldn't breathe. They were motivated and in high spirits and the very next paragraph defeatism and gloom had taken over. It became impossible for me to gauge what was going on and I didn't know how the characters were truly feeling. And thus, I couldn't empathize with them.

I was detached all throughout this book because the tonal cues were constantly contradicting themselves. It made the reading experience messy, and as a reader I felt like I couldn't quite find my footing. Tone should set the mood and give the reader the necessary clues to make them feel what the author intended them to feel. I would not be able to tell you what that was.

The bones for a great story were there, but I was pretty dissatisfied with the execution.

**I recieved an advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and Spark Press for the opportunity**

The Quick Cut: Six southern California teens find themselves in serious danger when their ski weekend turns deadly when they crash their car into a snowbank. Fights ensue as they disagree on how to survive.

A Real Review:
Thank you to SparkPress for providing the ARC for an honest review.

It is often said that you don't truly know what you're capable of until you have to use the strength you have inside yourself. When push comes to shove, what are you willing to do in order to make it through the difficulties in your path? Are you willing to sacrifice others in order to make it another day? Or will you sacrifice yourself to ensure everyone makes it? These are the questions on Sam's mind when she takes a ski weekend with her brother and five friends.

Sam has not been looking forward to this weekend. It's the senior ski weekend and she is going not to have fun, but to ensure that her brother doesn't get himself into trouble with his best friend Gavin again. The weekend feels like a setup to a whole lot of chaos and fighting that only gets worse when they get into an accident and crash their car into a snowbank. With falling temperatures and no cell phone reception, the group can't agree on how to survive the accident and get rescued. Will they find a way to put their feelings aside and make it past their problems? Or will they die divided?

The description of this story really caught me because I've been in a mood for suspense and/or thriller books recently. This one seemed to perfectly fit that description. Unfortunately, all the excitement and adrenaline I was hoping to get out of reading this one went out the window fairly quickly due to the unnecessary amount of melodrama throughout the story. I get that this is about teenagers and no one makes smart choices before their brain finishes development, but did the author have to make their fighting this annoying?

I know, I know - drama is half the fun of a book. However, there is drama for the sake of exciting the plot and putting the characters in new situations. Then there is the drama that this book had. While their friends were struggling to survive and fighting their individual struggles, they were having arguments about friendships and the secrets they were keeping. There is one particular romantic-oriented moment that made me gag because it felt so inappropriate and unbelievable considering what was happening at the time. On top of that, one of the characters deals with a significant amount of comments about anorexia and considering how realistic the talking may have felt - it didn't feel necessary to the plot. It served as little else than a stereotypical plot point and considering the society we live in today - it could have been so much more here.

Sam has the narrator is kind of frustrating because she does feel very one dimensional. The only character trait that really stood out was how protective she was of her brother. Even in that, I found myself wondering why she felt so devoted to him, especially since it was fairly clear it was going to be what killed her. In a story that desperately needed someone to keep calm and get everyone to work together, she was the one setup to do this best. Instead, she was as much as part of the drama happening in that car as much as any of them.

A book with little excitement and too much stereotypical drama.

My rating: 2 out of 5

A group of people with different personalities stuck in the middle of nowhere in a snowstorm? Seems right up my alley. A thriller in the sense that it has you hooked from the start, wondering what'll happen next that keeps you turning the pages. A good read! Didn't like some of the characters at first, but understanding where they're all coming from towards the end. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this!

I loved this book and couldn’t stop reading it. Everything felt completely plausible and it solidified my desire to never spend time in nature. The way that these different characters (all on some level of friendship, but not equally close to each other) react felt incredibly realistic. Of course there would be practical people, and they would be at odds people who would want to take risks. I will read everything Rektok Ross writes forever.

Oh man, so so glad that it is not snowing yet. Reading this in the winter would be horrible, already sick of snow and COLD!
It was a little slow at the beginning and i wasn't super in love with any of the characters, but they grew on me.
I was definitely involved in the middle, reading late at night to find out what was going to happen.
Although I learned quickly not get get involved with any characters ;) It was good.
I was a little sad at the ending, wanting some more, but that doesn't mean a something crazy could happen if it turns into a series.

⭐⭐⭐.5 Stars
This Southern California gal does enjoy reading about a snow trip; especially when it is early September and the weather is toasty. I was raised in snow country so I do have ‘snow’ memories.
I do remember being scared to death driving home from college at night in snow.
I prefer the snow adventures at a ski lodge where everyone is sitting around a crackling fire burning in a huge stone-hewn fireplace warning the room creating a cozy atmosphere to talk about the day’s ski runs. Nothing too adventures but yes I also love to read a good mystery story.

The story starts with Sam, her younger brother Stuart, best friend Gavin, three classmates and Gavin’s dog all heading on a ski weekend trip. Sure enough there is a major snowstorm.

This turned out to be a much different story than I was expecting. As a high school counselor anything teenagers do is never a shock to me! But as a parent this story turned out to be the worst nightmare for any parent. I am positive the parents had many concerns about letting their teen driving teens anywhere ~ let alone in snow. Southern California drivers don’t know how to drive in rain ~ so most get in trouble driving in snow!

This was an emotional read and it certainly kept me engrossed. I kept thinking these teens never should have been in this situation. Of course, I am not the target audience for this story so I am sure teens will love this exciting adventure.

I do like Liani Kotcher’s style ~ her pen name is Rektok Ross and I am sure there is a story behind that! I did look up her bio ~~ RektokRoss.com - Just Living That #BookLife!
Although the bio doesn’t really explain, she does have a dog “’Falkor’ named after the flying dragon in “The Neverending Story”.
I read a lot of YA stories and don’t like that most are so full of profanity, it is difficult to find the story. I liked that this actually had a Christian slant to it rather than nasty language.
I definitely will read another one of her stories.

Want to thank NetGalley and Spark Press for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for October 26, 2021

How long has it been since this author was a teenager and did she socialize with anyone in her peer group at that time? This kids read as simplified adults. I hate that.

I got the ARC from Netgalley, these opinions are my own. I really enjoyed this book! This description drew me in but I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was a thrill ride! I couldn’t put it down! Retook Ross really knows how to keep the read on the edge of your seat! The situations that Sam and the others find themselves in this book are just mind blowing! I like that even know the main characters were teenagers Sam and Hunter and knowledge that kept them all going. And the depictions in this book, you could really visual what it was like to be stranded in the middle of nowhere during a snowstorm! I also liked how even know they were in this terrible situation there was still a touch of romance and character growth! Brittany was actually really relatable which was surprising to me. The situation was heartbreaking but the strength of all of these characters was amazing! I look forward to read this again when it comes out!

I found this a really fast and enjoyable read, the tension and pacing were great and at times felt like I was reading about a genuine story from the news. a totally heart pounding read.

I found much to admire and enjoy here, but overall I didn’t really connect with it. I do enjoy YA horror but this wasn’t immersive enough for me.

A SUV packed with six teenagers and a dog in the middle of a snow storm? What could possibly go wrong?

I am typically one of those people who read seasonal books in their appropriate season BUT I could not resist a snowy book in the peak of summer after reading the description. I was instantly hooked, chapter one, page one, line one. I knew instantly I would not be able to put this book down.

This was an easy read packed with suspense and well developed characters. I felt as though I was driving along in the car with them.

This was my first novel by Rektok Ross, and I was thoroughly impressed with his writing style and ability to capture my attention (and keep it) early on. Ski Weekend , is a captivating thriller that will not disappoint. I highly recommend Ski Weekend!

Ski Weekend is a YA mystery read about the dangers of surviving and what it really takes to make it out in the wilderness. After an accident, six teens and one dog find themselves stranded out in the middle of a blizzard. Throughout the story we follow the teens on their journey of survival through injuries, dwindling food, freezing temperatures, and more.

Each page had me wondering who would make it to the next page. This was a great quick read that had me on the edge of my seat. What made this stand out from other mysteries was the dynamics between the characters. When reading the novel, I truly felt the relationships between the characters and cared about them. This is normally hard to do in mystery novels because they are so plot focused, but the author did a great job of depicting the characters. This story was filled with suspense and I enjoyed reading every page.