Member Reviews
The summary of the book really intrigued me to pick up this book, and I'm so happy it didn't disappoint at all. I really liked the whole premise of it and the way it was executed, would surely pick up more from the author in future.
The plot of this one sounds awesome but sadly didn’t deliver for me.
I didn’t really like any of the characters, including the main one Savannah. She was so quick to make assumptions with no real evidence and constantly changing her opinion.
It needed to be flushed out a little more and in this case I’d have liked lot see more flashbacks of Piper and Savannah and Piper and her friends and their drama.
The camping trip with male/female students but no female teacher chaperone was also weird to me.
Thank you SOURCEBOOKS Fire, Sourcebooks Fire & NetGalley for an eARC.
An engaging and addictive YA read. Two polar opposite siblings: Piper is the perfect student and daughter-beautiful, ambitious, intelligent and popular, whilst Savannah, one year older, often lives in her sister's shadow and wishes she would disappear...until she does. A coma inducing and life threatening "accident" made to look like a suicide leads to more questions than answers and Savannah is determined to uncover the truth, regardless of her difficulties with Piper. Her resolve leads her to Survival Club and a camping trip that is the same location as Piper's fall and she is surrounded by all the possible suspects. A twisted mystery that may prove lethal and will have you flicking through the paged. #deadgirlscanttellsecrets #chelseaichaso #netgalley
Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets by Chelsea Isacho is the book I thought I had figured out but it just kept giving twists and turns I wasn’t expecting! It was suspenseful, had plot twists, and kept me wanting to read to figure out how everything would unfold. I thought I had an idea of what the story would be like based on the title, but the whole “don’t judge a book by its cover” completely applies here. The genre I was expecting based on the cover and title applied, but the story itself was so much better and more of a surprise than I was expecting it to be. Highly recommend!
“... you never really know people the way you think you do.”
This YA mystery/thriller intrigued me with the premise about Savannah who was determined to find out whether her sister committed suicide or somebody wanted to kill her, the reason why she joined the club where her sister was a member. Although I found the character of Savannah to be reckless (and consequently hard to like!), I enjoyed this tense and fast-paced read that was full of twists & turns. I was racing to the end to discover more about Piper’s past and who would want to harm her.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for a review
Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. In Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets, Savannah is determined to find out whether her sister Piper attempted suicide or if she was pushed off what the locals call Suicide Point. Savannah joins a hiking club to get closer to the people Piper was around in the days before the incident. What was really interesting about this book is that the reader doesn't necessarily like Savannah for the most part and for most of the book, but she acts the way she does to find out what happened to her sister. There is a lot of character growth for Savannah and a few of the secondary characters too. A good YA mystery that is not overly gory.
Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets by Chelsea Ichaso Pub Date: April 5, 2022
When Savannah's little sister Piper dies from a horrible fall, rumors abound. Was it an accident? Was it suicide? Savannah is sure it wasn't suicide, but the police feel differently...after all, it was from a point that has become known for several suicides lately. Then Savannah finds an invitation in Piper's locker from Piper's climbing club for a group outing which took place at the exact time and place of Piper's death. The thing is, there was no group outing that day. Someone invited Piper, and only Piper, to that spot. If Savannah can find out who, then maybe she can figure out who knows more about her sister's death than they are saying. Not the outdoorsy type, Savannah joins the climbing club to get closer to the members and see if she can figure out what really happened to her little sis. Was it the good-looking teacher all the girls are crushing on? Her best friend since childhood? Her nemesis in all things academic? The dark, brooding (but insanely cute) transfer student? Savannah's attentive boyfriend? The list goes on, but someone knows something and Savannah won't stop until she finds out the truth.
This is a good read for those who love Karen McManus mysteries.
#DeadGirlsCantTellSecrets #ChelseaIchaso #NetGalley
Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets is the story of a girl trying to avenge her sister and figure out what happened to her. The premise sounded interesting to me, so I requested it. Now, I hate it when I can't recommend books, because I really love to share the word on arcs (also apologies this is so late I forgot to leave a review haha) so that people can buy them, but this was not it for me. I didn't dislike it, necessarily, but it wasn't for me. First of all, the pacing felt really really weird. Like it was fast paced but also slow paced? It also didn't hold my attention at all. The plot felt kind of off to me and I just didn't enjoy it overall. Everything was predictable, which I can't have in a murder mystery like this. It was just kind of meh.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel going into this but I quickly, and unexpectedly got sucked in. I could not stop reading, and as I anxiously turned the page, I was filled with anticipation
This one didn't work for me. I couldn't get into the story and didn't really care about any of the characters or what happened to them. Maybe I am too old for this book, it is YA, but it didn't work for me.
I did like reading it but it felt like a chore, the story was one I already know. girl gets into a mysterious "accident" so younger/older sister goes on a hunt for the truth. There are various approaches to tales like these and all in all, I did like the way this one was going. But as said before, it was a chore to read. I was intrigued by the cover as well as synopsis but the writing felt...a bit bland. The main character was boring, and sometimes it felt like things were a bit too easy? I mean, she is a teenager, she's 16,17 but somehow she throughout the book not one adult was suspicious of her plan, not even the cops? It just felt a bit unbelievable. I know that some teens feel their invincible but it would have been nice to have her investigation be hindered a little bit more.
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲, 𝗯𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀. 𝗕𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗸.
If you’re a fan of Karen McManus’ One of Us Is Lying add this to your TBR now!
Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets by Chelsea Ichaso is the story of an older sister desperate to find out what truly happened to her sister. Piper was in a strange hiking accident and has been in a coma ever since. Everyone is chalking it up to a attempted suicide, but Savannah doesn’t believe her younger sister would try to kill herself. She was the smart, successful one, everyone loved her. The doctors are giving up hope, Piper will likely never wake up and Savannah wants answers about what exactly happened that day. Then she finds a note in Piper's locker, inviting Piper to a meeting of their school's wilderness club, at the very place and on the very day that she fell. To discover the truth, Savannah joins the club on their weekend-long camping trip on the same mountain where her sister fell, as she receives more cryptic and threatening notes she begins to question everyone in the club because they’re all guilty of keeping secrets about that tragic day.
This book will keep you guessing until the very end. I was genuinely on the edge of my seat the whole time. I kept accusing people right along with Savannah and kept getting it wrong just like her too. There was a lot of secrets to uncover and just about everyone was guilty of being a shitty person, especially Savannah. The plot has depth, and the characters were well developed and felt age appropriate. If you watch the HBO show Euphoria you know how they make teenagers out to be hard core drug addict, sex driven, partiers. These kids were more your typical superficial high schoolers with raging hormones who yes lie and cheat, but are worried about things like homecoming, the school newspaper, soccer tournaments, and getting into college. It was also a deeply emotional story between two sisters and feeling like an outsider in your own family.
The story is told from Savannah’s point of view and she can be unreliable and paranoid, so I really enjoyed when we got chapters from Piper’s POV. Some details were a little muddled, and we lacked any real parental figures, but I can excuse that. My only real complaint was that I felt like I never really understood when the story was taking place, was it the fall, winter, spring, the timeline was a little unclear. The ending was wrapped up and nicely explained, even if some justice was lacking.
Read if you like:
- YA
- Deeply flawed characters
- Thrillers
- Whodunnits
- Camping trips gone wrong
- Secrets
- Complicated sister relationship
Took me a while to really get into the book, was a bit slow at the beginning but once I was fully invested I couldn’t put it down. I do agree with some of the reviews that this book might be for a younger audience. Enjoyed the story, the twists and turns and overall the book was entertaining.
I loved this book, it was the kind of book that keeps you on the edge of the seat. the kind you don't wanna put down. I finished it in one sitting!
this book sounds like a riveting read. from the beautiful cover to the promising summary. dead girls can’t tell secrets falls short on it’s promises with boring characters and poor detective work.
being a mystery, were bound to have a multitude of red herrings. the character is supposed to discover clues and investigate each of them in turn. unfortunately, our investigating is just savannah demanding answers from each suspect and moving onto the next one when they insist they didn’t do it.
firstly, how is that a mystery? if i did a crime and someone came to me demanding answers, i’m not going to confess to them. of course i’ll tell them it wasn’t me. why would i willingly give myself up like that? especially when there’s no evidence to prove anything?
secondly, who tf goes up to someone to demand answers? aren’t you scared that they could harm you?
to be honest, i think this book is more suited to a much younger audience (like, maybe middle grade?).
the mystery/investigating aside: the characters were mundane and boring. there was nothing special about any of them. especially savannah. she was insufferable.
the one redeeming part of this book was how easy it was to read. the writing style was easy to follow – i read the whole book in one day.
that’s it. that’s the only redeeming factor to this book.
oh, that and the cover’s pretty.
read at your own volition.
I starter the book and it took me a while to get into it but it was just hard the premise sounded great but once i started it it felt like the longest book i’ve read i didn’t finish the book i read up to 20% and it’s not much but the writing style just wasn’t it for me i feel like with a plot like that it could’ve been much better
This book was so good! I want to see more from this author in the future!! I couldn't put this book down. What a page turner!!!
A teenage girl is determined to find out what really happened when her sister seems to have jumped off a cliff, leaving her in a coma. She joins the outdoors skills society her sister was recently involved with to find out more from her friends and finds out that her sister was in fact pursuing a news story for the school paper. She finds out various secrets from her friends and discovers that her sister was upset over an unrequited crush and threatened by exposing a drugs scandal involving the school football team.
I feel like the creepy and highly effective cover and the opening both promise horror or crime or at least a compelling mystery but actually overall the story doesn't offer much for those seeking any thrills of that kind, there's a few twists & turns but overall it lacks any real suspense, engaging characters or convincing drama. There's some really strong plot elements which just don't seem fully explored - the drugs scandal with the football team, the tangled romances, the creepy and corrupt science teacher and a few decent red herrings but it all just seems a bit lacklustre and it's hard to full engage or care about the characters. I did really like the premise of Savannah taking up the outdoor club trip as a way to investigate what's been going on as this feels claustrophobic, tense, brings all our relevant players together and Savannah is such a fish out of water this uncomfortable feeling and her creeping paranoia is all well created here. But overall it's a bit disappointing, especially the 'reveal' of the pretty bland way in which poor Piper meets her demise off the cliff. Actually although it's a bit of a cliched happy ending I did quite enjoy that we see a glimmer of hope that Piper is waking up from her coma at the end! It's not the greatest mystery ever but still a bit of a page turner and does have good teen appeal.
This novel was a fun read. I liked the ending, and where some say it was predictable I did not see it coming. However, there were aspects of the novel that I struggled with. One of my biggest pet peeves is when the MC makes dumb mistakes, and that happened non-stop in this book. I also feel like many parts of the novel focused more on social relationships than the mystery at hand, almost making me lose interest in the mystery as a whole. What I did like however was the pacing. It was super easy to speed through this book due to the fast pacing, and as I said earlier, I did enjoy the ending. Overall, I recommend it to readers who enjoy YA thrillers and drama. If not, then the book isn't for you.
This was such a suspenseful and twisty read! I was interested from the very beginning and as the suspense built throughout the story I just couldn't read fast enough to find out what had really happened to Piper.
Just when I thought I had things figured out, my suspicion would go to someone else. I was left guessing until the very end!
I'll definitely read more from this author.