I found this a bit laggy and while an easy read, also tedious. Not really my cup of tea. 2 and a half stars.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Net Galley for my ARC.

Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets follows Savannah, older sister to Piper who is currently in a coma after falling off "The Point" also known as Suicide Point. But Savannah doesn't believe her sister jumped, she's investigating who might have had a reason to push her.

This book had a lot of potential for the type of mystery thriller I love. The investigative aspect because Savannah doesn't believe the cops will take her seriously, the secret Savannah is keeping about what happened between her and Piper, and joining a wilderness club where everyone ends up on the mountainside during the whole process.

However this story fell flat. There were so many red herrings and back and forths without really ever getting any new information. The reveal of what Piper was doing the day of had the potential to be a fun scandal but also fell short. And the end reveal was also just not there for me. I wanted a much more sinuous tale than what we got. Every time I thought we were going to get to that point, we took a turn back to the safety of no, not quite.

Thank you NetGalley and and Sourcebook Fire this eArc.

While this wasn’t my cup of tea as far as books go, I was very intrigued by the premise of this book. While it is exactly what it advertises, it ended up being exactly what I didn’t want it to be. Reminded me a little of a zoomed, speedy version of Pretty Little Liars meets One if Us is Lying. So if that’s your things, I’m certain you’ll love this book. It’s fast paced with a lot of twists and turns, albeit predictable, but that isnt always a bad thing.

Things I didn’t enjoy: our MC, i found her really unlikeable, the amount of teenage angst, siblings being horrible to each other, and also quite infantile plotting. Not to be horrible, it indeed reads like a YA,m which it is.

Things i enjoyed: fast paced, twists and turns, surprisingly lighthearted for the topics it deals with.

This was such a quick read for me, and not only because of its length (204 pages). The mystery and the sister relationship kept me flipping the pages.

I thankfully hadn't looked this book up on GoodReads before requesting and reading this book. I was surprised to see the relatively lower average rating because I actually quite enjoyed this read. It is short and quite straightforward in its range of topics, but it is a solid mystery that kept me guessing!

The main character, Savannah, is no Poirot. She's driven by her love for her sister, and guilt. She takes wrong steps, unnecessarily puts herself in danger, accuses the wrong people, but this all feels true to her character and her motivations.

I really enjoyed how the story unfolded. I especially liked how the chapters with the sister's POV started to get included when we got closer and closer to solving the mystery. Adding to all the red herrings.

There are many twists in this story. I was convinced that I was right in my guess for most of the book to only realize I had been wrong the whole time.

I loved the relationship between the sisters, which was quite beautiful and real. I loved how they loved one another, despite quite a few missteps, and shitty parents that do their best to pit one against the other. I loved that they were still there for another despite all that.

Along the way to solving the mystery we also get to find out a lot about the interpersonal relationships between Savannah, Piper and their friend group. This does get into the YA drama between the characters. So if you are not a fan of YA, just be aware.

Thank you for the e-ARC @sourcebooksfire and @netgalley !

💭My review:🐻
Wow, I absolutely loved this book. It has so many twists and turns and it was so full of juicy drama. The author did awesomely, there was soo many details and backstories. I was obsessed from the first chapter and it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I love that the twists and turns kept the secret till the end and that ending was wow perfect. I really enjoyed this book it was my first book by this author and I will be checking more out for sure.

Thank you Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire, Sourcebooks Fire for giving me a chance to read and review this book

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

I enjoyed this one. Once I got a few chapters in, I read the rest in one sitting. I couldn’t put it down because I needed answers and it was a quick read.
The writing style was really easy to follow, and the story kept me hooked. I was jumping all around with different theories, and I loved that everyone in the Survival Club had a possible motive for what happened to Piper. I also really liked the short chapters we got from Piper’s POV towards the end of novel because they helped to make her feel like more of a real character and also to add details to the story.
The chapters were pretty short, and the pacing was quick. Everything happens very quickly, but it didn’t ever feel rushed.
This one was pretty intense for most of the book. The main plot is that Savannah doesn’t believe her sister, Piper, would have jumped at the place that people in town call Suicide Point. Savannah begins investigating after finding a note that has a meeting scheduled for the Survival Club the day that Piper fell. Piper is in a coma after her fall, and Savannah wants to get answers. I thought it was really interesting, but I thought the ending was a little bit anticlimactic.
Overall I enjoyed this YA thriller and I thought it was fast-paced and entertaining.

Savannah is determined to unearth the truth when her sister, Piper went into a coma from an accident that seems unlikely to be a suicide attempt by joining Piper's Survival Club and befriending all of her friends that may be potential suspects. As she unraveled one clue after another, Savannah concluded there was more to this incident than meets the eye and she has a feeling she isn't the only one with secrets hidden beneath it.

I initially DNF this book when I first received the copy because it did not pique my interest enough to keep me going. However, when I noticed the book has been published, I tried my luck once again and decided to give it another try. Though I managed to finish the book this time around, I mostly skimmed through it and the writing sadly did not get any less prosaic.

One thing that is very much obvious is how formulaic this book seems to be. I can see the author employing red herring (as any mystery book should) by having clues and using misdirection to both untangle the mystery and heighten the suspense except, I did not feel any tension in the mystery. Savannah went as far as pinpointing one suspect from the one clue she received to being overt in having them confess and soon finding another suspect to blame just because they said they "didn't do it."

That is to say, I appreciate that Ichaso tried to write a constructive convincing character by having an unreliable narrator with an inept ability to investigate the truth behind Piper's horrific fall. Savannah is fallible and it makes so much sense given the genre of the book itself, so you wouldn't expect Savannah to pull a Sherlock Holmes. Nonetheless, good mystery writing shows instead of tells, but Ichaso did not allow the reader to explore and discover the clues. Once it ended, it just ended there.

I was hoping this book to be on par with AGGTM but Holly Jackson raises the bar high for Pip as this book is nothing as such. I know, I hate comparing too, but it's really hard not to when you've got a taste of how a good YA mystery/thriller book should be. This book just seems to lack a lot in every department. The writing is incoherent and had no sense of continuity, the characters are all unlikeable, the plot is not exactly unpredictable and the ending was rushed. While I can see the author trying to embark on the mystery, this book also had lots of unnecessary teen drama that only serve to paint other characters as 'potential suspects' but was unavailing.

Conclusively, Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets is an easy read, thanks to the simple wording but still wasn't an exciting one to me. Everything harbored here is not the uncharted territory that you wouldn't encounter if you have read many mystery books, to begin with (surprisingly, I didn't read many mystery books but still find this book a bit tedious). I didn't think this book was horrible but some parts could definitely do a few improvements.

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS THE DARK WAY DOWN.

2 STARS

Piper was the star of everyone's life before her fall.

Now, she still is, even in a coma. That leaves her older sister Savannah stranded in a sea of endless grief. It comes from her parents, from her peers, from total strangers, and it seems like it will never end. 

But when Savannah finds a note in Piper's things that suggest her fall may not have been an accident at all. Someone wanted to meet her that afternoon, someone willing to lure Piper there under false pretenses, and now everything has changed. Savannah's only clue to go on is that the note suggests involvement with the Survival Club, and soon, she finds herself out in the wilderness, searching for the identity of her sister's would-be killer.

It could be anyone, though, with the amount of secrets lurking around, and Savannah has her own to protect as well. Is the truth, and justice for Piper, within reach? Or is Savannah bound to fall as well?


The concept of Dead Girls Don't Tell Secrets is a good one.

I've read plenty of murder mysteries, but fewer almost murder mysteries, where the intended victim is still alive but the would-be killer is on the loose. The circumstances have to line up just right to pull this off, but it makes for an interesting twist on a familiar genre, and I was hoping Chelsea Ichaso could pull it off. Plus, cherry on top, it's a story about sisters! You all should know at this point that I live for stories about the bonds between siblings. 

And as things started, I felt like I was going to get what I wanted. The mystery tension between Savannah and Piper before Piper's fall was intriguing, and trying to figure out who might have hurt Piper out of the members of the Survival Club was tricky.

But here's the thing: you still have to make it interesting after that, and in that respect, Dead Girls Don't Tell Secrets utterly failed. I think it largely comes down to the suspect reveals falling flat. Most of them are petty teenage drama, and the ones that stand out are either a) huge enough to kill over, but not the real motive or b) make Savannah look like a self-absorbed jerk.

Either way, the longer the book went on, the harder it was to maintain my interest in it all.


I get that this is set in high school, but the relationship drama was way too over the top.

I don't need these two weird overlapping love triangles. I don't need petty rivalry and major miscommunications and cheating. Really, I don't need any of it, but that's what the bulk of this book turned out to be. Maybe for some readers, this is super interesting and gets them invested in the characters. For me personally, though, it's something I'd rather sleep through. Wake me up when we have some serious accusations on the table, please. 

Better yet, don't make your main character the jerk on standby for all the flashbacks. Savannah's pre-fall interactions with Piper hinge on a certain apathy and bitterness that drove me up the wall, and when Savannah then complains about always existing in Piper's shadow, I went even further up the wall. It's hard to sympathize with a so-so character who keeps letting down the character that's actually pleasant.

Altogether, most of the parts that revolved around characters' relationships with each other made me wonder why anyone was friends/dating/even tolerated being in the same thirty feet of each other. It's hard to enjoy a book when you just want the characters to say what they mean, stop lying to each other, and just overall be slightly more decent people, especially seeing as someone they all care about is hospitalized, in a coma.


Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets is a quick read, but it's not my favorite by any means.

With too much focus on petty matters and not enough proactive and sensible snooping and sleuthing, it really didn't meet my expectations. Cap it off with a resolution that felt not only too sudden, but under explored, and I lost all interest.

I can't especially recommend this book, even for folks who might enjoy some of the more subjective bits that I personally dislike. It just doesn't really hold up across the board, and leaves a lot to be desired.


CW: suicide, loss of a loved one, animal death mention, drug use, smoking

[This review will go live on Hail & Well Read at 12pm EST on 4/13/22.]

I was so excited about this book because it sounded like something that Karen M McManus would write and she is one of my all-time favorites. I was not disappointed by this assumption as Chelsea Ichaso brings together a mystery that is told through the point of an unreliable narrator which only adds to the mystery surrounding Piper's "accident". Throughout the book, the addition of the unreliable narrator only adds to the guessing game that you are playing to try to figure out along with Savannah exactly what happened to her sister during that hiking trip. I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves Karen M McManus or The Good Girl's Guide to Murder series as it was a wonderful, well-written, gripping novel that keeps you hanging on to the very end. I can't wait to read more from Chelsea Ichaso.

Perfect young adult whodunit book! It’s entertaining, fast paced and has a ton of mystery. I enjoyed the chapters from Pipers POV. Those gave you just enough information to keep you engaged in the mystery. Overall, great YA mystery.

This cover is stunning and really draws the reader into the book. The book was very addictive, quick moving and utterly engaging.

Dead girls can’t tell secrets is the newest book by Chelsea Ichaso. For me this is the first book by this author I’ve read, and I was drawn to it because of its beautifull cover. The synopsis also sounds promising, but will the story be as good as I expect it to be?

When Piper was in a strange hiking accident, and has been in coma ever since, her sister Savannah knows that things don’t look good for her. Piper will most likely never wake up, and Savannah goes to seek answers about how the accident took place. And when she comes across a strange invitation, she gets the feeling Piper may not have been alone. Did someone hurt Piper or was it just a stupid incident? Can Savannah find out what really happened?

This story is full of plot twists and Chelsea Ichaso manages to keep the tension all the way up to the end, but unfortunatly a real conclusion wasn’t really present. Chelsea Ichaso has a nice writing style, but a slow pace due to the amount of information that is given. Even though I found this story a bit complicated due to the many details about all the possible subjects, I still enjoyed reading this book.

Dead girls can’t tell secrets is a story that I would recommend to readers who love to read a thriller, with lots of mystery and drama and don’t mind a lot of information.

If you enjoy YA mysteries or thrillers, put this on your list. There were A LOT of twists, turns and red herrings. The characters are fairly annoying frienemies, so not exactly likable, but I couldn’t help getting caught up in the good ‘ol highschool drama. The overnight camping trip was also the perfect setting for danger and suspense as the “friends” uncovered each others secrets. The ending, unfortunately, felt rushed and a bit anti-climactic. Otherwise it was a quick, addicting read and a nice change of pace from my typical genres. 3.5 stars.

Chelsea Ichaso's newest YA mystery is enjoyable to read, if not a bit too formulaic. The plot and characters are certainly well written and over all I believe this will be a great hit when sold to the younger reading public. Since it is set primarily in a high school, the sheer number of characters to keep track of was a bit tedious,

Savannah Sullivan, the main protagonist, is written as the classic older, but certain not "golden child" sibling who has had to deal with living in the shadow of her younger sister, Piper, for most of her high school years. When Piper's fall off a hiking trail is thought to be a suicide attempt, it is up to Savannah to prove a more malicious intent was at play.

This is a fun and thrilling YA Mystery. The book has a really amazing premise that doesn't live up to its full potential but is still a great read (3.5 stars).

I am going to be pretty vague in my description of the book cause I don't wanna give away any of the twists or thrills. The story follows Savannah whose younger sister Piper has been in a coma due to an accident. Savannah joins a wilderness club when she thinks they may know or be involved with what happened to her sister.

This was a slow burn that did have satisfying answers. I love a good wildness thriller and this book satisfied that for me. I think with a YA Thriller you have to remember that these are younger and don't always make the best decisions. But I can somewhat forgive that.

Overall if you like YA thrillers this is a fun and quick read.

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for my ARC of this book for my honest review.

This book is the perfect example of how to write a book with extremely unlikeable characters. I didn't like a single character and not in a good way. They were all extremely selfish and stupid and self-centred. And please don't tell me that all teens are like this nowadays. I don't think anyone can be as selfish as Savannah, the lead character, and get away with it. The ending was also so contrived that I was left rolling my eyes.

2 stars because the book was a quick read if nothing else.

Thanks to Netgalley and SourceBooks Fire for the ARC.

Absolutely loved this YA Thriller! Like really enjoyed it. There are so many twists and turns and full of drama. It kept me up for a few nights as I couldn’t stop turning pages. The author has a very unique writing style which caught my attention.

It took me way to long to finish this book and that must tell you everything.
This was your typical YA mystery Thriller(?). Very basic and with a very unlikable main character. Savanah was a huge part of the reason why I didn't enjoy this book. Her motivations for looking into what happened to her sister were very selfish and the "investigation" was handle horribly. Like... she was dumb and the fact she thought she was super smart... I was done.
I must say the last 20% was interesting but it wasn't enough for me to fully enjoyed this.
Overall this was definitely not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Every single person is this story has a secret and they all make them seem very guilty for Piper’s suicide and Savannah is determined to find out who is responsible. This is a quick fast moving mystery where every other page has you convinced someone else is responsible. It is a great fun easy read as you race to figure out what is going on at the same time as Savannah is, the problem is that Savannah can’t really be trusted either! Who is responsible for perfect piper’s suicide?

DNF at 10%.

I don’t think I can even read another page. I thought the premise of this story was intriguing, but the delivery of this is just BAD.

I hate the main character, I hate the high school setting, I hate the structure. I could go on. I simply do not care enough to want to know how this ends. It’s taken me 3 days to get through just 10%. I’m bored and I’m over it.

This is no hate to the author at all. I think this book could be really great for younger folks who are looking to get into mystery. It’s readable and the writing is digestible.

This one just isn’t interesting enough for me.