The good thing about yesterday was finishing this ALC ..it was spooky and terrifying and left me thankful I live in a state with no snow.

#skiweekend
@rektokross Publish date: 10/26
#superthankful🙏🏻 to @blackstonepublishing @netgalley
for my gifted copy.
4.5⭐⭐⭐⭐🌠 YA Thriller

Five reasons to jump and read this

1.The author really has you thinking in the beginning a serial killer was going to slash them all..the suspense was perfect.

2. We had a Breakfast Club assortment for the cast of characters, where the cheerleader and the Jock were typical in the beginning , they showed the greatest development of character. Survival brought out the best in them.

3. I have not held my breath in a YA thriller ever. . This author may have been working with teens under 18 but blood, death and terror was palpable. You felt the hunger, the cold, and the final scenes I cried with the main character.

4. Much like CoHo ..this author broke your heart and put it back together (almost) . You wanted to hug your significant other or kids at the end of the book.

5. This is a perfect start of winter/ end of spooky season book!!

There were many extra things the author unpacked like anorexia, mental health issues , and the oldest child syndrome which almost never gets brought up . Sam felt responsible for her brother, she needed to protect him, and when she couldnt it was crushing. Sam learned much about humanity and life in this trip and what was most important is living each moment to the fullest. This book makes the reader sit back and really evaluate what's important in the right now, because maybe that is all we have. One of the best YA thrillers of the year.

#bookstalove
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#bookobssesedgirl #bookingtogether #bookaddicted📚 #bookstagrammers #bookcommunity #igbooks #igreads #ireadya #yathriller #bookishfollowtrain #bookreviewer #advancedreaderscopy #netgalley #skiweekend

AUDIOBOOK
I enjoyed this book..to a point. It's a YA thriller but ended up being a bit more deadly then the tone implied....
6 teenagers are in an SUV bound for a junior class ski trip in the mountains. A shortcut causes an unplanned stop and they are stranded in a blizzard. What comes next is a mix of tense moments, young adult discussions, and breakfast club -like arguments.

If you like a cold thriller, this is a book for you! Recommended for YA enthusiasts and humans vs nature lovers. #NetGalley #SkiWeekend

This teen survival thriller is an engaging, if uneven adventure. Ski Weekend cheekily ticks all the teen tropes-the jock, the nerd, the popular girl, the loner, and a dog take an ill-fated turn in a blizzard. Trapped in car together they need to work together to survive. As they wait for rescue their conversations turn to surprising confessions. As the days pass the tension rises, the pace picks up, and a number of surprising (or predictable?) events occur, speeding readers to the end.
For the most part the narration was great, but I find faked accents to be distracting and unnecessary.

The mood of this book was a little odd. Like it’s a YA suspense novel about survival being stuck in a snow storm but the characters are frequently chatting like they are just chilling after school together. the book was still interesting, I enjoyed it I just didn’t love it.

Another ARC audiobook thanks to netgalley!

I’m always honest in my reviews and that didn’t magically change so here we go. Ski Weekend was pretty meh. Based on the synopsis I was expecting a lot more drama, suspense and chaos but there really wasn’t much…

It took over half way through the story for things to get even kind of interesting. There were a few moments here and there that sparked a little excitement but it wasn’t anything to really rave over. Honestly, even when it did get kind of exciting it still didn’t really hit the mark. I also couldn’t get past that these CHILDREN got trapped on their way to a school sanctioned event and NO ONE from the event seemed to notice they weren’t there?? So they’re just stuck for days?? I don’t get it.

The characters also, in general, fell flat for me. The majority of the crew just…sucked. They annoyed me so much with their ridiculous actions and comments that I found it hard to like any of them. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Overall, I think if you were to go in with the expectation that this is just gonna be more of a YA drama, you’d probably enjoy it. Ugh, well, I guess that’s it… 🙃

This book was atmospheric, scary, and quite a thrill ride! I enjoyed this book.

What starts off as a weekend getaway for a group of high school seniors ends up for a fight for survival and a test of faith.

These six teens and their dog crash their SUV into a snowbank on the eve of an impending storm. With no technology and dwindling supplies it’s a fight for their lives against the elements. Their friendships are tested in the process as the storm begins to claim them one by one.

How will they survive?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc.

Oof, this is a tough one. From a suspense perspective, it did make me want to keep listening to see what would happen. So the underlying plot was a good idea and reasonably compelling. But I really struggled with this book, too, and didn't *enjoy* reading it. The Alive-meets-Breakfast-Club is a mashup with promise, and you can absolutely tell this was the inspiration behind the diverse set of teenage characters. I didn't connect with any of them and found them pretty annoying. The dealbreaker for me is that I kept being pulled out of being immersed in the story by going "wait a minute, what? That's inconsistent...or that's totally implausible for high school senior volunteer at a vet clinic to have so much medical knowledge." The characters had hard-to-believe skills/knowledge at key moments, but were complete morons in other moments. And maybe that's a somewhat realistic portrayal of teenagers, but it just didn't sit right with me and kept pulling me out of the story. One can only suspend so much disbelief for so long before your brain takes over and says "This is ridiculous."

The narrator for the audiobook did a nice job of it.

Thanks to NetGalley and SparkPress for the audio ARC, in exchange for this honest review.

I am truly grateful for an opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook early.

I want to begin by saying I have read a lot of young adult books, despite being older than the target audience, and I’ve enjoyed many of them. Several are on my top favorites list. I think they can be geared toward younger people while still fully captivating those who are older.

That was not the case here. I thought the writing felt extremely immature. The dialogue did not seem true to actual teenagers (I have two young adult children) and I found myself cringing throughout the story. The way this was written completely ruined what could have been a tense, exciting thriller for me and I was not able to see it all the way through.

I will not be leaving a review on other platforms since I will not be able to promote this in a positive way.

I didn't love Ski Weekend by Rektok Ross, nor did I hate it. At the very beginning of the book when their SUV crashes, first thing I'm thinking to myself is, ‘Didn't anyone check the weather report and road conditions first?" OK... that could have been my first clue that this was going to be a less than enjoyable read/listen in which I had hoped for. Then after while I'm thinking: “Where are these kids parents?" "No missing persons reports filed?" Wait….Am I getting too old for YA? I’ve enjoyed some and do read the genre occasionally.

The premise for this book was fascinating, the cover was dark and haunting. I was expecting a real thriller here! I would classify it as a mediocre thriller and a bit predictable. I wasn't drawn to any of the characters (particularly Sam the MC/narrator for the story who was especially annoying and self centered). The seriousness of the dire situation these characters were in, wasn't adequately expressed, even though they had plenty of time to talk about other topics completed unrelated to the plot.

This one didn't work for me, however, a true YA genre lover may love it and want to give it a try.

2.5 Stars

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. All opinions are my own.

Wow crazy what can happen in onw weekend. Noone planed what happened and noone could belive their story was so incredible to be inspiration for a film after. They was terrified but also so brave for their age. Unfortunatelly no all went good but all together I liked this story of this friends and the dog. For me was really touching the story in the story from an older sister and younger brother. Reccomend.

Thank to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing - Audiobooks for this audio copy.

I received a copy of this audiobook as an eARC from Netgalley. All opinions are my own!

When a fun ski weekend for these high schoolers turns into a terrifying fight for their lives, what lengths will they all go to to survive?

I think my favorite part about this book was how realistic it was. I really found myself in the moment with these characters, which terrified me more than I wanted it to! It was so easy to get immersed with them and to feel like I was trapped as well, and I can definitely say that that creepy feeling has stayed with me the whole time I was listening to the book!

I really enjoyed the way the characters developed and that there was sort of a hidden depth to each of them that the reader wouldn't necessarily have thought about going into the book. It was refreshing to see them as being real and genuine kids who are just trying to figure themselves out.

I do think that the book was a bit predictable, and seemed to follow the kind of stereotypical survival story plot. But overall, I really enjoyed listening to it and being creeped out!

If you're a fan of survival stories, this is certainly the book for you!