This was a fun thriller and the cover is stunning! The twist wasn't that surprising but sometimes it happens. Thank you so much for the chance to read this ARC.

I love a good summer thriller and this one delivered. Also the cover is just stunning,. Thanks to S&S for the arc for my honest review.

This was a strange book to read and the plot twist ended up feeling guessable in not a great way. I ended up skimming towards the halfway mark.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this novel. I highly enjoyed this thriller- dramatic young adult novel. The characters were aggravating at times, but the storyline was fun to follow along.

I found this one to be a bit of a mess. I struggled to keep the characters, their relationships, and their motivations straight. It's a scattered narrative from the start and by the end I"d completely lost the thread.

Summer's Edge by Dana Mele is a teen thriller about a group of friends who have reunited one year following the death of Emily. Last summer, Emily died when the lake house burned down. But, a lot of strange things start happening this summer. Is someone messing with them? Is it a member of their group? Or could it be Emily's ghost? This book was pretty fast-paced and spooky, and I didn't guess the twist at all. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

I will be honest I am not as into thrillers as I used to be but Dana Mele’s debut novel people like us was a thriller that I really really enjoyed several years ago. I was excited to get an arc of this book and I found that I could not put it down just like with her other novel. This one was a lot more intense and it also had more paranormal aspects, which is not really for me. But the way that the mystery progressed was a stellar example of thriller plotting and I would definitely recommend this to fans of the genre.

Emily died last summer in the lake house fire. Emily’s group of friends has spent each summer at the lake house since they were in elementary school. Kennedy and her family owns the lake house. Emily, Ryan, Chase and Chelsea are always invited. This summer, they’re all invited back and Chelsea thinks that Emily is haunting them. Eventually, Ryan shows his dark side and halfway through the book, the point of view changes to Kennedy. She talks about "others", presences that reside in and around the lake house and they get angry. Next, it changes to Emily’s point of view. Then to Chelsea’s.

This book is eerie and creepy until the point of view change’s midway through the book then it’s odd and I was grasping for understanding of what I was reading. It threw me off but the interesting ending brought it all back together, 4 stars!

Summer’s Edge by Dana Mele, 336 pages. Simon & Schuster, 2022. $20.
Language: R (102 swears, 22 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Some things never change, but, despite the house, the lake, and each friend looking the same on the surface, everything has changed. Emily isn’t present for their annual trip to Kennedy’s lake house, and Chelsea is struggling to understand what really happened last summer. So maybe nothing has changed at all – everyone is still keeping deadly secrets.
Reading from Chelsea’s point of view first was a good move strategically for Mele, but it made the story confusing and disorienting for me as the reader, especially when the flashbacks started. Everyone sees things differently, and I had a hard time understanding what was true. When everything clicked for me, their story became more interesting, but it’s definitely one of those books you have to read twice.
Kennedy is White; Mila is described as “tanned”; and Chelsea, Emily, Ryan, and Chase are all implied White. The mature content rating is for underage drinking, innuendo, illegal activity, and sex. The violence rating is for murder and mentions of suicide.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

I wanted to love this book but there was never a point where I fell in love with it. A page turner for sure, but too much drama and the ending left me wondering what was the point.

SUMMER’S EDGE is pitched as The Haunting of Hill House meets I Know What You Did Last Summer and if that isn’t enough to get your attention, I don’t know what will!

A group of teens reunites at a lake house where one of their friends died in a fire the previous summer. YA thrillers are always fun -- especially on a lazy summer afternoon -- and I was so looking forward to this one. I'm not sure if it was me or the book, but I was left more confused than satisfied, had more questions than answers and even now am still not quite sure what exactly happened.

Summers Edge is the perfect YA blend of AHS Murder house and The Haunting of Hill House with a little bit of I know what you did last summer and I honestly really enjoyed it. The book is split into a few points of views along the way with the majority of it being in Chelsea's point of view which adds to the suspense since she's a bit of an unreliable narrator.

No spoilers form me but I'll just say that if you're looking for a quick spooky summer read Summers Edge is it.

DNF at about 45%. I’m not getting this book, everything’s jumping around and I have no idea who’s narrating at times. I’m confused and the paranormal stuff being thrown in is confusing me more.

First up a big big thank you to Netgalley/publisher for allowing me to have a read for this book. It was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022... Sadly. At 15-20% in and I am having to give this one a pass. It is just not working. I think some flashback or having the friendgroup actually seem like a friendgroup would have helped me. Now I just couldn't understand why they had all come back together. I mean, I know I wouldn't have done that. Plus, I know their friend died, but it felt like 100 more things happened because I just couldn't se any friendship. Well, OK, Ryan and Chase seemed to try their best.
Then there is some tension that just felt a tad too early for me. I mean, they just gotten there, I still don't get the characters, and boom, truth or dare turned into something worse.

The underrated thriller of the summer! My book club picked this for our Summer/Fall reading discussion group and I'm so excited about it because I think it will be great to discuss. I may even end up buying a physical copy. It almost gave PLL vibes but waaaay better. I loved the spooky elements, I loved the sapphic elements, overall, I loved this book.

This book is incredibly well thought through. Every single detail mattered and with every page I turned, another piece of the puzzle was given to me, making it impossible to put the book down. I consumed the entirety of this story in a day, even though I had so many other things to do.

Everything about it is just so addictive. You want to know where the story is going and, come on, the vibes that radiate of this book are ones that didn't let me go either. I know horror, thrillers and mysteries are often seen as perfect for the fall season, but I LOVE books like these that make summer spooky.

I didn't see the twists coming even though, with all those puzzle pieces, I could've figured it out, which makes it even better! The twists didn't come out of nowhere: I could've seen them, but instead I started reading this book with assumptions. The author does an incredible job at making the reader feel like they know what this story is about, when in reality... we don't have a single clue.

I'm blown away for sure! So unique and I already can't wait to reread it!

Teenagers at a lake house, a fire, GHOSTS, A MURDER MYSTERY? Sapphic! Fantastic friendships among dynamic characters. Something weird about this book is that there are tarot cards for symbolism, but the symbolism that they have in the book doesn’t actually match up to ‘regular’ tarot card meanings, which is weird if you’ve ever read tarot. If you’ve forgotten how to read tarot, or never have, it’ll go over easy. Also, I love the overlapping secrets in this book, how some POVs know them and others don’t. Four stars.

Summer's Edge by Dana Mele is a great thriller. A well-developed cast of characters, a strong friendship, as well as a range of YA themes. The author kept me on the edge of my seat as I attempted to guess what would happen next. Well written and well executed!

Emily Joiner is dead. She died last summer in a fire at the lake house. Now her friends have returned, a year later, to a rebuilt lake house, in order to finally honor Emily's memory and put the past behind them.

As the remaining four friends start off their summer, strange things start happening. The longer they are at the lake house, and the more they talk about Emily and what happened to her, the more the friends start to think that Emily's death wasn't an accident. They have one day until the anniversary of Emily's death to figure out what really happened, and if her death wasn't an accident, who killed Emily?

This book reminded me a lot of We Were Liars. Teenagers at a lake house, a fire, ghostly visions, and unknown cause of death. However, this book was also very different from We Were Liars, and I'm not going to compare. Just saying, if you're trying to get the vibe, they are similar.

I started of really liking the characters and the friendships they had together. I almost felt like I was a part of their group, part of an inside joke at times, you get the idea, But as the story went on, I got more and more annoyed and frustrated with all of the characters, and by the end, I didn't believe or trust any of them. I think Dana Mele did a good job of concealing the secrets each of the characters was hiding and making it seem like all of them could have been the culprit behind Emily's death. I definitely changed my mind several times throughout the book.

Overall, I liked this book. It's YA and I read it fairly quickly. It was enough to keep me engaged and guessing, and I didn't trust anyone. I did see the ending coming, so I wasn't shocked, but I still think the ending wrapped up well and felt complete. 4 stars

🔥 Book Tour Review 🔥

Thank you Dana Mele, TBR and Beyond Tours for a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.

✦ Perfect summer thriller read (for those that can’t wait for spooky season 👻) with LGBTQ+ rep 🏳️‍🌈
✦ Unreliable friendship group, did someone actually murder their friend and was it no accident?
✦ Cabin in the woods mystery, with paranormal activity, tarot card communication, and hauntings

“𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘣𝘺𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘣𝘺𝘦”

Summer Edge really had me on the 𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 of my seat!
A group of friends come back to the lake house where one of their own, Emily, burned to ashes the summer before.

“𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘌𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦.”

Lead back by mysterious postcards, hints and accusations thrown with tarot cards and game boards. It was such clever way to lead them✨

“𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘦: 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘶𝘱𝘴. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭. 𝘚𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳.”

Messy relationship in friend groups and love triangles galore! This was a book that had me turning just to know more. Is it a revenge plot? Everyone has their own story and secrets of what happened that summer.

“𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥…. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘦.”

I gotta say, without spoiling, that ending caught me off guard. The realization, adding the pieces together that was off from the beginning was exactly what I was looking for in thrillers.