Is it appropriate to call a survivor of horrific violence “lucky?”

If everyone I loved was murdered, and someone called me lucky, I’d probably punch that someone in the face. Figuratively, at least, because I’m not great with my fists.

The Lucky Ones starts strong. We’re right there within the chaos and horror, and I felt the confusion and fear.

The story then becomes a puzzle for us to solve, while the five survivors search for answers before they, too, can be murdered.

Pacing is quick, with a few great twists to knock us off balance.

Some things felt improbable/implausible, such as the absolute absence of media attention. And the ending felt like too much of a stretch, while leaving loose ends. Still, I enjoyed the journey.

I listened to this on audio, which I recommend. The narration kept me fully engaged.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orange Sky Audio for an ALC of the audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion. This was my first book (and audiobook) by Kierstin Modglin. I liked that this thriller was short and had a number of twists, holding my attention with the mounting suspense. The Fallen Oaks FIve are the five survivors of a mass murder and the five-year anniversary of the attack finds all five members receiving threatening letters which lead them to reunite and visit the scene of the crime together.
I can't quite put my finger on what didn't work for me in this title, but I'm interested in listening to/reading others by the author (and already have a few).

The premise of The Lucky Ones was so unique to me: Five years ago, nearly all residents of a suburban neighborhood were brutally murdered in the middle of the night; the only survivors were five children/teens. Main character Ellie and her younger sister Cassie have moved on but the tragedy and resulting PTSD impact every aspect of their lives. Then an ominous note mysteriously arrives on their doorstep, prompting Ellie to contact a fellow survivor and leading the group of five to revisit their former neighborhood and home town with shocking results.

This is my second novel by Kiersten Modglin and I will read others, but this is not her best work. I guessed the killer early on (without trying) and was sometimes confused by the large cast of characters. I enjoyed the audiobook narration by Linda Jones and likely would have DNFd if reading a print copy. I appreciate the concise length of this author's thrillers and have come to expect the high number of twists and turns the plot will take, but as other reviewers have noted, the epilogue for The Lucky Ones contained one twist too many.

Thank you to OrangeSky Audio and NetGalley for the advanced listening copy of this novel. All thoughts are my own.

3.5 stars - This one'll keep you guessing! I'm fairly new to the literary world of Kiersten Modglin, but each one has kept me in suspense with the plot twists and turns.

Following along as the five survivors of a mass murder that killed all of their families, recently all received a letter telling them that the killer is coming after them, had me on the edge of my seat and trying to figure out who the murderer was.

My guess was correct towards the end, and my heart broke with the outcome of the book, but it was a great story overall, as I love twists that through me for a loop. I'll definitely be reading her next book and highly suggest this author for anyone that loves a good suspenseful thriller!

Thanks to OrangeSky Audio for the early audiobook on NetGalley for my honest review.

Review of The Lucky Ones by Kiersten Modglin

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed listening to the audio of this book. It was scary, fast paced and really well written. I felt I was in the middle of a nightmare much like the characters. I can’t wait to read whatever she writes next.

Quick synopsis: Ellie is 16 when she awakens one night to intruders murdering her parents. She is able to escape with her little sister and they find that most of the families in their neighborhood are being slaughtered. All together only five kids survive. In the present day (5 years later) Ellie receives a note from the killers warning that they are coming to finish the job. The five survivors all get together determined to beat the killers once and for all.

A big thank you to @netgalley for the audio copy.

I have become quite the Kiersten Modglin fan this year, so I have been trying to read one book of hers a month. When I saw this audiobook from her older books become available, I jumped on the chance! While it was not my favorite book of hers, I will say it was so good! Kept me guessing, plenty of twists and the narrator helped the story come to life! I did not see the ending coming at all!

This one kicks off immediately and I was intriguing by the plot from the very start! It kind of gave me a bit of a Final Destination vibe as well which was interesting!

I really enjoy KMod’s writing style and her continuous use of multiple twists and turns! It always leaves me continually turning the pages and helps me fly through all of her books! While this wasn’t my favourite of hers, I typically find her books to be a thrilling ride so I’m excited to keep reading more!

3.5 rounded to 4

💭 ᴍʏ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ:
This went straight into action. With short chapters and the quick pace, I was sucked into it easily. I really loved the narrator. This shows what life can do to you if you are scarred by a big trauma. A group of five was connected by trauma, but can you really trust people you don’t know? The whole story is full of deceit and although I did see a few twist coming it was a really good storyline and plot!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🤓 ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ:
Short Chapters
Fast paced
Deceit
Revenge stories

ꜱʏɴᴏᴘꜱɪꜱ:
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦.

𝘍𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘖𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘴, 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘖𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘍𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯—𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥.

𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴’ 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘖𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘍𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.
𝘐𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵.

First thanks to #Netgalley and #OrangeSkyAudio for the opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review.

I truly enjoyed this listen. It is short - 5+ hours but if you are cleaning up the Christmas tree etc it just flies by. What's not to love when it begins "We should be dead."

First - the narrator - all good there. Zero complaints, no glitches and only a funky child voice - but I got over that easily.

The author did not try to add in mysterious characters that I can never keep track of. I felt I got to know the main character and her sister Cassie well. The plot is clear, well thought out and stays at a fairly even quick pace. Again, what's not to love.

A bit confused by the ending. I got it - and it fit well. Maybe I should just listen to it again.

Sorry folks - no spoilers and i do think this is a fun listen while walking, running errands or all the things you do during the day.

Note my review on Goodreads noted below.

✨The Lucky Ones✨
▪️Read January 2022▪️
NetGalley audiobook 🎧

This book had an interesting plot, one that I hadn’t experienced reading before.

Five children are the lone survivors of a sub division of families shockingly and brutally murdered in the middle of the night. These children will always have a bond, yet they truly don’t know much about one another. After the tragic deaths of their parents, they moved away and tried to live normal lives, well as normal as you can after witnessing your parents being murdered.

A couple days before the 5th anniversary of the death, each member of the Fallen Oaks Five received a threatening letter with daisies. This letter encouraged the children, now young adults to gather together and try to solve their parents mystery and stay out of danger themselves. They travel back to their hometown and try to piece together the details while keeping themselves safe too.

The Lucky Ones by Kiersten Modglin is a chilling thriller with a shocking premise. Five years ago in a sub division of Fallen Oak the residents were brutally murdered in their beds. Five children survived and are labeled the Fallen Oak Five. No one was ever charged with the crime.

Told from survivor Ellie's point of view narrator Linda Jones empathetically portrays the constant fear Ellie has every day. As the five reunite to find out who is sending threatening letters to them they know they finally need answers. I wanted more from the other survivors. We only see them through Ellie. Still a shocking end as expected from the Queen of Thrillers.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publishers via #netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

I didn’t like this one as much as I had hoped I would.
I found the premise fascinating a really different look on the final girl---- Five years ago, the residents of the Gerbera subdivision in the small town of Fallen Oaks were brutally murdered in their beds. The only survivors, now called The Fallen Oaks Five, were children, now adults getting strange letters that bring them all back to the town they left when their parents were killed.

The twistiness was good, you know I enjoy that, but there were other times that it felt abrupt and I got a bit confused at times. However I did enjoy this story as a whole.

This is my 3rd book by this author and I enjoyed this one just not as much as I liked The Arrangement and Widow Falls.

Linda Jones narration as very well done with good emotion and both male and female voices were good.

3 stars
I received this book from the publisher OrangeSky Audio and NetGalley for a fair and honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and Orange Sky audio for the early listen. Strong ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️. The author and narrator held my attention to the very end. Characters all felt so real and found myself wanting to chew my nails too. Definitely will recommend this story!

Ever heard a T-minus countdown in movies during rocket lift-offs? My rating for this book went through a similar countdown in my head.

0 – 20% - 5 stars
21% – 40% - 4 stars
41% – 60% - 3 stars
61% – 80% - 2 stars.
81% - last chapter – 1 star.
Epilogue – 0 stars. (If negative stars are possible, then -10 stars.)

Wanna know why? Read on.

Story:
(This content is obviously taken from the initial chapters of the book and hence it will sound quite interesting and appealing.)
Five years ago, the residents of a neighbourhood named Gerbera, in the small town of Fallen Oaks, were brutally murdered in a night-time attack by unknown assailants. Only 5 teenagers survived. They weren’t friends with each other prior to that night but being the only survivors left without anyone else in the world bonded them together. Now, they have all received a warning letter – the killer is coming for them again. Will they be able to escape a second time around?
The story is narrated from the 1st person point of view of one of the survivors, Ellie.

As you can see from my “rating countdown” the start is fantastic. Right from the very first paragraph, the book creates an excitement in your mind that sustains for quite a long time. And then the bizarre explanations and senseless actions start making an appearance and the excitement turns to bewilderment. The reason for the murders is so stupid that I can’t even get my head around it. Everything is way too exaggerated, many situations are too coincidental and the justifications for people’s actions are simply unbelievable.
What further irked me was the writing style. A typical conversation between characters goes something like this: (paraphrasing to avoid spoilers)
Character 1: “You can't be here.”
Character 2: “Why?”
Character 1: “You just cant.”
Character 2: “But why? Tell me.”
Character 1: “I can't tell you.”
OR
Character 1: “You don't know what happened.”
Character 2: “Tell me what happened.”
Character 1: “I can't. I'm not the right person.”
Character 2: “Who can tell me then?”
Character 1: “I can't tell you.”

You get me? If every “character 1” could reveal the answers when asked the very first time, the book might have been completed in a hundred or so pages. It becomes so repetitive after a point.
I have read one more book of hers prior to this, and her modus operandi in both seem to be similar – have characters who know plenty of secrets but won’t reveal anything. The other book I had read was called “our Little Secret”. So I was somewhat more prepared for secrets there. But in this book, they kept irritating me rather than intriguing me.
I understand that this author is known for throwing un-guessable twists. Every positive review praises the twists in her stories. I agree with that to a certain extent because there is no logical way on earth that you could arrive at such plot turnarounds. But twists have to still make sense in the logical flow of the plot, and that doesn’t seem to happen in this book.

I heard the 6 hour long audiobook as narrated by Linda Jones. She was a great narrator and her performance helps a lot. Honestly, her voice doesn’t suit the age of the character she was voicing. The character was supposed to be 22 but her voice sound much more mature. This is just a minor point of feedback and shouldn’t take away from the quality of her performance. The audiobook goes by quickly so if you still feel tempted to give this book a try, do let it be by audio.

A fun game to play while listening to the audiobook: Count the number of times Ellie’s character says “Truth be told.” Never have I rolled my eyes at the phrase so much!

My thanks to OrangeSky Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “The Lucky Ones”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook. Sorry this didn’t work out better.

This author is one of my absolute favorites, so I was really excited for this one. Unfortunately I just didn’t love this one. It wasn’t bad by any means, just didn’t really keep my interest like her books normally do.

Kiersten Modglin is the queen of twisty reads, so I was very happy to have the chance to review this audiobook, thanks to the publisher and a Netgalley.
Unfortunately, this book fell a bit flat for me.
Five years after the massacre that killed off the entire Gerbera subdivision and rocked the town of Fallen Oaks, the five survivors of the brutal, unsolved attack return, hoping for answers. Instead they are left with more questions and fear for their safety.
I found the plot slightly far fetched and the whole book was slightly thrown off because of this.

Holy crap! I really enjoyed this very unique thriller. Modglin does a great job with quick-hit twisty thrillers. I listened to the audio version and it's very fast-paced and enjoyable. Great quick read!!

*Thank you @netgalley and Orangesky Audio for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review *

The story of the surviving "Fallen Oaks Five" starts out with a bang. I found myself extremely intrigued by the mystery of what happened in Gerbera. The book then switches to a more current timeline, which creates a slow-burner feel for the story. I believe that the narration for this title was well done and pulled the story along nicely. Overall, the book is well paced and filled with twists, intrigue, and a really interesting arcing mystery.

Unfortunately, despite being completely fascinated by the storyline of this book, the "big twist" did leave me with more of an "oh, what?" reaction. While being very appropriate for the current storyline the final twist made the original tragedy feel a little implausible. I enjoyed the twist but I feel like it ultimately needed an explanation of how it was logistically possible for what sounded ultimately like a slaughter to have been as tragic as it was, with the explanation that we got. It really made me feel like I missed something as the reader. I also believe that it would have been beneficial if we could have gotten a little bit more of an insight of what it was like living in the neighborhood and about the adult residents that lived there.

This is my first experience reading something by Modglin. I believe that she wrote a really compelling and interesting book and I'm excited to see what else will come from her.

An entire neighborhood is slaughtered with only five surviving children and just five years later they find themselves in grave danger once again.

Another suspenseful thriller full of twists and turns that we've come to expect from Kiersten Modglin. The action kicks in right from the start and I was immediately sucked in. I ended up finishing the audio in just two sittings.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Kiersten Modglin, and the publisher for providing the advanced audio in exchange for an honest review.

Hmm.....where to start on this one? I'm la huge fan of Kiersten Modglin. I've read all of her books. She has a knack for twists and turns! This one was the first one I felt was a little bit on the predictable side. Still a good one though! I love how her books are quick reads! I like to have a few quick and short reads ready to go when I'm waiting for a new book to come out or a library hold!