Rating: 4.75/5⭐️

After a bad breakup and a betrayal by her best friend, Jade is even more excited for Campus on Board. While on a luxurious cruise, she’ll get to see 11 countries in 4 months and meet tons of new people all while earning college credit, getting her one step closer to completing her degree at Stanford. But most importantly, Campus on Board will put a whole world between her and her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend….until they end up joining the trip. Not long after setting sail, a shocking death has everyone pointing fingers. As more people end up in body bags, Jade has to team up with her new crush and figure out who the murderer is…before she’s the one that ends up behind bars.

YALL!! If you love Karen M. McManus and Maureen Johnson, you have GOT to read this book. I flew through it in maybe two days. I’ve read a ton of YA mystery/thrillers that take place at schools, but never one that takes place at a school on a cruise ship. I felt totally immersed in the setting and loved the characters (even the ones I hated). The only thing preventing me from giving this 5⭐️ is the drug of choice the students used while on board. That serious of a drug didn’t feel realistic to me, and pulled me out of the story a little bit. Other than that, I have absolutely no complaints about this book. I loved it!

Jade embarks on the trip of her dreams, sailing to different countries for an entire semester. It's the perfect excuse to get away from seeing her ex-best friend Lainey and ex-boyfriend Silas together on campus, until she sees them on the first day of the trip. It's even worse when her ex-best friend calls her a stalker and her ex-boyfriend seemed to find that it was all her fault that they even broke up. Steaming in anger and wanting answers, Jade follows the pair around and even finds herself in a fake relationship with the brooding Felix. When Lainey's room is found covered in blood and her body no where to be found, all signs point to Jade and Silas for the murder of the future heir to pharmacological business Sanatek. What seemed to be the trip of her dreams turns into a dark nightmare as she uncovers secrets, lies, and betrayal in order to prove herself innocent.

This book was very fun to read. The first half feels very slow, but it serves as a background and buildup for the latter scenes. I didn't really like Jade as a character, but she was a very well-written, complex character. <i>Lying in the Deep</i> will definitely be an enjoyable read for anyone with its murder meets semester at sea that makes you question whether you truly know the people that you love.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for sending me a copy of this book for an honest review!

Based on the description, I thought that I would love this book. Who doesn't love a fun, complex, maritime murder-mystery? It seemed right up my alley, given that summer is well on its way and I'm yearning for more adventure in my reading pursuits. Although I appreciate some of the storytelling, as well as how, ultimately, the mystery was more meaningful and intricate than expected, I had a couple of major issues with this one.

First and foremost, I could not stand the main character. I really wanted to like her, but in reality, this book feels like a how-to on implicating yourself. Jade, along with the majority of the cast of characters, is supposed to be an Ivy League student, roughly twenty years old. However, the lack of intelligence and maturity really takes you out of the mystery. Truly frustrating.

In addition to this, I saw pretty much every major twist coming, and the ones I missed were overlooked because they revolved around side characters that we got very little background on. I did appreciate the red herrings, as well as how the story itself seemed to come full-circle. However, that wasn't enough to balance it out for me.

Ultimately, without any likeable characters and a plot that was more predictable than I would have liked, I'm not sure if I would read this one again. If I came across the right person, I would probably recommend it, though.

I was so jealous of this group. Wish I had had a chance to spend a summer semester touring the Mediterranean. The story was very suspenseful and moved along. I was engaged from the first page. Great who dunnit. We need another adventure.

had potential - loved the idea and premise but poor execution and I just wanted so much more from it

This was an edge of your seat thriller which kept me guessing until the end. Jade has recently been dumped by her boyfriend for her best friend. She decides to go on her semester at sea trip even though she was supposed to room with Lainey- her ex-best friend. There is no way Jade thinks that Lainey will show up. However not only does she show up but she is with her ex-boyfriend as well. Jade has to find a way to cope so she tries to focus on a new group of friends and tries to find a way to make her ex-boyfriend jealous. Then the unthinkable happens and someone ends up murdered. Things go from bad to worse and Jade has to do all she can to try and figure out what is happening.

I really enjoyed this young adult novel. I could relate to Jade's situation at first having been betrayed by a friend as well. I loved the action and there were some great twists that I did not see coming. An excellent thriller that anyone will enjoy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

On the paper it had everything I could like (hence why I made a request for this ARC and why it was in my anticipated list of 2023). And I do have to say I agree for the ending, the revelations, was really catching. I really liked the reasons behind everything, how some people were implicated, etc ; it could have been a really good thriller/mystery if it weren't ruined by a couple things...

First is the very slow pacing: that specific murder talked in the blurb happens only around 45-50% of the book. I just felt like I were reading a romance drama with petty reasons, jealousy and weird plots and miscommunication. Then the murder happens and everything is fast but I rolled my eyes so many times on the decisions taken by the MC as it went more and more over the top and preposterous.

That relates to the other thing : how the MC (and let's be honest all the other characters) is so STUPID and selfish while blaming the others to be selfish, Jade's stupidity ruins the story. She's supposed to be around 20 years old (seems like they're 2nd or 3rd year of college), with scholarships so she had awesome grades to be able to have a full one at Stanford, and other students are all from Stanford, Harvard, Boston U... You get it, they're supposed to be pretty smart one. But damn the stupidity level is something here, it felt like they were all 15 with how they act around each others with relationships but also with the murders!

I ended up not really liking the book, and it just made me wanna go on a cruise (yes, even if there's murders happening here, I know)....

3.5 Stars
A whodunnit mystery but on a cruise!

This was a quick and easy read. If you're a fan of YA mystery, you will most likely enjoy this.
I like the mystery aspect of the storyline and all the twists, but I didn't care for all the teen drama and angst. The characters came off like high schoolers instead of college kids.

Overall, a good YA mystery if you don't mind the high school drama.

***Thank you to NetGalley, Briar Boleyn, and Starwater Press for graciously sending me a copy of the novel to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

I love a YA mystery and this didn’t let me down. I really enjoyed the start of this book, it was a page turner that I couldn’t get enough of. However, the ending was a bit of a let down it was a weird combination of everything trying to be wrapped up too quickly but also really convoluted and hard to make sense of. Overall, I am happy I read it and enjoyed it! Big thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest review.

All of my reviews can be found on Instagram at @turningpagesmm after publication day.

Lying in the Deep was a good YA read. It was fast-paced and kept me interested. I felt like the main character went from so vengeful to trying to be a good person. I understand that was about her character growth but I didn’t find it too believable. I still enjoyed Diana Urban’s writing and will read her future books.

In this YA thriller, Jade is on board a semester-at-sea program with her now-together ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend, burning with murderous rage… until one of them really ends up murdered. As the prime suspect, Jade investigates with a mysterious hottie, to clear her name before she leaves the ship in handcuffs.

For fans of:

🛳️ University-age characters
🛳️ Forced proximity
🛳️ Fake dating
🛳️ Revenge

I enjoyed this fast-paced, voicey story! I kept thinking I would put it down after one more chapter, and just kept being sucked back in. I finished the last half in one sitting. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I think something to note is that the characters are social media savvy and speak using current slang and internet expressions, which may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

First of all,thanks net galley and penguin teen readers for allowing me the access to this ARC !
This is the second book I read from Diana Urban,and even tough I can say from what I've read and feel trough this book than she have improved her write,some thing in it still sounded kinda off to me. Jade and her friends,the cruise ship aesthetic and it all were cool,of course,but i cannot stand the way she depicted miguel-the only lgbt character- as someone envious and cruel. Yes,it was like she thought about writing a gay guy and went straight to the stereotype ! It really have me side-eing the course of the narrative. Plus,at the end she did practically the same she did in her first book. However,I've liked the mood of the book and the characters as well. I'll be reviewing it tomorrow,so anyone who wants more of my opinions on it,go check my profile (@anbookhunter).

After being betrayed by her (ex) boyfriend - Silas - and (former) best friend - Lainey - Jade just wants to get away. Luckily, she's signed up for Campus on Board, a semester-long program at sea, which will hopefully give her the space she needs. Unfortunately, some of the first people she sees when boarding are Silas and Lainey.

Now, Jade can't avoid them, but maybe now she can get some closure? Only if she can get Silas away from Lainey, maybe then she'll be able to ask him what happened between them that he decided to break up with her via text and then promptly block her. It's fair to say that something is not quite right about the situation.

Then, Lainey disappears from her room, and by the looks of it, she didn't leave peaceably. All eyes are on Jade since most everyone knew about the problems between the two girls. If Jade wants to prove her innocence, she'll have to figure out what happened to Lainey and who could have wanted to harm her.

The story starts off with a bang as the opening pages are the discovery of Lainey's very empty (and bloody) room. Right away, I'm pulled in. From there the story slows down a bit as readers are caught up on everything leading up to this opening moment. It kind of puts the breaks on the momentum early on. While I liked getting the backstory, I felt like we could have gotten the information quicker. As it stands, it takes until almost the halfway point in the book to get back to where we started in the prologue.

Once we hit that point, the story moved from "I've been betrayed, I must find out why" to "I need to prove my innocence". It's full of a lot of twists and turns. Some more plausible than others, but honestly I could feel Jade's anxiety and the franticness just jumping off the page. It certainly lends itself well to the thriller portion of the story. We believe in Jade's innocence, and Jade is adamant about her innocence almost to the point that she'll take any crumb of information and run with it to the point where almost everyone becomes a suspect.

One thing that was a bit off-putting to me was the way the characters talk. I felt like it wasn't representative of how real 18 year old's would speak or think. There are other instances that I don't really want to get into because I want to avoid spoilers. But there were definitely revelations that made be take a second look but everyone else had an almost casualness about it, didn't even blink twice. I just found it odd. It's difficult to put this into words. Maybe it was intentional posturing on the part of the author. A commentary on how these kids really are on their own throughout the story and we're seeing them rushed into the adult world with the things they have to deal with.

I'll say the big twist at the end pulled me back into the story and made me very interested as to how everything would play out. I just wish the rest of the story was trimmed down a little bit.

For the majority of the book I was enjoying the story and the mystery of it all. It kept me flipping pages and wanting to read more, but I can’t say that I was happy with the ending. Things were explained, but the punishment didn’t seem worth the murder’s crime.

Lying in the Deep give me everything a thriller a thriller is suppose to give. I enjoyed everything about this book and more. I couldn't wait to get to the end of the book just to see how the author planned on ending all the twist and turns.

This was fun, atmospheric, and fast paced. I don't think I'm in the YA target audience anymore, so I found some of the scenarios and dialogue to be a bit cheesy. This was entertaining though.

This is a fun, fast-paced ya thriller that kept me on my toes. Jade is a bit of a drama queen, but who could help it after a horrible breakup. Jade's ex, Silas, left her for her best friend and both cut off all contact. Pretty depressing. But, when she sees that they are boarding the same overseas learning cruise, things start to fly off the handle, and Jade winds up looking suspicious.

I enjoyed this one. It's really a fun and quick read. I couldn't take Jade too seriously because she seemed a bit over the top at times. But, I wound up liking this!

Out May 2, 2023!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

The premise caught my eye right away, I loved the idea of a semester at sea, and the plot felt fun and unique. However, I think it lacked execution. The characters seemed like they were in high school, not college. Everyone came off as somewhat one-dimensional, and immature. Their decisions made no sense most of the time. But it was still a quick and easy read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Razorbill & Penguin Random House and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is an enjoyable mistery read with murder at sea, betrayal and twists! I loved that the characters were university students which made it more believable for me when the big twist was relieved. The only thing I would have changed would be the built up to the romance - it felt a bit rushed

4/5 stars

Jade goes on a a campus at sea cruise after being jilted by her boyfriend and betrayed by her best friend. A murder occurs and everyone has something to hide. This was full of twists and turns around every corner and I couldn’t hardly put the book down. Thanks NetGalley and Penguin Group-Penguin For Young Readers Group for this ARC that will be published May 2, 2023!