I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda is about 7 people bound together by an accident a decade earlier. Every year, the same week as the accident, they gather in a house in the Outer Banks. There were originally 9 survivors. Then there were 8. Now there are 7. This year, a storm is coming, and they are plagued by renewed fears because someone has been digging into what actually happened that night.

This book is twisty and atmospheric. I felt like I was there in the Outer Banks with them. 5 stars, and possibly my favorite of her books so far.

Megan Miranda wrote another suspenseful and engaging book. I couldn’t put this one down with the twists and turns she provided. It’s a fun read!

Indianapolis Book and Author Luncheon featured author Megan Miranda with her book trailer for her latest thriller :
THE ONLY SURVIVORS

Each year the Indpls Book&Author Luncheon features authors across the genre board ranging from historical fiction to mystery/suspense thrillers. There is always at least 1 thriller on the panel and have included past favorites from authors like Mary Kubica and Stacy Willingham. This year is no different, bringing powerhouse NYT bestselling author Megan Miranda with her latest release THE ONLY SURVIVORS. Miranda sets this tension filled, character packed novel in the famous Outer Banks at a weather worn old beach house called The Shallows, which serves as the decade-long home base for a yearly reunion of classmates. This group is bound together for better or worse by their shared survival of a horrific fateful car accident on a class field trip and their resultant pact and promises made afterwards. They are resolute in protecting each other and the secrets of their past, but at the same time don’t trust each other —especially as their numbers start to dwindle and someone starts stirring up fear and creating cracks amongst the group. Will they be haunted forever by their past and the choices they made? Will they ever feel secure in who survived and was saved? Can they make it through another year? Stay tuned and dive in to THE ONLY SURVIVORS for your next thrilling beach page-turner, plus catch presenting author Megan Miranda at The Indianapolis Book and Author Luncheon later this month!!
#meganmiranda #theonlysurvivors #theeruditebibliophilewithwanderlust

I loved this book. The first thing that grabbed me was setting the getaway in the Outer bank, great move. The second was the characters. They each had an individual personality that wasn't all the same. I had a feeling it was the boyfriend about 75 percent in and sure enough. I devoured this book.

4-4.5 stars....

WOW - first; this cover! Probably 0ne of my favorite covers ever - the sunset & colors are absolutely stunning & it's even prettier in person (buy the book for the cover alone!)

I've read all of Miranda's books (besides All the Missing Girls & The Perfect Stranger - which I am going to read now). For the sake of this review, here is how I ranked the others for comparision:
The Last House Guest - 4 stars
The Girl from Widow Hills - 4.5 stars (my favorite)
Such a Quiet Place - 3.5 stars
The Last to Vanish - 2.5 stars

I feel like the last two books, albeit being VERY excited for, were just TOO slow & boring for me, and I was afraid this was going to happen again, once I started this one. It opened with a very atmospheric, idyllic setting – a big beach house in the Outer Banks of North Carolina (I wished I was there whilst reading!), however it was a sloww burn – we were introduced to the 10 survivors, with flashbacks of “then” (the crash site in Tennessee), the others who didn’t make, or passed after. While loving the setting, it was an unhurried, leisurely beginning and middle – which I’m learning seems to be Miranda’s format. If you have the patience, the pay off is worth it! For the twist, unexpected ending, and surprise of it all (75% in ish), I upped it an entire star!

I was pleasantly surprised with this one! Recommend, just go in knowing it’s a slow burn mystery, not a fast-paced thriller.

3.5 ⭐️

The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda is a slow-burn thriller told in two timelines.

The main character, Cassidy, tells the story of present-day events: how she and a group of her high school classmates who survived a tragic accident reunite for a week, as they do every summer, at a beach house on the Outer Banks.

Interspersed throughout the forward-moving narrative are retellings of the accident itself that happened ten years ago from the perspectives of other survivors.

There are two intertwined mysteries at play: (1) what really happened that night long ago when two vans plummeted into a river and 12 people died, and (2) who’s behind the threats the survivors are now facing that could expose their misdeeds on that night.

The pact that they’ve made to protect one another seems to be falling apart and lives are at stake.

Miranda’s writing is clear and engaging. This particular story, though, did not hook me. I had a hard time caring about the characters staying at the beach house, though I did feel drawn to Ian and Clara, who have each died since the accident. I was most interested in learning the truth about what happened when they were teenagers, and on that front, the author delivered a satisfying reveal!

In all, the revealing *gasp* moments were few and far between and made reading most of the book a slog. The plot only got to be page-turny at about 75%, and even then, the suspense didn’t sustain.

Other readers may have a ball with this one, but it was just okay for me. I’m certainly willing to try more books by this author! I love the sounds of some of her other titles and will give them a chance in the future.

Full review posted on Goodreads on 4/7/23: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5236112310

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner/ Marysue Rucci Books for an ARC in exchange for a review.
10 years ago, 9 students survived a tragic school trip accident. A year after the accident one of the survivors committed suicide. That is when they decided to get together each year on the week of the anniversary at a beach rental property owned my one of the survivors families. They didn’t want each other to be alone or lose another one. Now at a decade later, Cassidy receives a text with an obituary of one of the survivors. She wasn’t planning on going this year but she needs to. Now there are 7. They are all on edge, holding onto secrets and not sure who to trust. Cassidy finds the phone of who texted her the obituary on the beach and it doesn’t belong to any of them. Who is watching them? Who wanted to make sure they all came this year? This is a slow burn thriller that I really enjoyed. The twists at the end made it even better. One thing is there are a lot of characters and it can be confusing at times. .

A year after a tragic crash that claimed the lives of multiple high schoolers and teachers, one of the nine survivors committed suicide. Every year since, the survivors have come together on the anniversary of the crash to hold each other accountable, to protect each other, and to commemorate that night at the river. By the tenth anniversary, Cassidy Bent has worked on distancing herself from the tragedy and the other survivors. This year, she’s totally blocked them out, but on the day of the reunion, she receives a text with an obituary attached. Now, only seven survivors remain. Another pulse-pounding, page-turning read from Megan Miranda. Highly recommend!

Megan Miranda is an auto-read author for me, and she continues to keep me excited about her new releases year after year. The Only Survivors reminds me a lot of Miranda's adult debut, All the Missing Girls, in that it follows a fairly unique timeline and the narration is woven in a way to keep the reader guessing while the mystery slowly unfolds. There are multiple points of view, which is always intriguing in a thriller, but Miranda focuses on one primary POV while the others are added in as flavor, which I really enjoyed. It broke up the narrative enough that it never got tiresome. Another edge-of-your-seat adventure and one I will highly recommend to thriller fans and genre newbies as well.

I would give this book a 3.00 to 3.5 stars. I love a good thriller. This is what I would call a slow burn book thriller/mystery. The book starts on a very slow pace, and it takes a while for the pieces of the story to all fall into place. It's a mystery about a group of classmates that are brought together because they survived a tragic night years ago. I don't want to say friends because they are all not friends, and this falls into play as the mystery of their annual gathering comes into play.
One of the things I didn't like is that there is a lot of characters (Cassidy, Josh, Oliver, Brody, Grace, Hollis and Amaya), and you have to follow their stories. You as the reader are also trying to figure out who has what agenda, and what will someone do to survive. The pace of the book is slow, but the author really does a good job of tying the pieces together in the end and who is the puppet master's behind all the mind games.

I want to thank Net galley and publishes Scribner,S&S/Marysur Rucci Books for the opportunity to review this book. Thank you!

Megan Miranda can do no wrong in my eyes. She is an auto buy author for me EVERY TIME! What I love most about her books (this one included) is that they always seem so realistic. I am never left thinking "there is NO way that happened!". A believable but unexpected plot twist is what makes a thriller great in my eyes.

Thank you Scribner and NetGalley for the Advanced Digital Copy for my honest review.

Wow, this may be in my top ten of the year. I was so happy to receive this ARC, and it did not disappoint. I have read this author before and enjoyed her work.
I would suggest you picking up this atmospheric thriller for a great beach read. I enjoyed the main protagonist POV and liked the switching back to the before timeline to get a full scope of the story. There were some great twists and turns along the way while following the nine people linked by a tragedy. Just read this, I don't think you will be disappointed. I could not put it down! 5 Stars!

A tragedy on a school trip-vans going off the road during a storm- left only 9 survivors. And then two of those couldn't live with the pain so now there are seven. Seven who meet every year at a beach house in North Carolina. Cassidy didn't plan to come to the latest one but then she got a text message and learned that her friend Ian was gone. Make no mistake- these people aren't really friends but they've bound themselves to each other and now someone is out to get them. This moves back and forth between the accident and the present, narrated by Cassidy, in a fast paced suspenseful way. Cassidy is the most well rounded of the characters and she's the one in for the biggest surprise. Miranda has a good storytelling style, keeps the chapters brief (making it easier to read just one more), and while the underlying plot might be familiar, this has a good twist. Thanks to the publisher for the arc. A good read.

Calling all fans of In My Dreams I Hold A Knife, this one is for you! While I liked imdihak a lot more, this one was still a fun ride.

I think the hardest thing for me was the frequent dialogue and chats. It got to be a bit overwhelming. I also found a good chunk of the book to be confusing. It never reached that “I can’t put this down until I finish this crazy twist” for me.

All in all, if you’re a fan of her previous works you’ll love this one.

What an excellent book. Megan Miranda is an auto read for me and this has to be my favorite in the most recent years. The mystery was interesting, propelling me to read more. The 9 survivors well drawn and I would have read way more about each of them. A universe in their own right. And the setting of the Outer Banks, a childhood summer vacation that kept me coming back to the story. Highly recommend for all mystery lovers and a perfect mystery beach read.

This was exactly what I needed! I finished the queen of crime’s Will Trent series, aka Karin Slaughter, and have been majorly slumping lately. I just couldn’t sit down with anything and get further than a page or two. But when I started Megan Miranda’s upcoming release, I was hooked!
10 years ago, an accident left twelve students dead, and nine survivors were left to live with the guilt of surviving. On the cusp of graduation, these nine students were lucky to be alive and while they all went their separate ways, they get together every year on the anniversary of the accident. At The Shallows, an old cabin in the Outer Banks that the locals call ‘The Ghost House’, the survivors have an unspoken pact to never talk about that night, to never tell anyone their secrets, and to always be there when the others need them. But the number of survivors keeps dropping. After a decade, there are only seven. Chloe was lost to suicide years before, but it’s Ian’s death being so recent has isn’t the only thing keeping everyone on edge.
There are two main viewpoints in this story. The majority is told from Cassidy’s perspective, which is set in present day as she tries to understand what’s happened. We also get flashback chapters to the actual accident, and I really liked the way Miranda did a flashback for each survivor. It gave us a really good view into what happened that night and also constantly made me second guess who I thought was the villain. Sometimes I feel these flashbacks just make the book longer, but every perspective just added to the already suspenseful atmosphere and twisted the story even more. I went through periods of like and disliking just about every character we meet and could not stop reading.
Filled with suspense and clever twists this book was unputdownable. I can normally predict the endings of thrillers, but this one surprised me. I loved how everything wove together in the story and if you’re looking for a great thriller (especially during hurricane season, a rainy day, or while at the beach) this one is the perfect pick!

The Only Survivors comes out April 11, 2023. Huge thank you to Scribner for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof.books.

I can't tell if this was unenjoyable for me because of the book itself or because thrillers have become a significantly less interesting genre recently. A second round purchase for most libraries.

Ten years ago seven seniors experienced a life altering trauma together when the buses they were on wrecked into a river. Each year they all get together to remember the victims. Or maybe the get together to keep tabs on one another…it’s hard to tell these days. Someone seems to have found out the truth about what happened in those heinous hours. It’s a truth the survivors hoped no one would ever know. How far will they go to protect their secrets?

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The premise was great, but there was sooooo much build up that by the time the big twist came, I had already figured out most of it and I was just glad to be done with it. There was a lot of back and forth between present day and back when the wreck happened. I got to the point I just wanted to know the story and it wasn’t happening fast enough for me!

As with all of the author’s books, this one kept me guessing! It reminds me how our last and future are so intricately bound by the people we keep company with.

A decade ago A decade ago, two vans filled with high school seniors on a school service trip crashed into a Tennessee ravine—a tragedy that claimed the lives of multiple classmates and teachers. The nine students who managed to escape the river that night were irrevocably changed. A year later, after one of the survivors dies by suicide on the anniversary of the crash, the rest of them make a pact: to come together each year to commemorate that terrible night.⁣
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To keep one another safe.⁣
To hold one another accountable.⁣
Or both.⁣
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Megan Miranda does it again folks! I was absolutely hypnotized by this novel, I just had to unravel the mystery of it all and getting to see the dynamic of these survivors or should I call them old friends? ⁣
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Anyway I am totally recommending you guys pick this one up because it’s an intense novel that’s gonna keep you guessing I was also pretty shocked by some of the things that happened towards the end!⁣
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Overall grab yourself a copy on April 11th!