I was excited to read this book. The premise sounded super interesting. While this story didn’t wow me, I thought it was a pretty decent mystery.

I liked Hollander’s writing and I enjoyed most of the story. I’d say I was engaged for most of the book, until the last 75% or so when the story just seemed to drag a little. I liked trying to figure out what exactly happened the night of the murders but the main character became annoying as the story went on. Towards the end, I didn’t care what happened to the MC.

I would say this is more of a mystery than a thriller. Most of the story is about the main character trying to find out what really happened the night of the murders. She cannot recall what happened and she feels she may be responsible.

I was not a fan of the ending and I felt that everything was wrapped up too nicely. I wanted more and the ending just felt lackluster to me.

Even though this wasn’t my favorite read, the story was interesting and I would recommend this book to readers who are looking to read a mystery featuring an unreliable narrator.

3.5 stars

This book had me on the edge of my seat until it didn’t…. The ending kind of fell apart for me and I ended up annoyed.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The synopsis of this book sounded interesting to me so I requested a copy to read.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during this 2nd attempt, I have
decided to stop reading this book
and state that this book just wasn't for me.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

Years ago, Charlie was the witness and survivor of a horrible massacre. In present day, a film threatens the life that Charlie has built for herself and the lies she is running from.

I thought this had promise, but the writing style wasn’t for me. That could be more of a personal preference, so others might enjoy this more.

I hate to do this. I really do, because authors figuratively bleed onto the page and I respect that. But I think this one just isn't for me. The suspense is almost all created by interior monologue and the main character's hysteria, much of it difficult to understand. I get the core of it though. She worries that she might be a murderer because her trauma is so profound she can't actually remember whether she is or not. That premise is a sound one for a psychological thriller and has been done quite successfully before, but the main protagonist in this one (trauma notwithstanding) is not compelling, and given what she endured, not even a sympathetic figure. Not "likable" mind you. She doesn't need to be that. She isn't COMPELLING. I can't muster up enough curiosity to keep going to learn her fate.

I think what this author is attempting, 'Luckiest Girl Alive' by Jessica Knoll did incredibly well, giving an appropriate balance so that the main character Ani FaNelli as narrator never quite convinced us that she was as hard-nosed and bitchy as she wanted us to believe. That device does not succeed here. I have no idea who the main character is at her core, but worse yet, I don't care. The comparison to Jessica Knoll's book is on some level not fair (every writer should be judged on their own merits) but the author too blatantly invites that comparison—the protagonists in both books are in the same industry for heaven's sake, they are both engaged to wealthy men from well-heeled families, they both are struggling with a trauma related to a school they attended where someone they saw as a friend grievously betrayed them ... I could go on. But the point is, I cannot. Not if going on means reading or listening to the end.

I'll almost always give a writer a second try, so maybe I'll enjoy Jenny Hollander's next one, but this is a miss for me.

Audiobook Note: the narrator exacerbated my issues with this book. Her pitch was near histrionic the entire time and the American accents were campy and almost comical.

I really enjoyed this twisty and mysterious book. One of my favorite types of mysteries is dark academia/college thrillers where a group of friends meets up after a long period of time to discuss and figure out something terrible that happened to them in college. This was really well written and kept me guessing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for my copy of this ARC which publishes 2/6/24.

Pairs Well With:

Repressed memory scams
Nut allergies
Devil Wears Prada
This was the perfect psychological mystery to act as a palate cleanser between some of my denser reads. It was tight and snappy, and had just enough of the unreliable narrator trope to keep you on your toes. This is the second “survivor” narrative I’ve read recently, the other one being “Bright Young Women,” and I vastly preferred this one. By not tying itself to real-life source material, it’s able to play with memory, debt, and tabloid vultures more freely and, IMO, with a lighter conscience.

Synposis:
Nine years ago, with the world's eyes on her, Charlie Colbert fled. The press and the police called Charlie a "witness" to the nightmarish events at her elite graduate school on Christmas Eve—events known to the public as "Scarlet Christmas"—though Charlie knows she was much more than that.

Now, Charlie has meticulously rebuilt her life: She's the editor-in-chief of a major magazine, engaged to the golden child of the publishing industry, and hell-bent on never, ever letting her guard down again. But when a buzzy film made by one of Charlie's former classmates threatens to shatter everything she's worked for, Charlie realizes how much she's changed in nine years. Now, she's not going to let anything—not even the people she once loved most—get in her way.

Stephanie opens a can of worms when she announces that she's making a film about the night that her twin and four others died- and Charlie survived. This moves back and forth in time as Charlie, who has built a new life and is engaged, struggles to remember what happened. Is she the killer? She's lucky to have a therapist to help her work things through. Her relationship with her fiance Tripp is a little shaky - will it survive this? There's a twist or two to help you turn the pages. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of the unreliable narrator.

I genuinely don't even know where to begin with this book!

This was a 50/50 read for me, as I think I was expecting something more than it was. I enjoyed the buildup, the characters, and the narrative going back and forth between the past and present. It was a quick and easy read, and it was enjoyable for the most part.

My biggest issue was that the ending fell flat for me. The buildup made it seem so dramatic, and so important, and then the last 20% of the book just fell so so flat. The ending wasn't worth the buildup, or the suspense that the rest of the book kept you in. I did enjoy the ultimate ending, and how the character relationships were wrapped up, but the rest of it was just, 'Alright. That's it?'

Ultimately, it was a decent and quick read, and good for some suspense if you don't mind a lackluster ending. I'd still give it 4 stars.

Nine years ago, Charlotte (Charlie) moved from London to New York to attend journalism school. She moved into the dorms, made some friends, including her BFFs, Cate and Gunner. She also met a cute southern boy named Jordan, and eventually, they are dating. Everything is going well…until it isn’t.

Sounds like a typical college story, right? It is, until the night of “Scarlet Christmas”. A few students had to stay on campus until Christmas Eve, so there was a party involving champagne and handcuffs. The party, oddly enough, isn’t where a gruesome crime happened…it’s what happens the next night that shatters the lives of so many. Charlie was one of the few survivors (of an incident you will wait most of the book to find out about), and she’s worked hard to leave that life behind. She’s now the head of a fashion magazine, she dyed her hair and got a nose job, and she’s slated to soon be Charlotte Goodman West. Her engagement to Tripp is about to lead her into a very wealthy family with a lot of connections. Soon, these connections are needed..

Stephanie, Cate’s sister, is making a movie about the night for 10-year anniversary “memorial”. Charlie has a multitude of reasons why she doesn’t want this to happen, but Stephanie is not backing down. The upcoming anniversary of the bloody night, combined with slight amnesia about the incident, has her baring her soul to a therapist who pushes her to remember what she’s chosen to block out.

It takes a lot to make a past/present crime story cohesive, and unfortunately this one was scattered - the story in past and present, with newspaper articles and various media interspersed - made for a slightly confusing read. (Also, what therapist hypnotizes a patient that is driving?!) As I mentioned, you don’t get the story about The Night until the end, and even then, it was still a bit convoluted. I don’t think I cared for the ending, because it didn’t make much sense.

Overall, this was engaging enough to read in a sitting, but for me, it was too complex when it didn’t need to be. There were a few unanswered questions, and there was a weird vibe to the whole story. I’m giving this an average 2.5 stars, rounded up.

(Thank you to Minotaur Books, Jenny Hollander and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on February 6, 2024.)

You know how sometimes you don’t really want to know the truth about something, so you just don’t look too closely? You purposefully leave that stone unturned, you don’t investigate further - Charlie’s years of avoidance are about to take a wrecking ball to the life she’s so carefully constructed.

Years ago Charlie was involved in a college massacre the media dubbed “Scarlet Christmas,” but since then she’s done her best to move on - never opening up about the events of that day & never poking at that black hole in her memory where there are details missing. But with the ten year anniversary of the tragedy approaching, there’s renewed attention & talk of a movie being made - & with everyone rehashing the timeline, Charlie’s not sure how long it’ll be before the police know that she lied…

The beginning of this book seemed a bit predictable - however, towards the middle Charlie discovered a connection she was unaware of, & the end was chock-full of revelations for the reader: information that I had assumed incorrectly, without even being aware I was making an assumption. I didn’t expect that level of subterfuge from a debut author, & was much more pleased with the ending than I originally predicted I would be. I also enjoyed reading about how Charlie came over from the UK & was unsure of how she felt about NYC until she’d lived there awhile - how eventually she came to love that city of survivors.

Thank you to NetGalley & Minotaur for the ARC in exchange for an honest review - I’ll be on the lookout for this author’s sophomore novel.

Intense build-up but okay twist.

Charlie witnessed a terrible crime, 10 years ago, on Christmas Eve. Some of her friends were killed during what's now called the Scarlett Christmas. She gave a statement to the police about that night. The only problem is : she doesn't remember much and she now suffers from PTSD. Anything that reminds her of that night leads her into a spiral of anxiety and panic attack.

10 years later, some of her old friends are trying to produce a mpvie about what happened to "set the record straight". Charlier fears that what she can't remember might incriminate her, that she might have commited terrible things. So she tries to remember everything while trying to stop that production.

The novel made a good job of building up something very tense and realistic. We are far from unprobable stories. We understand how Charlie can be so scared of the truth. Unfortunately, it's so close from what could credibly happen that the twist kind of feels flat when it's revealed. "Oh. It's just that..." might come out at that point. We get almost a quarter of the ending explaining everything and tying every loop.

I kept expecting some big reveal and almost suspecting some side characters. It was almost disappointing. Also, the writing kind of makes you believe that one of the victim got more than just injured and I got so confused at the end when they reappeared.

Overall, it was enjoyable but just okay. If you're more into the build-up of the characters' and story's background regardless of the ending this might be the perfect book for you.

This was a quick read, not terrible but not the best book either. If was easy to move along with the story as the main character suffered a trauma as a college student and has lost her full memory of it and has tried to move on. She's become a successful editor and is engaged to be married when one of her previous friends sister decides it's time to set the record straight as to what happened that terrible night. The news brings back a lot of terrible buried memories and feelings, as well as her just wanting to finally know what really happened. As our protagonist struggles to reconcile her past and keep her future on the right path she starts spiraling. Some of the things that happen I found confusing but all in all an enjoyable read!

This is a twisty Thriller that kept me guessing. It’s about a woman that survived an attack on her group of friends in college. She has spent years building a life since then. Now, someone is asking questions about that day. Is her carefully built life going to be torn down?

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead is a solid mystery/thriller debut by Jenny Hollander that follows Charlotte Colbert nine years after attending graduate school where an event penned Scarlet Christmas occurred. The author then uses the story to slowly reveal how Charlie has gotten to her editor-in-chief role at a magazine and became fiancee to Tripp Goodman West of "the Goodman Wests". As the story goes along and the 10 year anniversary of Scarlet Christmas approaches, everything is not as it would seem and may get revealed as a new movie is being greenlit and as twists and turns are exposed.
What really happened that night? Is Charlie an unreliable narrator? Why is her fiancee Tripp so invested in the movie being produce? All these questions are answered by the end. The reader just needs to go along for the ride.

Thanks. to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press Minotaur for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Charlie Colbert witnessed something awful in graduate school yet is all the memories she had of that tragic day true to what really happened? As the 10 year anniversary is about to hit, the talk of the tragedy, referred to as the "Scarlet Christmas" is now being rumored to become a movie. Charlie is worried some truths that weren't actually told may come out and worried that everyone may view her differently than before.

The storyline had a great flow to it as I did not want to put it down. Each time I thought I had figured out what might have happened, I found out I was so wrong and then found even that truth was a lie until the shocking events kept coming out of what actually happened! There were a lot of twists which I really enjoyed. If this is the type of read you like, I would definitely recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC. Also thank you to the author, Jenny Hollander for the great read! Looking forward to reading some more of your books!

Charlie Colbert was traumatized by something terrible 9 years ago when she was in graduate school. A gruesome incident, she does not remember, that left 3 of her friends dead in what became known as “Scarlet Christmas”. Now one of her classmates wants to make a film about Scarlet Christmas. Charlie is determined to keep that film from being made at any cost. But why? The story is told by an unreliable narrator, is filled with characters who are and who are not what they seem to be and has lots of plot twists.

Charlie is a graduate student originally from London, studying in a prestigious graduate program in NYC. She survives a deadly school violence event, but doesn't remember much of it. As the 10 year anniversary of the event approaches, a movie based on the tragedy is being produced by one of her classmates. This triggers Charlie to try to unlock her blocked memories and stop the film from being made.
This was a gripping page turner that had me constantly guessing. I found it to be very fast paced, and wanted to abandon all responsibilities to get to the end and find out the truth of what happened. Please check trigger warnings for this book, as it does center deadly school violence. I personally did not find it upsetting to read, especially as it doesn't involve guns, and the actual event is not described until the end of the book. Highly recommend, especially if you liked Luckiest Girl Alive. Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the ARC.
ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"Charlie survived the Christmas Eve killings at her grad school nine years ago. Now she is a successful magazine editor about to marry a scion of NY publishing. But an old friend wants to make a movie about the events of that night, known to everyone as "Scarlet Christmas". And Charlie is afraid - because she lied about what really happened that night..."

If you've read a thriller in the last five years you know how this one will go.
Something bad happened years ago - there are secrets - someone finds out and secrets come to light - dual timeline - consequences
That's how it goes. Charlie survived - can't really remember what happened. The old timeline is Charlie working with her therapist to remember. There's a twist! People in her current life are connected to those events. And maybe everything didn't happen the way she remembers.

The twists are a nice touch. I like the little surprises from Hollander. I really like Charlie's ending.

The book is formulaic but still entertaining.

I very much enjoyed this book. Hollander crafted a narrator who was unreliable in way that endeared the reader to her as she went on a journey to remember all the details of what happened on the fateful night. I loved the few twists along the way and found the story telling with little pieces to be effective—I liked that we never knew the full story until much later, as it made for a compelling read. A strong debut work, excited to see where Hollander goes next. 3.5 stars (rounded up to four).