I thought this one way okay, but I didn’t really get it.

Plot -
Charlie has her life together as an editor-in-chief of a major magazine, but nine years ago, she was at the center of a horrific tragedy. She was the only witness to a murder on her college campus. Now, a friend from college is about to release a movie that spills “the truth” about that night. Nine years ago, Charlie told the police what happened, but in reality, she blacked out and has no idea. Now she will stop at nothing to keep the truth from coming out.

Thoughts -
Nothing really made sense to me. Charlie had blacked out that night, so she didn’t know what happened, yet she was so determined to keep the truth she didn’t know from being revealed? At one point, Charlie thinks she pushed the murderer out the window and reacts like it is the end of the world, and she is going to prison forever. I couldn’t wrap my head around why she would think pushing someone on a stabbing frenzy out a window would result in that, but okay. When the truth was actually revealed, it was really anti-climactic, and I didn’t really care.

Overall, it was a good idea for a story, but the actual plot and “big reveal” were so meh that this won’t be a memorable one for me.

Fun and bingeable debut! Charlie Colbert survived “Scarlet Christmas”, a tragic and horrific event, nine years ago, while a student at graduate school. Charlie doesn’t remember what happened that night except that she lied to the police. Now, a movie is in the works that will reveal all the truths of that terrible night. Charlie is willing to do anything to protect the life she has built as editor-in-chief of a major magazine as well as her fiancee. She has been working with a therapist to work through the sequence of events of that fateful night, but she may not be able to unravel her memories before the movie exposes her. I was impressed with the intricate plot line of this story and the cover art is gorgeous! Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book will be available for purchase on February 6, 2024

Charlie has rebuilt her life; 9 years ago while in graduate school she witnessed an event that the press has called “Scarlet Christmas”. Now she is the editor-in-chief of a major magazine, she is engaged to a publishing heir, and ready to move on. But out of the blue an old classmate (and twin sister of one of the victims who was also Charlie’s best friend), wants to do a tell-all movie and Charlie is terrified that that details she has been hiding will no longer remain buried in the past, and the life that she has carefully built will come crumbling down.

The unreliable narrator made the beginning of this book a bit confusing for me; I didn’t really understand what was going on until halfway through the book and that’s when I started to enjoy it. I initially thought that the audio was why I was finding the story confusing, but then I realized the narrator didn’t remember what had happened that night and that my confusion was due to hers and had nothing to do with reading vs listening and after that I actually really enjoyed the audio narration. This ended up being a quick engrossing story with some fun twists.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotour Books for the ARC to review

Thank you to NetGalley from this eARC. While the premise of this story had everything that I look for in a “thriller,” the fact of the matter was that it read more like a mystery than a thriller. The sort of pulse-pounding that I would expect from something labeled as a thriller really wasn’t there. The story relies on the fallibility of trauma memory, which I think is well presented, but the pay off at the end wasn’t as satisfying as I wanted it to be. Part of this was that by the end of the text, I found the narrator, Charlie, pretty grating. I did, however, breeze through the text, even if there were a few moments where the nonlinear narrative became a bit too abstract. Overall, it was just fine, not one I would pick up again and again.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead, by Jenny Hollander

Quick Bite: The perfect book to curl up with and hide from this atrocious weather.

(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)

Oh yay, it’s gray sludge season! This time of year is the absolute worst, isn’t it? By now, you are all familiar with my disdain for January & February - I take their very existence as a personal insult. Also, I haven’t seen the sun in a week and am at risk of descending into a Major Funk.

But lucky for me (and for those of you sick of my whining), there are still delicious books to be read, and Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead definitely falls into that category.

“Scarlet Christmas” is the name that the media gave the horrific incident that happened ten years ago, when a mentally ill student at a prestigious graduate school snapped and attacked multiple classmates. Three people ended up dead, five were injured. And now that the tenth anniversary of the murders is coming up, there’s a renewed interest in the story and a reviving media frenzy, thanks largely to a movie being made by the sister of one of the victims.

One of those survivors is Charlie Colbert. She’s spent the last decade doing everything she can to distance herself from the terrified & blood-covered young woman in the news site photos, and she’s mostly succeeded. She’s the editor of a glitzy magazine & lives in New York City with her fabulously wealthy fiance. Charlie’s professionalism personified, outwardly polished and poised at all times. Of course, inside, she’s a mess. She’s suffering from PTSD and can’t remember anything about the attacks. Including the role she may have played.

Now she’ll do anything - and I mean HOLY WHOA FREAKIN ANYTHING to keep the movie from being made.

Ok, duckies, first of all, I feel like I need to address the Jessica-Knoll sized elephant in the room. (Did I just call Jessica Knoll fat? That was absolutely not my intention, but I think I may have made things awkward.) Yes, this book has a lot of similarities with Luckiest Girl Alive. You have a narrator at the center of a tragedy at a school, involving multiple deaths, and that narrator has gotten a major glow-up and a super rich fiance since school. Also, that narrator will do anything to hold onto the life that she’s built even as past secrets are about to come to light and destroy it all via a film production.

So yes, there are some definite similarities. But Charlie’s story is very much her own. Her trauma manifests itself in entirely different ways, and her memories are [spoiler].

Aside from that, this is just a super fun book. You have the back-and-forth timelines, a whole cast of side characters that feel just like the friends we all had in college, and a whole lot of pieces that seem to form one picture, but in the end, is something entirely unexpected.

Just read it. It’s a great way to avoid looking outside.

The Nerd’s Rating: FIVE HAPPY NEURONS (and a big middle finger to the current calendar page.)

This book had the best twist and turns! I went back and forth multiple times on whether Charlie was truly innocent or not. Even though she didn’t think she was. I liked when the alternating chapters took us back to the events leading up to the Scarlet Christmas. Without giving too much away I have to say that I did not see the events of that bloody night turning out the way they did. I was waiting for a big twist at the end that never came, and I don’t know why but it didn't seem wrapped up.
Other than that this is one story that you won’t be able to put down!

This was my first book by Jenny Hollander and I loved it! I love discovering new to me authors!

Charlie Colbert was a 23 year old graduate student from the UK studying at the Carroll School of Journalism when her friends were slaughtered on Christmas Eve and the headlines called it, Scarlet Christmas. Charlie survived the night, unharmed.

Ten years later, a movie is coming out about Scarlet Christmas. Charlie has no memory of that night, and refuses to talk about it.

But now because to the movie, she wants to remember and as the plot progresses, memories bubble to the surface and things begin to get interesting.

Looking for a twisty, psychological thriller? Then this is for you!

Navigating this story is comparable to driving on a curvy backroad at night without headlights. You honestly had no idea what was coming next & it made you gasp at the turns!

I had a love/hate relationship with Charlie, the FMC. She is an unreliable narrator due to her blackhole riddled memories. We follow along as she attempts to reveal her blocked memories of the Scarlett Christmas via sessions with her therapist. Did she black out from the traumatic event…. Or was there something more sinister going on??
This story is told via dual timeline, through a mixture of the present and flashbacks (I am a sucker for a good dual timeline!)

As if going through the “attack” wasn’t traumatic enough, Charlie has the monster-in-law from hell and she is battling both mental and physical foes.
On one hand, you feel bad for and connect with Charlie… but on the other, she is so frustrating and untrustworthy. The dichotomy of victim vs aggressor is not lost on me. It adds an extra layer to the story.

Right when I thought I had everything figured out, BAM, there is a curveball and everything I thought I knew is not right at all. I love when a mystery catches me off guard like that.

While the story was very slow paced (sometimes brutally so), it did have a really great mystery/who dunnit aspect to it. I would say if it gets slow for you, don’t DNF, keep going because it does get more interesting and takes turns you won’t see coming!

I enjoyed this book and would definitely read more from the author!

Great concept, multi-layered, good mystery. But overall? Fell a bit flat.

At first, the writing felt choppy and difficult to follow. After I got acclimated, the plot then felt choppy. There were characters introduced that I ultimately felt didn’t add much to the story and weren’t well developed. There were detailed revealed throughout that also didn’t add or change to the overall story or its ending. And there was one “big” reveal in particular that then…didn’t matter? At some point it felt like the author was trying to incorporate too much, which unfortunately detracted from the book as a whole.

Also, I’m a little “over” the unreliable narrator trope, so to have someone who was not only unreliable but literally couldn’t remember the event? It got old very quickly for me.

This I will say: I will be keeping my eye on future releases by this author, and want to see what she comes out with next. This had a lot of promise, so perhaps the next will be even better.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Nothing stays buried. Not if you push hard enough.”

3.5 out of 5 stars (3.5 / 5) Charlie’s bloody past has come back to haunt her. Engaged to a wealthy heir, her idyllic life is disrupted when an old friend plans to make a documentary about a fateful night in their past dubbed “Scarlet Christmas”, possibly revealing missing memories that could implicate Charlie.

The premise sets the stage for a gripping thriller with elements of psychological suspense. Charlie’s journey, from the traumatic past to her seemingly perfect present, promises a tale woven with intrigue and shocking revelations.

Charlie’s determination to stop the documentary production adds a layer of suspense, and the extent she’s willing to go brings a chilling aspect to the story.

While the plot may be familiar, the unique elements, including the missing memories and the documentary angle, inject suspense into the storyline. The makings of a perfect thriller are evident, offering the potential for a captivating read. However, the execution falters with a slow pace and delayed revelatio. This hindered my interest in the story and caused my attention to waver. The anticipation for climactic moments is dulled by the drawn-out narrative.

The lost memories kept me guessing about the ending. While the details eventually come together, the climactic moments fell flat, leaving a sense of unfulfillment.

Despite its shortcomings, the premise itself makes it a story that will still draw interest. I recommend this to psychological thriller lovers!

General content summary: F words= 55, fear of elevator, multiple college students found injured or dead (few details), eating disorder (not eating), anxiety disorder and anxiety pills (panic attacks, multiple, disassociation), Down Syndrome, alcohol (multiple), m/f relationship (kiss), small child death (previous, grief), blood, drugs (marijuana), PTSD, overdose death (previous, no details), stabbing (blood, few details, death), intimacy (brief mentions, no details), mental health (hospital stays), m/m relationship.

Thank you to Minotaur for the copy!

I received a complimentary egalley of EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD by Jenny Hollander thanks to Minotaur Books and Netgalley. I also received the advance listener copy thanks to Macmillan Audio!

EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD follows Charlie, a young woman who survived an event dubbed “Scarlet Christmas” by the public when she was in graduate school. It is a Christmas Eve not easily forgotten, but for Charlie there are pieces missing from her memories of the night and she’s not sure if she wants to know what she’s forgotten.

Nine years later, Charlie is a successful career woman with a fiance and an outwardly perfect life, but it all turns out to be somewhat precarious. When a former classmate starts discussions for a film based on the events of that long ago terror, Charlie is afraid about how it will impact her life and those around her. She’s determined to put a stop to the media frenzy even as she must come to terms with what she does, and does not, remember about her role in the tragedy of Scarlet Christmas.

I didn’t know a lot about this book going into it. The premise sounded a bit familiar to other thrillers I’ve read and enjoyed and I do think that the reading process felt the same. Still, I had a good time following along with Charlie as she works to keep her past from destroying her present. We’re getting action in the present along with Charlie’s flashbacks to the past as she begins to sort through her memories and try to recover more. This did keep up a good pace with slow reveals coming through as we get more and more of the story.

Charlie wasn’t a particularly lovable character for me, but in a way that she was still compelling to read about. I definitely didn’t agree with all of the decisions she was making, but I could see why she would go those directions. The end wraps up things a bit quickly and a bit neatly considering how messy things got along the way. I did appreciate that we see Charlie working through things with professional help as what she went through understandably left a lot of traumatic scars in her mind and her life.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead was a great thriller to start the year with!

I thoroughly enjoyed trying to figure this one out. I did not necessarily like the inclusion of the classic unreliable narrator. However, outside of that, this was a great story!

Charlie was involved in a mass killing, in graduate school, where several of her classmates were horribly injured and killed. Ten years later she is working against the clock, with her therapist, to uncover memories from that night, that she cannot remember. A film is set to come out on the 10th anniversary of Scarlet Christmas, and if she can't uncover her memories in time she may not be able to protect her loved ones from the truth of that night.

Booksellers, this is a great hand sell with books like None of This is True and Good Bad Girl.

This digital review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. Huge thanks to Netgalley, Minotaur Books, and St. Martins Press for my digital review copy.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead
By Jenny Hollander

Charlotte "Charlie" Colbert was a 23 year old graduate student from England studying at the Carroll School of Journalism when the Scarlet Christmas happened. It was Christmas Eve when a savage attack claimed three lives and injured two others. Only Charlie escaped unscathed – or so the tabloids reported.

Now, nine years later, Charlie has almost no memory of what occurred that night, and she has consistently refused to talk about it. But as the tenth anniversary of that night approaches, others who were there decide to make a movie about Scarlet Christmas to "set the record straight."

Charlie has suffered from a form of PTSD ever since the event. She has pieced her life back together with great effort, but now she is hanging on by a thread and is desperate to remember what really happened. As her memories come back bit by bit, the truth begins to take shape, while the life she has so conscientiously rebuilt falls apart.

This cleverly done plot is especially pertinent in today's world, where crazy events like this seem to be happening almost daily!

The title caught my eye and the synopsis piqued my interest. Unfortunately, this turned out to not be for me. I lost interest very early on and couldn’t get myself to finish it. The lack of character development made it hard for me to connect to any of them and I didn't have any interest in the plot. I’ve seen positive reviews for this one so I still encourage people to give it a try especially being a debut.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this eARC!

How would you react if you experienced a traumatic event? Would you be able to move past it? I don’t think any of us really know how we will react until we are put into a situation, which I hope none of us ever have to experience!

For Charlie, that traumatic event is blocked out of her memory. Just a void that she’s been avoiding unlocking in therapy for the last 7 years. Unfortunately, she’s realized that she no longer has the choice of ignoring the inevitable - she must remember what happened. And before the media surrounding her does.

I wouldn’t categorize this as a fast-paced thriller or a book that kept me on the edge of my seat. In fact, I kind of felt like the foreboding feeling was going to reveal something lame and it would all be for not. I think the biggest driving factor is the threat that someone else would reveal all before Charlie could remember. It is power and money and social influence at its finest. So, why did I keep reading?

I totally fell for Charlie. I fell in love with Jenny Hollander’s writing. And, at that point, it was a genuinely good book despite the flaw identified in the previous paragraph. I also want to mention that there were twists I did not see coming. The one hadn’t even occurred to me - which made it more shocking!

In the end, “Scarlet Christmas” is revealed and the who-dunnit is discovered.

I am unsure about I how feel about this book. On the one hand, it is a debut that kept my interest for the most part; on the other, I did find my thoughts wandering off a little. This felt very similar to In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, with the school setting and the reliving of what happened. I wouldn't say that this was a thriller, but I don't know how to classify it.
I would be interested to see what the author does next.

Charlie Colbert was part of a tragedy at her elite journalism school. The tragedy was dubbed "Scarlet Christmas" by the press because the event took place on Christmas Eve. Charlie leaves England and moves to New York and becomes a successful editor-in-chief for a popular magazine. She is also married to Tripp who is from a wealthy family. Charlie is able to move on with her life with the help of her therapist, Noor. The story moves between Then and Now and it includes times during therapy sessions. When a classmate from school announces that she plans to make a "Based on a True Story" about the events, Charlie's life begins to spiral as she becomes more and more convinced that she was more than just a "part" of the tragedy.
I felt that this story was long winded and slow to get to what should have been an attention grabber. This story never got me engrossed in the characters or the events. I don't enjoy DNF'ing books because I have the hope that they eventually get better but this one really pushed the limits. This was my first Jennifer Hollander read so I would like to read another by her to see if this is a normal writing style or maybe just a "one off."
Unfortunately, for me, this book missed the "thriller" aspect, and it didn't capture my interest.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this advanced readers copy of this audiobook.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧―𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙚.

I’m so bummed I ended up not enjoying this book and the synopsis sounded so interesting. I didn’t hate it by any means, but I also wasn’t the biggest fan. It was just an okay read for me.

I did a combo of the ebook and audio. The story started on a good start, I was immediately intrigued and invested. I loved that throughout the book Charlotte was super unreliable, I couldn’t even process what was true and what wasn’t.

I thought the writing was very interesting, I definitely could see myself picking more up from this author. However, I didn’t really get the thrills from this book. Sure there were a few twists here and there, but I felt like the story did too much in the beginning and not enough towards the end.

I would say the first half of the book was enjoyable, but the second half is where it completely lost me. I lost interest and it felt way too slow, I wanted more suspense.

Overall, this was just an okay thriller for me. I had such high hopes as the premise had me entertained, but the second half of the book is what really put me off. I would still recommend this, just don’t expect too much of a thriller, and know it’s more of a slow burn.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the review eARC and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!

What a debut novel from Jenny Hollander! I was hooked from the very first page. While this is a slow burn in regards to the "what" of the main plot, I enjoyed the process of going along for the ride with the narrator. Some of my favorite reads use the "then and now" format as well as the various forms of media that is included to piece together the story. The book overall begins with very little structure which I believe added to the way that I was anxiously devouring it to find out what happened. I think this debut was beautifully done and in a way that felt fresh to me. The twists are !!!!!

I would give this novel 4.5 or 5 stars, up until the very end where I felt the pace change drastically. The more I think about it, I think I can understand why that is where the characters landed in the end, but there were some parts that just felt too perfect after such an intense and exciting ride. I'm not sure if I just wanted more of the story or if I was done and wanted the story to be done, too. Regardless, I would recommend readers who enjoy an edge-of-their-seat, anxiety-producing, and mysterious novel in 2024 to grab this one!

Thank you to Netgalley for an digital advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I had a had time getting into this one. It was slow in the beginning and kept a slow pace until the end. I did like the unreliable narrator and the surprises.