I’ve been having a lot of fun with YA thrillers recently, and this one really kept me guessing! I can’t say much without spoiling one or another twist, but I do wish the ending had a bit more of an explanation of a motive.

Exactly what you want from a new student, in her senior year, who has a tragic past, and somehow finds herself in the middle of a multiple murder mystery!

This book was incredibly readable and I NEEDED to know what happened both in Happy Valley and California!!! Also, completely unrelated to the plot but the food and drinks all sounded incredible (except maybe one thing at the end). Also, the way that Trish Lundy described Lauren in all of her soccer star-ness made me want to go for a run...which is so strange for me to say about a book, but I loved it?

This is a perfect book both for the spring/summer if you're in the need for a beach read. HOWEVER, it is also the PERFECT book for fall and spooky season. I really really enjoyed it.

If you loved A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, this one is for you! Trish Lundy's debut YA book is fast-paced, twisty, and will keep you on the edge of your seat. There were several times throughout the book where I was convinced I had the killer figured out, but I was wrong every time. I loved the full circle wrap up of everything at the end and will be highly recommending this one to all my thriller lovers!

I got finished this book today and I miss it already at first I thought it really was the brothers. I love them both and John. There was so many twists and turns in this book I could not keep up with who did what and it kept going to different people and some I felt didn’t do anything wrong so I’m glad that worked out lol. The core five I hope are still friends( I want friends like them 🥹) and that Robbie and Lauren are married, I’m hoping Lauren’s mom is happy. Chapter 36 made me bawl my eyes out but in the end I’m so happy our girls got justice. I could see this book as a movie/tv show that’s how good it is. I’ve learned a lot from this book and will forever keep it in my heart🥹.10/10 recommend

3.5⭐️! After a mysterious fire and a series of unfortunate events, Lauren and her mom move cross country to get a fresh start. However, it doesn’t take long before Lauren starts to get tangled up with a whole new set of issues. Turns out, you can’t hide from your past.
Overall, an entertaining read with interesting characters!

Things I did like:
- The overall plot
- John and Robbie
- The twist

Things I didn’t like:
- Lauren’s mom
- Lauren’s only personality trait being soccer
- The timing of the events in the ending

Well this book was not what I excepted it to be!
I definitely thought I had this figured out and was out smarting the book, but boy was I wrong. I never saw the ending coming and it was amazing.
I really loved the group of characters from the very beginning, I think they were well thought out and explained, which helped them to jump off the page.
The storyline was unique as it jumped from referencing tid bits of the past while also staying in the present. I loved the writing style, it was one of those books you can just fly through!
Highly recommend this if you’re looking for a great thriller that you will never see the twist coming.
Thank you NetGalley for my arc copy, I am leaving this review on my own.

“She leans in, making sure I hear every word. ‘Every girl the Crestmonts date winds up dead.’ ”
Here are reasons to read the YA Mystery book:

Transfer student - Lauren is a transfer student who moves with her mom across the country for her senior year.
Running - But in reality she is running from something that she did when she lived in California
New Guy - and even before school starts she meets Robbie, a new guy who she considers just a fling
Ex-girlfriends - When school starts, everyone warns her that Robbie and his brother’s ex-girlfriends both mysteriously died, and they think they did it.

This book seemed right up my alley - YA mystery, school involvement, etc. But check your triggers because there are some very real traumas that are mentioned here. Even though Lauren is no angel herself, she does really want to make sure that her new friends are protected emotionally by helping to solve this mystery. And the author did a good job of building a case against someone and while casting suspicions on others. But even the reveal was so twisty I didn’t even see it coming. This is a solid YA option for a summer read.

Lauren and her mom move across the county to start a new life and forget Lauren's bad decisions that left her boyfriend severely injured. Turns out her first friend in her new town also has a reputation...for murder. Fast and twisty. Great read.

It's been awhile since I read a YA thriller that really kept me on my toes and didn't feel totally immature/unrealistic. This one was marketed for fans of Holly Jackson and Karen McManus, and I fully agree, if you enjoy those authors, you'll love this one too.

The Crestmont boys have a reputation. Both brothers have had a girlfriend die suddenly and suspiciously within the last year, and although no one has been charged, it seems too ironic that both boys would date girls who suffered the same fate. When a new girl moves to town, Robbie takes interest in her, despite the warnings people give her. But little does Robbie know, she has her own dark past and secrets she's running from on her cross country move. Can the two team up to finally put their pasts behind them and find closure?

While I do think the way this ended is the non-obvious, obvious answer, I really was on my feet the whole time, and there were moments where I wasn't sure what direction this was going to end in. I find that YA thrillers can be so far-fetched in the way of, there's no way teens would be doing all of this, but this felt realistically creepy enough for me to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the story.

This was fast paced too - I finished in basically one afternoon because I couldn't put it down without knowing the ending, and as I got closer to solving the mystery I really was gripped in. If you need your faith restored in the YA mystery genre, pick this up for sure!

ARC Review! Thank you to Macmillan and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I loved & enjoyed this book so much! I love me a mystery book. I can’t wait for others to read this book.

Lauren has had a rough past year. She and her mom moved across the country after an unfortunate incident her junior year of high school. This is her chance to start over. Unfortunately she soon finds herself friends with someone everyone suspects as a murderer. Senior year just got a lot more interesting.

This book grabbed me from the very beginning. I wanted to read it whenever I had a chance.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
When I read the premise for The One That Got Away with Murder, I went in expecting one thing, and getting something completely different. The blurb absolutely set me up for some kind of revenge thriller in a sense, or at least a potential “escaping a toxic relationship before you die” kind of dynamic. This book is not that, and while I was a bit disappointed, I’ve read books like that before, so I’m also kind of glad this book went in a different direction (and there was still a covert murderer in the guise of a loving romantic partner, even if it wasn’t who I thought). It was deeply compelling, and I savored each twist and turn.
Lauren is an interesting character with a bit of a dark past, and I appreciated how that came into play, even being exploited to threaten her through the course of the story. She’s also rather jaded and hard-edged, a nice contrast to a common trope of thriller heroines being rather naive and innocent. And while there are some toxic family dynamics, including a complex relationship with her mother and stepfamily.
This was an engrossing read, and I’d recommend it to readers looking for more YA thrillers in the vein of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

This is a YA thriller but I have to say it doesn’t feel like one. While great for the YA audience I think the adult audience will like as well. This wasn’t cheesy or to easy to figure out. I actually thought I had it figured out several times with was fooled every time.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, this one was a DNF for me. I couldn’t connect with the characters and everyone bothered me. All the teens were acting so badly. I couldn’t get into the story either.

I hope others love this one.

Who really did it?
Several different times I thought I knew who did it….. and boy was I very wrong! I did not see that one coming.
I really enjoyed this book. It was very easy to read and very well written. Until I was in the last couple chapters. I felt like once everything really started happening it was rushed. Still very interesting, but I felt like it could’ve used more detail.
All together, it was a really good book and a great read! I love a good small town, murder mystery, who done it book.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan, and Trish for this ARC of The One That Got Away With Murder!

Excellent story with regret and murder. Damaged youth seeking redemption. A murderer on the loose and everyone could be guilty. Happy Valley has had three murders or suicide and the suspected offenders must attempt to prove their innocence. Lauren is in a new town trying to forget the horrors of her past. She hooks up with Robbie and he seems to have the suspicion of murder hanging over his head. Be sure to read this!.

<i>I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

The premise seemed promising but the whole thing fell flat. To start, the title is a bit clunky. The plot is the only interesting part of the book and even that was easy to skim. This isn't thriller-y and it isn't even all that mysterious. Lauren being new and unaware of all the drama and trauma that's happened in Happy Valley really could've worked to keep the tension high. Instead, it's a mediocre YA mystery with no real tension.

The characters are very hard to connect with. I didn't really care for any of them. Also, I had to keep reminding myself that they're all teenagers because the things they got up to seemed WILDLY out of character for 14 - 18 year olds. It's dramatic and over the top and that's not really my thing.

Finally, the ending was incredibly disappointing! There was some lazy storytelling (which definitely cost this book stars with me) and it was generally unsatisfying. I feel like this could've been done better.

This was a great twisty thriller, with multiple mysteries and so much misdirection! Lauren and her mom moved across the country the summer before Lauren's senior of high school, to escape a traumatic situation. (It is slowly revealed over the course of the book, so no spoilers.) Lauren starts hooking up with Robbie, but once school starts the other girls on the soccer team let her know that they think Robbie killed his girlfriend and so did his younger brother. And suddenly Lauren, who wanted a fresh start, is in the middle of not only another scandal, but also a murder mystery. Highly recommended for grades 9 and up.

A murder mystery that keeps you on your toes. Just when you think you know who the killer is, you are wrong. This is one of those murder mysteries where you are yelling at the characters to not go! Don’t open that door! What are you thinking? And yet, they do it anyway. The characters are well developed and the writing sucks you in. I felt like I was right there with the characters.

The story takes you back and forth between two tragedies. One that Lauren is trying to escape in her old town. One involving her old boyfriend, many rumors, a horrible fire, and disfiguring scars.

The other took place last summer in the town she has moved to. And it involved Robbie, Lauren’s current “hook up” and her mysterious murder. No one has been charged with that murder but the town all has their suspicions. Especially since his brother’s girlfriend also mysteriously died not so long ago.

I’m excited to read more novels by Lundy.

3.5 stars
I enjoyed this book, but it just didn't immediately pull me in like a lot of other thrillers/mysteries have.
Main character Lauren has moved to a new school after a fire where her and her mom used to live drastically injured her ex-boyfriend Clint. This new town has recently gone through the death of 2 young girls, both connected to one family, the Cresmonts. Lauren forms a no strings attached relationship with one of them, Robbie, and ends up finding evidence that he may have been involved in one or both deaths.
The characters didn't really jump out at me. Lauren was the typical mystery/thriller MC who pushes everyone away, or tries not to form lasting bonds because of something that happened in the past. She had a strained relationship with her mom who has a new boyfriend, the girls on the soccer team didn't like her. Robbie was kind of bland and the other characters didn't stand out, besides Lauren's mom's boyfriend's daughter Ainsley who secretly did coke.
The plot moved along well, there is another pretty shocking death maybe halfway through with a lot of clues found that could potentially point to a lot of different people. It really seemed plausible that all of these people could have done it too. The person it was, was someone I was not expecting. One thing I did like was that with a lot of books that has a traumatic past event, it gets alluded to a lot with no information. In this one, we knew that there was a fire, and that Lauren's boyfriend had gotten extremely hurt. We didn't know why, but that partial information actually made it more enjoyable when we found out what actually happened because I wasn't super annoyed about the "no information, alluded to" *thing* that happened.
Overall, this was a fun and quick mystery/thriller for anyone who enjoys this genre!