Thank you NetGalley and Danielle Valentine for the ARC!! I loved how fast paced it was and how I could NOT put it down!! I was gripped the whole way through! The ending was a little predictable but it didn’t take away from the journey to get there!! Thoroughly enjoyed!!

I couldn’t put this down because I wanted to find out what happened, but that doesn’t mean I fully enjoyed it. I didn’t love the ending or some of the plot lines. The ending felt so random and like an easy exit. I’m not the target audience for this book, so that’s likely one of the reasons I didn’t enjoy it as much as others might. Some of the things that happened were just so… unbelievable.

The Parent Trap x Friday the 13th

In summary, this mystery thriller proved to be a highly enjoyable read. Its fast-paced nature allowed me to complete it within a mere two days. While the story and characters were intriguing, I found myself wanting more depth and development. The rapid progression of events, while adding to the suspense, left little time for contemplation and survival took precedence. Additionally, the plot twists were somewhat predictable. For those seeking a swift and engaging read, I would recommend this selection.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the arc of this book. all opinions are my own.

This was fantastic. I really enjoyed it! I'd recommend it. I am a lover of thrillers and this one just took me on a ride. I loved everything about it. I couldn't stop flipping pages. Valentine pulls you into the story and it feels like you hold your breath until the very end. A great read!

Thank you @penguinteen #partner for the gifted eARC copy of this book!

📖 What it’s about:
One teen returns to the scene of the “Camp Lost Lake Murders” to dig into her family history. Olivia, was born at the camp 17 years prior while the murders were taking place! 😱 When she discovers her father isn’t really her blood related father she wants to poke around to see what details she can unearth about that fateful night. She meets Reagan, another teen, who has been in hiding ever since those murders happened all those year ago. Why you ask? Well her mother was blamed for being the murderer however Reagan never believed that was really the case. These two young women will find the shocking answers to their questions as they hunt for the truth!

💭Thoughts:
This one is a first by this author but I most certainly have seen her How To Survive Your Murder book floating around and so when I saw this one I jumped at the chance to read it. This is the epitome of a young adult thriller. Camp ✔️ Murders ✔️ A frantic run through the woods ✔️ And a mystery to uncover ✔️ I literally devoured this one in one sitting! I am telling you had I had this book when I was younger I would have eaten this one up! Some of the story was a little predictable but so much of it wasn’t! I loved the in depth twists and turns! Of course my favorite part is the summer camp setting. There is just something about camp that makes it that much more terrifying! If you’re a fan of young adult thrillers this is the perfect one for summer!

I think that this was a very intense and drama-filled novel. The more that I read, the more investing I was to finish the reading especially once the plot thickened. Trying to understand why the two main characters were split in the first place, who the real parents were, and who was the killer if not the witch that was so heavily spoken about in the book. To say that it was a witch that was killing made the camp all the more the rave to go to because people always make scary stories.
This the perfect highlight of the summer read because it was easy to want more information about the characters once you were introduced to them. I love the author, her style of writing is very detailed and grabs the attention of the reader all the while of keeping the attention as going through the book while keeping the plot still hot especially down to the end.

I gave this book a 4.5. I recommend this for someone who is looking to read something like serial killer camp vibes.

This was a really good book! I loved being able to see behind the scenes of Camp Lost Lake, as the killer who haunted the camp is back again. It was a really interesting story!

I’m a sucker for a summer camp slasher, what can I say. This book was fast paced and had some fun humor and more than one jaw dropping twist. And the very end is a real shocker. There was a lot to like about this book.

That being said, nothing about this book is particularly exceptional. It’s your average YA thriller with teen attitude and queer love. Nothing really sets this story apart from any other story like it, and it’ll end up blending into all of the other similar books in my memory.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I love YA thrillers and horror, so this was definitely up my alley. I recommend it to fans of the genre.

Bookstagram Review Coming Soon!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for the gifted eARC!

Thank you Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

That ending!! Man was I not expecting that. Just when I thought I knew what had happened and who had done it, new information would come out and I would completely change my theory!

This was a very fasted paced book and I had a hard time putting it down! I read it in basically 1 sitting! it is dual POV with flash backs to the past every so often. You find out what happens by putting the information given both in the present and past.

I highly recommend this for thriller/ mystery lovers!

This was a quick and fun read! I loved the dual POV from both Olivia and Reagan! There were some plot surprises that I was able to figure out before the big reveal but that did not make the book any less enjoyable. The pacing was probably my favorite part! When it comes to many YA Thrillers, I find the pacing is just a little to slow for me, but this kept me hooked all the way to the very end!

Thank you Net Galley and publishers for letting me read this arc in return for an honest review.

Overall this mystery thriller was very enjoyable. It was such a quick read that I finished it in two days. I liked the story and the characters, but I felt like I wanted more. Of what, I'm not sure. The story picked up really fast and didn't stop. It was almost too fast-paced but I guess that added to the suspense of the events that happened all in a day. No time to think, just get help and survive. It was kinda predictable too so I wasn't all that shocked at any of the plot twists. I would recommend if you wanted something fast to read.

Reading Two Sides to Every Murder is like watching a B grade slasher film from the 80s without the risqué business, if that makes sense. A camp, reopening after being closed for several years due to a series of murders? Check. Unusual things happening when the counselors arrive to setup before the kiddos get there? Check. The story is a lot of campy fun (ba dum tss)..

The characters are solid. The setting is lush. The plot, though, relies a bit heavily on coinincidences, both in the past and the present. For me, that wasn't a problem. Sometimes those old 80s slashers didn't have a real plot or explain who the heck the killer was and why he was killing people. Sometimes the conclusions were so convoluted they left the viewer's head spinning. And I ate those up in junior high like they were candy. This is like those films. If you're expecting something more on par with the first Scream film, you might look elsewhere. The ending of Two Sides to Every Murder is a fever dream of reveals.

In my opinion, in a good way. I was entertained, which is what I look for in a book. The pacing is fast and, while I guessed some of the huge plot points early on, I still had a lot of fun figuring the rest out. I'm giving this book 4 stars. Honestly, this is more of a 3 1/2 star read, but rounding down to three stars when I had such a great time reading the book seemed wrong. I will end by saying I really enjoy this author and will be on the lookout for her next YA thriller/mystery/horror tale.

While I liked How to Survive Your Murder a little better, this one was still a highly intriguing wild ride.
We start with this murder mystery. Camp counselor Gia North is at Camp Lost Lake. Why? We aren't sure since it doesn't open for another 2 weeks. She happens to see someone dressed in a witch's mask kill Jacob Knight with an arrow to the neck. That person then shoots an arrow at Gia and she dies. The murders are blamed on his wife Lori because he was allegedly cheating on her and she was seen fleeing the scene covered in blood among other evidence. Fast forward 16 years and we get Olivia's POV. She is the daughter of the camp director at the time, Miranda. Olivia's sister Andie is planning to revamp the camp. We also have Reagan's POV. She is Lori Knight's daughter. Reagan wants to clear her mom's name, so she decides to go to the camp on what happens to be the same day Andie's renovations start. Then, the Witch of Camp Lost Lake starts killing people again.
Of the 2 girls Olivia and Reagan, I think I liked Olivia better. Although Reagan was funnier and more sarcastic, she was also kind of snotty. Olivia was more of the "straight A's, home by curfew" type of person. I liked the different perspective they each brought to the story. There were a few important side characters. It was easy to remember who was who, we have Olivia's best friend Hazel, Reagan's best friend Jack, then the family members of both girls who were pretty important.
The plot was very fast moving and I felt myself really wanting to pick the book up and read all the time. There was always something terrifying happening and I always felt like I had to keep turning the page. For some reason, the timeline switch we get between Olivia and Reagan and then the day leading up to the original murders threw me off so bad for like half the book. I don't know what it was, but I really had to think about how the characters in the "before" were in the "present." I think it may have been because both Lori and Miranda had children that were teens when the murders happened and then different characters who were also teens in the present timeline. I don't why that confused me, but it really did for a good portion of the book. I did eventually get it through my head though!
I was able to guess a big plot twist and I kind of guessed who the killer was. It wasn't really a definite in my head, but I did suspect this person almost right away and while I did say to myself "oh it could also be this person" those people didn't really stick the way the first person did. It honestly didn't take anything away from the story because I didn't guess any of the details surrounding the twist or murderer, so it was still really fun to learn all of that stuff.
If you are looking for a really fun, quick popcorn thriller with a little bit of gore, look no further because this one will be perfect for you!

Rating: 3 stars!

This is a camp ground murder thriller. I think it just too me personally too long to get engaged in the book for it to be anything but a 3 star for me. The dual POVs, multiple reveals, plot twist, and multiple timelines had me keeping notes in my phone to keep the characters straight.

Overall the book was a super fast read (2 days!) and had a overall interesting plot line! Just try to keep track of all the characters and their relations to each other as you go and the story flies by.

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Olivia finds out her father isn’t her real father so she is set on finding out answers at Camp Lost Lake. Reagan is set on proving her mother’s innocence relating to the murders that happened at Camp Lost Lake.

Even though I figured out most of the plot, I still was hooked by the story line. I was totally shocked by the last chapter.

Thank you to Danielle Valentine, Penguin Young Readers Group and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Omg!! I absolutely loved How to Survive your Murder so I wanted to read this & I’m so glad I did. I read this in less than a day I couldn’t put it down. I was guessing all the way to the end. But how you gonna leave me like this…lol. Can’t wait to read more of your books!!!

Pretty predictable I think as far as thrillers go but I have to say it's super entertaining!!! Had me suspecting a bunch of people throughout.

I thought it was easy to follow and I liked the dual timelines + dual POVs.

"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒘, 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒊𝒎, 𝒂𝒕 𝑮𝒊𝒂’𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆."🎯🎯🎯

Special thanks to @penguinteen @daniellevalentinebooks and @netgalley for my #gifted eARC and paperback.

➡️ swipe for synopsis 👉🏼

MY REVIEW:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First off, I love Danielle Valentine. She's become an auto-buy author of mine ever since I read her YA Horror How To Survive Your Murder. I immediately requested this one because I was hoping for another knockout like that one. This one was super good, but not AS good as HTSYM.

I loved the camp setting. It took me back to my years at YMCA day camp in the woods of Eastern Iowa. I LOVED archery, so this made it extra fun.
It's told in dual POVs, which i always love, and it definitely had me turning those pages. But it felt like it was missing a deeper thriller aspect. I just can't quite put my finger on what else I needed.

But let me tell you, the ending was jaw-dropping!

PUB DAY:
June 25, 2024

QOTD ❓️⁉️❓️ Have you ever been to camp? What was your favorite activity?

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#mysteryandthrills #thrilerlover #thrilleraddict #penguinteen #daniellevalentine #twosidestoeverymurder #bookbuzz #upcomingthriller #yathriller
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Thank you to @penguinteen and @netgalley for this e-arc copy. All thoughts are my own.


Olivia was born during the infamous Camp Lost Lake murders. Now, 17 years later she learns the man she thought was her dad isn’t and goes searching for answers.

Reagan’s mom was found guilty by the court of public opinion for the deaths at Camp Lost Lake and they’ve been in hiding. Reagan believes her mom’s innocence and is determined to clear her name.

With the camp finally reopening, maybe they can finally get answers.


This book was fun! I always love a good horror book and this one was horror-ish though it was labeled a thriller. This book grabbed my interest right from the start and it was a lot of fun. I really had no idea of who was who or what was what until the end. It reminded me of some other well-done thrillers, but this was YA. I got lost in the setting of being a secluded summer camp. Horror books and summer camps just seem to naturally go hand in hand in my mind. There wasn’t a ton of depth of really anything, but I didn’t care, I wasn’t here for character depth. I loved the plot. That is what I was here for, and the plot was great. The dual perspectives were a lot of fun and did help add a lot of contexts which also made up for the lack of depth. So, for the downfall, there were other things that held it together in a very nice way and this ended up being an enjoyable read.

If you are looking for a YA summertime camp slasher, then check this one out.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book ahead of publication! My review will appear on my blog on 5/28/24. I will also feature the review on Instagram that same day and post my review to Goodreads, The Storygraph, Fable, and retail sites.

Review:

I read Danielle Valentine's "How to Survive Your Murder" last October and loved it. It was totally out there, but it worked, so when I saw that "Two Sides to Every Murder" was available on NetGalley, I immediately requested it. I will admit that I initially thought it would be a sequel to "How to Survive..." and I was a little disappointed when I learned it wasn't. But when I read in the synopsis that it was a mashup of "Friday the 13th" (one of my favorite horror films) and "The Parent Trap" (also a fave - the 1960s version with Haley Mills, not the remake), I was excited all over again. Did it work? Mostly. Did I love it as much as "How to Survive..." no, but it was still a fun ride.

The novel follows Olivia and Reagan, two young women whose lives are intertwined by the tragic murders that took place at Camp Lost Lake sixteen years ago. Olivia's parents ran the camp, and her mother was so stressed by the events that she gave birth to Olivia that same night. Reagan's mother was also at the camp when the murders took place, and her father was one of the victims. When Reagan's mother was pegged as the killer, she went on the run, taking a newborn Reagan with her. Sixteen years later, Olivia's sister is set to reopen Camp Lost Lake as a wellness retreat, and the murders have been the topic of a popular podcast. After listening to the podcast, Reagan decides that she is going to clear her mother's name so they can stop running and sets off for the camp to find clues that may set her free.

But someone else is at the camp as well. Someone who has donned the black slicker and witch's mask worn by the original killer. Someone who is very adept with a bow and arrow. Someone who is going to make sure the truth of what happened that night never gets out, and they'll take down anyone who tries to get in their way.

The setting of Camp Lost Lake is vividly brought to life, with its eerie atmosphere and dark secrets lurking around every corner. Valentine does a fantastic job of creating a sense of unease and tension that permeates the novel. The dense forest, the abandoned cabins, and an imposing rainstorm all make an appearance - all standard tropes we slasher lovers expect - especially when the setting is a campground with a dark history.

The book alternates between Reagan's and Olivia's points of view with flashbacks to what really happened the night of the murders peppered in. Valentine's writing is engaging, and the chapters are short and to the point, which makes it easy to settle into and read in a single sitting. The pacing is excellent, with twists and turns that will keep even the most seasoned mystery lovers engaged.

As Olivia and Reagan dig deeper into the past, they uncover shocking revelations that challenge everything they thought they knew. The twists and turns are well-executed, and the resolution is satisfying, though not exactly surprising. I loved that Valentine didn't try to fluff this up with a lot of extraneous content - she got in, told the story, and got out. That said, I wasn't really surprised by anything that happened. I had pegged what was likely to happen pretty early on, mainly because all of the standard slasher tropes and setups were used. I was waiting for a twist that would turn the expected on its head, but sadly, that never came. I also wasn't a huge fan of the last chapter. On one hand, it fits with the slasher vibe, but it felt like it was lacking something. I didn't totally buy into it.

Overall, this is a quick, fun, easy read that checks all of the standard slasher checkboxes. There are some fun twists, and you can easily get through this one in a single sitting. That said, I was really hoping for an unexpected twist that, sadly, didn't come. In the end, it was just okay for me.