This book started off strong but the pacing fell off awhile in. The twist in the middle of the book felt out of left field (not in a good way). The ending was lacking. Overall I was entertained but annoyed at parts. I think it could have been much shorter.

Book: Only One Survives
Author: Hannah Mary McKinnon
Publisher: Harlequin Trade Publishing
Pub Date: July 16, 2024
I never could get into this story. It seemed slow to me and was very predictable. Still love this author…this book just wasn’t for me.

4.5/5

I’ve read all of the authors books and I think this is my new fave! There was something addictive right from the start, I was instantly drawn into the story and read this in record time. There are quite a few characters at the beginning and I thought I would be confused but I settled in quickly and had no issues. The suspense started right at the beginning and really never waned for me, things just kept happening and there were some really great twists that threw me for a loop too. One in particular really shook things up and made me race to finish the entire thing to see wtf would happen next. Loved this one and definitely recommend it!

I couldn’t get into the story just as I thought. Not disappointed but need more depth, I think. I can't remember when was the last time when I read a book in which the whole plot was 100% equal to what was written in the blurb and nothing more. There was no surprise there, no resolution to any of the plot threads and the whole story was blatantly predictable and painfully dull.

I kinda wish the characters would have been fully introduced a bit earlier so it would have been easier to follow in the beginning but it was a great thriller. A who-done-it in the beginning and a fast paced "can you get away with it" for the second half. Loved this book and can't wait to read more from this author.

Only One Survives by Hannah Mary McKinnon is a twisty mystery thriller about a girl band called Bittersweet. When their van crashes off an icy mountain road, only one band member ends up surviving. But what actually happened? What happened at the cabin in the woods? This is an unputdownable thriller that was very entertaining to read. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

Get ready for a wild ride with "Only one Survives"! This book follows two high school best friends from totally different worlds who come together to form a dynamic two-man band. Fast forward to after high school, and they reunite to create an even bigger, full-cast band.

The story bounces between past and present, keeping you on the edge of your seat. In the present, we witness a deadly car crash and its shocking consequences. Meanwhile, the past unfolds, revealing how every event led up to this intense moment.

What makes this book so captivating is the seamless flick between timelines, making you eager to dive back into the present scenes. The build-up is tense, and just when you think you've got it all figured out, an astonishing twist hits you right at the end.

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for flicking this ARC my way.

This is a thrilling and emotional journey that keeps you hooked from start to finish. It's a definite must-read for anyone who loves a good story with a powerful twist!

An enjoyable read for fans of Yellowjackets. I felt truly immersed into the wilderness with these characters

The story is set in dual timelines; pre- and post-accident. Main characters Vienna and Madison met on their first day of their senior year of high school, and the book continues as a coming of age-ish storyline. They go on to form a girlband and were on the verge of stardom when they had a horrific car accident in a blizzard in upstate New York.
This is my first book by this author. This is a good story and held my interest throughout, with a good cast of characters. Recommended!

Thank you to Harlequin Trade & NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a 4.5 ⭐️ read for me, and a super captivating thriller! My only complaint is that it was on the longer side (400 pages), and there were places where the story could have been condensed, rather than dragging out.

But overall this was a super unique and interesting story. A story of fame, greed, deception, tragedy, and murder Hannah Mary McKinnon weaves the perfect web of suspense. I really loved watching the band begin, and the behind the scenes look at the music industry. And the twist that comes in the last 5% of the book, I never saw coming.

The book ends with all questions answered and everything wrapped up neatly in a satisfying bow! Anyone looking for a new thriller to read should absolutely pick this one up. I could easily see this book becoming a movie, and I would be so here for it!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of Only One Survives by Hannah Marry McKinnon.

This is my first book by Hannah Mary McKinnon, and I really enjoyed it! This locked room-esqe mystery/thriller definitely had a twist I wasn't expecting, and at first I wasn't too thrilled about it, but it defnitely made for a good twist. I enjoyed the central characters being part of a girls' rock band - I thought that was really smart and will attract a lot of readers. The style and format was really fun adding in podcasts, internet comments, etc. This was very entertaining!

The Bittersweet are an all-girl pop/rock band who are on the verge of making it big when they are stranded in the Catskills after a horrible car accident. Drummer/songwriter Vienna is the band's only known survivor along with Libby, a filmmaker who was following the band. 3 of the band's members are dead and Madison, Vienna's best friend and the Bittersweet's singer/guitarist, is missing. What really happened after the accident?
This is a difficult book to review without spoilers. The premise of tragedy and mystery surrounding a young rock band will definitely draw music fans in. Besides the music aspect, there are themes of toxic friendship, the price of fame, and cancel culture. Overall I enjoyed this one but it dragged and time and was maybe 50-100 pages too long, but the BIG twist in the middle kept me interested.

The plot was really intriguing and I love a good locked room mystery. I thought the book started out strong, and while I was compelled to finish it, there weren't as many twists towards the last half of the book to make it as interesting as the first half. The character development of the two main characters was excellent. I would recommend this book to those who are fans of the thriller genre, YA, and locked room mysteries.

The intensity here was so real. The perfectly executed twists were calculated and jaw-dropping. It kept me on the edge of my seat and was one heck of a roller coaster ride.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was caught up in this story until the second half. Secrets were revealed too soon for me and it revealed too much, leaving a long ending without the thrill of not seeing it coming.

Thanks to netgalley for the prerelease ebook.

This book was good but not exactly great. It really pulled me at the beginning and it was hard to put down. However, once I got to about 40-45% my interest in it definitely started diminishing. Then it got to the point I was heavily skimming from about 65% on.

I didn't love any of the characters and couldn't really connect. I was shocked with the big twist but I hated how it was just so casually thrown into the story. It made me have to reread the part and not in a good way. Lol. And even though I was shocked, I still feel weirdly unsatisfied.

I don't know. I'm really meh on this one.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC!

I'm of course a big fan of Hannah Mary McKinnon and have been following all the releases I can, but that wasn't the only reason I was excited for this one. Her last one, The Revenge List, had been phenomenal, a new favorite for me. This one wasn't a good rival for it, unfortunately, but it was good. And different. I wasn't expecting McKinnon to be trying new flavors and she succeeded.

3.5 rounded up to 4.

Vienna, a drummer with a troubled past, finds solace in her drum kit and her best friend Madison. Together in New York, they form a promising band until tragedy strikes, leaving Vienna as the sole survivor, and Madison missing. Not only the fans, the media and the police form their own theories of what could have happened and if Vienna is the one to blame.

The book is told from Vienna's point of view, going from the moment she meets Madison, plus a few bits from media and the web showing what other people are posting. From the opening we know there's a possibility Vienna is guilty so it's very obvious the story is how she'll defend herself. I think this awareness of how we have a narrator we can't trust made me even more curious of how it would turn out. And don't worry, this isn't an open ending; you will find out exactly what happened. One thing I really admire McKinnon's style for is not leaving loose ends, you know she's an author in control of her story and characters; this book was no exception.

I like how she used a younger and more energetic character this time. Although Vienna is at a turning point of her life after everything she's worked for could be lost if she can't prove her innocence but you feel a youth energy from her that is very different from what McKinnon usually writes. It's not that I want her to write younger characters, but I loved that she is trying different ones. Another thing I found interesting is that she is using some premises from other books that didn't work so well then and that were better here. I'm not sure I could give examples without spoiling the story, sorry. But as a fan, I found that great. Writers tend to repeat whatever worked instead of risking what wasn't so successful.

So, why didn't I give it five stars? Why wasn't this as good as her previous book? I struggled to fully support Vienna, despite wanting to from the post we get at the opening of the book. And despite the book's emphasis on taking sides, I couldn't be Team Madison either, though the reasons are more obvious when the book wants you not to like her and she doesn't help herself either. Without a likable character, you'd need a very good story. It was a good one, but not that good. The way it's told isn't so common but the plot itself wasn't that much of a novelty either.

Overall, McKinnon once again demonstrates her mastery of storytelling and control over her characters. While this book may not surpass her previous work, it's another testament to her skill and creativity.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

This didn't work for me, I found the pace really slow and the twists were easily figured out early on , I didn't want to finish it but made myself with hopes that it might pick up. Surprised by this one as it had been on my TBR for SO long.

Engaging, but frustrating: this, for me, describes the most frequent sin of the mystery/thriller genre as, even while I continue to turn the pages, I'm also like nooooo whyyyyy this could have so easily been done better. We had a lot of great stuff going on conceptually! A fraught female friendship! Parental issues! An all-girl band! A horrible accident! A Yellowjackets comparison that was a little on the nose, but fine!

But what killed me was that I just didn't ever really FEEL what the main character Vienna was feeling, at least not about the main drivers of the plot. Vienna and Madison meet-uncute and then are instantly best friends, but it's never really clear exactly what all they like about each other (although neither of them ever really have any other named friends, so maybe the "best" of it all is really just the only). Sorry to come from decades of band fandoms, but it's always DEEPLY compelling to me when two people form that type of artistic partnership, especially when the main lyricist (Vienna) isn't the frontwoman/lead singer (Madison) as we see here - like when that comes together that is alchemy bro. That is magic. Especially because striving for success with that means basing a lot of your artistic future, career, and LIFE (hello, touring is living with these people for months on end!) on the maintenance of and dedication to a creative partnership.

And yet for most of the lead-up Vienna just seems to find it mildly annoying that Madison won't focus, and Madison is so whatever about it all. And it's like, if they don't seem to care that much about it, why should I? Where's the intensity? Where's the feeling? It's like watching two people opening up an accounting firm together while rolling their eyes every time they turn their backs on each other.

Then, in the weirdest way, it just becomes a story about striving for fame, which...never really seemed to come up before, but then suddenly it's all they care about. And it's like, then the book seems like it's trying to critique that, but while presenting this funhouse mirror version of online notoriety that involves randos starting, out of the blue, arguments over #TeamVienna vs. #TeamMadison (like, from the jump. from their first musical performance. pre-murder!) which is like, not how modern music fandoms work when it comes to stanning online? In terms of believability and sense-making, this is like if music fans spent their time on the internet arguing in blog comments about whether they're #TeamTegan or #TeamSara. Like...sorry, what? Why? Why this? Nobody does that. Why would anybody do that?

So much potentially interesting stuff here, though! And it was a quick read. If you're a fan of Yellowjackets, go rewatch that. If you liked Daisy Jones & the Six, just reread it. Maybe go watch The Runaways again, because at least there's Kristen Stewart and girls kiss each other (note to modern thriller authors: this should happen more, especially if you're not even going to make the comphet remotely interesting). If you like a complicated lyricist/singer dynamic, go read a Fall Out Boy interview from like 2005 or 2006. Or if you're me, keep reading thrillers like this hoping the next one will hit like you know the best ones can.  

My thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA and NetGalley for the ARC.

Vienna Taylor and her best friend Madison Pierce have started a very successful band called The Bittersweet. Their fame is building, and their new song “Sweet Spot” is quickly climbing the charts. Just before they are about to release their first album, the band is traveling in the middle of a snowstorm and they get in a terrible accident in which one member of the band is killed and another member is seriously injured. They find an abandoned cabin and take shelter for the night. But by the time help arrives, two other members of the band are dead and Madison has disappeared, leaving Vienna as possibly the only surviving member of The Bittersweet.

This is an absolutely shocking thriller that visits the damaging possibilities that can tear friendships apart when the hunger for fame gets out of control. The twists were completely unexpected, and made it difficult to trust anyone.

Thank you Net Galley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for allowing me the opportunity to read this arc!