This is tough to review. I thoroughly enjoyed part 1, and was incredibly frustrated with part 2. I get that you are supposed to feel a bit jarred, but it just didn’t do it for me. I wish it stuck with the original storm/cabin survival story and less of the other weirdness in part 2.

I received a complimentary Digital Reader Copy of this book in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

The pacing of this story, and the twists and turns kept me turning pages. I did not know who to trust, and just when I thought I figured it all out, I did not even come close. Every single character of this novel is so well drawn out that I felt like I knew them. The addition of interview transcripts with the band made this novel even more interesting. Also, the addition of social media comments was interesting. It’s become common in books, and I sometimes find it annoying, but in this one particularly, it all makes sense in the end, and just adds to the creepiness of it all when I thought about it after reading the last page.

This book was heavy on character development and the relationships between them. It got to be a little much for me and I felt it got slightly repetitive. Aside from that, it’s a great storyline and does throw you a curve ball. If you’re someone who likes dual timelines and good character development, this book is for you.

This book had A LOT of twists and turns, it was a very good book and it will definitely keep you on your toes. I would have given it five stars but I felt like it dragged a little more than it should have.

As a huge Daisy Jones and The Six fan, and a thriller reader, I expected to be obsessed with this one, but it just didn't really come together for me. It's hard to describe the parts that didn't work for me without getting into spoilers, but I think it could've been shorter and tighter and it could've packed a stronger punch. Mainly, the only thing similar to DJATS is the fact that there's a band element to the book, but it focuses a lot more on one character's POV and the relationship between two of the girls. I'm clearly in the minority, though, because plenty of people love the twists and the structure and feel like it is DJATS, so if it sounds interesting to you, definitely pick it up!

Canada has some very talented thriller writers!

When the author reached out to let me know she had a new book coming in July 2024, I jumped at the chance to read it early. I have been a strong supporter of hers since the beginning.

Only One Survives features an all girl rock group up and coming on the music scene and quickly heading to stardom when they are involved in a terrible car crash in a winter storm in the Catskills. Right off the bat, one doesn’t survive the crash, and as time goes on others also die. The young women hunker down in a creepy cabin they find to wait out the storm and go for help. When Vienna Taylor, the band’s drummer and lead singer is rescued along with the band’s documentary filmmaker, questions arise as to what happened to Madison Pierce, the co-creator of the original band. Madison is missing and the police don’t know if she is dead or alive.

The author has some great contacts that help make her books stronger and well researched and it always shows. I loved the pacing of Only One Survives and am always surprised at how different each of her books are.

I will leave one spoiler (not really a spoiler at all) and that is that the kitten is fine. I almost put this book down when one of the characters finds a kitten in distress as I am so sensitive to cruelty to animals but kept with it and forgive Hannah for the temporary emotional distress.

Thank you to @mirabooks @htpbooks @netgalley and @hannahmarymckinnon for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. Only One Survives publishes July 16, 2024. Definitely pick this one up!

A twisted game of musical chairs.

The five members of The Bittersweets, an all-female rock group on the cusp of fame, are on their way to an industry party in the Catskills with a documentary filmmaker when their vehicle goes off the road in a snowstorm, leaving one member of the band dead and the others desperate to survive injuries, harsh weather conditions - and possibly each other.

"Only One Survives" starts right at the beginning of that fateful accident, but also flashes back a few years to when the band's founding members, drummer Vienna Taylor and guitarist Madison Pierce, first met as seniors in high school. Exploring the development of their friendship in alternating chapters parallel to the gruesome events in the Catskills makes for a bit of a slow - though not less intriguing - first part of the book at times, but then there is a sudden, huge twist (not entirely unexpected, but very well done) that will turn everything on its head. I could not put this book down!

"Daisy Jones and the Six" meets "Lord of the Flies" and "Yellowjackets", "Only One Survives" is both a gripping thriller, a complex and well-executed mystery, an infectious homage to music (in particular female musicians) and its power, and a warning of the effects of fame.

I also really loved the playlist that the author put together to accompany the book (it's in the bonus material PDF, but beware of the spoiler-laced discussion questions that come first)!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"Only One Survives" is slated to be released on July 16, 2024.

What a twisty ride this book was! It starts off with a Daisy Jones and the Six kind of vibe with the story of a girl band and then wham, one surprise after the next. I absolutely DID NOT see any of them coming!

- Dual Timeline (the past which gave us a history of the band and the present which was the mystery thriller part)
- Vindictive
- Toxic Friendships
- Action-packed
- Girl band
- Dark Side of Fame

💕 Many thanks to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing me an advance copy of this book.

QOTD: Are you a music lover? What is your Favorite concert you have attended? (Mine is 31 Pilots!)

Vienna Taylor and her friends in the band 'Bittersweet' were on the road when they had a horrible crash in the middle of a snowstorm. I love Hannah May McKinnon's previous novels, but this one didn't work for me. I didn't like the time jumps back and forth as they were hard to keep track of, and I got bored of the story halfway through. I did like the music theme, though.

Rating: 3.5 stars

This book took me quite a bit to get into, but it definitely peaked my interest. I love a book with an unreliable narrator and this was definitely well done!

This book gave me a bad vibe with every single character. There were moments where I second guessed their character, and I ended up being right a few times.

This author really went heavy with the plot twists, so much so that I have whiplash. Just when I decided on what was happening, something else was revealed. It was chaos but well written chaos.

I loved that the story was written about an all female pop group, loved that there was a bit of a podcast vibe, and a duel timeline.

If you like a book that’ll keep you on your toes and rip the rug out from under you, this one should be a good summer read for you!

Well, damn.

Mix together Daisy Jones & the Six, Natural Born Killers and Yellowjackets and you’ll get the sharp, arch Only One Survives, the story of the drummer of a pop/rock band who’s the sole survivor of a disaster that claims the lives of her friends… or so it seems.

Vienna Taylor wants it all, and she thinks her band – the Bittersweet – is the key to getting there. They started out as a duo in high school – EmVee, a ‘portmanteau’ of Vienna and her best friend, Madison – with a viral performance under their belts. Madison and Vienna could not be more different; Madison is a rich and spoiled party girl, with highfalutin parents. Vienna is poor and illegitimate, the victim of her mother’s horrendous choices, and is slowly losing her beloved grandmother to dementia. Through Vienna’s determination, they become a band.

The band has a rising single and are heading toward the possibility of making real connections in the biz when everything suddenly goes horrifyingly wrong. Their van crashes on a snowy mountain road, resulting in the instant death of one band member, Isabel, and the horrible injury of another. Vienna and Madison enter into a tug-of-war for control of the lives of the rest of the passengers – videographer Libby, and their other bandmates, Evelina and Gabi. The fivesome head to a nearby cabin to shelter from the elements, and one by one the rest of the Bittersweet die – except for Vienna. Libby also survives, but seems to have no memory of the accident. Madison, meanwhile, is missing. Only Vienna holds the key to the deaths which surround her.

Returning to civilization, fame and infamy tangle within Vienna as paranoia overcomes her. The world draws a line in the sand, some of them taking her side but many others falling on Madison’s, who blames Vienna for everything. Disasters pile up, more bodies tumble out of the closet, temptation looms, and soon Vienna is left wondering if she’s being stalked by an outside force – and how far she’ll go both to protect her newfound fame and her freedom.

Only One Survives is slightly marred by a predictable ending, which goes full-on Psycho explain-the-crimes and spoonfeeds the audience most of the missing details. I’d already guessed the nature of Vienna’s problems due to Ebert’s law of character economy pages ago and so may the astute reader.

I have to give McKinnon credit for ping-ponging between so many genres here. We start with survival horror with a touch of high school drama, then veer into To Die For territory. The book reaches more of a Gone Girl tone by its conclusion. Almost all of these tones are pretty effective and work to tell the story.

Don’t come into Only One Survives expecting cut-and-dried black-and white-morality; McKinnon isn’t afraid to make all of her characters sympathetic, but also self-deluded, fame-hungry and terrible. There’s some drug content, some sexual content, and some on-page blood and guts. None of it’s romantic, and that’s just fine; it makes up for that with a chilling sense of self-driven ambition. Just like Vienna, it knows how to get what it wants.

This book was like a mix of Daisy Jones and the Six and Survive the Night- music and thriller combined! I love how this story was told with not only the first-person narrator, but also with newspaper and radio excerpts as well. I think that adds so much substance to the book and gives you an outside perspective. This was the perfect kind of thriller for me, with big twists to keep you guessing. There's nothing I love more than a narrator who could be lying to you the whole time. It's hard to write more without spoiling, but I would definitely recommend reading this book~ Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC!

Really enjoyed this novel. If you are looking for a great thriller to read this summer, this one is for you

𝒪𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝒪𝓃𝑒 𝒮𝓊𝓇𝓋𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓈
𝒷𝓎 𝐻𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒶𝒽 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝓎 𝑀𝒸𝒦𝒾𝓃𝓃𝑜𝓃
𝑅𝑒𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝒟𝒶𝓉𝑒 07/16/2024

The Bittersweet, aka Vienna Taylor, Madison Pierce, Isabel Riotto, and sisters Gabi and Evelina Sevillano, are an all-girls group - rising up the music charts and gaining popularity.
They are all on the way to a holiday party in the Catskills given by their record company - in the car with them is Libby - who is making a documentary on the group's success when the vehicle they're riding in goes off of a cliff in the Catskills.
Isabella is killed instantly, Madison is never found, and Evelina might not make it. The girls are left in the cold until help arrives.

This book bounces back and forth from past to present - showing Madison and Vienna's friendship from childhood up to forming the band The Bittersweet.
Bitter and sweet are the operative words here; they best describe this friendship.
If a damsel in distress is your pet peeve in a book, I can assure you Vienna is not one. She’s calculating and believes she’s smarter than everyone she meets - however, her arrogance blinds her, and soon you realize there’s someone way more intelligent than her.

4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ S҈T҈A҈R҈S҈

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#onlyonesurvives

The concept of this book - what & how far would you go to become famous and the outcome is surprising! However, I agree with one reviewer who stated this book was great in Part I but when Part II came...everything was being rehashed over and over again - that's why I gave this book 3 stars. Thanks Netgalley, as always, for the advanced read!

After a car wreck, the up and coming all female rock band, The Bittersweet, are forced to spend a night in an abandoned cabin and all but one survives. Another band member is missing. The story alternates between the events of that night and flashbacks of how the band started. The story revolves mostly around Vienna and Madison, who started the band and were eager to experience fame and fortune.

I enjoyed the suspense of Part I and watching The Bittersweet get their big breaks. Then, Part II threw a major “reveal” and unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me. It seemed far fetched and mostly just thrown in for shock value. The rest of the story rehashed and overly explained previous plot points. In the end I lost interest and I felt like it was missing the same level of suspense and intrigue as Part I.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Vienna and Madison’s friendship started as seniors in high school when they bonded over their love of music, forming a band that got rave reviews. After graduation, Madison moves to Brooklyn to go to college, and after a falling out with her family, Vienna soon joins her, quickly starting an all-girls band that’s an immediate success. But when the band suffers a tragic car accident in upstate NY, during a blizzard, the band takes refuge in an abandoned cabin, and more tragedy strikes. Only One Survives is a spellbinding thriller masterfully told in flashbacks, detailing the relationship between Vienna and Madison, and that sets the stage for the tumultuous events that occur present day, with at least one defining moment told so nonchalantly, eliciting a “what just happened” reaction, necessitating a reread of a paragraph or two! My only complaint was the social media posts interspersed throughout the story that seemed like an unnecessary distraction. But that didn’t take away from the suspense and surprise of the plot, resulting in a highly enjoyable and entertaining book. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Only One Survives
By Hannah Mary McKinnon

Amazon Book Description
Becoming the star is easier when the rest of your band is dead…

All drummer Vienna Taylor ever wanted was to make music. If that came with fame, she’d take it—as long as her best friend, guitarist Madison Pierce, was sharing the spotlight and singing lead. And with their new all-female pop rock band gaining traction, soon everyone would hear their songs…

Except, on the way to an event, the Bittersweet’s van careened off an icy mountain road during a blizzard—leaving one member dead and another severely injured.

In order to survive the frigid night, the rest took shelter in a nearby abandoned cabin. But Vienna’s dreams devolved into a terrifying nightmare as, one by one, her fellow band members met a gruesome end…and Madison simply vanished in the night.

What really happened to the Bittersweet? Did Vienna’s closest friend finally decide to take center stage on her own terms?

She doesn’t want to believe it.

But guilty people run.

This book took me a long time to get through. I just could not connect with the characters or the story. I think it wasn’t bad but I also had just read a book about car cash and it seemed to be typical.

I appreciate being given the opportunity to read and review this book!
Thank you to Netgally, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this opportunity.

Five members of a “girl band “ suffer a terrible car accident in the snowy woods. Three die, one disappears and "only one survives.” It sounds like a great premise and it should have been. Sadly, I’m in the minority, but the structure of the novel didn’t work for me. The “big reveal” happens too early in the novel, leaving few possibilities for the final resolution. I like the premise, however, so I’m hopeful the author’s future books will be more thrilling.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher HTP/TheHive for providing me with this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own. #HTP #HTPTheHive #Partner #HTPInfluencer #TheHiveInfluencer #HTPHive


This book was super fun and fast-paced. I finished it in just about a day. As a type 1 diabetic, It was interesting to see a character with type 1 diabetes in the book and I think Hannah Mary McKinnon did a pretty accurate depiction of a diabetic character. Disability representation is very important to me! I also enjoyed the rest of the story. For whatever reason, I found the flashback scenes more interesting than the present day scenes, but it was still overall a wonderful nail biting thriller and I can't wait to see what Hannah Mary McKinnon writes next!

This book will also be available in audio format.


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Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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