Hemlock House, the sequel to Liar’s Beach, finds Linden and Holiday at Harvard investigating the death of Bri, Linden’s girlfriend Greer's roommate. Bri, Greer’s best friend, is found in Greer’s bed, wearing her clothes, dead of an apparent overdose. But the drugs found at the scene are not what shows up in the autopsy. Once again Holiday is the calm analytical one in the detective duo. While Linden is suspended after being framed for stealing Greer’s watch, Holiday pieces together the clues and confronts the murderer. A subplot involving a love triangle between Linden, Holiday and Greer adds spice to the mix. Linden is once again the narrator, whose rash, clueless behavior is reined in by Holiday, his childhood friend and now maybe more.

Katie Cotugno does a great job of writing morally grey characters.

The sequel to the YA mystery novel Liar’s Beach brings Holiday and Linden, best friends, back together to solve a murder in a dorm room. The mystery isn’t that deep, and seems to solve itself…which makes for just an okay story.

I love this series! While this novel's drama and intrigue lacked a bit from its predecessor, I will still follow Cotugno and these characters into another installment. Gripping and engaging!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an advanced copy of this novel. I highly enjoyed it and will be recommending it to others. Read the previous novel for context.

This was solid but I really should have reread the other one right before because I was definitely a bit lost on the details, lol. I thought this was suspenseful, and again I enjoyed the characters and the way the plot elements wove together. Solid story!

I really enjoyed this book. But a couple of things.

Much like the first book I am still unsure how I feel about Holiday. Her character always leaves me feeling so I really like her or hate her? It’s puzzling to me.

Linden! Ugh. I love him. BUT I want to scream at him. Stand up for yourself. Be you. Stop doing what others want you to and know you’re good enough. I love his final chosen major/career paths 😍

I really wanted to like Greer and Linden together but well you’ll know at the end. I definitely liked them to much together so I guess that should’ve been my first clue.

Also. I honestly didn’t see the end! I was definitely kept guessing.

a nice continuation....but honestly i should have reread the other one right before. There weren't enough context clues to remind me of the whole situation until a few chapters in.

Hemlock House is a solid YA thriller that I’d recommend for older teens. The main characters are underclassmen at Harvard and Emerson in Boston, and while they apparently go to class, we don’t hear much about that part of the experience except for Greer’s attempt to get off academic probation. Glimpses of dorm life, parties, and Boston experiences frame social interactions as Michael and Holiday investigate the death of Greer’s roommate, which Michael suspects is a murder rather than the overdose that the police have concluded. Overall, I enjoyed the mystery and the story despite figuring out the who and had an idea of the why very early on. There were weird time jumps that were a little distracting, but did not impact the overall story.

Thank you to Random House Children's, Netgalley, and the author for early access to this thriller.

Hemlock House by Katie Cotugno is a compelling and atmospheric novel that delves into mystery and dark secrets with skillful storytelling. Cotugno’s engaging narrative and well-crafted characters create a suspenseful and immersive experience, making it an intriguing read for fans of the genre.

I didn't realize this was a sequel so not quite right for me but thrilled to have another mystery series to recommend

I really liked Liar's Beach and loved getting caught up in another mystery with Linden and Holiday. She remains the best and he remains a dummy* (*affectionate). A murder mystery set on campus during the fall is like catnip to me and this one checked all my boxes. I hope the series continues and that Linden eventually gets a clue* (*affectionate, but also come on!!).

I liked this book a little bit better than Liar’s Beach. The characters got a little bit more fleshed out in this story than they did last time, which I truly appreciated. I still love Holiday. Once again, she comes off as knowing what she wants. I also appreciated her being able to stand up to Michael and call him out on his behaviors. If only other young adults could be so assured to do the same thing when they feel like a friendship is one sided. Overall though the reveal was a bit one noted. I like where this book could go. I just still think I want a bit more from this series.
Thank you to Random House Children’s and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

Book Title: Hemlock House; A Liar’s Beach Novel
Series: Liars Beach #2
Author: Katie Cotugno
Publisher: Random House Children’s ~ Delacorte Press
Genre: Teen/YA
Pub Date: August 13, 2024
My Rating: 3 Stars
Pages: 240

Although I did not read the first in this series, I did check the blurb on it
A fresh new take on Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery The Mysterious Affair at Styles, with iconic detective Hercule Poirot recast as a brilliant, brash teen girl named Holiday, and narrated by her childhood friend Linden, an athlete-scholar who fits right in at his elite New England prep school—all the while hiding some secrets of his own.

This story picks up a year after Holiday Proctor and Michael Linden solved a headline-making murder on Martha’s Vineyard, Linden is ready to start over as a freshman at Harvard—and, Holiday is at Emerson College where she is working on her BFA in musical theater (Emerson is located across the river in Boston.)
Linden connects with his high school girlfriend, Greer. But just as things start to heat up between them, a friend is found dead in Greer’s dorm, Hemlock House.

I do enjoy stories set in an academic atmosphere so was sure I would like this. True not a fan of Greer’s f-bombs but teens will be teens.

Want to thank NetGalley and Random House Children’s~ Delacorte Press for this early eGalley!
Publishing Release Date scheduled for August 13, 2024

I got this book as an ARC from NetGalley and after noticing it was #2 in the series, I picked up Liar’s Beach. I read Liar’s beach and found it exciting and couldn’t wait to get into Hemlock House as a continuation of Linden & Holiday’s investigating. However, this book could have been a standalone with how little it had to do with Liar’s Beach. I mean Linden & Holiday were still in it, and we got to meet the infamous Greer and learn what really happened in Linden’s accident that was alluded to over and over in the first book but never discussed.

I enjoyed the friendship that bloomed more between Holiday & Linden and I liked that we finally got to know how Linden hurt his ankle and what caused the crash but that’s where the redeeming qualities end.

The ending was really unbelievable - that the three suitemates just accepted that Greer killed her roomie and then “okay we’ll talk to the police- the end”???? It didn’t seem like all the things we were building up to and the issues everyone was having were solved but it also didn’t leave me wanting to know more about Linden and Holiday.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

This book certainly kept me entertained and interested to read its predecessor. My only quibble is that the entire book was told from Lincoln's point of view, making him the main character, but it ends up being Holiday who solves the whole thing, so the end of the book felt like a bit of a letdown.

A fun sequel to the first book we are back with Holiday and Linden in their first year of college. However, between classes and imposter syndrome they are caught up in a murder investigation again as Linden’s High School girlfriend Greer roommate does and they are drawn into the investigation! I do feel like the ending came too fast and ended a bit too cleanly but it barely mattered since the journey to get there was so engaging! Can’t wait to
Bring this into my classroom!

I found this piece to be exceptionally well-crafted, and I'm eagerly anticipating the opportunity to delve into more works by this author. Given its potential popularity among our library patrons, we're certainly looking forward to adding it to our collection

I started my reading journey with Hemlock House excited. I had read Liar's Beach the year prior and was looking forward to revisiting our two main characters, Linden and Holiday. I thought the book started off promising--you get an introduction to Linden's life at Harvard (though he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life, so why on earth would he need to go to Harvard??), see what problems he's dealing with (hazing from frat bros, pining after Greer AGAIN, etc.), and have the murder take place pretty much right off the bat.

However, this book could have been a stand alone not even remotely related to Liar's Beach and you wouldn't even know. You could have changed the names of the characters and it would not have made a difference. Linden is dealing with the exact same insecurities as from the first book: he's ashamed that he's poor, he's kind of obsessed with Greer even though we don't know much about her other than she's rich and average and her parents expect better, he's confused about his feelings for Holiday. But none of those things are unique to Liar's Beach or Hemlock House.

Linden and Holiday jump to conclusions then jump away from those conclusions immediately about the who and the why of the murder, and in the end, Holiday is somehow able to give a monologue about the who and the why exactly as it happened. The murderer doesn't make sense, every character takes the news calmly and in stride, and none of Linden's problems have been resolved by the end of the book either. This was such a disappointment, not to mention a mediocre book in general.

The two stars are for the promising premise at the beginning of the book. Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a very face paced, good second book. I loved the developers of the two main characters Michael and Holiday. Their banter kept me reading and made the book enjoyable. Other characters could have been developed more but there was enough detail to keep them straight. I thought the ending was a bit too abrupt, but their writing style would keep me coming back to read a third book if it were to be written.

A good book. I enjoyed the first one more. The ending seemed abrupt and a bit unbelievable. Overall kept my attention.