Never Have I Ever follows eight teenagers in a small town after they start receiving odd texts telling them to play the game. The group finds themselves in a game of deadly secrets and retribution that leads back to a girl who disappeared last year. As the group’s numbers dwindle and their bloody bodies are found, they have to work harder than ever to figure out how to stay alive.

While there is a lot to love here, it wasn’t for me. I wasn’t a huge fan of the characters or writing, but I did enjoy the concept--it's fun and unique. I think teenagers will love this book and have a lot of fun reading. It’s got a large cast of characters so it should be easy to find someone you like and the plot has a steady, fast pace.

There are some great eerie and scary scenes that make this perfect to read in October for Halloween. The ending has a big twist and the author did a great job keeping you guessing.

If you like twisty, mystery, horror novels in the YA genre, then check this one out!

Thank you to Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

Never Have I Ever is definitely YA, but in a good way! A great plot, interesting characters and a great setting, but the writing was just ok. Too many POVs slow the flow. I love slasher films and this is a fun read for fall!

The description of “Never Have I Ever” gives off 90’s slasher vibes, complete with a local crazy lady who walks around unchallenged with a sickle, to the mysterious disappearance of a girl a year ago.

For transparency, this was a do not finish for me and I only reached the 10% mark. The primary reason for this was the writing itself. It was riddled with cliches, for example the perfect, popular guy “Johnny Angel”, loved by teachers and students alike.

The author also went in to great detail explaining the physical and personality traits of the characters, rather than allowing their actions to demonstrate them or giving the reader the opportunity to form their own view of the character.

Finally, I found a lot of the dialogue to be very forced and nothing like what you would expect of a teenager. This was contrasted by the author occasionally using unnecessarily complex vocabulary, considering the subject matter of the book. This generally disrupted the flow and made it a jilting read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harker Jones and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In all the reviews that I’ve given, I’ve never given a one star but for this book, I had no choice. I couldn’t even get past 10% because the writing was so bad. I’m not sure that this person has ever interacted with teenagers but I guarantee you they don’t talk like this.. they were whole paragraphs of descriptions of people without really giving any contacts. One of the characters drove a Camaro, which is not A modern day cool car, but people had cell phones. The vocabulary in the language they use made it sound like they were trying to write British literature. I’ve never been so confused in my life and it’s unfortunate because I’m sure this person put a lot of effort into it, but I’m not sure how this made it past an editor or anyone who has met a teenager. One of the male characters said “my besties bestie” which is insane for a teenage boy.

Extremely scary for a YA - or maybe I just haven't read the right YA. Really liked the characters in this, found it very hard to put down and very, very creepy.

Never Have I Ever by Harker Jones was a good YA whodunit.
I could not put it down. It was such a good storyline and the characters were fantastic. Such a good book.

First I want to say thank you for the opportunity to read this book!

I want to say this is a solid 4/5 stars, in my opinion at first it was slow but once everything was set up it was a fast track towards the end! I was on the edge of my seat, literally, and at the end of the book, I was punching the air.

I was so excited to start this book I loved the look of the cover and the name but I was disappointed. Personally I couldn’t get into it. There was too many character point of view swaps for me. I was struggling to follow them. I only got 17% into the book.

This was a good read.

Eight teens start recieving text messages and it starts a game of horror and mystery.

The author was good at making me think the plot was going to go one way and then totally taking me in another direction. I did not guess what was going to happen next.

It is a superb tale and just perfect for the upcoming Halloweeen event. It is scary......
I loved the characters, every one had something to offer the story and I really enjoyed reading about the who whats and whys ..

I requested this book from Netgalley because of this one section from the blurb “When eight teenagers in a small Michigan town start receiving texts urging them to play Never Have I Ever, they find themselves caught up in a deadly game of secrets, repentance and retribution that may be connected to a girl who disappeared the year before.”

This horror trope is my guilty pleasure I love horror books and movies like “Truth or Dare” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” This book was a brilliant page turner that had me on the edge of my seat from the first menacing passage to the astonishing final reveal. This book is a brilliant whodunit that transported me to small town Michigan in October.

Like most lovers of whodunits I hate when I can easily guess the culprit of a whodunit, and it ruins the whole experience of the book. Harker masterfully drops clues and misdirection that led me right into his misdirection trap and I kicked myself for falling into the misdirection.

The characters are well-developed and believable as they are remarkably human as each of them have their own flaws and hidden truths. This isn’t just an exciting whodunit this story explores themes of friendship and the consequences of our actions.