In my seemingly unending quest to finish books I’ve partially read, I picked up The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas (again), although I started from the beginning. This is a young adult mystery about Tessa, who returns to Fayette, Pennsylvania–a place that’s going nowhere–and reunites with Callie. Tessa and Callie last saw each other the night Callie’s cousin was murdered, and now her murderer is sitting on death row, but Tessa still has questions she needs answered.

I really enjoyed Tessa’s perspective, but I definitely had a few issues with this novel. One thing that really annoyed me was that the technology seemed weirdly inconsistent. I’m not sure what time this is supposed to take place at, but there’s a mention of Netflix and a 1992 car being older than Tessa and yet, she is always desperately trying to get access to a computer to look things up on the internet. So, no smartphone I guess? It just seems a little strange and distracts from the story/makes it feel dated. I really liked the ending, which I did not see coming, but I think that the reason for that is that hints really needed to be introduced earlier. The last quarter of the book takes things in a totally different direction and I was left wondering why I had invested so much time into a whole bunch of random unimportant characters–and there are a lot of characters.

Overall, while The Darkest Corners was flawed, I enjoyed Thomas’ writing and plot enough that I would definitely pick up another book by her. Her second novel (under this name) Little Monsters releases in July and it seems like so far it already has even better reviews. I’m sold!

This edge of your seat thriller is one that had me up all night in anticipation, and it's definitely one of my favorites! I love thrillers and find myself reading as many of them as I can, especially ones that have such an engaging story and a mystery that will make you keep turning pages until the very end!

This story was such a great read. I wasn't sure what to expect because I went in not knowing anything about the story and I'm glad I decided to read this. It was full of surprises and had me guessing the whole entire book.

I do have to say there was one part of the story I ended up guessing. It was just something I assumed as we learned the information and I ended up happening to be right. Usually I'm turned off by books being predictable but for this one I was extremely happy with myself for figuring it out. Maybe it's a guess a lot of people make but I feel because everything else that happened in the end surprised me.

I am so upset with myself for waiting so long to read this book. I was lucky last year to read the arc but I ended up not downloading it in time. I saw Kara Thomas has a new book coming out in July and now I am anxiously waiting for that. I am moving that up on my list of books I want to read this year.

Tessa and Callie witnessed something terrible in their youth. Years later, Tessa moved away to be with her grandmother, but Callie stayed behind. After her convict father dies Tessa returns, just as the serial killer she and Callie put away is requesting a new trial. When an old friend is murdered in a similar fashion to the serial killer, the girls begin to question what they really saw so many years ago.

The girls work together to uncover the truth, and to find out what really happened to Tessa’s sister.

So good! So creepy!

I have had this arc for an embarrassingly long time! I kept pushing it aside because other books came along my path. HOWEVER! I was looking through my TBR and randomly got the urge to pick up this book and I'm so glad I did.

I really enjoyed this book. I don't pick up nearly enough detective/mystery books. This book is a story of two girls searching for the killer of Callie's cousin, Lori, who was murdered when they were kids. Lori's death has always hung in the air around the two girls and once Tessa returns to the town it all started in, their messed up past starts to unravel in a chilling turn of events.

When you start this book you get ready for a murder mystery, Pretty Little Liars esk story, and next thing you know the story flips and becomes so much darker and twisted than expected. Tessa's life is more than what meets the eye. As everything started to unfold I never wanted to put the book down.

I really liked Tessa as a character. She was trying to do what was right and make the most out of the crappy situation she was given. Even though I didn't like how she tiptoed around the house all the time, it was still a trait that I think was necessary in building up her personality and how she handles uncomfortable situations.

Another little thing, I loved the setting of this book. I grew up in a tiny town in Pennsylvania and was familiar with some of the places mentioned. It was easy to put myself in the girls' shoes and understand the rural life and culture, even if the book's topics were foreign to me.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was gripping and kept my attention until the very end. There is never a clear suspect in their investigations so you almost feel just as out of the loop and confused as the characters until everything slowly starts to fall into place. If you are looking for a teen mystery novel, I would definitely recommend this book.