e-Audio, 09:58:16
Narrated by: Malachi Latchman, Valerie Antwi, and Jahrhys Greenidge
Release Date: April 7, 2026
Published by: Hachette Audio
Read from: April 7-8, 2026
Other, #1
Source: Library’s Libby
Content Warning: Rape, Sexual Assault, Transphobia
For Readers of: Audio, Sparkly Covers, Most Anticipated, Mystery, Realistic Fiction, YADream vacation . . . or holiday from hell? A steamy and suspenseful thriller, full of family scandal and murder. Perfect for fans of Saltburn and The White Lotus .
Summer on Mokani Island has always been the highlight of Avery Finch’s year. It’s a chance to hang out in paradise with other ultra rich families. But this summer, Avery brings along her college roommate Nora and everything feels off from the start.
Her parents are desperately trying to cover up scandalous secrets. Her ex Hugo can’t accept that their relationship is over. Her best friend Sidney is annoyed that Avery has brought Nora, especially as the newcomer keeps sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. To make things even more complicated, Avery can’t deny her attraction to Javier, even though the island’s biggest rule DON’T DATE THE STAFF.
A tropical storm is brewing, and before long someone is going to end up dead …
*MY THOUGHTS*
This one was such a disappointment. I have been salivating over this cover since I saw it. I asked for it like 10 times at TLA. I wanted to grab it during the booth break-down at TLA but nope. I finally got it from the library and I’m so glad I did.
Ok so the first thing first….. I was really mad at the way this played out. It was pitched as a thriller to me and I was all excited for it. But unfortunately it was just boring. No one had died at like 55% and still nothing happened after that either lol I was annoyed. It just wasn’t at all what I was expecting. In the beginning it was just a bunch of freaking high school drama and mess. I know this was published overseas first, but like something has to be different over there because this just didn’t work. I can’t imagine what made them say, “Yes! Let’s bring that to the States!”
Then FINALLY at 70 something percent when someone finally died (well kind of) I guessed who did it already. There wasn’t anything that kept me in the story. I was bored and I still guessed it. So what was the point? And the setting was a tropical island with frangipani flowers and that was all they really mentioned. Basically said what they were doing, but not what the place looked like or anything. I had literally nothing tethering me to this.
And to make matters worse, I’m not sure if it was my computer or the narrator, but it sounded like a robot. And since I was listening to it via Libby I checked the narrators and it said they were all people, not AI, but Lordt, one of them sounded like it. And then there was another narrator who had a mic that was picking up literally every single thing. I heard when they turned the page in their script and I heard when the swallowed. It was just too much. It threw me out of the story every time and made it so hard for me to get back into it. ESPECIALLY since I was already bored. Idk it was weird.
This just wasn’t anything to write home about. I was disappointed. I had wanted to read this so bad! Everything about this shouted a me book, but in reality, I don’t think there’s anyone I would tell this about. Well unless I’m warning them about the narration……
Overall, I give this
