e-ALC, 07:18:34
Narrated by: Taylor Meskimen
Release Date: February 24, 2026
Published by: Books On Tape
Read from: February 19-20, 2026
Stand-alone
Source: PRH Audio App (I received this ALC free from the publisher and their app. This did nothing to influence my review!)
Content Warning: Bullying, Emotional Abuse, Fatphobia, Death, Outing, Toxic Friendship
For Readers Interested In: Audio, Contemporary, Holy Crap, Sparkly Covers, Social Media, Thrillers, YA, TechnologyFor fans of Holly Jackson and Jessica Goodman, this high-stakes thriller is set in a virtual-reality paradise turned hellscape, from a celebrated writer making their YA debut.
At the start of each school year, Madison Pembroke, the most popular girl at Lincoln Academy, sends out invitations to her epic birthday party in the form of custom forged spiral keys. For that one night, a few lucky teens get to enter Ametrine, a virtual paradise designed to be the party of the year—an unforgettable celebration that will secure their social status in the real world. As Madison’s hated ex-BFF, Bree Benson never receives a key.
Until this year.
Despite warnings from her boyfriend, Bree sees the invite as an olive branch, the perfect opportunity to rekindle her once-amazing friendship with Madison. But as the party games begin to turn provocative and violent, Bree finds that Ametrine might not be the virtual paradise she was promised. And that Madison may have let Bree enter Ametrine, but she has no intention of ever letting her leave . . .
Kelsey Day’s gripping debut shows that while best friends know each other the best, ex–best friends know how to hurt each other the worst.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This book was a hot mess lol When I say I kept saying, “WTF” and writing all these notes. I didn’t even know what to say when I finished. I just put that I read the book. Because this was a wild ride lol
First of all, every single person in this book is terrible lol I feel like I keep saying that for every book I’ve read lately lol I think I’m the most mad because I felt like sad about some things, when I really should not have. But it makes you start to think, do they really deserve this? Who’s the real villain? Was that other person driven to this? Does the other person deserve to get off? I also didn’t care for the non-growth arc. They were terrible and they stayed terrible. Manipulated someone special to them in the beginning and then the middle, and then ending too. They learned nothing and it was tragic to watch.
The plot in this tho was crazy. All of this is happening in a VR game. Some of that ish they did tho was NOT IT. Ain’t no way I would have eaten anything. Fake or not. I was gagging IRL. I DO wish there was more world building. Like WTF you’re in a VR game. They had the potential for some crazy stuff to happen (besides that one thing that was eaten. That was just gross) and it just didn’t. In fact she had to keep reminding us that she was stuck in this game and couldn’t get out.
There was also a romance in this that I don’t think got the ending it deserved. I don’t want to say too much more, but IYKYK. I just don’t think it got the right ending. There was so much more that could have happened, but the author chose to go a different route and Idk, I just didn’t love that. But I do realize the audience and how they might think different, and I’ll just leave it at that.
Y’all this book had me going through it. From the characters to the things that they did. And the ending was also crazy. So basically, if you pick this up, please know that there is a lot going on, no breaks, and it’s probably going to make you mad. So yeah, it was a good time lol
Overall, I give this
