e-Audio, 07:02:50
Narrated by: Brittany Pressley & Elena Rey
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Published by: Books on Tape
Read from: February 6-7, 2025
Stand-alone
Source: PRH Audio App (I received a copy of this e-ALC from PRH Audio App in exchange for a just and honest review.)
Content Warning:
For Readers Interested In: Realistic Fiction, Mystery, Audio, YAFrom the author of The Revenge Game comes a twisty YA thriller about the underbelly of Manhattan’s high society, where nothing is off-limits—not even murder.
Aspiring journalist Noa has a secret she’s been keeping. Ever since her sister’s tragic death, she’s felt almost…relieved. Noa and Leah had been locked in competition with one another since childhood, and things came to a head when her sister scored a glitzy internship at a New York society newspaper. Noa can’t help but revel in her new found autonomy.
But when she gets a lead about the sketchy circumstances surrounding her sister’s untimely death, she knows she needs to investigate−she owes it to Leah.
Noa sets out to infiltrate the seedy underbelly of Manhattan high society to investigate her sister’s final days. Along the way she finds herself entangled with the glamorous Avalons’ and their close-knit circle of friends and frienemies. But will Noa be able to resist the allure of the Avalons’ world and uncover a shocking scandal. Or will she find herself in over her head…like Leah?
*MY THOUGHTS*
Ever since I heard this was a thriller I needed to get my hands on it. And I was so excited for it. But then when I got it, it just wasn’t what I thought it was. I can’t begin to explain the level of disappointment I felt. It’s not that it was bad, it just wasn’t for me.
Ok so the reason I was so excited about this was the synopsis. I usually read the first sentence or so just to get a gist of what its about. And the first sentence in this one is like a “journalist infiltrates the underbelly of a Manhattan high society to investigate her sister’s untimely death.” That got me immediately. And yes, that does happen, but the execution just was off. It’s a thriller, but there’s nothing really thrilling. I would call it just a mystery. I always say make sure you label them correctly because labeling them wrong could always result in something like me DNFing the book. That wasn’t the case this time because it was an easy read, but still.
There is A LOT of talk about her being a journalist. And as someone who did mass communication in college, this made me happy lol Idk why, but I was excited to see a teen interested in journalism in a book. I’ll keep this in mind for those teens that might be interested in a journalist career.
I think one of the things that annoyed me about this was the main character. She was….. Not great. And tho I know this is a real way that people act, especially in situations like these, I just didn’t like her lol The way she treated her sister and the way she was with her friends. It was just really embarrassing to see. You don’t treat friends better than family. That’s just weird. And I didn’t like it.
The mystery itself was just meh. I didn’t care for it. And it wasn’t because it was bad. It was because it was just like basic. It was fast and furious and fun and that was it. I didn’t feel like there was any substance or anything that stood out. It was basic and I just thought it was ok. Not memorable, but also not forgettable if that makes sense.
This was all fun for a good time, not a long time. This was fun but not more than that. I think had I read it at a different time, or if it had been advertised to me as just a mystery, then I think I would have enjoyed it more. As it stands, this was just ok.
Overall, I give this
