Laskia Greenbriar

I haven't read a book of this genre in a long time, and I know exactly why I loved this genre so much. It's the anticipation, the shock, the thrill, the excitement and most of all, it's the freedom to be able to guess who killed who. Part of me was frustrated because I just couldn't figure out who was the victim and who was the killer and I believe the author deliberately did this just for us readers to figure out. I love it! Finding out that no one was innocent and every one of those characters had a dirty secret or past behind their nice facades was even more thrilling, cause who would have thought!

I had a list of people who could have done it and who could have been the one to get hurt. I even thought that they were all involved in killing one person and making it seem like an accident (although it was evident it was not) I think my most favourite character is Heather or even Katie. (Yes even though she cheated on her best friend) because Katie was the only one in the friend group who was willing to learn from her mistakes, who understood that she was flawed and needed to work on herself. And I am glad she wasn't killed in the end and survived with the baby, I had this nagging feeling that maybe Julian didn't want the baby and wanted to end Katie but that seemed too cliched.

Also hearing Heather's back story was so heartbreaking and how she ended up living in that remote area. I really wanted Doug and Heather to end up together, they really seemed to care for each other in the end and I am glad they all survived from all the drama.

Starting with the friend group and my initial theories, I was shocked by learning about Giles and Miranda's little hookup but they did say it was a long time ago, or was it? I doubt so, I mean Miranda has that charm on any guy and the only guys in the group who wasn't interested in her were gay (thank the lord for that), I may or may not have been a little happy when Nick clocked Miranda for being a bitch (which she is no matter what happened to her).

The part where we learn that Mark was interested in Miranda in a creepy way was just... brr, everything he has done to her was not okay in any way and unacceptable but what she did to him in truth or dare was even... brr. Regardless I hated everyone, except Katie, bo and nick.

My theories while reading the book was - it was either, giles killing emma since she overheard their secret (cliched again), mark killing miranda (for rejecting her? for the dare she gave him? idk), julian killing miranda (to shut her up on his secret). I had a feeling that the victim was going to be one of the 3 girls - emma, miranda, katie (only bc their povs was shown to us and there must be a reason why, which is why i excluded samira since she seems not that important)

I always kept thinking that it was going to be a guy who killed Miranda (from the start she seemed like the most likely person to get killed) but I never thought it was going to be Emma. There weren't a lot of her povs so I didn't expect it, and it didn't seem like katie would kill miranda (seeing that she had dipped in the loch in the freezing cold and would probably be tired, also because of her pregnancy) But it makes so much sense though, why emma didn't care about the fact that her own boyfriend was interested in her friend and why she was so desperate to get along with everyone, especially miranda. Now that i think about it, she didn't seem to really care for any of the others except Miranda. She isn't a natural killer but she is a natural stalker, and we all ended up thinking it was Mark. Lucy really thought it would be ironic to put a stalker and rapist together as a couple.

Let me talk to you about Miranda, yes what happened to her was not okay but she was a bully no matter what. She taunted and tattled every one in the group, threatened julian with his secret (which he probably deserved), and bullied katie since they were kids, giles for their hookup, samira for wanting to spend time with her own child (diabolical miranda), nick for publicly announcing that he was gay to his parents intentionally, she didn't treat bo with much respect either to be honest, even to mark for making him chug that drink (which he also deserved but was brutal and seemed even more unlikely that he would have killed her since he was so drunk he could barely stand), and to emma (even though it was the truth) by insulting her. Miranda had it coming from the start, I kept saying - “no miranda, you are not in a rom com. they won't take that very well. don't say it” but she says it anyway. Yes she was drunk and she wasn't thinking but there were so many times when she was thinking and did it. Even katie warned her about it, katie warned her about so many things. It was horrifying to hear that Miranda kinda liked Mark and Doug's attention while she was married to Julian (so much for keeping up the perfect couple facade). Also even more horrifying she was pretending to like the attention of her stalker even though she said she was scared. Yes, she was trying to keep up the brave face but it cost her in the end. She's like one of those “people who would be the first one to die in a horror movie” because truth be told she has no survivor skills.

There were some bits that still hasn't been explained to us, like what happened after Giles found Emma snooping, or what happened to the place, did the boss get involved with Iain and the police, did their truth come out? What was everyone doing while Emma was with Miranda? And most of all the ending felt a little rushed, like Lucy was trying to quickly wrap things up and leave somethings for speculation and for us to guess, I guess that was done deliberately but who knows.?

It was the constant guessing and keeping me at the edge of my seat that makes me rate this book a 4.5/5.

3 words.
Cute. Adorable. Lovely. Sweet. Heartwarming. Book. (6 words I know.)

One of my friends *cough, told me that it was, and I quote, “cutely cringy”. And I was like, “oh no will I actually like this book?”s As you know, I did. Unfortunate for my friend, *cough

I had no idea that this was a graphic novel until I got it from my library and opened it to find, NOT WORDS BUT VISUALS. Probably my first time reading graphic novels and I wasn't sure I would like it, but I did!

It was definetely a comfortable and cozy book for me cuz Nick and Charlie are the cutest heh.
I am excited to read the next volume soon!!

Rate - 4.3/5

This book wasn't what I expected it to be and I mean that in a good and bad way. It had a potential if I am being honest and it was an easy read too. Could work more on the writing and delivering part.

But the lore dump kinda throws me off or the same lore dump being repeated only 5 chapters later. There was a lot of repetition and not a lot of action. Also Simon and Kestra having the same conversation about how they can't be together for the millionth time, I CANT.

I kinda liked the ending but at the same time I didn't. Hear. Me. Out. Okay?
Maybe it was just me but the author didn't give any foreshadowing or hints to tell us readers about that plot twist, yes plot twists are supposed to be unexpected but also they need to make sense, yk what I mean? I guess Darrow being Kestra's father made sense but also at the same time it didn't, I guess it can be clarified later in the other books

BUT STILL. ALSO SIMON BEING NEXT IN LINE TO BE THE KING OF THE HALDERIANS, I CANT. I kinda don't want kestra to choose him. Also it felt so predictable that Kestra was going to be the Infidante because the moment we knew she was Ananya's daughter and not Lily's it was super clear who it was gonna be.

Even though, we have a dual pov in this book (Simon and kestra) we barely know anything about Simon, he's always like - kestra this, kestra that, kestra I hate you, kestra I kinda like you. But we don't know what happened to his actual father, or the times he spent with Garr, Nothing. It's like everytime we come to Simon's pov all we hear is kestra, kestra, kestra and more kes. Them suddenly starting to like eachother didn't make sense. And they don't tell us how they started forgiving each other. I mean Hello! Weren't you guys the one who hated each other because one of you snitched on the other to their daddy, halp?

I guess this would all be explored more in the second book soo I just gotta see for myself I guess.
Butt it was good too, we learn more about Kestra and why she was the way she was and all that. (Y'all I am never forgetting the - “stitching her maid because she was bored” thing)

I wish there was more lore on the Endreans, Halderians and Coracks, cuz I have no freaking clue about how the Coracks emerged or how Lord Endrick came to power. Like he's the antagonist, he's supposed to be important but we rarely see him. I guess this will also be explored more in the later books but meh.

Can we talk about how these characters - Sir Henry, Simon, John, Lily and the most basic ah names ended up in a fantasy book, and then there's names like Kestra and Trina HALP. It feels more like a historical fiction than a fantasy cuz WDYM SIR HENRY.

Also shouldn't it be a must LIKE A RULE to have fantasy maps on a freaking fantasy book, like how are you going to explain the world to your readers without it. How are they gonna imagine where the hell these characters are heading too. It's criminal not having a fantasy map sigh.

Rate - 4/5

I listened to the audio book last year and I was instantly into it! I hear a lot of bad reviews on this one but this is one of the books for me that is sort of my guilty pleasure. (Don't come attacking me for this) I understand why people can't continue this book and have been dnfed a lot but I love it because I relate to Stassie a lot. With her eating disorder and insecurities, wanting to always see the good and bad in people. Everything she felt throughout the book is VALID and UNDERSTANDABLE. She felt Nate wasn't properly listening to her and that allowed Nate to understand his own mistakes but most of all she was determined to achieve her dream even if it meant tolerating Aaron (Hate that little...)

What I never understood was why did Aaron do what he did to Stassie? Yes, he had parents who always fought and he never sorted his emotions out through therapy like she had suggested to him. But what does he have against her that he went to such lengths to hurt her? I mean he himself said that he doesn't gain anything by jeopardising his own dream. From Day One, he slut shamed her and made her feel like she wasn't a good skater and could never achieve her life long goals but she hasn't done anything to him for her to deserve all this. Yes, he made bad choices and even worse choices by dragging Nate into their drama but... WHY?? And throwing himself onto her on purpose because he thought it would gain them popularity? I mean I am trying to understand this but I CAN'T... No. I am not trying to understand him. But. I am trying to understand why he did what he did. In any case, he got what he deserved soooo.

There are some misunderstandings regarding this book, (yes there's smut blah blah blah, grow up people) but the smut is not all the book is about... It's about friendships, eating disorders, planners. ALSO ON THE TOPIC OF PLANNERS, I love planning stuff and I get super super super and not even exaggerating super grumpy when someone messes with my plans, and I will personally ruin your day if you do. Knowing that Stassie had planners since she was 9, makes me sooo freaking happy aaah.

I READ THE BONUS CHAPTERS, Which I didn't get to do last year AND JUST WHEN U THINK YOU CANT LOVE THEIR FRIEND GROUP ANYMORE, YOU LOVE THEM EVEN MORE! I love Henry, JJ, Robbie, Lola, and OFC Muffin... THEY ARE SO GOOOFFFYY I CANT AUFHUAGAEGFYUGJ. Also Mila is soooo freaking cuteee I cantttt AAAAAH.

Anyway since it's a reread it's still a 5/5. The only reason I reread it again was because there were some bits I don't remember like Henry and Gen, also forgot why Russ was called Muffin in the first place, had to jog my memory after reading Wildfire bahahah.

There was a lot more laughter and giddiness on my side from this book compared to the first book. I haven't read a slow burn in a long time, and I get a little impatient with the genre in general but this was worth it!!! I kept joking about how Blake and Becky might have had more chances in getting together before Evie and Trys but... yeah.

I love the new character povs in the book. I am looking forward to seeing all the side characters in book 3, BECAUSE I live for them. I love Beck and BLADE. ARGHH I LOVE HOW HE CALLS HER, HE'S A FREAKING SWEETHEART. I loveee lovee the little Gideon and Keely moments, which warms my heart. AND MOST OF ALL! I LOVE KINGSLEYY, HES SO GOOFY AND SILLY, I LOVE ITTT.

I am getting a little skeptical of Nura because it's always the parents except maybe Trys's dad, I SWEARR. Why do I feel like she might betray Evie or maybe it's just me. In any case, I can't wait to read the next book soon!!

Rate - 5/5