➳ 3.5 stars ✰

if there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that i love a good ya mystery/thriller. so when i saw this on netgalley i HAD to have it.

and it delivered! this was a really easy, fast paced read and perfect for a good summer read (it takes place during spring break when it’s still cold but it just gives summer read yk?).

i really liked the characters + how they were portrayed. i feel like in a lot of ya books, you can tell that the author is writing teenagers how they perceive them, but the authors are never teenagers so it ends up a little awkward? for the most part in this, the teenagers felt like actual teenagers and i didn’t really cringe while reading them.

as far as the plot goes, i liked it enough. i didn’t entirely guess the ending (only a part), but it also didn’t really come as a suprise. there was also a subplot that was a bit of a mystery (involving miles), and what happened there i didn’t see coming. it was clever how the author worked all of it in together. plus that little romance subplot? oh i was living for that. the flashbacks that were worked in were also helpful and i liked having the extra insight when it would be important later.

what i didn’t like? some of the characters felt underdeveloped. noah and javier in particular, i just didn’t really connect with them because i felt like i didn’t know them. other than that i enjoyed everything well enough! i’ll definitely be looking for other books by gabriella lepore.

thank you to netgalley + inkyard press for the arc!