Literary Lane

 WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD RATING: 4.5 out of 5 stars Oh my god. Wow, what a read. The ever-increasing suspense, bombshells, twists and turns and dark, thrilling fear is what kept me so incredibly gripped by this book. Much like its predecessor, "You Can Trust Me", this was a very intense, thrilling, dark, tense, enthralling and suspenseful story, with a looming mystery being that of the identity of a ruthless criminal who has harmed or is harming one of the main characters. This was perhaps even more spine-tingling and unsettling than that book though I'd have said, as you have to watch the poor protagonist getting relentlessly and seriously stalked for pretty much the entire book, and that was really scary to read and follow. Obviously the identity reveal of the stalker doesn't come until towards the very end, just before the climax, but since it was the part that of course left me the most shocked (and probably did a lot of people) I will get it off my chest now: WOW...

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD Wow. There was not a moment when I was not completely gripped and absorbed in this book, having ended up spending nearly all of yesterday reading it, for about 6-7 hours (though with the odd breaks) because I was just that determined to keep reading on, as with all the suspense and drama and 'wham' moments that were unfolding I could not simply leave it for tomorrow, I needed closure and that is only a sign of an amazing book, when you are able to get hooked like this. My brain hurt a bit as a result but god it was so worth it. YA thrillers are one of my very favourite book genres-not all of them I love, as of course they have to be done really well and strongly, that keep me really hooked with their unfolding suspense and drama, twists and turns while also highlighting issues that are very real such as toxic friendships , relationships and sexual abuse. This book did all that and was perhaps the best I have read out of all thes...

  2 out of 5 stars (and that's being generous)  WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT AHEAD.  I will say that it did keep me hooked with the suspense and mystery which is always good, although sometimes only in the short-term if it is anti-climatic, which was the case here of course. However other than that I just found it all really annoying, especially with the way Maddy ends up with Adrian not long after her sister's death which just bloody infuriated me, like they could have at least gave it time and then shown them together months later if they had too, but this was just inappropriate given the circumstances. But what really annoyed me most about it was the way that a love interest just HAD to be shoehorned into the story, that she just HAD to end up in a romantic relationship, not even a nice, new true friendship to make things nicer and happier for her after having been friendless for so long (or at least without any true friends) but of course it had to be a frigging g...