May 2022 Mini-Reviews

Review: Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets by Chelsea Ichaso

*We received this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Savannah Sullivan knows her younger sister Piper didn’t try to kill herself. It doesn’t matter what everyone is saying, she knows Piper’s fall was no accident. Desperate to learn the truth, Savannah signs up for survival club. Piper “fell” from a place near where the annual survival camp trip is going.

Nobody can believe that Savannah wants to go camping, but when she tells everyone that it helps her feel close to Piper, nobody argues. It’s hard to fight with Savannah when Piper’s still in a coma.

When Savannah gets to the woods, all she has is a few clues and some mysterious texts from someone named Alex. But she won’t leave the mountain without learning who wanted Piper dead.

Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets is actually a really good book. The only real problem we had with was we felt it difficult to connect with the characters. We did enjoy the fact that Savannah had morally gray tendencies. However, we don’t feel much of her personality came through. She just existed and Piper served as the stereotypical over-achiever.

However, the plot was well crafted. The pacing was spot on and the answer to who hurt Piper wasn’t too obvious. Savannah had to get through multiple suspects. The spookiest aspect of the book was the setting. We’ve mentioned it before …we’re not camping people! So to think a potential could be in the wilderness with us is terrifying.

Overall, if you like fast-paced YA thrillers and don’t find a lack of character development, than pick up Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Review: Stalk Me (The Keatyn Chronicles #1) by Jillian Dodd

Keatyn Douglas live the privileged Hollywood lifestyle. Keatyn knew that she wanted to write the perfect script for her life and it came true. But now that Keatyn is finished with her junior year, she starts to question what she really wants.

After ending things with her boyfriend Sander, Keatyn is trying to choose between continuing to be Miss. Popular or be the surfer girl that she is when she’s not around her school friends. Both of theses choices have to do with guy. There’s Brooklyn, the slightly older surfer dude and Cush, the cheeky guy who likes every side of Keatyn.

In the span of a single summer, Keatyn’s life totally unravels, ending with her having to make a choice that will change her life forever.

Okay, so let’s start with the good parts of this book. Despite all of our problems with this book, the writing style is what kept us reading. Jillian Dodd knows how to keep a story moving. She had us wanting to know what happens next, even if we didn’t like Keatyn that much.

We liked Keatyn more at the beginning of the book. She starts out saying that she wants to change and how she’s tired of the BS from her mean girl friends. But then, she doesn’t change at all. She also goes back and forth so much with Brooklyn and Cush. One minute she’s in love with surfer boy, the next minute she’s mad at him for not going clubbing with her. The same happens with Cush: one minute she’s angry with him, the next she’s confessing her love for him.

Now, to explain the title of the the book. Stalk Me implies that there will be a stalker. Near the end of the book, Keatyn realizes she’s had stalker, which puts her life in danger. Now this aspect of the book was interesting because it shed a light on the unwanted spotlight of Hollywood kids. However, it also leads to Katyn’s family making a drastic decision. Without spoiling anything, we believe Dodd should have ended the book then.

However, the last few chapters totally threw off the vibe of the book and honestly made it worse for us. Suddenly, we’re introduced to a new setting and a lot of new characters, right before it ends. It felt unnecessary and confusing.

Since we really love London Prep and enjoyed Girl Off the Grid, it surprised us how much better Dodd became at crafting plot and character development. Stalk Me released in 2012 BTW.

While we had some fun at the beginning with the 90210 vibes, the plot kept getting worse and worse. And we saw little growth from Keatyn. We will say though that we liked Cush and Brooklyn wasn’t a bad guy.

Have you read this book before? If so, let us know your thoughts in the comments. The Goodreads review were quite mixed.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐