thank you netgalley, ashley tate & poisoned pen press for providing me with the arc for twenty-seven minutes

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the description of the book really peaked my interest. the prologue and epilogue were both beautifully written. the prologue really grabbed my attention and pulled me in. the plot twist at the end was something i hadn’t been expecting at all, i sat in my bed shocked at how i hadn’t pieced the twist together in my own mind. i think it was a very unique idea (or maybe i haven’t read as many crime thrillers as i think i have) & i thought it was executed flawlessly, i just wish that it had been revealed a little bit earlier on in the book to keep it interesting.

the pacing was quite slow. like i mentioned before, the prologue really drew me in, but after about 10-15% in, it draggeddddd until the last 10%. not sure if this was done to build suspense or what but i was skimming certain people’s povs/chapters and that’s probably the reason i finished this book so quickly, otherwise it would’ve definitely dragged out longer. 

i liked the time jumps going back ten years to the night of the accident for backstory but i didn’t like that in the present day, the characters were still living & acting like they were teenagers when they were actually like thirty. they also kinda acted and spoke like phoebe’s death was like a week ago & still fresh rather than ten years ago.

i wouldn’t say the cast was stale but they were unlikeable as fuck. grant gave like major fuck boy energy but double the manipulation/gaslighting & anger issues. but the WORST one had to be fucking becca. the pick me girl vibes that i got from her was enough to make me want to skip her chapters completely, but i also love drama so i sat through it. “i have trauma too i was there why is no one feeling bad for me 🥺🥺🥺” girl. by far the most unlikeable character for me. i didn’t really connect with any of the characters but by the end of the book, june was the character i had the least amount of complaints about. also..is it just me or were grant & phoebe very ….. incesty??? like the way she was so possessive of him & how other characters described grant’s love for her, i was like.. oh! okay then.

anyway to wrap up since i just be yapping at this point, thank you again to netgalley, ashley tate and poisoned pen press for providing me with the arc for this book