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Synopsis
Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery’s never been there, but she’s heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.
The town is picture-perfect, but it’s hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone’s declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.
Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. And the longer she’s in Echo Ridge, the clearer it becomes that everyone there is hiding something. The thing is, secrets are dangerous–and most people aren’t good at keeping them. Which is why in Echo Ridge, it’s safest to keep your secrets to yourself.
My review
I have been in a reading slump. It happens to the best of us. Every since wrapping up the Harry Potter series, I’ve been struggling to enjoy actually reading a book. Audiobooks have been helping me continue to wrap up reads, but physical books have been a sore spot for me lately.
I’ve owned a signed hardcover of this book for quite some time now, but I held off on reading it because I knew that while I enjoyed the authors debut novel, One of Us is Lying, I also had some qualms with it. I wanted a read that would help me out of my slump, not make it any worse, but because mystery & thriller novels are my favorite, I finally picked this up after days of contemplation and dived in.
And honestly? I’m really glad that I did.
Let me say that this is not a perfect book, but I enjoyed it far more than I was expecting to! The author got a ton of useful feedback after publishing her first novel and I felt like she actually applied so much of it to this book. The difference was clear to see. For instance, a huge qualm for a lot of readers (myself included) in the last book was that one of the main character’s sexuality was used a pretty big plot device. A lot of readers commented on this in their reviews, and so McManus took that feedback and worked with it.
This novel was still diverse, with a majority of the main characters being people of color: one of the two main characters who was a latinx twin (her twin brother is also heavily involved in the story), two Asian American characters who were pretty important to the plot, and another latinx character who was also vital in the story. Additionally, the twin brother of the female main character was gay and one of the Asian American girls was bisexual. The difference in this novel was that none of these things were focused on or exploited as a means to the plot. The lack of diversity in the town that this is set in is touched on, and there’s a brief mention of biphobia, but none of these things were used as a part of the big plot twist or anything. I was really happy to see that McManus didn’t ditch diversity altogether and instead took the feedback from readers and used it in this.
I also felt like there was a noticeable difference in the writing this time around. The pacing of the story was suitable for my personal tastes and the while the characters were not necessarily fully developed, it was possible to get to know them well enough in the small amount of time covered in the novel.
The mystery dynamic of this was without a doubt the best part of it for me. I tend to find that YA mystery or thriller novels are played down so much that I enjoy them noticeably less than ones from the adult genre, but every once in a while I find a story like this one that can still please me. There are, essentially, three mysteries to be solved in this, but neither the reader nor the characters in the story are sure if the mysteries are all connected or not. It certainly seems that they could be, but I found myself consistently second guessing the probability of it. When the mysteries were finally solved I was truly shocked. It’s rare that I come across a mystery novel that I cannot predict the ending of (at least vaguely), but I absolutely did not see the ending of this one coming. However, looking back now, the reveal does seem very true to McManus’ style from One of Us is Lying, but you’ll only know what I mean by that if you’ve read both novels.
I will admit that the blurb had underwhelmed me before I picked this up, but thankfully the simplistic yet enjoyable writing style pulled me in early on. I stuck around and I’m glad I did because I found a fun, intriguing, and hard-to-solve storyline that I devoured quickly. If you’ve ever been in a reading slump, you know how nice it is to get that pulled into a story again.
This is a definite recommend for those of you who enjoy quick reads and compelling mysteries. If you were underwhelmed with the last novel, this may be more captivating for you. It was for me, anyways!
I love when authors take the advice that readers had in a first book and apply it to their next book! I can’t wait to read this one 🙂
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Right?! I was so happy to see that she clearly took everything readers said with the last one in a constructive way. It made a definite difference in the reading experience for me!
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I think this might be up my alley, what do you think? 🤔
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I think you’d be pulled into the true crime aspect
of it like I was! I know you’re not into YA as much, but this one thankfully doesn’t focus too much on that aspect. Most of it pertains to the mystery, so I think you could potentially like this! I have a copy if you wanna borrow it!
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I do! Bring it to lunch next time. 📖
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I’ll try to remember😅😅
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Both the books are in my TBR. I have heard mixed reviews about this. Great review. Glad you loved it
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They are definitely the kind of stories that are dependent on what style of books you like! I can definitely see why some people like her books and some don’t! Thank you Shalini ♥
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Sounds like a good read. Nice review.
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Thank you! It was a fun one for sure.
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I read this book earlier this summer and really enjoyed it! I also loved that it hard to predict
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It was definitely a fun read! I loved trying to solve the mystery. I had no idea who to suspect😂
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I definitely agree on how McManus improved in her treatment of diversity this time around, it’s always nice when authors and creators take the time to listen to constructive criticism!
As for the rest, maybe it’s a matter of ‘this book didn’t meet my expectations’, because while I had fun with the first one, I didn’t enjoy Two Can Keep a Secret at all. I wasn’t surprised with either ending, but I guess I took the 1st one as a more light/fun thing, whereas this second book felt to me like it was supposed to be taken more seriously and, for me, it didn’t hold up.
But people do seem to be loving this one a lot, ymmv. Romances and mysteries really are super-personal, aren’t they? Anyway, I’ve really enjoyed your review, you explain very well what worked for you without giving anything away!
– Reese
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Great review. I have not yet read this, I have it and am very much looking forward it. I really enjoyed One of us is lying.
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Thank you! It took me a while to pick this one up but I’m glad I finally did. If you enjoyed One of Us is Lying, I think you’ll probably really like this one as well!
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Thanks, I counted all my paperbacks on my shlves today and I have 34 unread, (then more in storage) I really need to get reading . but hopefully I will get to it soon 🙂
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The dreaded backlist! I know the feeling. No worries though, that just means you always have something new to read! (:
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That’s a great way to look at it. 🙂
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I loved One of Us is Lying!! I could not guess who killed Simon at all and at the very end, when the killer was revealed, I was genuinely blown away and surprised but also…not surprised? All at the same time.
I love how you structured your review (the flow is amazing) and your graphics! Are so beautiful! Your blog’s header image is also just so gorgeous and your blog is just overall aesthetic goals! Thank you for the wonderful review! Happy reading Brittany. ❤️
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This is such a sweet comment! Thank you so much! It’s been a while since I read One of Us is Lying but I think that I had kind of started to suspect the killer just before it was revealed! It was an interesting read for sure! Have you heard about the second book that the author is publishing?! I’m excited for that one. Once again, thank you so much for your kind words ♥♥ Sometimes I see people with beautifully detailed aesthetics and feel like I should step some of my stuff up, so this comment made me happier than you know!!
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Great review, and I am so glad that you enjoyed reading this one!
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Thank you so much, Kal! I needed a fun mystery to get me out of my slump, lol.
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