Karen McManus 3 Books Collection Set (One Of Us Is Lying, One Of Us Is Next, Two Can Keep a Secret)

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Five students have detention one afternoon. There's Cooper, the golden boy and star baseball player trying to decide between college and the major leagues; Bronwyn, the class valedictorian who plans to follow her family's legacy and go to Yale; Addy, one-half of the picture-perfect couple and a homecoming princess; Nate, the bad boy, on probation for dealing drugs (and still selling them not so secretly); and Simon, the despised (and kind-of feared) creator of About That, Bayview High's gossip blog. They're all in detention for something none of them did, and they can't understand why the teacher doesn't believe them. This probably doesn't make any sense because I don't know how to put my feelings into words especially without context, but if you know you know I suppose. Actually, there were many opportunities to go down the typical YA-route, but thankfully that didn't happen. I was very (pleasantly) surprised at that! The big task, however, lies in uncovering who would have gone to the extent of killing to protect the same from being revealed. The four who were considered suspects with the death of Simon are all over sudden made to come together as each of them tries to prove their innocence. The events become more complicated as the four-try hiding secrets of which even Simon never heard a clue yet is believed to have known as per his post.

Also, a shout-out to Kris, the real and only smart one here. Mystery solves thanks to Kris’s smart brain, you go Kris, you go! This book was a pleasant surprise! It was refreshing and a change from the usual young-adult contemporary. Addy's POV is very shallow and portrays a terrible relationship and girl drama. (But she has a good growth arc.) Indeed, some of them were, so much so, that again, I don't like that YA authors resort to making the police force completely oblivious to the crimes - please, it would not hurt to bring some forth of realism to the stories. Just writing them off, as a work force that is not taking the crimes or deaths seriously, all the more annoyed. ☹️ And then, to have the ending, not even bring decent closure to all the characters - it leaves it all so wishy-washy, and even makes me believe that there may be a spin-off or sequel in the works, because it still left some story lines hanging! It was as if, it was written for the sole intent of making the bad guys completely unlikable and not even redeemable for their cause of actions.😩😩

Publication Order of One of Us Books

Even though I figured out the twist I still think the above reasons is what made this book so good.

Sure, there were some (very) minimal cheesy scenes, but I (unexpectedly) found them rather cute, and not annoying and unnecessary like I usually do. There are also kept on a small scale, so the attention never drifts away from the main plot. Karen McManus did a great job with this book. It's amazing—she basically took most of the typical high school stereotypes, yet gave her characters a little more depth than you'd expect. Even though you probably will have suspicions of how the plot will unfold (and most of those suspicions will be correct), it's still interesting the way McManus pulls everything together. I couldn't get enough of this book, and even though the story wrapped up, I wouldn't have minded if it ran longer. And when a member of the crew disappears, it's clear this 'game' just got serious - and no-one understands the rules.Can we talk about how precious Cooper is? This kid, without a doubt, is my favorite. i love this precious cinnamon roll so much. This is a review I’ve been struggling to write for a few days now and I hope I’ve done it justice. There just aren’t words to describe how completely readable this book really is. McManus did such a fabulous job of making me just as interested in the individual secrets and side stories of the “Murder Club” as I was in the central mystery surrounding Simon’s death. The author had me convinced that this couldn’t possibly be her debut novel, and if this is what she has published first, I can only imagine the treats we will receive in written form from her down the road. I’m a committed fan now and I can’t wait to see what she publishes next. Highly recommended to teens, sure, but I think loads of adults are going to enjoy this one as well. There’s something really special and unique to this story that defies the boundaries of age gaps and will have me remembering it for months to come. The main romance is fairly cute. Incredibly trope-y "goody-two-shoes smart girl falls for the brooding bad boy!" stuff, but, I mean, their interactions are fine, and I was rooting for them by the end of the book, which is a big plus. I would say I was more attached to the budding relationship between them than I was to any of the individual characters in this story. But we all know what Bayview’s real game is, right?” she continues. “Revenge. Except they keep doing it wrong. The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars” was somehow a fair description for the general, overall idea of this book in the beginning but then (thank god) it wasn’t entirely like that. Which I appreciate because, you know, I like sparks of differences here and there.

Despite my annoyances, please allow me to highlight the few points that I did appreciate. Thank you for providing that brief overview of the character's at the start - it gave me a brief reminder as to who each person was. Thank you for limiting the story to only a few selective perspectives - as vast as a cast, it was, the selected few were, honestly the most important to the story and helped navigate the story in a better streamline. 👍🏼👍🏼 Thank you for showing the camaraderie between the Bayview Crew - they've all experienced a lot and their concern and care for each other was duly noted. Thank you for the little twist at the end - as cliché as the reveal was, it honestly caught me by surprise. Thank you for writing the unnecessary sequel with clear, concise and direct writing - having it straight-forward and simple kept the pace flowing. 👌🏻 Since moving to the town, a lot seems untold as Ellery and her brother leave California and embrace the culture and occurrences that hold a bitter past for their maternal grandmother. Their mother is in rehab leaving the two to spend time in a place that they barely know yet already scarcely with past occurrences. The disappearance of their aunt and some similar incidences seem to hold a number of things that the residents of this town seem to prefer to keep in the dark.This wasn’t entirely original, I think I’ve heard of some other handful of stories similar, but it was entertaining nonetheless. This is definitely the type of book that the more you think of, the more resentment you will have towards it. The more problems that you will think of and the more you will question what you just read. I enjoyed it when I was reading, simply because of how fast I sped through it, but, was it really, truly, actually good? Upon further reflection prior to this review, ok going to have to say no.