Just finished this one and I loved it! A slow burn mystery turned thriller with a beautiful setting and a cast of characters who all seemed to have secrets. The first third was slower, but I really burned through the last two thirds of the book. You didn’t get a very deep view into each of the characters relationships, but you got enough information and context to piece it together enough to get the story. This was an interesting mystery/thriller that I enjoyed mainly because of the setting in the Outer Banks during a storm. I loved the concept and enjoyed the reveals near the end, although I did find myself rereading parts of the reveals to make sense of what I was supposed to be understanding. If I had a better feel of the characters that may have been easier to grasp as soon as the “Aha” moment happened. Still enjoyed the book a lot!

I enjoyed the setting of this book and how it played into the story as we navigated the book. However, I felt like we never dived deep into who the characters were and the plot moved along a little too slowly for my liking. Although there was some suspense built along the way and it kept me wondering what was going to happen next, I felt like the big reveal wasn't all that shocking. This definitely wasn't my favorite Megan Miranda book but I am looking forward to reading more of her work.

Megan Miranda delivers another expertly crafted thriller that has suspense and atmosphere. This is a slower burn, but I still found it unputdownable. I needed to know where this was going. The book switched from present time at their yearly retreat and each individual perspective the night of the accident. It was gripping from the beginning and became more claustrophobic as the story went on. Each character was interesting and unique and fun to read about.

Even though the main twist wasn’t a surprise, there were still lots of little twists along the way that made it intriguing. It was a bit slow at times, but I still think it was a fun summer thriller. I recommend it to anyone who likes a twisted, character driven mystery.

Another fun thriller from Megan Miranda. This story was unique and almost left me scratching my head a bit because you are trying to piece together snippets of flashbacks and tie those memories to the present.

A group of adults meet every year at The Shallows as some kind of recognition for a tragedy they faced as high schoolers. Through out the story, we see small pieces of the past and how these characters handled an unimaginable situation. During a school field trip, the two busses transporting the students somehow crashed/were trapped into a rushing river. Only a few made it out of the buses alive and those few dwindled even further as the teenagers waited for help.

The situation around the accident is very unclear until the end of the story. The 9 people who survived the accident do not like to discuss it and as a result we are left using our imaginations to fill in many of the gaps. During the 10th trip to the Shallows, the group is on edge because one of them is revealing the truth of what happened that day in high school and talking to the media, but they don't know who. What ensues is a story with a lot of distrust and some crazy twists. It was highly entertaining and the perfect tone I need right now.

Megan Miranda is an author I will consistently pick up to see what she comes up with next.

If you’re looking for a thriller to read poolside or beachside, Megan Miranda’s The Only Survivors would make a great one. I find that her thrillers aren’t terribly heavy, and the atmosphere is so easy to get lost in.

Rating: 3.75/5⭐️

Read if you:
-don’t mind a slow burn thriller
-enjoy alternating timelines
-like the ‘friend group with secrets’ trope

Thoughts:
The slowest burn y’all. I don’t mind a slow burn, but in thrillers I have less patience for them. Overall, I thought the plot was unique and the setting was top notch. However, I was a little confused why this group of “friends” got together annually if they weren’t particularly close and only had the tragedy in common. But I let that go because it was necessary for the story. The characters were a bit one dimensional, which always makes it harder for me to get invested. But the setting/atmosphere got all the points. It was eerie yet felt reminiscent of summer camp too, and helped build suspense. This would make a great summer read if you don’t mind 70% build up.

I enjoyed the timeline and the back and forth between the characters and the past and future. I had general intrigue for the suspense of the story and the mystery behind it. However, I did not care for any of the characters or the story. If I did not have this as an ARC, I would have DNFd. 3 stars for me, it was an alright read for me.

Another atmospheric thriller from Megan Miranda. Tackling survivor's guilt after a tragic incident on a school trip, this band of nine friends meet annually at the site of the crash. Beginning right before the 10th anniversary, with two survivors having passed away in the preceding 10 years, strange things start happening during their "reunion" at the beach.

I flew through this book, finishing it in one day. Miranda is one of the few authors that keeps me guessing right until the end. But the twists and turns aren't corny or unbelievable; they are quite effective at building suspense and adding to the story.

As a fan of Megan Miranda, I was super excited to read her latest thriller. This book had me hooked from the beginning with Cassidy as the main narrator. I loved how it went between then and now.

Thank you so much @MarySueRucciBooks for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 11 Apr 2023)

SYNOPSIS | A group of former high school friends meet up annually to commemorate surviving the tragedy that occurred on a school trip. This year is the 10th anniversary & initially there were 9 survivors, but now there is only 7 and everyone wonders who will be the next to die.

WHAT I LIKED:
- the atmosphere of the impending storm

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- too many characters for me to be invested in
- extremely slow pacing that struggled to hold my attention
- the climax was pretty anticlimactic
- I really struggled to imagine the environment the characters were in during the flashback scenes (maybe I glossed over it, but it didn't feel very well described)

This was the first Megan Miranda novel I’ve read. I found it overall enjoyable and unpredictable. I love novels with twists and this story provided! I did find at times the characters were difficult to follow/keep straight but over this was an easy and enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

This was a slow burn for me. I loved the claustrophobic atmosphere that the author created. The house definitely gives creepy ghost vibes. It’s intense.

Cassidy was the main narrator and seemed to have a flat affect or lack emotion. I’m not sure if this was intentional or not. I felt like some things were repetitive and dragged out but otherwise I enjoyed the eerie ness of it. 3.5/4⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was just too convoluted for me to really enjoy it. I think there were way too many characters to follow. It was hard to really get to know any of them, and it was also really hard to even follow who was who because 9 survivors with 340ish pages is a lot to keep track of, and I kept getting them all mixed up.

Quite honestly, that was a huge distractor for me, and it was hard for me to focus on all the events that were happening, Then, there was so much finger-pointing and things being revealed, that I really just wound up lost because I was so unfocused on the main story.

I really, really want to love a Megan Miranda, but it's been two in a row for me that just didn't hold my interest quite like I wanted them to.

Another Megan Miranda hit! I absolutely love the slow-burn mystery/thriller style and this had me guessing the whole time. The ending really took me by surprise and while I had assumed one of the twists, another one came completely out of left field. I loved it!

I adore books set in my hometown of North Carolina and the Outer Banks specifically. I adore locked door, Agatha Christie murder mysteries even more. This book delivered on both plus so much more. The cast of characters was excellent and the vibes were impeccable.

The Only Survivors is about a group of classmates that meet up once a year in the Outer Banks. They endured a horrible tragedy together and meeting up is their way of checking in on each other. But this year something feels eerie… shady figures are spotted on the beach, things go missing, their rooms feel rifled through. When one of them disappears, the doubt each has toward the others creeps to the surface and the story of the tragedy starts to unfold.

This one took me a bit to get into and felt a little disjointed to start, but by the end I was hooked on figuring out what happened. Will make a great beach read this summer for those that like thrillers!

This thriller was just ok. It leaves you trying to figure out what happened in the past but then the twist wasn't a big deal and kind of dumb. Megan Miranda has many other books that are much better. The whole book felt slow and non climatic.

Seven friends make a pact to meet every year on the anniversary of a tragic accident. Seven days to unravel the story of what really happened that night, told from seven points of view. This was an interesting read, gripping you from the very beginning.

An Intriguing and Intricately Woven Story

SUMMARY
Ten years ago, a group of classmates and teachers on a school service trip were in a tragic accident in the Tennessee Mountains. Ten died when two of the school vans were plunged into a raging river off the side of the mountain. Nine classmates survived, but their lives were changed forever by their actions after the accident. On the one-year anniversary of the accident, one of the survivors commits suicide. The remaining survivors make a pact. They also agree to get together each year at a beach house in the Outer Banks to keep in touch but really to make sure no one tells the secrets about the trip.

Cassidy Bent is one of the survivors. On the tenth anniversary of the accident, she is determined to break ties with the group. She has had it with all the secrets and lies. But when she discovers Ian, her closest friend in the group, had also committed suicide several months earlier, she is grief-stricken and highly suspicious. Now there is only seven of them left. She races to the Outer Banks, where things are strange and uncomfortable. She feels like someone is watching the house. When Cassidy finds a cell phone on the beach that had belonged to Ian, she is stupefied. Then Amaya, another of the survivors, disappears from the beach house, and no one can reach her. With a huge storm approaching, tensions are high, but it is not until Cassidy gets home that the real trouble begins.


REVIEW
The Only Survivors is a fast read with an intricately woven story. The various connections between the characters and the roles they played in the accident and its aftermath keep the pages turning. It’s a continuous flow of suspense.

The writing is atmospheric, with an old three-story beach house set on pilings at the end of a sandy road buffeted by the wind, storms, and floods as the centerpiece. I could not only feel the sand between my toes and the storm clouds brewing but could also feel the immense tension among the characters. The characters are numerous, but Cassidy’s resilience to the accident and her determination to find out what is going on with the group stands out.

Author Megan Miranda has woven a tale that is intriguing and smartly structured. She slowly doles out the truth behind the original accident hour by hour from the perspective of the various survivors. You’ll want to hold on tight for that dark ride. Miranda Grew up in New Jersey, graduated from MIT, and now lives in North Carolina.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher Simon & Schuster
Published April 11, 2023
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

The sense of impending doom is palpable from the beginning, mirrored by the atmosphere in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, where the survivors of a 2013 tragedy have their yearly gathering.
I enjoyed that this narrative alternates between the present and the day of the incident. The flashback chapters provide more insight into the other characters besides Cassidy, our narrator for present day. Readers of this author or thrillers in general will likely guess the first big reveal, but the final one came as a shock and solidified my affection for the book. Good for fans of the “final girl” trope with a twist. Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for this ARC!

Thank you to Megan Miranda, Marysue Rucci Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story goes back and forth between present day, with Cassidy narrating and a decade earlier from multiple povs.

Ten years ago, a group of high schoolers traveling in two vans crash into a raging Tennessee river. All but nine students perish. Those nine students manage to climb out of the river and up the ravine. They are Amaya, Josh, Ian, Grace, Clara, Oliver, Hollis, Brody and Cassidy. While they were classmates, they all didn’t know each other well. When Clara commits suicide a year later, they make a survivors pact to meet in the OBX each year on the anniversary at Oliver’s parents’ beach house.

On the tenth anniversary, Cassidy talks herself out of going until she receives a text that another of the remaining survivors is dead. As the seven gather at the house for the week, another member of the group suddenly disappears. They all have secrets. Is one of them a killer? What really happened on the day of the crash and who was at fault?

I found this story very slow. I found myself putting it down for days at a time. With about 80 pages left, suddenly the pace picks up. There were so many characters, it was hard to keep track of who was who. In the end, I almost did not care what happened.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5506217751