I really enjoyed Only One Survives by Hannah Mary McKinnon. The relationship between the two main characters plays such a huge part in the story and the events that take place. A couple major twists makes it hard to write a review, but I can say that it was a really fun read!

Vienna and Madison met Senior year and instantly become best friends. They both love music and start playing gigs as a duo. Vienna decides they need more members and soon they have a full band. And with their new all-female pop rock band gaining traction, soon everyone would hear their songs.
Except, on the way to an event, the Bittersweet’s van careened off an icy mountain road during a blizzard—leaving one member dead and another severely injured.
In order to survive the snowy night they take shelter in a nearby abandoned cabin. But Vienna’s dreams devolved into a terrifying nightmare as, one by one, her fellow band members met a gruesome end…and Madison simply vanished in the night.
What really happened to the Bittersweet? Did Vienna’s closest friend finally decide to take center stage on her own terms? What really happened that night that only two people came home.
I loved this book!!!!!! I loved the style that this book was written in. It was a mix of what had happened over the years and what was happening now. I really liked the main character Vienna #TeamVienna. I could not put it down, I was sneaking chapters at work. I did not see the twists coming and there was a few.
The only negative I have is I feel like it could of been a few chapters shorter. Toward the end I did lose some interest but not enough to change the fact that I loved this book.
Thanks to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing and Hannah Mary McKinnon for this digital ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

I found the spacing and font of this book to be difficult to read.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: July 16, 2024
Vienna Taylor loves playing drums and making music alongside her best friend, Madison. It seems like fate when Vienna and Madison meet three other women and they form a female punk rock band, “The Bittersweet”. Their debut single takes off and soon, the five women are driving to the Catskills to sign a record contract…………until their car careens off the road. Now, three are dead and Madison is presumed missing, leaving Vienna the only survivor. But there is a small portion of Bittersweet’s followers who believe Vienna played a role in the death of the band, all to increase her own infamy and popularity. But that’s impossible, no one would kill all of their friends just to be famous—would they?
Hannah Mary McKinnon’s newest release, “Only One Survives”, is like a deliciously twisted version of “Daisy Jones and the Six”, complete with murder and intrigue.
Vienna is the protagonist and the story is told in reverse order (for the most part), starting on the day of the accident and working backwards, right up until the very end. There is non-stop action and an endless supply of twists and turns that kept me turning the pages! Vienna and Madison have a toxic and co-dependent relationship that was definitely going to turn ugly fast, as they both struggled with their own ambitions and desires to be famous. But what actually happened on that snowy night? Only Vienna knows and not all parts of her story match up. Somehow, I managed to actually like Vienna and I almost (almost) cheered for her long after I should’ve stopped doing so. McKinnon wrote a character I grew unexpectedly attached to, and that was just another one of many surprises in this story!
“Survives” has epic twists but none more epic than the final one- which was completely unexpected. There were so many different routes McKinnon could’ve taken to get to the ending, but I’m glad she went in the direction she did. An all-girl band is bound to generate some drama, especially with young and ambitious musicians battling for the spotlight, but McKinnon takes it to the next level, making “Survives” an absolute must-read that I was unable to put down!

An incredible book! Loved everything about it: the excellent writing, the suspense, the wonderful characters, past/present timelines, the instagram passages and the fantastic ending.
The author made the story feel real and I felt like I was involved with their lives and experiences. A thriller that actually brought me to tears and the musical references were an added bonus. A perfect quote- “I couldn’t exist without music.”
Another 5🌟 read by Hannah Mary McKinnon!!
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

An all female rock band that is in a horrific car accident and stranded in a blizzard known the Catskills. Kinda fun as I was just there so it felt a little more real because I could picture it.

One of the members dies right away and the rest escape to a creepy cabin. We also get some backstory about how the best friends who formed the band, Vienna and Madison became friends and their relationship.

Then people start dying and there are only a few left when everything changes.

Review:

HMM always has such great premises and unique suspenseful storytelling. Only One Survives doesn’t disappoint.

I thought the story was going to go one way and it went another and yet another which is one of my favorite things about thrillers: subverting expectations is one of the things HMM does so well.

Enjoyable read that made me want to put Josie and the Pussycats to rock out while murders splashed across the page.

3.5 stars rounded up

Tw: dementia

A group of band members were on their way to early fame…or so they thought. A blizzard in the middle of nowhere threatens the growing fame for these women.

I most enjoyed reading through the stories of their lives leading up to coming together as a band. Overall, it was a fun and quick read and I enjoyed it. The beginning of the book really hooked me up until what I’ll call “the incident” to avoid spoilers. I felt that the original twist was a little predictable, but the very final twist of the book, I couldn’t predict.

After an accident in the Catskills, all but one member of an up and coming band makes it home alive, and another has gone missing. Told in alternate timelines, we find out what happened to the members of 'The Bittersweet.'

Hannah Mary McKinnon is one of my favorite authors and this one was highly anticipated for me. Despite reading several mountain cabin murder mysteries recently, this book held my attention and kept me reading. While I can't say exactly what I loved without giving away spoilers, know that if you are familiar with this author, she stays true to her typical style. I loved the background and development on the characters, and didn't really know if I loved or hated them right up until the end. While much of the twist was fairly obvious pretty early on, that didn't stop me from enjoying it. The conclusion was quite satisfying.

There were so many good elements to this story... and then it hit just after 50% and fell apart for me. The multiple perspective telling/retelling just did not work for me. It bored me to read events twice with relatively minimal shifts in details. The ending was also pretty obvious. AND it committed one of my cardinal sins--a full confession of everything that happened step by step. Ugh. I hate that.

On the plus side! I did like the development of EmVee's relationship throughout the story, the unrealistic narration, and the parent-child dynamics that occurred. That late teen-early twenty time frame is definitely a good time for self exploration, and I think the characters accomplishing those types of events in different ways was realistic.

Overall: 2 stars (It was fine)

I'll tell my students about: language, sex, LGBT+, violence/gore/murder, drugs, alcohol, trauma, physical/mental abuse, arson, theft,

**Thank you to NetGalley & Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA for the free ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.** Review posted to GoodReads 5/3/24

Obviously, you're not meant to know the first half of this book is a memoir, until the second half. But then even in the second half, it's not clear it's a memoir for a while, which I really didn't like. I don't personally like it when I'm being lied to by the author, by use of an unreliable narrator. I think it would have been better had the author stated in the beginning that this was a memoir based on her recollections.

I also felt like the second half was predictable and unnecessary long. It sort of dragged and I just kept reading to find out what was going to happen, but it lost my interest after a while. It felt like each chapter was more and more ridiculous and Vienna's actions were more and more unbelievable. I have read and liked HMM books before so a bit underwhelmed by this one...

Thank you to NetGalley for my free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Only One Survives
Hannah Mary McKinnon
Out July 16, 2024

Female Music group on the rise. There’s a car accident with 6 of them. They’re able to find a cabin to try and ride out the snow storm, but not everyone is going to make it home. Only two people walk out alive. What happened to the rest of the group? This mystery thriller starts off immediately! The chapters are short and it keeps you turning pages fast to figure out what happened! The chapters alternate between past and present with one of the lead singers and survivor of the group tells her side of the story.

While this book reads a little like it’s YA, the suspense, mystery, and thrilling parts are engrossing to all. I appreciated this refreshing and more youthful read. This book has unreliable narrators, shocking twists, and a satisfying ending! Absolutely loved this book!

Only One Survives was a thrilling duel timeline read. The story develops as your knowledge of the characters grow from past to present. If written in chronological order this story would be predictable, but the way that the author splits the book's timeline leaves the mystery to unfold at a perfect pace. If you like music, underdog stories, and psychological thrillers this is all that packed into one.

Vienna is a poor girl gifted with massive talent and cursed with a mother that has little love and respect for her daughter. Madison is rich, spoiled and in love with music, but has controlling parents that would rather her pursue a life of security. The two strike up a friendship when learning they are both musically inclined and later their talents take them to the stars This timeline shift to present day where we see Madison and Vienna wrecked along with their new band members in a snow storm unable to reach help. The girls discover a cabin in the woods where they decide to camp out until the snow stops. One by one the band members meet their fate. Is it all coincidence or is it planned? Is there a murderer among them?

Great read! I suggest this for all those who love music and thrillers! 5 stars!

I really enjoyed this, surprisingly so. I thought it was clever, the characters were interesting and realistically portrayed, and the integration of social media was well done. There were several twists that I didn't see coming, which really added to my enjoyment.

This was my first book by the author -- it won't be my last.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

I love the premise of this book, but not the execution. I just found the story boring. There was a big twist halfway through that I didn’t see coming, but after that everything became so predictable.

The Bittersweet, an up and coming musical group, is on their way to a party in the Catskills when their car careens off the road and the girls must take refuge in an abandoned cabin. The relationship between Vienna and Madison was good. The book felt a bit YA to me until about the halfway point. I became frustrated as I felt Vienna was explaining too much to the reader, but as we dug deeper into Madison and Libby's relationship with Vienna, the twists kept me entertained. I especially enjoyed the twist at the end!

If you enjoy twisty, atmospheric thrillers, then this one is for you!

This is a quick read with flawed characters who you didn’t know who to trust and chapters that alternate between before and after the crash which are both full of tons of suspense! 😬

And the ending was totally unexpected, love a good jaw dropping thriller! 🙌🏼

⭐️⭐️⭐️

After reading “You Will Remember Me” by Hannah Mary McKinnon a few years ago (which I really enjoyed) and seeing this beautiful cover, I had high expectations for this one.

I was not a huge fan of the split time lines and although they were clearly labelled and helped with character/relationship building of the main character Vienna Taylor and her best friend Madison Pierce I found them confusing at times. I also felt that halfway through the story things just seemed to get repetitive as if to rush to an ending.

I wish there had been more time spent at the cabin or getting to know the band as a whole. There were however a few unexpected twists that were just enough to keep me going.

Thanks to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing and Hannah Mary McKinnon for this digital ARC.

Stories with unreliable narrators are some of my favorite types. I enjoyed the diversity of the chapters. There was a mix between the years leading up to the car accident, the day of the accident and months following, and transcripts from tv, news reports and social media follower comments.

The themes of girl bands and toxic friendships kept me entertained. It's also a snowed-in murder mystery. The ending had a shock factor to it and tied things up nicely.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing | MIRA for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really loved the first half of this book.

Five band members and a videographer are in a car accident in the Catskills during a snowstorm. They have no way to find help with weather conditions worsening and night quickly approaching. Thankfully the group finds an abandoned cabin to shelter in overnight; however, by the next morning three of the women are dead, one is missing, and one has no memory of the night, leaving only one with the knowledge of what happened.

The first half of the book is dual timeline between the events of the accident and how the two main band members met in high school and came to expand the group. I really enjoyed this aspect and honestly wanted even more backstory on the girls and their toxic relationship. However, after the halfway point I feel like the pace started to drag. I really enjoyed the twist, but the main character reveals something that I feel made the ending fairly predictable.

<spoiler> I feel like once we knew where Madison was there really wasn't a lot of suspense left and it left only one option for who could be behind the rest of the weird things happening to Vienna. I also felt the ending was a bit weak and wasn't convinced that the murderer would offer up their confession like that. </spoiler>

I enjoyed the writing style and the inclusions of other forms of media like articles, podcast transcripts, etc. I also loved the setting of a creepy cabin all alone in the middle of a snow storm- very atmospheric and added a lot to the overall suspense of the plot.

Loved it! Strong, flawed females drive this story of a girl drummer, her best friend, the girl band they start and the tragic accident that ends it all just as success is within reach. At what price fame? Only One Survives reads a bit YA, but in the best way! A quick read, perfect for pool or beach.