I just couldn't get into this one. I can't put my finger on why, and I am so sorry. I think it probably wasn't the right book for me at this time. Thank you for the opportunity to try it, though!

A local murder legend adds a creepy undertone to this YA suspense thriller about a trio of friends, one of whom has gone missing. The main character's troubled backstory adds emotional complexity to the mystery. It's rare that I don't figure out the culprit before the big reveal, but this book had some surprises in store, which is what I'm looking for in a thriller. Would have liked a clearer picture of the main character's previous troubles with her mom (we're told only in broad strokes, not shown in detail), but as a thriller this hits the marks.

well that was a surprisingly great book. i received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. i was honestly not planning to read it today, i was just checking on my e-reader to see about how long it would take me to read it but then i got sucked in from page 1 and finished it in 3 hours.

the main character of kacey has some severe emotional/psychological problems and PTSD from a toxic relationship with her mother. she's living with her father and his family at the beginning of the book so we learn that from small reveals. she's moved to town relatively recently and made some friends with girls who seem a little messed up in their own right from the very beginning. and then one of them disappears and there's a lot of questions and suspicion that falls on kacey. as she struggles to figure out what happened without losing her mind we watch other characters of the town/family come unhinged too. new details on the case are released sporadically throughout and each one makes you rethink everything and question what will happen next. generally with mysteries, i cannot handle the slow reveal and will fully go and read the end out of curiosity. or i'll manage to figure it out by myself because i find a lot of mysteries to be painfully obvious (including the one in the mystery novel i myself wrote). but in this one i neither figured it out OR went to cheat read it. i was basically enthralled by the slightly crazy kacey from the very beginning and just read and discovered things with her.

there are some parts which start to intersperse in the latter half of the books - diary chapters from the missing girl - which i liked because they gave me more information and were interesting but which i also didn't like because it didn't feel like we as the reader should get to know more than kacey did.

overall though, it was an interesting and compelling read with good plotting and follow through on the mystery. i'd recommend it to teenage girls and boys from about 13-18.

Wow. I "picked" this book (ARC) on Netgalley because I was pre approved and the cover looked interesting. I didn't not expect to find such an addictive, well written, and frightening book on a whim. This book legitimately gave me nightmares and I'm not one to scare easily. It's a psychological thriller that does not rely on cheap tricks or crazy premises. To anyone who was ever been a teenage girl, this book is strangely relatable. Overall, the well developed characters, and original plot make this a very satisfying read.

After reading Kara's first novel, I knew that she truly understood the mystery and true crime genres. Her way of building the tension in this book is purposeful and well crafted. At first I thought this would be a book I could pace myself on, reading a couple chapters every day but by chapter four, I was hurtling through this book at breakneck speed, trying to keep up with the twists and turns of the plot. It has been a long time since I've read quality mystery books that sucked me in like this, and it wasn't until Kara's work that I found something that does just that. Little Monsters delves into the darkness of female friendships and small town living. It had a similar feeling to Fargo, the movie, of events snowballing quickly beyond what the small town can handle. I am a middle school librarian and would recommend it for 8th grade and up. I am going to speak to the High School librarian in my district and urge her to add it to the collection when it comes out!

Kara Thomas comes out swinging once again! Little Monsters is a story about Kacey, a young girl who lives with an unstable mother and does not know her father until she is in her later teens. She goes to live with her father and learns she has a step-brother and a younger half-sister. She comes to adore both siblings and finally meets two girls in school and they become fast friends......or so Kacey thought. Certain events occur that leave Casey feeling unsettled and not sure who she can trust.

If you want a book where you will be a bit shocked by the "Who Done It" then this book is for you!

I wasn't expecting to love this as much as I did seeing that i'm not the biggest fan of YA thrillers. This is a page-turner that will keep you up all night reading trying to find out who is the killer.

I love, love, loved THE DARKEST CORNERS. So when I heard that Thomas was releasing another novel, with the same premise (fictionalized True Crime for YAs), I couldn't wait. And then, I found out she was semi-local and invited her to YA Fest. I met her, and literally gushed all over her. She's a fellow #murderino.

Okay, I'm done. Now, onto the story...

I loved it. Honestly, there's not much else I can say. To make it clear and cohesive, I'm just going to bullet point for you what was awesome about it:

It was extremely well-written.
There are a lot of twists throughout the story that keeps the reader guessing.
The ending has a HOLY SH!T moment that made me gasp out loud.
It includes some of my personal favorite things: local ghost stories and crime/mystery.
Kacey is an unreliable narrator, which makes the story even harder to figure out.
Jade is an absolute bitch, but plays the part well.
Kacey's backstory makes it hard to believe she's completely innocent.
The plot all wrapped up REALLY nicely for the reader.
This was one of those books that I will continue to buy (in every edition), and hand out to my friends and go YOU HAVE TO READ THIS, all while still making heart-eyes in Kara Thomas's direction.

Seriously. If you like murder-mysteries, true crime adaptations, or conniving BFFs, this book is for you.

Rating... 12/10 stars!

Now, when's the next one coming out...?

Can PRH just send me Kara Thomas so she can be my pocket author and I can carry her around to tell me stories on demand? K, thanks :) That's how I felt about The Darkest Corners and also about this little gem of a book. I'm not gonna give anything away, and I'm not going into the details of why I liked it because it's still months from publication. Just know that I do not usually read mysteries, especially YA mysteries, because I almost always figure them out from even the subtlest clues. But I will always read a Kara Thomas story. Even though I wasn't shocked by the ending, I still had book shimmies. Not only would I suggest this book to my YA readers, I might actually throw it at them :) 4.5/5 stars for me.

What a great read! I spent a Saturday afternoon engrossed in this book. The twists and turns kept me interested and the conclusion was a punch in the gut. I really enjoyed the relationships between all the characters. I would definitely recommend this book to my students.

Thank you for the advanced copy.