One of my YA thriller authors that I have always seemed to enjoy reading is Hannah Jayne and so when I was scrolling through my kindle and saw that I had one of hers that I hadn't read, I was excited, and then when I read the blurb and discovered that the main female lead Addie was a book blogger, bookstagrammer and writer and loved mysteries - I just knew I had to read it as Addie's character was similar to myself and in a way who I aim to be like except for well, the part where she finds herself living in a real-life Gap Lake Mystery novel. But I'm jumping ahead of myself. Addie's favorite author is the mysterious RJ Rosen - author of the popular teen series Gap Lake Mysteries. Addie writes Gap Lake fan fiction and has a massive following of over a million fans and writes for the school newspaper. RJ Rosen and his books are her worlds. Addie's story begins when she gets an email from RJ Rosen asking her to be part of his new book launch, she is in heaven as I would be too. However, things start getting strange when she posts a snippet of his new upcoming story, and the next day she finds one of her classmates Lydia dead. It's life imitating art, the thing though is she is certain the person messaging her as RJ Rosen is behind it, but what will happen when more people are hurt and no one believes her and she looks like the girl who cried wolf? Will it take hurting those the closest to her for the world to take notice? I have to admit though, I was a little disappointed with the ending and when the killer, etc was revealed as part of it I understood with revenge but the other half just fell flat for me and felt unrealistic which was a shame. I also hated the fact that no one was listening to Addie and treated her as if she was a 5-year-old with her head in the clouds and then when they did listen to her, they treated her like the villain just because she loved mysteries and dark fiction. Overall, Copycat was an average read - not my favorite of Hannah Jayne's but still an enjoyable YA Thriller that reminded me similar of Misery by Stephen King and Eyes of the Forest by April Henry.

DNF. Wasn’t for me. I’m sure others will enjoy it. The writing style through me off and I disliked it.

This was a middle-of-the-road read for me. While I liked a lot of aspects, there were some things I disliked, and overall, I just didn't feel strongly enough about the book to really warrant adding an in-depth review to the blog.

Oh my goodness, the thrills and suspense in this book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading! Just imagining the events of this book happening to me is enough to give me the chills! Loved it.

Ehhh, this wasn't for me. I was really excited because I love YA thrillers but this was just a little too childish. I had to DNF.

I wanted to like this, but the subpar writing and the lack of character development really ruined my reading experience.

I didn't realize that this book was actually intended for a younger market, but it kept me entertained nonetheless and I will see out more of ms Jayne's books in future. Recommended.

A chilling and gory read that has a lot of promise. While it was a decent read, its not a story I will keep coming back to.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! It was so cool that the book was centered around this book series that EVERYONE loves and then there was a copycat killer. I love when books contain authors/books and the fact that this also contained murder was soooo amazing.

All of my reviews are in the form of questions.

What made me pick this book up:
Jenn had read it first, and said it seemed like something I would like. Hannah Jayne is an author who I'm always interested in too.

What did I like about the cover:
It has beautiful colors. I like the contrast of the black clothing with the blues and purples. It also looks like glass shattering. Which I don't think has much to do with the book, but it's pretty.

What made me read this book:
It sounded like a classic slasher movie. And those just so happen to be my favorite.

What did I like the most:
This was a really good book. It wasn't the best thing I've ever read, but it's well written and has a unique story.

Copycat is about a girl who is obsessed with this YA murder mystery series. She runs a very popular blog based on this mystery series. When the author of said book series suddenly emails her asking for help with the launch of his next book, of course she says yes.

But then the murders start, right at the same time she gets an excerpt from the author from his next book. And they just so happen to match the excerpt.

This book is a constant go go go and I think that's what I like about it so much, and what I like about slasher movies.

The characters are okay. The MC is kinda dumb, and there's not really any good supporting characters. More on that in a bit.

But for the most part it's still pretty good.

What didn't I like:
Like I said, there isn't really any good supporting characters. Her best friend doesn't believe anything she's saying, and she's always picking on her about how obsessed she is with the series. She just didn't seem like a good best friend.

I also had the who dunnit figured out very quickly. So that was a bit disappointing.

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
Absolutely.


This is was a very fast paced book that was a quick read.

The premise of this book sounded amazing, unfortunately I thought the story didn't live up to it.. Addie is a super fan of the series Gap Lake, so when the author contacts her to help promote the latest release, Addie is overjoyed. Addie sees a lot parallels between her favorite books and her life. She starts to wonder if it's really the author who's sending her these emails or something more sinister.

There are a lot of things that didn't work for me. I wanted the characters to be a bit more complex and not so two dimensional. The dialogue felt a bit forced. I also thought the plot and mystery was very predictable.

This book just wasn't for me.

I thought this was a good thriller. I liked the characters and I didn’t see the ending coming a mile away like sometimes happens with thrillers. I enjoyed the writing style and thought it was very accessible and easy to fly through.

Well .... I didn't like this book.

Let me start with the positives: this book was a fast and easy read. Things moved along quite quickly and there were quite a few interesting moments that had a lot of tension and even some gore. I also liked the dual narrative style with one taking place in reality and one taking place in the fictional Gap Lake. 

But I disliked pretty much everything else in this book.

The story was extremely juvenile. Again, I understand that this was written with a teenage audience in mind but it sounded so unrealistic. The author's forced attempts to make the narrative style sound like that of a teenager only served to make it sound artificial and unnatural. This meant that it was really hard to connect with the characters.

I also don't think things were set up very well. The connections between the different individuals was not developed too much; it was as if the author just wanted us to assume the characters were close (or not close). Considering that this story is all about being suspicious about people, this was not a good thing.

I also thought that the motive and the murderer's identity were developed in a very lazy way. It simply didn't make sense. When I read that part of the story, I had to reread it to make sure I understood it properly. My frustration was that there was absolutely no way that any reader would have been able to guess this because the author hadn't given the necessary information to the reader. The motivation was so far-fetched and there was barely any background to it, so it felt very much like a last-minute decision.

I think that the author really tried to come up with a unique story that would be appealing to a teen audience. But the juvenile writing combined with the lack of proper set up just didn't work for me. Simply put .... it just wasn't that good. For those reasons, I'm giving this a 1/5 stars.

Content warnings include alcoholism and dating violence.

This book took me back to the Point Horror books of my childhood (if their characters swore). Addison is a 17 year old who is obsessed with a series of books and writes fan fiction on her popular blog. Reader dream #264 comes true for her when the mysterious author of the Gap Lake books contacts her and asks for her help in generating buzz for the upcoming series finale.

Addison and her best friend Maya stumble upon the body of the most popular girl in school, the details of which eerily mimic those of the snippets of the new book the author has asked Addie to post on her blog. Addie begins to wonder whether the person contacting her really is the author or if she’s talking to the killer.

While there was nothing specifically wrong with Addie’s character it was Maya that made the book for me. I loved her snarky quips and the banter between her and Addie. Spencer, ex boyfriend of the dead girl and Addie’s crush, and Colton, who is not so secretly in love with Maya, both felt mostly two dimensional. I wasn’t a fan of Addie’s dad or Maya’s parents, although I’m fairly sure Mr Garcia could twist my arm and force me to eat some of his cooking.

I loved the snippets of the Gap Lake book that the author sends Addie as they had a creepy teenage horror vibe. I’ve read so many books like this and am a lot older than the target audience so I found the plot really predictable and I knew who was responsible for the murder early on. Had I read this as a kid I expect the whodunnit aspect probably would have floored me. The explanations espoused during the baddie monologue are quite groan worthy.

I was fortunate enough to have an ARC but life happened so I read it after its release. This became a fun game for me once I realised that the library book in one hand and the Kindle in the other didn’t always match. I preferred the ARC, mostly because there are two missing chapters in the final version. Not a lot happened in the first one but without it the continuity was off and I did flip back through the pages of the book to try to work out what I’d missed before I realised the ARC version made the story flow more smoothly.

My favourite difference between the ARC and the final version is totally irrelevant to the story itself but talked about food which always holds my attention. In the ARC Mr Garcia gives Addie “lessons on making something like gumbo or étouffée”. In the final version it’s his “signature enchiladas”.

I had a few irks and question marks while reading and think I may have tripped over some plot holes but there was nothing that made me want to stop reading.

Early on we’re told multiple times that Maya’s mother is the chief of police and her father is a homicide detective. I got it the first time. The descriptions of Addison’s saliva were also repetitive and included “Addison’s saliva tasted sour”, “Her saliva soured”, “her saliva going sour”, “saliva that tasted like hot metal”, and “her saliva tasting bitter”.

Addison’s phone pinged twice and another character mentions how insistent the person sending the message is. When Addison checks her phone there’s one message, not two.

[SPOILER - When her blog was hijacked I screamed at Addie to take some screen shots so she had some evidence but alas, she didn’t hear me.

Maya is hit by a car and taken to hospital by ambulance. Addie is driven home at the same time. Addie walks in the door, slumps to the floor and calls Maya. Maya’s mother tells Addie that she’s taking her daughter home now. She was hit by a car! Either Barry Allen works at the hospital or she’s a meta so heals rapidly (yes, I’m currently bingeing The Flash! Why do you ask?!) or something is wrong with this picture. After knowing that Maya has been taken home Addie has a thought bubble: “You’re the reason Maya is lying in a hospital bed somewhere.” Then Maya’s parents are at work together maybe an hour later while their daughter who’s been hit by a car is either home alone or in the hospital. Perhaps this is a job for Schrödinger? - SPOILER]

There were a few others but you get the point. It’s the sort of thing you expect to be picked up during the editing process and because I wandered through several ‘huh?’ moments I started questioning whether I was stupid, having missed a whole pile of information, or whether I was super smart for finding them when those before me didn’t. I’m still unsure.

Overall this was a fun, easy read that I’d award 3.5 stars but am rounding up. I’ll be checking to see if my library has any more books by this author. Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the opportunity to read this book.

I couldn't get into this book sadly, I tried but by the end I couldn't care less on what happen. The writing was fine but the plot and characters weren't that interesting to me.

This book has fun twists and turns to it. I always love the idea of a book within a book and Obsessive fans or writers is always a great idea.

This was a fun mystery and a great summer read. I’ll definitely recommend this to anyone looking for something along those lines. It didn’t get top marks from me only because the plot felt a bit... I’m sure it was supposed to be an homage, (or I hope so), but the Scream-esque ending felt a bit disjointed from the beginning. Also one of Addie’s big clues didn’t make any sense to me despite rereading (why is she all worked up about knowing a Dodge hit her friend? Colton never says it was a Dodge, so it isn’t a ‘gotcha’ moment).

Addie is completely obsessed with the book series Gap Lake, even has her own website dedicated to the series where she posts her fanfiction to all her followers. When she gets contacted through email by the reclusive author of the series, R.J. Rosen, she is ecstatic and flattered that he wants her to post his snippets on her blog. But when Addie finds the dead body of the most popular girl at school, fiction takes a turn for reality.




As someone who completely fangirls over my favorite authors, the concept for this book really spoke to me. A book about a fan/blogger and a murder mystery? Yes please! Unfortunately I had a hard time getting too invested in this story for some reason. I did not find myself connecting to Addie really very much at all and at times her reactions were not that realistic to me. The whole deal with her dad fell a little flat and was uninteresting even though it was necessary for plot. I did really enjoy the bestie, Maya, she added spunk and personality to the book that kept me going- she was hysterical and inappropriate. AS a bonus, this was not really a romance as I kind of expected when the characters were all introduced, but it was a nice friendship story and I appreciated that.

Overall this was a very fast read with an ending that did catch me off guard, with a surprise as to who the killer really was. Sure I had my list of suspects and motives, but the actual killer and their motives were not something I predicted (the motives were not great which is probably why I did not see it coming, more like filler, but the killer was a nice twist). I will always read Hannah's books, they are nice, thrilling escapism reads that I usually enjoy.

Stop by and say hi at https://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/

I read through 25% of this book and I just couldn't get into this one.

Normally I absolutely love Jayne's books, but this one was just to jumpy with going back and forth between Fan-fiction and present time.
On top of that the prank the best friend did of writing 'I'm here' on the bathroom mirror after finding a dead body was just too much for me as well. I get trying to be funny and pulling pranks, but after you've found a dead body and you know your best friend is freaked out already maybe don't do things like that.

Sadly this book just wasn't for me and that's okay.

*I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

3.5 stars

This book caught my interest from the first chapter. I quickly found myself engrossed in the story, the mystery, and the characters who had to live through it.

The concept of this book caught my attention quickly-- I love crime fiction, so reading about someone who loves reading and writing about crimes, then has to go through one sounded really interesting. I was hoping she would see through potential tropes and solve the mystery herself. This, I will say, was one of the biggest letdowns for me. Addy is kinda naive for a person who reads so much about crimes-- even if they are fiction. Some things happened that had me shaking my head over-- although there was thing I thought would lead to a huge cliche thing that just... wasn't ever brought up again, so that was a nice dodge, I guess?

The writing style was very much a style I liked. It is easy to read and not bogged down in too much detail, just enough to get you hooked in the story and wondering what will be important. I was sucked into the story so I wasn't able to pay attention to much else, but there were a few things that did stick out though.The chapter breaks were weird at times and just didn't make sense, like in the middle of a conversation. Also, the police were written to be absolutely useless. This is a peeve because I hate when police seem to do little to no investigation and then blame the main character based off info they have, not what the main character finds. It can be frustrating.

All this I could deal with, just minus half a star, but I took a star away for how events in the book didn't seem to connect or have impact. Something happens that honestly makes someone look bad, or discredits them yet it isn't mentioned at all later??? "Oh, that person threatened me, but I'll still care about what they say and won't mention it to my friends or cops." --Seriously??? AND when asked if there was a reason to not trust them, it isn't even mentioned. This totally brought me out of the story. The ending also didn't seem to connect to the past as much as I thought it could-- in fact I wanted to know more about the accident and what happened to Addy's mom.

As a good note, I loved the relationship between the girl characters. There is no jealousy-filled feuds, Addy and Maya talk about things besides boys *gasp* and have an all around great friendship.

I did enjoy reading this story! I had a GREAT time reading it and wonder what was going to happen (mostly because I was hoping there would be a twist...) . I see younger readers appreciating this one more-- not hardcore mystery or thriller fans, but maybe someone new to the genre or wanting a taste of it.