Hello!


It's a new week! I am losing track of my days a little bit but it is a new week and I am hoping for some exciting things this week. I am reading a lot of books right now and playing a lot of video games (mostly animal crossing but my husband and I just finished playing Horizon Zero Dawn the other night). I have also been watching a lot of television and movies (I watched Onward the weekend it hit Disney Plus with my husband, and I loved it, I also just finished watching Cheer on Netflix and I have no idea why I was sleeping on that one because I loved it). In the midst of intaking all of this stuff, I also picked up All the Pretty Things, I was really wanting a good mystery, thriller story and I felt unfulfilled after my last mystery/thriller read, so I was hoping this one would be what I was looking for.


SPOILERS AHEAD


Fabuland is a smalltown amusement park, where Ivy works in the summer to help her dad out (the owner of the park). Being the daughter of the owner can be a bit tough sometimes (like no one at the park really trusts you with secrets) but it's still a good life. Every summer Ivy spends one week with her mother at her grandparents house out of state (Ivy's parents are divorced however, they still live in the same town). While Ivy was away at her grandparent's house this summer some big stuff happened, first of all, her best friend Morgan (who also works at the park during the summer) found the dead body of Ethan (another park worker with special needs) on her walk to walk one morning. Then when Ivy is on her way home, she learns that her best friend Morgan is now missing. By the time Ivy arrives back in town, they have found Morgan but she is at the top of the Ferris wheel and refusing to come down. Once Morgan is down she is in the hospital, from there Ivy learns that there is so much more to Ethan's death than she heard while she way away. Ivy wants to help Morgan so she decides she is going to figure out what happened to Ethan on his last night at the park and on that walk home.


I loved this story! At first a was a little unsure, I had been burned so recently by another book that was supposed to be a mystery/thriller but definitely turned out not to be. It took me a minute to get into the plot, I honestly expected the plot to be Morgan missing but when it turned out to be Ethan's last night at the park and his walk home in combination with what happened while Ivy was away, I got very interested. I loved the twists and turns this story took and definitely did not foresee the ending coming at all. I highly recommend this book and I am giving this five stars on Goodreads.


**Thank you so much to the publisher for the E-ARC

2.5 stars

Ivy has dealt with a lifetime of her father's big dreams, but when he purchases the local amusement park she worries that he's gotten in over his head. He's immature, disgustingly unprofessional, and to be honest, a downright creep. Ivy has a lot of responsibilities at Fabuland, and one of them is cleaning up her father's messes. But at least she gets to work with her best friend, Morgan. After Morgan discovers the body of another Fabuland employee on her way to work, she begins behaving erratically and confides in Ivy that Ethan's death may not have been an accident. Ivy launches her own investigation into what happened that night, one that forces her to finally open her eyes to what is going on around her.

This is a difficult book to review, because it isn't bad, but it just feels like something is lacking. I think it was poorly marketed, as I would consider this a contemporary mystery. There isn't anything thrilling about it. So if you like a slow burn contemporary story where the main character discovers shocking truths about her family members and close friends with a mystery subplot, this is your book. Like a YA version of Big Little Lies, but not nearly as interesting. I think one of the issues readers had is that it felt like two separate stories combined into one book, which would work if they came together at the end, but unfortunately they didn't.

While the story kept me turning the pages, and I really wanted to know what the outcome was, it was still a boring and unenjoyable read. For me, a lot of that had to do with the main character. Ivy was sort of robotic. She had no personality to speak of, and hardly reacted to situations or showed emotion. She had no qualms about asking people obnoxious questions for her investigation, but when she'd find out terrible things that affected her personally, she'd just push them aside to deal with later. The other characters weren't much better, as they would flip flop between helpful and secretive, and them not coming forward with what they knew did nothing but drag out the story. Really, this could have been a 200 page book, and all of the plot progression relied on someone admitting what they had already known from the start.

In the end, you will get to find out what happened to Ethan the night he died. But at that point in the story, it's overshadowed by every other revelation that isn't really related to it. Then the book just ends. We never see a hint of what will happen to the characters after, and Ivy's thoughts are basically equivalent to oh well, that's over.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the opportunity to review this ARC*

I enjoyed this book. It was very simple, quick, and well done. I really enjoyed the description of the park and it really felt like it could be a real park somewhere. It was vivid with ride descriptions and food descriptions. The story itself was kind of basic and I wished for more depth, but overall, it was a very enjoyable summer read. The other reason I would rate this 3 stars was just because I felt like the characters gave away some details too willingly and I wish it had been a little bit harder for the main character to investigate.

I had high hopes for this one, what's not to love about amusement parks and a potential murder?! But this book left me feeling a bit disappointed. Primarily because the characters are so dull. There's a lot of secrets that get revealed throughout this book and at each one, the characters only show mild shock and no real emotions. They were just developed enough to get through the story, but I was never able to connect with any of them. There also isn't much a of a mystery here. It's pretty obvious early on who the bad guy is in this book.

I just wanted so much more from this book. It's not terrible, it's just not particularly good.

OᐯᗴᖇᐯIᗴᗯ: Ivy’s family owns a neighborhood amusement park and she is her dad’s right-hand-girl. When her best Morgan finds the body of a classmate and coworker on the property, Ivy can’t be convinced that it was just an accident. So she sets off to find out what really happened and what everyone is hiding.

ᗯᕼᗩT ᗯᗩᔕ ᘜᖇᗴᗩT:
◇ This went a completely different way than I expected.
◇ There were a lot of side-stories and secrets that didn’t lead to the ultimate answer as to what happened to the boy, but did add extra mystery to the story.

ᗯᕼᗩT ᗯᗩᔕ ᗰIᔕᔕIᑎᘜ:
◇ Ivy’s investigative technique was as subtle as a sledgehammer. I’m surprised anyone told her anything at all with her awkward questioning.
◇ None of the characters were truly likable and quite a few were downright cringy. That made it hard to connect or even really care about the story.

ᖇᗩTIᑎᘜ: ★★★1/2

I didn't care too much for the MC, Ivy, nor did I find the twisty twist very twisty though the lead up to was pretty good. The novel overall was just sort of lackluster, but if you find it at your local library don't hesitate to grab it.

When I receive an ARC, I do my best to read the entire book, out of respect for the author. I made it to the halfway point on this one, then stopped.

My favorite thing: I love the setting of an amusement park in a smaller town, and it is well-crafted. It brought back memories of the park I used to go to as a kid (Knoebel’s Grove in Elysburg, PA). This is a fantastic setting for a YA mystery!

My least favorite thing: the characters don’t seem real enough, which - for me and many readers - is, like, THE MOST important thing, right? For example, if a character’s father is an immature, chauvinistic *insert expletive here,* then I want the main character to acknowledge it, at least in her own thoughts. Or the narrator. This is what allows the reader to believe the narrator and the story. If it doesn’t happen, we suddenly see the facade and realize that everything is contrived and made up.

Ugh, I hate being negative because I know how hard it is to write a book. There is so much potential here, there really is, but I think it needed stronger editing before it was published.

Overall, I thought this book was entertaining. There were a quite a few lulls where I had to wonder how all the plot lines made sense together and why Ivy was snooping around but the ending made it worth the wait. In fact, I thought the ending was the best part to this book. The reason I gave this book three stars instead of four was because despite just having finished it, I had to look up the main character's name and honestly I felt she wasn't that memorable. That being said, the author did a great job making it seem like there was something off about the whole ordeal from the beginning. Ivy's dad said something about her "pretty pink mouth" and I knew something was off which is what kept me reading.

This was a YA mystery/thriller novel. The main character, Ivy, starts asking around after an employee from Fabuland dies suddenly. Fabuland is an amusement park where she works, which is also owned by her dad. At first I wasn't very sure about this book. It was a little slow, and detached. Then suddenly I felt myself getting more into it. It was pretty obvious for me what was going on, but it was still a fairly enjoyable read. I have found myself gravitating farther away from YA, but those who truly love this genre may enjoy this wholly.

So, I’m one of those people who reads reviews before I start a book. I don’t know why, it’s just a craving I have. I have to know what others think and if I think the same. I don’t really think it messes with my interpretation of the book. Especially not in this case. The reviews I read said it was predictable and they knew the bad guy from chapter 3. I did not.

Ivy was a likable main character. She seemed genuinely concerned about her best friend, Morgan and solving Ethan’s cause of death. They said he fell, but not everything adds up. She had feelings that I think I would have at 17. She was my favorite character.

The side characters were all interesting and likable too. She had a unique relationship with each of them that seemed well thought out. She seemed like a real girl, which I really liked. Ivy was someone you’d meet in highschool any day.

Ivy’s dad was the worst. He was misogynist, creepy, and said the worst things. I hated seeing him on the page. I cringed every time and just could not fathom having any family member like that. Like, he was the literal worst. He was gross. I just can’t say enough about how much I hated him.

There ended up being two mysteries, neither of which I really figured out. I kind of had an idea about Morgan’s mystery, but not Ethan’s. It was a fast, easy read. It just didn’t quite stand up to other YA mysteries I have read recently.

I was really exited to read this. Unfortunately, it was another disappointing "thriller. It was pretty obvious just three chapters in that the dad was a creep. I still don't understand how the main character didn't notice or just pretended it wasn't a problem. She also seemed emotionless throughout the whole book and I don't get why, considering what her friend was going through. Nothing much happened and the writing felt really stilted and the dialogue was cringey.

My favorite part about this book was how it was set around an eerie amusement park making the murder mystery that much more intriguing to me. 

Unfortunately, that's where my interest started and stopped. 

The writing style just wasn't my cup of tea. It felt a little staggered and missing pieces. I wasn't sure where the plot was going and the dialogue felt too choppy to keep my interest on the mystery of it all. The story overall just felt deflated and awkward at parts. 

I ended up giving this one 2 out of 5 stars. It had potential but just not enough execution.

Enjoyed the carnival backdrop and atmosphere. This one gives you all the summertime vibes with lots of curves as to where the story is going. Enjoyed this one!

This is an 'One of Us is Lying' wannabe. It's so predictable. The main plot is so reader-I-let-you-know-who-killed-who. Boring, bye.

Can’t say I was a fan of this book. It seemed quite juvenile and the father is just super creepy, like in a makes very distasteful comments type way. It was very predictable and leaves you wanting.

This book was just ok. Ok cast of characters, ok plot line.... just ok. There was just too much going on maybe? Too many red herrings tossed around trying to throw you off of a very obvious twist at the end. I think there just wasn't enough character development for me to make me care about the outcome enough. Very good premise that just fell flat in the end.

I was so excited to read this book, but it turned out to be a big disappointment. This is definitely not a thriller and definitely nothing like Sadie by Courtney Summers. The description is very promising and intriguing, but the content is not. I was bored most of the time. This book is written more like middle grades but I can't recommend it for middle grades because it contains sexual assault.

I was immediately drawn to All the Pretty Things based on the premise - expecting a YA mystery/suspense. Instead what I got was a lack luster read, with the "mystery" solved within the first few chapters of the book. Admittedly, I had a hard time getting into this one. I didn't connect with Ivy as a character and found her relationship with her parents unrealistic and annoying.

The author does a great job in building things up - so great that when the "big reveal" came it fell completely flat. I kept waiting for a twist and ultimately was disappointed.

What. A. Read.

I am so glad that NetGalley and Delacorte Press provided me a copy of this title to read in return for my honest review. I have been LOVING the explosion of mystery YA lately and this one did not disappoint.

Ivy's dad owns the amusement park, Fabuland, in her New England town. Ivy spends her summers working in the park with a cast of characters, including her best friend Morgan. This summer, however, has been different than summers past. While Ivy was away visiting relatives, Morgan discovered the body of Ethan, a young boy from the community and employee of Fabuland, dead. When Ivy returns to town she begins questioning what really happened the night Ethan died and slowly realizing things in her own life may not actually be as they seem.

For starters, be patient with this title as you read. While it started with a bang, the middle section was a little slower, but then I got to the last 20% of the book and could NOT put it down. If you had asked me to rate this book about 50% through, you would have been looking at 2 stars because I felt there were so many things included in the plot that made no sense and didn't belong. I should have known better than to judge too soon as Arsenault took every little nugget I was questioning and made it all make perfect sense with a twist I did NOT expect by the end. As for the characters in this book, I loved how diverse they all were yet they all worked somehow cohesively inside this theme park. I was instantly creeped out by the depiction of Ivy's dad. In my head he was the perfect stereotypical carnie and I applaud Arsenault for writing him that way. I loved Winnie and Ben and really appreciated Ivy's ability to question the unknown while discovering more about herself in the process and come out stronger on the other side. A great YA mystery read that won't disappoint!

There were some things about this book that I really enjoyed and some things that really rubbed me the wrong way.

The atmosphere of this story was on point! Almost every scene of the story takes place in the Fabuland Amusement park and the sights and sounds are described very vividly. Amusement park settings are always fun for me to read so I loved this aspect of the book.

The plot was okay…a boy is found dead at the bottom of a bridge and the amusement park owner’s daughter goes on a mission to find out what happened the night he died. The “do it yourself detective” work is a trope that I really don’t enjoy. It’s just very unrealistic and ridiculous to me.

The victim in the story had down syndrome but did not display the characteristics of anyone that I know or have known with down syndrome (he seemed to have more traits of someone on the autism spectrum). I work with many students with special needs in my job.

I was very concerned about a scene where a character chugged a beer, felt lightheaded, then got in their car and drove. For a YA book, this seems very irresponsible to include. I was waiting for there to be some sort of discussion on how this was not safe but it never came. (I understand that it’s not an author’s job to teach readers and in most cases I don’t want that, but this scene almost condoned underage drinking and driving.)

Overall, the atmosphere was the only strong point in my opinion.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Delacorte Press to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.