Ivy Cork has spent part of her summer visiting family, and gets the news that her best friend is in crisis and a teen boy is dead. She returns home to a world far different that she left.

This book was kind of like riding a rollercoaster for me. There were things that it did well, and I loved the creepy aspect of investigating the death of an amusement park’s teen employee, and Ivy’s fierce dedication to her best friend, Morgan, that found the body.

I think Ivy, whose dad owns the amusement park, goes on an important journey of discovery, even if she gets more than she bargained for.

But I also think there are things that could have been done differently, or wrapped up better. This was an easy, fast read that’s good, but it leaves you wanting more.

I think this is a three star novel, especially since I feel so ambivalent about how things ended. It was very drawn out, then rushed.

**Many thanks to NetGalley and to Random House and Delacourte Press for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.**

***Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of ALL THE PRETTY THINGS by Emily Arsenault in exchange for my honest review.***

When Ivy’s best friend Morgan finds the body of a special needs young man, the teen ends up in a psych hospital leaving Ivy a cryptic message about Ethan’s death. Ivy, determined to help her friend and solve the mystery, questions her coworkers at Fabuland, the her father’s amusement park.

Ivy is a good kid, hard working, dedicated to her father, loyal to her friends. She’s more adult than her father, who’s a bit of a sexist pig and makes comments like, “it looks like tits, but not in a bad way.” Ivy knows how inappropriate her dad behaves, but I don’t think she truly understands the hows and whys and the impact of such behavior on others. As good a friend as she is to Morgan, Ivy doesn’t always appreciate the impact she has on others, particularly when she’s startled with information later in the story.

I had an inkling where ALL THE PRETTY THINGS was headed, but that in no way lessened my enjoyment of this important, topical story. I also had questions as to why Ivy didn’t communicate with her mom more and why her mother, knowing what she did, didn’t check in with Ivy more often. They had a good relationship.

You can’t go wrong with a mystery set in an amusement. ALL THE PRETTY THINGS is a book I will reread.

It seems I side with the majority in saying that this wasn't what it proclaimed to be. After reading the summary, the reader expects this to be a mystery set in an amusement park, and the story is that to a small degree. What the summary leaves out is everything else. How Ivy spends the whole book asking fellow amusement park workers questions regarding Ethan's death. How much time is dedicated to Ivy working at Fabuland and thinking. How there is never a mystery like the synopsis claims. The author attempted to build suspense with multiple characters speaking in riddles to Ivy, but the secrets fell flat upon their reveal.

Well, I want to name my reads with Bryan Adams’ “So far so good”album but unfortunately I name them with my favorite U2 song and “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”

This book seemed like a promising mystery. One young boy, Ethan who is also staff member, suffering from Down Syndrome found dead at an amusement park by his coworker Morgan.
After the incident, Ivy, our heroine, daughter of park’s owner, returns back from her holiday at NC and she finds out her friend climbed and hid herself at one of the rides, psychologically in bad shape, telling Ivy some mysterious words made us thing there is something supernatural about Ethan’s dying. Then they took her to the psychiatric ward.

So I start to think something so big, twisty, shocking will come out about Ethan’s death. Aliens? Serial killers? A cult? Wow amusement park massacre! Or Ethan’s soul will come back and haunt the people at the park!!! So the story turned into Haunting at Hill Amusement Park kind of horrific and bleak combination.

Nope! No! Nada! It cannot be! Because we’re tricked! There is no big mystery or something spooky about this story!

We may understand who is the bad guy from the third chapter. He’s carrying a big shiny signboard above his head pointing at him! I feel like Billie Eilish’s “ Bad Guy” start playing in my head at each page the guy appears. Duh!
And Ivy playing Nancy Drew, taking so much responsibility for her age, co-manages park at the same time, interrogating everyone about the mystery ( okay there’s no freaking mystery, let’s call it just “mys”: something trying to be creepy but answer is written in front of us! Actually it screams us from the first pages! Saying Hello! Please see me idiot! ) and everyone giving her spooky, weird answers, trying to do their best to be seen cool and more enigmatic! Come on guys please grow the hell up!

So yes, so called twisty revelation comes at the end.

So a group of underage kids act mysterious, talk in riddles and Ivy acts like she is Sheryl Holmes and so obvious, predictable bad guy (Oh boy, JERK word is already imprinted to his forehead and you still call it a big revelation!!) is caught. Yayyyy!!! The book finally finished! I couldn’t be so glad because my throat is so sore for screaming at Ivy: “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”
So I gave my two stars and wanted to forget everything about this book!

Let’s move to the other one!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s - Delacorte Press for sharing this Arc copy in exchange my honest review. I wish I liked it more and could write a praising review.

This book was a good mystery and trying to solve the death of Ethan.I enjoyed the friendships and working at a little amusement park and family owned. Great story. This my 1st time reading this author. Overall a good story.

I think the thing I appreciated most about this book was its slow reveals. The case element - though I liked that Ivy never really consciously decided to play detective - was neither exactly high intrigue or Veronica Mars levels of dangerous snooping, but I did like the way the book layered small clues into a greater picture as the story went on. That said, I wished the revelations of the last quarter of the book had more time to settle - a lot of big stuff happens, and although contradictory feelings about everything is discussed, I wish there had been a more thorough examination, more closure, or a concrete idea of how things would conclude. I did also appreciate how Ivy came across very clearly as a character without having to be either explicitly explained or given a gimmick or main descriptor; it's the sort of Character Building 101 thing that sometimes gets ignored in favor of explosive plot. Ivy's family members were also well designed, and this is certainly a different and perhaps more nuanced picture of domestic violence than is often shown in YA lit. (Along these lines, I was glad to see a portrayal of a character with Down syndrome that included little stereotype.)

I know that some readers have been disappointed based on the summary, but going in without expectations, I enjoyed the book.

While there is a mystery, it isn’t really clear from the start and certainly isn’t on the same level as Sadie. I enjoyed it enough and it had some suspenseful parts, but not one I’ll be recommending to everyone I know.

It seems I side with the majority in saying that this wasn't what it proclaimed to be. After reading the summary, the reader expects this to be a mystery set in an amusement park, and the story is that to a small degree. What the summary leaves out is everything else. How Ivy spends the whole book asking fellow amusement park workers questions regarding Ethan's death. How much time is dedicated to Ivy working at Fabuland and thinking. How there is never a mystery like the synopsis claims. The author attempted to build suspense with multiple characters speaking in riddles to Ivy, but the secrets fell flat upon their reveal.

The twist was easy to see from the first chapter since this character's words and actions screamed "look at me! i'm acting and talking inappropriate!" and so the reveal wasn't a reveal. The lack of suspense and mystery was instead filled with Ivy's train of thought and characters speaking in code to not reveal anything to Ivy.

The pros of this book were the amusement park setting, how it took place in New Hampshire, and Ivy's dedication to her best friend even though Morgan shut her out during the whole book.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC.