A young man with falls to his death at a family run amusement park. A young woman tries to find out what happened to him. This is the story of All the Pretty Things. I really loved this one. It starts out with a little bit of a shock, and then while our main character (Ivy) tries to find out the truth, she may end relationships and strain others along the way.

There's a bit of sadness to this book that I wasn't expecting. But it's written in a mature manner that I thought it was very composed and with just the right about of emotion.

A very beautiful story of loss, family, and relationships.

All the Pretty Things publishes 3.17.2020.

5/5 Stars

All the Pretty Things reads like an old school whodunnit mystery. The setting is an amusement park--which is the most non-dull element of the story. I love the carousel horse cover and had high hopes for the mystery within, but was disappointed in the character and plot development.

I absolutely fell in love with the cover, and the synopsis had me hooked. The story takes place in the summer at Ivy's dad's amusement park in New Hampshire. When Ivy's best friend, finds a young man's dead body she has a mental breakdown and the mystery begins!

For me, the setting and the sleuthing had quite the nostalgia feel of a Scooby-Doo episode. Most of the action is the main character, Ivy, interviewing other employees of the amusement park and unraveling their conversations. I loved Ivy's dedication to her friend, but above all, I loved the amusement park setting. The story held my attention, but I never felt invested. I never connected with Ivy and I never had that "*Gasp* OMG" moment you desire when reading a "thriller". On the heels of stories like One of Us is Lying, Sadie, and Truly Devious, this story fell a little short. Good, not great.

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.

All the Pretty Things was a little rocky for me. Part of it was probably that the last thing I read was just so amazing that anything was going to have a hard time competing, but for this title, it was more than just that. This one got off to a bumpy start for me. The premise was interesting (a high functioning autistic teen boy falls to his death one evening after his shift ends at a local amusement park. The park owner’s daughter becomes interested in trying to find out what happened to him.) I’m intrigued! Unfortunately, the story writing fell kind of flat after that. There was an interesting story behind it all, but unfortunately the author took entirely too long to get to what actually happened and when the reveals did start coming it seemed to scattered with too many loose ends to tie up. The author’s failure to tie up the loose ends made some of them feel irrelevant and the story ended up coming to this crashing halt just when you were starting to find out interesting things. Maybe it was just me, but I didn’t really care for this one. I did appreciate that the author attempted to handle several big topics for teens, but I felt like it was just too many topics to put into one book and none of them were fleshed out as well as they should have been.

📖 BOOK REVIEW⠀📚
BOOK: All the Pretty Things
AUTHOR: Emily Arsenault
#EmilyArsenault
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐
Published: March 17, 2020
https://amzn.to/2TphSGs

There is a sinister element to this book, and then again, not as sinister. I can’t tell you exactly why there may be trigger warnings, but there are a small amount. The characters have a depth to them where you are always wondering what trauma they have all endured for being so secretive.

While I did enjoy elements of this book, the ending was not what I expected. For me it wasn’t as shocking as I thought it would be, but it was a little bit revealing of what we already know. There are few parts of the story that I don’t think got addressed as well. But the story was one that was important.

Small Summary:
For Ivy, summer means roller-coaster season, spinning cotton candy at the Fabuland amusement park, and hanging out with her best friend, Morgan. But this summer is different.
One morning, Morgan finds a dead body. It's their former classmate and coworker Ethan. To make matters worse, Morgan is taken to a hospital psych ward only days later, and she's not saying much--not even to Ivy.
The police claim that Ethan simply took a bad fall, but Ivy isn't convinced and realizes it's up to her to get answers. What she finds is unsettling--it's clear that some people aren't being honest about Ethan's last night at Fabuland. Including Morgan. And the more secrets Ivy uncovers, the closer she gets to unraveling dark truths that will change her life forever.
*****
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Received from Netgalley.
⠀

I really enjoyed this book. this was just what I needed to get out of my mini slump that I had in January.

All the Pretty Things is a solid atmospheric mystery set in an amusement park. When Ivy's best friend Morgan finds a dead body one morning at the park, everything will change. It's their former classmate and coworker Ethan. Soon after, Morgan ends up in the psych ward and isn't talking. Ivy is left wondering what happened to Ethan? She begins to investigate and as she discovers more and more secrets, she gets closer to the dark truth. The setting is written beautifully. Readers will be able to picture the small town amusement park, Fabuland, which truly feels so real. There is a creepy feel throughout. Highly recommended to readers looking for a strong YA mystery that will keep them guessing.

Thank you netgally for this arc to review. I loved this. I loved the unique setting in Fabuland. I like how the book opens with the murder and we get this fact finding mission throughout. I love the creepy vibe insinuated throughout. I absolutely love how messy Ivy is. I am so bored of perfect MC and love how this book makes everything so real and raw. Definitely a winner!

***TRIGGER WARNING***
Death, sexual assault

This book suffers from false advertising. When reading the summary, you are led to believe this is a mystery thriller. And while there is a sort of mystery being unraveled, this reads much more like a familial drama. Our main character Ivy comes home from a week's vacation with her whole world upside down. One of her coworkers is dead and her best friend, Morgan, found the body. As Morgan is in no shape to answer any questions, Ivy takes it upon herself to figure out what's going on.

Ivy always wanted to be her father's right-hand man; she loved his crazy ideas, his love of the spectacle, and his flair. It was the second year as the owner of the local amusement park, Fabuland, and this summer was Ivy's chance to be her father's second in command. We follow Ivy as she goes around the theme park, questioning fellow employees about the days leading up to that fateful day. 

Ivy's dad was a total creep. By a few chapters in, it's clear he had a part in this tragedy. He really only cared about business, cutting corners wherever he can to save money, and make money. He makes crude jokes and has wandering eyes. As the story progresses, Ivy takes a step back to see her dad more clearly. That is pretty much the main plot line through the book, the figuring out of why Ivy's coworker died is secondary.

I liked the setting of a theme park. I think it was a great way to keep everything focused into one area—the drama, the people Ivy questions, and the source of conversation. I found this to be pretty entertaining, though I could see where readers might feel misled—expecting more of a thriller mystery. 

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This one is a bit of a slow burn, for fans of "slice of life" YA contemporary who like messy characters and bits of suspense. I was drawn in initially by the "set at a small town amusement park" angle, which indeed is the book's strong suit. Fabuland felt so real, and I love all the weird quirks of the world.

Even though it starts off with a death of one of the park's employees, the book isn't a typical "someone died and I must investigate!" thriller because Ivy's drive is to get to the bottom of things on behalf of her friend Morgan, who found the body but is out of commission, mental health wise, for most of the book. That plus the entanglement of Ivy's dad owning the amusement park and that conflict of interest (daughter of owner snooping around colored a lot of her interactions), gave the first half an oblique, slow burn quality. Ultimately this isn't a thriller that's a straight-forward whodunit. It's more of a "how messed up are all these relationships and what is everyone hiding" book.

Once the book got going and all the threads started coming together, I was all-in. I loved all the complicated emotional entanglements, and even though Ivy was frustrating at times in how passive she was, her emotional arc felt organic and was fascinating. That said, LORD, was Ivy passive sometimes! It was all in the service of character, but there were moments where she just rolled over and took people's abuse. I was definitely on her side in those scenes, and wanted to see her stand up for herself, but she didn't. Her character arc ultimately feels earned, though I do think she'll frustrate some readers.

The premise of the book was very promising. However, from the 10% mark onwards, it was obvious how slow this book was gonna be. Not to mention that the killer in the book is pretty obvious. Definitely the synopsis is misleading. It's definitely not that kind of book.

Well this is tough, because I loved the premise behind All the Pretty Things and it had some truly creepy moments, but the whodunnit is quite obvious from the early stages of the story. That, coupled with the stilted dialogue and dads who say "Ummm...?!" at the beginning of every sentence truly wore me down. I'm not the target audience for this book, so perhaps this is what the teens are into these days, and if it sounds interesting to you then I recommend trying this one out for yourself.

Thank you to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of All The Pretty Things.

I was intrigued by the premise (and the cover! Spooky and dark!) and excited when my request was approved.

But, it wasn't what I expected.

This isn't so much a thriller than it is about a young woman struggling to come to terms with the harsh realities of her life and family.

When a young, mentally disabled man who works at her dad's amusement park is found dead, Ivy plays Columbo and tries to find out what happened.

To make matters worse, her BFF Morgan, was the one who discovered her body.

As Ivy interviews the staff and classmates, she doesn't realize she is on the road to discovering painful truths about her own family, and what that may cost her.

Ivy as a character was okay, though she was only 17, at times, her thoughts and actions were painfully immature, or maybe I'm officially too old for YA books.

The writing was fine, but the story was uneven, disjointed, as if the author wasn't sure what she was trying to say.

Is she referring to #MeToo when she brings up sexual harassment and predatory behavior in the workplace?

Is the book about domestic drama and family relations?

We see only what we want to see?

I was hoping for a mystery to solve, a suspenseful story, or something spooky, and though there are dark themes here including sexual violence, All the Pretty Things wasn't for me.

Cool cover, btw.

**My thanks to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. **

All the Pretty Things is a YA mystery set in a small town who's teenagers flock for their summer jobs to a carnival ground called Fabuland. Our protagonist, Ivy Cork, is the daughter of the owner and is considered to be one of his most valuable assets(as opposed to just his kid). When Ethan, the cousin of Ivy's best friend Morgan is found dead, and Morgan withdraws into herself, Ivy is drawn to the unanswered questions surrounding the death and what really might have happened. But Ivy's questions start to unravel a series of events that she never would have expected—or maybe, more accurately, that she never wanted to see.

This book surprised me in places. I was unsure of the setup in the first third. It felt lagging in places, the dialogue threw me out of the story more often than not, but once Ivy had her self-imposed mission it was honestly a fun ride to the climax. There was a character I despised, immediately, from the first few pages, and I could not figure out at first if that was on purpose. Thankfully, it was absolutely on purpose, and it made all of the layers gathering around the mystery even more enjoyable when you realized who the true players were. The plot was not overtly contrived, though you're pretty sure you know what the twist is at the end, it was still a very fluid read. If you enjoy fast-paced, small town mysteries, this will do the trick.

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Emily Arsenault's second YA novel, All the Pretty Things, is part slice of life, part mystery, and part hard-hitting contemporary. Readers follow Ivy Cork whose father owns a doughnut franchise and amusement park. When a local kid shows up dead, things just don't seem quite right and Ivy takes it upon herself to investigate his death.This book does mention mental health struggles and sexual assault, so please be mindful of those items.

Arsenault's writing style has a natural flow to it, and the book was easy to read and progress through. Readers experience the story from Ivy's perspective, which was particularly effective and impactful since she was away at the time of the death. The reader's lens is limited to Ivy's, so Arsenault is easily able to control the flow of information to the reader in that way. Ivy's investigation and the rationale for her even taking on the investigation seemed a little odd, especially since there was no real mention of the police investigating beyond the initial questioning at the time of the event.

The choices Arsenault made, in the end, could be predicted based on the information she previously gave, but were executed well.

Ultimately, I don't feel that this story will particularly stick with me, though I enjoyed it for what it was. I would not hesitate to read more of Arsenault's work in the future.

I had high hopes for this book and was enthralled by the mystery of who dun it right away. And that's where my interest stopped. It's written at a very low level for YA- I'd recommend middle grades if not for the dark matter and themes. The "twists" were expected and not at all fulfilling. It was a really good premise, I wanted to like it more but it just left a sour taste in my mind. I didn't care for the procedure of "I must ask this person. Now this person. Now this person...." ad nauseam.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this ARC; it was one of the most thrilling mysteries I have read in a long time. I had the hardest time putting it down once I had started it-- all of the chapters ended in a question being answered but like a sapling, the intrigue just grew and grew until there were so many branches. Some branches might be questions that hit a dead end. Others bore fruit and continued the life of the story. The majority of them had this in common: even if one mystery seemed solved, a million more concerns kept coming up. It kept me guessing until the end, but still a spectacular job of sowing seeds so that the ending didn't blindside the reader. Emily played her cards exactly right, and this devastating look into how trauma can bring a town (and its inhabitants) to its knees was exactly what I needed to break my reading slump.

Now, at first glance, you can see what this book is about. The synopsis will tell you of Ethan, a young man who fell to his death not far from the amusement park where he worked. You hear of the girl who found him, Morgan, and her best friend Ivy, whose father runs the amusement park. Ivy was gone to another state to visit her grandparents, and so was not there to witness the chaos of the immediate time frame after the boy's body was found. All she knows upon returning home is that Morgan is missing, and when she finds her, she is inconsolable. Ivy chalks it up to grief and mental stress from discovering Ethan, but after talking with Morgan as she recovers in the hospital, she senses something more is amiss. So, she begins to ask around her small town, trying to see what she can uncover. She's hoping to help Morgan get better, but what she begins to piece together threatens to tear her own life apart. There is more to this plot than meets the eye, and you can feel the tension of it in between every line.

These characters are so expertly crafted. I fell in love with Ivy, which I think is extremely important for a protagonist who is going to be kicking up a lot of dust. If you're not with her, while she's asking personal questions to these heartbroken acquaintances you would not be able to root for her. However, you can tell it comes out of a place of love, because she is trying to get to the bottom of it for her best friend, and this colors the way that she looks at everything and everyone. She is oblivious to most of the dangers, and even if she wasn't, I think she would still press on. She is strong, capable, and smart. We see her split her time between sleuthing and pleasing her overeager doughnut dynasty father, who she loves but is also a frightening kind of oblivious as well, or so it comes across. He makes comments throughout the book that made me extremely uncomfortable, and it was very interesting to watch Ivy see him (as well as her mother) for the first time. The tragedy makes her take a magnifying glass to her own life, and as she's discovering the truth about Ethan, she is also finding her way out of her father's shadow.

At the book's conclusion, my jaw was on the floor. I even had to take a few minutes after finishing to just breathe-- the finale happens a bit like life and roller coasters, once it drops you're in for a few minutes of breathless screaming before it's all over. When the dust settles, it's not only a thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, it's also a story about how well you know the people around you. This goes for family, best friends, coworkers, and even that person you see around but never get a chance to interact with. You have no idea the battles these people are fighting. You can't ever tell who has malice pulsing through their veins. Most days, you're not even sure who you can really trust. In the end, though, these things will out for better or for worse. And what better setting than a fairground for this coming-of-age revelation. It looks so beautiful in the dark of the night. But are you ready for what it looks like when the lights go up?

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

This book seemed like a promising mystery. One boy, Ethan who is also staff member, suffering from Down Syndrome found dead at an amusement park by his coworker Morgan. Ivy daughter of the owner and friend to Morgan, tries to figure out how and why Ethan died. Ivy was very insensitive to the other people in Ethan's life the way she dug around for answers. I wanted to like this book but I think it fell short on the whole mystery part, it was easy to figure out what happened to Ethan and I did not feel any kind of connection to any of the characters. Morgan I thought was kind of bratty and a terrible friend to shut Ivy out all summer, I get that she was going through some hard times but she just seemed like she was a little immature. the focus of the mystery shifts from murder to the secrets hidden in Ivy's own family. I think there were much better was the sexual assault and death of a friend could have been handled.

I think my problem is that I was expecting a thriller, and I got a contemporary story. There weren’t really thriller aspects, much as I wish there were. It’s not the author as much as it’s maybe the marketing?