First off I was In a bit of a reading slump when I first started this and this book definitely pulled me out of it. This fun paced YA thriller takes you on a journey to the remote islands of the rich were Anna is hired to be the nanny for the Bellamy family. This is perfect timing Anna wanted to get away from the city and all her bad decisions. Anna soon finds her self confessing to murder and try’s to remember what truly happens on Herron Mills the past New Years Eve she can’t shake the she has been to this island before and has seen the girl who disappeared into the night that she thought made happen.

Throughout a big chunk of this book I was super confused. It just took a while for the pieces to fall into a place where it made sense for me. For the rest I think the mystery didn't really have any breadcrums leading up to its conclusion. When it came to Anna's life I do think it was set up well and it was difficult to piece together but it happened for me. The characters felt very one dimensional for me. Besides the two main characters I didn't really get any of the character's motivations, which might have added to the fact that I was so confused for a big chunk of this book. It was a quick read though so that's a plus.

When a book starts with a confession, you know I am in. The book starts with Anna Cicconi confessing to killing Zoe Spanos, however, the split timelines allow readers to learn more about Zoe, her friends, family, and Anna. The first timeline is after Anna Cicconi has been arrested and is in a juvenille correctional facility and the second timeline is the summer after Zoe had gone missing leading up to Anna's incarceration. Through the first person narration of Anna's time as an "au pair" in the village of Herron Mills, readers, much like Anna, begin to question just about everything as the novel progresses. Anna is struggling with coming to terms with how she knows so much about Zoe, yet they had never met. When Martina Green, the host of the Missing Zoe Podcast comes along they work together to try to find out what truly happened to Zoe on New Year's Eve. The addition of the podcasting format similar to the novel, Sadie, was intriguing, well placed, and added another layer to the dueling timelines. Overall, I really enjoyed this novel, it was quick read that was hard to put down. Readers who enjoy books like Sadie, A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, and We Were Liars will definitely enjoy this novel.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced Kindle Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This is an incredibly intriguing read that kept me glued to the pages until the very end. Both fun and twisty, you’ll be kept trying to figure out both the mystery of Zoe’s death and the motivations of the various characters connected to her. Unraveling the events of Zoe’s disappearance and the investigation that came after is difficult, and I could not wrap everything up on my own. The conclusion was a bit unlikely in places, but certainly brought everything together.

I was a massive fan of Sadie when it was released a few years ago. I had never read anything like it before—the podcast element was a modern addition that brought something new to a standard YA mystery. I Killed Zoe Spanos feels the same way, but in no way is it a copy cat. This book had three different timelines: "then" (the summer), "now" (after Anna's confession), and excerpts and interviews from the Missing Zoe podcast.

I loved this. Basically any mystery that surprises me, I love it. Kit Frick's book was absolutely captivating. It was crafted so intricately, I was shifting my guess for the ending every 25 pages or so. The use of repressed memories as a plot device, especially in a mystery, was so clever and well done.

I felt like there was no wrap up with Paisley and her family. Anna spends her whole summer there—living in their pool house—but we don't hear from them during the aftermath. I would have liked that closure.

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

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I liked Truly Devious and felt that this might follow along those lines. I like a good mystery, and I was intrigued about it being about a podcast as well. Suffice to say, I liked it more than Truly Devious. I felt that there were so many things that this book did well, and I was absolutely drawn into this book from the moment that I started to read it. Sometimes you think that there are going to be twists and turns and you know what is going to happen…I am so pleased I was guessing all the way until the end of the book. It was intriguing and delightful. I cannot recommend it enough!

The Writing
The writing of this book was amazing. I think that Frick did an excellent job with the writing. It was easy to read and I was engrossed in the book the whole way through. I got swept away with the writing and liked the contrast of the podcast and the actual events of before and after. I worried a bit about the before and after parts and that it would be confusing to parse them. Yet, there was such clarity in the writing that I didn’t have the problem at all.

The Pacing
Much like in the writing with the before and after, I worried about the pacing in terms of that as well. I wondered if the present would slow down the past or vice versa. Thankfully, it kept my attention because both parts were so distinct and so well done. I was never lost in the pacing nor did I ever feel that the book itself was too slow or too fast. I felt there was such a great balance of everything. I was addicted and could not stop reading until I found out what was going to happen.

The Plot
The plot was stunning. I thought the basic plot would be good, but little did I know just how much I was going to love all the parts of the plot. This one is worth taking your time with. There are some parts that if you miss a sentence or two you’ll miss what happens next. There was so much depth to it, and you’re trying to figure out the case along with the main characters. I could say far more about the plot, but it is totally worth experiencing yourself.

The Characters
Can you trust any of them? Maybe, maybe not. I love that about books. I love when you don’t know what the truth is, and you have to figure it out. I love that the characters aren’t perfect and are struggling. I loved them all. I loved to see all the different perspectives, and I loved getting more of the story through the “podcast”. I think that the book was made so much stronger by the fact that characters were unreliable. I felt they were so vivid and so vibrant, and I loved how they all interacted with each other. Overall, so amazing.

Overall
If you haven’t figured it out by now – I loved this book. It was amazing and I definitely want to purchase it because WOW it absolutely blew my mind. I am so excited to read other books by this author. I really clicked with everything overall and I am so thrilled with this book!

Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Shuster for providing an ARC of I killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick for an honest review.

I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick was a quick and enjoyable read. It may be because I am so entrenched in the genre, that this book didn't impress me as it did some other reviewers. It has been compared to Sadie, and while Sadie is a superior book, the Missing Zoe podcast excerpts transcribed in the book were my favorite part.

The story follows Anna as she takes a nannying job in the Hamptons, and tries to shed her former party girl life. Soon after she arrives in the Hamptons it is revealed that Anna strongly resembles Zoe, a girl that has been missing for several months. As Anna spends time in the Hamptons she finds herself oddly connected to Zoe. The story is told in THEN/NOW timelines, and slowly the mystery of what happened to Zoe is reveaed. The beginning of the book shows us Anna confessing to Zoe's death, but her confession is full of holes and her story is muddled. Honestly, I was mildly confused by the ending and am still not entirely sure what happened. Other than the HUH ending, that tried to tie up too many loose ends, the writing was compelling and the descriptions of the Hamptons were interesting and lush.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed I Killed Zoe Spanos. The characters were relatable and quirky. I especially loved the little girl Paisley that Anna goes to watch for the summer in the Hamptons. This book very much gave me feels and felt a lot like Big Little Lies or like a Gillian Flynn Gone Girl vibe. I was impressed that this was a young adult novel. Due to the fact that I cannot post my review until the 29th on my blog for the blog tour I will not be posting a blog link yet. I will update on Netgalley once I am allowed to post for the tour. The author's writing was beautiful and very descriptive, This was one book that I breezed through while reading. I was kept on my toes for most of the novel. I was proud of myself that I actually found out the twist of the novel before the end this time! There were still twists that I did not expect though. The plot was fast-paced and exactly what you would want in a thriller. This would make a great movie or even a tv show. I usually do not like most young adult thrillers but this is one book that did not disappoint. I could relate a lot to Anna. This is going to be one popular book once it comes out. Thank you so much for giving me a copy to read. I loved how it put me in the summer mood. This would make a great beach read.

Anna Cicconi is ready to turn over a new leaf. She’s done with hard partying that ends in blackouts and is ready to start college in the fall. But first- she has a pretty great summer gig in the Hamptons as the nanny for a charming eight-year-old.
When Anna arrives in the small community of Herron Mills, she’s almost instantly pulled into the mystery of missing 19-year-old local Zoe Spanos, who hasn’t been seen since New Year’s Eve. Anna bears a striking resemblance to Zoe and the more she learns about the missing young woman, Anna is convinced she knew Zoe and may even know what happened to her.

When Zoe’s body is found at the bottom of the lake that summer, Anna is charged with second-degree manslaughter after supplying police with an odd confession that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. Local teen Martina Green doesn’t feel the police have done the work necessary to uncover the truth behind Zoe’s death, especially when the autopsy doesn’t support Anna’s claims.
Martina’s podcast, Missing Zoe, has gained national attention. Can she uncover the truth and clear Anna’s name?

I Killed Zoe Spanos is a YA novel inspired by the Daphne du Maurier classic Rebecca. Instead of Manderley, readers are given Windemere, a crumbling estate located in the Hamptons. There are plenty of suspicious characters and muddled memories that make Anna an unreliable narrator seeking the truth after plenty of convenient blackouts.
I guessed the connection between Zoe and Anna immediately but there was no way I could’ve guessed the truth behind Zoe’s death. It was a bit too convoluted for me and required a suspension of disbelief I didn’t care for. It moved at a great pace but needed more time to flesh out the creepiness of Windemere if Frick wanted to captivate readers with the deep foreboding found in Rebecca.
All in all, a fun summer YA thriller that was entertaining but wasn’t a total stand-out for me.

Thanks to Margaret K. McElderry Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I Killed Zoe Spanos is scheduled for release on July 1, 2020.

A very enjoyable, solidly written, and neatly plotted YA mystery, taking obvious inspiration from Rebecca but with a bit of Gatsby in there as well. A little bit of a stretch in some ways as the truth was revealed, but I liked Anna as a narrator and her confusion and growing panic drove the story nicely (though I did find her character seemed a little distorted in the wintertime segments - perhaps why I found them a little flatter to read, though still compelling). Recommend to fans of Sadie, The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone, or As I Descended.

It took me a while to fully immerse myself into the book mainly because I didn't identify or frankly didn't even like the cast of characters presented.

I wish there had been more of the podcast as well (note: this will be great as an audio). However lack of interest of the characters and podcast aside, I did end up really enjoying this novel. It laid out the clues pretty nicely with everything being wrapped up at the end. I felt that nothing was left open ended which is excellent for a mystery. The twists made sense in the universe of the novel which will make it believable and not out of nowhere for readers.

Overall compelling mystery with mediocre characters.

Seventeen year old Anna Cicconi's life is a mess. She's spent far too long partying with her friends, blacking out, and not liking the person she's become. After she graduates high school, she lines up a cushy, summer job as a nanny in the Hamptons. Her theory is that you have to be the best version of yourself to take care of a kid so she views the job as an opportunity to turn over a new leaf and work on becoming the person she wants to be. Only, when she arrives in Herron Mills, she begins to be mistaken for missing teenager, Zoe Spanos. Zoe disappeared New Years Eve and the police haven't done their due diligence according to podcast host and family friend Martina Jenkins. With all the mistaken identity, Anna delves deep into the Missing Zoe podcast and a little detective work of her own and somehow. it ends with a confession, "I killed Zoe Spanos."

Kit Frick's, I Killed Zoe Spanos is a must read for the summer. The setting, the characters, the plot all lend to spell binding hours of reading. I couldn't put it down. I was near the end of the book and still wondering how it was going to wrap up and answer all of my questions, which Frick does in a surprisingly, excellent way. Five stars!

I Killed Zoe Spanos is an addicting YA mystery that is thrilling and intriguing for the entire read. Kit Frick did a great job of making the plot interesting and engaging, especially with the addition of the podcast featured in the book.

I was so intrigued when I read the synopsis. So, when I began to read the book I was so captivated by the story. These two teenage girls, Zoe and Anna, are linked in so many ways one main connection being their resemblance. Zoe is missing while Anna becomes the new nanny to a family living in Herron Mills. Everyone in the community is feeling a certain way about it because Zoe is still missing and Anna's uncanny resemblance is only highlighting the unsolved mystery.

Anna is working this job to do better for herself. She isn't perfect and liked to be rebellious. So, she is taking this opportunity to do better for herself and prove that she can lead a structured life.

As the story continues, Anna becomes more involved in trying to figure out what happened to Zoe after listening to the 'Missing Zoe' podcast. I really loved this aspect of the book. It made it feel like I was listening to a podcast which made the story so engaging.

When they discover Zoe's body, Anna confesses to Zoe's murder. The podcast points out the holes in Anna's confession which makes me wonder if Anna is truly responsible.

I give I Killed Zoe Spanos 5 stars. The story is always interesting and thrilling as Kit Frick allows readers to come along for the ride of figuring out whodunnit. I love her writing style and her idea to write in a podcast was genius. This is one of my favorite YA mysteries of the year!

Review is available on my blog, The Reading Fairy

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars!

TW: Death, Murder, underage drinking, overdose, accidental killing, blood, death of a parent (mentioned), absentee parent (mentioned), stomach cancer (mentioned), ablest language, cheating
Rep: Chinese Side Character, Black Side Character

Disclaimer: I received an ARC via Netgalley from the author+publisher, in exchange for my review. All quotes taken may not match final copy. 

”But there are some secrets—my secrets—that Windermere will hold forever, trapped beneath the ash like spilled blood.”

I'm not a huge fan of thrillers and mysteries too much, and they're simply okay. Though, I have to admit I enjoy reading them quite a bit-I think they maybe my comfort read??? (is that the right word?) especially since I do enjoy them, but don't rate it highly. I wasn't sure whether I was going to like it from the first page, but eventually I got used to it.

From the start, we're told of Anna's confession and for some odd reason it didn't exactly click with me than? It also took me about a good roughly 20% for me to get used to this book and the storyline. That 20% was a little boring and rough, but after that-it kicked off and I couldn't put this book down! 

That's scary considering what type of story this is-but honestly, I was addicted. I was making guesses and I was thinking among the lines of, "watch-the victim (Zoe) actually faked her death and by the end, she'll come back." I think watching Pretty Little Liars a few years ago actually made me think that and a few books I've read did that. I was also really glad that it didn't happen like that.

This book was so twisty that it kept me trying to guess every time, I though I figured out something-it actually went into an opposite direction than I originally thought! It also put me a little frustrated because about 80% done, there was still no answers.

Just place food instead of sleep and that's me 😂. I kinda refused to eat, and do school work because I needed the answers. The ending was a little confusing, but I'm really grateful there was answers that were answered.

Can we talk about the podcast aspect? I don't listen to podcasts, but honestly I actually really like podcasts being intertwined within the story. It just makes the book totally awesome and unique since very few stories I know incorporate those kind of aspects. I also loved how the podcast helped bring awareness to Zoe and helped solve the mystery in a way. 

I actually kinda liked the plot more than the characters? Don't get me wrong, I did like reading through their perspectives but it was mainly for the mystery and nothing else. I couldn't really connect with the characters liked I really hope-so I don't think any of them are my favorite.

Highly atmospheric, deeply creepy, beautifully written. This Rebecca-based thriller was full of satisfying twists and turns and helmed by Anna, a great unreliable narrator. The inclusion of podcast episodes gives another, more grounding perspective to the story that would otherwise get completely unmoored in delightfully creepy uncertainty. Some diverse side characters, an effective and rich Hamptons setting, and interesting exploration of class and race and missing girls. Not much creeps me out anymore, but this did. Frick is rapidly becoming one of my favorite writers of YA thrillers.

Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Shuster for providing an ARC of I killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick for an honest review.

One of the best YA Thrillers I have read in a long time! From the beginning of this story it kept me guessing on what was really going on all the way till the end.

Anna believes she killed Zoe Spanos she doesnt remember quite how it happened but she knows she did it.

This book was so gripping from the beginning. It's so psychological, too, which I found intriguing. I'm looking forward to interviewing Kit for our newsletter.

I don't often read mysteries because I don't like how they make me feel- scared, and little paranoid because suddenly I can imagine whatever bad things are in the book will jump out at me. If I'm going to read a mystery, I like the psychological ones the best, the ones where the bad thing has already happened, and the main characters are just trying to solve it. For those reasons, I Killed Zoe Spanos was right up my ally. It reminds me of The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, but also of Sadie by Courtney Summers-- both of which I loved reading. I Killed Zoe Spanos is about 17 year old Anna Cicconi who in her summer before college gets a job as a nanny for this rich family in a suburb outside of Brooklyn, NY. Though she feels less than qualified for the job, she hopes that it will give her an opportunity to better herself, if not reinvent herself. However, when neighbors of the girl she watches start mistaking her for a girl who disappeared from the neighborhood on New Years Eve, Anna starts to wonder if her summer nanny position in the suburbs is really the fresh start she imagined for herself.

This book is so intriguing. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, trying to connect the dots between Anna and the missing girl. Kit Frick did an amazing job of giving me just enough details to think I knew the truth, only to spin it on its head a few chapters later. The book begins by Anna confessing to killing Zoe Spanos (hence the title), and then goes back in time to explain how Anna ended up in that position. The way that Kit Frick unravels the story is so gripping, and chilling and pulled me right in. The only reason that this doesn't warrant more stars from me is how uninterested I was with certain chapters, which honestly is probably my own fault.. I was so eager to figure out the truth, that I didn't have the patience to get through chapters that (despite being equally well written and important for character development) didn't reveal anything new.

I loved this fun story, and will include it in Mashable's summer book preview publishing in early July

This novel has been receiving a lot of buzz in the past few months, and with good reason. Thrillers for me are always a hit or miss since some thrillers latch onto the systematic formula and then I’m capable of figuring out the killer 30% into the book. This book is different though. We know the narrator is unreliable, but at the same time, we also know that everyone else we meet is just as unreliable. Plus, we’re given memories that we’re unsure whether they’re true memories or merely false memories. Thing is, I could never truly tell what was going on in this novel and that’s a good thing! I like being puzzled and pretty much suspecting EVERYONE for murder rather than it being easy and having the one creepy person in the book be the killer.

I rather enjoyed the varied story-telling that was provided in the book. The past was told in the first person present tense by Anna, a girl who bears a striking resemblance to the dead girl in question, Zoe Spanos. While the present is told in the third person and we also get a podcast transcript. So the book has a lot of variety in story-telling.

The book is marketed as being a cross between Courtney Summer’s Sadie and the gothic novel Rebecca. This is what this book has in common with those two novels: Sadie: There’s a missing girl and the book is told in podcast transcript 50% of it. But that’s where the comparison ends. Rebecca: The protagonist loves to sketch, so does Anna. The protagonist is also a middle-class girl who marries a rich widower. Anna is a middle-class girl who is hired to be a nanny during the summer for a wealthy family in the Hamptons. The novel Rebecca is plagued by the memory of Rebecca and the maid who is obsessive about her. This novel is plagued by the memory of Zoe Spanos and her ex-boyfriend’s mother who is obsessed with her. Again, this is where the comparisons end.

I Killed Zoe Spanos is a taut thriller and has you second-guessing every character in the novel and for that I LOVE IT. This thriller is twisty and will leave you guessing, and like I said, NO ONE IS SAFE. Anyone could be the killer and trying to figure out what exactly happened to Zoe Spanos that fateful New Year’s Eve night will have you reading way past your bedtime.

READ THIS IF YOU LOVE TWISTY THRILLERS WITH UNRELIABLE CHARACTERS.
*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Margaret K. McElderry Books for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!