I tried reading this one but need to DNF. It has a unique plot and storyline, but not just for me. But I will surely read this in the future if I got into a mood for this book. I am so sorry.

Thank you yo NetGalley and Skipstone Publishing for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5 Stars

I want to start with content warnings which will allow future readers to make an informed choice before reading this book: alcoholism, cheating, death, drug addiction, kidnapping/abduction, mental health, miscarriage/loss of pregnancy, murder, self-harm, sexual assault, suicide, torture, rape. It's possible I'm missing some, this is an intense book that deals with a lot of issues.

Some Laneys Died is a story about the "what ifs" in life. What if I made this decision or that one; what if I went home, what if I stayed; all of the what-ifs that make life difficult to handle when you fixate on them. Laney sees her father cheating on her mother and decides to let her mother know. After her father leaves, Laney spends her time thinking about "what would have happened" if she never told, if she never went to the park, if she went down a different trail, if she called out beforehand and never let anyone know what she saw; and then she becomes obsessed with the idea of alternate realities where those "what ifs" did happen. In many of her alternate realities, she is seriously harmed before jumping into a new reality. The book is generally about family, wanting to reconnect and make the best out of the relationships that you have. At times it was really difficult to keep up with the book and I'm still not sure I understand the ending. Overall it's not a bad book, but there are a lot of really heavy topics addressed and I wish the ending was flushed out a little bit more.

Sadly, I couldn't get into this book. I wanted to love it, especially because I liked the premise of the book. There were some really good points, the story was interesting . I may be old fashion but there were some scenes that I don't think added too much to plot other than to shame the characters in a way that did surprise me. It almost seemed like the author didn't even like her own characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

I started this book kinda rocky, I would pick it up, then put it back down, and it took me a bit to get into it. But I am SO glad I did, because boy, was this an experience. The writing style was impactful, and the subjects covered in this book are/can be triggering so just a heads up, check out the TW before reading this. But I really loved the concept, and the questions about life and death, the idea of alternate realities...just wow. I recommend EVERYONE to pick up this book!

DNF
I couldn't get into this. Loved the concept, but the beginning deals with it so explicitly and exposition-y that I just couldn't get into it.

This book is first book in the Skipping Sideways series.
This was a little confusing and a lot of interesting read.
I truly never read a book like this, and I really enjoyed.
This boy isn't a light read, no sir.
It deals with lot a heavy topics.
The writing is executed marvelously.
I really enjoyed reading it.
This is good 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers, Skipstone, for granting me access to a most puzzling read that had me scratching my head in equal confusion and wonder.
Having finished, I’m still not entirely sure I’ve grasped some of the finer points of the concept. I found myself reading, then having to pause to actually digest what I’d read and try to work it out/link to what I already knew. I would liken reading this to me trying to solve a Rubik’s cube...I know there’s a knack to it whereby everything flows seamlessly, but I work in fits and starts without really getting anywhere, then by a freak occurrence something will slot into place and it’s done.
When I started reading I wondered what was true and what was in our character Laney’s imagination. She writes stories about alternate universes where different characters sharing her name experience different things. She interacts with people who reference events she thought were dreams which seem to have really taken place. Piece by piece she starts to realise some of these events are merging. This idea of alternate universes and time frames may make more sense to students of maths or physics.
The story as such is not a pleasant one. Laney reads a story about two skeletons found in the woods, dated to a time that she recalls finding her father having sex with an old girlfriend. She is fascinated by what she recalls of that incident and is convinced that the skeletons are the bodies of her and her twin sister (a twin who doesn’t exist in the story we start) who were killed by a sadistic pair of brothers - one of whom is friends with her now. The Laney we follow is switching experiences/times in order to hunt the person who in another time/place killed her and tortured then killed her sister.
For every choice there’s a range of possibilities. Watching Laney try to manipulate her experiences was intriguing. I confess to not always following Laney’s thought process, and the book seemed to give some conflicting messages about addiction and sexuality, but as a whole it was a read I’d recommend.

The format and storyline was a huge risk in this book but I think it really paid off. I felt so confused through parts but when it clicked it was like coming from darkness to day. I love the thought the author put into that payoff at the end. Definitely reading book 2.

An interesting take on the multiverse and how one single moment can create so many alternate realities. I wish I'd enjoyed the tone a bit more as I found Laney a little whiney at times but overall a cool and quick read!

I reading this book, the reason being is that there was parallel universe theory as a plot point to the story. And I love reading about parallel universe.
The starting is bit slow.

CW: Violence, sexual assault, death, animal death, sexual situations, suicide

If there is one thing I love, it’s a good mystery. And let me tell you, Some Laneys Died is a good mystery. But it’s not just a mystery. It’s a mystery with a science fiction twist to it.

What makes this mystery unique is the addition of the Many Worlds Theory/Interpretation. I can’t really tell you too much without giving away a good portion of the book, but let’s just say that things aren’t necessarily what you think they are in the world. And those flashes of memory that you can’t explain because you know you’ve never done something? Yeah… that’s probably because of the many worlds theory.

In any case – there is a large cast of characters, all of whom are well written. You don’t get a big info dump on their backgrounds either. You find out bits and pieces about each one along the way and you don’t find out those bits and pieces until you need to know to understand the story.

The basic gist of the plot is this: Laney is obsessed with writing stories of what might have happened if she’d made different choices when she caught her father cheating. This leads to her finding out about the many worlds theory and realizing that something isn’t quite right in her world. Mayhem ensues as she fights to understand what is happening to her.

I was intrigued by this book. I read 70% of the book in one sitting, then read the other 30% in another sitting. It was very fast paced and kept me wanting to continue reading, even when I needed to go to bed and get some sleep. Most books, even mysteries, haven’t been able to do that lately, so this was a breath of fresh air.

The science/science fiction twist is what really makes this book so darned hard to put down. That and the fact that the plot is excellent and extremely well written.

I loved Laney. I loved how she wished she was a twin. I, too, was an only child and I wished often that I was a twin. So she was very relatable in that aspect. I also loved how she just couldn’t let anything go – how she needed to figure out what was going on and why she felt the way she did.

Jag was another favorite character in the story. His love for Laney is instantaneous and obvious. The fact that neither of them can seem to stop thinking about the other is another thing I thought was adorable – they are teenagers after all, so that kind of puppy-love, infatuation is pretty common.

Of course, there are characters I didn’t like much, but that’s OK because you’re not really supposed to like them4.

This book is one of those books that you just have to read to understand why it’s such a great book. The best thing? It’s part of a series and the second book is slated to be released soon. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book.

I give this a five out of five stars because it is innovative, fun, fast paced, and just a great all-around read.

From what I know, Brooke Skipstone has two novels to her credit, and each of them takes us to totally different worlds, with equally different writing. I like inventive authors who walk us around according to the whims of their mind.

In Some Laneys Died, the main character, Laney, surprised her father with another woman, causing her parents to divorce. Laney blames herself for having been the cause of this rupture. What would have happened if she had not revealed to her mother the betrayal of her husband ... Laney relives the scene again and again in parallel worlds that she constantly creates for herself ... of so many parallel worlds and each time more realistic that it risks getting lost at any time.

Things don't get better when a news item arises: two young girls are found murdered on the very spot where her father's adultery took place.

What if this event was related to her?

A very good suspense where fiction and reality intermingle and which plunges us into the meanders of a troubled mind. To read and to think about.

**I received an e-ARC from NetGalley for an honest review**

I really, really, really wanted to like this book, but it was too much.
The trigger warning at the beginning of the book is nowhere near specific enough.

The concept is a good one, but execution is so lacking that only the concept is what allows me to give it one star.

The dialogue feels as if a 40-something woman is trying to hard to be "hip" with "Gen Z" (I have no clue how old the author is or anything about her background, this is just how it reads). It also felt as if the author was constantly trying to push her world views onto the reader, especially her views on sex, drugs and race.

The book is both far too padded and yet I still don't have enough info at times, there's just no balance in how the information is given. There's an old saying that good characters can save a bad plot, but bad characters can kill a good plot. This book had neither good characters or good plot. This feels like a first draft that went straight to the printer rather than undergoing a good edit.

Overall, the book just tries too hard. I really think this concept would work as a TV series, but as a book it just fails.

This is a very unique plot. Each choice laney makes or doesn’t make creates an alternate universe where the opposite happened. Add in some family drama, teen love, and a sadistic killer and you got yourself one heck of a book.

One of the things I’m most picky about when it comes to reading is the pacing. This may have taken me a min to get into but it was because of the sciencey aspect not because of the pacing. It didn’t feel like a slow burn. The pacing was quick and after a while it felt like every chapter was leaving me with more questions I was aching to get the answers to.

This was a whirlwind experience and I’m glad to have read this book. I can’t wait to read the second. This is definitely a must for any thriller aficionado’s shelf.

This book is very unique and I hope it becomes a movie one day! I’m not normally into this genre, but I couldn’t put it down when I picked it up! It’s very thought out with lots of twists and turns. It has a very exciting storyline and deals with lots of deep issues. It’s definitely a fun read!

I didn't like this book at all. I had to push me to finish it so I could review it, but it's just... not good. I felt like the writing was all over the place, confusing at times, and the dialogue didn't felt natural. It could use a lot more work. The ebook copy we get was also weird, badly diagrammed.

I really wanted to like this book. The premise seemed interesting, and I couldn't wait to read it. Unfortunately it fell flat. The story was quite slow, and I didn't really vibe with any of the characters.

I'm sure it would be great for some, I just didn't enjoy it.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this E-book to review via Netgalley.

I had to DNF this book.
I really wanted to like this book. The premise was intriguing but I just could not get in to it. I started it twice. The first time I read 35 pages and had to put it down. Then I waited about a month and tried to pick it up again and got 50 pages and again just could not get into it. I had a hard time connecting to the beginning unfortunately and could not get past it.

🌟🌟🌟.5

This story is pretty interesting and unique but it's kind of confusing at the same time. Everytime Laney make a decision there is a splitting universe where in another dimension she make another choices. My head hurts because this doesn't make sense lol goshhh what did I just read?
Btw skipping to another dimension sounds fun and scary.

Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author for this ARC!

I have conflicting feelings about this book.

The premise is incredibly interesting. The main focus is around choices and multiple realities that are created through these choices. This concept plus a murder mystery? I was sold!

However, the execution wasn't as great as it could have been. The first half was pretty solid, building intrigue and questions around the main mystery. I didn't like the hyper sexualization - it didn't feel like I was reading a 16 year old at all - but the main points were engaging enough that I kept reading. The failings began as explanations began.

Too much exposition - there were so many moments were Laney is retelling what has already happened or notion that had been suggested was then reitorated more explicitly. There were moments that were meant to be weighed but mostly just felt like a waste of time. There were plot points that didn't make sense at all and the concept of 'skipping' between different versions of Laney ultimately meant that at one point, there were two Laneys exisiting. Then there was the twin that somehow has a body despite not having a body in the current world that she is exisiting in.

Jagger is a cool character, but the introduction scene where one of the only BIPOC character is introduced reads like a token written by a white women. Laney literally says the words 'I don't notice colour'. It felt like Skipstone wanted to address racism but in the most blanant and inoffensive to the character currently as possible. That isn't to mention that he is only introduced at the 50% mark and yet he is basically insta-loved and ends up being far too willing to go along with the craziness this random girl he thought was cute brought with her.

The story extended longer than it needed to be, with extra chapters that seem like they're trying to wrap things up but really there isn't much of a build up or payoff with any of them.

I'm really disappointed with this read. I started with such excitement and eagerness and it quickly became reading to be finished.