Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I was excited about this book, but I didn't end up enjoying it much, and I ended up DNFing about halfway through. The povs of this book, like the pov from the cat, weren't as intriguing as I hoped they would have been. I get how other people might enjoy this book, but it just didn't do it for me. I also think that maybe the author should put up some trigger warnings in the beginning because some people will need them.

Seven years ago, Tress Montor’s parents drove her best friend Felicity home and never returned. Tress would kill to know what happened to her parents. Why was Felicity found, yet her mom and dad are gone without a trace.

Ever since that night, Tress has been living with her grandfather at his run-down wild animal zoo. Most people choose to steer clear of her. While her ex-best friend Felicity has it all: she’s popular, pretty, and wealthy, but she also has a dark secret.

It’s Halloween and the local high school kids are throwing a party at an old abandoned house. Something in Tress cracks; she must know what happened to her parents. Down in the pit of the house’s coal chute among the bricks and rubble, as the party rages on above them, Tress begins to get the truth out of Felicity.

This is a dark and chilling story of revenge. It is reminiscent of several Edgar Allen Poe stories, especially “The Cask of Amontillado.” We are privy to both Tress and Felicity’s POVs, which give us a feel for their mindsets. But then McGinnis adds in a few free verse chapters from the panther at the zoo POV - just to add a bit more creepiness.

Thank you to @netgalley for the Voice Galley of this audiobook

This book will be available on February 23, 2021.

I regret not checking to see that this book had a sequel before reading this. Wow, this book was good. It started out a bit slow, which made it difficult to get into. However, with incredibly short chapters, by chapter 10, I was enthralled. A book told from two perspectives. The girl who has nothing, but remembers everything. The girl who has everything, but remembers nothing. A story of a girl who refuses to give up, no matter what she must do to get the answers she is looking for, and a girl who cannot provide those answers, forced to look for them anyway. Once I got into this audiobook, I couldn't stop listening. In the car, in the shower, while I did homework, chores, basically any chance I got. It was amazing, and now begins the torture of waiting for book two after the cruel cliffhanger book one ended on. Cannot recommend this book enough!
One quote towards the end was so powerful it nearly had me in tears, stated as a part of a flashback, one of many which fill this book, but I feel the need to share it here. "The other half of my heart, on sale for a quarter."

** Thanks to Net Galley for the audio copy of this book.** A story about a town rooted in history and secrets. Two girls were the best of friends and then something changed it all. One friend becomes incredibly popular while the other struggles to survive. Each living the hand they were dealt with to the best of their ability. Well written and shocking. The book had me feeling for both the girls throughout and I am excited to read the next in the series because I feel that the book left off with a lot of questions.

The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis is an amazing story! I loved the writing; it was so immersive and had me hooked from the first page.

Tress Montor and Felicity Tornado have history. These ex best friends are constantly pulled towards each other. Tress wants answers to a long standing mystery and Felicity is drowning in guilt and just want to help Tress without causing problems in her social life. When the girls were in fourth grade, Tress's parents went missing while driving Felicity home from a sleepover. Felicity was found on the side of the road bleeding with no memory of what happened but Tress's parents have never been seen since. Since then Felicity has been hiding her true self and hiding behind her popularity. Tress on the other hand has been the butt of jokes and lives with a grandfather who only cares about what she can do for him. Well now Tress wants answers and she is going to get them from Felicity no matter the cost.

This story unfolds in Felicity 's and Tress's alternating point of view. You get flashbacks from the past in both perspectives. I loved this because you see the unintentional slights and how they both have secrets that they keep from one another. They both wants what is best for the other and start off with good intentions until they end up in the basement at a party with Felicity chained to a wall with Tress demanding answers. This book was so intense. I don't think I have ever read a book so intense with characters that carry so much baggage. McGinnis doesn't shy away from the dark and I have never been so happy for it. The topics discussed and the history between these two is dark and twisted. I can't wait for book 2 because this book ended so suddenly and with such a crazy twist that you just have to know what happens next.

Opinions: Heart-wrenching, shocking, and eye-opening are the only words to describe The Initial Insult. "Where did the author find inspiration? What are the themes of the work? Why did the ending leave such a large mark on the reader?" These overused questions from 7th Grade English class have never been so pertinent. Although fiction, McGinnis punches a whole in the reader's heart with the use of current affairs and, since there is no better word to describe it, "pop culture." The bullying as teenagers, the substance abuse from adults, racial motifs and a status-divided community is all too real for this book to be labeled as "a fun read." The Initial Insult will make you laugh out loud, cry from memories of mean girls, and scream at the bad decisions your least favourite characters persuade your favourite ones to make. My biggest takeaway from reading The Initial Insult is the confidence that teenagers facing similar challenges will learn from the protagonists of this book before they make the same mistakes. In short, read this book because it will not be forgotten.

My Favourite Thing: I am impressed with the abundance of themes in The Initial Insult but, more importantly, the evidence of said themes: the characters! Without them and their unique personalities and opinions about society, we would not be holding the same book in our hands. All of their decisions were driven by motive, giving readers something close to tangible to ponder on. All of their friendships were viewed differently by each friend, allowing readers to question their own relationships. All of their past experiences were slowly revealed, forcing readers to treat everyone around them as if they don't know what's happening behind closed doors (which they don't). Without these characters, readers would not set down the book a better person as they picked it up.

My Least Favourite Thing: Despite the themes that surface from the pettiness and immaturity of the protagonists, it does get monotonous to read. Oh... what a surprise, Tress is mad at Felicity... again! In my opinion, if there was just a bit more action or a few less pages, The Initial Insult would've been perfect.

Recommended For and Similar Reads: The Initial Insult is a thought-provoking and tear-jerking read for teens who love gossip, payback, and off-the-beaten-path stereotypes. You should try McGinnis' The Initial Insult if you have read and loved Teen Killers Club by Lily Sparks, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Black Helicopters by Blythe Woolston, We Were Liars by E Lockhart!

* Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest review*

Well Holy Shhhhhh! I have a love/hate relationship with Mindy McGiinis, and it has nothing to do with the author per-say, more to do with some of her books were just hard to get into at times. But not this one.. No! This one was a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am type of book. And that ending!!! Mindy always leaves a wtf did I just read ending.

I knew going into this that it was an audio with errors and a robot voice, even knowing that my only downside was the robot voice 🙈 it didn’t add those characters you’d get from a professional reader, but that didn’t dissuade from the story..

Tress and Felicity were the best friends, that is until one fateful night Tress’s parents drove Felicity hone to never be heard of again. Only Felicity did but she can’t remember a damn thing. Flash forward and Tress lives with her Grandfather and is considered a loser in school, while Felicity thrives and is super popular. Because of this, Tress finds and takes care of animals, almost like a personal savior. Until one night a party happens and she’s had enough and wants to know what happened. She won’t take no for an answer and Felicity blames herself in ways Tress wouldn’t understand.

This story is told in alternating views between the girls from the beginning to the end. Can their friendship survive? Will secrets explode? Or can this make or break that friendship they once had?

This story is heavy and dark and Mindy is not afraid to go there!

McGinnis has always been an obvious talent and obviously this one is no different. I loved the characters and the fast-paced plot. The audio was... computer generated? I'm not sure, but it did sound a little off. Didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.

I really enjoyed this. The characters felt real and dynamic. You can really feel all of the research that Mindy McGinnis has put into the development of her characters that shows in their feelings and interactions.

I listened to this book through Netgalley with a synthesized voice. That was my first time ever trying that. I'll admit, that was not my favorite way to listen to a book. But, I am not going to judge a book by it's computer narration.

Overall, I enjoyed the Final Insult, but it was a love hate relationship at times in the book. I was looking for something a little dark and this book was more than a little dark. I loved the symbolism of Tess stacking those bricks as she went through her grievances with Felicity. It activated something in my heart and I was rooting her on in her revenge porn plan. Tess and Felicity have a long history. Friends, enemies, misunderstood.

Pros -
I loved the white trash zoo. It felt like Tiger King meets the crazy animal guy in Zainsville, Ohio meets revenge porn.
I loved how Tess found ways to exist on her own. Taking care of the animals, finding some purpose
Love the symbolism of stacking the bricks
The old politics of the town, money, power, and who you are makes a difference.
Loved the supporting characters. Hugh, Ribbit
Loved the desperation of these characters
Loved how the story was built around their history and through the flashbacks.
Poe references

Cons -
Felicity's fear that no one will want to marry her just didn't ring true. The family has money. She can get out and make her own way if she chooses to.
While I did like the multiple perspectives and it worked in this book, I'm weary of this right now.
I didn't like the cat perspective. I might have liked it better if I had been reading instead of listening, but it felt choppy and contrived.
Really, Mindy? Two dead dogs? One dead dog has been enough for me to ditch a book!
I didn't really connect with either Tess or Felicity. They were just two people with lousey situations, but they were easy to dislike. I don't have to like them, but it was hard to connect.

I did not realize there would be a second book out until I finished listening to this one. I will pick it up for sure.

Thank you Publisher and Netgalley for the ARC copy!

Once best friends, now strangers. Tress and Felicity's friendship became estranged ever since Tress's parents went missing while taking Felicity home. Felicity can't remember what happened that night and Tress only wants answers. Tress takes Felicity captive and is slowly burying her behind a brick wall in the basement until Felicity tells all. The flashbacks to childhood had the biggest impact. The cat's pov was ehh for me. Towards the end the pov kept rotating every couple of sentences so the impact fell short. Maybe Poe retellings aren't for me? I remember having a hard time with the Nevermore series.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book, and, having read a Mindy McGinnis book in the past, I was excited to dig in. Unfortunately, I really struggled with the story. The POV switches between Tress, Felicity, and The Cat. I'm still unsure what The Cat's narrative contributed to the overall story, but my confusion could have more to do with the synthetic narration than the writing.
This book is just a big "meh" for me.

I got this book through Netgalley for an honest review This is a confusing book at times it goes between the past and present and I think that threw me off at times. I did listen to this as an audiobook so that might of had something to do with my disconnect with the story. Overall I enjoy the book even though at times it confused me a bit.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me an advance audio copy of The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis. This was my first McGinnis book and I have no words. I knew she usually covers hard topics but I found this one very strange. I have never read a book with an animal POV in it, so this was a first. I still am not sure what really went on in the book towards the end. I got the main concept throughout the book but that ending was very confusing. I do realize that this is supposed to be a duology but I would have liked a less confusing ending. I will probably still pick up the next one just to find out what happened to the parents of the MC. As far as the narrator goes, I think she did a good job in narrating this audio. I would not mind listening to more books read by her in the future.

I wanted to read this ever since I heard it was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, but I don't think it delivered. The plot was intriguing enough, but I feel like it could have been shorter since there is still a sequel to come. The first half was boring, but it definitely picked up towards the end.

The points of view were not distinctive enough, so I wasn't always sure who's PoV we were in. All the other characters were unlikeable. I also don't see the need for having the cat's point of view, though it made the story different it added nothing to the story. The ending was the strongest part of the book, and it made up for the rest.

This was still a thrilling book, but not what I was expecting. I still want to read the sequel to figure out what actually happened.

CW: blood, some gory descriptions, mentions of drug use and underage drinking, animal death

Felicity and Tress were best friends, but when Tress' parents disappeared after taking Felicity home one night that all comes to an end. With a plan, Tress is determined to get the truth from Felicity and she'll get her revenge.

Right now, I do have this at 4 stars, but the the time this book comes out and I get a chance to read or listen to the actual audio that may change as the audio was a robot voice so I missed a lot of emotion throughout the story not to mention pieces of the story despite going back and trying to get all the pieces.

I've read a few other Mindy McGinnis stories and I've noticed that she is never one to shy away from the dark side of things. She's willing to show it and that's exactly what she did here. This story was darker and continued to get darker the more we dived into it. It was thrilling and had me gripped (as much as a robot voice can have me gripped).

I did have trouble with how much the story jumped around. <i>The Initial Insult</i> has two narrators, Tress and Felicity (and Cat sporadically), but it also flips in time. We have current time and then times when Tress and Felicity are friends. There were times when it did have a header that this time it would be in the past, but I don't think it did all the time? Or maybe it did and that was one of the moments when I couldn't handle the robot voice, but all the jumping around did leave it hard for me to follow at times. While the jumping around did add to the tension, it also pulled me out of the story a bit from time to time as I had to adjust and try to remember the other details I needed for this section.

Overall, this was a good read. I really enjoyed it and will reread it when it comes out. There are plenty of details in here that need to be caught to piece everything together (and this ends on a cliffhanger so we still don't have all the pieces).

Thanks to Harper Audio and Netgalley for giving me this ALC in exchange for an honest review

I listened to a computer narrator, so I can't say whether the narrator is good or not. I wasn't expecting a twist on Poe classics (though I guess I shouldn't have been surprised since they live in Amontillado). Very interesting take on it, too.

The synthetic narration ruined this book for me. It made it difficult to follow the plot and stay engaged. That being said, I think this book could have been completed in one volume. It took some time to get into the story and some of the subplots were unnecessary. I did like some of the points the author made about class and poverty. I plan to read the next book because I need closure, and I’m sure I would have enjoyed this book more without the Siri style narration.

Innovative and contemporary reimagining of The Cask of Amontillado (Edgar Allen Poe). The story is told through multiple POVs; it can be difficult to follow at times due to combination of alternative POV and timelines. The story held my interest and left me reeling by the end. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.