I received a copy of Little Monsters at YALLfest in Charleston, SC a few years ago, and I absolutely fell in love with Kara Thomas’ writing. I have consumed every book of hers. Waiting until July, when That Weekend is released was going to absolutely impossible. I literally squealed when I got the email from NetGalley that I was getting an early copy.

I immediately downloaded and started reading. I devoured the book in less than 24 hours. I’m still in shock how the story unfolded. Thomas is the queen of twists and turns that are impossible to predict, and this book was giving me major V.C. Andrews vibes.

Claire has just broken up with her boyfriend Ben after seeing him at a party with Anna Markey on his lap and then following her upstairs. Her best friends Kat and Jessie rescue her from the party. But being with Kat and Jessie doesn’t offer her the comfort she’s looking for. Now that they are together, things will never be the same. Instead of going to prom, the four of them are supposed to be sneaking up to Kat’s family lake house. Claire does not want to spend the weekend as the third wheel, but Kat insists on her going. Now Claire is in the hospital. Kat and Jessie are missing, and Claire has no recollection of what has transpired over the last 36 hours. Did she kill them? Were they kidnapped? Are they still on the mountain? How can she not remember anything? What happened that weekend? Everyone wants answers, including Claire.

Every book Kara Thomas has written has kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. That Weekend is no exception to this rule! The twists and turns keep you guessing. Even when you think you know what happened, another chapter later and you’ll be second guessing your predictions. Absolutely fabulous read!

This is a whodunnit book that keeps you guessing until the end.
Girl hits her head and can’t remember anything, thinks maybe she could be to blame.
Not knowing who she can trust and missing her two best friends, she becomes obsessive in her need to know what happened.
I definitely stayed up all night reading this page turner but sadly was disappointed with the ending, it seemed long and drawn out, very unsatisfying.
I still recommend this book, I just suggest that you stop reading after you read who the culprit really is in the last few chapters of the book. Don’t read all the extra details.

A girl wakes up bloody in the woods with no memory of what happened to her. Her two best friends are missing. An easy solution presents itself-- a kidnapping gone wrong-- but she can't help but think there's something she still doesn't know. The clues might only be found in her missing weekend.

This book will definitely appeal to young adult mystery/thriller fans and to fans of Thomas' last bestseller, The Cheerleaders.

Compelling, contorted thriller. Three high school students , Clare, Kat and Jesse, go camping on prom weekend. Clare is found injured, the other two are missing and eventually presumed dead. With no memory of those two days, Clare goes in search of answers that turn out to be convoluted and dangerous. Some readers may suspect the gist of what went on, the full backstory and motivations are not revealed until the end, and the resolution is not neat and tidy. Suspenseful and believable, this holds you to the end.

I'm always eager for a new Kara Thomas suspense thriller, and this one is by far my favorite of all her books.

When Claire wakes up on a hiking trail with a head injury, no memory of the last 24 hours, and two missing friends, she tries to investigate and uncover what really happened during their prom camping weekend. Were they robbed? Kidnapped? Murdered? Or, an even worse thought, did Claire do something to them that her brain has blocked out?

I read a lot of thrillers and, after a while, they start to become very predictable and formulaic. And yet, for Thomas's fourth book I've read in this genre, this is far from predictable. THAT WEEKEND features tons of great twists, surprises, and bombshells, plus great pacing and a likeable, relatable main character. I wish more authors would write suspense like Kara Thomas. This one gets five whopping, shiny stars from me. My only question is... how long do I have to wait for another from Thomas????

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for an advanced copy!

Thank you Netgalley, Delacorte Press, and Kara Thomsa for allowing me to read the arc of That Weekend. This is listed as a YA book, but I think that’s because the main characters are teens, not because of the writing or story! I didn’t love any of the characters, but the book was readable, even though so much was going on it was hard to keep track of everything. I enjoyed most of the book though, and will look for more books by this author. Three and a half stars rounded up to four.

Thanks to NetGalley for proving an early copy!

I've read every YA mystery/thriller that Kara Thomas has written, and this just SHOT to the top of my list of favorites. Dang. The pacing and the structure is a little unconventional (there are a few time jumps backward and forward) but it's pulled off perfectly, but I think that real standout is Claire's voice. Kara Thomas tends to write sardonic, unlikable narrators (which I say as a compliment; it's my favorite type of narrator!) and Claire is just the pitch-perfect example of how to do one well—I thought she was brash and funny and a little bit frustrating in the best way.

But the twists in this one. WOW. This book is a masterclass in introducing genuinely shocking but realistic twists. I can't wait for my friends to read this so I can talk about it with someone.

✨Review Time✨

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

OMGGGGG this book! The twists were unreal! I was privileged to be allowed to read this before the release. It’s a fiction thriller about 3 teens that go on a wholesome camping trip gone wrong. It’ll leave you guessing from the beginning about what’s happening and who is the source. When Claire wakes up with no memory of that weekend or where her friends are she starts to question everything and everyone. Will she find out the truth? My mind went in several different directions without figuring it out. Not to mention the HUGE twist at the end. If you love thrillers, drama and the unexpected definitely pick this one up! Available on 6/22/2021

Aren't you supposed to trust your best friends in this world? That what Claire thought. After breaking up with her boyfriend right before prom she decided to go to her best friend's lake house with her two best friends. What could go wrong? The answer is a lot. Claire wakes up hurt on the side of the mountain after without any knowledge of how she got there, what day it is or where she friends are. Her best friends in the world are missing... and she has no answers to help find them. Can Claire find the answers she is looking for before it is too late? A awesome read that keep you guessing. This is one book you won't be able to put down. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. Sometimes that's all you need to say. What a gripping adventure this was. Just when you think you know what's going on, there's a new twist.

Bruised and bloodied, Claire awakens to the face of a stranger, a giant gap in her memory, and the news that her friends, Kat and Jesse, are missing. What happened at the lake house and on the mountain That Weekend? Thomas anchors her characters in a rugged rural setting, shifting artfully between past and present narratives, and different points-of-view. Her twisty plot surprises at every turn, while exploring the bonds of friendship and family, the limits of loyalty and love, with ruthless honesty. As readers let out their breath on the final page, they’ll find themselves asking, “What would I have done in their shoes?” A great choice for fans of Courtney Summers and Mindy McGinnis. Read in one sitting 😊

There’s almost too much to discuss here.

A YA thriller with plenty of twists and turns and an ending you really don’t want to believe!

Claire has recently broken up with her boyfriend, Ben. Instead of going to Prom, she heads to a lakehouse with two friends, Kat and Jesse. The weekend doesn't go well-not that Claire can remember. She ends up waking up bloodied in the middle of the woods with no memory of how or why she ended up there.

Eventually Claire learns both Kat and Jesse are missing and no one really knows what happens and Claire is no help because she can't remember! Were Jess and Kat kidnapped? Murdered? Was Claire a victim or is she a blame? As the length in the investigation continues, Claire's desire for answers increases and she sets out to get herself some answers. As she starts digging Claire slowly begins to realize her friends may not have been completely honest with her. Were they ever really friends at all?

This mystery will make your head hurt in a good way. I promise you.

Readers who like a mysteries with lots of twists and turns will love this entry by Kara Thomas. The beginning few pages felt like the start of a lot of teen mystery books but that is where the comparison stops. The way the author reveals the story of what happens through memories and lack of memories keeps the reader engaged. Just when you think you know what happens the thoughts of what happened turns totally in a different direction. Put this title in to any teen who loves a quick and enjoyable mystery. It will lead to turning pages to figure out what really happened out there in the woods.
I received an ARC ebook from NetGalley and the publisher, Random House Children’s, in exchange for an honest review.

I loved The Cheerleaders, and I was unsure if another of her books would live up to that one. This one sure did! I was riveted from the start, as anxious as the main character Claire for her to regain her memories of “that weekend” when she was badly injured and her two best friends went missing. This was a wild ride start to finish, and I did NOT see this ending coming. A must read for suspense fans!

Instead of going to prom, Claire, Kat, and Jesse decide to head up to a cabin for prom weekend and to camp in the mountain. Days later, Claire wakes up with a head injury and memory loss where she is unable to recall the days prior. The big problem is her best friends are missing and Claire can’t remember what happened that weekend.
TWISTY, TWISTY, TWISTY!! Every time I thought I knew where we were heading in the plot something new would come up and surprise me. I really like Claire’s investigative skills and her determination to find out what happened to her and her friends on the mountain that night. Even when it was all said and done and it seemed like the case was closed, Claire persisted to fill in the gaps of that weekend. Some of the characters throughout the book were written to give you a certain vibe and I think that the author completely delivered with her descriptions and the deception. I trusted some of the characters that I shouldn’t have and that’s what good writing can do to elevate the plot and trick the reader. I really enjoyed that aspect to the book. I also enjoyed most of the ending. There were a few unresolved things to me that I think could’ve ended cleaner but overall, I was deceived, surprised, and overall satisfied with the ending which is really all I can ask for when it comes to thrillers.
Kara Thomas is incredible at what she does and thrillers are what she does best.

Ah..this was going so well until the ending, and now I'm annoyed and incredibly unsatisfied. The ending(s?) was so out of left field, I can't even deign to call it a plot twist--and I called what happened to the friends from the very beginning. If Kara Thomas had just honored the story she was trying to tell, I might've rated this higher. Unfortunately, it seemed in the end, she was trying too hard to work in the shock factor. It made for an unsatisfying and ineffective ending. I love Thomas' work, but this one is a miss for me.

An intensely readable page-turner with more twists than an M. Night Shyamalan movie, That Weekend is a young adult mystery thriller about a trio of friends that disappear in the woods. The story begins with Claire, the only one of the three that is found injured and alone in the woods with no memory of what happened that weekend. It’s the perfect set-up for a summer thriller.

The first twenty percent of the novel was slow, setting up Claire’s story and her relationship to her two best friends. It was essentially just Claire’s romantic drama with three different teen boys and while I found it exhausting, I wasn’t too surprised given that this is a YA novel. The plot flirts with the romantic suspense genre which was decent, it’ll hook the right reader.

Thankfully the meat of the novel was really great, the mystery about what happened and the drama that unfolds between the characters made it hard to put down. I blazed through most of the novel in one sitting and stayed up all night reading, it was that engaging! I even came to like Claire, even though I found all of her boy drama to be frustrating.

I really wanted to know what happened, but all the plot twists bombed the ending for me, there was just too much and the narrative goes so wildly off the rails, I couldn’t help but sigh. Claire, who the reader follows for most of the book, is just as naive, useless, and frustrating as she was at the beginning of the story. The book overall didn’t quite stick the landing for me, but I can appreciate it for its merits and will be a good summer thriller for readers to devour.

This was quite a mind twister. It definitely had me continuously interested. I devoured this in one sitting.

Kara never ceases to amaze me.

I’m split on how I feel about the characters, but they are well built with their own personalities. The reason I say I’m split is because some of the characters are downright horrible people.

Claire is an interesting character and never gives up trying to find the truth. All the interactions are very realistic. Kat has hidden truths and so did Jesse.

The truth always comes out. The truth was NOT something I had expected or thought of.

The plot was decent and it held steady the entire time. It is told from two different viewpoints but mostly from Claire. This was a really good book.