#TheseDeadlyGames
A fun and suspenseful thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat. Thank you to NetGalley for the E-arc copy!

Crystal and her friends are MortalDusk gamers with a streaming following and a real chance at winning the tourney for a cash prize. For Crystal, that prize means helping her mom keep her house so there's a reason she needs to be on that team and win.

Right now, there's a competition within her team to get one of the five spots allowed in the tourney and Crystal is behind. MortalDusk is all she is focusing on.

But all that suddenly doesn't matter when she gets a text on a mysterious app that has appeared on her phone. The app has control of everything and it shows a video of Crystal's little sister tied up in a dark room along with the hand of someone holding a very big knife.

Let’s play a game.

You have 24 hours to win. If you break my rules, she dies. If you call the police, she dies. If you tell your parents or anyone else, she dies.

Are you ready?

The game starts with a few "innocent" pranks, but soon turns deadly.

Crystal needs to save her sister, but is she willing to risk the lives of her friends and MortalDusk teammates?


Final thoughts: This horror/thriller YA novel has a solid premise and some good moments, but also some WTF ones. If she's on a timer and needs to get some place fast, why does she suddenly stop and chat with her friends? The provides some exposition and character development, but doesn't fit with the structure overall. The app creator and game "host" is pretty obvious early on and the flashbacks are dead giveaways to the why, but it still has some interesting events. This is another one of those books that feels like it's meant to be sold for screen rights.

Rating: 3/5


ARC from NetGalley

This book is everything! I loved All Your Twisted Secrets, and Urban built on all of those elements to craft this amazing story!

I have never been so stressed while reading a book before, I had to take breaks in the middle of chapters just to catch my breath.

The way that Urban flips between past and present times is flawless and happens at the most inconvenient times so you have to keep reading to find out what happens next. This is why she is the queen of cliffhangers.

I loved the way that as a reader you thought you knew what was happening, and then Urban would twist that on its head in the next paragraph.

The whole premise of this book was amazing and I loved every nail biting moment of it. These Deadly Games is the perfect combination of revenge, forgiveness, family, and breaking points. It shows just how far we'll go for the people we love, and that the past can't stay buried forever.

Super fun read. I wasn't in love with the main character (but I've certainly met worse), and a couple of things at the very very end were slightly wishy washy, but, outside of those relatively minor bumps, this was fast-paced and well thought out

Another original and exciting thriller from the author of All Your Twisted Secrets.
For a more spoilery review, or if you've already read the book, check out Goodreads.
Crystal Donavan currently has one goal: to lead her gaming team to the upcoming annual tournament with a top prize of three million dollars. When she drops off her younger sister, Caelyn, at school for a ski trip, she looks forward to the next few days with her friends. But that all changes when she recieves an anonymous message informing her that Caelyn has been kidnapped, and that in order to keep her alive, she must complete whatever task she's assigned.
At first, the tasks seem harmless- bake brownies, put the answer key for a test in a random locker, and drive to the next town. But after one of her friends dies as a result of one of the tasks, Crystal sees what's really going on-- this is a plan to ruin the lives of and potentially kill all of them. And she knows exactly why someone would target them specifically: because of what happened to their old member, Brady, when they were eleven.

The first thing I want to say is that while All Your Twisted Secrets only has two real "twists," These Deadly Games has SO many more. And no, the main character isn't the one torturing her sister and trying to kill her friends. And while it does take a long time to reveal what exactly happened to Brady, it isn't portrayed as the group's evil doing or something they planned, but an accident and a tragedy that nobody could have predicted.
Once the kidnapper/manipulator is revealed, they constantly try to gaslight Crystal by making her believe that they never did anything wrong or that she could've imagined it, but it's obvious that she didn't imagine any of it. This was probably the scariest thing in this book, watching Crystal question everything all because of someone who wants revenge on her.
However, something that this book does have in common with AYTS is the slightly disappointing ending (but not in the same way). While AYTS ends right as the characters escape their psychological torture chamber, These Deadly Games does have more time dedicated to the "after." Just not enough. We don't know exactly what happens to the villain or to any of the group (except Akira, who thankfully survived her fall!) I also think the ending was meant to confuse the reader and make them think that Crystal could've done everything herself, but it was pretty obvious to me that she had nothing to do with it.
A second book would definitely be nice.

I think I liked These Deadly Games even better than Urban's debut! This was twisty and turny, had some really cool technology factors, and while it didn't exactly keep me guessing, it kept me super engaged and involved in the story. Well done!

This book will certainly appeal to the Karen M. McManus crowd, but the content, prose, and tone do not mesh and the actual plot is predictable and unappealing. The plot twists are so heavy-handed that I ultimately skimmed toward the conclusion. Add in flimsy characters and a frustrating narrator, and this one is a pass for me.

I loved the thriller writing of this book. The twists and turns are what kept me reading and the quickness of the plot kept me guessing.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this publication! I really enjoyed this book!

This was probably 2.5 stars, rounded up to three. While I'm not the target demographic here, the heavy focus on esports/gaming stuff got a bit boring, especially in the beginning. I also felt as the story unraveled that it was pretty obvious who was behind it and why.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Super fun read. I wasn't in love with the main character (but I've certainly met worse), and a couple of things at the very very end were slightly wishy washy, but, outside of those relatively minor bumps, this was fast-paced and well thought out.

I couldn't put this book down!
Crystal receives a disturbing text message:
" Let’s play a game.
You have 24 hours to win. If you break my rules, she dies. If you call the police, she dies. If you tell your parents or anyone else, she dies.
Are you ready? "
She's sucked into a deadly game and is desperate to discover who her opponent is.
While I had some of the twists in this story figured out, I still was on the edge of my seat waiting for the reveal. This is an intense thriller that will keep you guessing.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy to review.

The cover art is very nice.... But that's about as far as that goes. The writing is, well, not good. The storyline was a nice idea, but it's hard to read. The way things are worded and stuff, it's just bad.

I didn’t love Diana’s first book but I really wanted to give this one a try. The characters felt very very young and the dialogue felt very stiff and clearly written by someone who is an adult. I found myself cringing at some of the way things were said. The mystery itself was pretty good but I couldn’t get over how stiff and unrealistic the language in this was.

I’ve been on a mystery kick so I was really excited to be able to get this book from Netgalley! I like that Diana Urban posed a really interesting dilemma in this book, how do you choose between people you love! I was a big fan of Pretty Little Liars and this book really reminded me of that except darker! I do feel like I saw the end coming, maybe not the exact details but the overall ending, but it was still really enjoyable getting there! I’ll be glad when I can add this to my book collection!

Wow! What a heart pounding cat-mouse game!

LCrystal Donovan competes to win the annual Mortal Dusk Crown! Team prizes are $3 million! Only thing she needs to do work harder not be disqualified ( one of the six members has to go: the reward is only for team of five) and defeat her enemies wisely and brutally ! Don’t worry! This is just a freaking video game!

But this is not the only game she has to win! Somebody plays her a very dangerous game by sending the photos her sister gagged and bound. She’s only 24 hours to save her own sister’s life! She races against the time! If she breaks the rules, her sister will be dead, if she calls the police, she will die , if she tells her parents, the result will be same : she will never see her sister alive!

She’s assigned to finish bizarre tasks to play this dangerous game which seem harmless including stealing a test and hide it a locker, cooking brownies and making a prank call.

But as she sees her close circle friends die one by one, she realizes this game might be related with the incident haunted them five years ago!

Even though I was feeling like I’m reading a book in foreign language by getting lost in gaming terminology, I loved the author’s creative plot designing a mystery around video game competition with One of Us is lying meets I know what you did last summer premise!

And I enjoyed the conclusion of the book.

But I have still issues about development and characterization of the story which gave me hard to time to concentrate and get drawn into the mystery.

Firstly I didn’t like any of the characters and interestingly none of them like each other. They teamed up for competition but I have still questions why they teamed up if they hate the guts of each other so much at the first place when they have to compete for winning a huge amount of money.

And there were tons of twists which were foreseeable from miles away. I didn’t need to use my spider spidey senses to catch them. But unfortunately the characters were too slow to find out one of those. Waiting too long for declarations of revelations gets you out of your patience!

But overall: it was still intriguing concept, entertaining, fast paced, exciting action packed, twisty, unique read promising enough fun!

I’m giving my three solid stars but I have to admit I enjoyed this second book of the author more than her debut. Her writing skills get improved more at each of her works and I’m still looking forward to read her upcoming books!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Wednesday Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

I wanted to like this book so badly. The premise is intriguing, but ultimately, I didn't believe the antagonist was actually capable of everything they did. I also figured out who they were when they were first introduced. Maybe it was just me, but the plot didn't pull me in and sustain my attention. These Deadly Games will be a strictly additional purchase for my library.

This review will be posted on January 27, 2022 to: https://instagram.com/amandas.bookshelf

This #YA packed a super dark and tense roller coaster of a ride. Crystal and her eSports team are preparing for a statewide tournament when she starts receiving threatening messages on her phone. An anonymous person has kidnapped her younger sister and is threatening to kill her unless Crystal plays...a game. But not the video game she and her team play and livestream. No, a real game with life and death consequences that become more horrifying as Crystal levels up. Until she decides to fight back against the anonymous game master. Reminiscent of the "Shut Up and Dance" episode of Black Mirror, I found myself genuinely surprised at some of the twists. This was a super satisfying read and I can't wait to get a copy of the book when it's published for my sister. #TheseDeadlyGames Rating: 🙂 / liked it
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This book is scheduled for publication on February 1, 2022. Thank you @wednesdaybooks for providing me this digital ARC via @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

All I have to say is WOW! I love a good mystery and this was one that kept me on the edge of my seat. I loved the video game aspect intertwined with the mystery I thought it was so unique. This story kept me guessing the entire time and I truly had no idea how things were going to play out. I read it in one sitting and that ENDING! This book is perfect for anyone who loves a high-stakes mystery. If you loved One of Us is Lying or a Good Girl's guide to Murder I would highly recommend picking this up.

Shall we play a game?

For some, games are entertaining. For others they are deadly!

A high octane YA thriller that had my full attention from page one! Compulsively readable, twisty and disturbing, this novel is a movie playing out on the page.

See my full review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4049955064