I can always rely on Karen M. McManus to write a /good/ high school mystery that will keep me intrigued plot-wise, romance-wise, and character building-wise. You'll Be the Death of Me is no exception of McManus's record of fantastic mystery YA novels, and I predict this one doing really well in the same fashion as One of Us Is Lying.

The mystery was intricately wound, greatly set up, and so much fun to try and solve as I read the book. I will definitely be recommending this to my audience.

Karen McManus has proven she is one of the best YA Mystery/Thriller writers in the game! This book was such a fun read. I was hooked from the beginning. I loved the differing points of view that would reveal the thoughts of the main characters and help unwrap the story in an organic way. I thought all of the voices of the characters were spot on and I loved each of the characters. I loved how they worked together, but they also had their little dramas that impacted their relationships. Overall, I thought this was a fun book. I know our YA readers at the library will be dying to get their hands on it. I can't wait for her next one!!

You'll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus; Delacorte Press, 336 pages ($19.99) Ages 14 and up. (Nov. 30 publication)

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Karen M. McManus, new queen of the teen thriller, offers another page-turner in this entertaining murder mystery of three estranged friends who skip school together on a whim and end up at the scene of a murder.

The narrative shifts between high school seniors Ivy, Cal and Mateo, who on the spur of the moment decide to skip school, as they did on a magical day years before in sixth grade even though they haven't really spoken to each other since a falling out in eighth grade.

The adventure lands them at an art studio downtown where a classmate has just been murdered and a report of a blond woman at the scene focuses suspicion on Ivy, a Type A personality who just lost an embarrassing election for student council and who constantly feels pressured to meet the expectations of her rich, successful parents who seem to reserve all their approval for her academically gifted brother.

The three come from diverse family and economic backgrounds and the suspense as they attempt to solve the murder is driven by the fact that all three are keeping big secrets from each other (a flirtation, drug dealing, a prank that had disastrous consequences). The text of a high school podcast speculating about Ivy as a suspect appears at various intervals.

I started this book apprehensively because I did not like OOUIL series because of some insensitive plot points. I didn't figure this out until I received a galley for this book. I found some careless topics in this one as well that were just used as shock factor.

When I first heard about this book it was described as Ferris Bueller's Day Off but with murder and I was immediately sold. I love that movie and definitely could see similarities between the two. We have the three main characters going for a day trip in the city and segments of the book that are led by two students reporting on the school news. This book definitely sucked me in. I actually read 60% of it in one sitting! I've found that Karen M. McManus' books are really binge worthy and whenever I sit down to read them I get sucked into the plot. The mystery element was very intriguing and I have to say I didn't see the end coming. It felt very cohesive, with little bits of information scattered throughout that all came together in the end. I enjoyed learning about the main characters. I'd have to say that Matteo was my favourite out of the three. I admired his work ethic and overall loyalty to his family. However, I wish I got to know the side characters a little more. Since the book takes place over one day it also added a sense of urgency and excitement. We had some fun settings like a specialty donut place which is making me really hungry for a blueberry donut. It sounds so good!

I had a blast reading this book! Anyone that loves Ferris Bueller's Day Off will definitely enjoy this!

Sadly, I didn't love this one as much as McManus's previous books. I still liked it - it's just not my favorite McManus book. I think it's just that the characters fell a little flat in comparison to her other characters. Or maybe it was the mystery itself?

I will say that the story at least has a good pace. Nothing goes too fast and nothing drags on. But overall, it was anti-climatic. Though this is just my opinion. I just think it doesn't live up to her other four books. Still good, but not as gripping.

If I were title this, it would “well, I didn’t see that coming” because moment after moment I was left surprised. This is exactly how a YA mystery/thriller should read. It was paved extremely well, flowed easily between each different perspective, and had resolutions that didn’t feel like cop-outs or too picture-perfect.

I enjoyed our three MCs: Ivy, Cal, & Mateo. I felt of the three, Mateo was the most engaging. His storyline was well-developed and he didn’t feel like too much of a stereotype. He did have a little too much “strong and proud” at times, but when you need to flesh out three characters one of them has to fall there. Ivy and Cal were a little less so. Ivy was definitely the all American class president stereotype. Blonde, doesn’t know she’s beautiful, type-A, and perfect but disconnected family. She was my least favorite of the crew. Cal was the least developed in my eyes. Kind of a loner, the art kid, gay parents. But he was kind and needed to be the balance of the weights.

The mystery was really well done. I loved the discoveries as we took steps through Boston and beyond. I liked the insert of Zack and Ishaan’s YouTube show because it brought in an almost comic relief. I did not call any of the ending, especially not the cliffhanger at the end! I will definitely read the sequel.

While all of this was great, I didn’t give it 5 stars because I thought the writing was just so-so. Parts felt a little basic and I didn’t think that the different POVs read as such. I often had to remind myself who was talking by looking at which names they were mentioning.

Overall though, it’s a great read. I understand why all my students love her work so much. Highly recommend it!

Thank you to Delacorte Press and Random House Publishing for the advanced readers copy.

More in the area of 3.5 stars.
YOU'LL BE THE DEATH OF ME was an entertaining ride of a read about 3 teens who basically reenact Ferris Bueller's Day Off and find themselves smack dab in the middle of a murder investigation and drug rings. The plot is a lot of fun with all the twists, turns and reveals as we watch Ivy, Mateo, and Cal navigate this very tricky and deadly situation, all the while having secrets of their own. I appreciate the unconventional ways that McManus tackles relevant issues, especially when it came to the relationship between [redacted] and Cal and how sexual predators come in forms that exposes a double standard and how hard and confusing that can be for a teen to handle. I also like how all of our characters have likeable things about them, and how McManus's writing style is one that keeps you guessing. There were just some things in the plot that rubbed me the wrong way, especially with how [redacted] is handled towards the end. Also, a lot of the adults (not the parents) absolutely suck in this book and seem to have no self-awareness, especially with that ending which I guess is segueing into another book. And the big whodunit reveal, while an interesting plot device, just came out of nowhere with no lead-up to it. I also had a hard time dealing with all of the assumptions made by police in a murder investigation. It seemed driven by high school gossip which is necessary I guess to the book but unrealistic. But then again, this is fiction, so whatever. So this was a mixed bag for me in terms stated earlier, but YOU'LL BE THE DEATH OF ME is an entertaining and quick read if you enjoy mysteries and plots that keep you guessing, and I did enjoy it for the most part.

I have loved all of McManus' books, but this is my least favorite of her novels. What made One of Us Is Lying so special was that it took a murder mystery, accused ALL the characters of the murder, and then made you care about each of them so much that you were crossing your fingers that they were each innocent. In You'll Be the Death of Me, I did not feel any connection with any of these characters and so was not invested in the outcome of this murder mystery.

Will I buy this book for all of my schools? You bet I will. Will I continue to read anything and everything that McManus writes? Yes. But this novel fell flat for me.

Thank you Delacorte Press for a free ecopy in exchange for a review!

Karen McManus is back at it again with a compelling storyline about seemingly unconnected teenagers who are connected in a twist way. Another random murder that teens are caught in the middler of and trying to investigate? I'm here for it. Karen McManus is one of my favorite authors and writes fast paced, page turning thrillers.

This one took a little bit to get invested, for sure, and I think the reason for that is that the three main characters all have similar "voices". While the book is written in first person with chapters rotating between each of the MC's voicing, I found myself getting lost mid chapter, trying to figure out who was behind each one (in the beginning particularly). They all "sounded" the same - nobody was particularly interesting or unique, either.

Around the halfway point was where it picked up for me, and I read the remainder of the book in 36 hours. Once the ball got rolling, it moved quickly.

But at the end of it, I only really liked one character - the rest were just "meh" for me. I have trouble getting invested in a story if I don't feel anything for the main players, and that's exactly what happened here.

All in all - the storyline, while slow in the beginning, was a solid 4 stars from me. An intricately woven tangled web, McManus delivered with juicy plot twists driven by untrustworthy characters.

The characters, however, get a 3 star "meh" from me, averaging this book out to a 3,5/5 stars.

Will I read her next one? 100% I will. this one wasn't a total miss, just took a hot minute to get revved up.

Another great, fast-paced thriller/mystery from our favorite YA author! While this started a little slow for me, the build and ending was the best of McManus. The reveal was awesome--and I was completely blindsided!

I really like this book. Like a lot. In my opinion it’s Karen M. McManus best YA Thriller.
The writing was excellent like always, the characters were authentic with flaws and the storyline was intriguing. The pacing through the whole book was spot-on for me and I couldn’t put it down.
I really liked the secrets and flaws the characters were hiding and how it all unraveled.
Definitely a recommendation for all YA Murder Mystery/Thriller fans.

Thank you Netgalley for this amazing Arc!

I was so excited to receive an arc of the new Karen M. McManus book and I was not let down. You'll Be the Death of Me is exactly what I was craving for in a new ya thriller series!

Meet Ivy, Mateo and Cal. They are all in a weird place in their lives. Things just seem to be going downhill for each of them. They used to be best friends until high school started but today, during the beginning of their senior year, they are randomly reuniting to skip school. Except this time things are going to wind up being a lot crazier.

This story was full of excitement and thrills. I was on the edge of my seat and holding on through all these twists and turns. In other words, it's the perfect new McManus book and I highly recommend it!

This book follows 3 teens on a day they will never forget, but not for the reasons they think. Circumstances try to pull them apart but if they don’t stick together they might be in trouble. I enjoyed One of Us is lying also but this author and this book definitely had similar characters and in some ways plot. With that said by the end I was still biting my nail to see ‘who done it’. All on all a quick and fun ya Murder mystery! Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was definitely a book that's hard to put down once you start.

We have three points of view in You'll Be the Death of Me. Ivy is the three time class president that lost her senior year to Boney Mahoney. She's angry about it and doesn't want to go to school the next day. Mateo works three jobs while going to school to help pay the bills at home. Cal is more of a loner that dates a lot, but has no real friends. These three were friends in middle school, but grew apart by high school. Ivy had a crush on Mateo and felt odd with him after they kissed one time and nothing happened. Cal has a big secret that he's keeping from everyone. Mateo knows his cousin, Autumn, is doing something bad and she' not telling him everything. The three end up skipping school together and find a dead body. The body is found in the art studio of Cal's secret girlfriend and Ivy becomes the main suspect. The three of them decide to try to figure out what happened. They put themselves in danger and find out that there was something pretty big going on at their school that they didn't know about.

I gave this book 4 1/2 stars rounded up to 5 on goodreads. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my earc and final copy for review.


Warnings for drug, murder, underage dating/inappropriate relationship, parental abandonment, chronic health issues, drinking, needles.

Mateo, Cal and Ivy: three friends tangled in a messy, “shitty” day of epic proportions. Choosing to skip school and reenact their field trip skip out in Boston was simple. Stumbling on a classmate’s dead body and learning things are not what they seem is quite the opposite. Only Mateo, Cal and Ivy know they were present with the dead body but this dead body isn’t the only secret they are keeping. Have a secret, can you keep it, or will it be the death of you?

Karen McManus shines once more in her latest stand-alone, You’ll Be the Death of Me. Told in three separate points of view, McManus is able to weave each character arc seamlessly. Mateo, Cal and Ivy are written with enough detail to make their thoughts believable and actions trustworthy. Supporting characters are blended well in the background and pack the punch at intended times. Although some parts of the book I could see coming, I was not able to predict every twist and turn that McManus threw in. Readers of YA fiction, thrillers with high school characters and lovers of McManus’s other work will enjoy this latest!

This YA mystery will please fans of the author, whose profile continues to rise, and this is timed well to coincide with the adaptation of the author's first book. It isn't necessarily anything new either for the genre or for the author, but it does tackle a timely issue in an ultimately interesting way.

I am almost always guaranteed to like whatever book Karen M. McManus puts out, and YOU'LL BE THE DEATH OF ME was no exception. The story is told through three different perspectives of three different protagonists. Ivy is the Type A personality who strives to be the best she can be, especially in light of her extremely gifted younger brother. Mateo is the quiet loner who is juggling two jobs to support his chronically ill mother and his cousin. Cal is the wise ass misfit who is head over heels in a new relationship. I loved how all of them interacted with each other, and how McManus really gave me the feeling of lost friendships not because of anything big, but because of growing up an apart. I also liked slowly revealing the secrets that they all have, and how said secrets tie into the larger mystery of who killed their classmate, a murder they witness of their spontaneous ditch day. The mystery was well written and executed, and had a lot of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. I also just had a fun time reading it, devouring it in one day.

Honestly, YOU'LL BE THE DEATH OF ME may be my favorite McManus thriller yet!

I read the author’s previous 3 novels and this one didn’t quite meet my expectations. The mystery didn’t fully pull me in because nothing really made me care much about it. As the book went on and the three teenagers suddenly became teen detectives (with secrets of their own of course), I began to care a bit more and wonder how it would all go down. I really enjoyed the reimagining of Frerris Buller’s Day off, but I was missing the suspense and drama she had in her other books.

Karen McManus is a fabulous writer, and the characters and dialogue in this book were of the exceptional YA-caliber that she always seems to deliver. Although nothing about this book could be described as shockingly new to the genre, it was a compelling and easy read full of some fun twists and turns.

The climax hit at about the 90% mark of the book, which meant that for something in the mystery and thriller genre, there was a very loooooong epilogue that -- timing-wise -- didn’t feel quite right to me. I just wanted it to wrap up.

Despite the long ending, this is a super-solid mystery that is an incredibly fun read, so I recommend it for McManus fans or anyone who loves a solid YA mystery.

This comes out Nov. 30!

Thank you Delacorte Press/Random House for the ARC!