I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and were not affected by the free copy.

Our main character is Neve, film noir buff and outcast extraordinaire. We meet her on the day her life falls apart. Skip ahead, her best friend Yasmin has betrayed her, so her mom and grandmother send her off to a girl's empowerment camp. Enter, Diane. Seemingly perfect, beautiful and charismatic, Neve gets sucked into Diane's plot, and jokingly agrees to murder Diane's stepbrother in ex. At least, she thought it was a joke; at least, until Yasmin is found dead. And everyone believes that Neve killed her.

Gretchen McNeil's #murdertrending series is one of my favorite YA mystery thriller series, so I was so excited to see she had a new book coming up. The book blurb includes this line: "In this twisted game of cat and mouse, the reader never quite knows who’s telling the truth, who’s playing games, and who is going to end up dead." Sadly, this book did not live up to my expectations. I saw all of the twists coming. The pacing was a little awkward, but was not a deal breaker. The plot was a bit cheesy, but I honestly expected that. Our villains are truly unlikeable and Neve is mostly likeable (I did get a little annoyed by her constant whining about not having friends and her thoughts about her forced independence).

As someone who has never watched any of the films that were mentioned in the book, they felt like odd interjections that added nothing to the book. It might mean more to others, but for me, it just felt awkward.

I absolutely love the cover! I may not have loved the book, but I will be recommending it to YA mystery thriller lovers.

Betrayal! Murder! More betrayal!

Plot:
High school girl Neve Lanier just cannot catch a break when it comes to friendship. As a social pariah, she thinks she hits the jackpot when new girl Yasmin Attar befriends her. The two become best friends. Until they aren’t. Just before school lets out, Neve is betrayed by Yasmin. Left alone and broken, her family encourages her to attend an all-girl’s empowerment camp called GLAM (a bit cheesy, but okay.) The girls at the camp seem friendly, her roommate much like her, and she makes friends quickly and easily, catching her off-guard and possibly affecting her decision making skills. Although warned by others, she is especially drawn to beautiful Diane, both as a friend and a potential love interest. One night at camp, the girls attend Confession, a tell-all time in theater class where they are encouraged to let loose of any burdens. It’s here that they learn each other’s secrets. And it’s at this point that Neve’s life changes forever. On the last night of camp, during a sleepover in Diane’s room, they make a joke -- Diane will murder Yasmin if Neve will murder her brother -- only one of them doesn’t consider it a joke.

“I did my part, BFF. Now it’s your turn.”

Soon, Neve learns that everything about Diane is a lie. She has to figure a way out of this mess without becoming a murderer.

Thoughts:
This book is straight-up young adult mystery/suspense. If you like that type and genre, then this book is for you. Neve is a likeable character, and I felt anxious for her whether it was her trying to make friends, trying to convince herself it was okay not to have a best friend, or trying to get out of the whole “Strangers on a Train” murder for murder situation. One thing that drives me nuts about this type of story is when teenagers are trying to “solve” the crime rather than leaving it to the police. And in this case, it wasn’t that she was trying to take care of it herself, the police didn’t believe her when she confessed all she knew, so she really didn’t have a choice but to try to take care of the situation on her own. And it actually worked!

One of Neve’s hobbies, which conveniently gives her a connection with hot guy Javier is her love of noir films...hence the reference to “Strangers on a Train.” Aside from this connection to the “you murder for me, I’ll murder for you” plot line, the other noir film references felt disconnected and forced. They really didn’t add much to the story -- just random tidbits that I felt were trying to make this storyline unique. It didn’t detract from the story, but it didn’t add anything either.

I think the story was a bit predictable but there was one twist at the end that I think caught me off guard. It made total sense when it happened but I didn’t really see it coming.

And the cover is to die for!

Recommendation:
Did I like this book? Yeah -- I think I did. I would recommend this book to avid readers of young adult mysteries.

Rating:
3.5/5

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this title for review.