Ski Weekend was an eye-opening, heartfelt YA survival thriller. I loved The Breakfast Club vibe with such diverse, unique characters forced to work together in order to get themselves out of a serious situation.

The bond between Stuart “Stu” and his sister Sam was so loving and unforgettable.

There were lots of crazy twists and I had to keep going to find out what direction this story was going to go.

The ending definitely took my breath away.
This is one book that will stick with me for a while!

Highly recommend!!

This narrator was perfect for the story--her voice helped me perfectly picture these high school kids.

Ski Weekend is a YA thriller similar to Five Total Strangers: some high school kids get stuck in their car in a blizzard on their way to a ski trip. When people start getting hurt, things get tense. Also, there's a dog (why did they take the dog with them when they went to get help?? I'd be worried about my pup's paws in the snow and making sure he got enough water...it seems easier to leave him with the people that stayed in the car).

I like a little more action in my locked-room thrillers. There eventually was some threat and death, but too much of the book was spent with these kids waiting to be saved...in a storm, when no one knows they took a detour. There was some great action close to the end, and the ending was somewhat satisfying.

I also think the book could have done without the religious speculation, but that could be personal preference.

So enjoyed having Rektok Toss on the Exploring the Blank Page Podcast. Ski Weekend is just the perfect blend of spine-tingling thrills and "holy cow what is going to happen next?!" Def can't wait for more from Rektok Ross!

This one wasn’t for me. I didn’t enjoy the writing and the text had quite a few grammar errors as well (I’m assuming it hasn’t been proofread). It just was a miss for sure.

I listened to this as an audiobook, I thought the narrator was captivating and really brought the characters to life. There was so much emotion portrayed by the narrator and the different tones for the different characters. I do get worried when picking up audiobooks because I need interesting narrators, but this book did not disappoint.

I liked the plot of this book, it was entertaining and full of twists. I was excited to find out what was going to happen to the characters. I thought it was educational because there were some good tips throughout the book.

I found I didn’t connect with any of the characters in this book unfortunately. I did love a Champion, the dog. Who doesn’t love a dog?! I did like the variety of different characters, but it was a strange bunch. There was some trauma to unpack with some of the characters which gave the characters some depth.

Overall I did enjoy listening to this book and it made my car journeys much more entertaining.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel for an honest review. It has been published in October 2021.

"Ski Weekend" by Rektok Ross was not what I expected based on the blurb.
There's precious little of a survival thriller in this novel; it reads more like YA drama. This is not necessarily a bad thing (I'm a fan of YA drama), but it's bound to disappoint some readers.
Personally, I enjoyed the characterisation, the diversity of the cast (although the black guy DOES die first, and I was really hoping this book wouldn't fall for that tired trope, after the genre-savvy characters went so far as joke about it!), and most of all I enjoyed how the author gave every single character solid motivations, multiple layers and a pretty decent growth arc.
Then the ending happened, and kind of ruined the whole book for me: I can't believe that Stewart just got on his feet, after we had established that he had a *shattered* ankle, and limped his way halfway down a mountain! Also, how on earth did that avalanche miraculously reunite Sam with her friends who had gone their separate way days earlier? These far-fetched twists were even more annoying because the rest of the novel had been very well-researched and extremely believable. Those two twists, instead, felt like the author didn't know how to get the characters out of the mess they'd got themselves into, and just decided to resort to a deus ex machina or two.
Overall, this novel was fun, entertaining and occasionally very profound and insightful. I'd have rated it higher if it hadn't been for the ending.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

I highly enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook. Kept me listening.

I was thinking this would be like No Exit, fast paced and like a movie. But this one was slow and anticlimactic. I never got to the point where I was super into it and couldn't wait to see what happened next.

I wasn’t personally able to finish this book. I didn’t realize YA and it is definitely targeted to that audience. Sorry I can’t contribute more.

I was expecting a thriller that was super fast paced and “thrilling” but it just didn’t deliver for me. The mood was wrong. Like it wasn’t thriller-esque. It just wasn’t for me. Hope others enjoy it more!

I was really excited for this one. Seemed like a suspenseful read with a bunch of teenagers stranded. But honest 25% of the way through and i was just bored. Nothing happened. The characters weren’t interesting. I wanted more tension, more thrill. More action or drama. But i ended up putting it down

This book just didn't catch my attention. I wanted to finish it to give it a real chance so I could give an honest review, but by 1/3 of the way through I was just trying to get through it as quickly as possible. The writing and narration were fine, but I just didn't care about the story.

I adore this author but I didn’t love the book! I’m sorry. I was definitely the wrong audience, YA isn’t usually my thing, but it was just so depressing! 🤦🏻‍♀️

The premise of this book was interesting, and I would recommend this to a student looking for a survival story. However, I did not enjoy the reading experience. I found myself skimming quite a bit, and really only kept reading to discover the fate of the trapped kids (and especially the dog). The flashbacks and random conversations throughout the story really slowed it down for me, and I found that this book lacked the fast-paced nature of a good thriller.

Six teens find themselves stuck in their vehicle after driving off-road. What began as a fun ski trip turns into a fight for survival.

Welp. Let's just say that this did not feel like a fight for survival. It felt like being stuck in a car with 6 teenagers who discussed their drama for 80% of the book. Not what I was expecting. Not riveting. Not a thriller.

I sped this one up to 3x speed so it could be over faster. I finished it...so two stars but I basically forced myself to keep listening.

Thanks to Netgalley, Retok Ross and Spark Press for this Audiobook (ARC).

Overall, it was ok. I really liked the cover of the book, it had an isolating creepy vibe. I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook narrator, she did an exceptional job of bringing the characters to life.

The story is about 6 teenagers and 1 dog (Champion). It’s told from the perspective of Sam, she has a tight relationship with her brother Stuart (who has significant physical limitations)and Sam babies him nonstop, which makes him crazy. Stuart’s condition goes from bad to worse which makes getting out of their snowy situation all the more difficult. Sam has a crush on her brother’s BFF Gavin. Those are the most memorable relationships in the story.

Everyone is in a pretty bad way by the end of the book.

I’ve seen this book compared to The Breakfast Club and I’d agree with that for the most part. I liked that we got to learn a bit about the different lives the characters led before being stranded together. They initially had lots of misconceptions about each other.

I liked the medical training references and when they talked about avalanche protocol. I felt like I learned lots of random survival facts.

The end of the book made me feel so anxious and claustrophobic. That was probably the most memorable scene for me and when a certain someone gets out of the car and dies (to remain nameless).

Everyone doesn’t survive in this survivalist story, so that part of the story was realistic. I think it was smart to make sure all of the characters didn’t make it.

I think there were definitely some missed opportunities for adding a little more action to the story. Overall it’s an ok YA read.

Received this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. It took me a little while to really get into this one, but I overall ended up enjoying it. The narrators voice for the audio book version was spot on and made me really feel connected to the characters. As far as being listed in the Thriller category, I didn't feel many "thrills". I am a big thriller reader so I kept wanting to feel that major thrill, and it just didn't happen for me.

3 Stars.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3. This book is pretty unrealistic but if you forget they’re teenagers, it works somewhat. The main character just was not an accurate portrait of a 14-year-old, nor was the fact that no one came looking for the kids.

This was a very interesting kind of winter thriller - stuck in a car even if it was a big car after a snow induced accident and left to their own devices six teenagers on their way to a class ski trip need to figure out how to survive and potentially get help or be doomed.
I liked the fact that it was a thriller where there was no bad guy - it was the environment and their own choices that were causing their issues but really mostly the environment left them with few good choices. It was also surprisingly seasonal with one character having brought Christmas ornaments for the ski cabin and getting them out Christmas Eve in the car.
It was a bit too dark for my specific taste but that’s just because I like things a little bit less bleak and I would have liked the epilogue too be a little longer …
Thank you to @netgalley and @sparkpress @blackstoneaudio for an advance to this thriller in exchange for an honest review - the book is already out !

I was on the edge of my seat with this book and I struggled to put it down. I wanted to know what happened to each character and hear their stories and their struggles. Although all on a trip together, the young adults have their differences, which alter the vibe of the group as a whole. I kept waiting to see what drama would happen next. The death was a bit mature for the young adult genre, but overall great book.