This was a so-so read, but I found the plot to be completely implausible and the characters to be incredibly annoying, so it was hard for me to really get into it. The narrator was also ok except for when she got all whiny for one particular character. I've Liked other books by this author, but this just wasn't for me.

<i><b>“The truth was, the past hadn’t made me a victim like everyone thought; I think it made me a monster.”</b></i>

So many twists, I can't count them all! I was excited to grab another opportunity to listen to a Kiersten Modglin audiobook and I wasn't sorry. KMod’s edge-of-your-seat thrillers never disappoint. After reading the first part of the synopsis, I couldn't pass this one up:

<i><b>“Five years ago, the residents of the Gerbera subdivision in the small town of Fallen Oaks were brutally murdered in their beds. The only survivors, now called The Fallen Oaks Five, were children—practically strangers at the time, forever connected by the weight of all they witnessed”</b></i>

I love captivating and thrilling first chapters and this one is a doozy! It's so suspenseful, it will take your breath away! You literally can't stop reading.

They are The Fallen Oaks Five and they are survivors. Physically, anyway. Their entire subdivision was slaughtered, except for these resilient five children that managed to escape. Leaving their families behind to face the monsters that came in the night.

Five years later and someone thinks it's their turn.

<i><b>”Two little daisies, ready to pluck.
We're coming for you, daisies, don't count on
your luck.”</b></i>

Sincere thanks to OrangeSky Audio for providing this audiobook through NetGalley. I am voluntarily leaving my honest opinion.

#theluckyones #kierstenmodglin #orangeskyvideo #netgalley #audiobookreview #InExchangeForReview #BookReviewer #justfinishedreading #bookstagrammer

This was a very quick audio read!
The Lucky Ones by Kiersten Modglin is a good, slow burn story!
Kiersten takes us on a suspenseful journey about a subdivision of families who were brutally murdered.
And the only survivors were the five kid's! Now grown and a killer who wants the job done right this time is back and on the hunt. To kill the five kids who survived.
The five survivors mist return to their old homes to discover some shocking truths.

First, I believe if I was reading the ebook and not the audio I would have enjoyed it so much better!
The story was totally engaging and entertaining.
But the narrator didn't do it for me.
Our characters were interesting and intriguing.
The writing is phenomenal. I love Modglin and her writing. She is one of my absolute favorites.
I enjoyed the story and the plot was dome amazingly well.
There’s twists and turns to keep you on your toes cause you will not see them coming and that ending well I definitely did not see that coming! It’s emotional and full of mystery and suspense.
Any Kiersten Modglin will devour this surprising thriller and love the audio version. I'm sad that this narrator just didn't do it for me! Because I was so looking forward to this one!
Now when this releases I will get the book and read.... And I'm betting this will be a higher star rating for me!

OrangeSky Audio,
Thank You so much for this audio ebook!
Truly thank you!

3.5 ish stars, maybe slightly more

I liked but didn’t love this one. I’ve read a couple others from this author, and while I generally appreciate her writing style, this one wasn’t my favourite of hers. I liked the protagonist, the plot was interesting (and was action-packed from the very beginning), and there was a decent twist at the end. I did enjoy the story and kind of flew through it. Overall, I would still recommend that lovers of suspense/mysteries/thrillers check out some of the many books from this writer!

The one thing that Kiersten Modglin is great at is creating unique, twisty thrillers. This one worked for the most part, but as with the book I just finished previous to this one, the last chapter felt totally unnecessary and it was just one "twist" too far. I felt like the book was complete and then everything gets confused again, and not in a good way.

The premise of this novel is amazing and what drew me in--one night five years previously an entire subdivision of people were murdered. The only ones who escaped were five of the children who ran into the woods. They are known as the Fallen Oaks Five, and this book is mostly told from the POV of survivor Ellie, who is caring for her younger sister Cassie. At the beginning the five each receive a letter saying that the killer is not done. They all gather together to go back to the town to see if they can figure out what is going on.

As is common with Modglin, there are twists on top of twists. Some of them surprised me, and others seemed a bit far fetched. Overall when things are solved the motivations for the killer(s) is pretty underwhelming and a stretch. I listened to this as an audiobook, which was very fast paced and kept me interested to listen to find out what was going to happen.

I went into this blind and never having read anything by the author before and I think that helped because this book has its ups and downs. It was relatively fast paced but it never got super deep. The characters were kinda meh but the storyline was intriguing. Unfortunately, I had figured out who the “villain” was as soon as they were introduced which left me hoping for more from the story than I actually got. That being said, it was worth listening to and while it started out strong, it kinda fell off and by the time it was done there were a fe far fetched plot holes that were never resolved. If you go into it not expecting too much, you won’t be disappointed.
Five teens were the only survivors of a mass killing in a suburban neighborhood. They were forced to see their family members be killed in front of their eyes and they all have different ways of coping with the trauma of it all. Almost 5 years later, they all get anonymous letters warning that they’ll soon be next. The police seemed to have dropped the case so they decide to get together and be stronger in numbers and do some investigation of their own. What they uncover leads to revealing information about their families that they never expected and forces them to try and figure out how to save themselves before it’s too late.
Thanks to the author and Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for my review.

This book starts so well, many deaths, survivors and everthing. But for me was a delusion, I could not connect with the MC and was really sad about everything. How everything started was a shock for me, when innocent children are involved. Anyway I liked the writing but was not enough for like this book more.

Thank you to Netgalley.com and OrangeSky audio for this audio opportunity.

I only feel lucky that this is over... it sounded interesting I figured it would be fairly quick so why not? One day I will in fact learn my lesson. This author is rather hit or miss mostly miss for me so I don’t even know why I keep trying but alas I did it again and once again it was a miss...

This time around we have five survivors of a massacre that killed their families... they were teenagers when it happened and barely escaped with their lives and 5 years later with the anniversary looming they all get threatening letters luring them together and back to the scene of the crime... And it’s about there where everything goes awry because how is it that in 5 years none of these people done anything kind of internet search on anything to do with what happened? They know absolutely nothing. And wouldn’t it be a big news story no matter where it happened if a whole neighborhood of people were just murdered? No sense there but ok.., it’s just the beginning of a lot of foolishness and then they decide to play detective and find out about an alleged curse on the land that their homes were built on and then hear a story from a woman living in the woods because yup you can totally automatically trust the word of a stranger. The detective they try to get help from does act rather suspiciously and their detective work basically consists of talking to 3 people. And really never ever employing the use of the internet at all.

And then the ending comes with a stupid “twist” and betrayal and it’s stupid and nonsense. And it’s all solved and wrapped up with a bow and it’s all rather stupid to be honest. Why did the massacre happen? Who was behind it? Why? I mean it’s there but it’s like rather boring and ridiculous and makes zero sense.

Not a good book and kind of a lack luster story with boring lifeless characters. The narration was fine though at least.

3.5 stars. A quick listen and entertaining enough. It is fast-paced and eventful, but comes up short in character depth. The ending was pretty predictable and some elements were a little far fetched (curses).

Thank you so much for my ALC!
I will share my review on my instagram blog-account @thrillers_and_unicorns on January 11, and I will share it with you on Netgalley, Amazon and Goodreads.

Best regards
Sandie

The writing style was so poor that I couldn't really get into this. I quickly set it aside; it just didn't feel plausible.

The narrator did a great job of conveying the emotion of the main character as the story unfolded. She also did a fantastic job of differentiating voices for each and every character with great consistency throughout the book so I would always know who was talking, even if it was not stated in the text who was speaking. The story itself was one that kept my interest from the first second to the last. This author is a must-read for me and the narrator is a must-listen.