2.5 stars.

I was so excited to read this book, but there were a few things about it that I found upsetting, the main one being how useless the adults were. In many YA thriller novels, one of the frequent complaints that readers have is the fact that the main characters of the book often don't bother to tell any adults (or the police) about what's happening to them. In this book, the main character DOES try to tell the adults, but is gaslighted, disbelieved, and lied to. It got to the point where it became almost unbearable for me to keep reading whenever a conversation with an adult was going on.

One thing this book does a good job of is keeping your attention throughout and making it hard to put down. Unfortunately, I felt like there were too many unanswered questions at the end. I would suggest this book to younger YA audiences (or maybe even older MG) who are interested in getting introduced into the thriller/mystery genre.

This was a fun read.

I really liked our main character and was so worried for her!

The book is action-packed and I loved the cruise ship location.

While some of it was a little beyond belief, I still was on edge and rushing to finish this - I just needed to know how it all would end!

Would happily read the author again!

This was a fun, fast paced YA suspense/mystery novel! The short chapters kept me turning the page, and I was surprised by the ending. This book would be a perfect beach read! I loved it. I received a free copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

This book feels more like its for an audience of younger teens. Especially those who want to start out with a mystery book. It was an okay read!

This fast-paced thriller about a girl who investigates her friend's disappearance during their cruise ship vacation is Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10 for teens—and it’s a paperback original!

I just love a thriller on a cruise ship! I also enjoyed the surly teenager Izzy who has been asked to limit her social media. It made for an unputdownable and fast-paced read.I loved it!

Girl Overboard is the story of teenagers going on a cruise with their families. Izzy meets Jade as they are try to find something interesting to do on the ship. I would consider this a YA book because the main characters are under 16 but the content could easily be transferred to an adult novel.
This book was a very quick read for me, only a few hours. It kept me entertained and I loved the surprise ending. Part of the story is Izzy wanting to stay in contact with her boyfriends and friends without cell phone service. I didn't think this part of the story added to the main story but it didn't distract from it either. Overall it was a quick easy read.

I think I would’ve enjoyed it way more if I read this when I was younger. Still, am glad to have read this so I can recommend it to younger readers. Interesting plot, setting and characters, a fun read.

I wanted to root for Izzy the entire book but I just wasn’t sure if I could trust my gut and allow myself to root for her completely! Jade was suspicious but what if I was wrong?! This book kept me guessing the entire time. It was a quick read that I couldn’t put down. The cruise ship setting only added to the mystery and fast pace of this who done it thriller.

I didn’t realize this is a YA book but I enjoyed it despite being in my 40s! Izzy is on a cruise with her parents and baby brother and isn’t too thrilled about it. Luckily she is befriended by a cool girl her age. But Jade has lots of secrets and some issues and quickly goes missing. All adults seem happy to accept Jade fell overboard and is gone forever. But Izzy isn’t convinced.

Girl Overboard by Sandra Block is a fantastic young adult coming of age mystery.

A great story about navigating high school, friends and relationships as well as studies.

Fast read for those that love ‘young’ adult and mystery. Navigating high school is brutal…friends, relationships, academics….so much harder now than when I was in school thanks in part to social media and cell phones. Izzy is on a cruise with her parents and toddler brother (torture for a teen) leaving behind a new boyfriend and being faced with a dilemma. She meets Jade, a cool girl her age and a few others so she is thinking maybe it won’t be THAT bad. Jade has secrets and is wise beyond her years and draws Izzy innocently enough into a dark side. Far fetched but a fun beach read for the teen set.

Thanks to Ms. Block, Random House Children’s and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.

This book is how you make thriller readers! It is YA so clearly written teens, and Block did an excellent job of introducing the thriller genre to them. The characters behaved like typical teens. The story follows Izzy and Jade who goes missing while they are on a cruise. Izzy sets out to discover the truth of what happened to Jade. The story will grab you as you try to figure out what happened.

Another could not get interested in the characters enough to care which one of them was going overboard.

This book was extremely predictable. No sense of mystery what so ever. Main character is very naive. Family doesn't believe her whatsoever and then mother comes out of the left field and saves her.

i love a good YA thriller & this one hasn’t disappointed!! I’m about halfway through and am loving it!!! A good mystery/scary ghost story always makes me excited to read!! I love the way it’s written and am loving the characters!!

Girl Overboard is a quick and easy read, perfect for the beach or a boat ride of your own (just, uh, keep an eye on all your friends). This one is great for teens venturing into the thriller genre, or even grown-ups who want to stay out of the darkness that often comes with adult reads.

Block does an excellent job of capturing the teen voice. Jade has some real-world issues she’s dealing with, and yet as seriously as she contemplates her problems, she’s also flippant and rash, just as you’d expect a teenage girl to be. While Izzy might be more level-headed, she’s also got problems of her own. These aren’t as heavy as Jade’s, but they’re no less life-or-death in Izzy’s eyes. I loved that the biggest problem in her life was her rocky relationship with her boyfriend and the fact that he asked her to do something she knows she shouldn’t.

Nearly everyone is a suspect, and Block does a fantastic job of making you believe each and every person Izzy questions could have done the deed. They all have motivation and opportunity, and those are the kinds of mysteries my brain loves trying to solve. Which one is the *most* likely to have done it, and can our hero sniff them out before it’s too late?

Block definitel has an eye for detail, and I felt like I was in a video game, collecting important details and adding them to my memory bank for later. By the end of the book, you realize every moment, every item, every off-hand comment had a purpose. Block was sure to connect the dots in one way or another, and that made for quite the satisfying ending.

This is one book that is aimed at young readers and as an older reader I found it a little hard to relate to. I found the characters to be a little bit selfish and whiney. I did like the concept of the story however and the plot was nothing like I've ever read before. The book is all about our main character Izzy as she takes a cruise with her family. Shortly into the cruise she meets a girl named Jade and the two girls form a fast friendship. The two girls are very different but become as close as thieves. It isn't long before Jade mysteriously disappears and it is all up to Izzy to figure out what really happened to her friend and to get her back before the same thing happens to her. I had lots of expectations to this book and while parts of it were very different than what I was expecting it was nice to see what could be a very serious subject however made a little bit softer because it was written for teenagers. This is the kind of book that makes thriller readers at young ages. I'm very glad I got the chance to check out this book. The only thing I didn't like was the ending. I felt that it was rushed and almost like a bandaid fix. Overall it had a few quirks but a strong read that I'm very glad I got to enjoy.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Girl Overboard

Author: Sandra Block

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4.5/5

Diversity: Queer side character

Recommended For...: young adult readers, thriller, mystery, cruise ship, travel

Publication Date: May 3, 2022

Genre: YA Thriller Mystery

Age Relevance: 16+ (suicide, underage alcohol consumption, language, sexting, drug use, poisoning, kidnapping, rape)

Explanation of Above: Suicide is mentioned as a possibility a few times in the book. There is alcohol consumption by minors mentioned, not shown in the book. There is some slight sexting shown in the book and drug use is mentioned by adults. There is a poisoning scene shown and kidnapping is also shown. Rape is also mentioned.

Publisher: Underlined

Pages: 288

Synopsis: Izzy is reaching peak boredom on a cruise with her parents until she meets daring new friend Jade, with whom Izzy can barely keep up. But a shock wave runs through the cruise ship when Jade goes missing in the middle of the night, leaving behind a cryptic note.

Izzy digs deeper into Jade’s disappearance, but someone doesn’t want to find the truth. And if she’s not careful, Izzy might not get off this ship alive . . .

Review: For the most part I thought the book was really good. I liked the mystery aspect of the book and I thought it was a well thought-out plot with a lot of good twists. The book had a great moment that showed the incompetence of cops, showing that a well known trope is not factual at all which is very important for teens to learn nowadays. I also liked how the book didn’t have the typical romance aspect and it really focused on the tight friendship the girls develop with each other in the span of a couple of days, also I love the girl helping girl message behind the book. The book had a great premise and the story kept me hooked until the end. The book had great character development and world building as well.

However, the most random thing of the book is what keeps me from making this a 5/5. I thought it was so strange that the book had so many days at sea. Why are there so many days at sea in this book for it to be set in the Caribbean on a cruise ship? Like… I feel like I missed something but at the same time I don’t. There were only 2 days at port… for a cruise ship… in the Caribbean. I felt like the real mystery of this book is why the cruise ship captain keeps sailing around in what appears to be circles. Maybe that was a hint as to the twist at the end but it was very weird choice and makes me think that the book wasn’t as well developed as I thought. I also felt the book was super fast paced and while it was a great read, I thought it could have been slowed down for a bit.

Verdict: It’s great!

Izzy and her family are aboard a cruise ship. She is a bit of an outcast. She meets some people close to her age Jade and Caleb. Jade is not the best influence on Izzy, but makes her vacation exciting.

Caleb tells them a tale about a curse which involves people dying on the cruise ship every other year. Supposedly people jump of the ship of their own free will. Sirens a dystopia creature is calling these people into the ocean.

Suddenly Jade comes up missing, and the investigators think she jumped. Izzy does not believe this because she knows Jade has secrets that could have gotten her killed. Izzy needs to be careful as she does her own investigation before she turns up dead.

Thank you @netgalley, @randomhouse, and @sandrablockauthor for this advanced book. This book is available now! #bookstagram, #stamperlady50, #bookreview, #booksconnectus, #netgalley, #randomhouse, #sandrablockauthor

Wow! I haven’t read a good suspense book in awhile and Girl Overboard had me thinking about revisiting this genre. I know I’m really into a book when I look up and realize I’m halfway done in one sitting. I was sucked in and fully invested in finding out what happens. Drama Drama, such good drama!
Izzy isn’t jazzed to be going on a cruise with her parents and little brother especially when she’s leaving behind her boyfriend. Luckily the first day she meets Jade who is the same age, but much cooler and drop dead gorgeous. Izzy can’t believe Jade would want to be friends with her nerdy self, but there’s not many teens on the cruise her age other then two other boys. The foursome hang out around the boat together and Jane tries to get Izzy to loosen up. A few mini bar shots, some pills, Izzy is both scared and excited!
All the fun comes to an end when Jade goes missing. Izzy knows something isn’t right and no one seems to care but her. The authorities think Jade jumped off the boat in some crazy scheme to kill herself, but Izzy knows Jade would never do that. With the authorities looking in her direction Izzy must be very careful to stay under the radar, because she has no idea who she can trust.
This book will have you doing your own investigation on all the clues the author drops throughout the book. So good!