TW: Language, anxiety, toxic relationships, violence, gory scenes, sexual child abuse, blood, animal death (off screen)

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:Lexi Peters, a law student at Red Falls University, has a traumatic secret-a secret that has left her terrified of open spaces. When her best friend, Rachael, abandons her on winter break, a desperate and emotionally fragile Lexi must figure out how to make the 443-mile trip to her parents' house on her own, or else risk her condition regressing. Mustering the courage to make the drive is the least of Lexi's troubles. Unbeknownst to her, she is heading straight into the eye of a storm. One of the worst on record. Lexi's psyche starts to unravel when her past comes back to haunt her. Familiar faces in a rusted truck are stalking her, and they're not the only ones. Through desolate canyons and flooded roads, Lexi will be pushed to the limits to manage her condition and escape from her shocking past. An intense, grueling game of life or death will leave her screaming in the middle of nowhere, fighting a mental breakdown.
Release Date: April 13th, 2022
Genre: Horror
Pages: 106
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
1. Enjoyed the authors writing style
2. Mention of Monk (I love that show)

What I Didn't Like:
1. Am I supposed to like Lexi, cuz I don't
2. Confusing scenes
3. Ending gives more questions than answers
4. Meet cute moment between Naomi and Nick
5. Insta-romance not needed

Overall Thoughts:
Right off the bat we start with Rachel canceling on Lexi. It's the oddest reason though because for some reason they just got engaged (maybe a few hours ago or the night before) and his parents are ALREADY flying in to start the wedding planning. That's record speed I tell you. Since when do college students went to be married this fast.

Honestly I'm trying to understand Lexi; she's scared to drive on highway(s) alone, she refuses not one but two opportunities to fly home (for free), she is scared her phone will die on a 400+ mile drive even rushing her mom off the phone but uses the phone to listen to music and for directions. She isn't even that far from her apartment that she could get a charger or buy one along the way. She's even stopping at a gas station outside of LA, so she could get one there.

An accident every 25 miles.

Lexi demstrating bystander syndrome by thinking about calling 911 but then putting the responsibly on the car behind her when she has zero idea if they even helping.

There were some parts where I felt confused by. Isn't the I-5 a major freeway so why did it read as though it was just a back road? There were so many accidents yet zero police on the road. The action scenes were described so confusing.

If Lexi's parents are so worried about her driving why call her so many times over and over. Seems like they are distracting her.

What... Lexi is being chased down on a road, almost killed, saw dead bodies, has anxiety so bad she passes out, climbed through mud and she sees an attractive man and she gets turned on and flirts. Wtf. The we find out the dude "Mr. Beast" was the guy she had issues with in traffic in San Bernardino some 160 miles ago. She of course doesn't think that's odd. Of all the gas stations...

There's a known killer on the road and Lexi calls the police to report it but the police don't make it a priority to talk to her about it. She's a witness that could give them a description. People are clearly able to get to the gas station since two people showed up so why are they not sending at least one person to talk to her. They finally send one cop but she's passed out and he doesn't try to walk her up to talk to her.

Right in the middle of the book we have switched into a meet cute romance. Like why was this even needed?

Plus Lexi is having panic attacks over the smallest things but she's face to face with a killer and her parents tell her he's murdered 10 people & she barely even cares. She's just pretty much like "yeah, people suck like that."

So many questions.... How did Rachel call if she was tied up? How did Naomi get Rachel and her boyfriend in the closet and tied up?

Lexi took Nick's brothers truck but I guess they don't know who she is even though her rental car isn't that far from the mini-mart and she dropped her purse near by. Should be easy to know that Lexi is tied to both things - caller & murderer.

What happened to the people that were showing up to drive Lexi home?

Final Thoughts:
I loved the writing style which is why this book got 3 stars. When I started the story I was at 5 stars despite Lexi being so unbearable. I loved the idea of the story but feel as though it started to lose it's purpose.

Like I said parts became confusing and didn't know where or why we were going there. A lot of parts seemed like the author didn't know how to transition into different scenes so Lexi would just pass out and appear at some convenient and safe location.

The killer has so many opportunities to actually kill her since he doesn't seem to care about people seeing him. He doesn't approach the mini mart instead waiting hours and hours and after the police have shown up before going for her.

It's never explained why he was so obsessed with killing Lexi to the point of chasing her down and risking his own life countless times.

We end on the note that Rachel was tied up with her fiancé in a closet where he was stabbed to the point of near death and her dead. Questions surround why or how this is even possible. Lexi asks herself if Walter did that too and how. Clearly Lexi is the one that did but I guess the only context that she was mad at them for canceling on her.

IG | Blog

Thanks to Netgalley and the author for this gifted ebook copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Absolutely yes! I really enjoyed reading this novel. The characters were fun, it held my interest, and provided an escape from reality. I would definitely recommend!

This was a quick read. I didn't really like Lexie as a character and as a result that lessened my enjoyment of the story. The action does keep the story moving, but I didn't feel like anything particularly grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go in this story. I'm grateful for the opportunity to read this book and would absolutely read more by this author.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review*

What a great little book - I got caught up in the action! I can see this being made into an excellent horror movie!!

I was left with too many questions and not in a "think these over in the context of the themes of the book," but in the "basic questions I'd like answers to so I can understand the narrative" type of way. If there was a serial killer on the I-5, where were the cops? Why wasn't the road shut down? Why, when she called the police, did they take so long to get there when a killer on a rampage would be priority #1? Why didn't they speak directly to her, the only eye-witness? Why didn't they send an ambulance and have her checked out after being in a car accident? Where was the backup when the first cop arrived? What was with her losses of memory? When did her friends back at college die if Rachael was calling her the whole time? What were the women in the other car going to tell her?

It was hard to get a sense of time period too, because everyone has a car charger present day, especially during a road trip. You can buy them at a gas station.

I also found Lexi hard to sympathize with. Our introduction to her was her being mean to her friend who just got engaged? And then blaming her the entire time for what happened? She panicked over tiny things but had little reaction to encountering a serial killer, taking the time in the aftermath to...flirt with a stranger? Her voice, too, was quite strange for a college girl, even if it is law school. She thought and talked like someone out of a past era.

I found the ending quite abrupt and without the context clues to put together what happened, it felt unsatisfying. I don't mind when narratives want readers to work to put clues together, but this felt like it had no backing, no context, nothing.

I suppose in general, I'm not a fan of stories in which everyone is terrible and there is no hope, so I found this difficult to finish.

OK this was an unsuspecting story, the narrator was not reliable so I was taking the story with a grain of salt, at around 70% of the story I was suspecting the twist, but I didn’t realize that it would be completely as it was….

Yeah it is a great horror story, and I recommend it for people that like stories where they cant fully trust the narrator that is telling the story.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.

I tried but I couldn't really get too into this story. I couldn't really find anything to grab on to.
I feel like the writing is a little choppy, and really took me out of the moment.
And at some point I just realized I wasn't really interested in it.
The cover is cool
But overall, kinda meh

3.5 rounded up
A fast paced horror story. Read it in 1 sitting. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Lexie is a young college student trying to heal from a traumatic assault she suffered at the age of eight. Terrified of the open spaces in the long drive to see her parents she is relying on her good friend to come along. When that falls through at the last minute Lexie is furious and terrified, but determined to drive despite offers of plane tickets. Lexie…..you should’ve flown.
What could possibly go wrong in a 6 hour drive? We have our sudden torrential storm, pileups and delays, a guy driving “the Beast” flips her off, two scruffy scary mean seem to lay in wait, a car drives backwards on the interstate at high speed, cars get rammed,….is this real or is Lexie’s paranoia kicking in? Someone seems to be after her. Why? What the …… is that a freakin’ clown now?
Finally, Lexie teams up with a few strangers, including Candace, a little girl. to try to get through the storm and to survive what or who has chased Lexie to that very spot.
This is a page turner of a book. The story goes from idle and revs to overdrive right from the start. Lexi’s survival instincts are on high alert from the start, she strategizes a stop for fast food to find “safe” families to tag along with on the route, freaks out a couple of guys toying with her, and expertly dodges in and out of traffic to lose anyone she deems as a threat, any ugly faced predators. By the end. We hope that Lexie is on the way to healing. It’s never that simple is it? Thanks to #netgalley this ARC. #UglyFaces was a wild ride.

Lexi is driving home to visit family despite her initial travel plans going awry & a debilitating phobia.

To make matters worse, she soon learns there is something evil on her route, that has taken the lives of at least 5 others.

I really disliked Lexi, she was annoying, and continuously made choices that endangered herself and others. My loathing for her really put a damper on the overall story for me.

Thank you to NetGalley & Brian Lupo for a copy.

A quick, easy short story that I read in one sitting. It was well written with a compelling storyline and well developed characters.

Chilling psychological/horror novella

Lexi is getting ready to drive home on break from Red Falls University in southern California to San Francisco. Her best friend has promised to ride with her and cancels at the last minute. Lexi, who suffers from a crippling anxiety disorder that will make it almost impossible for her to drive alone decides to do just that.

But from the start of the trip circumstances pile up against Lexi, from a case of road rage to a terrible storm to terribly frightening happenings on the trip that threaten her grasp on reality.

I highly recommend this novella which has a few great twists.

I received this novella from BooksGoSocial through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

*2.5

The story follows along Lexi, while on her 8 hour drive back home for winter break, she is unfortunately forced to make the trip alone and is forced to face her trauma. Lexi is being pushed to her limits and has to face her past. I thought that the storyline have potential, but I found myself wanting more!! On multiple occasions I felt left out because I just felt like I was missing out on information.

Many thanks to Brian Lupo and BooksGoSocial for the advance copy 💚

Lexi Peters, a law student at Red Falls University, has a traumatic secret-a secret that has left her terrified of open spaces. When her best friend, Rachael, abandons her on winter break, a desperate and emotionally fragile Lexi must figure out how to make the 443-mile trip to her parents’ house on her own, or else risk her condition regressing.
Mustering the courage to make the drive is the least of Lexi’s troubles. Unbeknownst to her, she is heading straight into the eye of a storm. One of the worst on record. Lexi’s psyche starts to unravel when her past comes back to haunt her. Familiar faces in a rusted truck are stalking her, and they’re not the only ones. Through desolate canyons and flooded roads, Lexi will be pushed to the limits to manage her condition and escape from her shocking past. An intense, grueling game of life or death will leave her screaming in the middle of nowhere, fighting a mental breakdown.

What a gripping read this was.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

Lexi wants to drive home from Soko so she can conquer her fear. She has overwhelming anxiety due to a sexual assault she went through in the third grade. When her friend Rachel cancels going with her, because her boyfriend Chad has proposed Lexi is livid! She ask another friend but that to falls through and her only other option is Nick not only is she fearful of what he might do on the way up north she also doesn’t want to lead him on so she goes it alone. Her plan is to pick a nice family and follow them as far as you can.… Later on when her plan is in place and she is following a mom and daughter a black muscle car decides to re-Kavic in a thunderstorm. He runs the mom and daughter off the road and is attempting to do the same with Lexi, but she shocks him and rants his car instead distance her reeling into farmland and renders her car unworkable. Oh yes and let me not forget to mention the driver was dressed like a clown and had a dead man in the passenger seat. After Lexi reaches the safety of the gas station she meets Nick Hanson die and an old Indian man who is a shift manager. She feels kind a safe but her anxiety tells her otherwise it’s for the best because her nightmare is far from over. I just want to say I didn’t like Lexi at all. She was selfish and entitled and rude. Instead of wishing her friend well on her engagement she blames her for everything that goes wrong she talk to her mom like crap and when the Indian man tries to reassure her telling her he has prayed and they will be fine she tells him the world is shit and he is delusional. The good thing is you don’t have to like Lexi to like this story. It is a new kind of demented with a new kind of victim I found it entertaining and read it all in one setting. I think Alexis is just a symptom of the worlds bigger issues but I thought Nick and the made of American babbin with so nice. There a twist in this book but some of them are just figment of her imagination. She thinks everyone’s out to rape her due to the assault she suffered in the third grade you will either roll your eyes or see the great addition today its to the story. This is an a long novel and I highly recommend it. If you are into horror read this book you may not like Lexi but Treshawn it is so so worth it! Please forgive any errors as I am blind and dictate my review I was given this book by net Galli and the author but all opinions are definitely my own.

This book really had such a cool and unique plot idea and I really had high hopes for it. I think that it could be great with a bit of editing.

For example, the female perspective seemed to be based off of stereotypes like the instant hysterics over small things, the overly dramatic reactions, and even flirtation when it's not in any way called for. Like those things just made it very hard for me to relate to her or to empathize with what she was going through.

I think the story could have used some more fleshing out. I think certain incidents came and went too fast so I didn't get a good enough amount of time to process them.

Overall, I think it has a lot of potential and had some really creepy parts that I enjoyed. It's entertaining and fast paced but it could use a bit of editing to really enhance the experience.

Lexi's journey to her parents home turns terrifying when she runs into a man dressed as a clown, who is thought to have killed at least 5 people. From this point her journey only gets worse, and Lexi will need to fight to survive.

This is a pretty good horror, it has some really creepy parts. It's very quick, around 200 pages and does start quickly.

I may not have enjoyed the book as much as usual due to how many horrors and extreme horrors I've read. I think this could definitely be a good one for those starting to get into the horror genre, wanting to start with not as extreme.

Definitely worth a read!

Excellent fast paced psychological horror thriller. What drew me to this title was the cross country, wild roads aspect. A young girl with serious social anxiety disorder and a horrific past is forced to travel by her lonesome back to her family in a rental car after being ditched by her travelling companion. As the book progresses Lexi’s mental health deteriorates further and further until she ends up in the web of a serial killer. The second half of the book proceeds like a home invasion set in a gas station / convenience market. Some nice twists and turns along the way, especially the ending. I knew something was going to come up, but not that, so well done. Not much wrong here, it’s a very good novella and would definitely recommend a read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ebook for review.

3.5⭐️ rounded up

This was an interesting read- the beginning started slow and with a tone that made me feel like this would be a dnf. There were masses of description which, although well-written, gave the impression of trying to show off to an examiner all the vocab you know rather than getting on with the story too.
However, this didn’t go on throughout the whole book.
After the first few chapters, a balance was definitely made between description and plot.
It was a little tedious getting through the start but I am g l a d I did- the second half of the book is where the action started and wow-
I could not put it down when the action started- it was interesting and fast paced with just enough emotions to become attached to the characters before tragedy catches up with them.
The ending was amazing albeit confusing- A very traditional psychological-horror-esque ending. I was left confused and shocked with a whole load of unanswered questions that I loved and hated having at the same time.
Would recommend this for a quick, eventually explosive read but you will have to grind through the start before getting to the good bits. Still a great plot and an ending I l o v e d. 👏👏

2.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for granting me early access to this title in exchange for my honest review.

Lexi is planning a 443 mile trip to her parents house with her friend Rachel during winter break. A couple of hours before they’re supposed to leave Rachel cancels on her because her boyfriend proposes to her, now Lexi has to go alone. Something she does not want to do, A traumatic event that happened to her when she was just a kid left her paralyzed with the fear of being alone in open spaces. Determined to not let her fear hold her back anymore she sets out on her journey alone. She plans to follow another car on the interstate to calm her nerves, unfortunately for Lexi the other person on the road has some haunting plans of their own.

The cover for this book instantly drew me in as well as the synopsis, I love a good road trip horror story!
This book is super short and an easy read, but it fell super flat for me. I disliked Lexi so much, I get that she had anxiety about driving alone but a lot of the choices she made were so ridiculous. Also some of the come back lines were so cheesy I couldn’t stop myself from cringing. It was like in horror movies where it’s going great and there’s the ultimate show down between the villain and the hero, but then the hero says something so stupid you’re just sitting there with a dumbfounded look on your face. There’s also so many questions you’re left with unanswered, especially the ending. This could’ve been so good if things were better explained.