Short and Sweet Review
Jade recently got dumped by her boyfriend who just so happened to leave her for her ex best friend, Lainey. So now Jade is ready to embark on a campus on board cruise visiting 11 countries in 4 months. What Jade wasn’t expecting was to see that Lainey and Silas have also come along. Jade becomes obsessed with trying to figure out why those two basically did her dirty and soon enough someone on board gets murdered and Jade and her crush Felix try to solve the mystery before one of them is next.
This was a good mystery I wasn’t sure what was going on until the end and then it just all made sense. I will say Jade is not my favorite character, she was too impulsive and just made bad decisions. I will say seeing Jade constantly obsess over Silas and Jade was exhausting. Jade used to date Silas and be friends with Lainey so when she sees that their also on this trip she tries to talk to them and even when they try to avoid her she still doesn’t get it. There was a bit of a romance between Jade and Felix, mainly because Jade was trying to use Felix to make Silas jealous but I guess somewhere in there they ended up liking each other. The first murder doesn’t happen until maybe 100-150 pages in but that’s when things start to get interesting. There’s a boat full of people and Jade is mainly hanging out with the college kids and somehow most of them have ties back to Lainey whether they know it or not. Jade looks guilty mainly because she doesn’t know how to let things go so she looks like a vengeful manic to some of the other people on the boat. I will say the first murder really surprised me but the other two kind of seemed unnecessary.
I liked that the mystery took place on a cruise ship, because there’s really no place for the suspect to run. There were some twists which were interesting, the ending was a little lackluster. I will say overall this was a good mystery but some things could have been better especially our main character Jade.

From the second I picked up this book, I couldn’t put it down. The premise was simple, but my brain was working overtime to connect all the dots and find out who did it. I found myself going back and forth between all of the characters trying to figure out who was lying, and why the breakup happened, and was still shocked by the outcome. The characters were so well-developed, the story was interesting, and the ending wrapped up so nicely that I couldn't help but continue thinking about the book for hours after I finished it.

I received this ARC for my honest opinion and review from @netgalley
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Wow. I was not able to put down this book and whenever I had to, it was all I thought about. First a little bit about Lying in the Deep by @dianaurban

The synopsis reads: "After being jilted by her ex-boyfriend and best friend, Jade couldn't be more ready to embark on the adventure of a lifetime—11 countries in 4 months, all from the luxurious Campus on Board ship—and to wedge an entire globe between her and the people who broke her heart. But when Jade discovers the backstabbing couple are also setting sail, her obsession with them grows and festers, leading to a shocking murder. And as their friends begin to drop like flies, Jade and her new crush must race to clear her name and find the killer they’re trapped at sea with….before anyone else winds up in body bags."

The character and story were both majorly compelling and I really enjoyed Jade as a character. I can honestly say I never saw each twist coming. And oh boy that ending!!

If you love a good whodunit, locked-room mysteries with a twist at every turn, then you will love this book. On May 2, everyone should be rushing to buy this one. Definitely a new favorite of mine.

4.5 ⭐️

Jade Miller has looked forward to a semester abroad aboard a cruise ship. When she spots he rex-best friend Laney and ex-boyfriend Silas, her plans of enjoying this experience has gone to trash. Until she meets the brooding and handsome Felix, who she convinces to fake date her to make Silas jealous. While developing real feelings for Felix but trying to get answers from Silas, students start dying. And most importantly, who killed Laney?

What a fun murder mystery PLL-esque read! I enjoyed it - there were a bunch of characters who all played a role and somehow were all connected when the big reveal happened. Yes there was gaslighting and manipulative schemes, drugs and alcohol, some pretty messed up stuff, but it all balanced with the fake dating slash love triangle-y romance. Loved that it was first POV so I knew for sure Jade wasn’t the murderer. I definitely could see this as a movie or show!

My thanks and love for Netgalley and the publisher for this copy of eARC 🫶🏻.

Love the chase, love the thrill. Definitely kept me on my toes the entire time!! And it was fun trying to piece the puzzle alongside Jade. Some guesses came true, others totally bewildering. Such fast paced plot, and a huge page turner. I'm glad I got the chance to read this 🤍.

Jade was really looking forward to her semester at sea. With her boyfriend Silas leaving her for her best friend Lainey she really needed to get away. Oh, just one problem: her ex-boyfriend and ex-BFF are also doing the same semester at sea. Right from the start the tension is high as Lainey makes it clear she wants Jade to stay away from her and Silas. When a giant rock almost hits Lainey while they are out on their first excursion in England, Jade of course comes under suspicion, but this is only the start of things to come. The ship setting and that opening near miss with the rock instantly made me think of Death on the Nile, (which I have no doubt may have served as inspiration for the story) and while the two stories are different I still feel it’s an apt comparison as they are both ‘locked room’ mysteries/thrillers set on a ship with interesting characters (suspects) and a number of twists with a solid ending. If I have any complaints it would be that there were times, mostly just early on, where I felt Jade’s anxiety/irritation seemed to little bit too much, but hey since I’ve never been in her situation maybe I’m wrong, lol. Overall I enjoyed it and think it would make a cool Netflix/Prime movie/miniseries. Thanks so much to PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, Razorbill and NetGalley for the chance to read an eARC of Lying in the Deep.

Lying in the Deep is a gripping YA thriller that takes place on a "semester at sea" experience and follows Jade, as she attempts to overcome her unexpected breakup with her "love-of-her-life" and the ultimate betrayal by her best friend. Unfortunately, her hopes of putting a world between her and them is short-lived as the two are also partaking on this adventure. While attempting to make new friends, Jade is struggling with balancing classes, overcoming anger issues, and convincing her classmates that she's not a stalker or violent person. This is all before a shocking murder occurs and everyone is suspecting everyone else.

Lying in the Deep is fast-paced, and the characters are well-written (in the sense that they are young, naive, immature, insecure college students). The mystery was intriguing and I was definitely kept guessing. While I predicted a few of the reveals, I was still pleasantly surprised by some. I'll be recommending Lying in the Deep to anyone looking for an exciting, fast-paced YA thriller (it's a great beach read)!

After her best friend steals her boyfriend, Jade is more than ready to set sail on the Campus on Board ship where she’ll be studying and traveling for four months. However, when her backstabbing friend and ex show up, things take a turn for the worse as students start dropping like flies.

LYING IN THE DEEP by Diana Urban is a twisty, locked-room, destination thriller with a wide cast of characters.

I find it hard to review this one because I really enjoyed the first quarter of this book - it had everything I love in a YA thriller, and was just an overall fun time!

But things took a nosedive starting with the way the characters behaved and were portrayed. They’re meant to be college-aged, but are extremely immature and naive, which both annoyed me and made me question a million of their actions.

On that point, I love when characters go all armchair detective on me, but our main girl, Jade, seemed to go a little over the top and had me scratching my head at where any of her sense of logic was coming from.

The twist was fun, until it also felt a bit outlandish and forced…

I’m definitely an outlier here, but if you pick this one up, prepare for a wild ride either way.

Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin, and Razorbill for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Publication Date: May 2

3.5/5 stars

Jade is a college student boarding a semester at sea (Campus On Board/CoB). She’s excited to see the world and get some time away, until she sees her ex-best friend and ex-boyfriend also boarding the ship.

The first half of this book and the second half feel like completely different stories, held together by the same annoying main character. Her “oops, sorry, didn’t mean to, promise to go the therapy” after the incident in the library was ridiculous. The first half is incredibly whiny and I barely got through it. Obviously I knew what was coming from the description and the prologue, but it was hard to get through.

Things started picking up in the second half and everyone was a suspect of something. Once I got to that point I read it in one sitting because it was captivating (albeit not the most believable). It was just brutal getting there.

Also, everyone sounds like high school students. I know is classified as YA, but they sounded like 16 year olds, not 20ish year olds who had been in college for a bit already.

I will say the ending was interesting, although I think that an epilogue could have worked here to wrap up one final loose end.

Big thanks to Diana Urban, Penguin Group and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

3.5⭐️s

Plot: 4/5
Writing: 3/5
Ending: 4/5

Basic Plot: girl goes on college experience on a cruise ship, runs into her ex-bff and ex-bf who got together and ghosted her, then ex-bff is no where to be found but blood is covering her room, girl is suspect

My Thoughts:

Okay so to begin with the MC, Jade, is VERY ANNOYING. We get it girl, your ex-bf hooked up with your BFF and they both block you - I would be upset too. But to start the book out with ways you would murder her is a bit much. I felt like this was more of a high-school aged girl and kept forgetting that no, Jade was in fact in college. Not saying that college girl drama is much better but to obsess over it like this felt like a high-schooler thing.

But once we got into the mystery itself, I was hooked. Missing girl and room covered in blood, ex-bf suddenly wants to talk to Jade and there's a new romance element involved too. Very dramatic and very bingeable. The plot kept me entertained throughout the story because of course, we want to know what happened to Lainey, and then suddenly others are getting murdered too?! Plus they are all stuck on a ship, hours from the nearest city. It was all very complicated and a bit over the top - but hey it's a mystery/thriller, we will let it slide.

Ending, while did take a bit of a turn, worked out for me overall. I was able to look back at the story and see where everything fit into place and I did miss the clues that would lead you to the answer. I did guess part of the plot but overall how it was done surprised me. THEN she throws that final TWIST in the end, and I was like Diana I love it.

Overall, this was a 3.5 star read for me. While I do highly recommend it for fans of teen murder mysteries - there were some things that bothered me about the writing. It just felt a little juvenile, even for a YA book. Then there were points where it just felt like the same thing was happening over and over and I was ready to be done. It definitely could have been a little shorter.




SPOILERS BELOW - read at your own risk!











- First off, Jade - you are over here pining for Silas and taking his side for EVERYTHING when HE was the one who supposedly DUMPED your ass over text. Why are you pissed at Lainey? Like I get it - but he was apart of it too. Why does every story like this end up with the girl never blaming the guy and blaming the girl? This was part of the reason why I still claim it felt like a high-school story not a college one.

- THEN Jade you are pining for Silas and feeling bad for fake dating Felix - but suddenly a switch flips and you are IN LOVE with him??!! This just didn't make sense to me at all and their little love proclamations at the end had me straight up EYE ROLLING. Again, high school level drama, not college.

- Don't even get me started on the METH angle.... I felt at this point it was like the author has never been around drugs at all but was like you know what... let's have them do METH. I don't know much about meth either but I feel like there are some stepping stones before that, that could of easily seemed just as bad that these kids were doing. Meth just seemed a little over the top. Why not just weed, or maybe some cocaine? Meth doesn't seem like something some college kids are just going to get into - but honestly, who knows. Weed or cocaine or even Adderall seems like drug of choice for most college people these days.

- Felix honestly seemed suspect the entire book and I just knew he had something to do with it. He was too adamant that Silas did it and wasn't able to look at anyone else. From the ending, I get the angle, but still it was too obvious. Silas as well was too suspicious. All of a sudden Lainey disappears and he's just ready to talk to Jade and act like nothing happened.

- I LOVED the ending where Lainey's dad (whoops forgot his name already - Damion or something) shows up and just shoots Silas. That came so far out of left field and I liked that it surprised me as much as it did. I still wanted a little more wrap-up in the end. Maybe an epilogue that let us know where Lainey was at, what happened with the pharmaceutical company and if indeed Jade and Felix ever reconnected.

Once the beginning part was over this book was a past paced who dun it. The ending had some great twists! The drama in the beginning was just a hit too dramatic for me but after that was over it kicked into gear. I think I was actually surprised by the ending which I thought I had all figured out.

Are you looking for a fast, engaging read you will not want to put down?! Enjoy a good YA thriller - look no further!

Main character Jade is ready to move on with her life after getting her heart broken into a million pieces. She is heading out on an adventure of a lifetime - 11 countries while studying abroad on a "Campus on Broad" ship (CoB as referenced in the book). When she sees that her ex-boyfriend and her ex-best friend who are now a couple show up to set sail, things take a crazy turn - we all hate that encounter done we?!. A shocking murder takes place on the ship, and their group of friends try to figure out who did it, more people begin to die. Jade is a primary suspect, and she tries to clear her name while trying to figure out who is the murderer!

There were so many twists in this book, I lost count. This was such a "Knives Out" vibe, that I had no idea where it was going. Even up until the very last few pages, I was gasping out loud at some things!

I loved the character development throughout this book too! Every single character mentioned had their own story and by the end, I feel like everyone had wrapped nicely and I had no questions left! There was a lot of drama to keep up with, but Diana Urban wrote it nicely so there wasn't nothing left at the end and it wasn't rushed.Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, Razorbill & NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating:3.5/5
I love mystery novels that have a locked room, almost claustrophobic feel to them, but I have mixed feelings about this one. It dragged on for almost 40%. The MC's internal feelings and self-pity were boring, but it picked up pace after the 40-45% mark. 'Lying in the deep' is full of unforeseen twists and turns.. I thought I'd figured out the plot twist, but I totally hadn't. The ending saved it for me. I'd recommend this book to those who enjoy a good whodunnit YA mystery that'll leave you guessing until the end!

This one was a very mixed bag for me.
What I liked:
* college kids studying on a cruise ship for a semester abroad (I've heard about this and it sounds so amazing)
* I loved visiting foreign places through the book
* the first half was stronger than the second half for me
* the guessing kept me very interested for awhile

What I struggled with:
* Jade's internal dialogue was very repetitive at times, and the dialogue among the main characters was cheesy at times
* the choices of the characters were just so........stupid and immature at times. Yes this features college students who make poor choices often, but this just stretched into outlandish territory more than I could buy into
* I could believe the journey to determining who the killer was, but what happens in the end with all of the characters was just too far-fetched.

When I read the premise of Lying in the Deep I was so excited, and the book did not disappoint. I read it in two sittings, racing to find out whodunnit. It felt like a YA Agatha Christie style murder mystery--with a cast of suspicious characters, intriguing backstories, and some great twists at the end. I loved the setting on the cruise ship, as well as how we got a taste of the different cities they stopped in. I loved the soapy thrill of it all and would definitely recommend!

Semester-at-Sea-meets-murder is an excellent premise for a mystery. However, this one didn't deliver. The first almost 20% is focused on Jade's falling out with her ex and her former best friend. The plot dragged and made it hard to connect with any of the characters. Additionally, everyone came off somewhat one-dimensional. This book was a miss for me, but I will definitely try something else by the author.

I was given an ARC in exchange for honest review.

A fast paced, whodunnit set aboard a cruise ship. This was so fun and unexpected. While I had some suspicions early on, I never could have figured out exactly what happened! The ending felt a little incomplete, but I greatly enjoyed this one!

Content Warning: drug use, death, violence

Taking classes on a cruise ship? This is definitely something I would have wanted to do while I was in college! And I think this setting made this story even more fascinating. I loved the travel aspect of it, because they did stop at ports to do some sightseeing.

But this story is focused on Jade and the heartbreak and betrayal she endured from her ex-best friend, Lainey and her ex-boyfriend, Silas. She assumes this semester away at sea would help her move forward but when she sees the both of them on the ship with her, things get messy. Jade is all in her feelings about missing Lainey and Silas, hurt that now they are together, and angry that they betrayed her. So when Lainey is missing from her room with just a room full of blood – Jade is suspect number one!

I think the cast of characters did a really good job of leading us away from the real suspect. I had my suspicions and I kind of was right. I didn’t want to be right though, so I’m glad I was partially right! Felix is someone Jade gets to know on the ship but he’s mysterious and she doesn’t know what his deal is. I loved them together. There was even a moment of fake-dating between them, but the two of them investigating Lainey’s disappearance was really fun. There were a few times I wished Jade would let go of her jealousy and anger but I can understand where she is coming from.

There is suspense, mystery, and so much drama between new friends and lovers, and a really good twist in the story. Also it’s another book set in college, which I’m happy about because we need more.

Why you should read it:
*entertaining and full of suspense, mystery and even a little romance
*a good plot twist

Why you might not want to read it:
*not into suspense

My Thoughts:

This one was a fun read especially because the romance brewing between Felix and Jade was a nice edition! I read it in one sitting because I really was invested on trying to figure out what happened to Lainey and if Jade was maybe an unreliable narrator at some point! This is the second book I’ve read from this author and have really enjoyed both. I look forward to reading more from this author!

"Lying in the Deep" is a thrilling cruise ship novel that had me hooked from the first page. I devoured it in just two days and was thoroughly entertained throughout.

The story follows Jade, who is excited to embark on a semester at sea after a rough patch in her personal life. However, things take a turn for the worse when she discovers that her ex-boyfriend and former best friend are also on board. To make matters worse, someone on the ship is murdered, and everyone is a suspect.

Diana Urban expertly weaves a tale of suspense and intrigue, introducing us to a cast of colorful characters who all have motives for the murder. As Jade tries to navigate her way through the investigation, she must also confront her feelings towards her ex and ex-BFF.

The setting of the cruise ship and various European ports is vividly described, transporting the reader to each location. The characters are well-developed and each has their own unique personality, making them all plausible suspects.

What I loved most about this book was the way Urban laid out the clues to the killer, only to pull the rug out from under me. I was convinced I had figured out the murderer early on, but I was wrong!

Overall, "Lying in the Deep" is a fantastic read that I highly recommend. It's a fast-paced, unputdownable thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end. I can't wait to read more from Diana Urban

I enjoyed this action packed thriller quite a bit. I thought the story was overall good with some great twists at the end. I did think the beginning dragged a bit for me and felt more like high school drama than the college kids it was about, but once the mystery really got going I was definitely sucked in. Jade has been doing to do Semester at Sea since she heard about it and the timing is perfect since her boyfriend dumped her suddenly for her best friend both of whom have iced her out since. So she was shocked to discover them both in line when she waiting to get on the ship. Despite her hurt she is determined to figure out what happened even when things start happening and people start dying. She is determined to figure out what happened since so many people seem to believe it must have been her, so she and her new crush run around the ship trying to figure out what happened on a ship they are stuck on with a killer. Overall I gave this one 3.5 stars rounded up for the ending.