this book was more young adult than i expected, the themes were interesting, though one of the main characters was fairly unlikeable and didn't show a lot of growth thoughout the book. two girls thrown together by school demands look for answers for some crimes in their hometown

CW: animal death, assault, sexual assault

4.5

Lydia has worked her whole life to Leave Henley, Ohio, behind for a life of hard-hitting journalism. Bristal is a troublemaker with pent-up rage and a family with a reputation.

What do they have in common?

Not much. But when they both learn that their guidance counselor made an error leaving both short a credit for graduation, they decide to work together on Lydia's podcast to investigate Henley's infamous Long Stretch of Bad Days. During this ill-fated week in 1994, a tornado ripped through town, followed by a flash flood. Throw the town's first and only unsolved murder into the mix, and you have excellent material for an investigative podcast.

As the two work together, they realize things aren't quite as they seem. But they know that the town's secrets must come to light once and for all.

I have a feeling that a lot of people aren't going to love Lydia's character, but she grew on me as the book progressed. Many of her foundational beliefs are challenged throughout the book because she doesn't recognize her privilege. Bristal, however, had me from the beginning. Her episodes on the podcast were some of the book's lighter moments. The small-town drama was realistic, too.

Early on, I spotted some big reveals that didn't affect my enjoyment.

I saw comparisons to Sadie and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, but for adult mystery/thrillers fans, this book reminded me of The Night Swim. This book had everything I love in the genre, and once I picked it up, I couldn't stop reading.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books/Katherine Tegen Books for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Can’t get enough of YA Books with true crime podcasts? I have another :
Graduation Requirements - Lydia just found out that she won’t be graduating due to a missing history requirement.
Podcast - so she makes a deal with her principle to do some work on her podcast, along with Bristal, who also is similarly screwed
Multiple Disasters - The Subject is a week in their town’s past with multiple disasters including tornados and flooding.
Missing Girl? - but when they stumble upon a potential missing girl, they go all in to find out what happened to her.

When I first picked up this book, I expected it to be a lot like other YA mysteries about people solving crimes for a podcast. But this book was very unique. The characters of Lydia and Bristal are flawed, and real, and very complex. Also this is a slow burn mystery. You will get up to at least the halfway mark and wonder if this book is, dare I say, boring? IT'S NOT. There is genius in the writing, and the ending will smack you with a force you won’t see coming. Trust me. Read it, stay with it, and when you get to the end, do what I did and look up some of the author’s backlist titles.

A small town, two very different girls, an ironic tone and some unsolved mysteries. They start researching things for school credit to be able to graduate. I think my students will relate to this, though older people ,might find the characters a little too stereotyped

3.5 stars. What I love most about McGinnis is that she can write in so many different genres, and every book she writes feels different. This was not my favorite McGinnis book (I was able to predict some of the ways this would wrap up), but I still enjoyed the ride. As is typical with McGinnis books, this one is set in rural Ohio and features an opposites attract friendship. I loved the development of both of our main characters and am always a fan of #girlpower. The historical backdrop was well done as was portrayal of life in a small town. I just wish this one was a little less predictable in the end.

A Long Stretch of Bad Days is about two high school girls discovering their small town secrets after finding out they needed to take on an independent study in order to graduate.

Going into this book, I was super excited, as I've been following McGinnis' career since her debut novel. I loved her writing style when I read her other work, and this book definitely didn't disappoint. Though I will admit that Lydia, the main character, is quite insufferable at times, I think that she has enough redeeming qualities that it makes up for her annoying attitude. Really, Bristal was the highlight of the book for me, and her character is what kept me reading the book. I loved seeing Lydia's growth as she became closer with Bristal.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but I will say that beginning dragged a bit for me because Lydia was hard to like, which is why it doesn't get a full five stars from me. It's definitely worth pushing through those first few chapters, though!

Thank you NetGalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I recently read "Heroine" by Mindy McGinnis and was emotionally wrecked and hooked (in the best way possible). So I was looking forward to read another of her YA novels, but this time I feel a bit conflicted.

Lydia Chass is the stubborn and proud offspring of one of the most respectable families in the small town of Henley. Her father is a lawyer willing to defend the most hopeless cases, her mother is a polite housewife. Lydia's dream to escape the smothering small community and go to college is threatened by two things: her family's well-hidden financial problems, and the fact that a school error left her (and other students) one credit short of graduating. With her cut-throat attitude, Lydia negotiates a truce with the high-school: she can earn the extra-credit by using her quaint pod-cast to cover a historical event relevant to the community. Decided to prove her worth to Ivy league colleges and take a brave step into a potential future journalistic career, Lydia decides to cover a period in the mid-90s known as "the long stretch of bad days"--3 days in June when the town was hit by a devastating tornado, a flood that killed all the dogs in the pound, and a murder. Concerned about ruffling the feathers of the community, Lydia convinces bad-girl Brystal Jamison to join her podcast. It would be a win-win for both girls: Brystal can gain the extra credit and become the first in her family to graduate, and Lydia can blame any displeasure with the new grittier podcast on her partner. But this unlikely partnership slowly evolves into a genuine friendship. As the girls investigate the events leading to that fateful week, a new discovery is made: one Henley resident has been missing since before the tornado hit, and people don't want to talk about her. Is it possible that a second victim has been lost and buried in the chaos of those days?

I adored half of this book. The main character Lydia Chass has a compelling arc (mostly), and the side character Brystal Jamison was even better. Brystal for me stole the show--her no-nonsense attitude, her humor, her rough edges were delicious! Her friendship with Lydia was so sweet and allowed me to get closer to the MC. So many of her lines are epic. The discussion on maintaining appearances in a small community, the fakeness required to maintain status were pretty good in the first half of the book. The perpetrator of the mystery the two girls are investigating was fairly easy to identify for me, but I wasn't disappointed--it felt well prepared and contributed to the bigger discussion. The first 15% of the book was not as exciting and there was another lull for me when we get the first fake resolution. It picked up again toward the end.

But: the ending just canceled Lydia's growth in my opinion, and made her look really creepy. After facing the killer, Lydia and Brystal record a chirpy podcast, where very little emotion other than hilarity transpires. But that doesn't make sense unless Lydia is a cold sociopath. I can understand Brystal's reaction, but not Lydia's. To be fair, I think the last chapter was pretty good, and offered Brystal a great ending. But now I'm wondering if Lydia should be allowed around people.

In summary: when the book was good, it was great. But the last 5% of the book left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. Perhaps the author wanted to maintain the lighter tone, but it ended up too light for the gravity of the situation.

This is a slow burn mystery featuring two high school girls making a podcast. Just that much piqued my interest, but when you add in old secrets, lies, family drama and a murder? Consider me glued to the pages. This one takes a little while to set up, but it pays off in a big way. A Long Stretch of Bad Days is available for purchase everywhere you buy books now! Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to review this advance copy.

Small town secrets meet a true crime podcast in this YA mystery! A Long Stretch of Bad Days follows two high school seniors from vastly different socioeconomic backgrounds and live experiences who team up on a podcast investigating events that occurred in the 90's in their small town. A town where no-one ever talks about anything unpleasant, but there is plenty hiding beneath the surface...

I really enjoyed this- the podcast and mystery elements are well-done (though I suspected some of what the twist ending was for much of the book). Thematically it's partly about the inequality of the justice system and how that intersects with privilege and poverty. While this doesn't bring a racial element in, it easily could have. Instead, the story is told from the perspective of a pretty privileged young woman who slowly comes to recognize that the world isn't the way she thought it was. I really loved the friendship that develops between Lydia and her prickly co-host Bristal. It's also quite funny at times. If you're looking for this kind of YA true-crime podcast novel, I would recommend this one over some other recent releases. It's a solid pick. I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Content warnings include murder, dead bodies, death of animals, gun violence, mentions of abuse including child sexual abuse

An interesting YA mystery that teaches important lessons. History shared through podcasts. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Podcast books for the win. I really enjoyed this one! The author is just fantastic and keeps delivering with every story. Highly recommended, especially for thriller fans and young adults.

This book was a little different than the rest of Mindy's books. It felt a little more tame. I loved the relationship between the two main characters. I also felt that it had a Veronica Mars vibe. Mindy always hits on tough topics in a tactful and impressive way.

This will be the perfect book for kiddos wanting a thriller. It is such a popular category with high school kids I can’t wait to get this on the shelf and recommend it to them.

Love the characters and their unlikely friendship.

Don’t skip this one! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read this book.

I was not fond of Mindy McGinnis's last duology based on Poe stories, but A Long Stretch of Bad Days brings us right back to what McGinnis is best at. A Long Stretch of Bad Days is a YA mystery revolving around a historical event (in the 90s!) and the town's only unsolved murder. Due to a guidance counseling "mistake", both Lydia Chass and Bristal James are missing credits to graduate and decide to work together to produce historical podcast episodes to get the missing history credit. They uncover more than they bargain for and the book switches rapidly switches gears to a good mystery.

McGinnis excels at writing about the forgotten ones; the teenage girls that society deems as unacceptable. In the Female of the Species, we are introduced to Alex who takes things into her own hands after a violent experience with rape culture. In a Long Stretch of Bad Days, McGinnis introduces two female characters, only one which is supposed to matter. We are treated to several instances of discourse by the townspeople concerning Bristal James and how Jamisons are worthless. Long Days treats the subject of forgotten women compassionately through the eyes of both Lydia and Bristal. Bristal because she identifies with being found worthless by others, and Lydia because she has an innate sense of justice.

I recommend A Long Stretch of Bad Days to anyone who likes a good thriller. I thought the end wrapped up a bit too neatly, but the book is fast paced and highly readable with engaging characters, and a thought provoking message.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the arc for review purposes.

I feel like 2023 should be officially dubbed "The Year of the Podcast Books". I am pleased to report that I have been quite enjoying said podcast books, this one certainly among them. So this is a mystery, clearly, and as such, I will keep it short. There are a few things you should know and that I want to tell you, so let's do that!

Since this book is written by Mindy McGinnis, who is one of my absolute favorite authors of all time, it has all the trademarks: Smart, witty, sarcastic characters, tons of amazing twists, compulsive readability, and genuine heart. So let's break those things down!

►The characters are so complex! Look, full disclosure, if you're anything like me, you're going to spend the first few chapters downright loathing Lydia. You're the grinch meme, wondering why this girl has a book. But character growth is the name of the game here, friends. So worry not. Also, the other characters are fabulous. And you will love Bristal from the first second, so it'll be fine. They are so freaking hilarious together, too, which is great at offsetting some of the darker themes. Their families also have a pretty big focus in the story, which I also loved.

►Lots of great commentary on classism. Lydia is given tons of opportunities that Bristal would never have, based solely on who her parents are versus who Brital's family is, and there is a lot of discussion about that.

►The whole mystery of the "stretch of bad days" is pretty great. I mean, I wanted to know from the start what was up! Sure, some of it was obviously just nature and weather, but you can tell from the start that there is way more to the story.

►To that end, the twists are fabulous! I had some guesses, but truly I had no idea and I love that! I could not put the book down, so eager to find out what was happening!

Bottom Line: Between the phenomenal characters and incredibly engaging plot, I was beyond immersed in this book and loved every single minute.

This book. For some reason (embarrassingly) I didn't have super high hopes for this book despite loving The Initial Insult. It was SO GOOD.
The characters were fantastic. The only character I didn't really like was main character Lydia's best friend MacKenzie. I understood why she was the way she was, but I still didn't really like her. I also didn't love Lydia all the time but I think that was the point. Lydia lived in the nice part of town and was assumed to have a lot of family money. She was expected to be perfect and not ruffle feathers. My favorite character Bristal on the other hand lives in Ash Park (aka Trash Park) and always expects the worst. Lydia wants to expose the worst and gets Bristal to help her co-host her podcast. So sometimes Lydia was great and hilarious and sometimes the "expected to be perfect" part came out and hurt the people she was trying to help. Bristal was absolutely fantastic. She was hilarious and by far my favorite character. Most of the side characters were great too.
This book starts out with perfect Lydia being denied graduation from high school because her (drunk) guidance councilor missed one of her history credits. It is decided she will get her credit by doing episodes of her podcast on the history of Henley where she lives. Lydia wants to feature a week in 1994 where bad thing after bad thing happened and they called it the Long Stretch of Bad Days. A tornado destroyed the town, there was an unsolved murder and all the dogs at the pound drowned in a flash flood within a few days of each other. And she wants Bristal (who she's hardly ever talked to) to co-host to give her podcast a little bit of flair. Lydia and Bristal get more than they bargained for digging into the events of the long stretch.
The writing was amazing. I was laughing, I was crying, I was gasping. I was never bored and I didn't want to put the book down.
I would 100% recommend this book if you liked A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. It had the podcast/true crime aspect but was totally its own. This has definitely been my favorite book of the year so far and I will be recommending it for a long time!

Due to an "error" (aka the guidance counselor liking Jim Beam a bit more than he liked his job), Lydia Chass is in danger of not graduation...which is bad for her plans of an Ivy League school and her desire to get the heck out of Henley, Ohio. Administration graciously allows her to complete a project to take the place of her missing history credit, and she finds an unlikely ally in Bristal Jamison, the oldest in the latest generation of Jamisons, known more for their fertility than anything else. Together, they transform Lydia's podcast into a history of the town's legendary long stretch of bad days, which in mid June of 1994, devastated the town with a tornado, a flash flood that drowned the entire population of the town dog pound, and the town's only unsolved murder.. As the dig deeper and deeper for more information for the podcast, though...Lydia and Bristal may uncover a lot more than they bargained for.

I have loved every single Mindy McGinnis book I've read so far, and this one was no exception. It does have a bit of a slow start, but once it gets going, it just doesn't stop. Lydia is the epitome of an unlikeable female character (RIP to the podcast of the same name), but at the same time you just can't help but root for her and her newfound friend Bristal. Bristal knows how to survive, and she's not afraid to use her fists to do so. We're introduced to her over the loudspeakers as she tells the administration exactly where they can shove that extra credit she missing for graduation, and she stays true to that sassy, hardscrabble smartness the entire book. Bristal may not be valedictorian material like Lydia, but she's strong enough and smart enough to not live up to the Jamison reputation, being the first girl in her family to graduate without being pregnant in, well, forever.
I just felt a little attacked by this book, as I'm literally the same age as Lydia's and Bristal's parents, having graduated the same year from high school as they did. So while I'm absolutely not the target demographic for this book, I still really enjoyed it. McGinnis captures small town politics and teenage angst and drama so well that I could almost forget that my peers in the books are the parents, not the kids.

I had a great time while reading this! I loved the characters and thought that the mystery itself was really well-plotted and interesting. I liked the setting a lot, too--I love me a weird, sleepy little town. Also, the banter between the two main characters felt real, which can be really hard to do. Overall, I'm excited for more by this author!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 4/5 stars.

In true McGinnis fashion, this is vulgar and cruel and horribly descriptive at some points and this is most definitely upper YA...however...I loved it. Told as two vastly different people becoming friends due to unforseen circumstances of working on a podcast together to graduate...and the podcast being about their "flyover" town with legacy families and a deep sense of small town pride...it sucked me in. Oh, and a murder mystery...that digs up (pun intended) much more that the town had buried during a long stretch of bad days.

I...Bristal's humor is hilarious and the class differences between her and Lydia provide the story a meaningful analysis of poverty, wealth, and stereotypes. Bristal though made the story what it is.

The mystery gets solved...but not in a way I expected. Normally with YA mysteries, I can pick up pretty quckly on the whodunnit portion but...not this one. I audibly gasped at the end because oh my GODDDD.

This was good. Incredibly vulgar and crass...but SO good.

Thank you to NetGalley for early access to this title in exchange for a honest review!!

Holy crap, did this book pack a mighty punch. I’ll admit at first I was unsure how much I’d enjoy this book because Lydia as a character was unexpected to me; someone who was capable of getting the things she wanted and wouldn’t face true consequences because of her name sake.

And dang, I underestimated how much a character could grow from their initial first impression.

The mystery of this story really leaves you wondering what was going to occur and just keeps you reading. I think my favorite part though was the characters.

They’re flawed, they’re real, and you can’t help but feel for them. Truly such a wonderful book that I underestimated how much I’d love.