This was a fun quick read. The last twist really got me. I didn’t love the ending, felt like it was rushed and didn’t actually wrap up things, but it was fine.

"Stranger Danger" was a quick and enjoyable YA thriller that centers around three teens who are taking a technology lockdown break to study for their senior exams. Lotus, Nova, and Vin are a golden trio. Lotus and Nova have been best friends their entire lives and Vin, Nova's current boyfriend, is the piece they didn't realize they were missing from their friendship. Now, however, as they stand on the abyss of a great change with the "after" of graduation looming before them, secrets and lies seem to be adding another level of unease and tension to what's already a turbulent time.

Their trip to the secluded rural farmhouse was supposed to be one last hurrah together, but instead, they find themselves the subject of a terrifying cat-and-mouse game as they realize someone else out there knows the secrets they've been so desperate to keep to themselves and has absolutely no qualms about revealing them, either to the trio or to the world at large.

While I did enjoy this quick read, I was a bit disappointed in the ending, and also in a few plot points that I felt went unresolved. I would definitely pick up the next book by this author, but I'm not sure that I'll be returning to "Stranger Danger" for a reread. Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for providing an Advanced Reader's Copy of "Stranger Danger" in exchange for an unbiased review!

My high school students will devour this one.
Great premise, great cover, and a super quick read. This one will be popular.

I didn't find this one especially engaging. The concept is standard horror/thriller fare but the execution is a bit dull and unbelievable. While I was intrigued by the ideas of who can be a bully and what behaviors are justified, overall I say pass on this one.

Loved it! Didn’t see the twist at the end coming! Great thriller.
You won’t regret it. Just read it! Thank me later(:

#NetgalleyARC The cover of this book gave me horror/thriller movie vibes, it reminded me of The Cabin in the Woods or The Strangers but the book was just meh. I was hoping for a really good, creepy thriller but I got one that was hard to follow and left me feeling underwhelmed. I'm sure someone out there will like it, it's just not the book for me...or my library.

Stranger Danger is a quick read that will keep you guessing all throughout. My only complaint is that the books are incredibly too short and could have been longer.

This was a quick read. Almost too quick.

It’s you’re stranded alone in the woods story while everyone in the house has secrets that slowly start coming out.

The “stranger” ends up not actually being a stranger 🤷🏻‍♀️

It was a good, fast paced thriller for younger readers who are maybe just getting into the genre.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review this story.

Three teens find themselves stuck in the middle of nowhere with no internet or cell phones. Someone is stalking them and threatening to unveil their secrets and hurt them in the process. It also addresses the different points of view of bullying. Is one side more wrong than the other or are both equally to blame? A quick read that has you guessing until the very end.

#StrangerDanger #NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the E-arc copy of this novel to read and review. It will have a strong reader base with teens.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Maren Stoffels for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Stranger Danger coming out May 2, 2023. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Best friends Nova, Vin, and Lotus rent a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. No phones. No internet. No social media at all. That's what it's going to take to finally get serious about school and focus on exams. They don’t need any distractions. After that, everything can go back to normal.

But they aren't as isolated as they thought. Someone is watching them from the forest. Someone who knows their secrets. Someone who wants revenge. Will they find out who is after them?

First of all, I love the dedication. It’s so sweet. I love Maren Stoffels’ books. This was a fun and quick YA mystery. It reminded me of 90s teen books like ones by Christopher Pike. I thought it was a really interesting plot and different from her other books. The topic is definitely a heavy subject and there’s a lot to unravel with it. I loved the dialogue and thought the characters had layers, even if some weren’t likable.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys fast paced teen mysteries!

My Ranking 2 stars

I really liked the plot for this book. It was your typical stranded with no help situation. I found it really hard to be believable with the whole bullying situation. Who the target was I didn't really get into and find it believable. The character building was really good. None of them were really “good” but I did find myself liking some more than others. The situations they got into at the house I enjoyed. Some parts were pretty suspenseful. While this wasn't my favorite book I would still recommend it for some.

Stranger Danger was a very quick read. If you enjoy young adult mystery/thrillers Stranger Danger might be up your alley.

Content Warning: bullying, threats, student/teacher relationship

Horror and thrillers are not what I usually read but I wanted to delve more into the genre this year and requested this one. Here’s what I thought:

+ I like how quickly the ball gets rolling in this story. I was thrown into, trying to get my bearings and figure out what is going on and things happen very quickly in this book. Plus it’s barely over 200 pages so it’s a VERY quick read.

+ There are three best friends Nova, Vin and Lotus who seem like good kids that are just going to do some major studying at some secluded farmhouse. They have big dreams after graduation so this big study weekend is important but then things start happening. Lotus gets mysterious texts. Nova and Vin get hurt…but who is doing all of this?

+ I thought the twist in the story was clever. I like how as the story moves along we dig deeper into everyones secrets and there are a lot! I felt like the story made me ask who is the real villain?

~ I think at times the story moved way too fast, for example in the beginning – but I think it was to throw the reader off because I assumed all kinds of things between the three friends before knowing the truth. So it did throw me off but it also felt like I missed something as I was reading, which was a little jarring.

~ Definitely for younger readers, minus the whole student/teacher relationship scandal situation going on! At times it reminded me of the movie Scream because they were alone in the house with someone out there messing with them.

~ I don’t think the title matched the story. Who is the stranger here? Because they figure out who was messing with them. I didn’t think the story was super scary, but definitely suspenseful.

Tropes: secluded house in the woods

Why you should read it:
*a quick read
*if you like movies like Scream, you will like this one – it’s more suspenseful than scary

Why you might not want to read it:
*it’s such a quick read you get thrown into the story

My Thoughts:

The story didn’t wow me or give me major thrills and chills, though I did like the plot twist, but I think if you go into it just to have a little suspenseful fun then you will enjoy it. This one is a super quick read and you may enjoy it if you are into Scream.

At first, I found the story hard to follow. Halfway through, I had to flip back to the beginning to make sense of what I was reading. The secrecy between Vin and Lotus also didn't make sense until Lotus makes her confession...even then, I thought it was a cover for something else. Overall, the storyline is interesting, but inthink it could have been delivered a bit better.

This one was weird, and for once in my life, I don't mean that in a completely positive way. This had all the makings of a fantastic thriller: unhinged, chaotic, and a fantastic use of POV. But, it felt like the message it was trying to send was extremely heavy handed. It seemed as if it was trying to Make A Point instead of following through with everything that was presented. I dunno, it just left me wanting more, but maybe that's because I like when books go completely into unhinged territory instead of just dipping their toe in.

This was a super quick young adult read focused on 3 teens who are being threatened while staying in a remote farmhouse to study for exams. Lotus, Nova, and Vin are alone in the woods when they start receiving threats from someone who is clearly watching them. You also get alternating chapters told from earlier on the school year that provide some insight into who the villain is and why they are doing this.

I liked the atmospheric vibe of the teens being alone in the woods, though I couldn’t help thinking about what parents would let their kids do that (maybe I am just old ;)). I also couldn’t really figure out why the book was called “Stranger Danger” when they almost immediately figured out who the “bad guy” was. I thought the author did an amazing job of leading the reader to believe something and then introducing something different that made even more sense but caused you to shift your thinking. I was tricked multiple times, culminating in a huge twist at the end that I didn’t even begin to see coming.

Overall, a quick and fun YA read that I’d recommend to those who like the “isolated cabin in the woods” vibe. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love young adult spooky books and "Stranger Danger" by Maren Stoffels hit the nail on the head! Great read.

Pretty Little Liars meets Scream in this young adult thriller about three teens who go to a farmhouse and are being hunted, but they all have their own secrets and they’ll have to reveal some of their own dark secrets if they want to make it out alive. Nova, Vin, and Lotus are all going to a farmhouse for a weekend to study. The only ground rules are : no phones, no internet, and no social media. They need to focus on school and their exams but they are not prepared for the distraction that is about to hit them. They aren’t alone, someone is out there with them, watching them, sending them threatening messages, and leaving traps. None of them are innocent, they all have done things they aren’t proud of and now it’s time to confess or pay the price. This was an interesting thriller read, it was short and easy to read. The ending could have had like an extra epilogue or some kind of “after” to show more of the fall out of the entire conclusion of the mystery but overall it was an interesting read.

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Children's, Underlined for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This was a fun teen scream. The writing was middle grade at best which made it a bit difficult to read though. A mixed bag.