A good mystery, an interesting protagonist, and a slow burn mystery.

I liked the good mystery here. I also liked Max, our mc, struggling to fully be who he is and who he wants everyone to know - while still in high school. I really appreciated the struggle and the frustrations and highs and lows. The author has an amazing author's note and trigger warning right in the beginning and I loved it so much!

But a book about bullying is hard to read. So, although I loved Max and I found Gloss interesting (as much frustrating), the bullying was so hard to read. The mystery was well paced if a little slow burn. I loved this one!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Thank You Netgalley and Tash McAdam for the ARC!

Thrillers are not my cup of tea but I was really enamored with this book from the start. Max had me hooked and I did not expect the twist!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

An okay book. I was quite entertained with this while reading but feel it’s something I won’t think about much afterward. The characters were flawed in a way that took away from the experience. Despite what I didn’t like I thought the themes and representation were great.

I gave this a three star but I didn’t feel comfortable rating this. There’s TW for death, grief, and murder. I enjoyed what I read though.

No One LEft but you is a young adult novel about the whirlwind friendship of newly-out trans teen, Max, and new girl, Gloss. A thriller told in alternating timelines-before and after Max's transphobic ex is murdered- this one definitely kept me guessing. It wasn't, however, anything that kept me on the edge of my seat or left me feeling super satisfied with how it came together. I found it to be a good read, just not necessarily one that will stick with me. Solid three stars.

“Now, looking in the mirror, I see that my wish has clawed its way out of my chest and into the world.”

This book!! 😭I am definitely a tad obsessed with this book and it’s MC who stole my heart from page one. And this book starts with a doozy! Max is in a police station, dried blood on his hands, handcuffs on his wrist - and no clue how he ended up there.

Max is a bisexual, trans teen boy fairly early in his transition. He’s a skater and a bit of a loner. And incredibly smart. He has anxiety and fear that can at times be crippling. He’s constantly analyzing the things others do and say, never trusting that even the kind things are truly kind. And Danny, the boy he had a whirlwind summer romance with, has become his biggest bully.

Max’s story was beautifully captured with Tash’s lyrical and emotional writing. His journey through adolescence, his transition, his inner turmoil, his longing to belong and to be loved and wanted for him. All of it just grabbed my heart and sent me on an emotional rollercoaster I was not prepared for when I started this book.

And then there is Gloss - the new girl. Rich, posh, vibrant. The moment they meet, Gloss decides Max is her person. Gloss helps Max start to come out of his shell and put himself out there. She gives Max a place where he belongs, always. She becomes his person. And throughout the story, I was right there with Max wondering if this was just friendship, or more. But with Gloss by his side, Max truly started to become Max. There were times I questioned her motives and behavior - but I think that was all part of the mystery of the book…

Danny is dead. Max got arrested. Gloss confessed. Did she do it? Is she covering for Max? Could he have been the one to murder Danny? Confounded by all these questions and the gaps in his memory from that night, Max struggles to find the truth.

The story is told in a dual timeline of before and after. Pieces of the puzzle getting added bit by bit. But it isn’t until the very end that the final piece is put in place and the full picture comes into view. The mystery and the angst of it all kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I wanted to keep reading and find out what happened. I was gripped by this story from start to finish.

Yes this book is a murder mystery. But it’s also a story about grief and loss. It’s a story about transition and trans joy. It’s a gritty tale about adolescence and growing up, about finding yourself and your people. It is utterly brilliant and I cannot say enough good things about this book or Tash’s writing. Absolute perfection. I could go on, but I’ll stop here. Just go read it! Make sure you check out the content warnings first.

Thanks to NetGalley and SOHO Teen for the ARC! This is my honest review.

TW/CW: alcohol & drugs, violence, murder, depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety, bullying, homophobia, transphobia, child abuse/neglect

The best thing about this book for me was the representation. I love that more and more books are becoming available showcasing all types of queer identities.

On to the actual book. This may have been just a case of the wrong time for me, but I personally struggled to become invested in the story here. The small peeks at the "after" had me confused for awhile in the beginning because they didn't provide much information. I also thought there was a little too much build up in the beginning.

Overall, this wasn't a favorite of mine and I would likely not recommend it as a first pick.

Gloss had me in a chokehold from the moment her character stepped on scene.

I loved the jump in time with each passing chapter. From the "before" chapters of when Max - a newly out trans guy - and Gloss - the new it girl at school. Then going to the "after" chapters that take place immediately after Gloss's party where someone turns up dead, and Max is sitting in a police car with blood on his hands.

I drooled over how Gloss was just this enigmatic girl who didn't let any person rain on her parade or let anyone shit on someone who didn't in the least 3bit deserve it. She was a powerhouse, and I was here for it. The way she pulled Max out of the dark place he buried himself in after being bullied by Danny, whom he was having a fling with the summer before he came out.

I will forever recommend this book to anyone.

I’m going to go ahead and admit that I laughed at some things in this book that I don’t think were meant to be funny. For example, at one point, the main character is making a point that he’s noticing some recovery from previous depression. He says something like, “I’m finally asking myself normal questions, like ‘do I want to do mushrooms in the woods with a girl I might like.” And I don’t want to minimize the shift in his mental state or the joy of noticing a new distance from depressed thoughts.

But also, I couldn’t help laughing at how differently I defined “normal questions” in my own high school experience. It struck me funny.

Interesting comparisons aside, though, Max’s emotional journey through the book really packs a punch. The story travels from him peeling apart his feelings about an ex he’s not over to exploring new feelings for a girl who might be too cool for him to reeling from grief over a sudden loss. Every emotion felt real and raw, drawing me deep into Max’s story.

The cover copy hints that Max grapples with hazy memories of the time of the murder, but the story doesn’t really focus on that much. It’s much more about Max trying desperately to understand why this person died and what the relationship meant to him. Those threads are so well-spun that I rocketed through the book from start to finish.

I think readers who enjoy Caleb Roehrig’s mystery books will love this one.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

First off, this book starts with a list of trigger warnings including: Drug Use, Transphobia, Suicidal Ideation & Child Abuse. Please be sure to check it out because this book can get very dark and can be very triggering.

I really enjoyed that the book was split up in to: Before the event & After. It was really interesting to piece everything together as it got closer to the end.

Tash McAdam’s “No One Left But You” is a novel about acceptance, emotional healing, friendship, obsession and bullying wrapped around a mystery of who killed Danny, our protagonist’s one-time boyfriend and best friend turned bully.

Max, an introverted trans boy with a difficult home life, and who came out during the summer before his senior year of school began, meets beautiful, perfect in every way Gloss and is immediately taken with her, willing to do anything just to keep her by his side. Soon he is attending parties, using alcohol and drugs, getting his hair cut at her request, all because he revels in her attention. Danny, Max’s boyfriend before learning of his trans status, resorts to bullying Max every chance he gets. Then he winds up dead at a party. Did Max kill him? Did Gloss do it?

The book is told in “Before” and “After” chapters, slowly revealing the relationship between Max, Gloss, and Danny before Danny’s death and how his death has affected Max and Danny’s friends. To the reader, Max’s attraction to Gloss reveals just how much he craves acceptance and positive attention from others, something he obviously lacks from his parents, especially his mother who has not accepted Max’s trans status, and his father who comes across as a bit over-protective and over-bearing. Gloss, on the other hand, seems to lead Max on with gestures and actions that confuses Max into thinking she wants to be romantically linked to him, such as kissing him, allowing him to share the same bed with her in her house without any physicality involved, and getting jealous when another person even talks to Max. So there’s obsession to the extreme on both sides of this relationship.

While I can feel for Max trying to get through life as a trans person, the same cannot be said for Gloss. She comes across as a self-absorbed, selfish rich kid with absentee parents who toys with others’ emotions for her own benefit. Both Max and Danny can’t seem to get beyond the feelings they have for each other after their summer fling; Danny comes across as a confused teenager who has difficulty coming to terms with thoughts that he might be gay and lashes out at the cause of his anguish, which is Max, and Max has trouble dealing with the pull he feels whenever Danny is around. Danny’s friends are minor characters in the novel and don’t appear to figure too prominently. They seem to sit idly by while Danny verbally abuses Max, not attempting to step in to help either Max or Danny deal with the feelings they have for each other.

Max is the only character that I could get behind and root for, but eventually every time Max is with Gloss, I wanted to shout that she’s no good for him and he needs to break free of her; the obsession from both Max and Gloss was a bit too much as the book wore on. There’s little to like about Gloss or Danny, and when Danny winds up dead, it’s hard not to think that he got what was coming to him. I was a bit disappointed when the killer was revealed; while the character was in the novel throughout and there weren’t too many signs pointing in that direction, it still seemed to be a letdown.

This book would be recommended for teenagers who may be able to relate to the character of Max, or know of someone who is dealing with the same issues as either Max or Danny. There is no graphic sexual content involved to be worried about.

Not only was this book amazingly written but it genuinely touched my heart. I didn’t expect to relate to Max so much in connection to the struggles he sometimes faces with his gender identity, but I did and it made me feel seen. I feel that this book can play such a powerful role in society and I am so happy to see another book with a trans main character!

The aspects of suspense and mystery really engaged me throughout the entire novel and I love how the book is laid out in a before/after timeline.

Overall this book was everything for me. Beautifully written, unique and engaging, and many people can connect with Max.

Thank you to Netgalley and Soho Press for sending me this ARC!

While it’s not inaccurate to describe this as a YA thriller with a trans protagonist, I personally felt like the coming of age, friendship, and relationship stories within the book were much stronger than the thriller part of the plot. Max is newly out as trans and school isn’t the best for him at the moment. Danny, the guy who he had a fling with over the summer before transitioning, now bullies him. When a new, fashionable, rich girl named Gloss arrives at school and takes Max under her wing, things start changing. But they spiral out of control when someone ends up dead at Gloss’ party.

The story is told in a dual timeline format with “before” chapters detailing Max and Gloss first becoming friends. And also in “after” chapters that pick up immediately after the party gone wrong. I just never felt a sense of urgency in needing to find out exactly what happened and who was responsible. Also, the conflict at the end didn’t totally work for me.

However, I loved all of the just slice of life parts of the story. Getting to see Max become more confident and open up more at school with the help of Gloss was great to read about. They have a complicated relationship that might not always be the most healthy, but it added a lot of complexity to the story. While it was frustrating and upsetting to read about, the dynamic between Max and Danny was also compelling. Even though Danny is super shitty to Max, Max can’t help but to still be drawn to him and remember the good times they had in the past.

Even though I don’t think this was fully successful as a thriller, I still really enjoyed it and would recommend it. I think this portrait of the complex life of a trans teen has a lot to offer to readers.

Max is a trans. His first day of school, he hopes not to see or run into Danny. Danny is mad that his friend is going trans. Danny is making snide remarks embarrassing Max. It’s difficult as Danny is the most popular boy in school. When Danny is asked to stay after class to meet Gloss who has just moved from England. Max can’t believe how beautiful she is. He is to help Gloss with math and show her the school. Gloss becomes friends with Danny. They do several things Among those things they go shopping for Max’s clothes. Later, he is taken to a hair stylist where Max’s hair is styled and makes him look like a male. Gloss decides to throw an end of the school year party at her place. What happens at the party? Max finds Danny. Where is Gloss? Why are the police there?

The author has split the narrative into “before and after” chapters. It starts with an after chapter then the next chapter is before. It rises a sort of expectation — wanting to know what will happen. It’s an amazing mystery. I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next!

A young adult crime tale, No One Left But You (2023) by Tash McAdam is a sheer delight of a read. Seventeen-year-old Max is in transition and gets assigned to help Gloss settle into senior school. Their friendship will change each other in ways they cannot fathom and the death of a close friend is a tragic ending to their schooling. Narrated from then and now timelines, the novel explores teenage angst and the journey of becoming who we truly are. A perceptive tale of self-discovery, amidst the turbulent changes and friendships of adolescence, that is an engagingly five stars read rating. With its powerful and descriptive insight, it is a must-read recommendation for adults. With thanks to Soho Press and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without inducement.

Thanks very much to Lily at Soho Teen, who sent me not only a physical ARC, but a physical sale hardcover as well as my Netgalley ecopy to review. Amazing care put into this marketing.

I give this 3.5 rounded down to 3, because despite the thriller marketing blurbs, a thriller it was not quite, and the pacing left me setting it down and loath to pick it up again.

The plot here puts a slightly fresh spin on an old trope: the new, pretty girl at school bafflingly befriends the resident loner. But Gloss may be genuinely not just accepting of trans protagonist Max, but also very eager to make maybe-romantic, intimate overtures of companionship, very quickly.

I didn't get everything I hoped for in this story. I'd say it's a must-read for the representation in this subgenre, but the pacing really threw me, for a murder mystery and thriller. On the one hand, a slower pace does wonders for examining the trans experience, the character development, and relationship building. There was a shaving scene between Max and Gloss with erotic tension so thick you could cut it with a knife, pun intended. On the other, I'd expect something with a murder presented in the prologue, and a subsequent dual timeline, to really keep me tensely reading. Not the case here.

NO ONE LEFT BUT YOU is an incredibly readable book. One of the reasons I was interested in it was its comp to Euphoria and while I think it's quite an accurate one, I think it also reminded me of the atmosphere of some Caitlin Moran books, except much better.

While I don't think that the plot is revolutionary and I haven't encountered such a manix pixie dream girl in a long time, there's still a very compulsive quality about it. The character dynamic felt fresh even though it explored age-old issues at this point, and I loved that the writing felt like an elderly emo writing for the modern crowd (totally a compliment, not at all derogatory).

None of the characters are particularly LOVEABLE and I could see the twist coming from a mile away, but I just don't think that every book needs to approach everything from a previously unexplored angle. Max is still a very complex character and he was refreshing to read about. These people, including him, are messy and they've had their hearts broken and they don't know how or why. Regardless the set of circumstances, this will always be relatable.

The writing was intriguing to me. I'm really excited to check out more by Tash McAdam when I get the chance.

A very well-written, cut-throat and somehow provocative YA thriller.

The dual timeline makes the plot even more dense and full of suspense. The plot spilts itself in two parts: before and after. What leads to a traumatic event for the main character and how he tries to deal with its consequences. Both parts are gripping but I wish that the after was more present. I felt like the before chapters were more abundant.
The characters are well-developed and they all have some depth. Max is a very interesting character to follow. He wants to be loved but is used to being ignored. He wants to love but is scared of the way people behave near him. He wants to live a normal life but is instead drawn in a spiral of obsession and turmoil. I really appreciated Grant, he becomes a caring figure in Max’s life and it is really healthy for an anxious character like Max.

Some tiny things here and there made me give this book this rating instead of a 5-star rating, but I obviously recommend this novel. It is one of the best YA contemporary thrillers I’ve read in a while.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Important things you need to know about the book:

Pace: The pace of No One Left But You alternated between medium and fast during the book’s first half. By the second half, it settles into a medium-fast pace until the end of the book.

Trigger/Content Warning: No One Left But You has trigger and content warnings. If any of these triggers you, I suggest not reading the book. They are:

Death (graphic)
Drug Use (moderate)
Emotional Abuse (mainly off-page but graphic when on)
Toxic Relationship (graphic)
Transphobia (graphic)
Violence (graphic)
Blood (graphic)
Murder (graphic)
Toxic Friendship (graphic)
Alcohol (graphic)
Homophobia (graphic)
Suicidal Thoughts (moderate)
Dysphoria (moderate)
Bullying (graphic)
Deadnaming (minor to moderate)
Child Abuse (minor and off page)
Sexual Content: There is sexual content in No One Left But You. Most of the sex scenes are described from memory (like when Danny was having sex with a girl in the bathroom). There is one sex scene between Max and Danny that is nongraphic.

Language: There is graphic swearing in No One Left But You.

Setting: No One Left But You is set in Ridgepoint, England. There are also scenes set in London.

Tropes: Found Family, Dealing with Sexual Orientation and Abuse, Coming of Age, Set in Modern Day, The Red Herring, The Protagonist is the Suspect, The Dramatic Reveal, Twist Ending

Age Range: I recommend No One Left But You to anyone over 16.

Plot Synopsis (as spoiler-free as I can get):

Before: Having come out as trans, Max is having a hard time. Danny (his ex-boyfriend) is tormenting him, and his friends (who are mutual friends with Danny) are avoiding him. All he wants to do is get through the school year and graduate. Then Gloss starts school mid-year, and Max’s life changes. As Max’s friendship with Gloss deepens, so does his obsession with keeping her as his friend.

After: Max is left in shock when Danny is killed at a party thrown by Gloss. He also refuses to believe that Gloss would kill someone who is that important to him. Determined to discover the truth, Max digs into what happened that night. What he finds could implicate himself and potentially send Gloss to prison. Will Max uncover the truth? And will he be able to accept the evidence that he has found?

Main Characters

Max: Max was significantly damaged, and his point of view on events in the book can seem a little fuzzy. So, I took everything I read with a grain of salt. But I did like Max. He was one of the realest characters that I have read to date. He took things to heart, had anxiety when his best friend didn’t text him back right away and loved a boy that could/would never love him back. In the Before segments of the book, I enjoyed seeing Max come out of his shell and embrace himself. A lot of that was because of Gloss. But some of it came with maturity and happiness in his body. By the end of the book, there was an added depth to his character that wasn’t there initially. Loss of love and accepting that he couldn’t change the person who was supposed to love him unconditionally shaped him.

Gloss: I didn’t know what to make of her at first. She seemed almost too good to be true, and in a way, she was. Gloss reminded me of a butterfly. She would flit from person to person. But she always came back to Max. She knew that he was hurting. She was his biggest supporter and champion. But she also had this side where she could be cruel and mean. So, it wasn’t a big stretch to imagine Gloss killing Danny.

Danny: Danny was an absolute bully when No One Left But You started, and I didn’t like him. But, as the book went on and the author revealed his and Max’s previous relationship, I understood why he was so upset. When that scene on the beach, where everything was laid out, my opinion of Danny started to change. When Max visited his father (after Danny’s death) and saw what Danny was living with and why he couldn’t accept himself, my opinion of him shifted. I didn’t quite like him, but I understood him.

My review:

No One Left But You surprised me. I thought this book was going to be your typical young adult thriller. You know, the kind where the killer is evident and the reasons the killer did what they did were even more. You can scratch that because this book isn’t even close to being typical. I was engrossed by No One Left But You and couldn’t put it down. It took me four hours to read (and yes, I stayed up late to finish it). It had some of the most relatable, compelling characters I have read.

No One Left But You is split into two sections-Before and After—the Before section details Max meeting Gloss and his life up to the night of Danny’s murder. The After section details Max’s grieving for Danny and his looking into why Gloss could have killed him. The author did a great job of keeping those two storylines apart. I had no issues of knowing if I was in Before or After. The author marked it at the beginning of the chapter. I also want to note that Max is a very unreliable narrator. In the After parts of the book, he wasn’t sure what happened that night because he had been drinking. In the Before, he was dealing with a lot (abusive mother, largely absent but supportive father, bullying, and Gloss), and all of that stress made him seem off-kilter (and very needy) for most of the Before sections.

The storylines in No One Left But You were well written. I connected with the characters and had my favorites and had ones that I didn’t like. I liked how the author used the Before sections to explain what happened in the After sections. The author did merge both storylines by the end of the book. They did it with a twist, and I didn’t see that twist coming. But looking back, I totally could see the tiny little arrows pointing towards that person.

I loved the end of No One Left But You. I liked seeing Max happy and seeing him with his friends. And the song that was sung at the end of the book, well, it broke my heart. I loved this ending for the book.

Many thanks to Soho Press, Soho Teen, NetGalley, and Tash McAdam for allowing me to read and review this ARC of No One Left But You. Any opinions expressed in this review are mine.