Summer Rental is an amazing quick read for anyone into thriller or mysteries. It's more of a young adult book that focuses around high school students. It definitely kept my attention the entire time! I stayed up all night to finish reading it... It had me THAT hooked. Well written, fast paced, overall great book! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I loved this book, from minute picked it up couldn't put it down.

A group of friends, Riley, Cam, Val (Cam's Twin). Blake and Nia have hired a summer rental (which they later find out is a haunted house as urban legend about murders being committed in the basement) to celebrate graduating (and get away from 1st anniversary of friend Jordyn's suicide) in palm key island there is also group of boys staying in hotel there as well Ty (Nia's boyfriend Val's ex), Seb, Mason and Jon.
The group go out partying and Riley gets uber back to rental when can't locate her friends but no one is back yet.
Riley hears weird noises and then spots a strange figure wearing a yellow raincoat and they look to be dragging a body.
Her friends don't believe her, but Val and Ty are now missing no one has seen them since the club and there is a storm coming.
Cam and Riley go to police to report Val missing and that's when they bump in to officer Topper (Grant) who Riley met the night before.
The storm is starting to get worse hotels are evacuating so the boys go to stay at the rental with the girls, officer Grant comes by to advise they leave but Cam not leaving Val and Seb not leaving Ty, so the boys go for supplies incase they get stuck on island.
Now its a storm party Blake invites bartender from club Roxy, they all just party as they wait for Ty and Val to reappear. As Riley's dancing with Seb, Jon cuts in and kisses her but she's not interested everyone say's he's a good guy but Riley finds him weird as he is always reading and going on about serial killers etc.....
When it's time to get some sleep they separate in to pairs until Seb mentions Cam joining him and Riley leaving Jon on couch himself.
When Riley gets up she is alone Seb comes in and says hasnt seen Cam downstairs where has she gone?
Grant shows up after getting car stranded in storm. A body is floating in the pool who?
Riley starts to feel sick whats happening? She passes out and wakes up in the basement but who put her there? who is with her? Where is everyone else?

Where are Val and Ty? Where is Cam? Who's body was in the pool? did Riley really see someone in yellow raincoat? and if so who? Who will survive?

If you want answers then read this book it is a MUST and don't have to wait long due out tomorrow (13th).
I wouls so watch this if was made to Tv series or Movie.

I LIVED for this book. I found it to be a tad corny but like, in a good way. I really enjoyed and def recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book!

In Summer Rental, Riley and her not-so-nice friends celebrate their last 4th of July weekend before heading off to college by going to a remote island with some of their classmates. Things go haywire when one friend goes missing and a hurricane is coming in and the rest of the group has to board up inside their rental - which they find out has a scary story attached to it.

The description calling this book Mean Girls mixed with Scream instantly won me over and I think it was a great way to describe it. This book is exactly how I'd imagine it to go if The Plastics were in a slasher movie. This is a great YA horror that's great for those just starting to get into the genre who don't want anything gory. The deaths are either off-screen or are quick and not very detailed. I do wish that there had been more action going on throughout the story besides somebody going missing. The real action does not begin until about 60% in. But the book was definitely still a page-turner from beginning to end.

It is not an exaggeration to describe these girls (except our main protagonist, Riley) as mean girls. The story gives commentary on how toxic female friendships can be and how damaging it is for friends to bully one another. I really loved how the author has advice and resources at the end of the book for anyone who is being bullied.

Overall, it was a great YA slasher and I would love to read another one written by this author.

Marketed as Mean Girls meets Scream and I would say that’s pretty spot on. There are petty pretty girlfriends known at the “10-Squad” (because they are all 10s, duh) and a serial killer on the loose.

This book is scandalous and juicy and all the things that make a wild teen slasher what it is. The teens are hot and shallow and full of hormones and ulterior motives, and the killer is thrilled to break up their happy little Florida beach getaway.

If you’re looking for a deep read this may not be it, but if you’re looking for drama and entertainment, this delivers!

I won't lie... The beginning of the story gave me Jersey Shore feels, but I loved everything about the book!

The underlined tension umoung the group, the secrets and lies, tearing them apart.

And the suspense?! It was the best part!

I wasn't surprised to discover who the murderer was, but once all the secrets started to unravel and everyone's actions?! It was such a messy and tragic brilliance that I can't wait to read Rektok's next book!

Summer Rental is a fast paced YA mystery thriller that follows Riley March and her friends as they go to Palm Key Island to have one last party before going away to college. Little do they realise a storm is coming towards the island, leaving them stranded as they try to figure out what has happened to two of their friends that have mysteriously gone missing.

This book is full of classic slasher movie tropes: suspicious boyfriends, cops that suspiciously show up out of the blue, that one creep that’s super obsessed with horror films, and obviously the innocent final girl. Not only this, it also takes place in a summer rental that is supposedly haunted and with a terrible past that the locals only eerily hints at. It’s basically got everything, if you’re into the classic teen slashers from the late 90s and early 2000s.

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot. I do think it’s relatively slow paced in the beginning when you’re introduced to Riley and her not so nice friends. There’s little that shows something is off, and it isn’t until the half mark where it really takes off and the teens start realising something is wrong. Then it becomes fast paced and an almost non-stop page turner as they try to uncover the mystery of where their friends are. I enjoyed the horror movie references (Jonathan, you may be a creep, but you are a FUN little creep) and trying to guess who the killer would be among their small friend group — and I enjoyed the killer's reveal AND all the messy gorey kills. That’s always a plus in my books.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t such a huge fan of most of the characters and while I fully understand that their personalities and how awful they are, is an important aspect of the plot and to contextualise who these people really are, it became so so frustrating to sit silently while Riley accepted it all. Like god, girl, please love yourself. I’ve never been a huge fan of “teen drama” and there was a little bit too much of that for my taste, but it was also important to the plot so I can’t really say there should’ve been less of it. It’s difficult! However, I do think it all, as the author intended, does show how clearly women are pitted against each other and how cruel they can be — so cruel that there can be unimaginable consequences to these actions. I can only respect wanting to write a teen slasher with a message like that. So, all in all, despite me not being super into teen drama, I did think Summer Rental was worth the read and I’m definitely curious to read Ski Weekend too.

This book is a fun, spooky good time! It lives up to the Scream Meets Mean Girls. A good of high school graduates with more money than common sense, aside from our narrator, go on vacation during a killer hurricane. It's a quick read, but only because it makes you stay still and read it because you need to know what happens next.

Big thank you to IC13 Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

This book is everything I ever wanted in an thriller. Marketed as Mean Girls meets Scream, this book delivers just that. It’s fast paced and full of characters ranging from insufferable to lovable. The author keeps you hooked. With a realistic plot and an undertone that highlights the toxicity of friendships and the truth about bullying, this book does exactly what the author intended it to do. I could not put this down. The ending was perfect and I hope we catch a glimpse of these characters in another one of her books!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of this book.

So to start, when I saw this was sort of classified as a New Adult novel, I wasn't sure if I'd be into it--I haven't read New Adult for a number of years (a-hem) and didn't know if this would be for me. However, I'm glad I decided to go with this one. It's a fun, racing story that reminded me a lot of Riley Sager.

The story is about a bunch of recently graduated high school kids--wealthy kids, for the most part--who are having a final 4th of July blast at a beach house in Florida. And yes, the characters and plot could be described as a mash up of Scream and Mean Girls (as noted elsewhere). But, if you go into this one expecting a little bit of camp, it's a lot of fun. And if you are a decade or two (or three) older than these characters (yeah, like me), you might enjoy the throwbacks to the slashers of the '80s and '90s. It's a quick read and quite perfect for the beach--as long as you don't spook yourself in your beach house late at night when you hear a suspicious creak coming from downstairs. 👻

Pick it up. It's a lot of fun.

This was hella fun. Sure, it's got rich bitch kids doing rich bitch things on vacation without parental supervision. Too much drinking, dancing, and hooking up. But there's also a hurricane, the death anniversary of one of their friends, a haunted rental with a mass murder (still at large), and lots of suspects. I enjoyed all the pop culture references to horror movies and true crime. So many entertaining elements. Perfect summer read. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC

This is my first slasher book that I've read.
I'm familiar with the tropes and tools, but I've never actually taken the time to enjoy one..
Rektok Ross does an amazing job at exploring bullying and toxic friendships in this fast paced thriller.
I read it almost in one sitting and couldn't put it down!

Summer Rental took me on a twisty ride from the first to the last page.
In the synopsis is says a mix of Mean Girls and Scream, I think this is pretty spot on added in with some I Know What You Did Last Summer and it's a great fast paced thriller with thr besy 90s slasher vibes that would be great to read either by the pool or during a summer storm.
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It kept me on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what was going to happen next, and who was going to be left alive by the end.
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I will definitely be checking out this author's other work along with any future books!

Summer Rental is a standard locked room mystery.
A group of friends rent a house to be together before they scatter to colleges. All is well except that everyone has a secret. Plus, a member of the group had died a year before and the reason is not quite clear.
When the weather traps them all together, one by one are murdered.
It is a race against time to figure out who the killer is before they strike again.

Mean girls meets scream really does match this book well. I absolutely loved this book, I couldn't stop reading it. Really took me out of my reading slump.

This story really centers around a toxic female group of "friends". They are a group of rich bullies that essentially are only interested in themselves. Near the anniversary of their friends death, they rent a cabin for 4th July celebrations, but find themselves caught in the midst of a massive hurricane heading their way. Things go from bad to worse and friends go missing, and soon murders begin.

I loved the progressive story of this, however Riley whinged a bit too much for me. She was very judgmental towards jonathan (who is my type of guy, loved him)! Overall, it was really well written with a themselves atmosphere that keeps you page turning.

Loved the message at the end of the book with help.and advice for those being bullied. Highly recommend. 4.5 stars!

Riley and her not very nice friends are on vacation for their last big party of the summer, but someone has other plans for them. While it has a slow start, once the action starts it’s nonstop! I highly recommend this to anyone who likes old school horror movies; imagine Friday the 13th on a deserted island. .

Mean Girls meets Scream? I'm all about that! Riley and her friends go to a beach rental to spend their last Fourth of July together before college. For her, it's just a weekend, but for them it's also the anniversary of one of their former besties suicides. But, almost as soon as they get there a major hurricane is heading their way and two of the group have disappeared...

The first half is def more mean girls with foreshadowing of the slasher horror to come. And while this is advertised as Mean Girls meets Scream, I got a lot of I Know What You Did Last Summer vibes. Let me just say, these are some MEAN girls. As I texted a friend as I was reading, "so I'm ready for the Scream part" Told from the perspective of Riley, who moved to town and met them after the suicide of their other friend, we see how awful they treat her, at one point she acknowledges she's basically their accessory, but they're not much better to each other. When the hurricane hits and the shit starts to hit the fan things get interesting. While I wasn't particularly surprised by any of the twists, I did enjoy this book. And I really did like the end. It's not often that that is how a slasher ends.

As the author goes into in the author's note, this book was written to explore the dynamics of bullying and toxic female friendships. Bullying is real, especially among young women but people of all ages and stages get bullied and it's not ok. Now, hopefully the consequences aren't as dire as we witness is Summer Rental but the sad fact is sometimes they are. Bullying and toxic female friendships can sometimes result in devastating consequences. I'll never forget in hs when one of the "popular girls" commented on a pic from a drill team Disney trip that had a bunch of them and me (as I was one of the "hung out with the cool kids but never a cool kid") saying "one of these things is not like the other" It was devastating. Even as an adult I have had to pull back from relationships that have turned toxic. This is a topic that hits home with me.

This was my first thriller by Rektok Ross.. I was immediately drawn in by the cover. I’m a seasonal mood reader so a book about a summer rental appealed to me as well.

First Impressions:
Loved the cover! The colors were so vivid!

I wasn’t immediately immersed in the story. I found the characters to be pretty unlikable, which was probably the intention. Riley, the main character, was a bit more likable than the others in the group, but I felt like she needed to be fleshed out a bit more.

The story revolves around a group of mean girls reminiscent of Heathers. Rich and beautiful girls who have everything. Riley is an outsider and is invited into the group based on overhearing a conversation in the bathroom. She promises to keep it quiet and is brought into the fold.

Overall, this was a pretty fast read. Lots of action and the setting was great. A huge hurricane hits the summer rental which causes another element of terror and isolation.

I didn’t love the ending and wasn’t really pulled in by any of the characters. I’ll for sure give this author another try though!

Trigger warnings for suicide.

A group of friends share a rental house to celebrate graduation and July 4th in Florida as a hurricane barrels down on them. Secrets come out and one by one the group begins to disappear, who will survive the storm? Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, interesting read.

Checked out my own book to make sure the user experience would be optimal. Have to rate it so my media review stats stay solid. :)