I love novels by Hannan Mary McKinnon and this one was no different. I loved how hooked on this novel I was from beginning to end and waiting to see what would happen next,. It was a fast-paced, addicting read that I would recommend.

Hannah Mary McKinnon delivered us another gripping thriller with Only One Survives!! This is a dark and twisted tale that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The story follows Vienna Taylor, a drummer whose dreams of making it big turn into a nightmare when her friends and bandmates die one by one after a horrific accident on a snowy winter night!

What I loved most about this book were the flashbacks to the time before the accident. These scenes gave so much depth to the relationships between the band members, especially Vienna and Madison. It added an emotional layer, making me care about the characters and their dynamics, which only made the events after the accident all the more chilling. These glimpses into their past felt like puzzle pieces slowly falling into place, giving context to the mystery that was unfolding before my eyes.

You are kept guessing through the entire book, with twists that had me questioning everyone's motives, especially Madison’s. Definitely Madison’s!!
The isolated cabin setting amps up the tension, and the slow reveal of what really happened to The Bittersweet was worth the wait. While I would have liked a bit more development in the final act, the book delivers a thrilling ride with a spine chilling conclusion. This book was full of suspense and emotional stakes!

Vienna Taylor and Madison Pierce became friends their senior year of high school, after getting into a fight on the first day. While serving detention together, they discover they both love music - both listening to it and playing it. The girls couldn’t be more different, with Madison’s wealthy upbringing and Vienna’s alcoholic abusive mother and creepy stepfather. But they have each other, and that’s what counts. After Madison leaves for college, Vienna figures their garage band days are over, as she’s stuck in their home town taking care of her ailing grandmother. After Grams dies, her mother kicks her out. Madison offers her a place to stay in her Brooklyn apartment with no hesitation, and in time, they start working on music again. After a performance goes viral, they add three more members to their group and give it a name - The Bittersweet. They’re on their way to big things when one day a car accident ends it all. At the end of it all, only one member of the band survives…but not because of the accident. One person lets the promise of fame lead them to do terrible things.

This was SO good! A true psychological suspense in my opinion - it check all the boxes: unreliable narrator, dual timeline, a bunch of terrible people (along with some innocent ones), and the added aspects of social media and the music industry. Most of the characters were unlikeable but the author still made it possible to empathize with them (to a point!). This is my first book by this author and it certainly won’t be my last!

This was an unsettling train wreck that you just cannot look away from, and I was invested in all of it. From the very beginning we are thrown into the action and trying to piece together everything that has already happened along with what we know about the characters and their relationships with each other. Then, watching everything unfold was just jaw dropping. I was instantly drawn into the story and read this in record time. There are quite a few characters at the beginning and I thought I would be confused but I settled in quickly and had no issues. Loved this one and definitely recommend it!

This book gave me all the "Yellowjackets" vibes, and I was loving it!! I really enjoyed the twisty, toxic friendships, the love-to-hate characters, and the middle of the way reveal. I could see this as a movie in my head, so I hope some day that that happens.

I really like Hannah Mary McKinnon’s writing, so I looked forward to this novel. Well written, I read this book within a day, and was pretty intrigued through the first half of the novel, and couldn’t put it down, The second half lost me a bit, although there really was an interesting twist to the storyline. Although it wasn’t my favourite book from McKinnon, I did enjoy it overall and do look forward to her next novel.
Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA for this ARC!
3.5/5

“All drummer Vienna Taylor ever wanted was to make music. If that came with fame, she'd take it-as long as her best friend, guitarist Madison Pierce, was sharing the spotlight and singing lead.
And with their new all-female pop rock band gaining traction, soon everyone would hear their songs...

Except, on the way to an event, the Bittersweet's van careened off an icy mountain road during a blizzard-leaving one member dead and another severely injured.
In order to survive the frigid night, the rest took shelter in a nearby abandoned cabin. But Vienna's dreams devolved into a terrifying nightmare as, one by one, her fellow band members met a gruesome end…..and Madison simply vanished in the night.

What really happened to the Bittersweet? Did Vienna's closest friend finally decide to take center stage on her own terms?
She doesn't want to believe it.
But guilty people run.”

I was a little hesitant to read this as I figured the focus would be on the band part. But it was more on Vienna and Madison’s life, how they became best friends, and their story during and after high school.


Part 1 was great. I was so into it. Loved the different timelines, especially the time before the accident. Part 2 bored me. It was basically the same as part 1. This book was longer than it needed to me in my opinion.


Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for a DRC. Only One Survives is available no.

Thank you so much for an early copy. Unfortunately I could not stay interested in it. But I know many will love this

This was a thriller with a few good twists but I just had a hard time getting really interested in what happened to the characters. None of the characters were very likable and the story seemed to drag on in a few parts. The fmc was self absorbed and immature and her narration was repetitive at times. Overall the book was interesting but I never really got invested or cared too much what was going on. I think it could have been stronger. Thank you NetGalley for the digital copy.

Omg is all I can say about this book! This book had me guessing the whole time. Definitely a page turner I couldn’t put it down. I had no idea what was coming and was totally not expecting the ending. Definitely recommend and will definitely read more from this Author!

Thank you to HTP Books for sending me a copy of ONLY ONE SURVIVES. This one is out July 16.

I really enjoyed this book. It put me through a roller coaster of emotions and really left me doubting my own instincts of where it was going the whole time. The characters, the atmosphere and a girl pop punk band, what else could you ask for?I love Hannah Mary McKinnon and will always have her on my auto read list.

Let me start by saying that I was heavily invested in this premise -- an all-girl rock band on their rise to fame, thwarted by a freak car accident and possibly murder? Heck yeah.

How this transpires is where the novel fell flat for me. Up until the second half, I devoured this story and couldn't wait to see what happens next. Once I got to the major "twist" in the back half of the book, I literally groaned. To me, it felt like the story needed varying perspectives. I'm all for an unreliable narrator, but COME ON.

The reader is also required to suspend disbelief with much of this book as well. A fast and entertaining read for sure, and maybe it was just me looking at other reviews. Take my feedback with a grain of salt, I suppose!

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Absolutely loved this book, the first part is interesting as it tells the story of what happened to the band at the cabin following the car crash. I loved the back and forth of how the band came together as well as how Madison and Vienna became friends and the hard times Vienna had. What got me was the second part, everything following the crash and how Vienna was dealing with the fallout. The first part keeps you guessing about things and the second part turns everything you thought on its head! I absolutely could not stop reading this book and needed to know how everything would end!

This book was so good! I had the privilege of working alongside this author to promote her work and so I was super stoked to receive a physical and e-book arc. This book was so intoxicating! I found myself turning the page, wanting to know more about who the bittersweet were and what happened to them. Great read!

What's not to love about this book? Music, friendship, confusion, death. A little bit of everything for your reader. Not your usual storyline, but keeps you guessing.

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 4.75⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: thriller📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
Wowza this one was a wild ride!

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Unreliable narraters
Toxic realtionships
Rock bands
Lots of characters
Multiple timelines
Bingable reads
Gave me Daisy Jones and The Six vibes but with murder
All the suspense
Eerie setting
Jaw dropping twists
Locked door element

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
I was hooked in right from the start
Mixed media throughout

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
Dragged on a little bit at first

This was such a great story! Following along Vienna, the drummer of the band The Bittersweet, as she retells her story and the accident that left 3 bandmates dead, one missing and her the sole survivor from the band. So twisty, didn’t see those turns coming!

This one was captivating right from the very first chapter, and kept me hooked the entire time. I love this author’s books, and this one did not disappoint!

Easily, McKinnon's most twisty work yet. I'm absolutely delighted with this one and would even read it again. That's says a lot for a Psychological Thriller. There was something so <i>Crime & Punishment</i> in this character work. It was very well executed, IMO.

In Only One Survives, we follow Vienna and Madison, long-time friends who end up following their childhood dreams and successfully create their own all-female rock band. Unfortunately, just as the band, The Bittersweet, is gaining traction in the music scene, the van they're traveling in on their way to an event, loses its traction and careens off a mountain road during a blizzard.

After the vehicle settles, they discover one bandmate dead and another severely injured. Luckily, the girls are able to locate an abandoned cabin nearby and take shelter there from the storm. What should have been a safe haven though, ultimately results in even more death. The final shock is Madison actually disappearing into the night, her outcome unknown.

The trauma of that horrific night has messed with Vienna's memories. She can hardly decipher the reality from her nightmares. Unsurprisingly, the tragedy of The Bittersweet becomes a bit of a legend in pop culture. The Reader alternates back and forth through time and characters. There's some interesting mixed media elements, with online platforms discussing the mystery behind what actually happened to The Bittersweet. There are a lot of theories, of course, as there often are after a tragedy such as this, but no one really knows.

Only the survivors would know, or would they?

I absolutely loved my time reading this book. It felt like an experience. I did end up listening to the audiobook and felt the narration was perfect for the story. These characters were super engaging. I was hooked into Vienna and Madison's friendship. We got a lot of details from their earlier lives and really got to see their relationship blossom and their reasons behind their sort of codependency. It was fascinating.

Additionally, I do tend to love stories featuring music, or musicians, so this definitely played right into those tastes. I know there are a ton of wonderfully-talented individuals writing in the Adult Thriller space, but IMHO, Hannah Mary McKinnon is thus far underrated. One of the things I love most about her work is that she's constantly improving. Each book, she's just crushing it, taking risks and doing different things. This one is a journey, and she def got me with some of the reveals.

I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

Thank you to the publisher, MIRA, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I would recommend this one to all the Thriller Readers out there who love the use of mixed media elements, strong character development and jaw-dropping twists!

A female rock group produces a big hit and are on their was to superstardom when they are involved in a tragic car accident and their world implodes.
    Although this is an absorbing murder/psychological thriller with an assortment of intriguing characters woven through it, what the author really presented was how personalities change with fame.    
    The money was not enough, the social media wasn't promoting them enough. There was the bickering: who took credit for the writing, who brought more to the table, who was getting more attention from the fans.
    There's sabotage in his once tight group and long time relationships become meaningless. It's every "man" for themselves. there's only going to be one winner and the reader will be surprised at who prevails and how.
    A page turner!