3.5 ⭐️ rounded up. 0🌶️ I’ve been looking forward to reading this book ever since I stumbled upon the author promoting it on social. I was super excited to have the opportunity to read an eARC. The plot sounded super intriguing and I love everything Paris!

This book definitely kept me hooked as I was reading, wanting to know what would happen next and how they would get out. I think the author does a lot of telling instead of showing, but overall I enjoyed this book. An easy, fast thriller. I preordered the book months ago and I’m excited to receive it when it releases next week.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC.

I know we aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I think it’s OK just this one time. When I saw the Eiffel Tower with the skull-shaped tunnels hidden away below ground, I was already hooked. When I zoomed in to see the characters so close yet hopelessly separated from each either, I couldn’t wait to read this story.

Beyond the cover, I really enjoyed the setting and the premise for this YA thriller. The non-stop action had m hooked from beginning to end.

I did find a small amount of the dialogue to be a bit cringey, and I was slightly confused when the teens referred to innocent kissing as “hooking up.” Overall the characters are immature, but of course they are because they’re high schoolers in a YA novel. We can probably chalk most of these feelings up to my millennial-ness.

If you’re into CW shows and action-packed thrillers, you’ll loved Under the Surface.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for providing me with an advanced copy. All opinions expressed here are 100% honest and my own.

I was not sure how I was going to like this but boy did I! Getting lost in the Paris Catacombs is a scary fate but she will do whatever it takes to survive and he will do whatever it takes to find her. This kept my adrenaline going and very much enjoyed this read.

Thank you for allowing me to read this book early!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book. I'm not into thrillers, but when I came across an Instagram post about the upcoming book, I instantly knew I had to read it. The premise and the book cover basically sold me.

What do you do if you are lost in a dark labyrinth of ancient burial grounds? Under the Surface is an anxiety-inducing YA thriller that follows four teenagers trapped in the infamous Paris catacombs. With their survival and freedom on the line, will they be able to navigate the fear, betrayal, and danger lurking in the shadows?

I don't love the book, nor do I hate it. I liked the unique setting, and the plot twists were intense and gripping. The descriptions and the high stakes fight for survival were immersive, but the characters' emotions and their personalities needed more work. The focus on teenage drama was a bit too much for me and I wasn't really invested in the romance. I also felt like Sean and what transpired above ground were unnecessary, and the story should've zeroed in on what happened in the catacombs. Also, I was really annoyed with the lack of logic in some of the scenes/details that I just skipped those parts.

I really enjoy Diana Urban's books! Under the Surface was thrilling and fun. The storyline was inventive and fast paced. I’ll always enjoy her books!

I read this book in less than two days. I got so absorbed into the story that it triggered my claustrophobia a couple times.
And that is a compliment to the book; the storytelling had me feeling as if I were right there with the characters. It got so intense at times. I couldn't stop reading because I had to know what was going to happen. Do they survive? What is down there with them?
Talk about thriller, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time!
I did enjoy the breaks when we'd get the second pov of the friend on the outside.
This is about high schoolers so there was some teenage drama. It surprisingly wasn't annoying for me. I think it really added to the story.

I could not put this book down!!! It was so gripping, and the setting was so immersive. I loved seeing the growth in the characters, watching them fight for each other (and sometimes against each other!), and following along as certain bonds strengthened. I'll read anything Urban writes!!!

2.5✨

Writing this review breaks my heart, because I went into this with such high hopes. If I could've given this book 5 stars for the premise alone, I would've. It sounds like such a gripping and promising plot, with the Paris, France catacombs playing the eerie backdrop. But after that initial excitement over the plot, once you actually start reading... it fell flat in almost if not every way.

<i>Under the Surface</i> by Diana Urban is a young adult mystery thriller, with some horror elements that come into play further in the story, and a "romance" subplot that is so lackluster I question its inclusion to begin with. A cast of characters is introduced, but two "main" characters emerge from the pack, Ruby and Sean, and those are the two POVs we move back and forth between; with Ruby in danger in the catacombs and Sean on the outside, so it's split perspective.

Sean's POV and the outside world story wasn't engaging at all. It was BORING. I never felt a sense of urgency around any of the outside characters, and to have basically high school seniors running over your investigation, it's not how it works. The idea of Sean doing anything and everything he can to save Ruby is laughable because while he does make some great connections via technology, he's not the one actively investigating or on this mad hunt searching the catacombs for her. And maybe I've been out of high school for too long, but all the teachers were WAY too blasé about everything. Was this just done to make it easier for the HS characters to sneak around and have their own silly plots? Seems kind of obvious.

If you think Ruby's POV trapped in the catacombs with her group would be any better, you'd be wrong. There were 5 people trapped in the catacombs, and if you removed their names from all the lines, I wouldn't be able to pick out who said what, because there was either nothing there, or the most basic and OTT dialogue that felt soooo out of place. Every character was like a cardboard cutout, no personality. I wasn't drawn to anyone, no one got me to like them in any way, and I wasn't invested in their outcomes whatsoever.

This book was also ALL tell and no show. Every emotion or thought the character was feeling was written out exactly as is, "He was scared" "She was happy". It was just like reading a stream of consciousness, without letting the reader pick up on the nuances themselves.

My biggest complaint is having the main plot conflict of the story, being lost in the Paris catacombs, have the same weight of the subplot, the falling out of Ruby and her former best friend. To act as though that stupid, petty, high school conflict over a boy had the same weight as being LOST IN THE PARIS CATACOMBS... it would go from crying about dying in the catacombs to wailing about losing her bff over a boy, and there was NO DIFFERENCE IN EMOTIONAL REACTION BETWEEN THEM. Maybe I have been out of HS for too long, but if we are LOST IN THE PARIS CATACOMBS WITH LITTLE FOOD, WATER, DIRECTION, AND DANGER AFTER ME, the drama from HS would NOT be coming up on my mind as a pertinent topic.

To end this review, while I can't recommend this book (although I'm sure there is an audience out there for it), I don't think Diana Urban is a bad author. I can see sooooo much potential, just based on the awesome plot idea. Just needs some fine tuning to plot pacing and logic, characterizations, and showing, not telling. I wanted to FEEL trapped, FEEL claustrophobic, as these characters traveled underground, but the story just never went there.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a review.

This was riveting from the jump. Teenagers lost in the underground catacombs in Paris? It was also much scarier than I anticipated, but I was obsessed with Sean and Ruby and questioning everyone else throughout the whole book. The mystery of this book was more than just how to escape the catacombs, the addition of a mysterious death cult added some added tension and fear throughout the whole story. I read this book in one sitting and was shocked the whole time. Definitely would read more Diana Urban books!

Ruby is terrified to cave to her feelings for Sean and risk him crushing her heart.
Sean is pumped to spend a week with Ruby in Paris on their senior class trip, and he’ll wait however long until she’s ready to take things further.
But when Ruby’s best friend sneaks out the first night to meet a mysterious French boy, Ruby goes after her with two classmates, but caves to another temptation: attending mystery boy’s exclusive party in the Paris catacombs, the intricate web of tunnels beneath the city, home to six million long-dead Parisians. Only they never reach the party.
Underground, as something sinister chases them, they get lost in the endless maze of bones, uncovering dark secrets about the catacombs…..and each other. And if they can’t find a way out, they’ll die in the dark beneath the City of Light.
Aboveground, Sean races to find the girl he loves as a media frenzy over the four missing teens begins.

this book pretty much ended me. it had a incredible pacing, complex characters with plot twists, and the most extraordinary setting ever: the paris catacombs. ever single word had me gasping, and looking for more, and i didn’t want to stop reading. a thrilling, new and addicting YA mystery, this book delivered on everything it promised.

THOUGHTS

The melodrama here was just too much for me, though I can't exactly say I'm surprised. I can definitely see why Diana Urban's thrillers have been so popular, and These Deadly Games really did work for me. It balanced that signature dramatic flair just right. This one didn't quite hit the same balance.


PROS
Fascinating Concept: Though the execution here didn't really work for me (which was probably more of a me problem than a real problem), I really did love the choices Diana Urban made in building up this book. A summer trip to France, a budding travel vlogger, and a happy-to-show-them-around cataphile--something that many readers won't know much about. I know a bit about cataphiles, their love for and care of the catacombs that uphold Paris, and Diana Urban obviously did the work to understand this subculture as well in introducing and incorporating them into this book. And I love that.

Creepy Setting: I think there's also just something to appealing about using catacombs of any kind as a thriller setting, but especially catacombs as famous as the Parisian ones. Though I personally find mausoleums and monuments to the dead to be quite relaxing, I can understand the other side of that coin--and Urban really does balance respect and reverence with an unsettling quality in relating the history and creating the over-the-top dramatic survival/thriller story set in this unsettling liminal space.

Gross Descriptions: When things start going wrong--and not-as-long-dead-as-they-should-be bodies start turning up--Urban also really nails the gross factor. Which is important in a thriller like this. The ick needs to be real. It needs to add an element to the already-running-for-our-lives plot. It needs to instill a spine-tingling fear, and I think that Urban conjures that feeling up really well.


CONS
Will-They/Will-They: This book is set up like it's got a will-they/won't-they romantic subplot, but it really, truly doesn't have that. Because the sexual tension between Sean and Ruby is strong from the very first page, and there's absolutely no reason why they won't go for it. Sure, they list some flimsy and inconsistent reasons why they won't, but... Yeah, there wasn't really a reason, and if the story relies on that will-they/won't-they tension to make the romantic subplot, well, it really needs to toy with that line much better. This subplot fell kind of flat.

Awkward Descriptions: The descriptions of people in this book are... weird. They're weird, because this book is told in first person. And it's not that people won't notice specific details about others they encounter. It's not that you can't have a really detail-oriented narrator. It's just that these narrators (both of them, since it is dual-POV) aren't that observant in any other way. So when they're giving metaphor-laden, overly-flowery descriptions of people as they meet them... Yeah, it didn't ring true for me.

Little Details: The thing that really pulls me out of a story like this--that really compounds a melodramatic tale and makes that melodrama too much for me--is when the little details just don't match up with reality. I don't always mind a high-stakes, high-emotion thriller, but outside of the losing-their-minds, OTT characters, the world needs to be somewhat, well, grounded. And here, I just didn't get that. You're telling me these high schoolers, who haven't really left the USA, know how to navigate a city like Paris on their own? You're telling me they've got consistent phone service and they're not freaking out about international phone charges (on their own behalf or the behalf of their parents, who will kill them for these data charges when they get home)? You're telling me they're not conserving battery when they're in the catacombs with their phone flashlights as their only backup plant? They're not conserving water, even though at least one of these girls is meant to be "smart"? You're telling me the teacher chaperones are insisting to the classmates up above that everything's going to be alright, even though high schoolers famously don't buy any placating lie adults tell them? You're telling me all of this? These little details, these little choices, don't feel consistent and right, and so when paired with the high-tension, high-drama characters and plot, I just couldn't buy into it at all.


Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐
4/10

Fans of Kathryn Foxfield's Come Out, Come Out, Whatever You Are will like this uncomfortable underground space where things go horribly, horribly wrong. Fans of Kate A. Boorman's Into the Sublime will like the haunting (and potentially supernatural) quality to this quasi-urban environment.

I was really enjoying this book until the last 50 or so pages. Everything seemed a bit rushed and I wish we could've actually witnessed some events that are just mentioned. I did not see the point of the comment about how they are only getting attention in the media for the missing girls since they're all white. It put a bad taste in my mouth and just changed my whole view of the book. Overall, this book was okay. i didn't hate it and I didn't love it.

I enjoyed the setting of the Paris catacombs; the book definitely had some creepy, claustrophobic vibes. However I was left a bit disappointed.

I know this was a YA, but there was just so much focus on petty teen drama, even as these characters were trapped underground and trying to survive. It got old very fast, and I just don't care about who kissed whose crush. I was also underwhelmed by the bone worshipping cult; I was hoping the "something sinister" would be monsters or even some kind of zombie or ghost. Delusional people in masks was a bit of a letdown.

Ruby talked about how they had healing to do, but overall the ending felt a little sugar coated and glossy, without really delving into how this traumatic experience should have irrevocably changed Ruby and Selena forever. The whole "I'm just not going to let fear hold me back anymore!" feels tame and even outright cheesy given what they went through.

Still, it was a pretty fast paced read with a great spooky setting, and I'm sure a lot of readers will enjoy it.

Wow, just wow! I am obsessed with Under the Surface! This book gave me anxiety in the best way. It is not an exaggeration when I say my heart was literally pounding at some points.

I liked that we got the POV of both Ruby in the catacombs and Sean above ground but every time we jumped from Ruby to Sean my anxiety spiked- again in the best way. I really liked being in Sean's head and hearing his thoughts and feelings about Ruby, it raised the already sky-high stakes even higher. Both Ruby and Sean felt like real, flushed out people. The supporting cast was fairly strong and added well to the story.

I don't want this to be spoilery so I won't go into details but the twists were crazy. And they were as numerous as those in the catacombs but in a way that felt real and grounded in the story.

I have always really liked Diana Urban's writing but this book was honestly next level! When I was reading it, I was fully engaged, when I (begrudgingly) put it down, I couldn't stop thinking about returning to the catacombs to find out what would happen next. I highly recommend this book to literally anyone and everyone.

Under the Surface is a wild thriller with a heart pounding dose of horror. I was on my toes the entire time, and was almost relieved to put it down when I was done. Loved it!

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy to review

3 stars
——————

Never has a book made me feel quite so claustrophobic like this one.

I’m pretty neutral on this one. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. I enjoyed how unique the concept of this one was. I’ve never seen something like this done, and it was written in a way that made the reader feel closed in like the group of friends it followed. I squirmed around like I was the one trapped and in the unknown. The pacing is incredibly slow for the first half of the book, but the ending felt rushed. I wanted less wandering the catacombs and more of the actual action. We don’t get to fully enjoy the ending because it was very “behind closed doors” and I didn’t care for that. I still found it hard to put this book down once it picked up. Our villain storyline were definitely unique and I enjoyed how it developed, I just wanted more of it.

Our characters are pretty standard teens. There was nothing extraordinary about them and I didn’t connect with them well. Sean frustrated me, and I found I wanted to skip his POV, despite wanting that perspective of above the surface. Our side characters were a little more interesting for me, and I loved the strife and conflict they added to the story. The romance lacked depth to me, again because so much is seen off screen. It doesn’t develop over the book, it’s just there. We don’t see these characters together for the majority of the book so that chemistry is reliant on telling, not showing. It somehow overshadowed the action of the book, because it is discussed so often by the characters.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this book.

This young adult thriller was a wild ride. I will admit it took a little bit to get into the story, but once I was I couldn’t put it down. I did think there was a little bit too much of the drama, but it’s young adult and it did fit the plot. The writing was excellent and I thought both of the narrators were able to tell their story in a good way and they were both interesting characters. Ruby and her friends are on a trip with their high school visiting Paris. Ruby is excited to get some footage for her channel about finding travel gems. Ruby’s friend Val meets a man on their first day and sneaks away to go to a party he knows about. Ruby and a couple of other girls go out to try to stop her and all four of them go with the man down into the catacombs for a party. Soon they are lost in the catacombs, but unfortunately for them they’re also not alone. While I found the twists to be fairly predictable I did enjoy the story quite a bit. Definitely a fun ride and if you like adventure with some mystery I highly recommend this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers for an ARC this YA book in exchange for an honest review.

I found the premises, teens trapped in the French catacombs while on a trip, to be creepy and exciting. This was twist and exciting and a recommended read for a YA audience.

Under the Surface is a young adult novel full of suspense, horror, and betrayal, and while I'd argue this book reads more as a middle grade novel, the story reads very well and keeps your interest throughout the entire book. Although, I would've loved to see more horror aspects in the novel as nothing truly got under my skin and left me unsettled, it would've made this book feel more young adult to me.

I've always loved the idea of exploring the Paris catacombs as someone who took French lessons in middle school and high school AND visited France in 2019. This book was a delight to read and reminded me how much I love the city and its history.

Thank you, Penguin Teen, for giving me this opportunity to read and review this book!

Would you enter the Parisian catacombs when you’re on a class trip? And what would you do if you were trapped, especially with your current best friend, ex best friend, an annoying girl, and a mysterious boy? Ruby loves traveling but maybe this time she got more than she bargained for.
I will always read Diana Urban’s books but I will never love them as much as I want to. Her writing is beautiful but often times, the characters and plot fall flat and that was the case here. I’ve also never been to Paris so it did feel fake and too hype to be real. I liked the concept but it really wasn’t executed the way I expected.
Under the Surface got 2.75 ⭐️ from me! It publishes August 13!
Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!