What happens when entitled teenagers with history end up trapped in a remote winter cabin? Told from multiple points of view, this thriller had me guessing all the way through. While I haven't read anything else from Alex Donne, this one won't be my first. Great plot, interesting characters, "chilling" setting--Recommended.

𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ★★★★☆
𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠: Master of None by Beach House
𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: mystery • thriller • ya

🕯️❄️🧣🏚️👀❓🔪

I would describe this book as a modern, teen retelling of And Then There Was None by Agatha Christie. The book takes place in a secluded cabin on top of a snowy mountain, which I really liked. I think the setting and the general plot was super good, but there were points where the execution was lacking. For example, some of the flashbacks were weirdly structured and didn't make much sense. I also felt like the ending was rushed, and a little predictable. The writing was ok, but confusing at points. However, I did enjoy reading this book. I wouldn't say I was on the edge of my seat, but I was interested. There was just a lot happening at once. I gave the book 4 stars because the plot and setting was really good, and I was intrigued during the first 3/4 of the book. The ending just doesn't settle well with me. I don't feel like there was much closure, but maybe that was the author's intention.

One thing I wasn't expecting was for this book to be written from 3 different perspectives. Each chapter was a different girl's perspective, Willa, Delany, or Piper. The characters all kind of annoyed me at the start but Piper grew on me because of her love of true crime. Delany was really annoying. Willa was fine, minus some questioning actions. The other side characters were ok, but no one really stood out.

8 teens are trapped on a school retreat from hell. Without their phones and no way to get off the mountain, the group will be forced to wait out the storm in an old cabin. And as the weather gets worse, so do the tensions in the cabin. Everyone has secrets, and this group isn't exempt. But a death in the cabin will cause the group to question everything they believe to be true. Including whether or not the death was an accident. And when a 2nd death occurs, they will be forced to consider the possibility of murder. However, as the bodies start to rack up murder is no longer a possibility, in fact it might be the only truth. To figure out who in the group is a murder, they will be forced to dig through lies and loyalties, all while on borrowed time.

Thank you to Random House Children's and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review!

ells.library💋

I thought this was really well written and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I think it will find readers at our library, so we will definitely be purchasing for the collection.

One of Us is Lying meets Yellowjackets in Alexa Donne's THE BITTER END, a ferocious, twisty murder mystery that keeps you guessing.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of The Bitter End. I really enjoyed The Ivies and Pretty Dead Queens, so I was excited to see The Bitter End! The premise was great -- I love a And Then There Were None retelling. Overall, the story was interesting, but the multiple perspectives ended up becoming a real issue for me. I found myself flipping back to the beginning of chapters to see whose perspective I was in; there just wasn't enough difference in each character's voice for me to notice without a cue like a reference to a sling, the character's weight, or clinging to Liam's arm. I'm not a reader who typically struggles with multiple perspectives, but in this case my inability to distinguish between characters pulled me out of the story and slowed down the momentum that's necessary for this type of tale. Unfortunately, The Bitter End just wasn't a hit for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me an Advanced Reading Copy of this book!

Where do I begin? I loved loved loved every moment in this book. Alexa Donne’s storytelling is AMAZING, the characters are all relatable and I can’t wait for it to come out so I can recommend it to my teens at work. The teens in the story are the types of characters who even if they aren’t a 1:1 copy of the teen reading, there are elements of each that make them real. Sometimes when reading YA books the teens seem very fake, and almost like the author doesn’t know what teens are like. But that was NOT the case here. I can’t say enough good things about it!

This book was fabulous! I really loved how everything fit together in the end, and how there were so many little clues to help you figure out what had happened. I love how the author tries to mislead you and make you think the story will end differently. Altogether, it was a great book with a really cool twist ending.

I am a sucker for locked room mysteries. This is a great locked room mystery suitable for teen readers where teenagers at an elite high school are on what is basically a field trip on a mountain -- but it's not the trip they signed up for. Bad things start happening and secrets are revealed! There weren't any perfectly good people but I liked some of them and the story was interesting. I would definitely recommend this to people who enjoy thrillers.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

A senior excursion ski trip that no one wanted to be on in the first place. What could go wrong?

A group of teens find themselves on the ski trip from hell when a winter storm traps them in their cabin with no way out. Due to a digital detox, they don’t have their phones to call for backup. Their chaperone has gone off on a snowmobile to track down help, but hasn’t returned. To top it off, there’s a killer on the loose and it’s up to them to figure out who it is before it’s too late. Secrets and betrayals that are meant to stay hidden start coming out and no one knows who to trust. When people keep dropping dead and the past creeping up on them, it’s starting to look like the trip wasn’t an accident at all. How are they going to survive?

Told from multiple POVs, this was fast paced and entertaining. I enjoyed the characters, even though most were vapid, insecure and ruthless bullies. However, the cliches worked for the story.

The ending wasn’t jaw dropping, but there were absolutely a few twists that will keep you guessing! The reasoning behind the spree itself was mid, but I think the twists helped it a bit. The overuse of teen slang came off as trying a bit too hard, however it didn’t deter me completely from the story itself.

Overall, I really enjoyed this YA thriller and it had the right formula to work. This book is definitely worth the read!

Thank you Net Galley and Random House Children for the arc of this book! This is the first book I have read by Alexa Donne and I thoroughly loved her writing style. The book is easy to get through the chapters were short and I think anyone can read this in one day. In a day and age where it gets easier and easier to put a book down and not pick it back up again I kept coming back to this book every time I put it down. I was so curious about the characters and who would torture this friend group and why. I will say the reveal was not super mind blowing and the characters weren't super likable and that is the only reason I did not give this book 5 stars, but I think it's definitely a book worth reading and one I will be recommending.

The twists and turns just kept on coming! This book gave me whiplash in the best way.

I loved diving into the morally gray characters, trying to figure out everyone’s motivations, and trying to identify the killer! I will definitely read this again, and recommend to thriller readers everywhere!

Wow wow wow. I could have not imagined this to be as good as it was. But here I am telling you about it. I loved it and I was so sad it ended.

If Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None was YA. SO much fun. I could not put this down. I really did not suspect the killer, which is always a positive for me. If you enjoy fun, you’ll love this book.

I have always enjoyed this author. This book is definitely another example of why I will be adding this author to my auto-read list. Think of this as “And Then There Were None” in a snowed in ski cabin. I definitely got it all wrong. But what I truly appreciated was how creeped out I felt at the big reveal (no spoilers) but basically that type of killer is not explored a lot in YA mystery. The only thing to make it better would have maybe been less pov’s.

Do you enjoy an unhinged tale where the bodies drop like it is never going to end? This book is a roller coaster of plot twists with multiple narrators and time lines. I really loved the ride and it is going to be a great release for the autumn/winter!

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing an advanced readers copy of this book to be released October 15, 2024.

This book had me hooked until the bitter end. It's one of my favorite reads of the year and gets five easy stars.

Imagine being snowed in at an Airbnb in the Colorado mountains with eight teenagers and a guidance counselor. That's the setting of this mystery, perfect for a cozy fall or winter read. As the temperature drops, so too does the teenagers' morale. And that was before the first body turned up.

I thought I'd solved the mystery by the 20% mark, but my guess was way off! That's part of why I love this story so much—there are so many red herrings that keep you guessing. All of the characters have a motive and the means for murder. Is it Eden trying to grow her social media following? Delaney, trying to get back at her boyfriend for cheating on her with her former best friend? Or maybe it's Liam, the charming Boy Scout who didn't have his bag checked upon their arrival. One thing is for sure—some of them won't be making it home.

This book is also beautifully written. It's told through three main POVs and alternates between the present timeline and a party that happened three years prior. A rigged deck of "Oh, the Humanity!" and several threatening messages make it clear that the party is connected to the ongoing murders.

Speaking of POVs, I really connected with the characters in this story. Piper is probably my favorite. She identifies as asexual, loves mystery podcasts, and makes several smart decisions throughout the book. I picked her as a final girl in the opening chapter (you'll have to read the book to see if I was right!). I also looked forward to Delaney's chapters. She got accepted into Yale and plans to work for a do-good political-action committee. She also fits in with the popular crowd, which creates an interesting dynamic in the group.

This book was everything I hoped for and more. I was looking for a modern-day mystery like Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None," and Alexa Donne delivered! This was my first time reading a novel by this author, and I'll definitely look for more by her in the future.

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Netgalley and the publisher; all opinions are my own.

I’ll admit that I was kind of like, well, let’s see how this stacks up, but I’ve been reading a lot of “And Then There Were None”-type plots lately, and I don’t know…

Folks, this was good. I was right there, trapped in a house on top of a mountain in Colorado during a snowstorm with eight potential murderers for a few hours yesterday and today, and I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Donne knows how to keep you guessing and off-kilter, so that you go back and forth in your mind about who the culprit is. There’s a couple of twists in here that legitimately made me gasp.

This book is sure to be a hit for the YA thriller fans, no matter the age. Look for it in October!

Now I need to go check out the author’s other books…

I received an eARC from NetGalley and Random House Children’s (thank you so much!). I am writing this view entirely voluntarily.

Big thank you to PRH and NetGalley for sending me this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Bitter End - Five Stars - Fun read, keeps you on your toes, wonderful setting, isolation trope with a killer. Love love love!

Alexa Donne's storytelling grows stronger with every book she releases. The Ivies was a favorite of mine, but The Bitter End may have dethroned it in my books. She has the ability to twist characters into realistic monsters that I find myself struggling to not relate to. Her settings are perfect for the tropes/plot.

First up, the premise is delicious. A bunch of snippy rich and famous, and not so rich and famous, teens with tense relationships all around, are shipped off to a remote mountain in the middle of nowhere. All of our characters were supposed to go on a different senior trip, but at the last minute were switched to this digital detox mindfulness adventure. It doesn't take long for bodies to start dropping. While at first, it may seem like an accident, it doesn't take the group long to realize the first death, and this whole trip was no accident. And, with a blizzard crashing the party, they're stuck on a mountain with a killer.

Also, the dual-timeline? Absolutely amazing! The slow build of garnering details as characters slowly remember their past (crappy) actions is fantastic. It was such a good detail and I'm so happy Donne went for it! It really paid off for me

I ate it up, truly. I love when books are just a good time. It was so much fun to read! I am notoriously bad at guessing who the killer is in thriller books (years of academy training watching Criminal Minds, WASTED!), and Donne always does a good job of making me fall for the red herrings. I don't think I've guessed one of her killers to date. She needs to write more thrillers and I need to start guessing better to up my percentage rates (I just saw she's writing an adult thriller, so I'm super excited about that!).
So, like I said, the red herrings are wonderful. Everyone has a motive, everyone has an angle, and everyone has an excuse (until they're dead oops). It's all believable, but not frustrating. It's not a dangled carrot in my face mocking me for not getting it right. Like I said, it's so much fun.

I highly recommend picking up The Bitter End when it comes out this October. The atmosphere is perfect for that fall-into-winter season. It's twisty, it's fun, it has good disability representation! What more can you ask for?

THE QUEEN IS BACK!!!

I've been waiting for Donne's next book for a LONG time, and The Bitter End did NOT disappoint!! I was drawn in immediately by the setting, a remote ski cabin in the mountains where a group of eight teens find themselves stranded with a killer who may be one of their own. The tension was tightened inside the cabin as a blizzard blew in, making this a true closed room thriller that is also a ton of fun.

This latest novel also showcases Donne's growth as a writer over the past few years. The prose is descriptive, the story well-paced and the MANY twists and turns were just . . . *chef's kiss*. A VERY well executed thriller with all the right beats.

Couldn't put it down and already ready for the next one!!

In short, I loved it. Loved the twists, the red herrings, and the retelling aspect. I thought I had it figured out about halfway through, but I was wrong. And then by the end, maybe I was right after all?! I don’t know, but I look forward to a sequel if there is one! Alexa Donne is fast becoming one of my favorite YA thriller writers and an auto buy for me.

It’s a large cast with multiple POV, dual timeline, and crossover dating in the friend group, so I did have to scroll back to the 1st page of a chapter occasionally to remember whose POV I was in, but that wasn’t distracting enough to be a problem.