Once the story hit its climax, it never let up. The ending was probably the best part of this novel. I did enjoy the setting and the psychological aspects of this mystery. There were also what felt like a few Easter eggs related to the 1985 cinematic masterpiece Clue starring Tim Curry. So that was fun to see pop up now and again. I think I would have liked a bit more time in the beginning to get my footing with all of the characters before we started in on the action. But this was still a good time.

I love a closed-room mystery more than almost any other novel conceit and Alexa Donne's The Bitter End hits every mark. Every cliche and trope is covered to great effect: true crime obsessed rich kids are snowed in at a cabin, they have no cell service and their phones have been taken, and their guidance counselor disappears early on. As the bodies start to pile up, motives pour out like an open faucet and everyone is both a target and potential killer.

It's time for the Senior Excursion at Warner Prep and rich kids Delaney, Declan, Eden, Camille, Wyatt, and Liam have lucked out of their first pick choices and into a less-than-ideal digital detox retreat at a snowy cabin in the mountains. Scholarship kids Piper and Willa are also there.

Their first day is easy and complete with cross-country skiing and a casual dinner, but everything takes a turn when Eden drugs their chaperone and guidance counselor, Ms. Silva, and talks the rest of the group into playing a strip card game that feels oddly pointed and which later pivots to a classic teenage drinking game that easily turns into a mean-spirited shitshow, Never Have I Ever. We learn all about these privileged kids and the horrible things they've done together, so it's no shock when they wake up in the morning to one of their own dead on the couch. He's had an allergic reaction to amaretto and his EpiPen, which he always diligently carries, is nowhere to be found.

From there, the novel spirals into the finger-pointing, let's split up chaos that anyone familiar with closed room mysteries like Clue, Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (which Donne acknowledges was inspiration for the book), or the more contemporary Bodies, Bodies, Bodies will recognize and love. Donne does an excellent job leaving breadcrumbs for the reader in the form of flashback chapters that paint a picture of cliques, changed relationships, and high-stakes teenage tension. The setting, a Blizzardy ski chalet, is just icing on the cake.

The Bitter End does what it sets out to do and more. The story is compelling and prompted me to buy Donne's other books. It may have been predictable if you pay close attention to the characters and their motives, but that's okay with me. I WANT to be able to solve the crime as it's unfolding. My only complaint was that the characters blend together early on, so keeping track of who is who was a bit of a challenge until the pack starts to get thinned. But once a few bodies get piled up, the novel flies and will be an ideal cozy cabin read when it comes out in October.

A secluded murder mystery with a group of teens trapped in a large cabin during a blizzard. Everyone has secrets. The perfect set up. But unfortunately, that setting and the very beginning of this book was the best part.
Now I love a villain character or an antihero. But all of these characters were so self involved and vapid that I could not find one reason to root for any of them. They had no redeeming traits. They were also so similar that I kind of couldn't keep straight who had done what in the past timeline and who was with who, now. You could have switched any of them and it wouldn't have mattered. They were the same character just with a different name. Now this was hard to put down because I did really want to know the answers. So if you are looking for a fast mystery read, this could be for you.

Thank you to the publisher for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I previously read Donne's earlier book and enjoyed it, so I was delighted to be approved for The Bitter End. I hate snow, skiing, and cold weather, but a bunch of students stuck in a house during a snowstorm, cut off from the world as bodies start piling up? Sign me up.

I was initially a little worried about the multiple characters, but we only get a few points of view so it's not as hard to follow the different characters. I had to remind myself whose pov it was if I put the book down, which I didn't want to do.

Thriller wise, with plot and pacing was A+. Each character was hiding something, and it was tricky to remember the little Easter eggs or clues being dropped along the way. I wasn't as interested in the flashbacks to 3 years ago at Declan's party, but the events of that night tie into the Senior excursion trip to Colorado. A few of the characters surprised me more than others who seemed like stereotypical Gen Z kids. And that ending had us questioning everything all over again. If I were (redacted character), I wouldn't go on that cruise with (redacted character).

Book is available October 15th, 2024. 4/5☆

I suspected different people at different times and everyone is suspicious in a way. I was surprised when I found out who it was. The book flashes back and forth between a party that happened several years ago that cause some drama and now. To be honest, one thing that bothered me was that at the end there was a mystery that was never solved or explained of what happened. I am not sure if this will be corrected by time they release the official copy, but I feel that it should be.

I did enjoy this book. I love a good who done it book!

A group of friends get trapped in a big house on a Colorado snow engulfed mountain with the storm of the century raging outside.

One by one, the friends start dropping like flies. In the beginning, it was just an accident, right? But as more bodies pile up, it becomes evident that this is no accident and someone is on the hunt for each of the friends. Revenge is a great thing.

When a winter storm traps eight teens in a remote ski cabin, they find themselves stranded with a killer—who may be one of their own.

A classic plot with great execution. I enjoyed the atmosphere and plot twists and overall vibe of this book.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I loved a good locked-room mystery especially when the characters are systematically getting killed off. I've watched Donne's YouTube channel on and off over the years but this is the first book of hers that drew me in with the synopsis. I ended up enjoying this far more than I was expecting to. While multiple characters were sometimes insufferable to read from the perspective of, this was something felt intentional. These characters were supposed to be stuck-up rich kids.

The mystery was great as well, and I found myself sucked into this book. I read it over one flight and was engrossed the whole time. I really liked the reveal and the individual murders. Overall, It was a really fun book and it made me want to read another by this author.

Loved this book! Thought I had the killer figured out the whole time. I love being wrong! I enjoyed how twisty this book was.

I was unable to finish this book and thus will not be posting a full review. I found myself bored and there were so many similar characters that I had a hard time keeping track. Thank you for the opportunity and consideration.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was slow going at times, and there were some typos, but I did like it. I will try more books by her. It didn't let me review on the app after reading, so I had to do it while online. It did remind me of the Ruth Ware book titled One by One, however, I know that there are so many different books out there, that it would be hard to have something at least not similar.

too ya for me. i was so disappointed, i wasn't expecting the teenagers to act so childish 30 pages in. i don't ever want a ya book to have the line "ok boomer" ever again

I liked this book. I did not love it which is a shame as the plot and the premise sounded really good.

I am going to rate this 3 stars but I believe it is just a matter of who is the audience for this style of writing. It's not me, but perhaps YA will get into it more.

The witing kind of felt all over the place for me and honestly, it was a bit boring as I kept hoping it would improve. I do not feel it did, but like I saiid others may like it a lot.

Fun 10 little Indians-style romp for the YA set, Definitely leans adult. I appreciated the mystery and POV work in the second half. The first half dragged a bit and found characters harder to track…. I did enjoy the ending and murderer reveal, but found the final page “twist” (or whatever the takeaway was supposed to be) fell a little flat. Giving this 3.75 stars and rounding up.

Revenge is best served by Alexa Donne!! This is my second book I’ve read and the plot and twists gets me every time. This book is clue meets mean girls, it follows the kids of Warner prep on their school excursions. At the last second a group of friends gets bumped from their requested trips to a digital free weekend in the snowy mountains. The book alternates narrators and time periods. The end will leave you breathless.

Before I get into the review, a quick thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers over at Random House Children's for allowing me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. In The Bitter End, we follow eight teens from an LA prep school on their winter retreat. Most kids gets to spend a week in Paris speaking French or a week touring castles in the U.K. But these eight kids gets stuck on a ski slope in Colorado. How did they wind up here? And what will they do when they realize there's a murderer in their midst? The Bitter End comes out on October 14th and is available for preorder now.

This was a fun and fast paced read that definitely built up steam as it went on. I think the highlights for this book for me were the pace and the thrilling elements of the story. Once the story hit its climax, it never let up. The ending was probably the best part of this novel. I did enjoy the setting and the psychological aspects of this mystery. There were also what felt like a few Easter eggs related to the 1985 cinematic masterpiece Clue starring Tim Curry. So that was fun to see pop up now and again. I think I would have liked a bit more time in the beginning to get my footing with all of the characters before we started in on the action. But this was still a good time.

I struggle with how to explain my chief complaint with this one because it's not something I've seen happen often enough to know how to voice it. There are a few moments throughout the novel where you're reading from the perspective of a character and then suddenly you lose clarity in the actions. Suddenly something you don't understand happens and it's vague and weirdly convoluted. There's one moment in particular that sticks out here for me which is when a girl is skiing down the mountain on the first day and racing another girl and suddenly the first girl is tripped up. And I think the point was to add some mystery here: did the other girl trip her? Was it an accident? Or did the first girl trip herself in order to blame the other girl and get others to turn on her? And I just don't know if you can rely on making moments intentionally vague in order to push a mystery story forward, especially when every other moment in the novel is crystal clear.

Overall, this was a fun and fast read for me (despite having very few hours to devote to reading this week). I'm also eyeing up some of this author's previous work to see if I might want to read something from their backlog.

WOW. I was mind blown with The Bitter End by Alexa Doone.

Before the book began, Alexa Doone mentioned how one of her favorite tropes is being trapped in a who-done-it situation. This book took that to an exhilarating level.

8 high school seniors (think posh, rich and slightly out of touch) go on their senior trip to the Colorado mountains with only a guidance counselor as supervision. People start dropping like flies and it’s an intense read to find out who is at the root of all the deaths.

I truly was blindsided by the killer. The characters were written well and the way we bounced between characters was smooth. Highly recommend!

The Bitter End is a YA, locked-room (stranded on a snowed-in mountain cabin), nail-biting thriller. I was very much invested in this book and read it in about 3 sittings. I thought there were a lot of characters at the beginning to keep track of, but we start whittling away at the characters as they start dying. The deaths look like they could be accidental, but as they continue and motives start to pop up, we figure out that the deaths are intentional. I was hooked and trying to figure out which character's motive made them most likely to be the killer. I was disappointed with the ending since the killer (possible spoiler) was the one with the least developed motive, in my opinion. Overall this was a gripping, entertaining, YA thriller that I enjoyed reading and would recommend!

This book was absolutely insane! I thought I knew what the ending was going to end up being, but then in the last 100 pages everything I thought went up into flames. The end of this book just kept having me audibly gasping because I was so shocked at the things that were being revealed. The characters I thought were really accurately high schoolers, like the way they conversed and fought with each other. I only actually liked one of the characters but I think that that was a positive for the book because it made the mystery more interesting on who was going to get killed. This book was a roller coaster and I am still recovering from the shock of it.

Its time for the senior excursions and this one is a trip they will never forget. And for some it may be the last trip they ever take.

7 seniors and 1 counselor are stranded in a house on the top of mountain in a winter snow storm. Detached from the world with no phones, wi-fi or power, something sinister starts to take place and reality set in that help is not coming anytime soon.

Alexa Donne has transported me directly into a teen-slasher with all the best parts. This story was one of my favorite reads recently because when I say I could not put it down I MEAN IT! It felt like I was in a game of clue yet snuggled up on the couch with my favorite murder pod.

This was campy, twisty, thrilling, chilling and so much more. I was left guessing until the very end, even when I thought I had it all figured out my brain was sent on a spiral and my jaw was left on the floor.

This is a teen slasher that needs to make it to your TBR list immediately. You will not be disappointed.