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.

I loved this twisty, turny mystery! It was a lot of fun to read, and I was 100 percent bought into the red herring suspect! Nice work!

My biggest complain was that I had a tough time keeping these characters straight. They almost weren't distinct enough. I'd find myself halfway through a chapter and having to go back and think "wait, WHOSE chapter is this again?" I enjoyed the mystery and it kept me guessing, but I've enjoyed Donne's other books more. I did, however, love the atmospheric setting of this novel. I'd recommend this for a read for that alone!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was okay. The mystery intrigued me and it was a very quick read but I found myself more than once just wishing it would hurry up and get to the reveal already. I seemed to enjoy the first half of the book much more than the second half so I'm unsure if this was a simple case of the book being too long. None of the characters were particularly likeable but this was intentional and helped to aid the mystery of the story.

Thank you so much to the author and RHCB for sending me an eARC in a giveaway!

THE BITTER END is a chilling, twisty multi-POV thriller about a group of prep school students forced onto a digital detox in the mountains for their senior excursion. What starts as a simple retreat soon turns deadly when one of the students turns up dead—and others are soon to follow...

I think this might be my favourite of Alexa Donne's thrillers yet! The multi-POV narration was done really well, and I thought the dual timeline with flashbacks to the party were great. I flew through this book, and it kept me guessing to the very end—and even after! The setting was really great too, and the mysteries and twists really clever and well thought-out. An easy five stars!

I picked this up because the cover was just awesome and the blurb sounded fantastic. However, once I got into the book, I found issues that, for me, caused some interest issues. The Prologue made no sense at the time. To me, instead of grabbing my attention, which I think was the goal, it just confused me. Then we jump straight to the action.

The present day timeline was a roller coaster of fast moving parts. Blink, and you could miss an important part. I was WAY off on who I thought the killer was. In true teenager fashion, each one of these students is hiding SOMETHING.

Then, the end was also problematic unless we're leading into a sequel. Is that what we're doing?

A super fun, fast-paced thriller book that I devoured. It is very atmospheric and makes excellent use of the isolation trope. You don't often see many thrillers with a cast as well developed as this one, ngl at first everyone kind of merged together, but their personalities were super organic. My only complaint is that the use of jumping between timelines I felt wasn't used to its full potential. It was building up to something, but I felt like it fell off at the end.

Overall, I totally recommend it.

This was a twisty YA suspense! Every time I thought I had it all figured out something changed. It kept me interested the whole way through. I didn’t love the ending/epilogue, but I know it’s to end on a cliff hanger. Overall this was a good read, a little cringy at parts, but not so much that it took away from the story. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Bitter End wound up being so much better than I expected. An isolated murder mystery set in white out conditions is exactly what I was looking for and exactly what I got, and it was a hell of a ride by the second half, once the real action kicked in.

Alexa Donne is like a YA Lucy Foley, but more interesting and, kind of, demented. A few less than stellar reads of Foley's had me unsure about The Bitter End though, as Donne sets it up with a mysterious historical event, and chapters that flip through time and character's perspectives just like Foley. And flipping tenses. It made for an unusual read, to have some chapters in third and others in first. It made me think everything was a clue to the real killer, which - bravo for fooling me, because I thought for sure it was one person until very near the end when I started questioning another and that's who it turned out to be! So not completely unpredictable but still twisty enough to surprise me near the end, because even with my suspicions I was shook.

Most of the time I'm not into sequels for these sorts of books but for this? I'd read the sequel lol

The Bitter End is very CW but a lot of fun, with a great setting, multiple twists, a great cast of unlikable characters that you can't help but root for. High-stakes teen drama haha I liked it a lot!

I enjoyed this mystery murder story of a group of teenagers trapped on a mountain during an electronic detox weekend. Told from the POV or many different characters was both interesting, but difficult to follow at first. Good action and lots of twists and turns. My students will enjoy this one!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for the copy of The Bitter End by Alexa Donne. I enjoy a locked room mystery and I loved this one. It was well-paced and I loved how the past chapters were interspersed, teaching us more about the characters. Even so, I’m not sure the characters were all well-drawn, making it easier to figure out who was going to die (because I read a lot of thrillers). The characters seemed like typical entitled teens, so I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t connect with them or even like them. I liked the surprising reveal and learning about the motive! I’m not sure I was a fan of the ending though, but I can see why some readers will love it. This is a good entry point if you’re just getting into the genre and a solid read if you love thrillers already. 3.5 stars rounded up.

3.5 rounded up for YA. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I am a sucker for a locked room mystery and this one was well-done, focused on a group of teens stranded in a remote location during a senior retreat week. The only negative is that I sometimes got confused about what character was featured in a particular chapter due to the alternating viewpoints. In general, I enjoyed this novel and would read others by the author,

I love a good “locked room mystery”, and I think this book fits the bill for sure. I loved An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena and this reminded me of a YA version of that. The setting in particular was a lot of fun.
I thought the amount of characters and multiple POVs was a little much at first. I found it difficult to really get a sense of who each character was. It took me a little while to be able to keep everyone and their relationships to each other straight. One issue I kept running into was how almost no one in this story was likable. Piper was probably the closest to likable, but I found her pretty boring until the last two chapters.
I had to read the last chapter a few times and i’m still not entirely sure I grasped what happened. I’m assuming we will see more from some of these characters.
Despite this, I thought the mystery was fun and I liked being able to put the pieces together!

The Bitter End is the newest thriller form from Alexa Donne. Following a group of seniors from a ritzy high school academy who end up on a non-voluntary “technology free” retreat in the mountains of Colorado, secrets from the past creep out of the woodwork and tensions rise as the past slowly unravels and the body count grows.

Overall this was a fun book. It was fast paced and engaging throughout. Great for any YA thriller reader.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for honest feedback.

These books gave me “Fear Street” flashbacks and I loved it! A bunch of teens stranded on a snowy mountain with a killer on the loose…sounds like a Netflix series.

The book is very fast paced and could be read in a day if you have nothing else to do. The chapters flash between the present and a party 3 years prior but they’re pretty well organized so you don’t get confused reading it. The writing is not super complex either so it’s really easy to follow. It was a bit predictable but there is a nice little twist in there that will make you think when you get to the last page.

Don’t skip on this one just because it’s YA. 4 stars!

A YA mystery by @alexadonne for fans of And Then There Were None.
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Eight LA prep school students are off on their senior excursion. While everyone else got to go to France or Alaska, this group is headed to the top of a mountain in Colorado for a weekend of digital detoxing with their school counselor. Only once the first body is found, more and more keep piling up. At first it looks like accidents, but soon it’s clear: someone in the house is doing the killing. As secrets come out, we learn more about each teen and how it all relates to a party from three years ago…
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This was such a great thrill ride! Trapped in a cold location where people start getting killed is one of my favorites in this thriller genre and this one was very well-done. Even when I thought I had guessed right, I got whiplash from the twist. Please tell me there’s another one coming!!! 🙏🏻 This thriller suspense #book releases October 15!

CW: death, murder, body horror, blood, injury, physical violence, emesis, alcohol and drug use, cyberbullying, bullying, death of a child, theft, allergic reaction, classism, COVID

Thank NetGalley and Random House Children's | Random House Books for Young Readers for this thrilling book.

Wow! What an amazing thriller! i was enraptured with this book from start to finish!

The story was fast moving, and there was never a dull moment. The book was full of suspense and had me guessing at every turn.

Highly recommend@

This was my first book by Alexa Donne, and I really enjoyed it. A group of privileged teens is on a senior trip to a remote mountaintop home in Colorado when things start to go very wrong. The weather takes a bad turn, and then people start dying one by one. Will there be anyone left to be rescued once the storm subsides?

The Bitter End is told in alternating timelines, and from multiple points of view. I thought the characters were really well written, and their flaws, fears, and attitudes towards one another felt realistic. I think the use of multiple characters telling the story from their point of view helped keep the mystery of who was behind everything happening a secret until the author was ready to reveal the killer. I also enjoyed the little twist at the book's conclusion. I am very interested to go back and read some of the author's previous work now that I've read this one.

Thank you to Alexa Donne, Random House Children's, and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.


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Review will post to blog and socials on October 1. I will come back and add the additional links on that date.