𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙧𝙚 🎭: YA mystery/thriller
𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙚: 🚫
𝙋𝙖𝙘𝙚 🏃🏼‍♀️: fast
𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 🖤: 13 Reasons Why
⚠️: mention of suicide

This is a super bingeable audiobook. It definitely is a YA high school thriller with a slight paranormal component but still enjoyable for adults. It reminded me a lot of 13 Reasons Why - and if suicide is a trigger please know there is quite a bit of discussion on page. I found the dynamic of the high school friend group / competitive clique / mean girl vibe to be fantastic. Slight romance subplot.

There's a large cast of characters to keep track of, but I did just fine with the audio. I listened at 2.25x for most of the book because I was so engaged and it was easy to follow. Really enjoyed the narration.

I love a good YA mystery and this one was no exception. Julie Soto is a must read author for me. I had an idea of what was going on throughout the story, but it was still a fun read.

I think I am in the minority on this one (and that’s okay!) but I didn’t love this story. Was it super bingeable? Yes. But I found it pretty predictable and kind cringey 😬 I will admit that it’s often hard for me to suspend belief and this was giving high school drama with paranormal activity vibes and ultimately just wasn’t really for me.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for allowing me to be an early reader. All thoughts are my own.

this book was fast paced and easy to keep up with. but it just didn’t hit right for me. i couldn’t stand any of the characters by the end and i was glad it was over when i finished it.

I wanted to like this book so badly, and maybe it just wasn’t for me, but I could not get into it. It took me months to read this book and I could only read pages at a time because it just didn’t hold my interest. I absolutely love Julie’s contemporary romances, but this book was not for me. I found the characters very unlikeable, unrealistic, and uninteresting.

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0

Wow this was so good! I loved the paranormal aspect and the epilogue was a great twist/end to the story. This book made me feel like I was back in high school on the periphery of my own "thrashers group. What a wild ride from start to finish!

I don't read a ton of YA these days, but when I saw this was written by Queen Julie Soto and compared to Pretty Little Liars I had to pick it up. And I'm so glad I did! This was kind of like if Pretty Little Liars + the PLL Reboot had a baby - and as the resident PLL fangirl in my group I absolutely ate this up.

Emily Mills wanted to be a Thrasher more than anything. There's something so special and magnetic about Zack and his friends. Emily ends up dying by suicide on Prom night and when her diary is discovered, The Thrashers are suddenly suspects in her death. Jodi is sure her friends are innocent, but the more time passes the more she questions how well she really knows them. Between the anonymous texts and the strange accidents that only seem to happen when the five of them are together, it seems like somebody is out to get The Thrashers.

This book kept me guessing and I loved the added paranormal element to the story which made it stand out a bit from similar media. I know I will be rereading this in the future and will continue to read whatever Julie writes in the future.

Admittedly I don’t read a ton of YA, but I’m always going to request Julie Soto. And WOW. Love a multi genre talent! Her romance is stellar and her thriller is just as good.

Emily Mills is dead by suicide on prom night - but the town is convinced this is murder. The perpetrators? The Thrashers. A high school clique known for the way they easily make new friends and drop them just as quick. There was never room for Emily in their core group of 5.

Every Thrasher seems to be in the negative spotlight except Jodi who has to come to terms with where she stands in the group and learn a few things about her past along the way. And Emily? Well she has a few more things to say from beyond the grave.

The story is gripping, the characters are dynamic, and I am desperate for more Jodi + Julian ASAP.

First of all, Julie Soto, you have some RANGE. I have truly enjoyed the romance and now the Y/A thriller by this author. I am also looking forward to her romantasy debut with A Rose in Chains. This book gave me 13 Reasons Why vibes and I was really hooked from the beginning. Despite this being Y/A I was still really intrigue and as someone in their 30's these type of books can be hard to relate to. This didn't matter. There were SO many twists. The friendships and relationships were toxic. I was on my toes until the very end. I binged this one & the audio is fantastic.

This is a great YA thriller! I was so into it, I couldn’t put it down! Read in two days. Very high school clique and it was hard to know who to believe!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc.

Thank you NetGalley! I’ve never read any books by this author before. This book started out well. But unfortunately I couldn’t finish. I became bored and it had no really big reveals that would help the story along

𝐕𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐬:
➤ HS Drama/Cliques
➤ Suicide Investigation
➤ Negative Self Perception/Mental Health
➤ Thrilling, Mysterious, Slightly Paranormal

𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐫:
Anyone looking an action packed thriller with high suspense and morally ambiguous characters that perfectly encapsulates the nuances of the high school social hierarchy.

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
Julie Soto is such an incredible character writer - and that doesn’t usually feel important to me in a thriller, but wow were these teens well written (notice I didn’t necessarily say likable). The dialogue, both inner and outer, felt exceptionally appropriate given their age and backstory she established. Aside from that, Julie keeps her cards close to her throughout this entire story. While there is near constant action, the book remains suspenseful up until the final pages and left me pondering for long after finishing. Overall, the pacing and drama made it impossible to put down and the characters and dialogue made it feel completely immersive. A solid and highly recommended thriller from me!

i was really excited to read the thrashers. i've never read a julie soto book prior to this one, so i didn't know what to expect. this book definitely went above what i had hoped and i will be reading more of her books in the future. a special thanks to a friend and hype for putting me onto the thrashers.

firstly, the main thing that pulled me in was the writing style. it was fast paced and easy to read, i found myself lost in the world very quickly. i struggled to put the thrashers down, and was a little disappointed when it was over (because i wanted to keep going!).

the setting is typical USA high school, filled with popular kids and bullying. i think i'm lucky that my school was nothing like this one (there as hardly any bullying in my school even though i wasn't popular in the slightest). the thrashers follows the popular crowd, as they're under suspicion for bullying another kid into suicide. i really liked how different this is from all the other books i've read in a highschool setting. we normally get main characters who are unpopular and bullied, rather than the bully themselves. because of this, some of the characters were difficult to like.

there wasn't too much in the way of twists. i found most things were easily guessed before their revelations. because of this, i rated the book a little bit lower.

all in all, i will definitely be heading to the bookstore to check out more of julie soto's books. if i can dissociate for a period of time, i'm happy.

This book is the perfect blend of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and the Pretty Little Liars series—I absolutely devoured it! While YA isn’t usually my go-to, I’m a huge Julie Soto fan, which is what drew me in—and I’m so glad it did. The story keeps you on the edge of your seat, and I loved how each character was perfectly imperfect.

Highly recommend this one!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars
Everyone wants to be part of The Thrashers. But anyone not fit to stay is cruelly humiliated.

When Emily dies by suicide on prom night, The Thrashers are named in her diary as the reason. From there we follow the diary and the investigation into a world of teen drama, lies, cruelty and more. There were twists and turns throughout making the pace even and intriguing. An added supernatural aspect made for extra suspense!

I highly recommend this for teen thriller and drama lovers!

**There are some heavy themes! I suggest hopping on to my Goodreads to see the content warnings. (Link in my stories)

Thank you to @wednesdaybooks and @netgalley for the copy!

Wow, I could not put this down! I was immediately sucked into this YA story about a group of friends that were accused of “thrashing” classmates. But is that really what happened with their friend Emily? I didn’t know what to expect from Julie as I’ve only known her as a romance writer but she did a phenomenal job with this story. If you like thrillers, the YA genre and books that will suck you in right away this is the book for you. Please check trigger warnings first as this book does cover some heavy topics. Overall I give this 4.5 stars! Thank you to St. Martin’s Press Wednesday Group for this NetGalley eARC. All opinions are my own.

4.25 out of 5 stars (rounded down) | WOW WOW WOW! I am not normally someone who reads a lot of thrillers but Julie Soto's take on the genre is making me reconsider my current TBR.

The Thrashers was the perfect mix of YA coming-of-age, emotional struggles, while also having the mystery and "spookiness" of a Thriller. I was looking forward to reading this after the second I read the synopsis, but I was worried that it may feel too repetitive to other popular stories/TV shows. Boy was I wrong!! The unique dynamics in the Thrashers friend group carried this story and made me invested from the first page.

Overall, it was a heartbreaking story with an ending that leaves me begging for more! I highly highly recommend!

✩3

✦What to Expect✦
•YA Thriller
•HS friendship group
•Bingeable
•Toxic friends

✦Characters✦
•Jodi Dillon
•Paige Montgomery
•Zach Thrasher
•Julian Hollister
•Lucy Reed
•Emily Mills

✦Fav Quotes✦
“Oh, shit.”
“You’re the Thrashers.”

That’s what the Thrashers did.
Get too close, and you’ll get Thrashed.

✦Thoughts✦
Wow this book had me hooked, but…..
holy toxic friendship group!
This was a wild ride 100%!

But by the end I truly hated everyone… I’m sorry lol. Also the ending and what happened… EXCUSE ME?!?! Absolutely not.

That epilogue though 👀

🖤💖 The Thrashers ARC Review 💖🖤

Thank you so much to Julie Soto and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read and review this book!

The Thrashers is a standalone YA thriller novel. When she finds herself included in the elite popular crowd, Jodi feels out of place but trusts her childhood friend Zack Thrasher. The group, known as The Thrashers is the envy of many and when one of these envious fans ends up dead, will everything fall apart in their perfect world??

This was an interesting read! Jodi was a fun character and her feelings & anxieties throughout this book were really relatable. I felt like all The Thrashers were well developed and solid characters and I really enjoyed how they all interacted in this story.

Overall this was a solid 4 star read. I enjoyed the characters and the story overall. I did find myself wanting a little more out of the ending, but I feel like that feeling of “resolved but not resolved” is typical for a thriller read. This book absolutely has some potential triggers, so please check if you’re sensitive. This book had flirting and high school crushes, but no real on-page romance, so no rating will be given for spice

If you’re a fan of YA thrillers with haunting mysteries, high school drama and engaging characters, then absolutely pick this one up!

this is the first book i have read by Julie Soto and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. there were a few confusing parts but other than that, I really enjoyed it.

I do wish the book explored more on the paranormal aspect and why the thrashers were experiencing bad things.

there were many twists and turns that i really enjoyed. the ending was definitely a cliff hanger and I'm wondering if there will be a sequel?