5 stars. Julie Soto is becoming something of an auto-buy author for me. I loved her adult contemporary romances (that she published with Forever), so I was intrigued to see what she would do with YA murder mystery. If you've followed my reviews for any amount of time, you'll know that I am a complete sucker for YA murder mystery, and I'm so excited to say that The Thrashers is up there with my all time favorites. This is such an incredible addition to the genre. Soto does such a good job writing teens, and she really captures the angst and insecurity of a high school friendships.

I'm reluctant to say too much, because I really enjoyed going into this one blind. But basically, Jodi is one of 5 members of high school royalty known as The Thrashers. Everything for The Thrashers comes crashing down when a fellow student commits suicide after trying, but failing, to penetrate the group. Accusations of bullying abound against all of The Thrashers... except Jodi. This causes Jodi to dig deeper into exactly what happened, and the more Jodi discovers, the more she starts to question whether those accusations actually have any merit. Kudos to Soto, because the relationships (friendship, romantic, and familial) and characters she crafted were so damn complex and realistic! I honestly ended the book still unsure of how I felt about the majority of the characters, which feels so honest. Because most people aren't 100% good or 100% bad, I really appreciate when authors create characters that are fallible. Honestly, I couldn't put this book down. I zoomed through it, would have read it in one sitting (if I didn't have to break for work and sleep, etc).

All in all, I loved this. A big thank you to Soto, Wednesday books, and netgalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Thrashers follow Jodi after the suicide of her sometimes friend Emily and it shows her just how much she doesn’t know the people she surrounds herself with, and how things definitely aren’t always as they seem. What were Emily’s relationships like with the Thrashers and what role do they play in her death?

Completely obsessed with every book written by Julie Soto and I loved every minute. The Thrashers kept me completely engaged the whole time. The pacing was good and there are a lot of small mysteries along the way to keep you guessing and wondering where it will go next. There were some supernatural elements that kind of took me out of the story a bit but they were used to help the story progress and keep it interesting. Overall, I really enjoyed myself and would definitely read more books about Jodi and her friends. This was a very bingeable story that kept me up way later than I’d planned because I just couldn’t stop until I finished.

This is one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 and I’m so thankful to Wednesday books and Netgalley to be able to read an early copy.

I love Julie Soto! I was super excited to read this book. I love her fanfic and her romances. I was looking forward to seeing her do something a bit different. YA thrillers are my favorites. And I love a good boarding school setting! This one did not disappoint. It was really good!

This book was phenomenal! It's Veronica Mars meets Final destination and it is everything. I was addicted right from the start. It pulls you in and you need to know what's happening. There is death, mystery, and supernatural things. It's so good. I would call this a thriller so not my usually go to but wow. I really can't say anything else without spoilers so 🤐

Julie Soto's first YA thriller had me on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading it. This was the perfect read for a flight, pulling me in to the plot and character dynamics immediately. The way that Julie introduces the larger question of the book that the characters will work to unravel was the perfect "mic drop" moment that had me itching to read the book as fast as possible so I could know the answers immediately!

I was hesitant to read this as a lover of Julie's adult titles, both fantasy and contemporary romance, but Julie still added small threads of her angst and tension filled romance that she is so great at writing. I hate report that I did actually guess the main plot twist, but there were smaller twists that still have me reeling even days after finishing the book because they surprised me so much. I am excited to see what else Julie does in this new age group and genre!

Omg yesssss! I ate this book up! Loved the characters and the storyline so much! Will definitely be reading her backlog of books now!!

Dear Ms Soto… I freaking love you!! Not in a creepy way”Emily” way but I will buy any damn thing you write!!

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books books for the advanced copy of this book.

I was hooked with this one. A YA Thriller that had a creepy vibe.

The ending… omg!!!

I think this was a really great YA thriller. At no point in time did I know what was going to happen! I feel like as the reader I was really manipulated into rooting for certain characters. The ending was really great and I am so curious of this will be a series.
Julie continues to amaze me with her stories!

Links to come.

Holy shit. Holy. Shit. I devoured this book. Or it devoured me. I don’t really know. All I can tell you is I read 90% of it in a single sitting. There were so many times I thought I had figured something out, and I hadn’t. So many times I found myself rooting for certain characters, only to find myself rooting against them later. I loved the dynamics between the characters and I loved the character growth we see in Jodi. And the character growth we don’t see in other characters. This made me laugh, it made me anxious, it grabbed me by the throat and didn’t let go until the end (or was it? Do I see hints of a sequel in the future?). I have been in a reading slump for SO long, and this reminded me what it’s like to be in the clutches of a story until it decides it’s done with you. Run, run and preorder this now. I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, and St. Martin's Press for this advanced copy! You can pick up The Thrashers on May 6, 2025.

I finished this book in one sitting. It was impossible to put down, and the murder mystery had me hooked the entire time. I appreciated Jodi's character growth throughout the book and how we see her relationship with the fellow "Thrashers" shift as she learned more about them. I did not see the romance coming, and while I initially had mixed feelings about it, I did end up liking the direction it went in.

I think Julie Soto just excels at creating believable, relatable characters who we see in ourselves and those around us. While I didn't grow up with a preppy group of rich friends, I sympathized with Jodi's various internal struggles, and even some of her friends'. I think that's why, after all this build up about who The Thrashers really are and what they stand for, the ending ultimately felt... anticlimactic.

There was so much fantastic build-up to the mystery of the murder and whether any of The Thrashers were complicit or guilty in it. I'd describe the book overall as Gossip Girl meets Scooby-Doo, because some of the scenarios felt like they had a supernatural presence that would later be explained with the "guy behind the mask" pulling strings the whole time. Except... there was no guy behind the mask. We get a lukewarm explanation for some of the events leading up to the ending, but not all of them. And the murder trial ended... in a lackluster manner. I'm not saying I wanted it to be sensationalized, but I expected a bit more stakes and consequences at the end than what we got.

This definitely would have rated higher if I felt the story resolved a bit better, but as it stands, it's still a fantastic Julie Soto story with characters who leap off the page and a plot to keep you hooked.

This was an unputdownable, edge of my seat read! I didn't set this book down once, I was hooked from start to finish.
These characters had my emotions all over the place as the storyline progressed. I was cheering for them, rooting against them and at times completely caught off guard by their revelations.
I have so many thoughts I want to share in depth, especially about that Epilogue but I want to keep my review spoiler free so I'll wait until it's released.
This is going to towards the top of my recommendation list heading in 2025, I can't wait to read more from this author in the future!

Thank you Julie Soto, Net Galley and St Martin's Press- Wednesday Books for providing me with an ARC of this book.

ᴍᴀʏʙᴇ ɪᴛ ᴡᴀsɴ’ᴛ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ʟᴏɴᴇʟʏ sʜᴇ ᴡᴀs ᴀғʀᴀɪᴅ ᴏғ. ᴍᴀʏʙᴇ ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴀʟᴏɴᴇ

I’m usually not a thriller lover but after reading this book I might have changed my mind.

[Jodi never asked to be a Thrasher – a member of the high school elite. But Jodi has been best friends with Zack Thrasher her whole life, and like it or not, that means she’s branded a Thrasher by the rest of the school. And different as she feels to the other four Thrashers – all talented, privileged and beautiful – she can’t help appreciating her social status, especially compared to her violent home life.
But being a Thrasher isn’t worth dying for – except, apparently, it was to Emily Mills. Sweet but intense Emily, whose fixation on Zack brought her close to the in-crowd, but never close enough. Emily, who took her own life on prom night.
When a detective finds a copy of Emily’s diary, there are whispers that she was ‘Thrashed’ – bullied to death by Zack and his gang. They are arrested, charged, and ostracised, their once bright futures extinguished. Then begin the texts from unfamiliar numbers, inexplicable light flares, the run of bad luck that becomes a string of near-fatal accidents… and the constant dreams of Emily.
But something isn’t adding up. The diary is too convenient. In fact, it’s filled with Jodi’s own secrets, repurposed by Emily. But why?]

I loved everything about it.
I love the investigation and getting to see there more info we find out with Jodi. Also her se do questioning everything pretty much. Like how much did she really know her friends?

She was just Zack best friends until the other came along and now she feels like she’s not needed and she’s not Zack first choice anymore.

She feels like she’s not important to them and truly they could have done very terrible things to Emily.

The more she finds out things the more she second guess their friendships .
Also Zack pissed me off at the end like hello. Because you want to be liked you need to keep her in your life. Like wake up call mate !

I loved the writing, the plot I couldn’t put this book down I needed to know what happened.

Ans once you find out the truth you are not sure about anything anymore like. That ending? Is it really the last bit of Emily or not?

This book blew my mind. As a teacher, is so disturbing but also so accurate to the way teens act and are peer influenced. The way they get obsessed with each other, and turn on one another for clout. I wish I could say this was so unrealistic but it’s not. The characters had immense depth and insecurities. The way they interacted through so many forms of social media. 4.5 stars.