Lately, I’ve been reading lots of YA mystery/crime novels. Many of those have been debuts. Most of them have moved in original and interesting directions, proving that writing for a young audience doesn’t mean having to write about the same things in the same ways.

Well… all good things have to end and my continuous good-luck strike with innovative and interesting YA books has been broken.

Girls Who Brun is not a bad novel. Not in the most strict sense of the expression. It is well-written, the story moves along at a good pace and some of the events are kind of intriguing. The problem is that all of it has been done before in a very similar way.

In other words, this book failed to surprise me or impress me in any positive way.

The characters feel like flat sketches. For instance, Addie Blackwood, the protagonist of the story and whose sister died a year before in very suspicious circumstances, recites prime numbers when nervous. Well, reciting prime numbers past one-hundred (fyi, there are only 25 prime numbers between 1 and 100) isn’t an easy endeavor. Since, on more than one occasion, Addie’s supposed to recite prime numbers for more than twenty minutes at a time, she must be some kind of mathematical prodigy, yet there is nothing else in how Addie sees the world pointing to such a trait. None of her actions or inclinations show that she has an affinity for math or a real reason to be able to list prime numbers into the thousands (again quite a difficult thing to do). Yes, she has been accepted to Rutgers and she plans to complete a master's degree to go into academia, but those facts are not part of her, they’re just coloring filling the big blank where her love for numbers and her everyday life should connect. For me, this is just one example about how Pagano tried to build her characters by throwing random facts about them, instead of actually thinking about how those facts may have served to form their personalities and control their reactions.

Similarly, every trait of Addie’s brother's personality and temperament changes—from innocent and happy to serious and dramatic—not in response to changing circumstances and time, not as in a character developing along the story, but simply to fit the particulars of each scene.

As I said, the story is not a terrible one, I will go as far as to call it entertaining, but it feels flat and empty in every place where roundness and meatiness are the most needed.

Also, Pagano went for the lowest common denominator, with the motives behind the crimes being the most cliché one can think of.

One more thing, even though the characters are in their late teens, which may serve as a forgiving fact to the many unexplained contradictions along the story, some of them are too glaring not to bother me. For instance, there’s a moment when Addie gets mad because Seth didn’t tell her about something that had happened a year before. The thing is, how can he have told her anything when she had blocked him out of her life? Short of sending her a letter, how did she expect him to inform her of anything?

Anyhow… if you like quick-moving crime stories with lots of tropes in their making, this is the book for you. It, sadly, wasn’t the book for me.

Two-and-a-half stars.

My FAVORITE YA Thriller (in a while)…

MK, this is a VERY GOOD BOOK!!!

Admittedly, I don’t often find myself perusing the YA section. However, I have come across few thrillers in this category that drew me in the way GIRLS WHO BURN did. I think the last one was A GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO MURDER?

There aren’t any glaring similarities that jump out between the books, except YA and both held my interest. Also, in both cases I caught myself wondering if I would have been as smart or as dumb (whatever the case was at a given point) when I was a very young adult—and isn’t that what it’s all about?! Getting excited about the story & making a connection to the characters!

I love that I related to the characters AND ENJOYED the story. There was mystery, there were twists, and no one WILL BELIEVE WHO THE BAD GUY IS???!!! OMG! Just saying ;)


#GirlsWhoBurn #AGoodGirlsGuideToMurder #YA #YAThriller #NancyPaulsenBooks #PenguinTeen #EnemiesToLovers #2024Debut @mk_pagano @netgalley @bookshell_f

I love a good thrillerbook. This one was exciting and fun. I felt like the pace was good too. I enjoyed this book a lot and would recommend it to others.

Overall this is a really great fast paced YA mystery/thriller! I didn’t think I would enjoy the enemies-to-lovers as much as I did, but I really enjoyed it! I found each character to be super interesting and low-key thought each one of them could have played a role in the mysterious death of Addie’s sister, Fiona! The further I read the more the twist became unpredictable to me! I also want to add that I really enjoyed how this book ended!

She burned too bright for . . . all of this.”. This book! I felt so strong for Addie; she’s lost her sister; her mother and herself. The story follows Addie as she sets on a mission to find out what happened to her sister and find an away to redeem herself. This is Scooby doo with a love story. You'll never see the twist coming. I loved this book and would love to follow Addie and Seth in the future.

When I first picked up this book, the cover made me think it would be a sweet little mystery appropriate for middle graders, but the summary had me interested. I’m glad I continued because it definitely is not a book for middle grade kids and it was super good. A slow burn romance/thriller is definitely my genre. My only issue was that the conclusion left me wanting a little in that the “villain” explained everything and forced pieces to fit (rather than that “OH” moment the reader gets when seeing how the pieces fit once the “villain” is revealed), so that combined with the cover and title not matching the story, I gave it 4 stars.

this is one of those quick reads you can finish in one sitting. not just because of the page count, but also because of how i couldn't put it down. some may say this is another typical YA thriller, but i still found it written so well and gripped my attention. it's twisty, riveting, fast-paced, and cleverly put together.

i especially loved the MFC, Addie. despite being a teen, she felt relatable. she's not just another teen girl going through the usual teen angst story line. but with everything she's been through and is still going through, it made her real. the side cast of characters made for a well-rounded story and kept you wondering what secrets they kept.

i'd definitely recommend this. i enjoyed the writing style and the way the story was crafted. this author is someone i think we can look out for in the future. wouldn't mind reading more of their works. 4/5 STARS for me!

thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group, and Nancy Paulsen Books for allowing me the opportunity to read this book. i received this as an ARC and leave this review voluntarily.

You can read through this very quickly in one sitting. The story keeps you entertained but I'm not sure how particularly memorable it will be. Also this is not a big deal, but while it's a cool title I'm not sure where it came from/what it's referencing, even after reading the novel.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.25 Stars
First I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! It was a very fast read and a good quality YA Mystery/Thrilled with plenty of twists and turns.
While I figured it out, it wasn’t until later in the story which was a nice treat for once.

There was t great character development but it really didn’t matter. You knew enough to engage with the characters and root for them throughout.

It did remind me a bit like Pretty Little Liars so fans of that series will enjoy this book.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

This was absolutely fantastic! Bingeable from page 1 and filled with poetic writing, this book is full of twists and turns, secrets, murder, and a fun enemies-to-lovers romance. I am much older than the intended audience and still immensely enjoyed this. I would definitely read more by this author!

Thank you to netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | Nancy Paulsen Books for allowing me access to this book. This was a very interesting

This book reminded me of a Karen McManus book. It was very well written and I was shocked to see it’s a debut. I could have read 200 more pages of this story! The characters were all interesting and I found myself speed reading to find out what was going to happen, catch myself and force myself to slow down. That’s the sign of a great book to me.

I loved it. I was intrigued from the very beginning. The relationship between the two main characters was not one dimensional and added to the overall story.

To be honest, I didn't really like this book. I couldn't get into the story, and I did not love the writing style,. I think it would be a good book, but is just not for me!

Girls Who Burn is a fast-paced mystery that had me intrigued from start to finish!

Addie is still dealing with the loss of her sister and the things she said to her the night of her death. Even though Fiona's death was ruled an accident, Addie believes that a summer resident, Thatcher, was responsible for her death. One-year later, Thatcher is found dead at the bottom of the ravine where Fiona was found, and Addie seems to be the number one suspect. Addie will have to work with Thatcher's cousin and her alibi for the night of Thatcher's and Fiona's murder, Seth.

Girls Who Burn had everything I enjoy in a mystery/thriller and had several twists throughout the book that kept me guessing till the end. I like how the book didn't focus completely about the investigation but also how Addie was dealing with the fallout from the events that took place the night of Fiona's death while also fighting her feelings for Seth. If you enjoy fast-paced mystery/thrillers, I recommend this book.

Girls Who Burn comes out July 16th.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the opportunity to review Girls Who Burn. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It was physically impossible for me to put this book down. Did it take away a day from my vacation? Sure. Was it worth it? Oh, absolutely. Let me tell you why.

Girls Who Burn is a fast-paced YA thriller, with a mystery that will keep you scratching your head until the inevitable "Aha!" moment. The way M. K. Pagano decided to write this story, from the atmosphere to the characters and most importantly, the mystery, can only be described as addictive. So much so that I kept telling myself I would just read one more chapter until I reached the final one. It also helped that this story doesn't meander and gets to the point quite quickly. Not to mention the short chapters that know exactly what they are doing and how to nudge you toward the next one. That's when the cycle repeats.

M. K. Pagano's debut is a story that feels as if it was crafted by super-intelligent aliens trying to create the perfect narrative that will keep the reader on the edge of their seat from beginning to end. I'm happy to report that the experiment was a huge success. Girls Who Burn is an incredible debut from an author who has made the very short list of authors who will have me leaving fantasy every now and again to read a great thriller.

I adore books about teenage girls who are not afraid to be messy; Pagano writes it beautifully. I do wish the twist had been less out of the blue and the discussion of college financials had been more researched. That being said, I appreciate the light being shed on generation wealth, the power it provides, and the people who have to claw their way to a life that is delivered to others on a silver platter.

I could not put this book down! I read the entire thing in three nights, the last night way past my bedtime. Pagano does such an excellent job creating not only a mystery, but the strong desire to stick around to find out what really happened. Such an excellent cast of characters, especially our narrator Addie who is heartbroken and flawed and struggling in ways that many girls and women will find familiar, even if her situation is different. A simmering, twisty story about ambition, desire, privilege, and where those things collide.

This was a pretty good YA thriller. The mystery was compelling and kept me on my toes. I couldn’t stop reading because I had to know what happened. I appreciated the short chapters and how the book started quickly. I don’t think the enemies to lovers trope was necessary, but liked the characters nevertheless.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads review here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201751811

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

This book was a page turner from start to finish.

The cover is absolutely beautu6. I had to order a hard copy for my shelf!

I enjoyed this book greatly. The story drew me in from the first chapter to the final page.

All I can say is wow. This is a must read. I highly recommend.

It is going to be a number one best seller!

Five stars plus!