Welcome back to Reading, Reading, Reading!

It is currently November 4, 2019, when I am writing this, and it is crazy to believe that when you are reading this we are already a few weeks into 2020! Pure insanity! Last year, I managed to read all of Karen M. McManus’s books, and throughly enjoyed her first two publications, so it’s no surprise that I enjoyed this one as well!

Synopsis (Goodreads.com):

Come on, Bayview, you know you’ve missed this.
A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one’s been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts.
Until now.
This time it’s not an app, though—it’s a game.
Truth or Dare.
Phoebe’s the first target. If you choose not to play, it’s a truth. And hers is dark.
Then comes Maeve and she should know better—always choose the dare.
But by the time Knox is about to be tagged, things have gotten dangerous. The dares have become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from Bronwyn last year, it’s that they can’t count on the police for help. Or protection.
Simon’s gone, but someone’s determined to keep his legacy at Bayview High alive. And this time, there’s a whole new set of rules.

While this book is being marketed as a sequel for McManus’ first book “One of Us Is Lying”, I would argue that this is more of a campion novel. If you read a spoiler review of OOUIL, you could easily read this book without confusion. One of my biggest reasons for not reading many sequels is simply because I do not remember all of the characters and their relationships that take place during the first book, so I was very happy to find that this book focuses on the secondary characters in OOUIL with just a touch of the main characters spread throughout it.

I really loved all of the characters in this novel. I was truly invested in each of their stories, and I enjoyed reading from all of their perspectives. Sometimes when I read a three-person POV, I am only interested in one or two of the characters points-of-view, but in this book, I genuinely enjoyed reading from all three! I liked how they were all somehow connected to the “Bayview Core Four”, but they were all very different characters at the same time.

While Karen M. McManus’s writing is some of my all-time favourite YA writing, I will admit that at times the story seemed to drag on. I am somebody who wants to see all scenes of a novel connect and contribute to the flow and conclusion of the story, and I do not think all of the scenes were very relevant in this book.

That being said, the final plot twist in this novel was SHOCKING. It will probably be one of the most hyped and talked about ending twists of 2020… and for good reason! This is one plot twist that I would have never predicted, which is really surprising since this book falls in the YA category.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and rated it 4/5 stars. Thanks to Penguin Teen Canada for the ARC! Be sure to pick up a copy of this book as soon as possible, as it officially releases in stores today!

Good Night Book Owls!