Bria Lou Reviews

  A crazy time in Vegas sees Kat and Liam being step-siblings for a total of 48 hours. Years later after a chance encounter, the pair reunite, discovering both of their scammer parents are working a job that targets the same family. But after a member of this elusive family is shot dead, Kat and Liam must work together to get out of the killer's crosshairs before they become the next victims. One of my favourite parts of a new year is reading the new Karen M. McManus book. It's the way I start every year and I'm always looking forward to it. I absolutely loved this book! I love the characters and stories McManus creates. They are always similar enough that it's clear McManus has created her own style that works for her, but the advantage of them being similar is that they always feel familiar, like catching up with old friends, and I love that. There are things that McManus does in every book, and this book is absolutely classic McManus. Both Kat and Liam's points o...

  Ever since Simon died in detention, everything has changed for the Bayview Crew. But when one of their own goes missing, it seems like a new game has begun. But this time, no one knows the rules. I always start the year with Karen M. McManus's latest book. And while I love her writing, I've been more of a fan of her standalone novels lately, so I was a bit apprehensive to join the Bayview Crew for the third time. But I shouldn't have worried, because this book was great! Considering I read the first book maybe 4 years ago, it was really easy to slot back into the characters' lives. At 30 pages in, I was already enjoying it a lot more than I enjoyed the second book, 'One of Us is Next', and ultimately I do believe this one was better than the second (though definitely not better than 'One of Us is Lying'). Usually, the use of multiple points of view in a book doesn't really work for me, but because I was already familiar with all of the characters, ...

It's become a tradition for me to start the year with the new Karen M. McManus book, and this year was no exception. Four years ago, Brynn left her school after the unsolved murder of her favourite teacher. When she gets an internship for a popular true-crime show, she decides to investigate the murder and finally find out what the three students who discovered the body were hiding. This book was okay. It wasn't my favourite of McManus's books, but it also wasn't my least favourite. I love McManus's characters. They are always well-written, fleshed out and fun to read about. The story is interesting, but it takes a while for anything meaningful to happen. The story didn't really paint a picture of why Brynn liked her teacher, Mr. Larkin, so much. Other than his lemon quote and lemon tie, we know nothing about their friendship. There's no mystery or surprise to Brynn and her ex-best friend Tripp - we know as soon as we read their names what will happen betwee...

Every time I review a Karen M. McManus book I say how much I love her as an author. I pre-ordered this book as soon as it was announced (almost a year in advance) because I love her writing and stories so much. Ivy, Mateo and Cal used to be best friends. When they run into each other after not speaking for years, they decide to ditch school and hang out like old times. But the trio soon discovers that another classmate is skipping school, and follow him to the scene of a murder. Can they discover their connections to the victim before their own secrets are revealed? This wasn't my favourite of McManus's stories. However, as always, I do love her writing. This is the fifth book of hers that I've read, and the writing style is so familiar that it's almost comforting. It takes a little too long to actually get into the story - particularly because the book is quite short. There's a lot of time spent on the background of the characters, as opposed to just letting us fig...