Review: The Bitter End by Alexa Donne

Thank you Random House Children’s for my copy! All thoughts are my own

I am not a thriller reader by nature but I am always tempted by YA Thrillers. Maybe it’s the influence of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder or maybe it’s my love of Gossip Girl (the original), something always draws me in. Especially when it’s rich kids behaving badly…which The Bitter End has in abundance.

I was totally drawn to this book due to the mountain setting and the students being trapped in a blizzard. It kept me on my toes and I really couldn’t guess the ending. It made me feel adequately spooked but intrigued enough to keep reading. Overall, an enjoyable wintery thriller for fans of Pretty Little Liars, The Ivies, and even Euphoria.

Synopsis:

The trip of a lifetime might be the death of them all.

The students of LA’s elite Warner Prep can’t wait for their Senior Excursion—five days of Instagrammable adventure in one of the world’s most exclusive locations. This is not your average field trip.

Which is why eight students can’t believe their bad luck when they end up on a digital detox in an isolated Colorado ski chalet. Their epic trip is panning out to be an epic bore . . . until their classmates start dropping in a series of disturbing deaths. The message is clear: this trip is no accident.

And when a blizzard strikes, secrets are revealed, betrayals are exposed, and survival is at stake in a race to the bitter end.” —NetGalley

What I Liked:

  1. The Setting—A ski chalet on top of a mountain in a blizzard! An epic setting for any mystery but really great for a high stakes YA revenge plot.

  2. Couldn’t Predict the Ending—I really was on my toes the whole time and didn’t know who the culprit could be.

  3. The Unsettling Feeling/Was Actually Scary—I haven’t felt “thrilled” but thrillers lately but this one definitely got me there. Some of the deaths were so gruesome! Which not to say I liked, but they were definitely scare-worthy.

What Didn’t Work:

  1. Pacing—Things felt a little off pacing wise, especially with the jumps in time. I was hoping it would feel like something I couldn’t put down but there were definitely moments I needed to go back and read to fully understand.

  2. So Many Characters to Keep Up With In First POV—With so many characters, I wish this book had been written in third person POV. It’s probably a reader flaw because I’ve been struggling to focus lately, but sometimes i’d forget who’s POV we were in and it was hard to keep track of them all.

Character Authenticity: 4/5 Spice Rating: N/A Overall Rating: 4/5

Content Warnings:

death, gore, murder, revenge plots, mentions of sexual assault, grief

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