YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

Have you ever played two truths and a lie?


Emma has. Her first summer away from home, she learned how to play the game. And she learned how to lie.

Then three of her new friends went into the woods and never returned . . .

Now, years later, Emma has been asked to go back to the newly re-opened Camp Nightingale. She thinks she’s laying old ghosts to rest but really she’s returning to the scene of a crime.

Because Emma’s innocence might be the biggest lie of all…

Jumping into this one!

9 % (view spoiler)[ I've already got that feeling you get with every horror movie ever where you just want to scream at them... DON'T DO IT!!! (hide spoiler)]

27% (view spoiler)[ I bet if parents knew boys were letting themselves into the girls showers this camp wouldn't be as popular. (hide spoiler)]

48% (view spoiler)[ I'd purposely write about them and let them find and read it. (hide spoiler)]

77% (view spoiler)[ Oh now this is getting interesting, if she was wrong for fifteen years about Theo then maybe it was Ben back then. Not sure if I even think the girls now are missing or have just taken off to explore where the girls went missing before and will be found... (hide spoiler)]

Finished (view spoiler)[ Well now, never would have figured all that out. I figured the girls had gone exploring but didn't expect Chet's whole revenge plot. And in the past I had the thought of them being alive but didn't see how all 3 would be and keeping it secret for 15 years, never expected one to have killed the other two. (hide spoiler)]

Forgot I had this!

7% - I've missed his haunting descriptions. (view spoiler)[what did Emma say\do that has her feeling so guilty?<\spoiler> (hide spoiler)]

Carrie wrote: "9 % [spoilers removed]"

That's what I associate him with for sure.

Loved the previous book. Don’t think I can fit this to the challenge, but can’t resist it.

Prologue definitely suggests someone feels guilty,though it gives no reason why they should.

Opening chapter. The woman who has the proposition for our narrator seems to know more about the subjects of the paintings than you’d expect her to.

10% - why would you go back? At what point will we learn the truth about why she’s so fixated on the girls?

Karen wrote: "Opening chapter. The woman who has the proposition for our narrator seems to know more about the subjects of the paintings than you’d expect her to."

Same thing I've been wondering. Her reasoning for going back seems shaky at best...

Up to ch8. The pacing of this feels a bit slow at the moment-but like a noose pulling tighter but ever so slowly. The bits from the time of the disappearance are seemingly bland, but I can’t help think I’m not being told everything.

Up to ch28. Real sense of lots of secrets. Want to know more...

Up to ch30. (view spoiler)[ The disappearance of Emma’s cabinmates this time round seems too convenient. I’m wondering who she’s confused Theo with. There’s got to be more to this. (hide spoiler)]

Up to ch36. Kind of disappointed there wasn’t more to the rumours. Wondering how disconnected Emma is.

I believe I an a part of this group and a an reading this book,

Finished. Review on home page. Not what I expected at all. Intriguing.

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Reading from the 21st of July 2018

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Chapter 7! (view spoiler)[ So far I am intrigued by this book. Something seems off the head of the camp Franny, and there is always something wrong with teenage boys, so I have a suspicion that they were involved all those years ago. I'm not sure how Emma is going to solve the mystery all this time later, especially when thhe police couldn't help either! I guess only time reading will tell. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 18! (view spoiler)[ Each chapter seems to get better and better! I can't believe Emma brought her whole cabin out to the woods, that was risky, I think the girls in the cabin are eventually going to play a part in the mystery of the disappearance. I think Theo is a jerk, who tries to pretend he isn't but just can't help it something in my mind is making him out to be not nice! I can't wait to keep reading a finding more "breadcrumbs" that have been left behind. (hide spoiler)]

Is it ok if I join? 😃

Jacquelyn wrote: "Is it ok if I join? 😃"

Sure! :)

Chapters 1-5

(view spoiler)[Okay, so while I love thrillers and mystery novels, I hate the beginning of a new one where you're trying to work out what could have happened, and the main character is clearly hiding something and is being coy in telling you what happened. It equally drives me crazy and draws me in.

What did Emma do or say to make her feel guilty? What does she really know about the girls' disappearance? Why would Franny need to have forgiven her?

So I believe that Mr Sager has a thing for cabins. In his first book, Final Girls, I believe the main character survived a massacre in a cabin in the woods, and now this book is giving me Friday the 13th vibes. Maybe he was inspired by the campy (no pun intended) movies from the 80s that centred around murders and mystery happening in summer camps. Needless to say, I'm living for it, because I happen to love those campy movies. Excited to see how this plays out. (hide spoiler)]

Finished! (view spoiler)[ Loved this book! I half expected the ending when Viv was alive, but I was convinced it was Theo who captured the girls so it was a fun surprise! I wish there was a little more background and story with the campers who were new, as there was a lot about the old campers and background, but all in all the whole book was really good! (hide spoiler)]

Ashleigh wrote: "Chapters 1-5

Okay, so while I love thrillers and mystery novels, I hate the beginning of a new one where you're trying to work out what could have happened, and the main character is clearly hidin..."

It was interesting to hear that about her other novel, it makes me want to read that as well! I wonder which book you'll say is better at the end of reading this one too!

Starting now! 😃

Chapters 6-8

(view spoiler)[Nothing good can come out of Emma going back to the camp to investigate. Mark my words.

It was interesting to compare her first visit to the camp, along with introductions to the girls, with her second visit and meeting the new girls she'll be rooming with. But didn't anyone think it's weird that she would want to stay in the same cabin her roommates disappeared from??

I don't like Mindy. Just gonna go ahead and say that. You know the type of girl she is. Very uppity. Kind of a bitch, and super intense. I think she's trying too hard to get in with Franny and the family. Should we be suspicious of her too? (hide spoiler)]

Chapters 9-14

(view spoiler)[I think that having some mental health concerns after going through what Emma went through when she was 13 YEARS OLD is kinda justified.

Also, the secrecy with Theo's involvement is annoying me. What did he do that made him suspicious???? (hide spoiler)]

Chapters 15-25

(view spoiler)[Ooh so Vivian was trying to uncover some major secret. And she was sleeping with Theo. And maybe Theo likes Emma in the present day. And there's a lot more going on.

Still I don't trust Mindy. I think she might have something to do with it. And Franny. But not Theo, I don't think. Interested to see how this will unfold. (hide spoiler)]

Finished

(view spoiler)[Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh that ending. What the hell? How did Vivian manage to survive all these years, considering she was only 16 when she disappeared, and maintain the impression that she's dead??? Kinda unrealistic.

But it shook me. I. Am. Shook. Loved it, and I may have even liked this more than Final Girls. (hide spoiler)]

Andrea wrote: "Ashleigh wrote: "Chapters 1-5

Okay, so while I love thrillers and mystery novels, I hate the beginning of a new one where you're trying to work out what could have happened, and the main character..."

I think I prefer this book to Final Girls. It was such a great twisty turny novel, and it really got me.

21% (view spoiler)[So now that I’ve read the first eight chapters, I’m starting to get a good feel for this book. I love the fact that’s emma is a painter and hides the girls in her paintings. It’s macabre but intriguing.
So far, the creepiest thing that has happened was how Vivianne’s sweater was neatly folded out in the middle of the woods after they disappeared. Like, What. The. Actual. Hell. It wouldn’t have fallen out of a bag or fallen off of her waist and then it be neatly folded. Even if she did leave it behind on purpose, why fold it?
I’m not sure how I feel about Emma keeping so many secrets, it really makes the story hard to be interactive in a way that we (the readers) can actively try to guess what’s happening.
Also, I don’t like Mindy. Nope. I can’t deal with fake people nonetheless fake characters. I wonder if she’ll be tied back to the story somehow, like she was really Vivian’s sister who supposedly drowned or something. (hide spoiler)]

52% (view spoiler)[Anyone else annoyed that she didn’t kiss Theo in the truck? I have a hunch that maybe Lottie is involved?
Emma has definitely started regressing back to “Em” the girl who wanted nothing more than to be like Vivi. It’s not going to work out well for her, it certainly didn’t for Vivian. (hide spoiler)]

66% I make a prediction about the ending. (view spoiler)[Ok, so my guess is that Emma has some kind of personality disorder and she’s the reason all six girls went missing. She probably did something without realizing it and is actually crazy. Like, maybe this entire time she’s the one who’s been admitted to Peaceful Valley Asylum and it’s all in Emma’s head. Or maybe i’ve Just watched (view spoiler)[Shutter Island (hide spoiler)] too many times. (hide spoiler)]

78% (view spoiler)[
First of all I would’ve started looking for the girls where the went hiking and found the diary. They seemed really fascinated by the hobbit house. Maybe it’s not vacant and someone really does live there.
Also, It looks like the characters are coming to the same conclusion I did about Lottie being involved... although there is still 22% of the book left. There’s still time for it to turn out to be someone else and not Lottie. (hide spoiler)]

100% (view spoiler)[Brava 👏🏻 Wow! That ending was worth reading the book! It wasn’t bad at all, but for a while I was afraid it was just going to be an average mystery. But WOW! I swear I got chills when Emma came to the realization that Vivian had said “Come on, Em. Let me in. Me. That’s what she had said. Not us.” I’m pretty sure from that point on, I had read the rest of the book with a dropped jaw. (hide spoiler)]

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Date changed. Restarting April 10th 2019. Happy Reading ☺

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25% (view spoiler)[ The story starts out with our MC Emma attending camp when she is 13 years old and being bunked with three older girls, Vivian, Natalie and Allison. Vivian is the girl in charge. It then bring us to present (15 years in the future) when Emma is an artist but is obsessed with painting these girls that disappeared. The owner of the camp invites Emma to come back to camp and she accepts. (hide spoiler)]
50% (view spoiler)[ Weird things are happening at the camp, and I can't tell if Emma is crazy or just having a hard time of it. (hide spoiler)]
75% (view spoiler)[Now her current bunkmates are missing and the cops are accusing Emma. I really don't think she did it but she is kind of crazy from everything that's happened. And I'm not sure about Theo either. (hide spoiler)]
100% (view spoiler)[ I can't believe it was Chet. But then I thought of the story Franny said about Chet watching those birds and not being right after that - maybe she was really trying to warn Emma about that instead. (hide spoiler)]

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Date changed. Restarting June 13th 2019. Happy Reading ☺

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Will start this when I get home today.

Chapter 1-6
(view spoiler)[Wow, Riley Sager really sticks with writing what he's already good at. This isn't a complaint though, I loved Final Girls and I'm really into this book already!

I'm getting a terrible feeling about this Theo guy but that would be too obvious. I'm guessing that at least 1 of the girls is still alive though. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 7-21
(view spoiler)[Ooh I love a creepy asylum story! So far I don't really have a guess for who the creepy stalker person is but I'm still convinced that at least one of the girls (probably Vivian) is still alive somehow.

I also don't have a clue about how all this is connected yet (I mean I guess that Franny's family has something to do with the asylum? Like the asylum is/was somewhere on the property?) and I'm excited to find out!

The vagueness is killing me. Vivian knew something, and then she found something, and then Emma did something that made the girls go missing.

Edit: Ok so this is more than halfway through the story, I'm just gonna make my guesses now. Top 3 suspects for the stalker person: Rebecca, Lottie, and Chet. I don't even know why, I'm just guessing at this point.

Also regarding the asylum stuff, Franny is like what, 70 years old? So her grandfather would probably have been born 130ish years ago, in the late 1800s, around the same time the asylum was up and running. I feel like the connection is obvious and I'm just not spotting it.

Idk maybe her grandfather's mother was one of the women who was commited at the asylum? I have no idea :D (hide spoiler)]

Up to chapter 5. (view spoiler)[ of course, want to know what happened to the girls and why Emma thinks it’s her fault. (hide spoiler)]

Claire wrote: "Chapter 1-6
Wow, Riley Sager really sticks with writing what he's already good at. This isn't a complaint though, I loved Final Girls and I'm really into this book already!

I'm getting a terrible ..."
I haven’t read anything from him yet but so far I’m intrigued!

Up to chapter 13. (view spoiler)[ I’m definitely bored at this point and hope it picks up. (hide spoiler)]

Krystal wrote: "Up to chapter 13. [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Yeah the early part of this book wasn't too exciting, I had the same problem with Final Girls actually, it's so much flashbacks and annoyingly vague stuff, hopefully the payoff will be good though. (hide spoiler)]