DNF

There's way too much jumping back and forth in the timeline and I just can't keep it straight. The final straw, though -- which is not the fault of the author -- is that this is not a good candidate for an audiobook. Quoting blog posts and then all the comments is ridiculous to try to listen to with the slashes and hash tags and idiotic user names.

I was getting ready to fire it up and start my house cleaning. When I realized I had no interest in listening to this book, I found a different one.

Even though the audiobook problems are the deciding factor, I'm realizing I also don't care enough to read a hard copy.

Enjoyed the audiobook quite a bit! The psychology of this book really played with me. When I got to the halfway mark I was like “hold up, we are only halfway through? No way.”

I could not put this book down!

The band The Bittersweet is composed of 5 woman and was co-founded by Vienna and Madison.

As their fame start to get a roll, they are invited to an event. As the band has been growing so fast, there’s a documentarist, Libby, that follows them to record their day to day activities.

However, on the way to the event, they get caught in a snow storm and soon looses control and crash! Once Vienna wakes up, she realizes that one of her friend is dead and one is badly injured.

In effort to find help, Vienne and Madison go to find help but could only find an abandoned cabin.

Unfortunately, only one survives from the band and she wants the world to know what happened that night so she decided to write a memoir. Libby and Vienna are now close friend and support each other while going through the aftermath of a traumatizing event.

What happened at the cabin? How come only 2 got out alive? What is coming for the future? Was it all for fame?

This binge worthy book is divided in different times lines (before and after the accident) but it’s beautifully written.

There are many characters to remember at first but the author makes sure it’s well introduced and makes it so much easier to remember them!

I absolutely loved it. It was sad, infuriating, interesting, and captivating.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing and of course the author, Hannah Mary McKinnon, for a digital copy for my honest opinion.

Pub date: July 16, 2024

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC of Only survives by Hannah Mary McKinnon.

This book was a strong 4 stars until about 2/3 of the way through. I love closed door mysteries where what happened is vague and unreliable narrators. This book was delivering on all of that. I also liked how it alternated between the past and the present. I found Madison and Vienna’s back story to be interesting and liked the band aspect of it. Then the book shifts and it went downhill. There was little background into how the current band formed and the characters that were with them in the car accident. The ending felt rushed and the suspense was lost. I would still read more by this author.

The band Bittersweet is on the way to an event when the car crashes in the middle of a snowy forest. Madison and Vienna, the founding members have a long friendship going back to high school. After the accident the members fight for their survival. Madison disappears and eyes are on Vienna with theories on her part in the accident.