Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Back in middle school they were best friends. So, when Cal pulls into campus late for class, and runs into Ivy and Mateo, it seems like the perfect opportunity to turn a bad day around. They'll ditch school and go into the city. Just the three of them, like old times. Why did they stop hanging out, anyway?
As soon as they pull out of the parking lot Cal knows why. Ivy's already freaking out about missing class, and heartthrob Mateo is asleep in the backseat, too cool to even pretend like he wants to be there. The truth is they have nothing in common anymore.
At least they don't until they run into the fourth student ditching school that day. Brian "Boney" Mahoney is supposed to be accepting his newly won office of class president. Which is why Ivy follows him into an empty building, only to walk into the middle of a murder scene. Cal, Ivy, and Mateo all know the person lying on the ground of that building, and now they need to come clean. They're all hiding something. And maybe their chance reconnection wasn't by chance after all.
My Review:
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
This was my first time reading a Karen M McManus book and I was intrigued by all the love her books are getting. I liked the three POV characters, Ivy, Cal and Mateo. I always enjoy a multiple POV read because of the different perspectives we get with these types of reads. I preferred Mateo out of the three, just because I think his struggles were something I could empathise with.
I enjoyed the murder mystery and didn't see the ending coming at all. I liked how each chapter had a purpose and almost always had a little cliff hanger at the end which really pushed me to continue reading on to see what happens. I guess I did find some of what happened a little far fetched. Of course this isn't real life but it needs to be believable for a reader to get on board. I wasn't as gripped as I wanted to be. Having said this I did enjoy reading it and followed the story at a good pace.
The whole book led us on a road that was building up for the ending and it didn't dissappoint with the intensity rising with each chapter. I feel like YA is done very different with different authors. These books are aimed at people in their late teens with characters in their late teens but I felt like this book was a little on the younger side sometimes. It felt like the character were in their early teens sometimes and did I find Cal and Ivy a little annoying at points.
I did enjoy it overall and will be reading more from McManus in the future.