I love to see authors grow and get better and with each book I read from Karen McManus, it just gets better and better, especially her characters. When I read her first book (One of Us is Lying) a few years ago, I loved the plot/storyline, I loved the mystery and the twists and reveals at the end, and to this day I still remember the mystery and the twists and the storyline, but I couldn't tell you a single thing about the main characters. To me, the characters in One of Us is Lying were flat and underdeveloped, you can swap them out with any other characters and I would have still enjoyed the story because of the plot and mystery.

With You'll Be the Death of Me, the characters felt so real and fleshed out, I could not imagine the story playing out the same with a different cast of characters. Also, this was the first book of hers that I've read where I actually started tearing up over one of the characters and their situation. Mateo and his whole family were my favorites, I love them so much. I'm also glad that his mom at the end acknowledged that she hasn't set the best example for Mateo and Autumn and that there's no shame in asking for help and we see her open up and be honest with them, and want to do better for them.

The mystery and twist and reveals were great of course, that is McManus' strong suit. Also, that ending! OMG, are we really going to leave everything on that ending?! I need to know what Ivy's going to do next. I need a damn sequel! Lol, if by chance we ever do get a sequel, can we see Daniel more in it? I liked Ivy's brother and I wanted to get more of his character in the story. I'm definitely going to be thinking about this story long after today. First favorite of 2023!

Now, I'm even more excited (if that's even possible) to pick up her latest book, Nothing More to Tell. ( )

Loved this book, I'd say I enjoyed it just as much as one of us is lying if not more, the twists were good and well done they also really held out until the very end which I enjoyed! ( )

Rating: 4.5/5

Reducing a .5 out of spite because HOW ON EARTH IS THIS A STANDALONE???

I eat up anything that Madam Mc Manus publishes because not only are the stories indulging but also very well written and almost always unputdownable.

You’ll be the death of me was all that and managed to leave me craving for more.

Like HELLO? This is a standalone? WHAT? HOW? WHY? ( )

overall a good read! THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. They connected all the characters well. The only thing that was a surprise to me that at the ending we actually found out “D” was Mateo’s dad. ( )

Another interesting YA mystery/thriller by Karen M. McManus that's a spin on the Ferris Bueller adventure of ditch day from school, but this one has murder, drugs, secrets, and twists throughout the story.
This is about 3 friends getting together to hang out on a ditch day in high school, who haven't been in touch with each other for a long time and how they reconnect like no time has gone by. They go wandering around to have an adventure together for ditch day and come across a dead body and everything goes wrong. They try to figure out who's involved and what happened with their fellow student and what led to his own murder. They each have their own issues and try to figure things out for themselves and all sorts of adventure, intrigue, and secrets are discovered and revealed. There are also some great twists in the story.
I enjoyed this story a lot and thought it was another great book by Karen M. McManus that everyone should check out most especially all the YA mystery and thriller lovers. Thanks so much to Random House Children's Publishing/Delacorte Press and NetGalley for letting me read and review this great read. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )