Shiver

This book was a knockout! What a way to finish the year. I loved it. I got caught up in a sport I knew nothing about and characters like none I'd ever encountered. Excellent story. I didn't want to put it down. 5 star read.

This book starts right out of the gate. There is no warm up to the group starting to realize something is off. Which I loved. Quite a lot of thrillers tend to build the scene and the characters before getting into the meaty part where the characters realize not all is what it may seem (which there is nothing wrong with that). However, I found it refreshing to get to the excitement ASAP. I also enjoyed the switch between the past and present. You can guess the twist of a lot of thrillers because they give you a lot of information that you can put together if you're a good sleuth. It was hard to put anything together with this book because you're learning what happened in the past as you're learning what is happening in the present. It's two story lines that unfold right next to each other from start to finish (just 10 years apart). Not only was the delivery of the twist satisfying but the twist itself was a good one.

Another reason for my five stars was Milla, the narrator. I really liked her, flaws and all. The awareness and growth she had over ten years was believable. The way she viewed and interacted with her friends was very human as well. Sometimes protagonists/narrators are either made too perfect or too imperfect to like, but she was a perfect mixture of both (for myself). The way Reynolds introduced and allowed us to get to know the other characters was also interesting. The good, the bad, and the ugly. You couldn't help but be suspicious of all of them in some way. Even the ones you wanted to love.





SPOILERS COMING UP. DO NOT READ FARTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS









The final thing that made me really love the book was the ending. And I think this could go either way. I'm a sucker for a happy ending. I really like Milla and Curtis. I like Brent too but I think the author did a good job at making the reader see that he's changed from the fun loving, sweet guy he was 10 years ago and also not allowing us to get to know him much present day. Where Milla and Curtis have a lot of time together and dialogue you start to feel a connection between the two and are really rooting for them (the same for past and present). So when it's revealed that Curtis and Milla were NOT the killer and also not the one harassing them currently, I was so relieved. I did love Brent, but I didn't feel too disappointed when his reveal came because I know past Brent and current Brent were two different people and this was the incident that caused the change. The author did a GREAT job at describing real life sexuality and relationships. Milla was straight, but also had a thing for Sastia that she didn't understand until well after she slept with her. She had relations with Brent but didn't want any more than a physical relationship and friendship (especially since she liked Curtis). Brent felt slighted and clingy to Milla (even though that's usually the girl's M.O.). These people and relationships weren't clean cut and put into compartments or stereotyped. And FINALLY Milla and Curtis get to be with each other felt like some poetic justice considering they were the two most innocent of the group, yet still had to deal with so much pain.

Not a standout read. There were some twists I wasn't expecting but it still felt like a lot of work to finish this book. Kudos to the author for writing one of the most unlikable characters in fiction.

One more ‘stranded in the snow with a killer' kind of book, yes. But with reasonable surprises, and a fair amount of thrill.

The off-season and empty ski lodge nestled in the French Alps provides the perfectly creepy setting for this locked chalet mystery. 5 friends, mostly competitive snowboarders, reconvene after 10 years apart, drawn together with a mysterious invite. It quickly becomes clear that there is a more sinister motive for bringing the band back together.

The chapters flip back and forth across the decade leading us to the mysterious disappearance of one of their own. Everyone seems to have a motive for wishing Saskia Sparks gone, and in flashbacks it's pretty clear that she is Just. The. WORST.

Author Allie Reynolds is a former pro-snowboarder and the details of the setting brought me back to my many hours on the hills. But with thrillers as in snowboarding it's all about how well you stick the landing and this thing was a bit of a yard sale (apologies for the ancient skiing slang creeping into a book about snowboarding) From the (hopefully this is vague enough) weakly established motive to the confluence of culpability that veered into hilarity, Reynolds gets points for technical difficulty but is ultimately docked on execution.

This was just the change of pace and break between my other reads that I needed. Love the setting and the short chapters made for a quick and fun read.