It is a year after the action of One of Us Is Lying, and someone has started playing a game of Truth or Dare.
But this is no ordinary Truth or Dare. This game is lethal. Choosing the truth may reveal your darkest secrets, accepting the dare could be dangerous, even deadly.
The teenagers of Bayview must work together once again to find the culprit, before it’s too late . . .
One of Us is Next is the sequel to the famous–or infamous, depending on your view–2017 murder mystery One of Us is Lying. Lying was advertised as Pretty Little Liars meets The Breakfast Club; Next isn’t quite as Pretty Little Liars as its predecessor, though like Pretty Little Liars, it does have you screaming at these characters to just move town already. But if they did, there would be no book–so on with the review!
N.B: this is not intended as a fair or balanced review, but a totally biased and unabashedly enthusiastic squeal on all the things I loved about the book. This is pure, unrestrained fangirling!
❗️Mild spoilers ahead!❗️
👍THE GOOD👍
👍I adored Knox; a perfect soft boi who doesn’t preach about being the nice guy finishing last, and whose relationship with his dad highlights the impact of toxic masculinity. I’d read a contemporary YA on his personal journey alone.
👍On the subject of contemporary YA themes, I appreciated how Phoebe’s story line was used to promote sex positivity–and how the resolution of her friendship with Jules eliminated any girl-girl-hate.
👍And of course, any cameo from Bronwyn and Nate–preferably together–is A-Okay with me. (Though can we stop with characters referring to themselves as ‘endgame’? I feel like Riverdale killed that one good and dead.)
❤️THE BEST❤️
❤️Maeve. Oh, I love Maeve. I also love Maeve and Luis; I’d read an entire contemporary romance book solely involving the two of them, no murder or mystery at all. They gave me good-time YA romance butterflies, and I wanted more.
🌟THE HIGHLIGHTS🌟
🌟Favourite character: I repeat: oh, I love Maeve.
🌟Favourite quote: ‘”This is nothing more than him talking to himself once I stopped speaking to him. And nobody can prove differently, can they?”‘
🌟Favourite moment: The above quote. When I say I got SHIVERS!
This book is:A standalone🔶Part of a duology🔶Part of a trilogy🔶Part of a series
It’s also:Action-packed🔶Charming🔶Clever🔶Comforting🔶Creepy🔶Dark🔶Emotional🔶Funny🔶Gripping🔶Haunting🔶Heartbreaking🔶Intense🔶Mysterious🔶Powerful🔶Quirky🔶Romantic🔶Sad🔶Scary🔶Sweet🔶Tear-jerking🔶Tense🔶Touching🔶Twisty🔶Violent🔶Witty
It’s:Middle Grade🔶YA🔶Adult
FangirlFlax 
Great review! I really enjoyed this one (I don’t read many thrillers, so I’m quite easily wowed by them and happy to go along for the ride) but it’s so true that, for the most part, this felt like a YA contemporary about sex positivity and toxic masculinity and friendship without the actual mystery seeming to matter all that much. Like you I did love the characters, though!
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Thank you! ☺️ I did really like the contemporary-leaning parts, but I don’t think wanting more of those should’ve been my takeaway from a mystery/thriller 😅 what did you think of the character development around the big reveal? I definitely feel torn on it and I’ve been itching for someone to discuss it with!
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