Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: A Night To Die For
Author: Lisa Schroeder
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 3/5
Recommended For…: young adult readers, mystery, murder mystery, prom night
Publication Date: March 1, 2022
Genre: YA Mystery
Age Relevance: 16+ (underage alcohol consumption, abelism, death, sexual content, language, drugs, religion)
Explanation of Above: There is one slight comment about abelism and talking down to a character because they have cancer. It felt a little infantizing, but the character who said it was a rude character so it fit their MO a little. There is a lot of references and mentions and showings of underage alcohol consumption. There is death mentioned, a dead body described, and some slight gore mentioning vomit and slight blood. There is some slight mentions of sexual content, mostly in jokes. There is very slight cursing; there are probably just a handful of curse words in the book. There are drugs that are just mentioned a couple of times. There is also one mention of religion.
Publisher: Underlined
Pages: 288
Synopsis: All Mario wants is one normal night before he graduates. He’s spent most of high school riding solo and gaming with his only friend, Lucas. But when his mom asks him to take Elana Dexter to the prom as a favor to her father, his mother’s boss, he figures this might be his chance to be less of a loner.
Only, the night takes a turn quickly. First, Mario gets crowned Prom King alongside the school’s it-girl, Maribelle Starr. Which is weird enough. But what’s weirder is that when they put the crown on his head, hundreds of worms slither out of it and all over Mario. Just when Mario thought the night couldn’t get any worse, he sees something on the side of the road while driving Elana home. That something is Prom Queen Maribelle Starr—murdered and left for dead.
All Mario wanted was to go to prom…but somehow, he ended up in hell.
Review: This was an ok book. The book was a fast paced mystery read with mixed media format. The book had a good premise and it was interesting as it kept my interest throughout. The book also did fairly good with the mystery aspect of it.
However, the book was a bit of a let-down. There are a ton of POVS (10+) and I didn’t feel like I got a good sense of who was talking and I didn’t feel like any of these voices were distinct. The character development itself is horribly lacking and nothing clearly defines anyone. The only character who is developed is the dead girl and while this style could have been played off well, it wasn’t in this instance. There was a weird back and forth between the timelines without indication of where we were. The world building was lacking in a bunch of scenes. I had a big issue with how the investigation was handled. One of the characters questioned is a minor and should not have been questioned without being in the presence of her parent. The said minor also later went to the police twice and gave them further information, again without their parent which is illegal and something the “competent” detectives would have known. It was also foggy if the other character was a minor or not, but it was found out he was. I also was reminded of how unfair the criminal justice system was in this book, in which a family’s life savings are completely drained proving another’s innocence and they’re not paid back for the police’s mistake in arresting the wrong perpetrator, which I think needs to be overhauled when we start prison reform in this country. Anyways, aside from that I think the book would have been better if it was just a bit more developed and if the author took more time to develop the killer through hints and clues.
Verdict: It’s good, just too fast paced and needs a bit more details in it.
Book Info:
A Night to Die For by Lisa Schroeder
Genre: Young Adult Horror
Publishing Date: March 1, 2022
Synopsis:
The Night Of meets Carrie when a boy finds a girl’s body in the ditch on prom night…and becomes the primary suspect in her murder.
All Mario wants is one normal night before he graduates. He’s spent most of high school riding solo and gaming with his only friend, Lucas. But when his mom asks him to take Elana Dexter to the prom as a favor to her father, his mother’s boss, he figures this might be his chance to be less of a loner.
Only, the night takes a turn quickly. First, Mario gets crowned Prom King alongside the school’s it-girl, Maribelle Starr. Which is weird enough. But what’s weirder is that when they put the crown on his head, hundreds of worms slither out of it and all over Mario. Just when Mario thought the night couldn’t get any worse, he sees something on the side of the road while driving Elana home. That something is Prom Queen Maribelle Starr—murdered and left for dead.
All Mario wanted was to go to prom…but somehow, he ended up in hell.
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Book Links:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58410398-a-night-to-die-for
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-night-to-die-for-lisa-schroeder/1139741167?ean=9780593481530
Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Night-Die-For-Lisa-Schroeder/9780593481530?ref=grid-view&qid=1641502606538&sr=1-1
IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780593481530
About the Author:
Once upon a time, Lisa Schroeder wanted to join Encyclopedia Brown on his fun adventures. Since that didn’t work out, she decided to be an author instead. Lisa’s written over twenty books for kids and teens including the popular verse novels for teens I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME and CHASING BROOKLYN, and her most recent YA novels, THE BRIDGE FROM ME TO YOU and ALL WE HAVE IS NOW. She’s also the author of the middle grade novels IT’S RAINING CUPCAKES, MY SECRET GUIDE TO PARIS, SEE YOU ON A STARRY NIGHT and WISH ON ALL THE STARS. Her books have been translated into foreign languages and have been selected for state reading lists. Lisa is a native Oregonian and lives with her family outside of Portland.
Author Links:
Website: http://www.lisaschroederbooks.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lisa_schroeder
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisaschroeder15/?hl=en
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/588558.Lisa_Schroeder
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