What Went Wrong Last Summer

by Ali Marie, Michael Zimmerli (Editor)

It’s finally summer vacation, and like every year, Willow West invites her four closest friends to her family's vacation house in Block Island, Rhode Island. At first, minor problems started to occur, and none of the friends paid attention to when neighbors of the house would warn them about the suspicious activity. However, it all went downhill when the first person went missing.

Genres: Summer Reads, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Mystery, Romance, Young Adult

275 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 30, 2023

About the author

Ali Marie is the author of cozy, coastal summer mysteries that will have your heart in the ocean, but your mind in a crime scene.

Ali began writing stories at the age of 8 and published her first children's book at 11. She spends her free time with her family, reading, and competitive swimming. You can see her frequently walking around the aisles of Strand Bookstore in New York City. She resides in the area of Southern New England with her family.

Reviews

[katie ebersole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish there was a sequel!! This book is so good- especially for only being the second book Ali Marie has published. I read so many books this summer, and this was 100% on my top 3. The setting feels like The Summer I Turned Pretty, and the plot is like Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. MUST READ!!!

[Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved that one and knowing that the author was only 16 when she wrote it is so inspiring

[✝️Reagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so amazing! I read it in one day and it had me gripped till the end. I read it on vacation while staying in a vacation home which made it extra spooky. It had me guessing till the very end. I looooved the epilogue, where we got to see into the friend groups future.

Spice: none.
Language: don’t recall any cursing.
It’s a little spooky but nothing too bad.
Would totally recommend for summer

[Roshini Prabakaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok sooo i never write reviews rlly on goodreads as i just end up talking about them on yt but i rlly do want to start this year.

this book was genuinely soo good for someone at 15 to be able to write! personally, the formatting on kindle was a bit weird and the editing of the book could of have been done better. this book was rlly easy to fly by while watching shows (i was watching gossip girl) and honestly served its purpose for being EASY TO READ. i never rlly got attached to the main character but overall i rlly want to support ali marie as her yt is amazing! props to you girlie and can’t wait to read your other books !!!!

xx
rosh

[Ella Storey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in one day and I loved it!!!

[Molly Huling · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Good book! I liked the setting but never really got connected to the characters. The book got intense at times which I liked cause it definitely had thriller vibes. Also, the fact that the author was 15 when she wrote this is amazing!!

[Emma Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was incredible! I seriously cannot believe this was written by a teen. I am a teen writing a book right now and this inspired me so much. The characters are so well-thought-out and I love all the little quirks they have I also absolutely love the summer vibes it just reminds me of summer and was almost a bit nostalgic I love the way you describe things It just makes me feel like I’m in the story and I just love this book so much.

[M J W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Positives:
• well thought out and detailed clues
• great characters
• well-described setting

Negatives:
• everything is explained to the reader. There is a lot of telling and not showing.
• many dialogues felt very inaccurate to what humans say

Overall:
Good book with a few improvements which could’ve been made. I would recommend reading it but keep in mind some drawbacks.

[Eden Weber · Rating 2 out of 5]

That was not as good as i was hoping. The plot idea was really good, but they definitely could’ve been more descriptive. It was all so clumped together and way too rushed. It wasn’t terrible, I just didn’t really like it.

[chloe a lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.8 stars !!

Ok, at first, I wasn’t loving the book. I wasn’t a huge fan of the third person pov, and I saw this one review saying they didn’t really connect to the characters, and I agreed. But when I started getting further into the book, I was HOOKED.

When I was starting to see all the mystery happening in the book, I immediately forgot about all the things I disliked about the book, since the mystery was that good. I loved the whole idea of the book, and the ENDING!? I was not expecting that. I had so many predictions, and it wasn’t one of them… but that made it more fun! I also really enjoyed the setting of the book, it gave TSITP vibes <3

I didn’t really feel connected to the main character, Willow, but on a positive note, I did really like Wes and Evie! I thought they were the best characters in the book, and I really liked them. (Especially Evie—she reminds me of myself)

I was sad when the book was coming to an end, but I was so happy when I found out there was an epilogue! And the epilogue was great! Also, I wished the ending was a bit longer, like when we found out who it was, I wished that scene could’ve been maybe more long, so the readers could like really soak in the moment if that makes any sense.

The reason I’m not giving this book a 5 stars is because this book wasn’t a book I’m going to want to re-read and stuff, and that’s usually when I give 5 stars. But this book was probably one of the first, maybe the first, mystery novels I read, and in my opinion, it was a great start.

I find it really inspiring Ali Marie wrote this when she only 15, and I think she should really keep writing cause she’s doing great!!

(Also if she sees this, maybe consider writing some sort of sequel? Idk I just need to see maybe like another small mystery with this friend group or something, but I loved it!)

[Tatie Maire · Rating 2 out of 5]

…. yea idek what to say. nothing against the author but this book was uh let’s just say not great. the plot had a lot of potential, but it was executed horribly. it was supposed to be like a mystery w a subplot of romance i believe? we didn’t get either till about 80% through the book. it felt far more like a week in the life of a very obnoxious and boring mc. the mc and her “crush?” had zero chemistry, did not like them together at all. i seriously doubt that the author proof read this book at all. at least 20 times the writing randomly switched to 1st person mid sentence, along with plenty of other grammatical errors. it took me MONTHS to read this, and i ended up forcing myself to finish it just so i can add another book to get closer to my 2025 reading goal. the worst part for me was that the characters don’t talk like real people. it just felt and sounded so fake. and we are constantly told how the characters felt but the writing was not at all descriptive. it made it really hard to get inside the story. i know the author is young and i definitely believe she has potential, she should never stop writing. i however will not be reading another one of her books for a good while

[rubie · Rating 4 out of 5]

her ability to write the sceneries in the book were amazingg, all those small and vivid descriptions of the beach and sunsets were almost tangible... this is a definitely perfect book to read during summer, i would've loved to read more about the friend group after the time skip at the end though :)

[~°Rebecca°~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The summer vibes in this book were great! I loved how from chapter one, I needed to know what happened. I loved the ending, and this way of writing/storytelling is definitely a new favorite!

[Clara · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5⭐️🥳
Loved this book😍. Ali, you did such a great job💕!

[Evelyn Kate]

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

Life update y'all: I know people don't like actually reading my reviews (I think??), so it's really not that big of a deal that I haven't posted in, like, three weeks hehe. Last night I got back home after a ten-day trip—I tried to get this one done before I left, but that didn't happen obviously. Anyway, here I am, suffering extreme vacation hangover and ready to talk about WWWLS.

Another huge shoutout to Ali Marie because her books are so innocent I can almost not believe it. Like if you're a Christian reader who feels convicted about the media you consume, Ali's books have, like, no swearing and no smut. It's actually beautiful.

And unlike a very significant portion of my previous reviews, it's actually pretty clear what I want to talk about today. Two things actually.

The first is worry. In What Went Wrong Last Summer, the protagonist Willow West struggles a lot with stress and anxiety. I'm just going to use this review as the perfect opportunity to talk about worry from a Christian standpoint.

Okay, many, many Bible verses are coming to mind right now about dealing with worry—it's actually insane. I'll type them below, just take a moment to allow these to minister to you if you struggle with anxiety:

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7

"Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you. He will never let the righteous be shaken." Psalm 55:22

"Fear not, for I am with you." Isaiah 41:10

"Worry about nothing. Instead, pray about everything." Philippians 4:6

And of course, "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

Keep in mind that most of these verses I recited off the top of my head. They span in word-for-word accuracy and translation. Guys, if you want the full experience, go look up these verses in your Bibles. Be sure to read surrounding verses for context!

I literally cannot stress this enough: fear was not an experience that God created. Instead, it's a weapon the enemy uses to bring us farther from Him. And all the verses I just mentioned are different, but the common element throughout them all is GOD! The answer to your fears and anxieties is God because fear cannot exist in a place where He stands.

So whenever fear starts to creep into your mind, just pray about it. Ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen and comfort you. Believe that you will receive peace like a river, even in the chaos. It's a sort of peace that can't be explained, the kind that says, "I have literally no reason to feel at peace right now and yet I am."

And I realize that I am speaking in very broad terms because saying "anxiety" can refer to stress over a math test or a serious mental health issue that can destroy your mind. And yet, no matter what level of that emotion you feel, the answer remains the same: pray about it. Ask God to take the fear from you and replace it with peace.

I'm aware that the reason Ali started writing books was to deal with anxiety. I'm also aware that protagonist Willow deals with her anxiety by painting jellyfish. And guys, I'm not knocking anything here because God gave us things like creativity to help us process our emotions. But as humans, we tend to lean on worldly devices to take care of our problems. But, like every other worldly device, it falls short at one point or another. The only thing that's truly effective is—you guessed it—God.

When Jesus died on the cross, fear and anxiety died with Him. But unlike Jesus, fear and anxiety stayed in the grave.

Did you know that fear cannot exist in the presence of God? That just blows my mind. For real, y'all, I've experienced it firsthand. There have been times in the night when I just get paralyzed in fear—and of nothing in particular, for that matter. But then I just open my mouth and whisper the name of Jesus, and suddenly I'm able to go to sleep.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a dream that I was lying on the floor, and a demon flew out of the closet and attacked me. I woke up feeling no more at peace than I had in the dream, and then I sang the chorus of the song "No Monsters" by Carman. Go listen to it now. It was silly, but it worked. I fell back asleep and didn't even remember until a few days later.

I'm still trying to figure out entirely what God wants to teach me through that experience, but that's the cool part of following Him. It's a constant journey, and you never know what's going to happen next. All you know is that it's going to be good, much better than you could ever imagine.

So yeah, those are my thoughts on dealing with anxiety. I did say I had one other topic—friendship. However, I talked about Godly friendships a while back in my Before I Fall review, and since then I've discovered a Christ With Coffee on Ice episode that goes really into it, so I'll plug them here. Hopefully, you'll see how it all connects.

Anyway y'all, this was so amazing. It's refreshing to jump back into writing reviews after taking weeks off. I love you, and I'm praying that God brings more joy and peace than ever to your lives <3 Be on the lookout for more reviews coming soon... I think. I'm not entirely sure what book I'll do next. So, if anyone is out there reading, suggestions?

Oh, wait!

Sometime between drafting and completing this review, I discovered that Ali published her third book. I was off social media, so I wouldn't have known, except my cousin was watching her on YouTube, and I happened to notice. So maybe I'll do that book next!!

Also, Ali, I'm sorry, but you lost your chance at being my Second Friend on Goodreads. My dearest friend Hope took that title. But I'm happy to say that you still have a shot at becoming my Third Friend on Goodreads. In fact, you all have a shot at it. I know this sounds pathetic. I'm being sincere tho—I really just wanna be friends with y'all. You know how much I love you.

[veronica kaur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh. My. Gosh.

I have been following Ali Marie on YT for a month or so, cuz ofc. Booktube girlie here! And, 'What Went Wrong Last Summer' really caught my eye when I first saw it and I knew I needed to read it. At first, I felt like it would be an average read, and I had read comments of people saying it was their favorite book.

But when I read the book... The vibes were immaculate, the descriptions were so perfect, the characters were raw and real, the setting was cozy and fitting for this story, the plot was beautifully designed. The writing style is simple, to the point, which I highly appreciate, but the descriptions were my favourite. They were so well written, and this entire book coming from a 14-15 year old is so heartwarming.

I think my favorite part has to be the ending, like, the climax and the epilogue. The climax LITERALLY had me on the edge of my couch and the epilogue was so cinematically gorgeous that I needed to hug the book, that I wouldn't be 1% surprised if this got turned into a movie.

Overall, a really fun, fast paced read, perfect for adding to your summer TBR and marvelous to pull you (literally drag) out of a slump! I have genuinely run out of words to describe my love for this book rn.

I wish Ali Marie all the best for her future and books! (im so hyped rn to read 'The Sun Always Sets') Can't wait to see your name on the NYT bestselling list, hon!

[Sophie Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to reading another book of Ali Marie, and though there are some ways this one disappointed me a little, it was still a very interesting story with a lot of potential! The idea was great, the group of friends on vacation just trying to relax but things start to get sketchy while they're alone in the house? Yeah, that might seem simple but it works!! I just think it wasn't executed as well as it could've been. I feel like the end was wayy too rushed, there should've been more pages to let it sink in, or make the reveal progressively through small details.
There were a few typos, and there were also a lot of repetitions which kinda broke the rythm of the book.
"Willow looked up and saw her mom giving Willow a look. Willow sighed [...]" p.99
On this page and several others, "Willow" is mentioned more than 9 times.

Overall a good book with great ideas to develop, but reading it felt like reading a draft rather than the final product, which is understandable due to Ali's age. Whatever she writes, I will read, hoping to see her progress!!

[Dora Lupin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really hopeful for this book but it was not great. There were sooooo many typos, at least one every two pages. It kept switching from 3rd to first person “… SHE knew a lot of her dad’s coworkers had kids HER age. SHE didn’t often talk with other kids from MY class because they always talked behind HER back.” The last line of the book made it seem like the main character had been writing it the whole time further showing that it should have been in first person. The main character was completely insufferable and unrelatable. The climax felt incredibly rushed, and the big reveal at the end was sagged out and done in a very unsatisfying way. The whole ending was very unsatisfying. Overall I would not recommend this book.

[gay_chaos_gremlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I really like the idea but some parts just felt a bit off to me. Ali did a great job of creating suspense from the very first page and I felt very uneasy while reading it, however the ending felt so unsatisfying to me. I think it would've been cool if it was one of her friends, like Josh and somehow he rigged the whole thing so it didn't look like him. I wish there was more mystery solving that happened, instead of all of these creepy things happening and all of a sudden the book is almost over and they find out who it was without doing anything to find it out. I liked how the epilogue went tho

[Emma Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book!
I really enjoyed the mystery, it had me on the edge of my seat, waiting for what was going to happen next! I’m totally shipping Willow and Josh the whole book there so cute together!!!!
I liked that there were not any cuss words or stuff like that so I will definitely be recommending this to my mystery loving friends!
Also, if Ali sees this, I’m a fan of your YouTube channel (I am subscribed) and I love your videos on writing tips as well as mental health advice! This is the first one of your books I’ve read and I will definitely be reading your next book!
Again I love this book!

[lael · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so excited about this book but it was unfortunately not my favorite. The writing style was nice but I felt like she tried to use any adjectives she could find. The plot could have been good but it moved so quickly and too many things happened; it overall just felt a bit squished. Some of the moments were cute but it faded away because everything moved so quickly. It was also definitely cringey so if you like that then this book is for you. I’m sad to write this review but I am glad that I read the book.

[Irene Kang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was wrote by this author when she was 13, so it's a very good book to read if you are near that age, or even younger. This whole book is a mystery that takes place in the best places. 1. Summer, and 2. On vacation. I was very invested in this book, and usually I only invest in good books. This book is better than books written by old people. I definitely recommend this book for those who have not read this yet.

[Lyla Mobley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was sooooo good! I got so attached to the characters I hate to say goodbye! My personal favs were Wes and Josh! Wes is so kind and Josh is so sweet. The mystery was spine chilling and I just loved it! There wasn’t a lot of romance though like-I kinda wished at the end Josh and Willow kissed-but I understand why Ali didn’t do that. But yeah! It was clean-and I say age rating: 11+! U have to read this!

[Flake Zamulin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like this book very much. I LOVE Ali Marie with all of my heart, she is my comfort YouTuber, but I didn't really like the book. But really that's just because of my personal preferences. I like when there is an investigation going on and then a big plot twist in the end, this book didn't have that. But honestly this book is very slow pace and gets boring really quickly, I do not recommend. I'M SORRY ALI I LOVE YOUUUU

[Anna Smiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first book I read by this author and I have a few opinions. I thought the idea of the book was cool, but the ending lacked something. I almost wanted a jaw dropping ending but that’s not what happened. I do like how there weren’t a lot of characters and the romance was good too.

[sophia marianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐s!

I had so much fun with this one! I loved the mystery, and the setting was perfect for summer. I cannot believe she was so young when she wrote this; she did so well. Highly recommend for summer. It was also super fast-paced, and I read it in one sitting.

[Lainey DuBuque · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ali did it once again, she has made an incredible book!! I first read “A Girl Named Ivy” which is my favorite book of all time and then I was so in love with that book, I decided to read this book!! This was such a page-turner!! I LOVE WHAT WENT WRONG LAST SUMMER!!!!♥️

[Mythshade · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5!
This is book is so good!! As an aspiring author myself, reading a book from an author like Ali Marie, who has inspired me so much, I really loved it! So so glad that Josh and Willow got together at the end!

[liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would definitely rate this 3.5⭐️ it was really good and a very quick read💖 I really enjoyed how everything tied in at the end would definitely recommend!!🩷

[bea ୨ৎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was good, I loved the aesthetic, but the plot was a little flat for me.