Aller bösen Dinge sind drei

The Magpie Society #2

by Zoe Sugg, Henriette Zeltner-Shane (Translator), Sylvia Bieker (Translator)

Während Audrey und Ivy noch auf der Suche nach dem Mörder ihrer Mitschülerin Lola sind, verschwindet ein weiteres Mädchen unter mysteriösen Umständen. Alles, was die beiden haben, ist ein Brief der geheimnisvollen Magpie Society. Die Polizei steht vor einem Rätsel, und die beiden Mädchen stoßen auf dunkle Geheimnisse ihrer ehrwürdigen Schule Illumen Hall.
Jemand spielt ein tödliches Spiel, und um ihn zu stellen, müssen Audrey und Ivy alle Regeln über Bord schmeißen ...

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2021

About the author

Zoe Elizabeth Sugg also known by her YouTube name Zoella, is an English vlogger, businesswoman and author. Sugg began posting videos to her YouTube channel in 2009, which went on to amass over 10 million subscribers.

In 2014, Sugg signed a three-book deal with Penguin Books, and her debut novel, Girl Online, was published in November 2014, breaking the record for highest first-week sales of a first-time novelist. She has since released a non-fiction book, Cordially Invited, and is currently writing a series of books alongside co-author Amy McCulloch, titled The Magpie Society.

Reviews

[eliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

i just keep rereading the last few pages in disbelief. i genuinely can’t believe that happened. i can feel my brain shattering. wow. wow. wow. i don’t know what to say i’m just in so much shock. that was a plot twist and a half.

[Padma Lingechetty · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was actually written much better than the first. The pacing was great and the tension was highest at the best points. However, we read two books, half of which were from Ivy’s perspective. Essentially, all that stuff were lies!!! She knew a lot of the information she was looking for, it wouldn’t make sense if it was really from her perspective that she would narrate her chapters the way she did!! It’s upsetting that this was the choice made. The plot twist is actually really cool and there were indications that Ivy worshipped Lola to an unhealthy degree. But the writing of Ivys chapters are just nonsense filler. She pretended to be looking for and thinking about all these things that she already knew!! It’s so frustrating. I appreciated the quality of the writing but the purpose of reading is lost when half the book is a lie.

[Magdalena Miękińska (getbooky) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Bawiłam się świetnie!

[Helena (helenareadsxx) · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMFG THAT ENDING, MASTERPIECE!

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I did enjoy this story, and found it much more enjoyable then the first book. There where several things I wish would’ve been done differently. Never mind the plot holes and just how unrealistic a lot of the storyline seemed.. The biggest issue I have is that this should’ve been written in one perspective. Audrey’s. Because for at least half of TWO books, Ivy’s POV makes literally no sense. Her inner thought process wants so desperately to find the killer and we read paragraph after paragraph of her asking questions she already knows the answers too?… I find it rather frustrating that I wasted two books time to find out at least half of both of them were not only lies but also chock full of useless filler. I also believe this duology would’ve been better suited written as one novel. Had the authors chosen to write from Audrey’s perspective we could’ve followed along as she attended an English boarding school, where she got caught up in the history of an elusive secret society, and read as she put the pieces together and eventually solved a murder? The fact that it happens to not only be your roommate but your new bestie, Ivy?? A plot twist like that would’ve been the icing on the cake. (Never mind the fact that I saw it coming halfway through) In theory it sounds like an amazing book! It’s just unfortunate that they chose the route they did.

[give me books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genialna rozrywka. Szkoda, że to tylko dylogia

[Becci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this, found it very easy to read .

I did work out the ending very early on in this book...so it wasn't a surprise (it felt very obvious in fact but not sure if that's just me?) but I liked it. Although I now want to read the first one and see if it's clear the ending had been planned from the beginning rather than just slotted in for the last book.

[Celina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never encountered an ending like this one! I’m totally with the other person who wrote this: I stared at the last few pages, especially the poem, in disbelief.
All I could do is stare at the finished book with my mouth open and shake my head.
I think it was amazingly done and I did not see it coming!
I liked how this story combined the eeriness of well-known superstitions with Harry Potter like feelings of friendship and coziness.
All in all a great, quick read to get sucked into! 10/10 would recommend.

[Lay · Rating 3 out of 5]

that certainly was a way to end this story...

I think the writing improved from the first book and I was happy to see the whole "a timestamp on a photo is totally solid evidence" being resolved. But the plot? Still just as clumsy and messy as the first book! There is so much going on, it's a constant whiplash from one reveal to the next with not enough breathing room or context.

Don't get me wrong, these books are very fun to read but they definitely undermine themselves with plots that feel a little cobbled together. It's no literary masterpiece and I am honestly disappointed because the story had so much promise!

I am not a fan of the double ending. Not because the final reveal isn't clever or shocking (it is both of those things), but because it once again ruins what the authors have built. So many of the choices in this series seem like they're not fully thought through and like shock-factor and surface-level excitement has been chosen above character development and narrative consistency.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finde es gerade unfassbar schwierig eine Rezension zu diesem Buch zu schreiben, wo Band 1 so ein klassischer 5 Sterne Read für mich war, und ich keine Kritik hatte. Vielleicht waren meine Erwartungen daher zu hoch? Wobei es doch eigentlich nicht zu viel verlangt ist, dass der Schreibstil genauso fesselt wie im ersten Teil, und auch die Handlung relativ flüssig weitergeht, sollte man meinen, oder? Leider leider war genau das nicht der Fall, und ich wurde von Seite zu Seite enttäuscht… es hat mich nicht gefesselt, weil einfach nichts passiert ist, und die Handlung gefühlt nicht voran kam. Die Spannung war also quasi nicht vorhanden, bis auf die letzten 10 Seiten vielleicht.
ACHTUNG AB HIER EVTL. SPOILER:
Ich verstehe einfach nicht, wie eine Erkenntnis aus Band 1 am Ende als neue Entdeckung und „Auflösung“ dargestellt wurde (wozu gab es dann band 2??) und im Epilog dann diese Auflösung quasi nochmal revidiert wurde. Ich finde, das hätte vor einem Epilog passieren sollen, und nicht nur auf knapp 4 Seiten runtergeschrieben werden. Es kam mir leider sehr so vor, als hätten die Autorinnen keine Ideen gehabt, wie man es sonst auflösen kann, daher haben sie es in den Epilog gepackt und schnell erklärt. Für mich ist dieses Buch eine klare Enttäuschung, es hätte auch nur ein Band, und damit ein großartiger Jugendthriller werden können, leider haben sie hier meiner Meinung nach großes Potential verschenkt. So schade!

[ksiazkowyelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5
Mam bardzo mieszane uczucia co do tej części. Nie do końca mi się podobało w jakim kierunku zaczęła zmierzać akcja, ale nadal klimat i motywy tej książki były interesujące i aż chciało się czytać dalej. Natomiast końcowy plot twist… Kompetnie się tego nie spodziewałam i nie wiem czy ta końcówka mnie satysfakcjonuje w 100%.

[Becca Bird · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a hard book to rate. I really enjoyed the first book- the dual storyline’s/perspectives, the unfolding mystery of the Magpie Society, and so I was really excited when my preorder was shipped.

I don’t mind an unreliable narrator, but I do like it to make a bit more sense. I think the problem was the pacing- nothing much seemed to happen at the beginning, but by the end everything went far too quickly and appeared to be wrapped up in a neat bow before the epilogue (which was sadly predictable and I suspected this ending from the start).

[Thea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know how to feel about the end of this book. It makes absolutely no sense? Doesn’t it make half of the book redundant?

[Clémence · Rating 4 out of 5]

It always is a bit stressful to read a book that is part of a series, especially when the first one was absolutely amazing. Will it be as good? Will the plot be as consistent? Will it resolve some of the mysteries that were part of One for Sorrow? Or, will it just dilute some of them, to force us to keep on reading – just like a lot of tv-shows do?

I was really excited to read Two for Joy because I enjoyed One for Sorrow so much, as did everybody around me. The plot was amazing, so were the characters, the places, everything was top notch.
So, I started reading.
First thing I noticed, and just like any other book that Miss Zoe Sugg has written (my apologies to Amy McCulloch as I have not read her books besides The Magpie Society ), they are very easy to read. I'm pretty convinced you could read them in one sitting. I did not have much time, so it did not happen for me, though.

It was also really nice to have Ivy and Audrey back. But this time, with a twist. Will they remain friends? Will they become enemies? I guess you'll have to wait and see. I also feel like their personalities have developed as the pages went by, and all of the ideas I had of them had changed compared to the first book. Nothing was black or white anymore, everything began to get grey.
To start with Audrey, I was feeling "meh" about her, the rich American saving the world... not my favourite. As the story went by, I tent to feel some compassion for her. And by page 410, maybe did I like her better than anybody else at Illumen Hall.
I used to really love Ivy, she was my favourite character so far... Now... well, she became a little bit darker and offensive. What happened to her? Oh, well, maybe you will know by the end of the book.

Speaking of the ending, I got somehow spoiled. I mean, not much, I knew that there would be a huge twist, so I was just waiting for it to happen, page after page. To my surprise, there were quite a few twists all along. And then... the last chapter... and the epilogue... I still do not know how I feel about them. Perhaps the "mindblown" emoji could apply here.
For real, it was a very intense ending. I could not think of a way to finish the book... Once a certain person had been arrested, I just thought "oh well, this is the end now, everybody will go back to their normal little life" . But no!

Things became really dark really quickly with the last 15 pages. Did I like it? Probably, yes. Especially since the character in question completely shifted to being the polar opposite of what they used to be.

Now, I am quite sad that we will not know what will happen next to the characters, since apparently, The Magpie Society is a duology. But perhaps it was just me, being, as always, too attached to the characters.

It was, I wanna say, 90 % as good as One for Sorrow.
I found it a little by less unputdownable , therefore, it is a nice little 4 / 5 ⭐️.

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was more mysterious than the first one and that part I liked. But there was also a bit too much drama sometimes - but you can understand that in this genre.

I wasn't really surprised by the last twist, I had suspicions and could see it coming.

[Mini (Minireads7) · Rating 1 out of 5]

So after feeling very cheated by the ending of the first book, I promised myself I would not buy the second book - no matter how much I wanted to know the ending. But when I found it in my local library, I couldn’t say no to reading to for free!

Let’s start with the positives… just like in the first book, I enjoyed the boarding school setting and liked the basic idea of the secret society storyline… that was about it…

Now on to the stuff I didn’t like… The plot here is all over the place! It’s just reveal after reveal, constantly bouncing back and forth between suspects without giving any time for anything else. Considering there are so many reveals and twists, I still found it quite boring ? Not what I expected from a mystery! The main reason might be that I didn’t think this book added much to the first book. I am pretty sure the whole story just could have been one book (but I guess you can make more money with a duology??)

And then the main reason this book was not it for me:

So the most disappointing part for me was the ending - as it ultimately ruined not just this, but retro-actively the first book for me. While after everything, this was the only ending that made any sense at all … it made made huge parts of both books pointless?? Half of each book we read all the thoughts that one of the narrators has… we follow her along on the investigation… and then find out at the end she already knew everything from the beginning! So did we not read her thoughts? We just read something completely made up that was irrelevant to the storyline for half of each book? I like unreliable narrators… if it is well done! And I don’t think it is here…

So unfortunately, this is not the book for me…

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way my jaw dropped in the end!!

[Z · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only thing I found was a mystery was why this went to publish, and also how it ever intrigued me to read the first book let alone the second one. When I saw this I was so glad I didn't have to buy it and could just borrow it, because I was determined to just finish this and get the ending to what happened. I was so sick of the vague descriptions, the useless drama of these two roommates that took up chapters on end, the WORST most flat chemistry ive read, the random uninteresting characters and on top of this the absolute most stupidest main topic: MAGPIES, IF I READ THE WORD MAGPIES ONE MORE TIME ITLL KILL ME. They still gave no reason for this goddamn magpie bird shit, the most irrelevant useless thing ive ever heard that basically ripped off the kingsman series idea of having the housestaff as the protectors of a society. it was there with no purpose!
Halfway through this book I knew there were only a couple possible endings, and what disappointed me was that there was so LITTLE good characters to choose from I knew this was going to have such a basic plot twist. When this ghost writer actually fooled me in my own annoyance that the murderer was Mr willis, which I fell for by the way only BECAUSE this was so poorly written I actually thought this was the only plot twist they could amount to. What were they thinking with this student/teacher relationship? You think I want to read about that? I don't even KNOW mr willis, all I know is that he had a fiancee, is a teacher and acts and looks like a pedophile and Audrey and Ivy pretty much just leave it at that. They go on and on about him, about how creepy and nasty he is, which he is but I don't care about what these girls see and think I want to see it MYSELF through actual SITUATIONS. these girls did NOTHING except have arguements with each other, talk about the magpie society alllllll the time but never actually do any research, have coffee, seem to come across all the evidence they need, talk to their boring head teacher, and have little laughs together. the fact they call themselves teen detectives, yet do NO effort except just question every random thing and pretty much do nothing else.
Patrick was another one that irritated me. We heard nothing from him and then suddenly they'd be in his flat having coffee. I thought one of them was going to get with him, but apparently not. So why was he even there? Also I was confused what happened to him with his apartment burning, and how that even happened. They never explained it!! Having the pov from these two busy bodies whoo like to go on about the school's rich history and bird furries who seem to be giving out mixed messages of terrorising the school with no reason. Confused what even went on there. They talked about all these secret passages and things, but what did the actual society do? Everything in this story was just hyping up stuff and then not committing. So there were 2 societies and some random gardener boy with hidden cameras spying on the head teacher's house is running one going on about 'protecting' the school. It was actually just plain SAD that they tried to have the school shutting down as a plot twist, because we all know this was never going to happen and it would all work out in the end. I honestly never liked the gardener boy anyway, was kind of in relief him and his grandpa left when some year 7 fell off a tree they were supposed to have taken care of. If this happened in the uk I think more people would be laughing at that kid rather than being concerned about the poor 80 year old grandpa with no home who was meant to add a cone next to the tree. I found most of the supposedly dramatic events happening in this book as actually just funny. The hot tub one was the best in the first book, but comedy just got even better. Its revealed that the school shutting down after all these murders is going to be replaced by a HOTEL SPA RESORT. Who in the writers room ever wanted this to be an idea !! All the characters are super serious about it and actually getting wait.. EMOTIONAL? this school is bad enough! Maybe a hotel spa resort would be better than all this murdery magpie secrecy stuff they're always going on about saying it makes them feel so scared and stressed. Then Audrey's dad is pulled into this? Her family drama was dull and unnecessary- should've been cut.
On top of this, Ivy thinks some flyers that she hands out can actually inspire a revolution that can stop the school closing down. This would just never happen, and that's why it was so unreadable because there is no way in hell a school with such a big history and such high social educational status would be replaced by a last minute hotel spa deal.
Then, Clover. Oh clover. Her death should've actually been acknowledged more, rather than just being added to the pile of list of girls dying at this school. And I think that's the point Ivy and Audrey were trying to make, despite contradicting their own words. She was mourned for a couple pages, and then just faded into another drama about the magpie society and those pointless invitations they got. Plus Yolanda and Harriet, these girls who were just seemed to be THERE with some average comments to bring to the table, no personal life and absolutely no other purpose in the story. How did Ivy know them? What subjects did they take? Hell, what did they even LOOK like? The fire thing offset me completely, it was just this hunk added in to divide the book. I like how constantly throughout this book, Audrey and Ivy actually believe the school is like a character with emotions and feelings, as if every. single.person.in.illumen.hall.actually.would.CARE.
Bit annoyed I ever really got an actual world build for this too. There was no map, no uniform explanation, no made up classes or any other teachers beside a perv, head mistress and an old man. there was so much potential with a story like this, especially with the old style boarding school setting
By the end of it, I forgot there even was a school. They never explained the boarding aspect of it, or anything else except for sitting down for breakfast. I was so sick of Ivy and her illumen hall obsession, just wanting her dragging sentences to forever end and leave because no one is ever that committed to a school and anyone who is usually doesn't openly word it.
this book was poorly written. am I allowed to say that? there were clear grammar issues, and not any good sentence structure. I was told everything. EVERYTHING. In short, direct sentences. Then there was the swearing, which I didn't mind but did feel like was just randomly thrown in there, but with the such basic language crossed with the dark topic of murder and teacher/student relationships, im genuinely wondering who actually is the target audience? WHO. what age?
So lastly the ending, which I can definitely say was AN ending but maybe not the right one. It was good to have, and wasn't entirely easy to guess but once it sat with me for an hour I started to question how that even made sense with ANY of this book and Ivy's pov the ENTIRE TIME. So she was lying? There were so many missed opportunities to add in glitches in ivy's memory or confusion or any kind of guilt. So apparently not, and they went straight for making her a downright evil psychopath. I feel like with everything else going on, they never made it obvious Ivy was thinking of anything else. what happened to mr willis then? Plus also did Audrey just get murdered? A third book CANNOT happen. if they try to juice this any longer, id like to see them try.
Really was wanting some emotion from Ivy in this book, but never really got it until the end. it felt fast, thrown in there. Didn't go with the story or the character. Oh, I know how it felt: a cold, feathery slap in the face telling me I just WASTED reading this book for every single last clue to be some trap planted by miss piano genius revealing all she did was just add them for DRAMATIC EFFECT.
After all this time, WHAT EVEN HAPPENED TO LOLA. She fell off a cliff? I never understood her as a character!! so over it. At that point, I was just daydreaming of the ending where they all get a massage at the hotel spa resort they should've put in and get some therapy, then actually go out in the world and not just sit in this stupid little boarding school and whimper about their education rights.

[Léa passion lecture · Rating 5 out of 5]

C’était beaucoup trop bien ? J’ai du me retenir de le terminer avant pour pouvoir le terminer pendant un readathon mais sans ça, le livre était lu en 2 jours !
Ça se lit hyper bien, c’est giga fluide et très très prenant. ET LE PLOT TWIST 🤯🤯🤯

[elenart · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.8 uwielbiam te historie, zamysł oraz wykonanie!! tak samo wciagajaca jak pierwsza czesc, nie wazne ile ta ksiazka ma jakichkolwiek bledow, jestem na nie slepa

Edit: a co tam zasługuje na pełne 5 ⭐️

[Agathe S · Rating 4 out of 5]

trop bon

[Zoë ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have many questions? What kind of ending is that 😅

[Oliwia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5/5 ⭐️

Tak podejrzewałam, ale mimo wszystko ta część zryla mi mozg

[Selien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ben niet zo’n fan van het einde tbh

[Afi (WhatAfiReads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"One for sorrow, that much you've learned. Two for joy, Who had to burn"

The sequel and the ending to the One for Sorrow that was quite the hype when it released. I gave the first book a 3.75 I think, but for the second book, I would say, I'll give it a 3.25-3.5. Depending on my feelings as I write this review, I've came to the conclusion whilst the book was okay... it felt just bland to me, EXCEPT FOR THAT FREAKING ENDING THAT WAS JUST LIKE HUH?

Personal Ratings : 3.25-3.5

Continuing from the last book, Two For Joy picked up right after the first book. Written in two POV's, Audrey and Ivy now is a one step closer in finding the real truth behind The Magpie Society and Lola's death; until another unexpected death happened, and the whole school went on a haywire. A story of deception, friendship and overall, a story of a magpie that kills. Literally.

Personal Thoughts
Honestly, the more I think about what I wanted to write about this book, the more I felt that this review will be some sort of a ranty post, which I would like to avoid if I can.

Okay, let's talk about some of the good things about the book and series as a whole.

The story starts and picks right up from the first book, which was not bad for me. I was quite curious to know what had happened after everything went down, and especially with that cliff hanger at the first book, I liked that the authors picked up and straight on made a really forward move in describing and creating new adventures for our two main characters. Writing Wise, it was not THE best out there, but its definitely Beginner-friendly . Its written in short chapters, with perspectives of two very distinct characters, which makes the whole story intriguing. The mystery elements are still there, and it was definitely a fast read for me. I would say I quite enjoyed the first half of the book, and the epilogue, but the middle half just felt super unnecessary for me. There were too many filler scenes, that literally didn't make sense to the buildup of the ending, in which comes in the ranty part of this review.

Disclaimers ; YOU'VE BEEN WARNED , ranty post ahead.

Personally for this series, whilst it was beginner friendly, I just didn't think that it needed two books to finish the freaking story. In fact, if it was written in one book...... it would definitely lead to a better buildup. I was tempted to give this lower than 3 stars, but the Epilogue caught me by surprise. But, the main problem of these two authors that I felt consistent from the first book was this, is in HOW THEY EXECUTED THE PLOT . The Epilogue was by far the best chapter they've wrote in this entire series, AND I HATED THAT IT SEEMED LIKE ITS JUST OUT OF CONVENIENCE. It literally took my by surprise and mind you, I was reading the last parts in public and I was literally losing my shit with everyone just staring what the heck is wrong with this girl. But yes, it was epic, but it made me thoroughly disappointed that it just felt like... They just threw it there for the sake of wrapping up a book.

I read some of the reviews here in Goodreads, and yes, I do agree that the writing is simple and very straightforward, and some really liked how everything concluded. I had no qualms about it, but, its mostly the feeling of disappointment that it could've been a good ending if it was wrapped up well at the end. Its mostly the problem of execution, in which its more of a personal preference thing.

Despite all that, I would still recommend this series to beginners, and to the fans of boarding-school-crime-mystery. The characters were relatable as teens with bits of drama but also splashed with incidents that will shake people up.

Thank you to Times Reads for generously providing me this gorgeous copy of the book.

Disclaimers: All my reviews are my thoughts of the book and according to my personal preferences. Even though I had received a review copy, it does not affect my review and honest thoughts for the book.

[Marcel Haußmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nach dem spannenden Ende von Band 1 war ich sehr gespannt, wie das Rätsel um Lolas Tod und die Magpie Society aufgelöst wird:

Ivy und Audrey versuchen immer noch den Mörder von Lola zu entlarven, doch dann verschwindet plötzlich ein weiteres Mädchen. Einziger Hinweis ist ein mysteriöser Brief der Magpie Society der aber weiter Rätsel aufgibt. Ivy und Audrey müssen erkennen, dass Illumen Hall dunkle Geheimnisse hütet, die äußerst gefährlich sind...

Der Abschluss der Dulogie hat mir um einiges besser gefallen als Band 1, man merkt, dass die Autorinnen nochmal richtig Gas gegeben haben. Es passiert deutlich mehr und es wird ordentlich an der Spannungsschraube gedreht, da diesmal die Nachforschungen über die Ereignisse viel mehr im Focus stehen. Dadurch ergeben sich immer wieder tolle Spannungsmomente.

Mit den Protagonistinnen Audrey und Ivy bin ich diesmal schon besser klargekommen, da ich sie diesmal auch einfacher auseinander halten konnte. Nichtsdestotrotz gibt es weiterhin einige Schwächen bei der Ausarbeitung der Charaktere und vor allem in der Kommunikation zwischen den beiden.

Die Geschichte war wieder sehr leicht zugängig, was an dem einfach gehaltenen Schreibstil lag. Auch wenn die Geschichte teilweise etwas vorhersehbar war, ist es den Autorinnen gelungen, das Mysterium um die Magpie Society und Lolas Tod lange aufrechtzuerhalten und den Leser dadurch an die Seiten zu fesseln.

"Aller bösen Dinge sind drei" ist für mich deutlich stärker als sein Vorgänger, das Ende wird die Leserschaft allerdings spalten. Für mich hat das Ende leider nicht ganz so gut funktioniert, es gibt aber ganz viele, die total begeistert davon sind. Aufgrund des Endes bedauerlicherweise nur 3,5 von 5 Sternen.

[Kate Paton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book felt really rushed compared to the first one. The first I enjoyed because you discovered all these secrets.

But this one, lacked it. The book is split into part 1 and part 2, completely skipping the fire and Clovers death, focusing on the before and after. I may have missed it but it didn’t give much away as to why clover faked her death to stay with Patrick. Then a few chapters later when she actually died I was confused and wasn’t sure if she was actually dead or not.

I didn’t like that there was no detail or bigger deal about the fire, skipping past it.

Then at the end, there were so many plots that didn’t really add up and they didn’t really explain more motive as to why ivy killed her or “let her fall of the edge”

[Erin Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so shocked that I can physically feel me heart breaking more and more every time I think about the ending. It was such a good ending and you know it’s a brilliant plot twist when you can’t stop thinking about it and it feels like your whole worlds been turned upside down. I’m gonna spend the next 12 to 24 hours calming my brain. Would 100% recommend!

[Natalia · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5*

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited about this book, to finally find out who the killer was especially after that horrific cliff hanger in One For Sorrow. However, much like in the first book, the ending left me feeling deflated, uninterested and simply annoyed. This book felt sloppier somehow, This may have been because I read some reviews trying to remember the story (due to the time between the first book and the second book) or it could just be that this one was simply written at a different level.

I don’t like Ivy as a character, she’s reads as a very cold person. I did listen to the audiobook so that may have contributed to this version of Ivy but I feel like she was written as a cold hearted person & the mystery surrounding her family never sat right. Audrey on the other hand is likeable but is portrayed to me as a sort of ‘dumb, pretty, blonde American’ which isn’t a type of character I like to read honestly. I thought it was nice that she went to find Ivy’s photobook but it was a bit strange especially when you haven’t ever spoken to your friends mum? Anyway the fall out between Ivy and Audrey because of this act was seriously annoying!! The interactions between the two felt forced and over dramatic & Teddy is a very suspicious person and totally not the man for Audrey.

The continued story of the teacher & student affair really bothered me, Ivy not telling the police and convincing Audrey to do the same felt wrong to me especially since the suspected student was a girl who was mysteriously killed. I didn’t think he killed Lola however, the prologue in this book felt feminine to me somehow almost like a weird friendship obsession instead of a romantic obsession like it’s suggested.

Finally, the reveal that Ivy is the one who killed Lola was cheap and unwanted. I really wanted it to be someone I never expected and I had slight guesses throughout the book that Ivy was suspicious but I thought that they couldn’t go down that route after the cliffhanger and build up of book one? Sadly I was wrong. Also, Audrey being locked in that room? What? Why? I would’ve liked it better if Audrey managed to get out and was able to track down and capture Ivy but that may be because I don’t see the point in books finishing with unsatisfactory endings. I’m upset that I spent so long waiting on this book and I feel simply unsatisfied and annoyed. Sorry Zoe :(