Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Summer is the troubled sun around which Mia and Brynn revolve, and the three friends cocreate an imaginary world called Lovelorn, based on an old book Summer has kept with her through many years of bouncing around in the foster care system. In an effort to appease "the Shadow," a character from the original book, Summer organizes a sacrifice and ends up dead. Brynn sent Mia away on that fateful day but is a prime suspect herself, as is Mia's secret crush, Owen. The case is never solved, so on the fifth anniversary of her death, the three decide to find the real culprit. Oliver masters the slow reveal in this mystery-laden thriller. Readers will know there's something amiss but will get caught up in Brynn's rehab stints and Mia's situational mutism, while golden girl Summer shimmers dead center. Mia and Brynn share narration duties in nuanced chapters that delicately capture their personalities, and excerpts from The Way into Lovelorn (the imaginary book) heighten the tension by acting as teasers and further indicators of characterization. Taut and twisting, Oliver's latest is something special. Try it with fans of the Pretty Little Liars series, April Genevieve Tucholke's Wink Poppy Midnight? (2016), or Karen M. McManus' One of Us Is Lying? (2017). HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Oliver is a regular on best-seller lists, so order up to keep the bloodshed down. Grades 9-12. Copyright 2018 Booklist Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
Friendship and fandom turn deadly for a group of teen girls. Quiet Mia, brash Brynn, and beautiful Summer—three 13-year-old friends living in rural Vermont—all bonded over their love of an obscure children's fantasy book The Way Into Lovelorn. Lovelorn has a famous midsentence ending, and the girls decide to compose their own fanfiction to imagine its resolution. However, when Summer is brutally murdered, Mia and Brynn (along with their friend Owen) are wrongfully accused of the crime, propelling the teens into unfortunate infamy with the moniker The Monsters of Brickhouse Lane. Five years later, they reunite to try to catch Summer's murderer. Alternating chapters, which jump between Mia's and Brynn's perspectives from when they were 13 and the present, also include snippets of metafictitious Lovelorn and bits of the girls' fanfiction. Although many other offerings have examined the turbulent machinations of teen girls, Oliver (Ringer, 2017, etc.) nimbly navigates the obsessive and erratic bonds the girls forge; mercurial Summer vacillates from charming to malicious, bewildering the others. While the characters are deftly portrayed, the mystery meanders into contrivance and convenience. Expect readers to have much to discuss with a provocative and divisive conclusion that may frustrate those who prefer a tidy resolution. While all characters are assumed white, Brynn is a lesbian, and a secondary character is fat-positive and pansexual. A page-turner for sure, but this meta romp teeters into preciousness. (Mystery. 14-adult) Copyright Kirkus 2018 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
When Vermont best friends Brynn, Mia, and Summer were 13, Summer was murdered under strange circumstances linked to the girls' obsession with an old fantasy novel,
School Library Journal Reviews