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I was a bit of a procrastinator this month and relied on the “I can read a book in a day” mantra to get something read before our post went life. This month’s prompt was to tackle a summer read and to me, that means a fast-paced page turner, preferably in the suspense or thriller category. I’ve read plenty of those this summer and they almost never disappoint. I had one more reserved for our trip next week, but I decided to pull it off the shelf early and dive in for our link up today. That means I’ll be hitting up the bookstore later this week for the perfect airport read. Any suggestions?
Final Girls by Riley Sanger
Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie–scale massacre. In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to—a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls. Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout’s knife; Sam, who went up against the Sack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape Pine Cottage and the man she refers to only as Him. The three girls are all attempting to put their nightmares behind them, and, with that, one another. Despite the media’s attempts, they never meet. Now, Quincy is doing well—maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost-fiancé, Jeff; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life all those years ago. Her memory won’t even allow her to recall the events of that night; the past is in the past. That is, until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy’s doorstep. Blowing through Quincy’s life like a whirlwind, Sam seems intent on making Quincy relive the past, with increasingly dire consequences, all of which makes Quincy question why Sam is really seeking her out. And when new details about Lisa’s death come to light, Quincy’s life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam’s truths from her lies, evade the police and hungry reporters, and, most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished.
Book Description via Amazon | Buy Here
RIVETING.
What part of the book could you NOT get enough of? I loved the dynamic between Quincy and Sam. They were clearly working to have a relationship with one other, but weren’t sure who they could trust. Their personalities couldn’t have been more different and I thought the push and pull between them made for an interesting set up.
ELEMENTS.
How did you relate to/care for the characters? What’s your thought on the plot line and twists and turns? I liked Quincy a lot and I thought it was pretty cute that she was a blogger. Although her niche is obviously different from mine, it was nice to see blogging as a career choice covered in a novel and I loved how her day to day life was portrayed. Sam was a little more difficult to relate to. She was raw and rough around the edges, and although perfectly understandable, it made her harder to love. As far as twists go, I liked the plot line in this one. It wasn’t farfetched, but Sanger kept you guessing and I swore I had it worked out several different times. I also appreciated the flashbacks to Quincy’s past and how they were spaced throughout the novel. You got just enough information about what really happened to satisfy you before being thrust back into present time.
ASSOCIATE.
What other books are like this one? If none, did it remind you of a particular TV or movie with it’s themes and characters? Does it serendipitous-ly line-up with things going on in your life or the news right now? I’m not sure I’ve read anything with a plot line that closely resembles this one, but Amazon recommends The Lying Game and The Breakdown to those purchasing Final Girls. To see other thrillers I’ve read and loved — and that definitely qualify as summer reads — try this post!
DESIGN.
You know you judged this book by the cover. What did you think of it? How did it relate to the contents of the novel? And the font and layout of the pages? This was a BOTM selection and I always love the font and layout of their editions. The cover art is bold and I like the mix of font and hand drawn elements in the title. While it doesn’t give anything away about the book and doesn’t relate to its contents literally, I think it’s perfect.
STARS.
How many out of five do you give this book? Would you recommend this book to a friend? I’ll be honest — I’m struggling with book ratings lately. I recognize that I very rarely hate a book and pretty frequently give titles four and five stars. I think that’s partly because I just enjoy the act of reading and I love stories. I also think that I do a really good job of selecting books that I know I’ll love. It’s rare for me to choose an outlier and when I do, I find that I finally pick them up after much fanfare and I feel like I can trust the recommendation. Sooooo, I’m going to give this one four stars even though three is probably sufficient. I really liked it, but it didn’t fall into my favorites category. I love a fast-paced thriller, so as long as the ending is crazy unpredictable and the story is captivating, I’m kind of a sure thing.
You know what makes a book club even more fun? When you get to share it with all of your (virtual) friends! We would love it if you would share with your own readers or give us a little shout on social media (use the hashtag #collaboreads). The more the merrier! We’ve even put our heads together and come up with a prompt list for the entire year so that you can plan ahead. Join us on Tuesday, August 22nd, when we’ll read a book in a series.
Every time Rachel and I share Collaboreads on social media or publish our latest book review, we always get comments from readers who forgot about the link party or didn’t finish their book in time. I thought it might be great to offer reminder emails for those of you who planned to link up, but didn’t, so feel free to use the subscription form below to get those monthly reminders. You aren’t signing up for a weekly newsletter and we won’t be sending you any spam. You’ll get two, book-related, emails each month — one two weeks before our link party to remind you of the monthly topic and a second email closer to our posting date, so you don’t accidentally run out of time. Enter your email address below and we’ll take care of the rest!
