Truly, Madly, Deadly Blog Tour: Review

Truly, Madly, Deadly
Author: Hannah Jayne
Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller
Release Date: July 2, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Description:

They Said It Was An Accident...

Sawyer Dodd is a star athlete, a straight-A student, and the envy of every other girl who wants to date Kevin Anderson. When Kevin dies in a tragic car crash, Sawyer is stunned. Then she opens her locker to find a note:

You're welcome.

Someone saw what he did to her. Someone knows that Sawyer and Kevin weren't the perfect couple they seemed to be. And that someone—a killer—is now shadowing Sawyer's every move...  

Praise for Hannah Jayne

“Jayne has a bright future ahead!”

—RT Book Reviews

“What a ride! Full of twists and turns

—including an ending you won't see coming!”

—April Henry, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die

Truly, Madly, Deadly is a taut young adult mystery/thriller that had me hooked from the first chapter. It follows main character Sawyer Dodd, whose boyfriend, Kevin, has just died in a tragic car accident. Or so she and everyone else thought. After Kevin's funeral, Sawyer gets a cryptic note in her locker that simply states "You're welcome" and it's signed from "an admirer." Things don't seem so cut and dry with Kevin's death anymore and Sawyer wonders if someone found out the truth about their relationship - and the fact that it had become abusive. Strange and deadly occurrences keep happening to those who upset or hurt Sawyer, always accompanied by a note from "an admirer." Who is this mysterious person so willing to kill for Sawyer's sake? And just what exactly do they want?

This was a fantastic YA thriller that had me eagerly turning the pages to see what was going to happen next. The plot was very well done with a very quick pace and tons of twists and turns throughout the book that kept me guessing until the very end. I love reading thrillers - I always try to figure out the killer before the characters do - but this one really had me stumped through the majority of the book. I really loved all the red herrings the author threw in the mix to keep things up in the air and the ending was completely unexpected - I was seriously caught off guard! The characters are really well written. They were all realistic and easy to identify with - especially Sawyer. She's been through a really horrible and tragic event with her boyfriend's death, but on top of that she has to deal with her parent's divorce, a new (and now pregnant) step-mom, and the guilt she feels for Kevin's death. Add in the fact that Kevin was abusing her physically and a stalker - and things are definitely hard to handle. Sawyer kept her cool through most of it - trying the best she could. I liked that although she felt guilty about Kevin and his death, she also knew that she didn't deserve to be abused and that things were over between them. I also liked that she found a new romance in the book and it helped her to heal a bit and begin to move forward. The writing itself was really exceptional with vivid detail and descriptions that had me feeling like I was right alongside Sawyer the entire time. Very highly recommended for fans of mystery and thrillers!

Hannah Jayne lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and writes cozy mysteries, young adult fiction, chick lit, and grocery lists that she never seems to remember to bring to the grocery store. Hannah shares a house with two neurotic, feet-attacking cats and has Kryptonite-like weakness for donuts. Visit  www.hannahjschwartz.com.   

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Hannah_Jayne1