I love young adult mystery thrillers. This one had a lot of twists and turns I didn’t see coming, and I loved the mysterious aspect.

This is a perfect beach read! Like the other reviewers I had such a clear picture in my head on how to book was going to end but I was thrown through a loop.

2.75
Trigger warning: child abuse, graphic death scenes, rape, hard-core bullying, suicide mentioned.

This book was a wild ride. It was very interesting at the beginning, but then it became kind of unrealistic. One bad thing happened after the other and it's all very graphic.

I was really hoping for an unreliable narrator, but it didn't happen. Still, I liked the three narrators. At times I hated the three of them. Scarlet was way too mean for no reason; Rachel was too oblivious, and Laura was too tragical. But to be honest, I really liked them some other times.

I didn't personally enjoy the whole story but the last 30% was SO addictive a didn't even wanted to skim. I really wanted to know what was going to be the ending.

In general, is not a book I would usually pick or recommend to people because there are too many triggering scenes, but overall, it was very addictive.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for the e-arc.

I loved this book and have recommended it to my students who are looking for thrilling page-turning books to be engaged with in the class. The Dead Girl Under the Bleachers took you on twists and turns through the story of these small town killings. My students who love Karen McManus always ask for one like them and I have recommended Donna's book to them that they love just as much as McManus looking for the sitting on the edge of your seat. They were very impressed as was I! I am looking forward to more of Craven Falls.

Good read. The plot is entertaining and keeps the readers attention. There are enough plot twists to keep the reader guessing. Ultimately, a good book for those who like mystery and intrigue.

This book follows three girls, Laura, Rachel and Scarlett and begins with a girl being murdered but we don't know who or why.

I was looking forward to reading this book, as I do like murder mystery novels, however, I didn't enjoy it at all. The characters were one-dimensional, and I found that I didn't care for any of them. I didn't enjoy the writing style and the pacing was off to me. It is unfortunate as I really did like the concept of the novel but for a novel like this you need to want to find out what happened to the victim and I found that I didn't care about it.

I read The Dead Girl Under the Bleachers in a couple of hours because I could not put it down.

Donna M. Zadunajsky kicks off the “Craven Falls” mystery series with a brutal murder. I was sucked in as quickly as the victim’s shoes in the mud as they fell running from their killer. Zadunajsky spins from death to the recent past where our killer or victim’s story begins.

Three girls. One who hates. One who betrays. One who waffles. Zadunajsky adds to daily teenage drama with domestic abuse, rape, divorce, and more death. This is a mix of real-life storytelling and a mystery.

The mystery is complicated by politics, secrets, and pain. Zadunajsky spares no one. It is awesome!

I cannot wait to read the second book in this series if it is anything like this one. I did not guess the killer nor the victim. This makes The Dead Girl Under the Bleachers a must read.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

I had a hard time getting into this book. There wasn't any character development. I had expected to be help on to my seat while reading this but that just didn't happen. I felt pretty bored if im honest.

I love books like this. since I'm a true-crime junky and can't get enough, but this book fell short for me on all front. I expected to be held on the edge of my seat with plot twists and guessing who did it, but instead I found myself rather bored and trudging through the story. I:n fact, I don't remember a lot of this story because I ended up skimming quite a bit. I think this book had a lot of potential, but its execution just fell short for me.

This book had a really good idea and I thought it was going to be a good read but it just fell flat for me. None of the characters were likable and it was just one bad thing after another happening randomly which didn't help the story. It seemed to be all over the place and the way the teenagers talked didn't even sound realistic and the revelation at the end was definitely not what I was expecting but was very unbelievable. This was not for me but others may enjoy it if you are looking for a book filled with drama and murder.

In the mood for a mystery and thriller, I was scrolling through my Kindle and came across The Dead Girl Under the Bleachers and it sounded good. As I started reading, I was hooked as we are met with a captivating first chapter of a girl running in a homecoming dress from someone who is trying to kill her and we read as she slowly dies under the bleachers. The book then jumps back a few months leading up to Homecoming. Scarlett and Rachel are best friends and Laura was Rachel's ex-friend back in middle school. Scarlett has always been jealous of Laura and now Laura is Scarlett's new target. However, Rachel is about to discover that the past few years since her mum, etc died that Laura hasn't had it easy at all. This brings Rachel and Laura close again as Rachel asks for her forgiveness. Scarlett doesn't like this one bit and plans to ruin Laura. We can also see Scarlett has a horrible stepmother, though in one part I hated Scarlett and thought she got what she deserved in the end but then the people who did it that she didn't deserve. During this book, family secrets and skeletons will be let out of the closet connecting Scarlett and Laura in a way they never realized. In finding out the truth though, it is dangerous as people would rather it be buried than out in the open and they are willing to do everything in their power to make it stay hidden - even kill. This was a good debut of the series Craven Falls Mystery and I am looking forward to seeing more in this series by Donna M. Zadunajsky.

Wow!! I could not put this book down!! From the first page you are hooked by the murder and then you have to figure out who it is, what happened and why. Told from the viewpoints of Laura, Scarlet and Rachel you live through the dynamics of bing popular at Craven Falls High and the secrets you would have to keep hidden to stay that way.

Thank you NetGalley, Donna M. Zadunajsky and Black Rose Writing for this edition and hearing my honest review. Looking forward to reading more with you
#partner

Thank you to Black Rose Writing for letting me have a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I couldn't get on with this book. It follows the POV's of three different girls, who are all very stereotyped. None of these characters were likeable and none of them had any development. Whilst it is great to have three leading females in a book, all that work gets undone when they are unrelatable and unlikeable. This book also deals with some serious topics which deserve to be written about, but at the same time, the author went too far into the dramatic at points that it drew away attention from those important topics and threatened to trivialise them.

I wouldn't categorize this as a murder mystery because despite the murder it seemed more concerned with teen drama than the mystery, which is fine, but if that is the main theme of the book it needs remarketing.

I'm quite surprised at the amount of people that disliked this book, as I absolutely loved it and read it in the space of around 3/4 hours! Despite me being 23 years old, I do love a good YA book, sometimes more than a thriller focused on adults. I loved getting to know all three girls from their own perspectives and the story-lines woven in to each of their lives were juicy indeed - especially Laura's and Scarlet's. Rachel had the most average story of them all, stuck in between two girls with dark lives, but I have to say, she was my favourite, as she always knew what to do and say, she was a great friend to both, regardless of whether or not either deserved it. Laura's story was heart-wrenching to say the least and I really sympathised for her, it was just one thing after the other. The poor girl couldn't catch a break. I did feel somewhat of sympathies towards Scarlet in the end, but boy did Donna make it hard for me to like her. Her home life was not as perfect as it seemed on the outside, that's for sure, but she didn't always make life easy for herself either. There was so many times though, where you could see the good wanting to come out of her and I just wished I could have been there to help encourage it out of her.

The final chapters were painful to read, as the dead girl under the bleachers becomes a reality. It wasn't too much of a surprise for myself as to which girl it would be under the bleachers, however, it didn't make it any less awful and the people behind it - that was where my shock came out. One of the suspects was an absolute easy guess, however the second was completely unexpected and a great twist to finalise the story.

This just wasn't for me. I appreciate that the author tried to create a twisted mystery, but some of the things that happened didn't make much sense and it felt like they were just there for shock value. There were too many bad guys and I didn't really like any of the characters. I also felt like the language was stilted and not natural sounding.

Laura is the ultimate victim, to the point that it's almost too much. Her father and brother were killed in a car accident, her mother is an abusive alcoholic, she has no friends and someone is framing her for murder. There's more, but that goes into spoiler territory. Let's just say, how many terrible things can happen to one teenage girl?

Rachel is wishy washy and even if she's not the bully Scarlet is, she's an accomplice and can't stand up for herself. She goes back and forth being a friend to Laura and I just thought she didn't do much for the plot.

Scarlet is basically evil, she bullies other girls, is terrible to her stepmother (although I would say it's warranted) and comes up with schemes to ruin people's lives. She thinks she's untouchable and had almost no redeeming qualities.

A lot of things happened that weren't realistic, I didn't understand people's motivations and police procedures were thrown out the window. The ending wasn't my favorite and I wish this had less big reveals and focused on building a better plot.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. The characters weren't very likable or believable. The murder? Nope, I don’t buy it. But, I was invested enough in the story that I kept reading.

Ok so the first thing I need to say about this book, is there are a lot of triggering aspects. The book contains child abuse and rape, so you have been warned. With that out of the way, I found this ok. The blurb was a bit misleading in my opinion. The book features 3 teen girls, Scarlet the Craven Falls High Queen Bee, her best friend Rachel, and outcast Laura. Scarlet seems to have everything going for her, looks, popularity, and the jock boyfriend, but things aren't what they seem. Rachel is just a normal girl she has a decent home life, being friends with Scarlet has given her popularity. Laura is an outcast at school the brunt of jokes and bullying, then deals with her mother's abuse at home. Having dealt with my own share of bullies and abuse I was most empathic toward Laura. The book is told from a mix of all three POVs, which I didn't have a problem with. Unfortunately, there was very little character development, and all three were rather stereotypical as far as YA goes. The mean popular girl, the best friend who won't speak up and then the outcast.

The story was more a teen drama than mystery, the few clues dropped didn't give enough for the reader to go on yet the ending wasn't a huge twist or all that surprising. For me, it was just sad, and disappointing. Everything so neatly tied up, I also felt that justice wasn't quite served.

I feel that the book could have been better if the characters had been less stereotyped and the plot more fleshed out. Overall like I said, it was ok but could have been better.

I love a good thriller and was so excited to read this book based on the preview.
However, I did not finish reading this book as it just wasn't holding my attention.That being said the prologue and beginning were good and I really wanted to continue reading but then it started falling flat. The book needs a good edit of what to get rid of and what to add. Some of the characters are so vindictive to point of just being vindictive. They were flat and not dynamic and so it was hard to connect with them. Overall, I really wanted to like this book, but it just wasn't for me.

I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I tried a few times to get into this, but it just couldn’t hold my interest. I finally did finish it, but it took forever.

I didn’t like the characters, the storyline was unbelievable and unrealistic. The grammar was horrible.

The Dead Girl Under the Bleachers
Author: Donna M Zadunajsky
Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller
Rating: ⭐️ / 5
Reviewed: Maya

- PLEASE BE AWARE THAT I DIDN’T FINISH THIS BOOK -
I really needed to read a thriller, so I was very excited for this. I only got through about 20% of this book, but I needed to stop because I really didn’t like this book. The prologue was really interesting, as the book started off with a murder, but the reader’s don’t know who. The book is set a month before that, but it was more of a high school drama. There were numerous problems in the book that made it hard to read which included switching the tenses in the same sentences, grammatical mistakes and just things that didn’t make sense. These things just really annoyed me and I found the storyline to be really boring. The book is told in three POVs; Laura, the outcast, Rachel, the mean girl’s sidekick and Scarlet, the popular mean girl. I think these characters were all very stereotypical and I was just so exasperated by them. There was no mystery or thriller elements, there were numerous mistakes and a lack of depth to the storyline and characters so I decided to stop reading this book. I would not recommend reading, especially if you want a real mystery/thriller read.