Reviews

Summer Rental by Rektok Ross

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itsgivingjacob's review

dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

1.5

this book takes way too long setting itself up and seems to forget it’s supposed to be a thriller until the last like, 80 pages. there’s just so much nothing in the first 70% of the book. characters range from extremely dull to insufferable. the twist is very predictable, and the killer reveal wasn’t satisfying because it was painfully obvious.

the ending was very unsatisfying to me and just felt like a jumbled mess

. the kills themselves were very boring,

especially since most of them happen “off screen”. the ones we are present for aren’t very interesting.

the actual writing wasn’t awful, but most of the time felt very “hip with the kids.” the best part of the book, in my opinion, is

after the killer is revealed, and riley says “Roxy was a person, not a breakfast item.” after blake says some analogy comparing “collateral damage” to breaking eggs to make an omelet. this was genuinely really funny and i’m not sure if it was supposed to be lmao

idk i could see why you would like this book, but i just think it didn’t capitalize on it’s interesting premise as well as it could have.

es431412's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

zaineylaney's review against another edition

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3.0

Are you going on a beach vacation and need a thriller read to make you feel like you are there? This book is one ot read:
Fourth of July - Riley and her friends are about to go to college so they are spending one last weekend together on the Fourth of July
Beach House - they rent a beach house so they can spend time partying it up
Urban Legend - But one of the group goes missing which reminds the group that their beach house is the site of a gruesome urban legend

I received this book as part of the Turn the Page Tours and will tag them so you can check out the others taking part! I first became aware of this author from tiktok with her first book, Ski Weekend so I was glad to be able to pick this one up. It’s a fast paced read and on the surface very thrillery. There are some minor things I wished were more complex as it seemed like there were a lot of red herrings to conceal the real twist. However, I can say this book was so suspenseful I read it in a day. So that at least is a good reason to pick it up.

bookishlybeth's review

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2.5

I really wanted to love this but it just didn’t hit the mark. Don’t get me wrong it was still enjoyable but it took so long for anything to actually happen. It lacked suspense and although there was a fake out for who the killer was I still figured it out before the reveal and wasn’t surprised. I also just don’t jive with the queer suicide plot. There’s enough people making queer the “evil” and I just think it was a poor plot to go with. More books need to support queer characters.

It’s still worth a read, but doesn’t live up to the hype. And the scream comparison is just not it.