What would you do for love?

That Weekend by Kara Thomas

Publication Date: June 29, 2021

Summary from NetGalley:

THREE BEST FRIENDS, A LAKE HOUSE, A SECRET TRIP — WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

It was supposed to be the perfect prom weekend getaway. But it’s clear something terrible happened when Claire wakes up alone and bloodied on a hiking trail with no memory of the past forty-eight hours.

Now everyone wants answers–most of all, Claire. She remembers Friday night, but after that . . . nothing. And now Kat and Jesse–her best friends–are missing.

What happened on the mountain? And where are Kat and Jesse? Claire knows the answers are buried somewhere in her memory. But as she’s learning, everyone has secrets–even her best friends. And she’s pretty sure she’s not going to like what she remembers.

ARC provided by Random House Children’s via NetGalley for an honest review.

Confession:

This is another well done YA suspense thriller that will keep you guessing to the very end and then will smack you in the face with a surprise that you will not see coming. If you have enjoyed this author’s previous works then you will definitely want to get your hands on this one.

Claire is an amazing young woman. She is pretty smart, although can be a bit naive at times. She is also resilient and will do what she needs to to figure out what happened to her on that mountain. No one else seems to be willing or able to help her, so she goes about finding the clues necessary to do it herself. The first half of the book is told from Claire’s point of view and what she remembers and how she viewed her life at the time. We also see a lot of memories of her friendships with Kat and Jesse, which at the time seemed like they were all really close. But perceptions can be so wrong.

Eventually we do get to hear from Kat and the true story of what happened on the mountain begins to emerge. I liked Kat for the most part, but I also felt that she could be cold and closed off even from her closest friends. Kat was really good at keeping her secrets which I am not sure was a good thing.

Jesse is the one character that we never hear from, but I really would have liked to. We don’t get to know him very well either, because we only see very short scenes between him and Claire at the beginning and then a few between all of the characters towards the end. He seemed like a nice guy, but he has some issues and some secrets of his own that don’t come to light until the end.

As usual there were quite a few twists to this story. It starts off with the mystery of what happened to Kat and Jesse, and as we only hear from Claire, we know only what she does, which wasn’t much. It isn’t until Kat’s story is being told that things start to come together. I had pretty much figured most of the mystery on the mountain before we heard from Kat, but there were enough twists that I did have my doubts many times before the end. The exact reasons why were not clear until the very end either which was what makes you want to finish the story. There is a final twist that comes out of nowhere which I know will bother some people, but to me seemed to make the background information and the family secrets more realistic.

Another great book by this author that will be an awesome summer beach read. It is one that will keep you guessing and entertained until the surprisingly twisted end.