Hello everyone! My name is Jan and welcome back to another blog post ◝(ᵔᵕᵔ)◜ ♥
Lately, I’ve been on a reading (what’s the opposite of slump? surge?) surge for the past week now it feels weird if I don’t read for at least an hour before I go to sleep LOL. It doesn’t matter if it’s on my phone or with a physical book in hand, I just NEED to read before I go to bed.
With that being said I actually can’t believe I’ve actually been completing my ARCs? I’ve been trying to do my best to read with my friend Trin at night and I think that it’s really made me more productive with my reading so tysm Trin :3
This week I have brought to you another ARC review and it is by Jessica Goodman, the author who also wrote They Wish They Were Us, a murder mystery at this preparatory school where everyone is a suspect. Check out the goodreads link above if you’re interested!
Jessica Goodman has brought us ANOTHER murder mystery and I’m vv thankful for Penguin Teen for sending me a copy to read and give an honest review 🙂 ❤
Without further ado, let’s get on with my review!
Title: They’ll Never Catch Us
Author: Jessica Goodman
Publishing Date: July 26th, 2021
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary
Rating: ☆☆☆
Synopsis
From rising star Jessica Goodman, author of They Wish They Were Us, comes a new fast-paced thriller about two sisters vying for the top spot on their cross-country team–the only way out of their stifling small town. But their dreams are suddenly thrown into peril when a new girl threatens to take away everything they’ve worked for… until she disappears.
Stella and Ellie Steckler are only a year apart, but their different personalities make their relationship complicated. Stella is single-minded, driven, and she keeps to herself. Cross-country running is her life and she won’t let anything get in the way of being the best. Her sister Ellie is a talented runner too, but she also lets herself have fun. She has friends. She goes to parties. She has a life off the course.
The sisters do have one thing in common, though: the new girl, Mila Keene. Both Stecklers’ lives are upended when Mila comes to town. Mila was the top runner on her team back home and at first, Ellie and Stella view her as a threat. But soon Ellie can’t help but be drawn to her warm, charming personality. After her best friend moved away and her first boyfriend betrayed her, Ellie’s been looking for a friend. In a moment of weakness, she even shares her darkest secret with Mila. For her part, Stella finds herself noticing the ways she and Mila are similar. Mila is smart and strong–she’s someone Stella can finally connect with. As the two get closer, Stella becomes something she vowed she’d never be: distracted.
With regionals approaching and college scouts taking notice, the pressure is on. Each girl has their future on the line and they won’t let friendships get in their way. But then, suddenly, Mila goes out on a training run and never returns. No one knows what happened, but all eyes are on the Steckler sisters.
So… I did want to like this book.
It was just okay in my opinion.
I didn’t really like Jessica Goodman’s other book, They Wish They Were Us but I thought that since this story had a sisters dynamic and this common prose of cross country “murderers” in this small town that has a history of being Murderville, I thought I would like this!!!
It was just okay LOL.
However, I really did like this book much better than They Wish They Were Us !
This book really put into perspective how women really aren’t taken seriously when they’re speaking about something and I’m glad that Jessica Goodman pointed that out in a realistic fashion in this book. “We all know teenage girls are capable of lying” that quote physically made me mad and my heart literally stopped for a second because of how true that is? Not in the sense that we do teenage girls are capable of lying, but the fact that teenage girls, women in general, are always perceived in this way that they’re never right or telling the truth and once they try speaking up for themselves, they get shut down.
Stella Steckler is competitive. It’s in her nature to strive to be the best because she knows that she is the best. She doesn’t want anything to get in the way of her full potential. Last year had been rough enough on her, with the whole scandal she had going on that cost her scholarship opportunities in Georgetown, She just wanted to focus on herself and get herself in Georgetown with her talent in cross-country. However, once new girl Mila comes into town, Stella doesn’t only worry about beating her sister in a race, but she also has to keep an eye out for a new ace. Someone who will surely take her spot.
Ellie Steckler, just like her sister wants to get out of Edgewater (or Deadwater, if you will) just as badly. She wants to beat her sister in at least one race. But with Mila in town too, she had to add another girl to the list of people she needed to outrace. But when Mila goes missing, all eyes look at the Steckler sisters.
I was genuinely surprised with the sister dynamic of this book, you can clearly tell who the two different Stecklers are, and even though all eyes are pointing at the Steckler Sister’s for Mila’s disappearance, no matter if they both don’t know each other’s secrets, all in all, they still have each other’s back no matter what.
I read this all in one sitting because I felt like I was watching beef happen right before my eyes LOL. If you’re interested in a family dynamic book, small-town murder mysteries and competitive teenage girls willing to do anything to save their ass, They’ll Never Catch Us is definitely for you.
Thank you for coming to my review! I hope you’re all staying safe 🙂
Jan ❤
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