By: Kelsey Cox
Many thanks to Minotaur Books and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book!
In 2000, Isabella Whitmore went missing. Now it’s 2025 and it’s time for the annual Lone Star Princess Pageant. With this comes old grudges, traumas, memories, and tons of pressure. On top of that, it’s winter and there is a storm brewing that is threatening to shut down everything. When the power goes out, everyone is stuck under one roof. Who will survive, and who ends up dead?
I know everyone is raving about this book, but it was just okay for me. The cover is absolutely gorgeous and the synopsis sounded really good, so I wanted to read it!
There were SO many characters and too many points of view that I started forgetting who was related to who. That took away from a lot of the enjoyment. On top of that, the way that the author made it sound was that the daughters of the women who went to school together and friends with Isabella and her twin sister Ingrid, were MUCH older than they were, not just 5 years. The daughters are in high school, but I thought Isabella was a senior in high school when she died? So the timing for me doesn’t make sense. Lastly, I don’t love slow burn thrillers, and this is definitely a slow burn thriller.
That being said, the ending was really good. I appreciated the twist. And when the action really started, I couldn’t stop reading. It was just getting to the action that took a long time.
Not my favorite book. However, a ton of readers really enjoyed this one. As I always say, take my opinion with a grain of salt, and give the book a try!
Publish Date: July 7, 2026
Find the book here.
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