Even though this book was very much not a genre that I prefer to read, I knew I was going to read it when it was announced. As I adore Lish and have loved several books by her. So I had to give this one a try. As I do love murder mysteries. And teen romance. Sigh. But oh, a high school setting is simply just not for me at all.
I'm not sure how to put my thoughts down for this review. I really wanted to love this book. But I really did not. I'm going with a two star, sadly. It was almost a three. But never any higher than that. There were some things I really liked. But I did not love any of it. Mostly it was just a little too boring and a little too tame, honestly.
But I shall start by sharing a little bit about the characters. As I really liked reading about Rick and Martina. As they were pretty great. Did not love them as much as I wanted to, but I liked them a whole bunch. It is told from the point of view of Rick. He is best friends with Martina. They are very close and it was the sweetest to read about. I loved how close he was with her family too. They had some cute banter as well. Although the banter grew to be a bit too much for me in this book, as there was so much. Oops. It was possibly very much a teen book. I wish it had been a little more murder, and less focus on school, ha. But I did like the growing friendships. I did not like the typical bullying that was included, of course. I also kind of wish this group of teens were smaller. Might have connected to them more, if the group was small.
But I liked getting to know Rick. He lives with him mom and little sister. And his dad left them and took all their money and most of their things as well. Which was the rudest. Rick is still mad about it. His mother is trying her best to support them, but it is not easy. I loved that he had such a great uncle, though. As he was pretty sweet too. And his mom was adorable. His sister too. Rick tried a little too hard as well. But he was such a kind and sweet boy. Though his crush on Nika was a bit too much and silly. But I liked it too.
Martina had a more rich family, and they also tried their best to help Rick as they could. I just loved how close they were in this book. I just did not feel too much about any of them. Which sucked. I really wanted to love this story more. But I just had issues connecting, sadly. The writing was good, but I also had some problems with it. Still. I did like this book. I simply did not love it. Some parts were exciting. Well, mostly. The murders were good, but also boring, and I wish there had been many more details, to be fully honest.
This book tells the story of Rick and Martina. Although it starts with the murder of a teacher. Then it goes to Rick, and the day they are being giving their yearbooks. But this doesn't go as it normally do. Someone have messed with the books. Instead of people being most likely to succeed and such stuff, they are now being pictured as most likely to die in different ways. And everyone thinks Rick and Martina did it. As they are known to do pranks. Though this one is a little more evil, which is something they would just not do.
I must honestly say that I found the whole school thing to be boring. It is just not for me. And there was a lot of it. Sigh. I liked the story more when they found the teacher dead. Just like the yearbook had written. Rick and Martina was also pictured in it. Though someone still thinks they did it. I liked reading about the murders, as more people end up dead. Though next time it would be a teen from their school. I liked the way the murders were written, as we somewhat got to see them. Wish there were more details, honestly.
But this book was not just about the murders and these teens just trying to stay alive. They spend time together, with Rick trying his best to finally talk to his crush, Nika. But he very much failed at it again and again. It was kind of cute, but mostly just awkward. What helped was that she was just as weird as him. So they were pretty cute together. I just didn't care much for the romance, sadly. Martina had a crush on Camryn, which was sweet, but we saw even less of that. So yeah. Too little romance, too little murders.
I do have to mention the ending of this book. There was the typical final showdown with the murderer. Which I was excited about. But it also made zero sense. First of all, they all had their phones on them. There was no signal issue. Yet none of them called the police or any of the families. Took them way too long. That made zero sense to me. They had so much time to make a call. Sigh. Then the murderer is revealed. And it honestly made no sense that either. I wish it had been someone else, haha. It felt weird.
I'm not going to say much more about this book. As it was short, and honestly not that much happened. Ack. But I am still glad that I gave Most Likely to Murder a try. And I will still read anything by this author. But yeah. This contemporary genre and high school is just not something that I like reading. I sometimes do, but it was not the case this time. The characters were nice, though. Which is honestly pretty much all that I enjoyed. Rick and Martina had such a nice friendship. I do think you should give this a try, though.
