I liked that this story had a cast, that always makes each character more unique.
I wanted to know how it ended and that kept me hooked, not as thrilling as i had hoped it would all be

Sophia, a talented artist, who's rebuffed most of the teenager norms including social media, is the focus of much of this tale which initially appears to be a classic 'mean girls-esqe' story of the modern age albeit, with a much darker side.

When popular, social media star Eva, appears to take against Sophia, posting that Sophia is threatening and stalking her. The arrival of an apparently magical journal, seems the ideal way for Sophia to settle the score.

Charting the various 'battles' between Sophia, Eva and their associated friends, the story tackles some heavy subjects including abusive relationships, body dismorphia and mental health.

Proving that even sworn enemies can become your savour, this is a thriller with many twists. Very enjoyable.

This was a fun, macabre high school tale of mean girl influencer Eva and her #1 target, Sophie. Eva is killing it, with regard to making Sophie as miserable as possible, until Sophie gets her hands on a magical journal with the power to make anything she writes in it happen. The story is told from multiple points of view, and the audio narration reflects that with different narrators for each character.

I liked the darkness of the story and that it reminded me a bit of the movie Mean Girls.

I enjoyed this one. I thought the story was well done and I like the idea of getting a behind-the-scenes peak at the dark side of being an influencer. I would definitely recommend someone interested in YA mysteries to check this one out.

I wasn’t able to finish the audiobook as the switches between the characters and their names being read out felt like a practice for a stage play.
I’ll probably try and read the book as the concept intrigued me and seems really interesting.
Am sad I couldn’t finish the audio but am happy I know I can try to read it as a physical book.

Intriguing, entertaining and a quick read, this is a really good ya thriller. I think it would work well for people who liked One Of Us is Lying. It has a light tone and fast pace, really good for a reader slump or if you want to finish a book in a day. When I started it I didn't realize how fast I was progressing through the story until I looked at the %, it just flyes by.

The story is told from the point of view of Sophia, a teenage girl who says she didnt kill Eva Flores, the tiktok influencer and queen bee, even though he hated her and wanted to get revenge. But we also have some police interviews with other characters, text messages and excerpts from the story Sophia was writing in a journal about Eva.

Listening to the audiobook was a whole experience, because we have a full cast of narrators that helps you get immersed in the history.

What didnt worked for me was the ending, I expected something different.

I Dig Burying Eva Flores

Gossipy and intriguing, this paranormal YA has the potential to kick up quite the social media storm. With aspects that are hit and miss, it’s one of those books that I reckon will go down like marmite. For me, swept up by the drama and distinct characters in this audiobook, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Instantly grabbed by the tone and the voice, I definitely found the multiple povs, texts and interviews lent themselves to the format. And while the supernatural elements could have detracted from the intense teen-rivalry plotline, they were integrated enough so as not to feel too out of place.

What was a bit much was the protagonist’s attraction to an older man. Of course this did connect to the wider narrative and I saw the place this dark subplot had in the overarching story- yet it still made me uncomfortable. I get that it’s supposed to be toxic- but I wouldn’t blame anyone for tapping out at that point.

Personally, I was always going to be most invested in the revenge fantasy element- and luckily for me that part worked well. Delightfully dark in the best way, it kept me reaching for the book at every minute of the day!

I also really appreciated the social media aspect (even if the mere mention of Tiktok makes me feel old 😉). This is a novel about fame, authenticity and most importantly of all finding freedom from the constant glare of the camera lens.

Full of WTF moments, twisted charm and an entertaining ending, this story grabbed a hold of me and wouldn’t let me go until it was done.

Rating: 3½/5 bananas

by Jennifer Alsever
Narrated by Moira Todd, Gail Shalan, Michael Gallagher, Eleanor McCormick, Whitney Dykhouse, Amy McFadden, Zac Aleman

Synopsis

Two girls at war. One a TikTok star. The other a non-conformist. Enter: a mysterious notebook, a tribal curse—and a strange ability to change the future. Now, one of the girls is accused of murder. The truth takes time to unravel.

This was a lovely listen and I feel it could easily transfer to a TV series I liked the way the story flipped from the past timeline which led up to the disappearance of Eva and the post timeline which consisted of interviews with the characters
I spend the book guessing who had buried Eva I felt the varied voices added to the story and helped me to see differing points of view
The Magic notebook storyline was a little confusing and the ending was quite unexpected.
Overall I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend

Eva Flores is a High school student with a huge TikTok following, after a school camping trip she just dissapears having everyone thinking that the culprit of her murder is Sophia.

I liked the fact that different voice actors were used to portray the characters and that the audiobook wasn't too long

This works fantastically as an audiobook - it's a full-cast production and I think it is done really well! The interview chapters are especially good in audio format. Perfect for fans of Sadie by Courtney Summers. A twisty and gripping young adult thriller about bullying, popularity, social media, jealousy, gossip and school rivals.

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3/5)

Many thanks to Books Go Social Group, Netgalley + Jennifer Alsever for my audio ARC!

READ IF YOU LIKE:
📝 Character-driven plots
👀 MULTIPLE POV + NARRATORS
✨ Supernatural elements
🎤 Mixed media (interview/script)
🏘️ Small town suspense
⚡️ FANTASY ASPECTS
✍🏼 YA mysteries

☁️ THOUGHTS:
I was drawn in by the eye catching cover of this book, and I was anticipating something like AGGGTM. In fairness, I should have known better when TikTok was mentioned in the book description. This was definitely a bit too YA for me!

We follow multiple perspectives, in two main timelines; one leading up to the disappearance of social media star Eva, and one post disappearance, told mostly through interview format. I did like the interview format, and the use of multiple narrators, and the timelines worked well to show insight from different characters.

I think I may have enjoyed this more had I read a physical copy, with the mixed media— although the narration was well done, having whole sections such as the interviews read as “Eva: said this and this”, “Sophia: said this and that” was slightly jarring and didn’t flow as well as it could have done.

This had an added aspect of fantasy, which I wasn’t expecting, which was creative + added something unique to the mystery, and whilst it was definitely on the young side of YA, it was a super quick, easy and fun audiobook to listen to.

Dnf unfortunately. I was very drawn in by the description but I don’t think this story has been edited enough. It left a lot to be desired.

I also did not enjoy the narrators, I don’t feel like they gave a lot to the storyline/characters. And honestly the way the brother with special needs was portrayed through the narrator was a bit insensitive.

What happens when social media fame goes awry and power hungry teens get ahold of some magic?? This book is what happens! Told in a true crime documentary style, the reader is taken on a who-dun-it journey of teenage betrayal, shady adults, and small town Colorado. Overall, I enjoyed the idea of the plot. The delivery was a little messy and choppy - definitely a YA comprehension level - but the narrators gave it a bit more life.

I really enjoyed this audiobook and the book itself really lends itself to this format. The switching between voices really helps work out who is speaking.
The story is a really interesting and different take on a highly saturated area within YA books. I could easily imagine this having the ability to be turned into a TV show or movie.

Thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers for giving me access to the ARC version, in exchange for an honest review.

The Tik Tok star Eva Flores disappears and the main suspect is Sophia, the stalker. The book reports the relationship between Eva and Sophia, sometimes conflicted, and left me wanting to know what had really happened. I like when there are several POVs and in this one there is also the interview of the characters to the detectives (reminding me of the book Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty). Do you want to know what happened to Eva? Enjoy this read!

DNF-ed.

I just could not make it through. The narrators were horrible. This is not a critique of their talent, as the writing itself leaves a LOT to be desired, but they sure did not help. The voices are annoying and don't feel like great representations of the characters.

On to the story/writing: bad. Just bad. I really wanted to like this story but it just never got good for me and I had to give up. It was like nails on a chalkboard. The main characters "voice" is boring and suffers from being a really badly written teen. It's almost like the author either hates teens and doesn't realize it, or thought this would be easier to write than an adult title and failed at it. Simply put the writing is corny.

It's a shame this book was so bad because the premise had so much promise but it just did not cut it.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I started with the audiobook but it felt all over the place so I turned it into a read-along with the eBook. So this review is of both formats.

Let's start with the good...
1. The chapters are short where needed which helped with the pace.
2. There's representation on the mentally differently abled.

This story had a lot of potential. It touched upon various themes like...
*The cruelty in the past against the indigenous/Native American people.
*Abusive households
*Pressures of social media
*Pedophilia (especially teen girls)

I wish it went deeper into at least one topic. I like that there are many themes but none were really explored beyond the surface.

Another thing that put me off is an antagonist in the end which made little sense. It seemed to have come out of nowhere. Why the rage? Why the need to hurt?

Finally, the video interview chapters. When I first heard it on radio I couldn't even follow. Each character has a different voice actor. So after mentioning the character name in the beginning of the chapter, it would have been easier to follow if the voice actor just went on with the lines.

x: Says this.
y: Says that.
x: Says this.

It was like reading...
"Say this," said x.
"Say that," said y.
"Say another thing," said x.
"Say something," said y.

One common advice we hear is that dialogue tags like this shouldn't be overused. Well, it was and it totally broke the flow.

So I turned to the eBook to make it a read-along. Turns out that the issue was not just the audio. These chapters would have been much better on screen because it was in a documentry format. X and Y are interviewed separately but these chapters are written as if someone edited the interviews ans and weaved them together.

Overall, an average read with lot of potential.

A more detailed review would be up on my blog soon.

Unfortunately, this audiobook misses the mark for me. Between the non linear timeline, the switching of characters and the questionable at best narration of her brother’s dialogue, this was a difficult listen and paled in comparison to others with similar formatting.

Many of the plot points were confusing at best and the book could have done without them.

Burying Eva Flores is a mockumentary style novel, similar to the television show American Vandal. It ’investigates’ the disappearance of a local TikTok star Eva Flores, and her hostile relationship with another teen, Sophia. Sophia and Eva used to be friends, but after a falling out there are mutual claims of stalking, lying, and revenge. After Eva’s disappears, Sophia is the #1 suspect.

The novel jumps between past and present—as well as character to character—to answer this question. Nonlinear timelines and multiple view points can be tricky, but Alsever does it masterfully. Instead of distracting from the story, it adds to it. Leading the reader to constantly question the version of events they are being given by each character. While this adds to the confusion over what happened, this is not a detriment but rather an asset to the story. Slowly things are revealed until all the pieces come together into an outcome that is surprising but well supported by prior events.

I was a bit surprised when the book introduced magical realism to the storyline. Although the description mentions a notebook and feeling powerful, I wish this had been acknowledged a bit more clearly in the description. I like magical realism and would have listened to it anyway, but I think because I was caught off guard it was a bit of a distraction from the storyline and had me coming up with all of these conspiracy theories. However, given the mockumentary vibes, conspiracy theories weren’t necessarily a bad thing.

The method of story telling was really interesting and the audiobook cast did a wonderful job bringing the story to life. I am torn about whether I would have preferred to read it or listen to it. I think this might be one of the few stories where both might be the right answer. There’s something so rewarding about reading a mockumentary style book like Daisy Jones and the Six, but the voice actors in the audiobook were amazing and gave so much life to the story. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with either option.

Read/listen if you like
🎥 mockumentary
🎥light magical realism
🎥crime inspired stories
🎥non-linear timelines
🎥multiple view points
🎥unlikeable characters

This was an interesting YA mystery. The chapters at broken up by interviews and journal entries of a story that is vey written for a class assignment. This was a new writing style for me, I enjoyed it. The story is also being told told from multiple point of views which I normally don’t like but it works for this book. The story covers rivalries between high school students, social media influence, and family issues.

I listened to the audiobook as well as the ebook. The narrators did a wonderful job bring the different characters personalities to life. I feel that listening to this book allowed me enjoy this story being told from multiple POV’s. I recommend listening to the book especially if you shy away from multiple POV storylines.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and I have not been by anyone.