This audio book did not transfer to my shelf for some reason so I was unable to listen and review. The cover and synopsis were intriguing so I will give it that.

This was a solid 3.5 for me. I definitely found it to be an interesting read. The whole premise was interesting and I think it spoke a lot to influencer culture. Although I enjoyed the glimpse into both Sophia and Eva’s inner thoughts, there was something about both character that I just couldn't like no matter how hard I tried. I also found the frequent POV change a little jumpy and confusing at times. Overall it was an enjoyable read.

This book follows a group of teenagers as they navigate high school and social media. Sophie and her friends are not the "cool" kids but they are fine with that. They do their own thing and it works .... until Eva Flores, TikTok star.influencer moves to town. Unlike everyone else, Sophie and her friends do not fawn over Eva, which causes Eva to become intrigued with Sophie and try to befriend her. Unfortunately, it does not go as planned and Sophie bites Eva's head off. Eva doesn't know how to take this so she takes to social media and takes retaliation to a whole new level. When they are assigned to write a story for English class that will decide whether they graduate or fail, Sophie doesn't know what to do. She is an artist NOT a writer. Morgan, her friend, gifts her a leather bound journal, hoping that it will provide some inspiration. Suddenly, what Sophie writes, begins to play out for all the world to see. She knows that she finally has the power to take control over her and her family's future.

How far would you go to get revenge?
How far would you take it?
How far is too far?
When does the victim cross the line into being the bully?

Key Points:
Character Driven Story vs Plot Driven
Strong Character Development
Unreliable Narrators
Multiple POV's - Multiple Narrators
Bullying & Retaliation

The narrators chosen for this audiobook have a wonderful cadence that helps keep the listener engaged in the story and the outcome. The author was able to flex her tone throughout the story from impartial to pensive. Knowing that there are always two sides to a story, they do a wonderful job of showing the story from Sophie's POV AND Eva's POV.

Thank you Netgalley and BooksGoSocial Audio for the ALC.

Story: 🌟🌟🌟
Narration: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Overall: 🌟🌟🌟✨

Burying Eva Flores is a fun, entertaining paranormal YA thriller. When tiktok Star Eva Flores is found dead, everyone believes Sophia is the one who did it. However, there is much more at play and not all is as it seems.

I enjoyed the format of this novel and the audiobook production. The multiple narrators added so much to the story and made it a very fun and unique listen. The story was great and really sets itself apart from other YA books I’ve read recently.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3 / 5 ⭐️‘s

"Burying Eva Flores" by Jennifer Alsever

This one kept my attention until the very last page.

Alsever has crafted a complex and intriguing plot that is full of unexpected twists and turns. The characters are well-drawn and multi-dimensional. The pacing is spot-on, with just the right balance of action, suspense, and character development.

Overall, this is a good YA paranormal thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.

This ARC was provided by the publisher via @Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

4 out of 5 stars


I would like to thank Netgalley and Booksgosocial Audio in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun and quick read. This reminded me of the Christopher Pike books I used to read as a kid. At first I thought it was going to be a typical YA mystery novel but then we got a supernatural twist which made this an even more interesting read.

I really enjoyed the story that was being told in the journal. I listened to the audio book and the narrators Moira Todd, Gail Shalan, Eleanor McCormick, Whitney Dykehouse, Amy McFadden and Zac Aleman were all really great. I would recommend this for someone in the mood for a nice, relaxing mystery.

I listened to the audio version and loved the cast of character readers. I did not like the book itself, it was very strange.

I did not have the best experience with this book.

It took so long for the journal to become "relevant" to the story that it felt disjointed and started to lose my interest.

I understand there is supposed to be some element of paranormal to this novel, but it was weirdly included throughout that it felt like it was a secondary idea to the story.

The characters also all felt very one dimensional, and could be summed up in one word: Sophia, anti-establishment; Ethan, anxious; Morgan, goody- goody; Eva, conceited, etc. etc.

I wish there had been more of the paranormal interwoven from the start so that it would have felt more part of the story. The beginning 35% or so did give off Holly Jackson or Karen McManus vibes, however beyond that it just felt weird and whiny and lost the appeal of the story.

I did not like this book.

Burying Eva Flores had so much potential. From the description, it had all the makings of being a Heathers-esque exploration into toxic female friendships and ‘feral’ girlhood like Bunny by Mona Awad, or The Things We Do To Our Friends by Heather Darwent. Instead, the execution was poor and I genuinely have nothing positive to say about it. The one plus of my reading experience was that I read it via Audio, and the multiple narrators worked well with what little of a story they were given, especially as it involved video transcriptions, etc.

There was plenty wrong with it, but the following were my main issues:

There wasn’t a single likeable character. Sure, not every character needs to be rainbows and sunshine, and within the narrative of this particular book it makes sense not to have a shiny, perfect protagonist, but when every character bar one is horrible and you don’t care what happens to 99% of them, it just feels draining to read and a waste of time. The main character was the worst ‘not like other girls’ girly I’ve ever read in my entire life.
Due to the previous reason, the ending was so incredibly unsatisfying. Truly awful characters were given happy endings that they did not deserve one bit. Not only that, but so many plotlines were left unresolved and the one character that was good and deserved a good ending was treated like shit, and then never brought up again.
The story centres on a TikTok star, and yet the pop culture references are two decades out of date. Counteracting this, whenever Gen Z slang is used, it is either not used correctly, or is shoehorned in the most random places that it is genuinely jarring. I had to pause the audiobook multiple times to allow myself a cringe break.
So many unnecessary ‘shocking’ things happened, like explicit references to grooming, sexual harrassment, suicide attempts, self harm, emotional and physical abuse, eating disorders, etc. that were never actually dealt with or even acknowledged. It was only there to make the book more scandalous, and it was just incredibly gross.
And by far the worst of all was the blatant infantilization of a disabled character. It is 2023, and people are still writing disabled characters as if they are stupid children. It is appalling.

Thank you to BooksGoSocial Audio and NetGalley for providing me with this Audio ARC. All opinions are my own.

This audiobook was a 3.75 for me. I really enjoyed the multiple POVs and multiple narrators. My favorite parts of this story were when the kids were being interviewed by the detectives. It was easy to follow the characters, and I thought the way the characters interacted was incredibly authentic. I felt the characters were well developed and interesting.

I did get a little lost with respect to the magic notebook storyline - where everything Sophia wrote down started coming true. I thought it was a very unique way to plan out the book, but there were a few things that I still had questions about after I finished. The story was overall enjoyable and creative.

This book could very easily be a bingeable Netflix series. I enjoyed listening and will read more by this author.

TW: Brief references to underage SA/grooming, nothing on page.

Gripping read. The high school will suck you in easily and the moral of the novel about how social media fame effects children is enough to spark deeper thoughts on the topic.

1.75 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial Audio for accepting me to be a reviewer of this audiobook, this is my honest review.

Basic plot summary is Sophia (high school photographer/artist) is having her life ruined by the TikTok sensation that is Eva Flores - she copies her, frames and accuses her, her family buys her house and workplace and so forth. Sophia’s friend Morgan gives her a journal which when written in the story comes to life so she uses this to get revenge on Eva and there is more sinister things going on in Eva’s home life. There’s also the plot line with another friend Ethan trying to buy a car to escape his paranoid end-of-the-world-obsessed dad. More can be expanded on but I do not care to do so and the 7.8 hours I spent *wasted* listening to this means I’m even less inclined but I shall still deliver my thoughts.

What did I like? Very little in all honestly. The mystery element and storytelling was alright. The teenage drama and angst was again okay (???) but nothing stood out. Sophia and Eva to an extent were the most developed characters with interesting aspects to their personality. Sophia’s brother Dylan was by far my favourite and I’m super pi**ed about a certain thing that I’ll explain later. Ethan and Morgan were alright but pretty one-dimensional, I believe Ethan was gay/bi (yay!) but like I don’t think it was spelled out. In terms of representation, it’s quite ambiguous as not explicitly stated so yhh.

I think the dialogue and a lot of what happened was unrealistic, cringy and gave me mega *eye roll* energy. I really don’t think teens talk like that in many parts of this book and it’s just all very ‘meh’-ey. And I know the journal coming to life aspect is quite clearly unrealistic but there’s actually other parts that made me fully question Alsever on her decisions. The messages were also like not good - I’ll expand in a sec on this. It deals with themes of grooming, sexual harassment, self harm and suicidal thoughts, fatphobia and eating disorders in an unhelpful manner with nothing really being questioned or resolved. It felt like an additional ’omg’ part at times, and then with no real conclusion… um okay. I didn’t get why we got multiple POV chapters for, it’s quite clear Sophia is the MC with most chapters and Eva is the antagonist so her parts were alright but Ethan’s and Morgan’s were just unnecessary which, combined with the tangented storylines and other things made this book a lot longer then I think it should’ve been - I also just cared less and less as it went on so I felt it dragggggggged.

Audiobook specific notes: the multi cast aspect was good, it was narrated clear and with some differences that aligned with what was happening. Ethan’s narrator was too old in my opinion for the character he was portraying. And how Dylan’s sections that were not narrated by the person doing him (i.e. the Sophia’s speaking his parts) were the typical ‘dumb’ person voice (he’s meant to have learning/mental problems) which was rather offensive I thought, like they should’ve just deepened his voice not make him sound like that. Rude and unnecessary in my opinion.

If you care about SPOILERS don’t read on. Here’s my ranting coming out now.

So around the 70% mark (I think? I don’t care so it doesn’t matter) when Aiden takes the journal and Sophia calls Dylan where he tells her this, she insults him about having no brain. This is something we’ve already been told is a common bullying tactic used against him and she’s usually the one to console and defend him. But then she goes ahead and says that!! Ummm, hun?? I get she was obvs stressed and pissed but it wasn’t his fault - pissing off Ethan and Morgan (and Eva) wasn’t enough for you was it miss Sophia? Anyways, what I am even more annoyed at is this isn’t resolved at all!! Dylan isn’t mentioned once again in the rest of the book, she doesn’t apologise or make it right like she does with the other characters. And he’s the one we all care about and love like Jennifer why did you do this? We get all this sh*t about so much but what I cared about (the adorable, kind and lovely Dylan) is just insulted and forgotten about. Ughhhh - why is no one else talking about it?!?

Sophia trying to get back at Eva by seducing her creepy - but apparently handsome - stepdad is just ewww. Thankfully it only went so far as a kiss but nope this is wrong and we all fkn know it. Do not do this! Bad behaviour. And he’s a creep for his actions too which weren’t addressed. Then Eva goes about slut shaming Sophia too, fkn hell another problematic addition that isn’t resolved. Following on…

So Eva had to basically go missing, hide out and start a whole new life just to get away from her step dad Manny?! What does that teach?! Ughhh!!!! It’s so problematic and like when you read about injustice, mistreat and general ‘eww’-ness you want conclusions and justice. But no, he gets to live his life probably being a predator to other young women. Eva did have other reasons for a new life but like the centre point was Manny. Nope!!!

There is more but I need to take my mind off this book for now so Yhh, maybe I’ll film a ranty YouTube video on it later. Bye

I wanted to read Burying Eva Flores because It seemed close to "The Good Girl's Guide to Murder". In some aspects of this book were reminiscent of the series by Holly Jackson. I have recently began to venture into the YA genre and found this book a pleasant surprise. The book kept me on the edge of my seat and I found myself wanting to rush through just to get to the ending. I like the exploration of the effects of social media on our society particularly on young adults. Well done.

This was such a fun, engaging YA suspense! I read this in one sitting.

The story is told by flipping between a past timeline detailing events leading up to the disappearance of TikTok star Eva Flores, and a post-disappearance timeline told in the format of interviews with various characters. We primarily follow the story of Sophia, who is locally suspected of being involved in the disappearance, but we also get points of view from other characters including Sophia's best friends.

The most striking aspect of this story is the character development - and not just of Sophia, but also several other characters. The narrative structure and the writing are so compelling and the characters are well-developed and behave in believable ways in the face of the various issues that arise. Several characters have backstories that really shape their choices and personalities. The story also explores the effect of social media fame and how this kind of success impacts a person as well as their relationships with others.

This is perfect for fans of messy, dramatic stories, magical realism, character development, and small-town suspense.

I listened to this as an audiobook, which was particularly effective. The audiobook has multiple narrators, making it easy to distinguish the various points of view. I think this would also make an excellent TV/film adaptation.

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel! I love audiobooks with a full cast, and combine that with a YA thriller and mini mystery, I was sold at first glance.

It did start a bit slow for me though, which left me wondering when the actual plot would start. But around the 25-30% mark, when Sophia starts to write in her journal, the pace picked up quickly and it became a quick and fun read.

I liked that Sophia and Eva aren't likeable characters, though their flaws are relatable. The side characters are developed enough that they're not just there to propel the plot along. It's refreshing to see them actually act as foils to the MC and help her in her character development.

The main villain can come off as slightly tropey at times, but in the end, he's also believable. Predatory men like him are all too common.

Some of the text messages and police reports and interviews can be a hit or miss though. Since they're included in a nonlinear fashion, it was a bit hard to discern the present from the past.

Thank you to BooksGoSocial Audio and NetGalley for this audio arc.

The story was interesting and at times gripping. Hearing Sophia get absorbed by her journal as she literally starts to write her own story. It felt like the whole book revolved around the following idea, since as it says in the book itself, "[...][Story arcs] are much more compelling when you don't just eliminate difficult people. You make them grow, evolve, change.".
However, Eva's excessive animosity and hostility towards Sophia is something that I don't think was properly explained.

Personally, I liked the mixed media aspect of the book and the fact that chats, emails, video and interview transcripts, as well as some chapters were voice acted by different narrators!

This was so amazing! I loved every word and OMG the narrators were perfect. The kids were so evil and irresponsible. I wanted to lock them in the house and take away their journals.
It was fun.
The end was so perfect for the characters.
My favorite part was the sibling relationship.

Setting: Colorado
Rep: n/a

Honestly don't know what to say about this. It was a bit of a shitshow. It's rarely a good sign when you finish a book and have no idea what the hell you just read - this was childish, weird, and made no sense at all. I can't in good faith give it any higher than 1 star because it just sucked.

So based on the description, I wasn't sure if this was going to be my cup of tea, but I have to say that I was kind of wrong! I am here for this bizarre-o cursed world with journal writing, social media mavens, and crazy parents who both go with the flow and have legit psychotic breaks. I mean, of the adults out there today, who hasn't had a legit psychotic break, gone through a quarter-life crisis, a third-of-a-life crisis, a mid-life crisis and beyond???

We learn so much about ourselves and others when they receive the slightest bit of power. The truth inside some people comes out in odd ways when confronted with power over others and power to try and control their own destinies. I get it, we're all the heroes in our own stories, but it's so fascinating to see a hero interacting with those around them as they try and navigate their paths.

This was a fun little spin-off of a modern coming of age story. The narration was excellent and really helped to build the cast of characters bringing a bit more flavor to the telling.

Thanks to BooksGoSocial Audio for the audiobook ARC via NetGalley!

Thank you so much for an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was audio, so let's start with the narrator first. This is a mixed media book (one of my favorite things!) And the audiobook used several voices to portray that and I loved that!! And all of the voices were excellent and nice to listen to. The audio is also under 10 hours, huge plus!

Second, the story in general was a little silly, but also highly entertaining, so it kept me into it. The stuff with Eva's dad was cringe and icky. But I get how it went into the story.

Solid YA!