A unique and exhilarating mystery that asks, "Who killed the town's golden boy?"

We Made It All Up was unputdownable! This new YA thriller by Margot Harrison grabbed me from the start with its dual timeline of "Then" and "Now," told in alternating chapters. Harrison's writing style was easy to read, and the action and dialogue felt true to life. I could easily picture the characters and see the plotline's events as they played out as if I were watching them.

The five main characters – Celeste, Vivvy, Bram, Seth, and Joss – seemed genuine. I was drawn to each of them over the course of the book. Each was vulnerable in their own ways, all having experienced traumatic events in their pasts, and this informed their states of mind and actions in the story. However, the story unfolds from Celeste's point of view, and I found her backstory intriguing and the book's climax harrowing and exciting.

The book's setting is a small town in Montana where everyone knows everyone else and all their business. It is situated near a mountain riddled with an extensive system of caves. I loved that the mountain and caves played such an important role in the plot and they became almost characters themselves in the drama. I really liked the vivid place descriptions that once again put me right there in the story with the characters.

If you don't like figuring out "who done it" too fast, this book is for you; the plot had me guessing to the very end. So often, I thought I knew what had happened up on the mountain, only for the author to twist the story and change my mind. But in the end, the answer is plausible and was looking me in the face the entire time. I found the wrap-up immensely satisfying.

I highly recommend WE MADE IT ALL UP to readers who enjoy YA thrillers and mysteries.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author or publisher through TBR and Beyond. ( )

“All things are possible,” Vivvy said. “But you don’t know small towns, Celeste. You don’t understand what the sheer depth of boredom will drive people to.”

Thank you TBR and Beyond Tours for the chance to read and review We made it all up by Margot Harrison.

We Made it All Up is a YA thriller that was published by Little, Brown and Company on the 12th of July, 2022. It’s 343 pages long and already in the top 100 in two different Teen and YA fiction categories on amazon.

As Celeste moves to a small town in the US from Canada, she tries to just blend in. That’s really hard when no one new seems to have moved there for a hundred years (a girl is cheating on her boyfriend with her cousin of all things). She makes a friend in Vivvy, and the two of them write a fan fiction of two dudes in their grade, who seem to hate each other. As Celeste learns more about small town secrets and Joss ends up dead, she has to find out what’s really been going on or she might be in jail next.

As a whole, We Made it all Up is a good addition to the YA thriller/mystery genre. The way Celeste took the characters (in her story), Joss and Seth and spoke about her own trauma through those was really interesting. I loved Vivvy; she was my favourite. I totally called who the killer was 20% in. I felt so annoyed at Celeste’s parents, and in general, most adults in the town for just turning a blind eye to things for so long. The book was a little slow at the start, but when it picked up, it picked up.

I do wonder though, if had the genders of all the characters been changed, would the story have gone down as well? Two girls writing fanfiction about their male classmates is less sinister than two boys writing it about their female classmates. ( )