You think you’re looking out for her, like you always looked out for Raven. Yeah, I remember you, he added, his gaze softening. Your hair was wilder three years ago, and you called yourself Poppy, but I remember your visit to the station. I remember every story you told. Poppy, Lily, and Belladonna would do anything to protect their best friend, Raven. So when they discovered he was suffering abuse at the hands of his stepmother, they came up with a lethal plan: petals of poppy, belladonna, and lily in her evening tea so she’d never be able to hurt Raven again. But someone got cold feet, the plot faded to a secret of the past, and the group fell apart. Detective Medina sighed. So no one saw you entering the Drake residence? No one can corroborate your story? It had such a pretty name,” the man said, catching her eye in the mirror. “You have any guesses, Belladonna?” It’s, um… it’s me,” she managed, dashing away the tears with her free hand. “Please don’t hang up.”

This book was dark, and gritty, and had me hooked from the beginning. Between the lies and the secrets and the shady characters, I wasn’t sure who to believe or where to look. It was captivating and revealing in so many ways. But three years later, on the eve of Raven’s seventeenth birthday, his stepmother was found sprawled out on the kitchen floor, a shattered teacup beside her. It took a little time for the police to gather their evidence, and then they presented their findings to Raven’s father. Apparently, someone had taken a cluster of poisonous flowers and stuffed them into his wife’s tea kettle.Taking a shaky breath, she hurried to the first floor. Opened the front door. Blinked up at the officer and said, “Hello? Is everything okay?” Poppy, Lily and Belladonna are ready to do anything to protect their friend, (in Lily's case, stepbrother= from Evelyn, his stepmother, who is abusing and torturing him. So they came up with a plan: petals of lily, poppy, belladonna in her tea, so she will die poisoned and will stop hurting him. But someone refused to go through with the plan, Raven was sent to boarding school and the group feel apart. I did not like this book very much. The book wasn’t interesting enough and I didn’t like the plot or the characters. I just didn’t care after a few chapters in, suddenly I wasn’t as curious to find out who killed her.. There wasn’t a lot of depth to the characters and it felt messy. There was just a lot missing for me to enjoy this book. Everybody knows that in the death of a spouse, the first place to look is at the current husband/wife, any existing lovers, and previous exes. The fact that the police did neither in both cases and went for the immediate arrest of a teenage girl based on a conveniently placed "murder recipe" left at the scene of the crime . . . I mean, you don't get more gullible than that. How can a book have such wonderfully atmospheric narration and rate so low with me.??? Good question. I wanted to like this and I really tried to do so but it missed the mark for me, story-wise. I really found most of the story to be rather unbelievable and very reminiscent of the show Riverdale...basically a hot mess.

Poppy, Lily, and Belladonna would do anything to protect their best friend, Raven. So when they discovered he was suffering abuse at the hands of his stepmother, they came up with a lethal plan to stop her from ever hurting Raven again. But someone got cold feet, the plot faded to a secret of the past, and the group fell apart. Also the ending? Wtf was that lmao. There’s predictable and haha I suspected you then there’s whatever that was. This mystery is told in 4 POV’s. When Poppy, Belladonna, Raven, and Lily plan the murder of Raven’s step-mother three years earlier they’d never thought it’d actually happen. So much has changed in three years and now all of them are suspect. You’re under arrest for the murder of Evelyn Holloway. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used—”Riverdale meets Kara Thomas’s The Cheerleaders in this electrifying, twisted thriller about estranged friends who reunite when someone commits the murder they’d planned—but didn’t go through with—and leaves one of their own to take the fall. Book Genre: Contemporary, Crime, Fiction, LGBT, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Romance, Thriller, Young Adult, Young Adult Contemporary I was expecting this story to be much like the many other murder mystery books I've read, with contemporary characters and high school secrets. So I was pleasantly surprised to find this this is actually a dark, gothic story about two boys, two girls, obsession and family secrets. This was an enjoyable YA thriller. It was a contemporary thriller/mystery story which is not always my go to genre but this managed to hold my attention and was pretty fast paced and definitely managed to keep me guessing. Killing her would’ve been easy. All summer, we made flower garlands. All summer, petals were strewn across her kitchen table, where she drank her tea. If we dropped a petal of belladonna, a petal of poppy, and a petal of lily into that cup, we’d never really know which one of us killed her.