Margot Harrison

"Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can!" (Gatsby)

Auraleigh, Sonia, Paul, Byron, and Jennet were friends in college. They're adults when Auraleigh invites them back to Dunstan, VT to revisit their memories around Jennet's death, which has long been considered accident or suicide, but not murder. Auraleigh has suspicions, though, and a special way to revisit the past: a special local concoction called sog. If young people sog, they see the future (or, a possible future); if older people show more sog, they see the past.

Of the four of them, only Sonia sogged in college, with local student Hayworth, who now runs the cafe in town; Hayworth warned her against it, though, claiming danger - your young self could get stranded in the future, or your older self could get stranded in the past. But Sonia, Paul, Byron, and Auraleigh each have their own reasons to go back to the night of Jennet's death and learn what truly happened, and if there was anything they could have done to make it turn out differently.

A searching, probing, nostalgic, speculative examination of past and present, memory, and time travel. Byron, especially, confronts the dilemma that to save Jennet in the past means erasing his marriage and his teenage children.

See also: I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai, The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Quotes

Imagination fills in the details that memory leaves blank. (57)

"Our generation's malady is retrophilia. We can't live our lives without remembering them as they happen. We're nostalgic before we've even done anything with our lives....The past keeps getting longer and deeper while the future gets shorter and shallower." (66-67)

voluntary and involuntary memory (Proust) (90)

He wanted the past as much as he feared what he'd discover there. (Byron, 104)

"I think it's always a possible future you see in the sog. It might be the one you end up living, or it might not." (Hayworth to Sonia, 125)

Good thing sog memories were read-only; it was one thing to regret the past and another thing to revise it, wreaking havoc on everything that had happened afterward. (Byron, 161)

"...there's another reason not to sog backward: You might remember things you don't want to....We censor our memories - for survival. It's where nostalgia comes from." (Hayworth, 170)

"Sog does bring back the past. We forget so much more than we ever realize." (Auraleigh, 194)

"Memory is such a private thing....I think people should be allowed to keep their secrets." (200)

Who could grasp the present without understanding the past? (205)

The past couldn't be revised.
Unless it could? (Byron, 231)

How could you leave the past undisturbed when it was hiding parts of you from yourself? (256)

"Every second of your life counts, whether you want it to or not." (Hayworth to Sonia, 298)

The world felt real, but he knew now how fragile reality could be, how dependent on an intricate network of choices. (Byron, 310) show less

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 – show more 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. show less

Whoa. Seriously, I don't know what else to start this review out with other than that one word. Even though the synopsis promised a wild ride through a killers mind, I don't think I was quite expecting how intense this book was going to be at times. In fact, I'm impressed. I don't know how she did it, but Margot Harrison has managed to write a book that is equal parts wonderful and terrifying. If that doesn't make any sense to you yet, just trust me that you need to pick The Killer In Me show more up.

Nina's character was a grade A example of an unreliable narrator. What I love about that, especially in this case, was that it adds that extra tension to all of the drama taking place. See, Nina sees the Thief in her dreams. She knows where he goes, what he does, and who he kills. She has all the information, but no proof and no way to stop him. Her humanness, her powerlessness, these were the powerful tools that Harrison used to make Nina a questionable main character. I didn't know whether she was crazy, whether she was right, or whether everything would end up being a dream. I love every single minute of it.

What further impressed me was that Warren was so perfectly settled into this story. While the main focus is definitely on Nina and her night time companion, Warren has his own rich back story. He's that kind of guy that you can't help but fall in love with. Compassionate, intelligent, and with maybe just a little too much bravado for his own good. I loved watching these two together, and further loved the fact that there was no instant relationship between them. They had history. They had issues. What grew between them was full of questions, and trust, and it was perfection.

Oh, were you waiting for me to get to the part about the killer? Well now, you'll have to read this book to find out what's going on with that. There's so much beauty in the way that this whole story plays out. Little hints dropped, little moments that fly by, and so many questions left unanswered until the very end. This is one of the few books I've read lately where I actually approve wholeheartedly of the ending! As I said, consider me impressed. The Killer In Me is a must read. show less

3.5 stars. The Midnight Club features a concoction called "sog" that enables you to either travel forward to the future (if you're young when you take it), or back to the past (if you are old when you take it). At its core, The Midnight Club is a book about memories and regret. What would you do differently if you could go back to your younger self? How might things change, for you and for others?

The concept of The Midnight Club is fantastic, and had me looking forward to reading it for the show more past few months. It ended up being less suspenseful than I anticipated, which I think is important to know going in. It's much more thoughtful and contemplative, with moments of suspense sprinkled throughout. While I didn't connect to the characters quite as much as I would've hoped, and the middle felt like it dragged considerably (would've been better edited down to a more slim 300 pages), I really enjoyed the ideas presented in the book. I think if I hadn't approached it with such unreasonably high expectations, I would've ended up enjoying it more. I read a physical copy, but it strikes me as the kind of book that would be better in audiobook form. If the subject matter interests you, it's definitely worth checking out! show less