Kathy Parks

Mean Girls meets Life of Pi in this darkly humorous, compulsively readable teen novel that’s perfect for fans of Libba Bray and Andrew Smith. A hilariously dark and twisted story that sparkles with a remarkably fresh voice, The Lifeboat Clique is Kathy Parks's irreverent yet insightful novel about how to survive in the most unthinkable circumstances. Some people might say that Denver has a death wish. Why else would she dare to sneak into a Malibu beach party where she’d be surrounded by enemies? Oh yeah. Croix. Denver never thought in a million years he’d ask her out, but who is she to question this miracle of fate? Well, that isn’t the only surprise fate has in store. During the party a tsunami hits the coast of California, and Denver and a handful of others escape death and are swept out to sea. Of course, one of her fellow castaways is none other than her ex-BFF, Abigail, who can barely stand the sight of her. Trapped on a small boat with the most popular kids in school and waiting to be rescued, Denver wonders what might kill her first—dehydration, sunstroke, or the girl she used to think of as a sister?

The Lifeboat Clique

The message in the book is really heartwarming, however, I had to force myself to finish it. The characters were so shallow and childish.

Anežka Knorrová

Sven Test

This was.... Interesting, to say the least. I was expecting something fun and light but I got much more than that. Denver moved to California and let's just say she isn't used to all the earthquakes—she freaked out at school when everyone else was calm and collected. The same day, she gets invited by Croix, someone who's very popular at school. At the party, she's finally talking to Croix when an earthquake happens... Then another... Next thing she knows, there's a tsunami. 

This book deals with survival. Denver is stranded on a boat with people who don't like her at all but they all have to get along in order to survive. There's also loss and this, I wasn't expecting. Many students lost their lives in this tsunami and that was such a shock to me. I honestly expected this to be all a dream and Denver would wake up soon, but no. It was real! That made this book very realistic to me and I was able to enjoy it even more.

Overall, this story was unexpected and enjoyable despite all the negative things happening in the story.

Chelsea Hunter

Lifeboat Clique by Kathy Parks was an interesting novel about the experiences of some teenagers who float adrift into the sea after a tsunami strikes the coast of California, where they are partying. Denver, our main protagonist of the story, is one of the five, and you get to experience how her life came to this point through flashbacks throughout the novel. I just found the concept of the novel to be unique because it's not every day that I pick up a novel about a teen's experiences during a tsunami.

I, for the most part, enjoyed the novel. I liked Denver, and her attitude and personality; not to mention her growth through the novel, and how this experience changes her. Through this story, you get to experience how easily differences between people are overcome when chaos strikes. And even though I wasn't a huge fan of all of the teens at the beginning, my opinion did change as the story progressed.

Even though I did enjoy the novel, there were a few complaints I had about the book. The first one being the pacing of the story. It's definitely slower than what I prefer, and the flashback scenes do somewhat allow for faster pacing, the scenes where they are out at sea are very slow because there isn't much going on outside of conversation. The other big complaint I had was that I did not find this novel to be funny at all - and this may be due to the fact that I'm not the target audience, and maybe back when I was younger I would have found some of the events and conversation to be funny, but I didn't as I listened to the audiobook. Other than those two personal issues I had with the book, I found it to be good.

I also want to touch on one other thing that I didn't like but didn't really influence my rating of the book, unlike the two complaints above, but I wanted to point out was a super insta-love that happens in the story that was really rushed, and occurred over a few days.

I would recommend the novel if you are a fan of YA contemporary, and if you are looking for more of a fluff story. And be prepared for some emotional moments in the novel.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

Nadia Leontescu

This novel honestly teaches a very good lesson. It's so tragic yet inspiring, it's emotionally raw and so so cute. The writing is so well done! What a good read.

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

I went into Lifeboat Clique with absolutely ZERO idea what it was about. I hadn’t read the synopsis since I first heard about it. And though I had my suspicions, I was still kind of surprised by the way this story progressed.

This story reminded a bit of Beauty Queens in that these teens got stranded together and were forced to figure things out as a team. The whole teamwork and friendship aspects were definitely pretty prominent, along with the whole survival aspect. What wasn’t as delved into though, at least for me, were these characters. I never felt a real connection to any of them. Aside from that, this story was definitely entertaining and had me giggling a time or two. I wasn’t ever bored or wanting to put it down, I just never felt like I really knew these characters on any sort of real, deep level.

Overall, a fun, quick read focusing on survival and growth among these characters. Though I wasn’t completely blown away by it, I felt it was a solid story that was definitely worth reading. Another great addition to any summer TBR!

(Thanks to Katherine Tegen Books for the review copy!)

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The Lifeboat Clique

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