Ginny Myers SainRecensioni
Autore di Dark and Shallow Lies
Recensioni
As the 20th anniversary of the gruesome murder of best friends Bailey and Celeste approaches Mount Orange Florida, its downtown dedication ceremony attracts quite a throng of people, including an out-of-town stranger, Rio.
In view of the anniversary, Trulee, who always seems to be haunted by this dark, harrowing decades old murder, finds herself especially eager to find out the gruesome truth of these young girls’ untimely death.
As Trulee and Rio dig deeper into this dark and tragic past, they put their lives in great jeopardy because someone is watching and waiting for them!
ONE LAST BREATH is an unputdownable thriller with some supernatural elements, and the suspenseful twists and turns have kept me on the edge of my seat till the end!
I really loved this eerie and creepy mystery with supernatural twist. I really loved the small town and the focus on a group of kids that all of abilities in sense. I also loved the eerie elements of the story. It was really quick read, but one where i questioned just about everything. It does deal with harder topics towards the end, but it also is a really prefect thriller for late summer early fall.. I will def read more by this author in the future.
I really loved this eerie and creepy mystery with supernatural twist. I really loved the small town and the focus on a group of kids that all of abilities in sense. I also loved the eerie elements of the story. It was really quick read, but one where i questioned just about everything. It does deal with harder topics towards the end, but it also is a really prefect thriller for late summer early fall.. I will def read more by this author in the future.
It feels like the characters that live in Whisper Cove seem to know some secrets that they aren't willing to share. And that mystery was keeping me locked into the book. It feels like there is something mysterious and scary and I have a feeling it has to do with when night falls in Whisper Cove.
The writing style was impressive. I could absolutely picture each scene and the way the fog rolls in, tricking your eyes and playing with your mind. The draw of the ocean, and being somewhere unfamiliar. Cole is another character that was drawing me in. He's mysterious like his parents and the town of Whisper Cove, but it seems like while he knows more than what he's saying about the strange happenings, he may not be happy with what he knows. I definitely wanted to know more about him.
That being said I was an easy read, and the last 100 pages go by in a flash with an some great twists.
It will be interesting to see what her 2nd book is like.
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As Avril makes friends with some of the other students, immerses herself in the lead role of the play, and becomes close to the camp director's teenage son, she experiences strange occurrences, ghostly apparitions in the fog, sleepwalking, flashbacks and fainting. Realistically, a student at a summer camp exhibiting these disturbed behaviors would have had her parent called and been sent home. I liked Avril's friends Lex, Jude and Val.
The isolated coastal setting was eerie, chilling and dangerous. The author has a talent for haunting, atmospheric prose. The pacing was slow, yet the story ended abruptly without enough closure. Overall, an enjoyable YA paranormal mystery, but the execution could have been better. Thank you to BookishFirst for a copy to review.
Dark and Shallow Lies is an atmospheric mystery thriller (with a hint of fantasy), set in the deep south of Louisiana; in a town known for its inhabitants with their psychic abilities, where tourists flock for palm readings and fortune telling amongst other things. We see the world from the point of view of Grey (or Gracie), the main character who splits her life between the mainland with her father, and the small town that used to be her permanent home before her mother passed, where she spends her summer.
It's the first summer since Elora, her best friend, vanished mysteriously, with no hint or whisper as to where she's disappeared to. One of the ten so-called 'summer children', all born around the same time to the close knit community, her loss is felt by all those that remain that summer; mostly by Grey, and by Elora's step-brother, Hart.
The setting was super compelling to me, especially as someone who knows very little about the deep south and New Orleans, but has always been fascinated by the culture. This was everything I wanted in that respect. The added fantasy touch with the psychic abilities that all the inhabitants of the small town seem to have was also really cool, but I didn't feel like it was developed as much as it could have been; the powers were touched on frequently enough, but the reasons behind them all having powers and all living in this one, tiny part of the world were lost on me, if mentioned at all.
The characters were interesting, and many of them complicated - the only slight issue was that there are a lot of characters to keep track off, which can definitely get confusing at times. Some are only mentioned a few times but are still technically important, and keeping track of all the names and relationships wasn't the easiest task. I liked the main character well enough, and most of those we got to know - though admittedly, I found Hart to be rather insufferable. His constant use of 'Jesus' and 'fuck' (amongst other curses) was almost funny, but too overdone (and I say this as someone who curses like a sailor).
The writing was good, and very atmospheric. A great, eerie read for this time of the year. It was sometimes a little too descriptive and floral; I find purple prose works best when used in small amounts Admittedly, the audiobook did lose my attention at times, and I found myself having to catch up with the story - in my opinion, there were a lot of repetitive theories/words/phrases, and the book was definitely longer than I honestly think it needed to be for the plot.
I struggled to get along with the narrator, too; the accents felt really put on in places, and though the narrator tried to adopt her voice and tone for different characters, the male voices just weren't great. But the background sounds for the inbetween chapters believed to be told from another perspective (sorry, I am being purposely vague due to spoilers) were a really nice touch.
The plot itself was somewhat convoluted at times, but it did keep me on my toes! I kept changing my mind about what had happened the night Elora disappeared, and though I did figure it out before it happened in the book, I did have a twisty turny time getting there! Exactly what you want from a mystery/thriller, in my opinion!
Dark and Shallow Lies is an atmospheric mystery thriller (with a hint of fantasy), set in the deep south of Louisiana; in a town known for its inhabitants with their psychic abilities, where tourists flock for palm readings and fortune telling amongst other things. We see the world from the point of view of Grey (or Gracie), the main character who splits her life between the mainland with her father, and the small town that used to be her permanent home before her mother passed, where she spends her summer.
It's the first summer since Elora, her best friend, vanished mysteriously, with no hint or whisper as to where she's disappeared to. One of the ten so-called 'summer children', all born around the same time to the close knit community, her loss is felt by all those that remain that summer; mostly by Grey, and by Elora's step-brother, Hart.
The setting was super compelling to me, especially as someone who knows very little about the deep south and New Orleans, but has always been fascinated by the culture. This was everything I wanted in that respect. The added fantasy touch with the psychic abilities that all the inhabitants of the small town seem to have was also really cool, but I didn't feel like it was developed as much as it could have been; the powers were touched on frequently enough, but the reasons behind them all having powers and all living in this one, tiny part of the world were lost on me, if mentioned at all.
The characters were interesting, and many of them complicated - the only slight issue was that there are a lot of characters to keep track off, which can definitely get confusing at times. Some are only mentioned a few times but are still technically important, and keeping track of all the names and relationships wasn't the easiest task. I liked the main character well enough, and most of those we got to know - though admittedly, I found Hart to be rather insufferable. His constant use of 'Jesus' and 'fuck' (amongst other curses) was almost funny, but too overdone (and I say this as someone who curses like a sailor).
The writing was good, and very atmospheric. A great, eerie read for this time of the year. It was sometimes a little too descriptive and floral; I find purple prose works best when used in small amounts Admittedly, the audiobook did lose my attention at times, and I found myself having to catch up with the story - in my opinion, there were a lot of repetitive theories/words/phrases, and the book was definitely longer than I honestly think it needed to be for the plot.
I struggled to get along with the narrator, too; the accents felt really put on in places, and though the narrator tried to adopt her voice and tone for different characters, the male voices just weren't great. But the background sounds for the inbetween chapters believed to be told from another perspective (sorry, I am being purposely vague due to spoilers) were a really nice touch.
The plot itself was somewhat convoluted at times, but it did keep me on my toes! I kept changing my mind about what had happened the night Elora disappeared, and though I did figure it out before it happened in the book, I did have a twisty turny time getting there! Exactly what you want from a mystery/thriller, in my opinion!
When she was five, one summer night, Avril Vincent and her mother were drown at Whisper Cove theater; and unfortunately, only Avril survived. Since then, she was always haunted by bits and pieces of the memories and the ghost of her mother of that horrified tragic night.
Twelve years later, the now 17-year-old Avril Vincent returns to Whisper Cove to find the answer and the missing puzzle pieces to her mother untimely tragic death. Instead, she was drawn deeply into the ghostly twisty past full of dark secrets that was buried all over Whisper Cove.
When I turned the pages, I was fascinated by the theatrical world of Willa and her ensemble and chilled to the bone by Avril’s supernatural encounter at the same time.
SECRETS SO DEEP is enthralling, fascinating and spine-chilling, and will keep you up all night! Ginny Myers Sain indeed has the knack of spell-binding her readers with riveting twists and turns.
The main character of Avril is incredibly well-written. She's a young girl with no memories of her life before the age of five, and plenty of secrets she needs to uncover to truly understand herself. The author has made Avril very realistic; meeting her through these pages rings as true as meeting a real-life girl of her age.
Each of the secondary characters is also very detailed and unique. I felt like I really got to know Val, Lex, and Cole almost as well as Avril. I have young people this age in my life right now, and I can tell you that their dialog and actions ring very true. I appreciated that level of honesty and authenticity that is so often missing in books about young people.
The story itself is excellent! As Avril returns to the site of her childhood tragedy, everything she thought she knew about what happened is challenged. She talks to people who knew her mother back then, and spends time in the same places. Her memories begin to return, along with some eerie occurrences. I loved taking this journey with Avril, and piecing the past together along with her. Once everything was revealed, it all made perfect sense.
Added note: The setting of Crystal Cove (in Connecticut) is described so well that I could see and experience everything along with the characters. In fact, Crystal Cove is basically a character all by itself.
Second note: The story takes place at an exclusive theater camp. Instead of chapter numbers, the author chose to use acts and scenes to divide the narrative. I enjoyed the extra level of atmosphere provided by that decision.
Definitely 5 out of 5 chunks of perfect sharp cheddar!
Without outright spoiling it, the mystery surrounding the death of Avril's mother is predictable not just because of the intentional trail of clues left by the author, but also because most of the other potential 'suspects' don't get enough focus or development to have any chance of being major players in the mystery. This didn't bother me too much, but if you're looking for a more complex mystery this might not be it for you. The paranormal elements were also very disconnected from the central mystery, serving more as set dressing than something to be explored or linked to Avril and her mother's death.
The relationships between characters fell flat as most of the focus was on Avril and Cole's romance to the detriment of the other relationships. To start with, Cole and Avril's relationship was... fine. It moved very quickly and had the insta-love/fated lovers quality that I find somewhat eye-rolling, especially between two teenagers. But the characters did have some genuine connection and were there for each other when they were struggling, so overall it was not bad, but not amazing either. However, Avril's supposed friendships were more poorly written. Avril states repeatedly that Lex, one of the other actors, is her best friend, that she's never had a friend like him before, but the book never really shows this. They share relatively few scenes and don't have much on-page friendship development. Not to mention, it's strange how little concern these people who supposedly care for Avril show as she's hallucinating, passing out in front of them, and going through so many difficult emotions regarding her mother. It feels like the other characters were forgotten about aside from inconsequential mentions. The same can be said for Avril's relationship with her father. I wish we'd gotten to see anything at all about what the events of the story would mean for their relationship. Finding out the truth behind his wife's murder has got mean something to her father and for their relationship, but we never get any follow up on that at all.
The atmosphere and the establishment of a unique and intriguing setting were quite well done. The bayou town of La Cachette felt vividly real and the air of mysticism and mystery around it was well-crafted. With the premise and the setting drawing me in, I was ready to thoroughly enjoy this story. However, it felt the author was more invested in showing off the backdrop and the dark atmospheric elements than in developing the main plot of the book.
The central storyline, the uncovering of the mystery of Elora's disappearance, was often meandering and a bit formulaic at times. The main character, Grey, was more pulled along through the story beats than an active participant in solving the mystery. I found the ending pretty unsatisfying, as well, feeling abrupt and somewhat emotionally hollow.
This may have been in part due to the lack of develop of the characters and their relationships. Despite being said to be close friends, for the most part the Summer Children feel very disconnected from each other. Other than Hart, none of them are very involved in the story, despite being the people closest to Elora and Grey. We're fed hints of interesting character traits and relationships that make their lack of development even more disappointing. The romance elements also ranged between awkward and uncomfortable. With Zane, it felt unneeded and rushed and with Hart, though it felt a little more fitting to their situation, it was uncompelling.
Avril has returned to the theater camp where her mother drowned long ago. She's seeking the one thing she doesn't have: memories of her mother, even if they are second-hand from people who knew her. But as soon as she arrives, she hears the legend of the sea calling to those it claims. And she's one of the ones who can hear the whispers. Haunting, atmospheric and creepy, this book draws you into its dangerous fog.
The camp begins to trigger memories, and every night the fog sets in, bringing ghosts and confusion. But Avril finds an ally and a romantic interest in Cole, the son of the playwright, Willa, who also happens to have been her mother's best friend. Together, they fight off the darkness.
This book is a page turner, with twists and turns will keep readers guessing. In the end, Avril and Cole may find out that the most dangerous thing of all is lurking in the fog: the truth.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
When she returns not long before her seventeenth birthday, Grey feels more torn than most teens would feel after a best friend goes missing. Part of that is because she and Ellora parted after harsh words were exchanged the year before, but it's more because like everyone in the small town, Grey has psychic abilities and they're starting to emerge. She keeps seeing flashes of what she believes was Ellora's last night alive.
What happens after her return is sinister, involves lots of secrets and false trails that are smoothly woven into the plot, coupled with a massive hurricane and one heck of a climax. It's a great story and should be considered by libraries where teens like thoughtful, creepy and immersive fiction.
Dark and Shallow Lies follows seventeen-year-old Grey as she returns to her birthplace and summer home, La Cachette, after the disappearance of her bestfriend Elora. Despite acting as the psychic capital of the world, the small tourist town is confounded by the young girl's disappearance and possible death, either chalking it up to legend, tragedy, or even that too sinister to say aloud. Despite it all, Grey vows to uncover the truth behind her twin flame's death, no matter how many secrets she has to unbury to do so.
I think one of the most extraordinary parts of this novel is the setting. From the first page, you are surrounded by swamp, mud between your toes and thick heat flush against your skin. You can hear the water beside you, the crawl of insects around, and the thrum of magic as it drifts through the air. It's enough to make a girl want to plan a roadtrip to Louisiana herself, just to see if she can catch even the smallest glimpse in the real world of what this story showcases. The characters easily fit into the setting, almost as if they are inseparable from it. They are as much of the town and its legends as the buildings or its Cajun culture, creating a fascinating interdependence that I really enjoyed exploring.
However, the setting was not the only high point of this novel though. The mystery at the heart of the story is absolutely gripping. While I did predict certain plot points early on, there were other plot twists that took me completely by surprise. You'll be thinking you've got it all figured out until you're proven wrong time and time again. Hey, even if you've deciphered all the plot twists before you ever really even sink your teeth into the story, you're still guaranteed a fun ride. Consider yourself a psychic and watch the journey all unfold. I promise it's a great one.
Basically, buy the book.
I usually struggle with books written in first point of view but not with this book; it seems it is the only way it could be told. There were lulls and hiccups in pacing, and the writing style became too plain at times (more tell than show) but I wasn't bothered much by it.
As much as I loved almost all of the book, the ending was kind of a let down. It would have been better if more information was provided to make the culprit feel plausible. It felt rushed, impassionate, not powerful. It's hard to put my finger on exactly why the ending left me deeply unsatisfied, and my rating was 5 stars until then.
Regardless of the uncompelling and disappointing conclusion, Dark and Shallow Lies has earned a spot on my 2021 Favorites shelf on Goodreads (where it joins only 4 other books-- I'm very critical and picky). I will be on the lookout for more work by this author. Thank you to BookishFirst for offering this book to review.
For the most part, I thought the pacing was near perfect. There were only a very few spots where I was slightly bored or a little confused because everything was moving so quickly, but I loved watching the mystery of Elora's vanishment unfold. I usually am able to predict plot twists and what is going to happen, but I found myself being so wrong on so many occasions. I love the fact that this book is so unpredictable.
The fact that this little town, population 106, holds secrets and magic users, of all places, is stunning to me. I love Grey helping her grandmother run her shop and the betrayal she feels at learning everyone has been hiding secrets. This is a great read!
Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain is an atmospheric, contemporary YA novel that blends fantasy with mystery. The story revolves around Grey, a 17 year-old girl whose best friend Elora went missing 6 months ago. Grey believes that something bad happened to her, and she wants to find out what. Then, a new boy arrives in town, and everything changes. The town of La Cachette, Louisiana is hiding secrets, a dark past filled with murders. Will Grey be able to wade her way through the lies to uncover what happened to Elora? Or will she be swept out in the tide?
Here is a chilling excerpt from the first page of the book:
"He’s tearing through the brush behind me.
Breathing hard and calling my name. Even with
the wind and the driving rain, he’s all I hear.
So I push myself faster. We break out onto the
wide-open flats, and I feel him closing in on me.
There’s nowhere left to hide except inside the dark.
So I turn off my flashlight and
let the blackness eat me alive."
After I read that excerpt, I knew that I had to keep reading to find out what happens next. I love fantasy books and thrillers. They're my two favorite genres, so I was so happy to find a book that combines the two. Just like the excerpt above, there are also interspersed pages between the regular chapters that reveal the chase scene and what happens after, which definitely heightened the tension of the book. One highlight of this book is the setting. I felt like I had been transported to a rural, mystical town in Louisiana.
Overall, Dark and Shallow Lies is an amazing, atmospheric book that blends fantasy with mystery. There were also twists at the end that I did not see coming. This book will appeal to fans of creepy contemporary fantasy books like The Dead and the Dark or House of Hollow. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of YA mysteries with a supernatural twist, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in September!
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As they dig deeper in to the mystery, Trulee and Rio realize someone is watching them and that they are in danger. They also cannot deny the growing connection between them.
One Last Breath is a highly suspenseful thriller with multiple twists and turns and queer rep. The setting of a beautiful Florida spring was atmospheric and fascinating, as were the free diving aspects of the story. I ended up researching more about the Florida freshwater springs and learned that they are threatened ecosystems. One Last Breath is a stay-up-all-night compelling, unpredictable YA thriller. Thank you to BookishFirst for a copy to review.