Kyrie McCauley

3 / 5 ⭐️‘s

"All the Dead Lie Down" by Kyrie McCauley

This was a suspenseful and captivating story of a teenage girl named Marin who is haunted by the secrets of Lovelace House.

The book is set in a coastal Maine estate, and the author did an excellent job of creating an eerie and unsettling atmosphere that kept me on the edge throughout the entire read. The plot is well-constructed and intricately woven, with plenty of twists and turns.

Marin is a flawed and relatable protagonist. I found myself rooting for her and empathizing with her struggles as she navigates her way through a series of harrowing events.

This ARC was provided by @netgalley in exchange for an honest review.… (altro)

I read a comment thread where someone described this. They made it sound campy and clearly found the book stupid. I was so confused, because it sounded dark. So I picked it up for myself. This is a sad, serious, dark book about girls trying to find vengeance for their friend, who was murdered by her boyfriend. It starts with painting murals depicting Greek legends. Their friend is now a ghost and lives in a van one of them drives.

This would have worked better as a series of interlinked vignettes. The author knows how to write good transitions and I liked the imagery. The format of the novel, though, was repetitive. The author made her point and kept making it. She tried to world-build increasingly with each chapter, but it all blended together for me. The podcasts were interesting and I was glad for them. I outright skipped Cassie's sections after awhile because I find poetry and prose used how she did, uninteresting. Apparently they had lots of plot in them.

The two ex-girlfriends were supposed to be different people but sounded exactly the same. I never bought the romance between them, and was especially unimpressed with how and why they got back together. A shining example of plot contrivance and flat, under-developed characters. The author was going for Enemies to Lovers plus second chance romance and just failed completely. Instead, it came off as "the town only has two non-heterosexual women, so of COURSE they must get together" framed by "This is Your Author Speaking."

The characters were all freshly eighteen, and it's tricky to write. I think the author did okay, but am glad this is categorized and treated as YA.
This wasn't the book for me.… (altro)

Perfect for fans of House of Hollow.

After her mom dies, Marin's grateful for an offer from her mother's long-lost friend to move to an isolated estate to serve as a nanny for her children. Alice - a horror writer - seems haunted and distant - while the children run wild with a series of escalating pranks. Things come to head when the children summon older sister Evie back from boarding school. Marin can no longer ignore the weirdness of the house and the family, even as she finds herself drawn to beautiful, perfect Evie.

The isolated house provides the perfect slate for a Gothic horror for the ages. The dread builds slowly - starting with an uneasy feeling, a few dead birds and a family of eccentrics - then escalates to a horrifying conclusion. The sapphic romance between Marin and Evie is well done, and the characters alternate between being appealingly vulnerable and sinisterly dark.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.… (altro)