Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Don't Tell a Soul

Received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A captivating thriller that follows Bram, a girl kicked out of her mother's house in NYC for mysterious reasons we eventually find out as the story unfolds. Bram's sent to live with her uncle whom she hasn't seen in a decade, only to find out his wife died mysteriously months earlier. Bram discovers more mysteries surrounding the mansion she and her uncle live in.

A really fun mystery novel that was entertaining from beginning to end. Only issue I had was that the ending wrapped up a bit too quickly for my taste but it was a well-written ending regardless. I liked that we couldn't really "like" a character in the book, all of them couldn't trust each other and thus kept showing their worst sides. Not to say no one's completely unlikeable, but it works very well for this mystery. Excellent writing overall!

Content Warnings

whatellisreadnext's review

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦. 𝘐 𝘨𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘐'𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘹 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵.

All Bram wants is to disappear. The only place she can go is to Louth, a small town where her Uncle James is in the process of renovating an old mansion. The house is creepy, but so are the locals. They don't want outsiders infecting their town, and most frightening of all, are the stories they tell of the girls who died in the very house Bram now calls home.

Big creepy house? ✔ Sad protagonist? ✔ Small town? ✔ Several unravelling mysteries? ✔ Things that go bump in the night? ✔ This book is AMAZING. It had all the elements I love in a ghost story, and then some. I am so thankful to this creepy cover for grabbing my attention. I am obsessed.

It is very rare I give young adult novels a 5 star rating, they have to really knock my socks off. Don't Tell A Soul was that good. It felt like a mash up of The Haunting of Bly Manor and Truly Devious. You're scared, but you're also dying to unravel all of the mysteries surrounding the house. I really struggled to put it down.

Bram is such a fantastic protagonist, I loved reading her unconventional coming of age story. How she rose from the ashes, and her strength grew throughout the book was just wonderful. She was all heart; helping people she barely knew, determined to bring justice upon those that deserved it.

If you're looking for a character driven ghost story/mystery that'll keep you on your toes, I couldn't recommend this enough!!

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catchats's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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caidyn's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

The second I saw that this was a Rebecca-esque retelling, I got very interested. It seems that the 2020s are the revival of Daphne du Maurier so far! And this one was really good. It blended in modernized gothic horror elements with YA tropes. I also liked how this tackled multiple difficult topics that teens commonly face. From parental death to drug use to sexual assault, etc. It really balanced things well. With all the difficult themes, it never felt too heavy for me as a reader and I thought everything was handled very well. Definitely a book that I'll want on my shelf as a finished product!

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horsecube's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

As a Kirsten Miller fan, I was really excited to be approved by Netgalley for this eARC.

The story starts with Bram arriving in Louth, New York after a very long journey from Manhattan. She's come to stay with her uncle at a large manor house he's remodeling. There's a blizzard outside and she doesn't she feels like she's been forgotten. Eventually, she's picked up by a man her uncle hired to pick her up, which puts her on edge even though she's armed herself with a newly bought box cutter and bear repellant. She states vaguely that she's come to Louth in search of answers, but it also is hinted at that something or someone has chased her away from New York and there's something or someone preventing her from returning.

I was hooked from the first chapter. I didn't know which characters to trust, and I didn't know how they were all tied into the mystery. I didn't know what the past and three dead girls had to do with the present. I didn't know (but had suspicions) about what had happened to Bram to make her distrust people so much, especially men. I didn't know why she was in Louth, and what had happened in NYC to force her there. I loved her resourcefulness, drive, and determination. I loved the sleepy, wintery, slightly gothic atmosphere.

I loved that because it's a Kirsten Miller book I knew women would save the day (and my prediction wasn't wrong).

And all of that kept me reading.

Miller did use addiction as Bram's flaw though, a reason why she couldn't be believed or trusted no matter what she said or saw. I'm lukewarm on this because I love that it's clearly a limit to what the character can do (you can't just tell everyone that your uncle killed your aunt and dad if you were once an addict APPARENTLY because everyone will think you were just high I GUESS and then your uncle will kill you once he knows you know) and I love those kinds of confines that keep characters from going to the police or trusting others, but also it feels slightly icky for some reason. At this time my mixed feelings are hard to describe, but maybe I'll be able to articulate as I read more mysteries and thrillers.

Don't Tell A Soul is one of those YA books that are YA because of the main character's age and less so because of the content: there was some dark, enraging stuff going on. I haven't read many mysteries or thrillers but this one has your typical mystery-thriller trigger warnings, detailed in the content warning section.

Female empowerment, reclaiming your life, and serving justice when assholes try to discredit you because you're "troubled" or "broken",

Don't Tell A Soul is def a win for YA mystery.

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