Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
My third book from Netgalley! Rounding up from a 3.5
After a tragedy leaves Marin parentless and homeless, she receives an invitation from her mother's childhood friend, esteemed horror writer Alice Lovelace, to stay at Lovelace Manor while she sorts herself out. Except, the secrets of the manor are slowly waking up. Everything stays at Lovelace Manor, down to the bones. All the Dead Lie Down is due to come out on May 16th of this year.
I was all in on this book--I mean, creepy children, gothic manors, and a romantic subplot--what is not to love? But the last 70 pages really fell apart for me, because the reveals happened in dominoes, so quickly that it became difficult to process the first reveal without the next crashing over your head and inverting the previous one. I really wish that McCauley had given us a slightly slower build-up to the end.
After a tragedy leaves Marin parentless and homeless, she receives an invitation from her mother's childhood friend, esteemed horror writer Alice Lovelace, to stay at Lovelace Manor while she sorts herself out. Except, the secrets of the manor are slowly waking up. Everything stays at Lovelace Manor, down to the bones. All the Dead Lie Down is due to come out on May 16th of this year.
I was all in on this book--I mean, creepy children, gothic manors, and a romantic subplot--what is not to love? But the last 70 pages really fell apart for me, because the reveals happened in dominoes, so quickly that it became difficult to process the first reveal without the next crashing over your head and inverting the previous one. I really wish that McCauley had given us a slightly slower build-up to the end.
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
WOW. This is a contender for my top read of 2023. Beautifully written, perfect plot, intriguing characters, supernatural events, and an atmosphere that really sucks you into the book. I am so in love with Evie and Marin, watching them develop had my heart full. I thought it was perfectly paced as well, I never wanted to put it down. Truly a sapphic supernatural gothic romance that had me hanging on every beautiful word.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was really absorbing.
Marin takes a job nannying two young girls, in the home of a famed horror novelist, Alice, the childhood friend of her late mother. The girls are odd in their owns ways, especially when they try to kill her…
Something is really off at this coastal estate and it is only more evident when Alice’s oldest daughter returns home from school.
Marin and the oldest daughter, Evie have an immediate pull to one another and it’s enough to distract her from the absurdity of these young girls and their antics. But, it doesn’t change the strange air around the house and the dead animals that deep turning up.
I adored this book. I loved the little girls, in spite of their strangeness. The story takes some crazy twists and turns and ultimately left me on the edge of my seat. Secrets and death lurk around every corner and Marin might not be safe… none of them are safe…
Marin takes a job nannying two young girls, in the home of a famed horror novelist, Alice, the childhood friend of her late mother. The girls are odd in their owns ways, especially when they try to kill her…
Something is really off at this coastal estate and it is only more evident when Alice’s oldest daughter returns home from school.
Marin and the oldest daughter, Evie have an immediate pull to one another and it’s enough to distract her from the absurdity of these young girls and their antics. But, it doesn’t change the strange air around the house and the dead animals that deep turning up.
I adored this book. I loved the little girls, in spite of their strangeness. The story takes some crazy twists and turns and ultimately left me on the edge of my seat. Secrets and death lurk around every corner and Marin might not be safe… none of them are safe…
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book progresses so perfectly with so many twists that you don’t expect, and keeps you constantly wanting to read more! I haven’t been that excited to get through a book in a while! Absolutely brilliant!
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I wanted to love this book so so much.
From the outset it has all of my favorite things: Emily Dickinson references, Ivy by Taylor Swift references, gothic romance, inspired by The Haunting of Bly Manor, a sapphic relationship, adorable kids, exploration of grief through fantasy, etc. etc. I was over the moon when I first read the summary.
The Good:
-The romance between Evie and Marin was very soft and sweet, especially the fact that there wereNO buried gays, nature is healing.
-The premise itself is fascinating, I enjoyed the supernatural aspect in this book. The imagery in the second half of the story is incredible, the horror/gore interwoven very very nicely with really nice bits of dreamy prose, a little reminiscent of Annihilation (2018), would have loved to see more of that fleshed out (ha) and built into the story from the start.Everything with Charles Hallowell and Alice Lovelace in the sunken crypt at the end.................... OOF .
-The cover is absolutely gorgeous, and I really love the title and how they both work into the story.
The Frustrating:
-Marin spends the entire book functionally asleep. I can't stand narrators that sleepwalk through their own stories. It's officially become my worst book pet peeve this year. The children (CHILDREN) had to spell the exact same thing to her several times. She still didn't get it. Another adult had to spell it out a third time. She still didn't understand. She never asked any questions. She found letters upon letters upon letters addressed to her mother and immediately threw a tantrum about it to Evie The Love Of Her Life She Met Two Weeks Ago And Promised Eternal Understanding To Five Minutes Prior, instead of, oh I don't know, reading even a single one of them, or, say, asking Neera even once about Alice's history. Halfway through the book, we're treated to a flashback of her mother freaking out about even the mention of Alice and I made the effort to tell myself "well maybe she was a child and didn't understand her reaction, and that's why she trusts Alice anyway" but NO. The flashback was from A MONTH BEFORE THE EVENTS OF THE BOOK. And she still thought it was a good idea to trust this woman her mother was SO terrified of. Exhausting! But okay, let's let it slide since she's young and grieving. Sure.
-The pacing is wildly inconsistent, much like the timeline of events. Gothic horror typically moves very slowly, carefully and consistently building tension with scene upon scene, until you reach the climax and all bets are off. But there was none of that here. What do you mean days passed "and then suddenly!". We were directly told things like "the girls are demons" and "Alice was scary and wrong" despite only seeing the girls be normal mischievous kids who recently lost their father, and seeing AliceThe Big Bad? only twice before the climax. Wren and Thea mention that things started coming back to life since Evie came back to the house, but Evie was still at boarding school when Marin found the zombie bird in her closet her first night at the house. What? Were we supposed to take it that was somehow Thea's doing? .
-The romance is sweet and positive, but had absolutely no build-up. Evie and Marin had known each other all of 5 minutes where they talked about absolutely nothing, and Marin already decided Evie was The Cure to her (alleged) Generalized Anxiety Disorder (which I'm fairly sure the author didn't research beyond "fear of everything"; ex.Marin has a "panic attack" at one point and the solution was apparently Evie kissing her in the middle of her hyperventilation. Come on. Even Bridgerton did that better). I wondered to myself what on earth Evie saw in Marin besides the fact that she was there. Yes, some people feel safer than others, but not generally complete strangers that you find hot.
The Odd:
-So we're really just not gonna talk about how two walking corpses somehow aged naturally and gave birth, one of them as many as three times? We're just? Not gonna address that? Even though the coroner found evidence of each of her deaths on Alice's body? But her OBGYN saw nothing out of place? WILD
<b>Tl;dr:</b> The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), Pushing Daisies (2007), Frozen (2013), Crimson Peak (2015), Frozen 2 (2019), and Casper (1995) did all of this better. If you like any of those things you might love this book, or be like me, and love all of those things separately, and be ticked off at the pastiche.
Also I'm deliberately stating it because I was worried the whole time: the dog DOES NOT die. Thank you for your time.
From the outset it has all of my favorite things: Emily Dickinson references, Ivy by Taylor Swift references, gothic romance, inspired by The Haunting of Bly Manor, a sapphic relationship, adorable kids, exploration of grief through fantasy, etc. etc. I was over the moon when I first read the summary.
The Good:
-The romance between Evie and Marin was very soft and sweet, especially the fact that there were
-The premise itself is fascinating, I enjoyed the supernatural aspect in this book. The imagery in the second half of the story is incredible, the horror/gore interwoven very very nicely with really nice bits of dreamy prose, a little reminiscent of Annihilation (2018), would have loved to see more of that fleshed out (ha) and built into the story from the start.
-The cover is absolutely gorgeous, and I really love the title and how they both work into the story.
The Frustrating:
-Marin spends the entire book functionally asleep. I can't stand narrators that sleepwalk through their own stories. It's officially become my worst book pet peeve this year. The children (CHILDREN) had to spell the exact same thing to her several times. She still didn't get it. Another adult had to spell it out a third time. She still didn't understand. She never asked any questions.
-The pacing is wildly inconsistent, much like the timeline of events. Gothic horror typically moves very slowly, carefully and consistently building tension with scene upon scene, until you reach the climax and all bets are off. But there was none of that here. What do you mean days passed "and then suddenly!". We were directly told things like "the girls are demons" and "Alice was scary and wrong" despite only seeing the girls be normal mischievous kids who recently lost their father, and seeing Alice
-The romance is sweet and positive, but had absolutely no build-up. Evie and Marin had known each other all of 5 minutes where they talked about absolutely nothing, and Marin already decided Evie was The Cure to her (alleged) Generalized Anxiety Disorder (which I'm fairly sure the author didn't research beyond "fear of everything"; ex.
The Odd:
-
<b>Tl;dr:</b> The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), Pushing Daisies (2007), Frozen (2013), Crimson Peak (2015), Frozen 2 (2019), and Casper (1995) did all of this better. If you like any of those things you might love this book, or be like me, and love all of those things separately, and be ticked off at the pastiche.
Also I'm deliberately stating it because I was worried the whole time: the dog DOES NOT die. Thank you for your time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Death of parent
Moderate: Child death, Stalking
Minor: Vomit