Reviews

On the surface it's a solid mystery, at it's heart a poignant tale on grief & shame, the cyclical nature of generational trauma, and healing a hurt, angry soul. Bittersweet and hopeful.

al_r's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

mangoseaquest's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

imchelsi's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

I picked this up on a whim, not knowing what it was about, simply because I really love Jesse Vilinsky's narration style. This was so much more than I thought it would be and I'm glad I grabbed it! Also, I usually hate love triangles because they are unnecessarily messy but this one was handled super well 👌

annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition

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4.0

This was one of my most anticipated fall reads. From the moment I discovered the book (from an announcement of an American Book Box) I was intrigued by the concept. Music is a part of my soul, so having it to be such a big part of the story could only go well. I was therefore very happy when Book Box Club announced the theme for September, since I recognized this book right away, which meant one less pre-order.

And the book does not disappoint. The best part of this book is very clearly the atmosphere. It's actually the perfect spooky Halloween read. The descriptions of the woods, of the ghosts and of the town and living places of these characters are downright amazing. I had a chill rolling down my spine quite often and everything felt so incredibly vivid.

On top of that there was an amazing family history. Along the story we get more and more pieces of the puzzle, and it's quite a complicated puzzle in the end. It kept me on the edge of my seat while reading and it also made the buddy read we did quite hard. There were quite a few times we had to wait another day just when the story was getting more and more interesting or just when we would surely get a few answers. Because there are loads of exciting moments spread throughout the book.

The finishing touch is the quite big ensemble of characters. Normally a standalone with this many characters can get confusing, or it might feel like characters are not really playing a part, but it didn't feel that way in this book. Our main heroine not only needed all the key players in the mystery, but she also needed the support and personal conflicts from and with her friends. And although the personal drama was quite minimal, it did ground the story in reality.

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