Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Burden Falls

I loved the premise, had a really good time with the environment and how everything was set up, and thought the characters were so sweet. My biggest hang up is the BBEG because the rationale and build up didn’t feel fleshed out enough, and there wasn’t much feeling looking back on the story to feel all that impacted by the reveal. The ending was satisfyingly tense in spite of it though, but that’s entirely because I really liked the MC.

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outsmartyourshelf's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Ava Thorn's family have lived in the 'big house' in Burden Falls for several generations. The town has its own creepy legends including that of Dead-Eyed Sadie, a ghost who appears to someone when they are about to die. Following the tragic deaths of her parents in a car accident, Ava is left in the care of her father's younger brother, Uncle Ty & his wife Carolyn but Ava is distraught to learn that not only has her uncle sold their home but he sold it to the family of her greatest enemies at school, the Miller twins: Freya & Dominic. Even her best friend, Ford, seems about to desert her for them. When a missing girl, Claire Palmer, is found dead in the local waterfalls, this is just the start of the mysterious deaths, & each one seems to point at Ava as the murderer, but Ava has more to worry about as she has started to see Dead-Eyed Sadie everywhere.

This is a YA horror mystery & it's not bad actually. It has a slow pace to start, but once the story starts to pick-up it becomes a page-turner. I really liked the supernatural aspects of the story, & I thought that the enemies-to-lovers trope was handled well as it didn't overshadow the rest of the plot. Unfortunately the reveals at the end were pretty much what I had expected which was a little disappointing. Verdict: it's well written & keeps the attention, but when you drill down through the layers of horror & supernatural elements, it's easy to guess 'whodunnit'.

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idreaminbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

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amysbookishlife's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

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