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thenextgenlibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
Riverdale meets Stephen King in Burden Falls.
kellyvandamme's review
5.0
4.5 rounded up
Hi and welcome to my review of Wicked Little Deeds. Huge thanks to Dave @ TheWriteReads for organising this mahoosive blogtour and inviting me to join, and to Penguin and NetGalley for the eARC.
I had made myself promise not to accept any blogtour invites but when I got a whiff of Wicked Little Deeds it was simply impossible to walk away, I had such a great time with Kat Ellis’ Harrow Lake last year I could not pass up the opportunity to get my hands on her new novel ASAP. My breaking my promise to myself turned out to be a great decision because I ended up having a brilliant time with Wicked Little Deeds!
I knew from the get-go this would be a good fit for me. I love those teenage thriller/ drama / horror shows like Pretty Little Liars and Riverdale and, although it’s been ages, The Vampire Diaries, and what I enjoy most about those shows is the setting in these rather creepy, small towns, rife with superstition and legends of their own. It’s that vibe that Kat Ellis knows how to create, it’s just perfection.
In the town of Burden Falls, named for its waterfall, the Thorn family have been living up in Thorn Manor for generations. They have an apple orchard and a distillery where they manufacture Thorn’s Blood Apple Sour.
Ava is the youngest Thorn and life as she’s always known it is coming to an end: she and what remains of her family are forced to sell the manor and move to a cottage in town. And to add insult to injury, the family buying the manor is the family with whom the Thorns have had a feud for generations. Ava is trying to come to terms with that, while also still recovering from the terrible shock she suffered a year ago, when she ends up somewhere she shouldn’t be and stumbles across a murdered girl. The girl’s eyes have been bashed in and she was made to look like Dead-Eyed Sadie, the town’s resident ghost / mascot and its version of the Black-Eyed Kids legend.
Now if there’s one urban legend that creeps me out completely, it’s Black-Eyed Kids. For me, they’re right up there with spiders and clowns. So if Wicked Little Deeds was meant to unsettle me, Sadie did the trick quite nicely. As the line between reality and the supernatural blurs, Ava doesn’t know which way is up, and frankly neither did I… And I loved it!
Typical of the abovementioned teenage shows is the fact that the police always seem pretty clueless, and sooner or later it’s up to the teenagers to figure out what’s what. Wicked Little Deeds takes that notion and runs with it. Once again: I loved it!
Ava is a great protagonist and I was rooting for her all the way. She’s tough but in a way I found realistic. There’s a bit of a love interest that seemed quite obvious but who even cares if it is, it works.
I may have said goodbye to my own teenage years longer ago then I care to share, but stories like Wicked Little Deeds still work like a wicked little charm on me. Thrills and chills, Wicked Little Deeds has them in spades. A sprinkling of dry humour, check. A shocking twist, consider that box ticked as well: there is a reveal, I was shocked, I had not seen it coming and it pissed me off (in a good way). In hindsight, all the clues were there, I just didn’t know where to look for them.
In short: I had an excellent time with Wicked Little Deeds. It’s entertaining and fun and atmospheric and I could read stories like this one all day long. Whatever Kat Ellis comes up with next, I wanna be on the blogtour! Recommended.
Wicked Little Deeds is out now in digital formats, paperback and audio.
Hi and welcome to my review of Wicked Little Deeds. Huge thanks to Dave @ TheWriteReads for organising this mahoosive blogtour and inviting me to join, and to Penguin and NetGalley for the eARC.
I had made myself promise not to accept any blogtour invites but when I got a whiff of Wicked Little Deeds it was simply impossible to walk away, I had such a great time with Kat Ellis’ Harrow Lake last year I could not pass up the opportunity to get my hands on her new novel ASAP. My breaking my promise to myself turned out to be a great decision because I ended up having a brilliant time with Wicked Little Deeds!
I knew from the get-go this would be a good fit for me. I love those teenage thriller/ drama / horror shows like Pretty Little Liars and Riverdale and, although it’s been ages, The Vampire Diaries, and what I enjoy most about those shows is the setting in these rather creepy, small towns, rife with superstition and legends of their own. It’s that vibe that Kat Ellis knows how to create, it’s just perfection.
In the town of Burden Falls, named for its waterfall, the Thorn family have been living up in Thorn Manor for generations. They have an apple orchard and a distillery where they manufacture Thorn’s Blood Apple Sour.
Ava is the youngest Thorn and life as she’s always known it is coming to an end: she and what remains of her family are forced to sell the manor and move to a cottage in town. And to add insult to injury, the family buying the manor is the family with whom the Thorns have had a feud for generations. Ava is trying to come to terms with that, while also still recovering from the terrible shock she suffered a year ago, when she ends up somewhere she shouldn’t be and stumbles across a murdered girl. The girl’s eyes have been bashed in and she was made to look like Dead-Eyed Sadie, the town’s resident ghost / mascot and its version of the Black-Eyed Kids legend.
Now if there’s one urban legend that creeps me out completely, it’s Black-Eyed Kids. For me, they’re right up there with spiders and clowns. So if Wicked Little Deeds was meant to unsettle me, Sadie did the trick quite nicely. As the line between reality and the supernatural blurs, Ava doesn’t know which way is up, and frankly neither did I… And I loved it!
Typical of the abovementioned teenage shows is the fact that the police always seem pretty clueless, and sooner or later it’s up to the teenagers to figure out what’s what. Wicked Little Deeds takes that notion and runs with it. Once again: I loved it!
Ava is a great protagonist and I was rooting for her all the way. She’s tough but in a way I found realistic. There’s a bit of a love interest that seemed quite obvious but who even cares if it is, it works.
I may have said goodbye to my own teenage years longer ago then I care to share, but stories like Wicked Little Deeds still work like a wicked little charm on me. Thrills and chills, Wicked Little Deeds has them in spades. A sprinkling of dry humour, check. A shocking twist, consider that box ticked as well: there is a reveal, I was shocked, I had not seen it coming and it pissed me off (in a good way). In hindsight, all the clues were there, I just didn’t know where to look for them.
In short: I had an excellent time with Wicked Little Deeds. It’s entertaining and fun and atmospheric and I could read stories like this one all day long. Whatever Kat Ellis comes up with next, I wanna be on the blogtour! Recommended.
Wicked Little Deeds is out now in digital formats, paperback and audio.
nelsonseye's review
3.0
Burden Falls is three stars for me. I liked the narrator and the pop culture references and I thought the atmosphere and suspense were well done. I also thought the resolution (including the “escape”) worked quite well. But, it was a slow read.
someonetookit's review
4.0
Listened to this over a week of commutes. Pacing was a little slow at times, didn't pick the killer until late on. Overall wasn't too bad and is the first audio book that I've successfully listened to from start to end
morguebooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
thindbooks's review against another edition
5.0
*this e-arc was sent to me by the publisher to give an honest review in return*
4.5 stars
This was such a great book! It's about Ava who has nightmares after her parent's car crash in Burden Falls and wonders if it's real plus there is a killer on the loose. How better can the story sound am I right?! I have read Harrow Lake which I enjoyed a lot and when I heard that Burden Falls was releasing by Kat, I knew I had to check it out which I was glad I did. Kat never disappoints with the mystery and thriller plus this book gives me chilly vibes which I have never received from other thrillers. I enjoyed the writing, pacing, setting, and plot structure of this book. I do have to say that the pacing was a little slow and hard for me to get into but once the story picks up, it's hard to stop reading.
This is written in Ava's pov and I enjoyed her character. She is grieving from her parent's death and seeing her develop throughout the story by going through so much showed how strong and brave she was. There were some great side characters in the book but not many. The main side character is Dominic who I loved but I wish there were more side characters. There are also enemies to lovers romance for my romance fans!
The ending was well done and just as amazing as it was from Horrow Lake. Kat just doesn't disappoint with the way she ends things and she also throws in many great twists and turns into the novels! At this point, she is my favorite thriller/mystery author because they are just so GOOD! I totally recommend reading this book especially if you love Riverdale, kind of Supernatural and Stephan King.
4.5 stars
This was such a great book! It's about Ava who has nightmares after her parent's car crash in Burden Falls and wonders if it's real plus there is a killer on the loose. How better can the story sound am I right?! I have read Harrow Lake which I enjoyed a lot and when I heard that Burden Falls was releasing by Kat, I knew I had to check it out which I was glad I did. Kat never disappoints with the mystery and thriller plus this book gives me chilly vibes which I have never received from other thrillers. I enjoyed the writing, pacing, setting, and plot structure of this book. I do have to say that the pacing was a little slow and hard for me to get into but once the story picks up, it's hard to stop reading.
This is written in Ava's pov and I enjoyed her character. She is grieving from her parent's death and seeing her develop throughout the story by going through so much showed how strong and brave she was. There were some great side characters in the book but not many. The main side character is Dominic who I loved but I wish there were more side characters. There are also enemies to lovers romance for my romance fans!
The ending was well done and just as amazing as it was from Horrow Lake. Kat just doesn't disappoint with the way she ends things and she also throws in many great twists and turns into the novels! At this point, she is my favorite thriller/mystery author because they are just so GOOD! I totally recommend reading this book especially if you love Riverdale, kind of Supernatural and Stephan King.
brompton_sawdon's review
5.0
Kat Ellis is rapidly gaining a reputation of the teen horror queen for her novels. After reading her latest work, Wicked Little Deeds (Burden Falls in the US), I can say it's completely justified. Wicked Little Deeds is an excellent teen horror book with a plot that Stephen King would be jealous of.
Set in the US the book focusses on Ava and the small town of Burden Falls. Ava is a 'bloody Thorn', once owners of the manor house along with its distillery. However, when Ava's mortal enemy moves into her former home things start to get weird. The myth of 'Dead-eyed Sadie takes on a whole new significance. Like all good horror tales, it starts to go downhill real fast.
Wicked Little Deeds is an excellent read. I devoured the pages inside a day. As the day went through its cycle, from light to dark, so the story did as well. A breathless read that grabs you from the start and takes you literally over the falls. It's a book destined to please teenagers that like their horror. Every book I read of Kat's seems to be more intense than the first. At first I thought this book was set in Wales. It set me in mind of a location I'd seen on TV of a bridge in a gorge with a waterfall below. My mistake though as the setting soon settled into one of those weird small towns so beloved by horror writers.
A real 5 star read. You must read this book.
Set in the US the book focusses on Ava and the small town of Burden Falls. Ava is a 'bloody Thorn', once owners of the manor house along with its distillery. However, when Ava's mortal enemy moves into her former home things start to get weird. The myth of 'Dead-eyed Sadie takes on a whole new significance. Like all good horror tales, it starts to go downhill real fast.
Wicked Little Deeds is an excellent read. I devoured the pages inside a day. As the day went through its cycle, from light to dark, so the story did as well. A breathless read that grabs you from the start and takes you literally over the falls. It's a book destined to please teenagers that like their horror. Every book I read of Kat's seems to be more intense than the first. At first I thought this book was set in Wales. It set me in mind of a location I'd seen on TV of a bridge in a gorge with a waterfall below. My mistake though as the setting soon settled into one of those weird small towns so beloved by horror writers.
A real 5 star read. You must read this book.
bookishbrooke's review against another edition
5.0
4.5!!! This book was SO GOOD. I truly loved the writing, the characters, the mystery, and the ambience! Go read this if you’re looking for a good YA mystery!
wdianasheppard's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars rounded up.
"Burden Falls" shares a lot of similarities with "Harrow Lake" on the surface: both are horror novels featuring family secrets, heavy legacies, and a grumpy protagonist just trying to make it through the novel, but that's where their similarities cease. The stakes feel higher in "Burden Falls" - not only is there a supernatural threat (a ghost with no eyes!) stalking poor Ava Thorn, but she has threats coming from the mundane as well: her family is struggling, she's grieving the loss of her parents, and she's implicated in a series of murders striking her town. What's going on? Who's an ally? And who's secretly trying to sabotage her?
"Burden Falls" takes a lot of cues from urban legends and modern horror, and on the whole, while it wasn't terribly mind-blowing or unpredictable, it was fun. The supporting cast was likable and helpful, and Ava was never truly alone in her quest to find out what was happening. The romance was largely unnecessary, but it didn't wear out its welcome. On the whole, the my biggest complaint was that it started very slow - the story was burdened by a great deal of set up and a run down of who hated who and why, and while I later appreciated some of that information later on, it meant that things didn't get spooky or tense until a good 35% in.
On the whole, I enjoyed "Burden Falls". If you liked "Harrow Lake", you'll definitely enjoy this one - I in fact enjoyed "Burden Falls" even more so than "Harrow Lake". Kat Ellis continues to put out fun, quality young adult horror that's good for a few nights of spooks.
"Burden Falls" shares a lot of similarities with "Harrow Lake" on the surface: both are horror novels featuring family secrets, heavy legacies, and a grumpy protagonist just trying to make it through the novel, but that's where their similarities cease. The stakes feel higher in "Burden Falls" - not only is there a supernatural threat (a ghost with no eyes!) stalking poor Ava Thorn, but she has threats coming from the mundane as well: her family is struggling, she's grieving the loss of her parents, and she's implicated in a series of murders striking her town. What's going on? Who's an ally? And who's secretly trying to sabotage her?
"Burden Falls" takes a lot of cues from urban legends and modern horror, and on the whole, while it wasn't terribly mind-blowing or unpredictable, it was fun. The supporting cast was likable and helpful, and Ava was never truly alone in her quest to find out what was happening. The romance was largely unnecessary, but it didn't wear out its welcome. On the whole, the my biggest complaint was that it started very slow - the story was burdened by a great deal of set up and a run down of who hated who and why, and while I later appreciated some of that information later on, it meant that things didn't get spooky or tense until a good 35% in.
On the whole, I enjoyed "Burden Falls". If you liked "Harrow Lake", you'll definitely enjoy this one - I in fact enjoyed "Burden Falls" even more so than "Harrow Lake". Kat Ellis continues to put out fun, quality young adult horror that's good for a few nights of spooks.