I’ve had mixed experiences reading Emily Henry, and although I do like her characters and setting choices, I feel that sometimes I want her stories to go deeper and I was really hoping to feel that more in this story. I feel that this plot had the potential to go in a more profound direction, but I only felt that depth in the last 40 pages. The romance was interesting in this story, it felt quick but also too prolonged, and it also was not central to the story (which is fine but if you want a story with the romance as an integral part of the story I’d consider a different read). I overall felt that this story dragged a bit too long and I wanted it to feel more profound and more of a commentary about life. I did enjoy the characters despite their sort of strange paced romance, and I loved the setting of Little Crescent, but maybe this book just wasn’t for me.

I had a lot of fun reading this book. It’s creepy, suspenseful, immersive, and I adore Simone St. James’ writing. I didn’t realize how much I missed her ability to make a scene in a book so spine-tingling that I legitimately felt my heart rate go up. I also feel like I now need to reread some of her other books I enjoyed previously like The Sun Down Motel and Broken Girls.

I could understand some critique that some parts of this book felt slow, (mostly short bits of pieces in the middle, there was a bit of forced romance for each sibling and I say forced because I did feel like it took away from the suspenseful storyline) but I was hooked from the start and I needed to know what happened to Ben! I enjoyed the sibling banter that was relatable but made the characters redeemable. I also thoroughly enjoyed the supernatural aspects throughout the book. I found myself putting the pieces together towards the end and felt validated when I was correct but shook when there was more to the story. Simone St. James just knows how to put all the scary pieces of the puzzle together to make it dramatic and thrilling. If you’re into the supernatural, sibling ghost stories, or just want to immerse yourself into a dreary dreadful town like Fell, NY. add this book to your TBR!