Author: megs14malloy

Review: The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis

~ megs14malloy

The ChateauThe Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

**2.5-stars**

When Darcy’s Grandmother, the elegant, yet aging, Séraphine Demargelasse, invites Darcy and her four best girlfriends to her French Chateau for a luxury Girls Getaway, they can hardly say no.

The women all studied together in France 20-years earlier and they spent many weekends at Séraphine’s. It was at that time, their life-long bonds of friendship were formed, including with Séraphine. It is a beautiful spot, with many beautiful memories.

Prior to the trip, Séraphine tells Darcy she wants to discuss her will with her. This sets a bit of an ominous tone and Darcy wonders if her Grandmother is unwell.

The trip starts off fine, with everyone getting used to being in each other’s company again, enjoying the sights and accommodations. It’s clear they’re hiding some things from one another, but what friendship group doesn’t?

After a boisterous evening celebration, Séraphine is found murdered. Everyone is in shock. Who could have done this?

There’s a limited number of guests, it had to be one of them, but why? Who would want poor Séraphine dead? What is there to gain?

From there the story follows the various characters as the investigation into the murder begins. Everyone is a suspect and in kind, they slowly begin to fall apart.

Here’s the thing, starting off, I was very intrigued by this. I love a story that follows friends, or family, traveling together, staying in remote locations on holiday. I like learning about the characters and their varied lives.

This started out strong with that set-up and while the characters weren’t particularly likable, I never mind that. I like when you get everyone’s perspective in a friendship group, because no matter how close they are, there’s always something: secrets, resentments, betrayals, etc. I love watching it all come to light. I’m here for the drama.

Unfortunately, about halfway through this just fell off a cliff for me. It felt like it was trying to do too much and with so much thrown in, it made everything feel less impactful.

There is a betrayal revealed that turned me off. It’s weird because I’ve read that same thing before, but the way it was done here, I was just over it. I can’t even really explain why.

I don’t think it was necessarily that betrayal though, like the circumstance, that killed this for me, but more like from that point on, every subsequent thing the author threw at us had me tuning out more and more. It was a turning point.

Additionally, I didn’t feel invested enough in the mystery. I didn’t really care who did it. I hadn’t felt connected in any way to Séraphine and her murder hardly felt gripping.

I realize that sounds awful, but I just wasn’t invested enough to care, I guess.

I wanted more intrigue, suspense and nail-biting moments. Instead I feel like it turned into more of a character study than a murder mystery.

Again, I feel like the downfall of this book is that it tried to do too much. It diluted the impact with so many things happening concurrently. Like the Van Gogh thing??? Completely unnecessary, IMO.

I feel like I’ve said enough at this point. You get it. I really wanted to like this one, but it ended up being a big miss for me. I tried, I did, but overall, pure mehhhhhhh.

Thank you to the publisher, Atria Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Even though this wasn’t my cup of tea, I would be willing to pick up this author’s next book. I’m a firm believer in second chances!

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Review: The Gift by Freida McFadden

~ megs14malloy

The GiftThe Gift by Freida McFadden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Gift is a very fun short story by beloved author, Freida McFadden. It is a Christmas story and if this doesn’t get you in the mood for the season, I’m not sure what will!

I’m not going to say anything at all about the story itself, as it’s only 53-pages. I will say, this is my first taste of Freida McFadden’s work, but it will not be my last.

It’s tense, engaging and delightfully devious. I was impressed with how easily McFadden was able to draw me into the story and how much she packed into so few pages.

There are times when short stories can be unsatisfying, but that’s not the case here. This was really well done.

Thank you to the publisher, Dreamscape Select, for providing me with an audiobook to read and review. I am definitely looking forward to reading more from this author.

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Review: The Watchers by A.M. Shine

~ megs14malloy

The WatchersThe Watchers by A.M. Shine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A.M. Shine’s The Watchers kicks off quickly, with the opening section following a husband and wife, who seeking an adventure, go for a drive through the wickedly-enchanting lands of Connemara, in the West of Ireland.

The events of that drive set the tone, and also the stage, for the rest of the story. Needless to say, I was hooked.

We then meet our MC, Mina, who along with an unusual copilot, a beautiful Golden Conure, also goes traveling through those same wild lands.

Mina’s trying to make a quick buck. It should be easy, delivering the parrot safely to its new owner. When her car breaks down on the abandoned road though, her task suddenly becomes anything but easy. Mina exits her car, bringing the bird with her, as she searches for help.

The woodlands are eerie enough, but the screams make it all so much worse…

With no cell phone reception, or clue as to where she is, Mina has to keep going. There’s no telling how long it could take another car to come along this way.

Eventually she comes across a woman, shouting at her and waving for her to enter a concrete bunker. Scared out of her wits by the woods, Mina does as she’s told and enters the shelter. From there, she becomes captive to that seemingly safe space. A hostage of what’s lurking in the woods.

If you’re expecting answers quickly, don’t be. Part of the success of this story is the way that Shine builds that sense of uncertainty and unease. My thoughts were swirling as Mina entered the shelter.

What the heck was going on? The other residents of the shelter, Madeline, Daniel and Ciara, all seem like they’ve been there for a while, but just how long is unclear? And what is watching them? What are they afraid of?

I will say, about a third of the way through, it did start to slow down for me. We focus more on the characters at that point, and their forced interactions in the tiny shelter.

Part of me feels like that may have been intentional by the author. Perhaps as a way to lull the Reader into a bit of complacency, because just as you forget how much danger these characters are in, it rears its ugly head again and that fear and suspense is back.

Even with this pace change though, I was still intrigued and invested in finding out what the truth was.

This ultimately went in a direction I wasn’t expecting and there were a few reveals, as the conclusion approached, that I found to be so clever and disturbing.

I was definitely impressed with the atmosphere and horror concepts that Shine delivered here. This type of unsettling Folk Horror is something I tend to enjoy and this one will now live rent-free in my brain for a long time.

I recommend this to any Horror Reader, particularly if you enjoy unsettling atmospherea and Folk Horror that can get under your skin and stay there. I would also recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Pines by Blake Crouch, or Bird Box by Josh Malerman.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. The Watchers is a very solid story of Irish Folk Horror. I found it disturbing in the best ways. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author!

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Review: Thin Air by Kellie M. Parker

~ megs14malloy

Thin AirThin Air by Kellie M. Parker
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

What would you be willing to do for a cash prize that would pay your way through college?

Would you betray a friend? How about your best friend? Would you lie about skills, goals and accomplishments? Would you kill the competition? Literally.

In Thin Air we meet Emily, whose family has fallen on hard times. Emily is 17-years old and attends a prestigious private school, but with things the way they are, there’s no way she will be able to afford college.

Emily has won the chance to travel to London, along with 11-other students from various private schools, to compete for a chance of a huge cash prize/scholarship, as well as invaluable connections for her future.

She’s just a plane flight away from financial freedom. All 12-contestants board the same flight from Chicago to London, where they believe the competition will begin.

Before they’ve even fully settled into the gorgeous chartered flight however, it becomes clear that someone amongst them would do anything to win.

Two Truths and Lie. You’ve heard of it. Imagine if someone dug up dirt on you and forced you to play? What if there were no lies and all your deepest secrets were revealed?

This contest is no joke. Then the bodies start dropping.

I was really looking forward to Thin Air as it has many tropes that I tend to enjoy and actively seek out. We have private school students, a competition, dark secrets, a locked room mystery and murder.

In theory, this sounded perfect and initially, I was intrigued by the set-up. The story starts at the airport, as the teens are getting ready to board the ill-fated flight. We learn about some of the contestants and our MC, Emily, in particular.

One of the things we learn about Emily is that she’s a bit hyper-focused on her relationship status and the various boys around her. That concern tracks throughout the story, much to my chagrin.

I get crushing on boys. Especially when you are meeting new ones. It’s fun to flirt and get to know someone, imagining the possibilities, however one would think after bodies start piling up, you may be able to pump the brakes on those thoughts for a moment, but I digress.

So, yeah, within the first 15% of the novel, I was intrigued by the set-up. It actually reminded me a lot of Lying in the Deep which I gave 5-stars earlier this year, except set on a plane versus a cruise ship. I was interested in seeing what was going to play out on this flight.

Unfortunately, for me, it just never took off. There were too many characters, who seemed so much alike that it was difficult to track who was who. They all seemed interchangeable. Even towards the end, I would read a name and be like, who ‘dis?

In addition, the thoughts of the MC never tracked for me compared with the circumstances she was in. People were getting murdered. There was an imminent threat to her life. In fact, she was even one of the prime suspects, but she was still just so concerned about the damn boys.

I’m really not sure why that frustrated me so much, but as you can tell, it did. It was like once I had it in my head, it’s all I could think about and the whole thing just became an annoyance.

It ended up taking me just a few days short of a month to read. There were moments where I was invested, but as soon as I put it down, I would have to force myself to pick it up again. There was nothing drawing me back in.

I’m not sure if that can solely be blamed on my dislike for the MC, or something more. The premise was great, but I just didn’t feel the execution delivered all it could have.

I love YA Thrillers. I read a lot of them. I know some of you may be thinking, I’m old, this wasn’t written for me and I get that, but I’m not lying when I say that I love this genre.

I am constantly searching out new authors in this space to obsessed over. Sadly, this one was a disappointment for me. I couldn’t wait for it to be over and it certainly wasn’t over soon enough.

With this somewhat harsh opinion out of the way, I will say I know many Readers will enjoy it. If you’re one of them, I am genuinely happy you had a great experience with it.

There’s a Reader for every book and book for every Reader. The fact that this didn’t work for me, really means nothing in the scheme of things. If this one sounds intriguing to you, give it a go. You may end up finding a new favorite.

Thank you to the publisher, Razorbill, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I appreciate it!

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Review: The Only One Left by Riley Sager

~ megs14malloy

The Only One LeftThe Only One Left by Riley Sager
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars rounded up**

After a client overdoses while under care, home-health aide, Kit McDeere, finds herself suspended from her job for 6-months. That’s a long time to be out of work, stewing on her past mistakes. Kit doesn’t like the feeling.

When her suspension is up, her boss tells her about her new assignment. Oh baby, it’s a doozy!

Unfortunately, she’s lucky to even still have her job, so Kit doesn’t put up much of a fight though. Beggars can’t be choosers. At least it will get her out of her Dad’s house.

Kit is headed to Hope’s End, a once lavish estate on the rocky coast of Maine. Set high on a cliff, the home has slowly begun to decay over the decades, leaning ever closer to the sea below.

Even so, it’s not the mansion itself that disturbs Kit the most. It’s who lives inside it. Lenora Hope, Kit’s latest client, is the sole survivor of the Hope Family Massacre of 1929. As the survivor, Lenora was the main suspect and was accused of killing her father, mother and sister.

The crimes are so infamous in the local area, there’s even a creepy little song about it:

At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope
Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life
“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead

Kit knows what it’s like to be accused of something however, so she tries to stick all she thinks she knows about Lenora Hope into the back of her mind. Regardless of her past, Lenora is now a woman in her 70s, who has been left mute and incapacitated by a series of strokes.

Confined to a wheelchair, Lenora is completely dependent on Kit for her daily care. Her only means of communication is pecking out her thoughts on an old typewriter.

One night, through her typing, Lenora makes Kit and offer. She wants to tell her everything that happened back in 1929. Is Kit ready to hear the truth?

There was something about the synopsis of this story that told me that I should read it via audio. I was interested to see how the perspectives would be done and how the audio could possibly elevate the overall storytelling.

In spite of the fact that I bought a hard copy on the day of release, I did actually hold out until I was able to get the audiobook from my local library. I’m so glad I made that decision. I loved this audio. It’s actually the first Riley Sager novel I have listened too.

I may have to go back and reread some of the others that way, if they are all done this well!

The narrators’ voices were perfect for the different perspectives they were portraying. It really helped to bring this story to life for me.

The setting of Hope Manor was also fantastic. With Lenora confined to her room, it’s really just the workers that keep the property afloat, flitting about interacting with one another. Kit, as the new girl, just tries to go about her work, soaking it all in.

There’s so much history in the house, and each individual there offers their own perspective on the past, as well as the present. Trust, there’s drama.

I loved the use of the typewriter as a way for Lenora to communicate and tell Kit her story. There was something so ominous about that act. Lenora watching each letter appear as the past unfolded before her.

There’s also some unsettling things going on around the house that provided a nice, is it supernatural, is it not supernatural-feel, that I tend to enjoy so much. Oh, and bonus, this is set in 1983 and I love the 80s!!

There were a lot of well done red herrings in this, as your mind works to try to figure out the truth. I suspected a lot of people; pretty much everyone, honestly. There were also a ton of twists and I enjoyed how Sager built the intensity as the story progressed.

It felt dangerous and definitely got my pulse racing. Right after I finished though, I did struggle a bit on how to rate it. Part of me thought, it was one twist too many, but then the other part of me thought, shut the f*ck up.

As you can tell, the good side won. I loved this. Another engrossing, memorable story from Sager. I cannot wait to see what he delivers next!

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Review: In the Scrape by James Newman and Mark Steensland

~ megs14malloy

In the ScrapeIn the Scrape by James Newman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the Scrape is a 2019-Coming of Age Horror novella co-authored by James Newman and Mark Steensland.

James Newman is one of my faves, so when I was gifted an ARC-copy, I was super stoked. Then like a huge jerk, I never got around to it…

As I was considering what to pick up this past Halloween week, this gorgeous Autumnal cover popped into my mind. Now is the time.

In hindsight, I’m irked I had this 5-star read sitting on my Kindle for years. How did I not pay this story the attention it deserves? Hopefully this review will be an impetus for some of you to pick it up. That would help my guilt.

In this story we follow two young brothers, Jake and Matthew. The boys live with their abusive father and dream of nothing but escape. Their plan is to make their way to California, where they can be reunited with the mother they miss terribly.

We are told the story by Jake, who is 13-years old at the time the events take place. He gives us the details of the family dynamic and takes us through the days leading up to their planned escape.

The boys have been very strategic about it, saving money and waiting until the right time. Even during the worst of the abuse, they stay focused on their plan. They see an upcoming family hunting trip as the perfect opportunity.

Unfortunately, just prior to the trip, Jake has a bloody altercation with his arch-nemesis, which not only puts a damper on the funds he was hoping to save, but also brings local law enforcement sniffing around.

Nevertheless, their Dad is determined to make it out to their cabin for the first day of deer season, so off they go. Little does he know that first night is going to find him tied to a chair as his boys forge their escape.

Dad is a beast though, will the boys be able to subdue him enough to actually get away? What if he catches them? Who will survive the night?

This is such an incredible story. I loved it. I immediately could tell this was a Newman; I adore his writing. I’ve never read from Mark Steensland before, but I trust if Newman is working with him, he’s nothing short of brilliant.

Coming of Age is a subgenre of Horror that I tend to vibe with really well. I know when some people think of Horror books, they think, scary books, things that scare me, and then if they don’t get scared by a book, they say, this isn’t Horror.

For me, Horror is a more nuanced genre than that and thinking only books that literally scare you can be classified as Horror is simplifying the genre unfairly.

I’ve mentioned this before in other reviews, but this story did such a great job of channeling all of the essential vibes of the subgenre, that I felt it was worth repeating here.

This basically transported me into the lives of these two boys while they were living through what could arguably be the most pivotal year of their childhoods.

In addition to the superb writing, it made me feel so much. By the halfway point, I was commenting how it was breaking my heart. I could feel the pain and desperation of these boys.

The brother’s relationship was beautifully done. I could feel the love between them and the push and pull that made that relationship as special as it was. Given their circumstances, it was clear that they were beyond lucky to have one another.

I also loved how the authors continued to build the tension throughout the story as the end approached. They pulled me in, made me 100% committed to the characters and then got my pulse racing with my sights set on the conclusion.

I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who enjoys Coming of Age Horror, or to anyone who is looking to try the subgenre for the first time.

I mean, Coming of Age Horror novellas really don’t get much better than this. These authors knocked this out of the park. They made me love Jake and Matthew with my whole heart. In short, this filled my soul.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Silver Shamrock Publishing, for providing me with a copy to read and review.

My only regret is that it took me so long to get to it.

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Review: The Lodge by Sue Watson

~ megs14malloy

The LodgeThe Lodge by Sue Watson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Deep, dark secrets and non-stop drama are certainly a family affair in Sue Watson’s The Lodge!!!

In this story we follow the Wilson family, who all get called to a weekend getaway at a remote lodge by the matriarch of the family, Angela. It’s a complicated dynamic, but Angela is ready to celebrate her 75th-birthday and she wants her whole family there.

Thus, she rents the Lodge and invites her son, Scott, his ex-wife, Fiona, his new wife, Danni, who once played the role of the other woman, and their baby, as well as Scott and Fiona’s two teenagers.

Thrown in just for fun is a young woman named Jenna, who claims to be a professional chef. As Danni and Scott react to Jenna’s presence though, it’s clear she may not be exactly who she’s selling herself as.

The story is told mainly through Fiona and Danni’s perspectives, but we do get some others in different sections. I found both women’s thoughts fascinating from the start and wanted to know more about their lives.

They’re both feeling self-conscious going into the weekend and they’re also bringing a lot of preconceived notions in with them. Both are mothers and also have a natural instinct to do whatever they can to protect their children.

When a terrible storm hits and the Wilson family is trapped at the Lodge, with no end in sight, tensions rise to an unbearable level. People begin to break and cracks are revealed amongst the many relationships.

Will anyone make it out of the Lodge unscathed?!

The Lodge was highly addictive and entertaining as all heck. It was actually my first Watson novel, but certainly won’t be my last. I look forward to many, many more in the future.

I listened to the audiobook and found the narration to be a perfect fit for the story. It drew me in right away and I felt like I was actually getting to know these characters; hearing their stories told their own way.

I vibed with Fiona immediately, and she continue to be my fave throughout. Although not perfect, I could see where she was coming from and definitely related to some of her feelings and motivations.

This story starts off rather quickly, throwing the Reader right into the enticing set-up, with all of the family coming together at the Lodge. You can tell right away that everyone is keeping secrets, but what are they and how big of a blowout are they going to make when they’re revealed?

In addition to the secrets, not a lot of great choices are made either and this definitely adds to the fun of the story. I just love characters making bad decisions.

The drama level just got deeper and deeper too as the story went on and more and more secrets came to light. It was freaking fascinating. I couldn’t get enough.

Towards the end, a couple details didn’t quite work for me, or felt a little too convenient, but overall, I think this was really well done. A great Winter Weather Thriller!

I definitely recommend this one to anyone who enjoys a dramatic story, particularly with an extended family involved who have a lot of secrets from one another. Also, I recommend this to Readers who enjoy closed-circle mystery/thrillers that feature inclement weather.

Thank you to the publisher, Bookouture Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This was a ton of fun!

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Review: The Nanny’s Child (The Lies We Tell #2) by L.G. Davis

~ megs14malloy

The Nanny's Child (The Lies We Tell #2)The Nanny’s Child by L.G. Davis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

The Nanny’s Child is Book #2 in The Lies We Tell by L.G. Davis. I read the 1st-book, The New Nanny, earlier this month and found it to be suspenseful and highly addictive.

At the end, there was still so much left to explore involving our main character, the nanny, Christa. I bought this book on kindle and started it right away. I couldn’t wait.

I have to be careful discussing the set-up of this book, because I don’t want to inadvertently spoil the end of The New Nanny. I will say, Christa now finds herself back in the United States with new leads to follow involving her past.

She has accepted a nanny position for Harper and Troy, looking after their twin girls, but Christa’s appearance in their lives is no lucky accident. Christa has a motive.

A neighbor, Madison, the ex-best friend to Harper, is suspicious of Christa from the start. Christa seems too good to be true, which pretty much means that she is. Madison begins some snooping of her own.

When their quiet suburban street is rocked by murder, all of the characters are thrown into a tailspin. How could Christa end up involved with another murder and more importantly, how is she going to get out of it?

The Nanny’s Child though intriguing, particularly early on, didn’t quite pack the same punch for me as the 1st-book. It’s unfortunate, because initially I was seeing just as much promise, but eventually it sort of fell off a cliff for me.

The New Nanny was suspenseful and dramatic, beginning-to-end. While this one started that way, it got to a certain point where it felt like the author was just sick of writing this story and ended up wrapping everything up extremely quickly and cleanly. It didn’t make sense to me in the context of everything else.

There was a particularly chilling story-line, carried over from Book #1, that provided a lot of the tension for the story, which seemingly out of no where just ended. The character involved in that was basically like, it’s over now. I give up. You’re free, Christa.

This didn’t make any sense to me that such a sinister character would suddenly just fold like that and frankly, I was disappointed that after everything we had been through, that is how it would conclude.

There was another piece of the story, involving a different character, that I felt sort of ended that way as well. It all felt very anticlimactic, after such a strong, dramatic build over the course of the two books.

With this being said, I still appreciate Davis’s writing and her ability to throw a lot of twists into her drama. Even though this one let me down a little bit in the end, I absolutely will be picking up more books from this author.

Overall, I’m sad to see Christa go. I wish some of these plot-lines could have been continued on in a third book.

Christa is like that friend you love, who has a lot of great qualities, but just makes terrible, risky decisions all the time. I’m gonna miss her.

I recommend this duology to any Reader who enjoys a fun, engaging, OTT-popcorn thriller. These books can be read extremely quickly, and will definitely take your mind off your own life for a while!

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Review: The Haunting on West 10th Street (Detective Maria Miller #1) by Helen Phifer

~ megs14malloy

The Haunting on West 10th Street (Detective Maria Miller, #1)The Haunting on West 10th Street by Helen Phifer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Haunting on West 10th Street is the 1st-book in the Detective Maria Miller Police Procedural Mystery series by Helen Phifer.

In this story we follow Detective Miller and her partner, Frankie, as they investigate a brutal crime in the attic of a Greenwich brownstone, where decades earlier a beautiful actress was murdered in the same way. The detectives are puzzled by the disturbing similarities between the crimes occurring in this house.

How could they be connected? Do they just have a sadistic copycat on their hands, or something more sinister?

Immediately upon entering the brownstone, Maria feels something dark. It’s a tickle in her senses; unpleasant and unsettling. The dramatic staging of the crime scene only enhances these feelings.

In both the past and present cases, body parts were removed from the victims and not recovered. Additionally, evidence of satanic rituals have been found. Who could possibly want to recreate something so evil?

This story is told using a dual timeline. We follow Maria and Frankie in the present, but we also get a historical perspective featuring the events leading up to the previous murder in the house. Lastly, we do get a modern perspective from an unknown individual, who appears to be our baddie.

I enjoyed getting the multi-perspectives, as well as the history. Although I did find the past sections a little slower-paced than the modern perspectives. With this being said, I still enjoyed the fact that it was told this way and I feel like it gave a lot of needed insight into the property and the characters involved.

The brownstone on West 10th feels like a haunting presence in this story. It becomes a character unto itself and I always appreciate when an author can provide us with such a vivid sense of place.

There is quite a bit of focus on the partnership between Maria and Frankie. They’ve been together for a long time and you can tell that they both care deeply for one another, but with Frankie’s marriage failing, could there be something more?

I know some Readers won’t care for the slight romance plot that’s woven throughout this story, but for me, I found it made the characters feel more realistic.

When you’re working with someone as closely as these two are, over a number of years, there’s bound to be some types of complicated feelings intrinsic to that relationship.

I didn’t feel like the author overplayed that, or let it overshadow the investigative aspects of the story. For me, it was blended in well and felt natural.

I did have the chance to listen to the audiobook for this one and I definitely recommend it as a format for this story. The back-and-forth between the timelines was handled well and the narration is fantastic.

Overall, this was super entertaining. I vibed well with Maria as a character and am definitely looking forward to going along on future investigations with these detectives. The ending was such a great set-up for the continuation of the series. I can’t wait to see what will come their way next.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys darker, Police Procedural Mysteries. Particularly, if you are a Horror fan like me, this may work really well for your tastes. Phifer definitely has a knack for incorporating some paranormal aspects into her mysteries.

Thank you to the publisher, Storm Publishing, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I can’t wait to continue on with this series!

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Review: Everlost (The Skinjacker Trilogy #1) by Neal Shusterman

~ megs14malloy

Everlost (The Skinjacker Trilogy)Everlost by Neal Shusterman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Everlost, the first book in Neal Shusterman’s Skinjacker Trilogy was originally published in 2006. I was in grad school at that time and wasn’t doing much free reading, so missed it.

In 2020, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers re-released the entire trilogy with beautifully-redesigned covers. Like the publisher’s dream that I generally am, I promptly bought them all and they’ve been sitting on my shelves ever since. Staring at me, begging to be loved.

On a recent whim, I decided to finally dive in. In this story we follow Nick and Allie, who right at the beginning of our story die in tragic car accident. Unfortunately, their souls don’t get where they need to go and now they are stuck in a limbo land known as Everlost.

Everlost is like an eerie, distorted image of our own world. It’s filled with things, including places, that no longer exist in our world. There’s also a lot of other souls trapped there.

At the beginning, navigating their dangerous new circumstances, Nick and Allie meet a lot of people who help to teach them about the functioning of Everlost.

There’s bands of roaming kids and a girl named Mary, the self-proclaimed queen of lost souls. Nick is taken by her, but Allie refuses to believe in the fate that Mary is trying to sell her. Refusing to live for the rest of time trapped between two worlds, Allie begins investigating ways to make a change.

This was a solid start to a trilogy and actually, the more I have thought about it since I have finished, the more I have come to appreciate the depth of the story.

I feel like if I would have read this years ago, when it was released, I would have been crazy, mad, nuts about it, but it did feel a little dated in some sections, as far as the writing style is concerned.

However, with this being said, I still really enjoyed the world-building and will be continuing with the second book in the series next month. I’m very interested in digging further into some of the concepts Shusterman explored.

I was impressed with how quickly this kicked off. We’re immediately dropped off where we should be, there’s no time wasted digging into character’s lives prior to Everlost. Perhaps that will come into play later in the series, but as far as this first book, I feel like that was a great choice.

I also enjoyed the atmosphere and eerie nature successfully carried throughout. It made me think of many darker fairy tale elements; like the kids as Lost Boys, the Peter Pan ones, not the vampire ones, as they have a bit of a feral nature. Also, Mary as a bit Queen of Hearts. Then I also picked up low-key Wizard of Oz sort of vibes.

Overall, I found this premise intriguing, the plot fast-paced and I think it’s a great base to continuing building out this world. I’m really looking forward to continuing on with the characters and seeing where it goes from here!

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