This is the type of paranormal novel I want to read more of.

Piper, our main heroine, is strong, and yet she doesn't see how awesome she is. Based on Wendy Sparrow's own experiences, Piper struggles with OCD, which manifests itself in the form of cutting. It was intriguing to be inside Piper's head as she fought these demons. She would keep tabs of mistakes she made during the day, and then punish herself for them that night. But she isn't just dealing with her own inner struggles, there are also actual demons that are plaguing her.

Enter Gris. He can turn into a gargoyle at will and is trying to rid the town of Hidden Creek from the demons that are plaguing it. As awesome as that sounds, he also struggles with feelings of inadequacy, and trying to live up to his legacy.

Gris and Piper both feel weak individually, but they rely on each other to discover their inner strength. This is the type of romance that takes time, work, and trust. Exactly how I like it. If you are looking for insta-love, this is not the book for you. It brings real and serious issues to light in the context of a stellar paranormal story line. The writing drew me in from the beginning, and I loved every minute of it.

I am giving Secrets of Skin and Stone 5 out of 5 Stars!

My first genre love was paranormal romance so I was tickled to get the chance to read this awesome story. I got to admit while the cutting made me a bit uncomfortable, I throughly loved the sassy OCD Piper. I've only read a few books that featured gargoyles so it was pretty neat getting to learn the rules of this new world. The mystery was pretty satisfying as I was never 100% sure who was behind the bedeviling of the townspeople. I love being able to accurately figure out this character but I don't want it to be too easy or from out of left field. There were just enough clues to keep it interesting and not give it away. I guess the only thing I didn't enjoy was knowing this was a standalone and I wouldn't get to visit Piper, Gris and the World of Watchers.

There aren't nearly enough gargoyle stories in the YA world, so when I heard about Secrets of Skin and Stone, I knew I had to read it and am so glad I did. Grisham (Gris) and Piper are now two of my favorite characters for this year, and the storytelling was fab.    

Told from the alternating POVs of Gris and Piper, Secrets of Skin and Stone is about Gris, who's a Watcher by birthright and transforms into a gargoyle to fight off monsters called fiends. Gris is called by family members to investigate the little town of Hidden Creek, where he meets more fiends than he ever has before as well as a firecracker of a girl named Piper.

I can't tell you how much I love Piper because she's a real character with real flaws. She's her own person, strong and resilient, and I really enjoyed her fiery personality. Piper engages in self-harm with cutting and has a form of OCD that isn't as easily recognizable due to the symptoms. I identified with her so easily because I used to be a cutter, just not with OCD.

For any readers out there who could be triggered by this type of self-harm, there is a warning from the author at the beginning of the book. The cutting scenes are pretty detailed. There's a lot of misinformation out there about cutting, and I felt the author did a great job with portraying it in a realistic and sensitive manner. Hopefully, this will open up discussion about a problem that's difficult and uncomfortable to talk about but which needs to be brought out into the open.

Gris and Piper each have a lot of secrets they feel they can't tell the other, but the thing is, they can only work together on the problems in Hidden Creek if they shed their inhibitions and trust one another. I liked that Piper didn't immediately fall for Gris's charm, although I'm not convinced that Gris was trying to be charming anyway. Watching the two of them grapple with trusting each other was realistic and interesting. 

While the ending was neat and tidy, (actually a little too tidy, hence four stars instead of five), I'd love another trip back to Gris and Piper where they could once again investigate fiends together.

I decided to read this not only because I run out of time into posting a review for this but because I need something different from what I've read in the past weeks. Plus I haven't read much about gargoyles. I've read fantasy novels and it is actually my first time read a book with a gargoyle character.

Grisham or Gris Caso, a Watcher that hunts and kills Fiends. He is in Hidden Creek because his great-uncle Critch called his attention that the town is haunted and there are fiends. Gris is an okay character. He fights and fiend them. A typical teenage boy who had attraction with a special girl. What I like about him is that he cares about Piper and he stood for her even though he knows that Piper is extraordinary.

Piper is haunted. Town folks talks about her being abnormal. Her dog got killed and she wants to find the truth behind it. She knew that there is something different in Hidden Creek.

How Ms. Wendy Laine wrote Piper's character is commendable especially the parts wherein Piper is showing symptoms of her disorder. This book also fascinates me because I didn't expect to read a fantasy novel integrated with psychological disorder. I am stunned how Ms. Wendy did it. As a reader, I'm also confused if what I read is a symptoms of the disorder or maybe what's really happening in the town.

Moreover, there are twists in the story and I find them okay but not really surprising or shocking. As for the ending, it is another okay.

The story and how it was written is good but I think that it could be better. I could be drowned into this if I'm into the characters. I mean, if I can feel or relate them more. But I'm looking forward to read more gargoyle stories soon.

A thrilling and exciting story about a gargoyle and an extraordinary town girl.

Right off the bat, this book sets itself apart by creating a race of gargoyles called Watchers that are tasked with protecting humans from evil spirits or fiends that feed off negative thoughts and feelings. I can't say that I've read any other books based on gargoyles so I was interested for that reason alone. I think this is something readers can really get behind. They don't have a whole separate world or anything, but I think they work along the same lines as Hunters from Supernatural: they have jobs they do across the world for people, towns, government, etc (I gathered this from his father taking on a job protecting some foreign dignitaries). Did that get your attention?

The story is told in alternating points of view between the two main characters: Gris, a Watcher, and Piper, a resident of Hidden Creek.

The story starts out with Gris riding into town. Gris is doing his first job on his own. It's supposed to be a simple one but it doesn't exactly turn out that way. On his first day, Gris rides past an area overrun by fiends. He's exhausted but really wants to prove himself. Luckily, he thinks twice about it and decides that taking them all on in that moment wouldn't be very smart.

Piper's pov follows, setting up the stage for her and Gris to interact. She wakes up and steps outside to find her dog brutally murdered, which starts her on her investigation to find out who's responsible (and makes her be suspicious of Gris for a while). From here the story just progresses into them working together to find out what's going on with the town since it's had disappearances, animal killings, violence, and it's overrun with fiends.

One thing that I can really appreciate with this book is that it doesn't do info dumps! It builds up the world and terminology of Watchers little by little so that it's not overwhelming and so that it flows smoothly into the story.

I think Gris was likable as a character. He was really polite, charming, and disciplined--which I guess you have to be if you're going to be tasked with protecting other people. You can't very well be irresponsible with other people's lives, right? He was different in that I'm so used to reading about really sassy or sarcastic male characters so this was a nice change. The one thing that I might not have liked too much was the amount of times he had to repeat that he was into Piper. I mean, there was a moment when he said that even her counting (in her sleep) was turning him on. And that's a little weird. Just a bit.

Before we talk about Piper, I think it's only fair that I let you guys know that the book does talk about self-harm. Piper has a form of OCD that gives her an urge to cut herself. This was something that Laine decided to make a part of Piper because of her own personal experience with this condition. I think it's very brave of the author to share that and really great that she used this book to raise some awareness about these topics.  

Being a cutter makes Piper more vulnerable to fiends because of her "dark" thoughts. She's constantly telling herself that she's a bad person, and cutting herself to make up for things she perceives to be her fault. She also has some interesting little quirks like the fact that she counts in her sleep, sleepwalks, hates answering questions, and eats some really weird interesting things. 

What I liked about Piper was how she had her bad moments when she felt down or was hurting herself, but she could still be really funny and dream big. She wanted out of Hidden Creek and was really smart. Plus, she was a strong female character. She didn't let Gris hold her back in anything, tell her what to do, and she was really cautious about their romantic relationship of we're-dating-but-not-dating.

All in all, I think this was a pretty solid read. The only thing that really knocked it down a star for me was the ending. It all picked up really suddenly and the big reveal of who was behind all the trouble in Hidden Creek was fairly obvious and (like I said) rushed. But really, this is a book worth checking out, and I'm really hoping we get to see a sequel for this soon.

Secrets of Skin and Stone is where rural America meets the supernatural. Enjoyed the author's take on gargoyles. Reminds me of the 'True Blood' TV show.

I loved this book. It will be one of my cozy night reads in my to read list. I will also be looking for a second book. Piper is one of my favorite characters I have had the pleasure of reading this year. The cutting issues spoke deeply to me on so many levels and the issues that sometimes go in hand with it. I liked that she wasn't this perfect person without secrets or a mind. She was stronger than most of the female characters I read and it gave me hope that I might end up finding more characters like her. I loved the mystery in this book that was extremely well written and thought out. The play with darkness was intriguing for multiple reasons. I enjoyed this thoroughly and will delighted to find a second book to this. Thank you for allowing me to read this.

I really enjoyed this story that dealt with real-life issues with a paranormal twist. There is a trigger warning given at the beginning of the story, to let readers know that the book portrays self-harm, which is something the author herself dealt with when she was younger.

In Secrets of Skin and Stone, the issues that you would normally see in a contemporary novel are set within a paranormal framework. Gris is a Watcher, aka gargoyle, and he is tasked with ridding a small town of the huge number of fiends (kind of like demons) infesting it. There is a mystery to be solved and a little romance thrown in too. I adored Piper, the girl Gris meets in Hidden Creek, who is bedeviled by these fiends. She has OCD of a particular form, and for her self-harm is one of the ways she maintains control in her life. I saw aspects of myself in her - I've not been diagnosed but I know I have a very mild form of OCD, and Piper's preoccupation with even numbers spoke to my heart! I really, really appreciated the fact that the author did not try to say that Piper's self-harm was *caused by* the fiends and paranormal events around her. I think that is in large part because the author is herself a past user of self-harm to maintain control, so she avoided the "easy way out" of saying that once Piper is rid of the fiends she will be "cured." I think the author did a great job of portraying Piper's OCD, her tendency to self-harm, and her belief that she is "dark" inside, and combining that with a great story that included the paranormal, a mystery, and romance.

I would absolutely recommend this story to fans of paranormal as well as contemporary, and to those who appreciate "quirky" characters like I do. Happy reading!

Thanks to Entangled Teen for the ARC! This review is voluntary on my part.

I sadly couldn't finish this one due to scenes containing self-harm (cutting). That just hits too close to home and made me feel uncomfortable and I just had to stop reading.

If it wasn't for the self-harm I would have continued reading because it was a quite exciting story, and I want to know how it all ends.

I received an ARC copy of this book via Netgalley and Entangled Publishing in exchange for a fair review.

I liked this one. It was definitely a different sort of creature used within the typical YA genres and I've never seen a gargoyle being used. So I appreciated the chance to read something new and the change it gave. I have to give the author props for trying something new and giving a twist on the kind of "mythology" that hasn't been used much in YA. The down vote is for the typical "insta love" type of trope but I was able to over look it in favor of the book and also props for the author giving the reader a heads up incase they decide they might be triggered by some elements that were written about.

First and foremost I want to warn any reader that this book has detailed writings of self-harm. It is a mental illness and can be a trigger topic for anyone who suffers from self-harm diseases such as cutting. There IS a warning before you start the book, so I give the author and the publisher props for that. Gris is a Gargoyle and goes to a southern middle-of-nowhere town where he thinks his family has blown the Fiend population WAY out of proportion. Piper is a small-town girl with a mental illness and I urge you, if you have a mental illness that causes self-harm and you think this book will cause a trigger, think twice. That being said, I do think this book was written very well. I think the author nailed it on the head. This book gives an insider view into the mind of someone who struggle's day to day with mental illness, as well as a fresh new take on a Gargoyle novel. I absolutely cannot wait for the 2nd book.

Admittedly I was a little concerned because before the story even starts there’s a “Trigger Warning”. There is no other phrase that elicits more eye-rolling yet perfectly encapsulates the kind of society we’ve become than this one but at least I give the author credit for trying to head off the trolling and inevitable tantrums after what happened when Netflix brought us 13 Reasons Why – oh wait that was actually based on a book that had already been around for 10 years without issue – never mind, let’s save that argument for another day.

Laine has provided a story with a character who is not perfect, fails so often you aren’t surprised her mental health rating would be in the toilet YET is strong enough to keep going. It’s obvious, if you didn’t get it from the ‘Trigger Warning’ that the author has done lots of research and had personal experience with certain mental health issues because she did a damn good job of creating someone to showcase these both accurately and with respect t what a person goes through. This was not just some plot device thrown in to elicit publicity, ride the chaos Jay Asher has thrown American society into, or for shock value. Laine is telling a story and demanding people shut up and realize this happens off a Netflix screen to a person next to you so find some humanity and educate yourself.

Her character work is wonderful but what sealed it for me was the mystery she told through them which made me keep reading way past when my battery wanted a break so I went scrambling for my charger to plug it in and keep going.

You will become inquisitive by the fact there are gargoyles! Shouldn’t you want to read it just for that because gargoyles are not something we see often enough?

The biggest downside for me though was the insta-love. Why does it seem all YA books teach that every relationship must start by instantly falling deep in love? Damn Romeo & Juliet for teaching generations this is a must!

Aside from the overused device of insta-love I thought it was a great book and hope there will be a sequel.

Thank you to Entangled Teen and Netgalley for a copy of the eARC in exchange for a fair review.


Gris has come to the small town of Hidden Creek to hunt fiends. He is a watcher and he also shape shifts into a gargoyle. Piper's dog has been killed when she decides to investigate the new renters at the farm near them. When Gris hears about Piper's dog he decides to help her.


Gris is also trying to figure out why this town is so haunted by fiends, after facing nine of them at the old mill. The deeper he gets into the investigation the weirder things become. He is finding curse bags, and unearthed grave of a watcher. Plus the jealousy of his cousin, it seems like he will never get to the bottom of what is going on in Hidden Creek.


The closer he becomes to Piper, the more he starts to fall for her, but she is in danger. There are curse bags in her rooms, and the fiends are drawn to her. Will he be able to figure out what is going on? Will he be able to save Piper?


I haven't read that many books pertaining to gargoyles. This was a interesting twist and I enjoyed the mystery as well the paranormal aspect of it all. Piper was interesting and sort of dark with her OCD and self-harm, which also explains why the fiends were so drawn to her. I liked the fact that Gris wasn't necessarily trying to change her, but work with her and I love how she figured him out so quickly and could see the truth.


This was quick, interesting read and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book.
Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the opportunity to read and review Secrets of Skin and Stone by Wendy Laine! Gris is a shape-shifting gargoyle called a Watcher. He travels to Hidden creek to reside in his relatives' extra house. He meets Piper while she is searching for what attacked and killed her dog, Jester. For some reason, Hidden Creek is full of fiends and that's why Gris has been called to live there. Gris becomes intrigued with Piper and they start a friendship and try to solve the mystery of Jester's death and why there are numerous fiends in Hidden Creek. Piper deals with a specific type of obsessive compulsive disorder and it interested me because of how she handles it in her daily life. The author discusses OCD at the end of the book and opens up with her own experiences of dealing with the constraints and struggles that go along with it. 5 stars for a fun supernatural read for young adults and for the advice and wisdom offered by the author!

Firstly, the reason I was so interested in this book was the gargoyle aspect. I've only read only one series about gargoyles and that was Jennifer L. Armentrout's Elemental trilogy. I wanted to see what more the world of gargoyles can offer since I'm not too used to it yet.

Speaking of the story's world building, I hate to say it but wasn't too excited by it. There were just some things that puzzled me, like the idea of fiends. I wasn't too sure on what they were, only that they were evil and Watchers had to kill them to rid the world of their evil. Also, I wanted to know more about Watchers and their mythology. For instance, how many were there in the world? Do they have a secret organization themselves? If I dug too deeply, I'd be left with more questions than answers.

The thing that had me going though was the plot. I was invested in what was going on, like the mystery surrounding the town and its inhabitants, especially Piper. I really, really wanted to know why someone would want to target Piper. I also thought that as a whole, the novel developed at a pretty good pace. I didn't think that anything was too sudden or out of the blue, although there were moments where continuity failed to happen. However, the near-ending still had the power to surprise me! The ending itself wasn't nearly as good!

As for the characters, I really liked our protagonists, Piper and Gris, the best. They seemed to work really well together romantically, and you can actually buy them being a couple of adorably lovestruck fools! Maybe it was the fact that they weren't afraid to call each other out on things. Maybe it was their witty banter. Either way, you could tell from the getgo that they were OTP and not in a forced way, too!

Well, that's all I have to say about Secrets of Skin and Stone by Wendy Laine. I really enjoyed reading this book on an entertainment level, but still had trouble with it in other ways.

**4.5 Stars**


Gris has been given his first solo assignment, a simple fiend removal from the small town his aunt and uncle live in. Simple and quick. Well, at least that is what he expected. But he may be in over his head with mysteries and secrets piling up, as well as the danger one teenage girl seems to be in. Piper has a darkness living inside her and the only way she knows to calm it is to cut. When she meets Gris she instinctually doesn't trust him, but he worms his way past her defenses to try and help her with her darkness. But can she really trust him when he says her nightmares are the doing of something supernatural, and not just her consuming inner darkness?

Wow, I had no idea what I was getting into when I first started this book. When I fist learned of the book, I was initially lured in by the gorgeous mysterious cover (as I often find myself when choosing what to read next) without any real idea what the story content was except for a vague idea of gargoyles. Well, this was so much more than I expected, and I mean that in the best of ways. The story was compelling, engaging, complicated, mysterious, detailed, scary, exciting, dark and the best part was the characters. I need a solid plot to enjoy a story, but even more than that, I need to be connected and like my character, and I can honestly say that I love Gris and Piper, darkness and all.

Gris was just awesome, a force to be reckon with all on his own. He has a family legacy that he has to deal with of being a Watcher (aka someone who can turn into a gargoyle at night to battle darkness or fiends), not something he asked for but that he will uphold to his death. That boy was chock full of integrity, intelligence, intuition with people and a freaking caring soul. I loved Gris (in case my feelings weren't clear). He had the ability to make Piper see herself as he did, when everyone else failed to understand her issues. He needs a hug, and maybe an award for being so patient...

Piper was such an interesting character, unlike any other YA character that I have read about. She struggles with a lesser known form of OCD called Pure-O, with symptoms that are not as well known or understood. When I read the author's note at the end it made Piper even more real since her struggles were what the author went through, adding a layer of realism to what is primarily a fantasy story. I liked how stubborn Piper was and how she made Gris (who was more than happy to) work for her trust, not to mention her affection. And man was that girl smart, blowing all her classmates out of the water when it came to grades, yet making her more of an outcast. She appeared to have a tough skin, but inside she was breaking apart, almost to her end. She needed a hero more than anyone, at least someone who would understand her struggle and make her feel so not alone.

I expected a fun supernatural story, but instead I was given a complicated scary mess that I absolutely loved. This book appeared to wrap up so I think this is a standalone, but I would love to have more story about Gris and Piper. Actually, I would love to read more from Ms. Laine (aka Sparrow) in general because she was able to create strong, damaged characters that I related to and rooted for, and I fully appreciate that. Anyone looking for a dark paranormal mystery with some romance splashed in needs to read this story.

I received this title in return for my honest review.
Visit my blog at http://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/

when i read books about supernatural creatures, i tend to read ones about vampires or angels or fairies or demons. i tend to avoid animal shifters because the idea weirds me out. it never occurred to me that you could write stories about gargoyles. but secrets of skin and stone proved to me that you can write a compelling story about a gargoyle.

grisham "gris" caso is a watcher, the youngest in his bloodline he's sent to the town of hidden creek on his first solo assignment. he expects it to be an easy, boring kind of job, and that soon enough he'll be back on the road to atlanta. but from his first approach into the town, he senses an unusual amount of fiend activity. so much that at times he worries that he's in over his head. but when all the danger seems to surround piper devon, he wants to be the one to save her.

piper has had her fair share of sadness and dark thoughts and demons. sometimes the only way she finds relief is by cutting herself open and bleeding away the pain. she hides her scars from her family. she hides her pain from everyone. but gris can see it. his watcher superpowers render him especially attuned to darkness. it's how he finds the fiends that are torturing piper. and the more he investigates the town of hidden creek, the more obvious it becomes that piper is a target for some reason.

gris is certain that all the strange happenings in the town are connected and even more concerning, that they are also connected to his watcher background. so it becomes his mission to protect piper from all of it, but he can't protect her without opening himself up. because she won't trust him without him offering her his trust in return.

there's this one scene, where she sees him in his watcher skin and it's the first time he's ever let anyone see him that way, and it is so intimate and poignant and beautiful. they touch each other's skin and scars and stone it doesn't matter, it feels right. and it's just an absolutely lovely moment.

this book doesn't shy away from hard topics, the author and the main character have a history of self-harm that is difficult to read about. at the same time, the author's personal struggles really inform the narrative and add a depth and a level of understanding to piper's mental health problems.

Unfortunately I couldn't get into Secrets of Skin and Stone. Something about the story and writing just seemed off for me.

This had too strong of a YA vibe to really enjoy it. The focus of it was more on the romance than the paranormal plot. The first time Piper and Gris kissed it specifically mentioned they did not use tongues. They were 17 and 18. Most teens that age would do far more than an innocent kiss like that. The romance wasn't exciting when the best thing I could hope was for them to hold hands or maybe a french kiss. From the start it was mentioned that Gris would not be staying in town, so there wasn't much hope for an epic HEA.

The world building was simplistic. The gist of it was revealed early on, and there wasn't anything exciting to learn after that. There was a mystery to it. Gris was trying to figure out why so many fiends were gathering in the town. It was too boring, and the most obvious solution was the answer. Piper was dealing with some mental issues. Gris was dealing with issues but his were completely different. Their issues made each of them outcasts. More depth to the characters would have been better considering what they were dealing with. I'm sure plenty of people will like this. It just wasn't for me.