You do know me, You just don't like me

A NetGalley read!

Nightingale wasn't quite the story I expected based on the synopsis. The idea was rather interesting and intriguing. The story was atmospheric. And I think Lukavics did a good job incorporating elements that were popular back in the 1950's like mental institutes and aliens. But this was kind of a miss for me.

June was a girl growing up in the 50's man's world. She likes science fiction, aliens and non-typical lady hobbies like writing. These interest lead her down a weird path into a mental institution. As June begins treatment and doctor visits she starts discovering that nothing is what it seems. Shocker for a mental institute story. But it truly does take a unique sort of twist, sort of.

My biggest issue was I lost interest on and off through out the story quite a lot. Especially with the Past Days chapters. Those chapters were kind of painful and slow. I get it, Lukavics was building on the whole 1950's deprived, undervalued woman thing. But it got incredibly repetitive and boring. Unfortunately, the whole repetitive thing didn't apply to the underprivileged woman deal either. Other areas were constantly repeated in various ways, but essentially the same content.

Overall, I really got into some aspects of the story. But more often, I found myself checking to see how much of the story was left. I think this is going to be a pretty average read for most readers. And I think it is because the synopsis isn't as intuitive as it should be. Science Fictions elements aren't necessarily appealing to all audiences and it seems to be marketed as a horror, thriller type deal.

Set in 1951, seventeen years old June Hardie dreams to be a writer, a career path that is against her parents' wishes. Her mother is more concern in grooming her to be a good housekeeper and wife while her father pressures her to marry his business partner's domineering son. So when June is accepted for a writing program in New York under a full scholarship, she sees it as an opportunity to escape from her suffocating life. However, a cruel twist of fate not only shatters her dream but landed her in Burrow Place Asylum - an institution with dire living conditions & horrifying medical staff that practices gruesome medical treatments. The institution seems to be searching for something in the patients and when her friends begin to disappear, she must find a way out. Will she be able to escape when the lines between reality and hallucinations are increasingly blurred?

This is one of those books that started off with such a promising and intriguing plot but failed to deliver in the end. It has everything - suspense, spine-chilling mystery, endearing characters, magnetic writing, good story build-up and engaging storytelling. I enjoyed the storytelling immensely as it was really engaging. Lukavics has a way to pull you into her story and make it impossible to put down the book. The story is told back and forth between June's time at the asylum and flashbacks of events which led to her admission into the asylum - and all this was done flawlessly without a dull moment. Every page seems to be glazed with layers and layers of mystery and heart-pounding suspense.

That being said, unfortunately in the end the story fell flat and came out short, and it was rather disappointing. Three quarter into the story, the plot began to spiral downhill into something that did not make sense anymore. The mellifluous plot is lost and it seems that Lukavics was struggling to continue with the story. Everything after this point felt like an afterthought and rushed, and this eventually led to an early demise of the story. In the end, all I could say was what did I just read??

Overall, this book left me feeling perplexed and ambivalent. The good points were hampered by the unsatisfying and incompleteness of the story in the end. There is so much potential in the story. In my humble opinion, a meticulously planned ending would render Nightingale to be one of the best horror/paranormal story out there. Will I read another book by Lukavics? I can't quite decide yet.


***I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from Harlequin TEEN through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All views expressed in this review are my own and was not influenced by the author, publisher or any third party.***

I personally didn't enjoy this as much as I had hoped to. The premise was really interesting to me, a girl in a psychiatric hospital who doesn't think she should be there and is sure that there is something sinister going on. Turns out there was, but it the reveal and ending felt a bit rushed and not really "fleshed" out, and somewhat inconsistent.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the book, but found it hard to believe in the story line.

So, um, THAT happened. I really have no idea what the hell it was I just read. I was expecting a novel about gender roles and the horrific treatment of mental illness in the 1950s. Instead, this takes a sharp turn into sci-fi and horror territory with a liberal dose of random blood and gore thrown in. Gore isn't really my thing, but I don't mind it when I'm expecting it. My problem with this book is that it was a complete 180 from the novel I was expecting it to be. I'm still not even sure if I liked it, but I'm leanings towards probably not. The first third is the more interesting part but it quickly goes off the rails and balls out crazy by the end. I will say though, this was certainly...different.

It's hard to describe the craft in this book and everything that was right about it; not only its originality, but also the *ahem* unexpected romance, the ending, the parallel stories without spoiling it and ruining the surprise. It kept me guessing, but halfway into the book I decided to stop speculating and let Amy surprise me.
This book is made of win, and I couldn't give it any less than 5 stars. Also, Amy Lukavics is becoming one of my favorite authors. I read all her books, which I liked, but this one is, so far, her masterpiece.

Tried to like it but gave up on it about 1/3 through. Someone who likes the creepier or Twilight Zone type stories might love this. I'm just not one of them.

This book is a hard book to review. It was an interesting, albeit not completely original, concept, with interesting characters. However, I felt the execution left something to be desired - in particular, I was not a huge fan of the prose style, which felt stilted and a tad clunky at times. The plot of the story revolves around June, a girl who feels totally out of place in her 1950's male-dominated world, but finds comfort in her obsessive writing about aliens. After a mysterious incident occurs (we don't find out what that incident is until the last third of the book), she is institutionalized by her parents. But the institution is clearly not normal, and right away strange, eerie events start to plague June and her fellow patients.

The story had a campy, over-the-top quality to it that wouldn't have been out of place in a B movie - I could practically hear the RiffTrax commentary as I read. I have the feeling that was kind of what the author had in mind. It didn't come across as too self-serious, and Lukavics clearly had a lot of fun writing it. All in all, it wasn't my favorite book of the year so far, but it was a fun, campy ride that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to somebody who shows interest in this kind of story.

I really enjoy books of this nature, however the overall execution fell flat. I was left wondering what the heck I just read, & there is some amount of gore in this book. It seemed as if the author was in a rush to finish. It didn't do it for me, Sorry.

1951- June Hardie does not want to be the proper young woman her parents are trying to groom her to be. June knows she is destined for greatness and dreams of going to college and traveling to faraway places. June’s parents have other ideas when they plan her live around marrying Robert Denning's, the boring son of her father’s business partner. One night June gets a very vivid idea for a story about alien abduction, but as she writes strange things begin to occur. One morning June wakes up and believes her parents have been replaced with something not human, landing herself in a mental institution. Burrow Place Asylum is something out of a nightmare, she knows they want something from her, and she is certain she won't be leaving there alive.

First let me begin by saying Nightingale is identified as a horror novel, but I felt that it would be better placed in the sci-fi genre as it has to do primarily with aliens and alien abduction. That being said, this novel does have some disturbing scenes that are very violent which some readers may find horrific. I felt the author did a wonderful job at creating characters that fit the typical 1950's gender roles, without making the reader feel like they were reading a historical plot. There are some sexual situations that may not be suitable for young readers so be aware. Overall the novel wasn't exactly what I was expecting but it was still an enjoyable read.

I couldn't figure out whether this was a Sci Fi or Fantasy novel. Turns out it was a horror novel. This confusion followed me throughout the whole story. I even made a note to myself, "Is this One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" or"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children"? Apparently, it was neither, or both, or ...? In spite of all the eye gouging, face destroying, and bone crunching, I found the most disgusting (disturbing?) part of the book when "Both girls ignored Robert as he stood to pour the dirty water from his bucket in the sink, then immediately began to wash the dishes that were piled in the sink." EWWWW!

The main character's parallel story to the one she's writing is summed up in the author's own text, "...just letting it flow out of her like vomit on a page." It might have been Lukavics' intention to write like the 1950's B movies; if so, she succeeded. Aliens, zombies, and monsters...Oh My! They're all in here.

I'd recommend this to teens who like to read about alien abductions.

So, I've just finished this book and I'm kind of sitting here, speechless. Not in awe because it was so fantastic, but it sheer confusion because I'm not sure what the fuck I just read.

I've read a previous work of Amy Lukavics and found it to be interesting and terrifying. This one... I don't even know. It's not really scary, so let's just toss that genre out the window right now. Don't get me wrong - it tries to be (and the attitude towards women in the 1950s can certainly be considered terrifying for an entirely different reason). However, instead of veering into Creepy Land, the novel does this weird zigzag into Science Fiction Land instead. And then it just goes on this strange meandering journey. I've peeked at the other reviews here on goodreads, so I'm glad to see it's not just me who is confused by the purpose of this book.

It's not a bad book by any means. It's a well-written story (minus the typos I kept finding everywhere), but it just doesn't know what kind of story it wants to be.

I could not put this book down! Suspenseful, terrifying, and with a mind-bending ending, this book kept me up way past my bedtime.
It's 1951 and June Hardie finds herself in a mental institution surrounded by troubled young women. How did she get here? Why hasn't her family come to visit? Why don't the other women remember their lives before the institution? Why does she receive treatments without ever seeing the doctor? Will she ever leave?
June is left with more questions than answers as she tries to survive in her new surroundings all while trying to investigate how she ended up in the institution in the first place.
This book was amazing!

I’m not a big fan on horror, it took me some time to get into this one. I hardly ever read anything that has to do with asylums it creeps me out.

Nightingale is the story of June. It's set in the 1950s. June is a teenager. Her parents are typical 1950s parents. You do as we say and that's final type. June has aspirations. She wants to be a writer. Her parents tell her she will finish high school. She will marry her father's business partners son, Robert. She will become a mother and a housewife and she will like it. One day she wakes up in an institution but things are not what they seem. I really liked this story. It took some time to get into it but once things started rolling I wanted to know how it ended. I'm not a huge fan of horror books or mystery type so maybe that's why it took a minute.

First I must admit that I am such a big fan of books that revolve around mental asylums! Not to mention, I also have a soft spot for the 1950's time period.

The author's writing was incredibly realistic. Especially when portraying the specific roles that both men and women were expected to play in the household. The main character, June's, mother and father fit those expected roles perfectly. Society, in that time, expected a certain look to the family and if you deviated from that it was frowned upon and shameful. This book really keyed into that! June's mother was constantly grooming her to become a better lady.

I fell in love with the first third of Nightingale. Everything the author wrote about in regards to the era and the main characters was intriguing. However, as the book continued on, the author began to lose me. From the beginning, it was made very clue that June would not follow in her mother's footsteps to be the perfect housewife. June's individuality and strong will was admirable. Plus, I love that she was willing to choose becoming an author over being what society wanted her to be. When June was sent to the mental asylum, I was hooked! Unfortunately, not too long after is where I was not as in love with the book. It went from a very realistic book to science fiction quickly. This isn't to say that I do not like science fiction. I just prefer when I expect the book to become that way.

All in all, the plot went at a great pace. The entire time I was reading, I was intrigued. Each character was well constructed. There was just enough background to help you understand the reasons behind the character's actions.

I wanted to like this book. I really enjoyed her first two books, Daughters Unto Devils and The Women in the Walls, but I could not get into her third book, The Ravenous. I thought maybe it was a fluke so I wanted to give this book a fighting chance, but sadly it fell flat for me just like The Ravenous did. Thanks to Netgalley though for allowing me to read this ahead of time.

This book actually went differently then I expected. I don't want to get into plot points because of spoilers but I just thought it was going to take a different turn. This is not necessarily a bad thing, I actually enjoyed it. I did find myself getting angry a bit with how the main character was treated by her family. Is this really how young women were treated in the 1950's? It's not just infuriating it's rather terrifying! While it did have a bit of a "gore" factor towards the end, this wasn't something that turned me off. It just made me realize it wasn't something I would use for school for this reason. I will, however, recommend it to my older highschooler as I think she will enjoy it and it won't bother her at all.

Ah the 1950s where everything was bright and pastel to hide the horrors of the world if you were even a little bit different.

“Nightingale” tells the story of June, a young woman who dreams of doing something more with her life than what rigid standards her parents and society have planned for her but she doesn’t get far when her family finds out her plans to explore writing after high school and lands herself in an asylum following a mysterious incident, but when the doctors are straight from a nightmare and girls start disappearing she has to work to uncover the truth about her new home before she looses herself.

I’m a big fan of the unreliable narrator and when paired with a 1950s horror asylum setting it really can’t get much better so I really enjoyed seeing her rebel against the traditional roles women were expected to play in that time as she fought to make a name for herself as a writer. The entire back and forth of her mental decline and the way her family treated her was more than enough reason to have a mental break, but her imaginative nature played well with the questionable antics of the hospital if we’re to believe that what we read is actually happening or all part of her delusions.

Speaking of which that entire ending sort of threw me and I really would love to hear some of the other interpretations of what we saw play out in the final moments because on one hand you can see it as a happy ending if you read it as is but for me I’m more inclined to think that it is the exact opposite based on a few lines intermixed with the rest and the overall question of sci fi vs the reality of the world in which we were shown.

Overall this isn’t bad it will definitely frustrate you with the gender roles and general tone of the male counterparts in this novel but that’s to be expected given the time period and June along with the other young women we meet make up for that and again if you’re a fan of less than trustworthy narrators this might be a fun one to play with!

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review!**

I have no problem with gore in a horror story, as long as it makes sense to the narrative. But it felt a little too forced in this book. The story went a COMPLETELY different direction than I was expecting, and it seems like the author just thought "Let's throw in some blood and guts here at the end and call this thing done!" The ending left a lot to be desired as well. It felt rushed, as if the author had no idea how to finish the book. This isn't a book I'd be interested in reading again.