Skye and Dierdre have moved to a new neighbourhood. It’s isolated and quiet, not at all what the sisters are used to. Skye is using it as an opportunity for a fresh start and she is done being Dierdre’s knight in shining armour. Skye manages to fit in, but Dierdre is seem as being unusual and strange. She becomes fixated on the swampy woods behind their house – a stage for her stories. But one day, Dierdre disappears and something starts to scratch at Skye’s window in the middle of the night claiming she is the only one that can save Dierdre. Skye will stop at nothing to get Dierdre back.

What initially drew my attention to Here There Are Monsters was the cover. I love a good creepy cover, but unfortunately the book itself was a disappointment. It wasn’t as atmospheric or as creepy and I was hoping. It’s not that it was a bad book, it just wasn’t very gripping.

Here There Are Monsters had a lot of promise and a really interesting premise, it just wasn’t executed very well. We follow Skye, whose reality is being tested – a story she thought was made up is suddenly very real. It could have been so good but the plot was confusing and messy.

The only character that felt relatively fleshed out was the main character Skye and to some extent Deirdre. I actually didn’t mind Skye too much, but she was not a very good person, but I think that was actually the whole point. The other secondary characters just… didn’t really have a personality. Like, at all.

There isn’t really much else to say about Here There Are Monsters as it was just a very tedious and disappointing book for me. That isn’t to say I won’t pick up any more of Amelinda Bérubé books, as I have heard that her previous novel The Dark Beneath the Ice is actually excellent.

I loved this seriously creepy title. The dynamics between the sisters, the beautiful language, the gorgeous cover, and the use of the poem by Gwendolyn Macewen make this a title that I am sure is going to appeal to young adult readers.

Bleh. DNF.

I got this as an ARC from NetGalley and I was excited for some good, YA horror. I kept seeing people saying that about halfway through, it gets really wild and the true weirdness kicks in. However, I could not even make it that far. The main character's sister, the one who goes missing, seems truly awful and I think I would have just left her in the woods and cut my losses.

Anyway, this is for somebody but that somebody is not me.

This book is definitely creepy: can't dispute that. However, I wasn't exactly scared. To be honest, I couldn't really feel anything for this book. The characters were okay, the plot was okay... everything was just OKAY.

Skye couldn't be happier when she learns their family is moving. She's eager to live behind the ridicule and skeletons that lie in her past. She's ready to stop protecting her unique sister and begin to live her life. Or at least that's what she had hoped for.

Not long after they arrive Deirdre starts acting even weirder than before they moved. Each day bringing new challenges and surprises where she is concerned until she disappears all together.

With Deirdre gone Skye starts thinking of their past. Of all that she has done to protect her sister from the world which waits to engulf her. Now she's got her biggest challenge yet. Bringing Deirdre home, no matter the price.

A twisted and eery story about sisterly love and the lengths we will go to save the ones we love. This was definitely a different type of story and I really enjoyed that. It was away from the normal stories that flood our newsfeeds and instead it's own unique journey.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an EARC of Here There Are Monsters. Unfortunately, about halfway through I decided this book was just not for me. I really enjoyed some of the beginning chapters, but after continuing to read, not much happened in the plot. I think there was great ideas there, but the plot just really fell flat for me. I decided to DNF at 56%, I felt no connection to any of the characters or the story.

I've never read a book by this author, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

Everything about this book was just okay for me. Except the ending, which I didn't like.

- I went back and forth on whether I liked the characters or rooted for them.
- The writing was solid.
- I liked the pacing of the story. There were times I was generally scared of what would happen next.

I did like how the plot showed how easy it is to get sucked into your own fantasy.

I'm not sure if I'd recommend this. It'd take a very specific type of reader to enjoy this, I think. There was a lot of potential here, but for me, it wasn't quite met.

The premise for this sounded much better than what was delivered. It had some creepy moments and was an easy read, but it felt disjointed at times. If it sounds like your cup of tea give it a try.

Where to start with this one. I absolutely adored this cover, its simply divine and I requested solely based on the cover. Well, the cover and kind of the blurb, mostly the cover though.

This tale for the first 40%-ish was really enjoyable; it was spooky and had great ambience with the reader able to guess what was happening but never really knowing what was going on. But then around the half way mark it quickly devolved and turned into an indescribable cacophony of clashing story points. I liked the slow burn, once things started talking to her it got really weird. By the end, I had more or less switched off with the final pages feeling just a little unnecessary – I understand why to include the ambulance but not why the school… A note about pacing too, the blurb says something knocks and asks her for a task – this is almost half way into the novel…

So, the characters were a little loopy and I swear her little sister is one of the most co-dependant characters I have ever read. She doesn’t stop until she disappears (well she disappears and then is dependant but that’s a timeline skipping thing soooo). And Skye is just mean once they move - I had older siblings who didn’t want to play with me, they were never this cruel. At first, I felt a little sorry for her and the backstory helped with this, but by the end, I just thought she was a crazy person and wondered if the whole thing was just a hallucinogenic fever dream.

Now this book wasn’t a complete loss, as I said earlier, the first half did its job in being creepy and atmospheric. The secondary characters all seemed genuinely fearful for their own safety after Psycho Skye arrives and were written in a relatable way. It was a very fast paced novel with a lot happening in a short period of time. I also enjoyed the few background chapters that were included prior to their move. The actual premise of the story was amazing, I just feel like it needed a little bit different execution to make it really hit home.

I have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, its magic with consequences. Its like curse breaking. Skye's facing monsters and making deals with them in order to get her sister back. And deals with monsters have a cost. Sometimes that cost has great and lasting consequences. That's what I like about this. There's no simple happily ever after. There are great losses. She finds peace, rather than happiness.
In the negative, the pacing is slow. The tone is more weird than truly menacing. I loved the image of the stick and bone creatures, but that was all that worked for me. The twists were overly broadcast.

I will definitely recommend this title. It is very well thought out and imaginative. I can't wait for more titles by this author.

I finished reading it, but I still don't really understand the point of this book.

The ending was very unexpected, but horribly unfulfilling. There wasn't a single character that I liked.

The writing style was the only reason I gave it to stars, rather than one.

SIIIIIGH.

Listen. This book sounded really interesting and dark. I was totally into the description and the concept behind this book. But I just have never read a book that made me feel the way this one did.

It's a bit hard to explain. I feel a total of nothing about this book. I mean like... nothing. Even giving it a one-star seems wrong because I didn't hate it. But I didn't like it. Everything seems WAY too slow with most of the book working on flashbacks and not the present. Which led me to be 40% into the book and a whole ass nothing happened in present-day for these people. In that time no progress at all was made with finding a lead or anything for the missing girl.

Also, it's worth mentioning that the phrase "You know" was used way too many times within what I read and I was under 50 percent. If it had been used a couple of times within dialog for the teenagers I feel like it would have been pretty realistic, but 5 times within one chapter is a bit too much, you know? Yeah, you know.

I wanted to like this. I love spooky things. But this didn't feel spooky at all to me. Dead animals, skulls, whatever. It still didn't make me feel anything and that's really strange. So naturally I DNF'd this book at 40% because I felt like I was wasting my time. Yikes.

When Sky and Deidre’s parent have moved them across the country, Skye decides she isn’t going to be Deidre’s protector any more. She wants to live in the real world than the fantasy world her sister, Deidre lives in. Skye is tired of always being the one to save Deidre from the bullies and classmates in school. Deidre doesn’t fit with the normal rules of classmates— she doesn’t make friends.
In their new home, they are somewhat isolated from their neighbors and a dark forest borders their backyard. Their parents tell them not to go into the forest. Deidre does and convinces Skye to go in. Finally, Skye is frustrated with Deidre’s imaginary world and tells her she isn’t participating any more. Deidre doesn’t take this well. She tells Skye there are monsters in the forest and Skye needs to protect her. What does Skye do? Deidre disappears one evening while Skye is suppose to be looking after Deidre. However Skye falls asleep. Skye feels guilty that Deidre is gone. No one finds Deidre — not even the police. Finally Skye decides to look herself to find Deidre in the forest. Will she find Deidre?

In this novel there is the relationship of sisters explored besides the relationship with the parents. There is also the angst of being a teenager explored. I thought it was interesting that Skye realized that there are monsters in the forest and that there are also monsters in the real world. Following Skye throughout the novel was fascinating as there were twists and turns I didn’t expect. I am glad that I had the opportunity to read this novel.

2/5 stars
I really enjoyed this book up until about 60%; it was magical and spooky, but then it took a hard-left turn into Messed-Up Land. Also, the plot, reasoning, and characters start to dissolve into a completely twisted and grotesque nightmare after that point. I was horrified and disgusted and I can’t believe the twisted morals that are featured in this book. I'm sorry, maybe this book is someone’s cup of tea, but it’s definitely not mine.

I would love to thank the publisher for letting me have a copy of this before publication date. This book is so good. I legit have no words to describe it other than it was creepy af but in a good way. I loved the main characters and the dynamic of the story.

I also loved that the author also sent out some swag if we suggested the book to our libraries in our towns!

did not finish
I read about 100 pages and couldn't get into it. I really didn't like either of the main characters so I couldn't fell invested in the story or the mystery.

I really enjoyed this book. It was hard to get into at first but it picked up quickly after the first few chapters or so.

Deidre is Skye’s sister. The one everyone calls creepy and weird. The one no one wants to be friends with. Skye is all Deidre has until they move and Skye wants a new life. A new start. With everything that happened at their old home she deserved to be someone new, right?

This book was...different. It’s about monsters. Bones. Mud. Swamps and make believe. A child’s game that goes horribly wrong. Who do you trust if you can’t trust yourself?

Skye is a great character. She’s strong but also vulnerable. She’s relatable in some ways and in others you’re saying WTF. She’s a semi reliable narrator but I like it when you can question what you’re reading and she definitely makes you do that.

The ending was what I expected. I do have some questions but not many. If you want a creepy book to read then this is it. It didn’t scare me but I was throughly disturbed by what I was reading.

This book was so creepy and atmospheric. I love books about sister bonds, and this one did not disappoint. Skye’s relationship with her sister was complex and interesting, and as an older sister, I found it somewhat unsettling (but in the best way). I would recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about creepy woods, disappearances, and sibling bonds.

I was drawn to this story by the eerie cover and the creepy premise. Unfortunately, the story was disjointed and I really didn't love our protagonist or the atmosphere the author failed to create.