A quirky book that I just couldn't get into. I love experimental books and ones with magic in them, but sadly, I wasn't able to get far into this one.

I loved the cover first off

This book speaks so profoundly of how losing a friend can effect your life. I have not read something that was so poignant since girl in pieces. Some of the best mental health rep I’ve seen and it is towards the top of my list of books I suggest to friends

Rose Colter is almost home, but she can't go back there yet. Rose believes if the prophecy comes true then it will confirm her worst fear--the PTSD she was diagnosed with after Gaby's death has changed her in ways she can't face. The Valley and the Flood is A beautiful tale about the monsters we make and the memories that haunt us. It has found family, magical places, and coping with your mental health

I thought it was important to look at mental health, especially how damaging grief can be, but...I don’t know. I liked the concept, but there were times where I wanted everyone to just spit it OUT already! It was frustrating! It felt like everyone was talking in riddles. I did like the concept, I did like certain things, but...overall? Not my favorite.

The Valley and the Flood is a unique take on magical realism with good mental health representation.

While I liked the PTSD rep and the main character’s struggle with grief, I found myself increasingly annoyed as I kept reading. The plot is intentionally meant to leave the reader in the dark, and I found this to really affect my experience of reading. Unlike some books, this method did not build suspense or make me want to keep reading- it only felt confusing.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the time I spent with this book, but I don’t think this book will be unenjoyable for every reader- it just wasn’t in my personal taste. Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an e-ARC.

The Valley and the Flood crafts an impressive surrealist narrative that is a bit too obtuse to ring true. This is an instance where the focus on flowery proses and stylistic writing hinders instead of bolsters the narrative and its characters.

This book focuses on death and how it shapes and molds us, and more specifically how we recover when these events traumatize.

The main character is suffering from PSTD and anxiety since her friend Gaby passed away. On her way to her destination she lands herself in a town called Lotus Valley where she finds that she is in the middle of a prophesy and a flood is on the rise.

It was a unique premise and a good story. It has some fun back and forth in the plot and the timeline but ultimately I don’t think I was the right audience for it.

I very much was intrigued with the plot of this story. It really is a beautiful story that takes us thru the process of grieving , moving on and coming to terms while holding on to the the ones we miss. New beginnings are formed and the experience of loss and how it effects our actions

This book confused me the entire way through. It was not my favorite read this year at all, but I finally finished it after mulling on it for a few months. I enjoyed the thought processes of the main character and the general suspenseful atmosphere of the novel, but all in all, more confusing than enjoyable.

Still coping with the death of her friend, Gaby, Rose gets stranded in the Nevada desert with little hopes of getting rescued. When she stumbles upon an unknown village in Lotus Valley, she discovers she is the subject of a prophecy that spells doom for the entire town. Alongside the regular townsfolk there are "neighbors" who live in dark places and abandoned buildings. Rose learns that these beings are formed when an event occurs in someone's life that changes it forever. Diagnosed with normally under control PTSD, Rose tries to keep hidden, but soon her symptoms become tangled up in the memory manipulation of a lurking creature focused on her. Can Rose get control of her symptoms before they cause the prophecy to come true? Well-crafted, this psychological horror is intense and draws the readers into the story. With themes of grief, bogeyman, and menacing shadows, the author does a great job of bringing this town to life. Thought-provoking, suspenseful, and devastation are balanced well with hope and resilience. Characters are well-developed, flawed, and easy to relate to. Readers who like psychological thrillers, horror, and mystery will enjoy reading this book.

So, this has a gorgeous cover and i had a lot of high expectations for this book but they really let me down. Although the writing was beautiful, the story itself didn’t deliver for me, I wasn’t really into it and had a hard time staying focused.

This was good but not really what I wanted. Part of me thinks build the book up so much in my head that I was let down. The first half of the book captured my attention instantly, but the more I read, the less I cared about the ending

Rose Colter is haunted by the past. Almost a year ago her best friend, Gaby, died in a tragic accident. Before she died, she left a voicemail for Rose, a voicemail that Rose has listened to too many times over the past few months. When her car breaks down in the desert, she hears that all too familiar voice through a radio broadcast instead of on her phone. She follows the broadcast to a strange little town where everyone seems to already be expecting her arrival. Mahoney weaves an unsettling story about a lonely girl with PTSD and the monsters both in her head and in the world.

This is a story about grief and slowly going through the process of accepting that grief. The story line can get confusing at times, but I think it fits well with the main character and how PTSD can make a person feel. Some of the first few scenes come off almost like a horror novel as Rose is figuring out the mysteries of this town and the flashbacks that blend with the real world. Overall, The Valley and the Flood is a fantastic book that I believe successfully blends magical realism and PTSD to create a story like no other. I know details like the Neighbors, the monsters that are attached to the town and the residents, and prophecies are going to turn some people off from reading this book, but the metaphors between these details and the grieving process help the reader really visualize what Rose is going through like no other.

This was a strange little tale in a strange little town, Lotus Valley. A town full of "prophets" who can see the future and where "creatures" lurk. There is a flood set to come.... All due to Rose.

Rose lost her best friend Gaby and is diagnosed with PTSD. I actually like the imagery this book showed. PTSD can come in many, many ways and this was a neat look into the ways it is for Rose. I like the friendships she makes in this Lotus Valley and the way they help her heal a bit more.

This book is full of magical realism. It was very well done.

I received an early edition of this book for review purposes.

I did not finish this book. It started out interesting, and I really wanted to know about her friend's death and the goings on with her other friends. Even after she entered the town, the prophecy part was okay, but the strangeness of the flood/shadow things was where it lost me. It just got stranger and more confusing and less clear to follow, which I think is on purpose as the character is also very confused at the cryptic sayings and such. Maybe at the end it would all come together. I think the flood/shadows were going to be some metaphor for PTSD or death or loss and maybe it would be a nice symbolic message. I don't think a teen would stick with this book. I probably would not buy it for my library.

This book was so intense yet so bizarre. I love Magical Realism and the concept of using it to deal with PTSD and Mental Health issues so I was instantly drawn to this. But the weirdness of the story and not understanding what was really going on most of the time annoyed the hell out of me.

Rose is drowning in sadness since her best friend died a year ago. She’s on the road at night in a desert area of Nevada after an unpleasant visit to her friend Gaby’s Mom when her car breaks down. On the side of the road she hears the voice of her deceased friend over the radio’s air waves, “Gaby’s” voice leads her to a weird little town called Lotus Valley. This strange and unique town has prophets as well as other magical beings that have prophesied that Rose will bring about a flood in 3 days time which will destroy the whole town.

I wanted to like this book, I really did, but I didn’t understand what the hell was going on until almost the end. And it was just weird. Period.
The writing in itself was beautiful. I felt Rose’s sadness at losing her best friend Gaby and the anger at how she died. And I felt like it took a whole lot of extra time and weird filler to finally get to the explanation of the flood, Roses feelings and why she was called to Lotus Valley to begin with.
If the synopsis calls to you I definitely say give it a chance. Some readers seem to appreciate the uniqueness of the story. I unfortunately just wasn’t one of them.

While this book does an amazing job covering a really hard topic, as PTSD is, I felt like the storyline was a little muddy for awhile. I loved Rose and Gaby's relationship. I loved the way they were built and the journey they were taking as friends in flashbacks and the journey Rose had to go through after her loss. However, there was so much being asked of the reader rather than having it applied in the text itself. I was left wanting a lot more from the ending and felt a little detached by the time I reached the end. I wish I had more to say, but I feel that this book left me confused more often than consumed as I hoped.

This was such a creative approach to visualizing PTSD, and I can’t speak from an own voices perspective but I really loved the representation Mahoney has offered teens in her book.

It’s noted as fantasy but there’s a little bit of mystery and some horror mixed in. Nothing too scary but the author has noted her inspiration from the horror genre and some of the mystery build-up is definitely reminiscent of this. I do love that it’s young adult so that teens can see these characters with mental illnesses and histories of trauma and feel less alone or at least recognize friends and family and perhaps gain a better understanding of what they’re going through.

We find out right away about Gaby’s death (off-page) but not what happened or why Rose is so terrified and seems to have run away. This mystery builds throughout and as we get the story from Rose’s perspective, it creates an especially tense mood as we’re experiencing her PTSD through her and waiting at every moment for something bad to happen. I was so on edge for much of the book and it was such a visceral way to understand how PTSD can affect someone.

It wasn’t a totally perfect read for me as I felt one reveal near the end very obvious, and I didn’t fully understand the main climax of the conflict. I would’ve preferred if this was more explicitly described after so much build-up rather than the subtle understanding that passes between characters and felt difficult to grasp.

I don’t know the Odyssey well enough to pick up on tie-ins and was completely surprised when I saw the author mention it was a loose retelling, but I’d love to reread it with a better understanding of the epic and spot the connections.

I have since lost interest in this title since gaining access to it, so I will not be reading or reviewing it.

This is a great paranormal, YA , Fantasy fiction that you will not want to put down once you get your copy. This book explores PTSD and trauma by utilizing the magical realism. Thank you Pub for allowing me this novel. This will be a recommend for my students.