Thanks to NetGalley for the arc. All opinions are my own.

I had high expectations going into this and will say, I was not disappointed. The character development, pacing, and overall feel of the novel were pretty good for me. Would probably recommend.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: August 3, 2021

TW for YA: child death and endangerment, violence including strangulation and drowning, homophobia and homophobic slurs.

What a unique book! This is an intriguing read—a small town where 2 dads grew up and return with their queer daughter to hunt ghost stories makes for a page turner. This was properly creepy for a YA read, the twists and turns kept coming!

Logan’s Dads host a ghost hunting TV show and she is close to one of them yet she repeatedly fails to ask them for help. It can be frustrating while reading but then you remember that she is a teenager! That being said, I think these teenagers handle some really heavy/scary situations with an amazing calmness.

I’d love to see this made into a movie or limited series!

The Dead and the Dark has what all the best horror thrillers have - dark lurking secrets and spine-chilling twists and turns. Courtney Gould created a spooky and realistic atmosphere throughout the story. I adore when my favorite tropes are featured in horror books but it's not very often you get them all. There's ghosts, small-town weirdness, familial romance, and sapphic enemies to lovers relationship. Putting the ghosts and darkness to the side, I really think at the center of the book is a story about finding your own home, whether that be a place or your people, in the world.

This was a pretty decent story although I feel like it laid out better if it were a movie. There was just so much going on back and forth and almost too quickly that a movie format would work better for the details. Overall it was a good fast paced read.

I really enjoyed the ghost story, the lesbian romance, and the way the author handled bigotry! The ending, however, was too abrupt. But aside from that hiccup and some jumpy narrative moments, I really enjoyed this book! The characters stood out well on their own, and the story forced you to use your discernment without the use confusing plot holes.

A book that has something for everyone; ghost hunters, mysterious town with deep undercurrents of strange and interesting main characters.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and it lived up to that! We have to talk about this cover - it is stunning and leads perfectly to creepy, ghost story vibe! I love the representation in this book and it certainly touches on small town America and how unwelcoming they can be to LGBTQ+ people, but I enjoyed the ghost hunting dads and their daughter - they go back to her dad's hometown where teenagers are starting to go missing or end up dead. In order to clear her dad's name, the daughter teams up with an unlikely partner and they try and solve the mystery of what is going on. I love our characters and enjoyed the unravelling of the story. It was creepy enough and the setting was fabulous!

I requested this one because it might be a 2021 title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book is not my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one rather than push myself to finish it only to give it a poor review.

"The Dark is not a monster. It simply is. It enjoys this world and its sorrows. But it likes Snakebite best of all. Snakebite is where the Dark was born. Snakebite is the Dark's home. The Dark is hungry tonight. It is starving."

"You want to know why you dream of death. You want to know why your bones reach for the earth. You have spent your nights starving for the truth."

In the small town of Snakebite, Oregon, a boy has disappeared and everyone's lives have changed because of it. Enter in TV's infamous ghost-hunters, Brandon and Alejo, and their teen daughter, Logan, returning to their hometown to try to solve the case and everything only gets more chaotic. When more teens disappear and her dads seemingly doing nothing, Logan takes matters into her own hands to try to hunt down the killer with the help of the town's local golden girl, Ashley. Though they hate each other on principle, as the girls work together, things get murkier with the investigation and between them.

Things I loved:
* Chapter titles! I know this seems unimportant, but I think they really added to each chapter and I was always so interested in what the next one would be.
* Sapphic love story - I want more gay ghost stories I just do.
* Small town creep factor - this took homophobic white American up a NOTCH
* I guessed the killer, but not the actual storyline of what was going on/the paranormal aspect so it definitely kept me thinking.
* The eerie atmosphere and creep factor definitely came through but it wasn't horror/gore levels of creep.
* The end. Like the last 3-4 chapters are beautiful. I lowkey almost cried.
* The writing. The prose is so poetic in a lot of places. I highlighted a LOT of quotes I loved. The imagery is stunning and the emotions were depicted so stark and raw they almost hurt.

Things I didn't love:
* Relationship was slightly TOO slow burn for me, where I almost didn't feel like it made sense. I think it just needed a little more build up.
* All the sucky friends should have gotten their COMEUPPANCE
* The timeline was a little confusing for me, mostly in the beginning. A lot more time was passing than I realized.

I loved this book so much. As soon as I read "gay ghost-hunting family returns to small hometown to uncover dark secret and solve a murder mystery" I knew it was for me. This book should absolutely be a movie and it almost seems written in a way that has that in mind. I think it would be an easy switch.

Overall, this book was stunning and I can't wait for Courtney Gould's next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for my ARC!

This book was amazing and dark as hell. Add this to the list of books I read recently that must be labeled YA for marketing reasons.. I have no idea how this could be considered YA. If it was a movie it would definitely be rated R. I saw a blurb that mentioned that this book was a cross between The Outsider and Riverdale. I would agree but I would throw in the novel Hex as well. The plot centers on a small town with a history of bigotry and many dark secrets. A queer family who also happen to investigate the paranormal move (back) to this town while tensions s are high due to a missing/dead teenager. As the daughter of the family teams up with a local teen with a personal stake in getting to the bottom of all the weird happenings going on , things start to get worse and worse as more is revealed. 5 out of 5!

This was a fascinating read. I love some good horror/paranormal/thriller and this did not disappoint. This book has a small claustrophobic town, tons of atmosphere and mystery, and queer rep. The author tells this story in an interesting way, through many POV's, including The Dark. I think this adds to the tension of the story, although that being said, it strangely takes away some of the mystery, with the reader already knowing about The Dark before barely knowing our main characters. Points for originality though for sure. The one reason I didn't give it five stars was because the two dads seemed to share NOTHING with Logan, and essentially if they simply had, half the plot would be gone. It kind of felt like the whole thing hinged on them withholding information that could have easily been given.
All in all, that is an entertaining read with easy to read prose.
Thanks to NeGalley for the free arc.

I am so disappointed that I didn't love this more. There were lots of cool elements that appealed to me! However, I think they just didn't quite come together for me. I want to mention some content warnings up front (these/others are actually mentioned at the beginning of the book, so that's great to see). This deals a lot with homophobia in a small, conservative town. Many people think that being around gay people can turn you gay.

This book suffered from a serious lack of suspense for me. Even though kids are dying and strange things are happening, I just felt really removed from it. We do have some point of view sections from this supernatural Dark (including the first chapter) which took away a lot of the mystery for me. There were several time skips, so I didn't have the best sense of how much time this book is supposed to cover. A few of these time skips took place after some big events, so we don't get to explore the fallout as much as I would have liked. The fight against the big bad also just fizzled out for me.

The underlying mystery and reasons behind certain events were somewhat interesting, but I definitely guessed them. I struggled to get through the book, but I did actually really enjoy the ending. This is mostly a dark story, but I think there are some threads of hope and optimism. I also really liked these ghost hunting elements and the technology that they use!

In general, I don't think there was much character development. We do have this small town setting where residents don't like outsiders or gay people. This was really tough to read about overall. Almost all of the residents are extremely rude and hateful. Logan is rather cynical and bitter (somewhat understandably), and she does feel extremely lonely. I enjoyed watching her team up with Ashley. Of all the characters, I think Ashley had the most development with some introspection about herself. However, I did feel like this was rather abrupt. I can buy the attraction that they feel for each other, but I didn't believe in a relationships/some of the things that happen. They really don't know each other well, and I had to wonder if they were actually compatible.

Logan's dads were alright. Alejo is definitely the nicer of the two, while Brandon is pretty aloof. I got extremely annoyed with them because they constantly withhold information from Logan. Once her investigation involves her in certain things, they still withhold this information, even when it would make sense to talk about it. She's 17, but they treat her like a child with this.

We do have some LGBTQ+ representation here which was nice. Unfortunately, this book just didn't click with me. It seems like other reviewers enjoyed it more, so even though it didn't work for me, it clearly works for others!

My video review can be seen on my channel (around minutes 0:15-4:35 of this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4UmE416aS4

The plot was entertaining, but the writing lagged and overall the book was a bit too long. I felt like some of the characters could have been cut out and the book wouldn't have lost its effect.

Excellent! If I could experience this book for the first time all over again I would! It's dark, creepy, and extremely well written! I highly recommend it.

The Dead and The Dark by Courtney Gould is a fast paced ghost story that centers around the disappearance of local teenagers and the involvement of a family of paranormal investigators. Comparing this to Riverdale is sort of a stretch - there are teenagers who investigate a strange occurrence, but it doesn't really have that campy Riverdale feel. The story reminded me of the book The Bright Lands (which is about the darkness that permeates a small rural town), but not as intense. I liked the overall eeriness of the town of Snakebite, and Gould builds suspense well.

I'm a fan of a dual POV, but I felt like we understood Ashley more than we understood Logan. I couldn't get a good read on her. One minute she's characterized as this cool LA chick, and the next she's kind of just...there. Maybe that was the author's way of showing complexities within the character, but I didn't really see a specific personality, and preferred Ashley's chapters (which was surprising to me because on paper Logan seems more "interesting).

My main critique of this book was the pacing. It moves quickly which was a great reading experience because you kept wanting to find out what happens next, but the timeline was odd. An event would occur, and the next page would say "it's been a month since that happened." What's been happening in between that time? It seemed like we had no idea what was going on in the characters lives off the page. We don't get to see any growth and just jump from scene to scene.

Small issues aside, I think this was a good book and is perfect for readers who like the idea of scary things but don't want to actually BE scared. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a lot better then expected! I don't usually care for eerie books, but Courtney Gould hit this one out of the park.
It's not a typical horror or mystery book. It deals with homophobia, murder and how to deal (or not deal) with your inner demons. Amazing story!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! YA fantasy books are my absolute favorite genre, so I was so excited to get this in the mail!

The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould is an amazing ghost-hunting story featuring LGBT characters. I enjoyed reading this book so much. Sometimes, you need a break from intense fantasy world-building and complex magical rules. In fact, the only fantasy elements in this book are "ghosts" which are more like old memories than magical creatures, as well as the Dark, a villain that is also more realistic than magical. Here is an intense and scary excerpt from the opening chapter:

"Do you want me to help you? the Dark says. Do you want me to make you strong?
The host scowls. "I do."
It is the truth...
The boy's eyes catch the host's for a moment, flashing from sorrow to surprise to recognition. He does not scream. Above them, the sky is gray, then black, then nothing.
The Dark slides deeper into the host, sinks its claws in, roots itself in the rot.
After thirteen years, the Dark has finally come home."

The sections about the Dark and the murders that are happening in the town are scary, and this book is definitely a mystery/thriller, but the highlight of this book is the relationships between the characters. The third-person narration alternates between Logan, a teenager who is moving to Snakebite, her two dads' hometown, and Ashley, the rich daughter of the woman who runs the town. The focus of the book is on Logan's relationships with her two dads and her growing friendship/relationship with Ashley. I enjoy fantasy and mysteries book a lot, so I knew that I would enjoy reading this book. However, I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the personal, more realistic elements of this book even more than those elements that drew me to the book. Sometimes you want a more realistic YA fantasy book that sheds light on real-life issues, and this book fulfilled that need for me. Overall, if you're looking for an exciting book with dynamic character relationships, then you should check out The Dead and the Dark when it comes out in August!

This story has a little bit of everything. While I'm an absolute skeptic when it comes to the paranormal, I still love stories about ghosts and paranormal investigators. The Dead and the Dark is endlessly entertaining. Throughout the story, secrets and tensions between characters build and build until it all comes crashing. It's incredibly satisfying. I appreciate the author's willingness to write about family trauma and am glad that they wrote about it with such honesty and obvious care. The characters were depicted with such relatability and sensitivity that in my mind, they may as well be real people. The odd, creepy town that serves as the backdrop of this story provided such a wonderfully eerie atmosphere. It kept me on edge the whole time and most importantly kept me from putting the book down. This page-turner is sure to entertain and move anyone who is into horror-mystery stories.

This story had many interesting elements; a supernatural show that turns out to be real, a town haunted by a monster, missing kids and LGBTQ characters. The elements were there, the story and the execution were not!

The story dragged on, there were far too many time skips, and I didn't care about any of the characters or side characters. Also, I am bisexual myself, I have seen plenty of queerbaiting, but this is the first time that an LGBTQ relationship has seemed so out of the plan in everything; story, character, making sense -it was so out of the blue for the two girls.

I loved this book!! The author did an amazing job with the setting/mood/vibe. The plot kept me guessing to the end. This was written in a way that made me want to keep reading "just one more chapter." The lesbian romance was well written and appropriate for a YA novel. All around five stars!