basically, the raven cycle with dilfs and sapphics<3

This book really is the ultimate vibe check tbh. ghosthunter sapphics? check. grumpy/sunshine dads trying their best? check. eerie and atmospheric imagery? check. delicious descriptions and setting porn? check.

An intricate and beautifully layered book perfect for fans of the raven cycle, The Dead and the Dark kept me on the edge of my seat anxious and griped me.
The premise involves Logan and her dads arriving to Snakebite for filming their tv show on ghosthunting, only to find that the disappearance of Tristan, a teenager coincides with their arrival and now the townspeople suspect that these two are connected.

I was really excited to read it for the sapphic ghosthunters and it didn't disappoint! I really don't like the whole *assumes love interest is straight multiple times* which happens disproportionately high in ya for some reason.

While the romance isn't at focus, their budding relationship in the background till the tension finally peaks is fun to behold.

It's fast paced and reads like a blend of mystery/thriller and urban fantasy.The paranormal aspects are strewn across a bit lazily in my opinion, some things aren't really made clear but it doesn't take away from the main plot and I recommend reading this!

rep: lesbian mc, bi/pan li, side mlm relationship

content warnings: homophobia(major theme), homophobic hate crimes

Thank you to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion in any way.

I wasn't sure I'd like this book because paranormal horror is kind of hit or miss with me, but it was gay so I decided to give it a chance and I'm glad I did. This book was pretty good. I really liked Logan's relationship with her dads, I thought that the family dynamics were really sweet. Ashley had good character development and I was happy with her endgame. She and Logan had a really sweet relationship. I really just have two problems; one, the reality show element was underused. And two, we don't really get to know the characters who die (also I thought who the killer was was too obvious).

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

While this was something I had noticed, this was also pointed out by another reviewer before me in a much better way— there’s a strong dark/evil and light/good correlation that leans into a moralizing black-bad/white-good dichotomy throughput the book. This is not at any point subverted— at one point, when a character fights the dark, she gives off light. There’s near- frustratingly little on how the paranormal phenomenon works, or if it had only been around since Oregon was colonized— what of the Indigenous population(s) who might have had the area?

That being said, the description of how the entity chose victims was beautiful, and truthfully one of my favored part of the book. Descriptive, quiet, and lush, it steadily built images in my head, until I could almost visualize the scene as it might have been. The writing was certainly atmospheric and character development certainly grew.

While I have some dissatisfaction with some characteristics of the relationship (namely, after a non-main character ends up imprisoned), as well as some great reveals, I feel as if there might have also been some time better spent on the impact of the reveals, especially as many had been caused by a refusal to communicate.

This being said, I feel as much of being a teen felt real— or at least, accurate to my memory of being one. The teens felt believable, with their uncertainty, stubbornness, and impulsiveness, which rounded out the story nicely.
3.5 out of 5 stars!

The Dead and the Dark is a thrilling mystery with two heartfelt romances, ghost hunting as well as spooky supernatural aspects. When I first saw the blurb for this book, I knew I was going to have fun with it as it hits all many of my favorite things: mystery, small towns, supernatural and romance (a new F/F and established M/M in this case) and set on my state!

I opened this book a few hours before bed thinking I could get away with just a few chapters; boy was I wrong! I read through the night and was beyond surprised and excited throughout the story. The Dead and the Dark has many issues woven in and the reader cannot help but feel like they are a part of the story.

I loved the way the author created the small-town vibes (it read true and haunting) as well as the many characters. Each character has a life, a substance and creates a feeling that just adds to the story. I could imagine them, I have seen then, I have known them. Oh! And the atmosphere is a character in and of itself within these pages. It is grey and dense, foggy, and heavy but it adds too much to the mystery that I felt like I was there, that I was feeling this story along with the characters!

The story covers more than just a small-town mystery, however. It covers small town life, homophobia, coming of age, family tensions, secrets, and love. The story is engaging and interesting (I have not read many like it), easy to read and addictive. I loved they it is a story for most readers and while it does read a bit young, the story like is so powerful that I did not even notice.

I did not notice any major triggers and think this would be a great story for younger YA readers all the way to adults.

I could rant about how wonderful this book is all day, but I will leave it here: this is such a fun and heartfelt story and I hope others enjoy it as much as I have! I received an ARC via Wednesday Books and NetGalley and I am leaving my honest review.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Tw: death of a child, buried alive, drowning, homophobia, gun violence

Logan Ortiz-Woodley is the daughter of the famous TV couple and ghost hunters Alejo and Brandon. When they return to their hometown, Snakebite, to investigate the missing teens and unresolved death, all fingers start pointing in their direction.

Furthermore, Logan has never been to Snakebite but she keeps getting visions and memories she shouldn't have. It will be up to her and Snakebite's golden girl Ashley, to solve the mysteries surrounding the town.

I loved how Courtney Gould wrote her characters and I immediately fell in love with Logan and Ashley, and of course the golden couple Brandon and Alejo.

The atmosphere was eerie and creepy and the small town setting contributed to setting the tone of the novel.

Gould's writing was fluid and entertaining and I definitely found the book to be page-turner.

I highly recommend this to thriller and horror fans who're also looking for a queer story!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy.

This is very intriguing YA thriller with a twist of teen sapphic romance thrown into the mix. The suspense in this book was done great and Logan and Ashley were for me scene stealers.s
It ended abruptly but still solid debut nevertheless, if you love Supernatural and The Haunting of Bly Manor then this book will definitely be up your alley!

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

i was provided an earc via netgalley in exchange for an honest review! //

one of the problems i have with a lot of mysteries and thrillers is that i feel like i’ve just seen too many episodes of psych to be surprised by anything anymore. then, once in a while, a book like this comes along and is something akin to a beam of light that i’m sure shined down on someone in the bible- engrossing and completely unforeseen.

i picked this one up because i am a simple person: i see the words “sapphic” and “paranormal thriller” and immediately make a reminder in my phone calendar for its release date. and trust me- the “sapphic” and “paranormal thriller” aspects of the book were phenomenal. but the characters? the world building? the way that i totally didn’t see the end coming until it happened? ghost busting gay dads? 100% worth it.

i’m definitely keeping an eye on this author- i’m excited to see what comes next!!

A thriller with the added bonus of some paranormal horror. I always love when authors aren't afraid to get spooky in their mystery stories, and this one is no exception. Plus, in this case, the ones doing the investigating are the kids, which gives a nice mix of darkness and light-heartedness.

There's a fun bit of enemies to lovers happening here. As well as family dynamics that go beyond the typical. We also get a bit of insight into the sinister nature of small towns; insiders versus outsiders and deeply rooted bigotry.

Sometimes I struggle to enjoy thrillers that feel predictable, but this one truly kept me guessing.

I'll absolutely be recommending this one to friends, and honestly might even read it again in the near future.

The Dead and the Dark is a book I had wanted to read for a while, so when I got approved I was ecstatic! This is a paranormal horror/thriller with a wlw enemies to lovers romance. If that doesn’t intrigue you, then I don’t know what will. Courtney Gould’s writing style was very good. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Thrillers are my favorite genre ever, and this debut novel did not disappoint!! In Snakebite, OR, teenagers are disappearing at a mysterious rate. Logan Ortiz-Woodley decides to visit the town to see what going on! This book has a good mix of thrill, darkness and a splash of romance! I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to read something dark and twisted!

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book being pitched as a f/f paranormal thriller with enemies to lovers, monsters, ghosts, and a killer on the loose was enough to make me add it to my list of highly anticipated reads and request an arc. The author’s note points out that Gould’s editor said it is “like Riverdale, but good” while others have compared it to having Supernatural vibes.

Courtney Gould’s The Dead and the Dark opens with something called the Dark that has been lurking in a small town in Oregon called Snakebite. When a local boy named Tristian goes missing, tv’s beloved ghost hunting duo from ParaSpectors, Brandon and Alejo Ortiz-Woodley, return to town and bring their daughter Logan along for the ride. The townspeople think the Ortiz-Woodleys are somehow connected to what has been happening, and even Logan thinks there is more to the story than what her fathers are letting on. She eventually meets Ashley Barton, Tristian’s girlfriend, who reveals that she has been seeing his ghost. Since the two are not getting answers from their parents, they decide to team up to investigate Snakebite’s dark secrets and find out the truth once and for all.

I was immediately pulled into this story because of how it opens. The start of the book and the interludes throughout definitely have that spooky factor. In the beginning before the story has really even started to develop, readers are introduced to the Dark, a mysterious monster-like entity. I found this to be an intriguing opening because it set up the mystery and made me feel like I had to keep reading in order to make sense of the Dark. It was very weird but very cool.

I love how there felt like there was a balance to Gould’s writing. I thought she did a great job at setting up the whole insider versus outsider views in Snakebite. I appreciated how the chapters switched between these characters to explore what they were thinking and feeling. It set up different struggles as well. There were these tense, scary, dark, and heavy moments all throughout the story, but Gould pairs them well with lighthearted and funny moments. This is what I mean where I say there is a balance. There were a few jokes that I audibly laughed at, and I really loved seeing snippets of the ParaSpectors show. I thought Gould did a great job with writing character and relationship development too. Seeing Logan and Ashley navigate their feelings was really interesting. I also liked how Alejo and Brandon were given space for their relationship to be explained and explored. Something that I have not encountered a lot in books is a good portrayal of father-daughter relationships. It was fun and heartwarming to see how close Alejo and Logan were. On the other side of that, I am glad that the story expanded on the tense or awkward relationship between Brandon and Logan.

When it comes to thrillers or horror novels, I am the type of person who never stops trying to guess who the killer is, where a monster came from, or what will happen in the end. I really appreciate that this book was not predictable. I had a lot of guesses and nearly all were wrong. At times, the pacing felt a bit slower than I was expecting, but overall it was pretty solid. I have seen some people say the ending is kind of cliché, but I do think it is a very fitting ending and it made me happy.

This book tackles some heavy topics like grief, loneliness, family, and belonging. Sometimes these things can weigh on a person, so it was nice to see how Ashley and Logan could relate to one another. These conversations felt honest and relatable. This story also shows what can happen when a small town is full of hate and bigotry. I appreciated how Gould criticized the kind of views that tend to dominate small rural towns because it is something I can completely relate to and understand. I grew up around people who acted very similar to some of the characters in Snakebite. It is exhausting and frustrating to say the least, so I am also glad to see social commentary that challenges these kinds of beliefs.

I have seen nothing but good things about The Dead and the Dark so far, and I am so glad it lived up to its hype and the expectations I had for it! I have been feeling like I needed a break from reading every day, but this book was one I have definitely been in the mood for. Courtney Gould’s debut was very impressive, and I am very excited to see what she does next!

*Content warning: underage drinking, child death and endangerment, murder, violence including strangulation and drowning, homophobia and homophobic slurs, claustrophobia (buried alive), hate crimes, death, blood*

Thank you to the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book before its release on August 3, 2021.

For roughly the first quarter of this book I wasn’t convinced I would like it. It got off to a bit of a confusing start, presenting me with so many questions right off the bat. Questions about what happened to Ashley’s boyfriend, Tristan, who went missing; questions about Logan’s relationship with her dads, Brandon and Alejo; questions about Brandon and Alejo’s past in the small town of Snakebite, Oregon and why they’ve returned after thirteen years. There were too many unknowns and I found it disorienting.

However, the rest of the book more than made up for any problems I had with the beginning. I love small-town mystery and horror and Snakebite was the perfect setting: a dusty, isolated town where everyone knows everyone else, where a single family owns everything, where people who are different get shunned and chased out of town. I’d compare it to Rory Power’s Burn Our Bodies Down, although unlike Burn Our Bodies Down, where the creepy small-town setting is the main source of horror and unease, I’d say Courtney Gould relies more on her characters to build the growing sense of dread that I felt reading this book.

And speaking of characters, Gould’s characters were fantastic. Logan and Ashley were both very realistic teenagers, as were their similarly aged friends. Few authors thread the needle of writing teenage characters as well as Gould did here; often they’re either written too mature and come across as unrealistic, or they’re not mature enough and come across as annoying. Logan’s feelings of isolation and her complicated relationship with her parents and Ashley’s feelings of grief and process of self-discovery were well-written enough that I think readers of all ages could relate to them.

The adult characters were well-written too, though they weren’t the focus of the story. In particular, I was fascinated by Brandon, who has so many mysteries surrounding him. And the main relationships in the book were compelling. I thought Logan and Ashley’s relationship was well-developed from both sides. There were a few points where I think things progressed just a bit too quickly, and I think Gould could have dedicated more page time to Ashley realizing she’s attracted to girls (and to Logan specifically), but overall it didn’t feel rushed. And I loved Logan and Alejo’s father-daughter relationship.

The relationships in the background that got less development – including Ashley’s relationship with her mother, Logan’s relationship with Brandon, and Ashley’s relationships with her friends – were somewhat flat. Because of this, and because I would have liked Logan and Ashley’s relationship to have more of a slow burn to it, I think Gould could have easily added another fifty or more pages to this book, but I also understand the benefits of keeping things tight and focusing on the plot. There were just so many themes in this book that are meaningful to me and that I would have loved for Gould to explore in greater depth.

Finally, the plot of a book is almost always to the characters for me, but the plot of The Dead and the Dark was very strong so I have to give credit. I guessed some aspects of the ending, but others took me completely by surprise. There was just the right amount of twists and turns to keep me reading without being overwhelming. And I was feeling so much of what the characters were feeling along the way. These days I don’t often find myself enjoying young adult fiction, but after Burn Our Bodies Down and now this I’m starting to think YA lesbian mystery-slash-horror is the subgenre for me.

I loved the Dead and the Dark. The characters were great with believable flaws, an engaging mystery, a good romance, and a spooky and unique antagonist. Highly recommend!

The Dead and the Dark is such an awesome blend of horror and thriller! I loved the small-town mystery with its secrets as well as the spine-tingling paranormal elements. The book started off perfectly creepy, and I couldn’t stop flipping the pages until I got to the shocking reveal!

The Dead and the Dark is a Paranormal spine chilling ya that freaked me out in a really good way You are interested in the characters And the mystery I wasn't expecting it to be a dark was it was
Especially for a ya I wish more Young adult Authors wrote mysteries/Supernatural thriller like this Just because it's for teens doesn't mean it shouldn't be Intense and Thought provoking I can't wait for other peoples thoughts when this is released thank you netgally for this arc!

A haunting, well crafted mystery set within an isolated small town. Two reluctant allies—one, the daughter of reality TV ghosthunters turned murder suspects; the other, the town's heiress—team up to find who (or what) has been kidnapping kids in Snakebite. An inter-generational tale of love and home.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing an eARC of “The Dead and the Dark” by Courtney Gould through NetGalley for me to read and give an honest review!

This book had me hooked from the beginning and I could not put it down. Gould introduces us to Snakebite, Oregon with her great easy-to-read but extremely descriptive writing that has you wanting more as the main characters, Logan and Ashley, begin to uncover family secrets and small-town mysteries that have you wondering who you can trust if you can even trust anyone at all. The book brings up some really important themes while at the same time giving us a genuinely great, captivating story as we join these girls in their joint search to find out what darkness is connecting Logan and her fathers to what are unusual deadly occurrences for the small town. It truly hit all the marks for me: an increasingly interesting story, queer and POC representation, a sapphic love story that is well developed but doesn’t take away from the main plot, and even the occasional POV from the mysterious “Dark”. I honestly would not be surprised at all if this were to be adapted into a show someday soon in the future. And the cover is absolutely beautiful-- I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy!

This book checked all the boxes for me.

Mystery in a small town? Check
Teens realizing a romantic connection and growing as individuals? Double the checks!
LGBT + BIPOC rep? Uh YEAH.

Then you add on the premise of a ghost hunting television series and creepy dialogue from the perpetrator's perspective? It's sheer perfection and I'll be singing its praises for a good long while.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

The Dead and the Dark is an interesting paranormal YA book. It tells the story of a teenager who ends up in her dad's hometown scouting out locations for a paranormal TV shoot. Things are not right in the town and people have gone missing. Unfortunately, the dads are the main suspects in the stuff going on in town. The story was really captivating and kept me interested pretty much through to the end. The characters were not very likable but that is really not important. The best part was the atmosphere. There is a really creepy vibe about the town they are staying in. As for the story, well, it was good but left me with a lot of but why and but how questions.

The Dead and the Dark follows Logan as she returns to her fathers' hometown of Snakebite. Alejo and Brandon are former Snakebite residents and a current ghosthunting couple with their own show. While Logan has always been close with her dad Alejo, Brandon has remained distant with her.

When they arrive in Snakebite and find that the town assumes Brandon is responsible for a local teen going missing, Logan can't understand why her dads refuse to leave- or tell her about their mysterious past. The story gets darker as eerie feelings and old tensions rise, and Logan finds herself teaming up with the girlfriend of the missing teen, Ashley, to prove her fathers' innocence and find out what happened.

I expect this to be optioned for a series in like, two years max. It's phenomenally written! Trying to find out what Alejo and Brandon were hiding from Logan was so eerie. I really liked the generational storylines that were set up, and trying to find out why Snakebite was so against the Ortiz-Woodley family made for a real page-turner.

I'm not hugely into paranormal works, but this was the perfect balance for me of interesting but understandable and not overwhelming to the personal relationships that made the story so interesting.

The only things I found a bit iffy were the lack of character development for other teens in Snakebite aside from the mains and some choppy transitions between scenes. Even still, I didn't mind that much because the main characters and storyline were so captivating. This was a real page-turner, I can't wait to read what comes next from Courtney Gould!

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.