I wanted to like this so much more than I did. Sapphic ghost hunters! Supernatural-esque family drama! But it wasn't for me. I found it very slow except for the falling in love, which was a bit too fast for my taste.

There were some things I REALLY liked about this. The atmosphere and setting of this small town was EVERYTHING. I liked the ghost story and the whole thing just felt very unsettling. But unfortunately, the characters really felt two dimensional and I never really got attached to anyone (except for her dads. They were precious)

Super Dark and so good! I couldn't put it down. This haunting in a small town was perfect for what I was looking for. I need a movie from this one. I could not believe that this was a debut it was just so good. This one will keep you on your toes as you read each chapter. Spooky and dark!

This was a pretty decent YA mystery/thriller/horror novel. I loved the diversity and the relationships between the characters. I would recommend it to readers that are new to the Mystery genre.

Wow! This book is intense. I don't read a lot of paranormal books, but I wanted to give this one a shot because of the glowing reviews. It was super dark, which I was not expecting. Definitely a great ghost story.

This book was absolutely beautiful i loved the family dynamics and the relationship between the two mcs. I also love logan so much she’s a wonderful character.

I loved all the mysterious and spooky vibes that this book gave me. It doesn't hold back and starts right of the bat with darkness and it just keeps it up from there. The characters are well developed and the unique way that some of the chapters were written were very enlightening and helped you better understand the story and added a new level of uniqueness that you hardly ever see. If I had to make a comparison I would compare it to Rory Power's Burn Our Bodies Down and Mindy McGinnis' The Initial Insult. Everyone that I know that has picked up this book immediately recommends it to someone else.

I absolutely devoured this book in only one day and ended up staying up later than I should have to finish it lol.

I wasn't totally hooked in the beginning, but by the about 30-40% mark I just needed to know what was going on! I thought that both main characters were strong and complex enough to carry the book, and the relationship that develops between them felt really vulnerable and genuine. I found the atmosphere and setting super eerie as well as the more paranormal/fantastical elements really worked for me, and the mystery/investigation itself was also really well paced in my opinion.

HOWEVER. I can not ignore the fact that I spent a lot of time while I was reading infuriated by how unhelpful, stubborn and idiotic every single adult was for the entire book. I really hate the trope where someone is very clearly, obviously and openly keeping a secret from the main character "for their own good" or something like that. I understand that it can be a useful obstacle for the characters once or twice but it legitimately feels like it happens every other chapter. What is the point of even having the parents there as characters if they are going to willfully make themselves completely useless every time they're on the page??

Anyway, I cried when I finished it and really loved a lot of it so 4 stars. I can't wait to read more from this author!

Not only was this an engaging and well-plotted horror suspense story, it was also filled with absolutely stunning prose, and I could not get enough of Gould's writing. Add to your pre-orders immediately.

A modern and extremely fun book to listen to. Narration was fantastic. I did not expect this story to end at all the way that it did and it was honestly the perfect ending to a great story. I could definitely see this being turned into a movie or show.

Keeps you guessing 'whodunnit' til the very end!

The prose in this book is incredible. Ms. Gould's descriptions are lyrical and invoke vivid images of place. One can feel the sparsely falling snow, the biting chill and the deep quiet beside the still dark waters of Lake Owyhee, standing alongside the first victim of the mysterious 'Dark".

Logan is very relatable as the main character dragged away from her home and way of life in LA to the isolated small town of Snakebite, OR. by her fathers. The denizens of Snakebite are instantly recognizable to anyone that lives or was raised in small town America.

The mystery is many and varied. I will admit, I picked up and started this book about 3 times never getting much past the first chapter and was honestly wondering if it was going to be a DNF. But, all it took to get me hooked on the story was a few hours of uninterrupted time to focus on the story. Once I was in, I actually finished the book in a little over a day.

Would highly recommend!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A queer romance with a creepy undertone was just what I needed for october! I really loved the ghost hunting and disappearance investigation.

I thought that this was a really interesting novel! I don't really read horror type books like this, mainly because I'm a scaredy cat, no matter how tame it is! But this was definitely interesting, and it had so many twists and turns I did not expect to read! I loved the LGBTQ rep in this book as well! It was definitely different, especially since one girl had a boyfriend before. I felt that the world was really atmospheric and the writing would draw me in and at times I didn't realize how much time had passed while reading because I would get so sucked into the story and the world. I also thought that when the truth came out, I was honestly shocked! I did not expect that, and things just hit the ground running from there! It was crazy! The ending was just so crazy that I had to take a minute to just like sit there and go "wow". I thought this was a fantastic read, and I enjoyed it very much! I highly recommend this book to everyone, and if you're into Riverdale, you would really like this book! I don't like the show, and don't care for it, but this book was great! Definitely encourage everyone to check it out sometime when they have the time!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.
Ironically, I was not much of a paranormal suspense reader when I was a teen but this YA kept me on the edge of my seat. Teenager Logan has always followed her fathers all over the country hunting down paranormal activity. After the return to Snackbite, the small community that raised her parents where a teen is missing and strange occurrences start to escalate, Logan just wants to hit the road on her own. But when a local wealthy gal, Ashley Barton appeals to Logan's empathetic side to help her find out what happened to her boyfriend, the answers might hit too close to home.


So as I mentioned, I was very into the story, although I felt it was a bit slow in the middle and very long in drawing out the finale. Also, that cover was divine!

Publication Date 03/08/21
Goodreads review published 18/10/21

"Riverdale crossing streams with Stephen King's The Outsider" is a really well done description for this novel This was so well done with great characters. I had enjoyed reading this book.

The Dead and the Dark is told from the perspective of Logan, a girl whose fathers are the hosts of a famous ghost hunting show and Ashely, a girl who has lived her whole life in Snakebite, Oregon. When Logan’s dads bring her to Snakebite under the pretense of scouting locations for their show, she learns far more about her dads than she did in her prior 17 years of life. Ashley’s boyfriend is missing and when she realizes Logan is the only one who might help her find him, the two become friends, hunting ghosts in the forest and trying to absolve Logan’s dads when the whole town suspects them of Ashley’s boyfriends disappearance. Minor spoiler, this may turn out to be another sapphic story full of ghosts and family secrets!

The Dead and the Dark is about the secrets people keep from each other, whether or not they know it. Ashley is mourning the disappearance of her boyfriend, Tristan, at the same time Logan arrives in her dad's paranormal investigator van to meet up with her other dad, Brandon, a hated native of Snakebite, Oregon. Snakebite is like a lot of rural communities--insular and static, the enemy of change. Brandon and his husband, Alejo, are cast offs--gay men who don't quite fit in with an adopted, queer daughter who doesn't want to fit in. Ashley and Logan initially have nothing in common, until it becomes clear people blame Brandon for Tristan's disappearance. The two girls team up in hopes they can find Tristan so Ashley can get things back to normal and Logan can get out of Snakebite.

But, obviously, things start to take a turn. What exactly is stalking the teens at night, and what's up with this abandoned cabin in the woods, and why are literally all the adults acting weird?

I thought this was a fairly strong debut book. The writing is immersive for its audience and the development between the girls is well done. Their investigation was realistic to how teens might go about trying to find a missing person--fairly scattered and bumbling at times, beset with drama and small town hostility. I liked all of that.

As the book got closer to revealing its secrets, I felt it started to unravel around what the Dark really was, ie. what rules seemed to bind it/unbind it, and its motives felt more comical than truly ominous. What were all the adults doing during this book? It felt like they were all sitting around in their hotel rooms eating take out and saying "oh, we'll explain what's happening at a later date" whenever someone asks them what's going on--an event that happens at least three times to no satisfying conclusion. Usually, if I skim a book it's during the first half, but in this one I started skimming in the climax because so much of it felt unearned/silly.

Ultimately, I did really like a lot of this. The characters were sharp and well drawn, and I felt connected to them. But the mystery and the conclusion weren't for me.

This book starts out deliciously creepy and then goes downhill fast. It seemed to be a case of a good premise, bad execution in my opinion.

I severely wanted to like this book. I mean, do you see the cover?? It's gorgeous!! Also, the description sounded so creepy and mysterious-- and I love a small town under a curse!! But no-- this fell so flat that I couldn't make myself like it as hard as I tried.

It starts out with a really cool description of something called The Dark stalking a teenage boy, who we eventually find out goes missing. I was all in!! What is this Dark?? Then there were the main character's dads, who could've been so cool. They were reality TV ghost-hunters!! I thought I would be in for some A+ level ghost-hunting... but they were barely in this book.

Basically this book was a debut and REALLY felt like one. The writing wasn't polished, the characters were flat, and the story was kind of just all over the place and didn't even make much sense. It could have been so creepy and legendy and cool, but it was none of those things.

I think it was nice that there was a lesbian relationship-- but I didn't love that the one girl was completely straight beforehand. I get that people (especially teens) are still figuring themselves out, but something about it just felt forced. We get to be in Ashley's head. It was the perfect opportunity for the author to explain how she was bisexual and this was the first time she wanted to act on it. Instead we hear how Ashley is completely straight and wants to fight against the feelings she's having. It just rubbed me the wrong way, but I'm not LGBT so I'm in no way an authority on it.

Now we get to the ghosts..... and admittedly, I'm picky about my ghosts. But these ghosts were TEXTING the girls. Say what???? Yeah, that happened. Texting ghosts. I'm sorry, just no to that.

OVERALL: SO MUCH POTENTIAL. But it didn't get there. This book was such a debbie downer for me. It had all the elements of a creepy mystery, but none of the execution. The characters were bland, the writing was unimpressive, and the ghosts were texting people. If you're thinking of reading this, I'd say pass. There are much better, creepier, gayer mysteries out there.

A slow burn, atmospheric read! I think Courtney Gould has a solid debut with The Dead and the Dark. I enjoyed the concept of this book and it was a fairly quick read, the middle did drag a bit. As far as the characters, Alejo and Brandon were a great representation for a healthy relationship and that is something we don't typically see in YA books so I appreciate that. I did struggle with the connection between Ashley and Logan, I liked Logan but Ashley was kind of bland.

Overall solid debut. I would recommend to my friends and Library. I would read from this author again.

Dark, creepy and well written: a gripping story that kept me on the edge till the end.
Great character development and world building, a solid plot full of twists.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine