I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. It was interesting read. If you are into suspense and horror this is for you.

I love the cover and concept of this book but unfortunately the story just didn't do it for me. The first few chapters were ok but after that it wasn't good.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.
Wow. This wasn't good.
-Characters. Too many of them and they were all pretty much horrible. I think the only one I liked was Isadora.. I get that she may wanted to show the situation from all eyes, but just pick two or three and not everyone on the DAMNED island. Now I was just confused at times and couldn't even care for these people.
-The murders... The ways people died were just dumb/weird/wtf (Final Destination much??) and why would you fall for those things? It was so obviously a trap.
-At 40% so many people had disappeared that I wondered what would happen in the next 60%. So, pacing issues were there as well.
-Like mentioned in another review, why did the entity not mind the construction? There were also other inconsistencies that had me scratching my head.
-The staff was just horrible and rude.
-The last 30% holy wow, all the terrible tropes (the fuck why are you splitting up, why are you falling for this, and why are you pissing off an angry entity?) are back. Plus, it was just laughable. I am sorry. But it was.
-The ending, well that came out of nowhere and felt like a cheap trick. I mean, there were so many ways to end it.. but this definitely didn't fit. Not at all.
So yeah. Glad this done. It took me not that long, but still too long considering it was only 160 pages.

This was such a let down. I had high hopes for this book, but I was bored, not scared. I felt that the characters were flat & dull - there was nothing there to make me care when they stared disappearing. You know exactly who the villian is from the start, and why they are doing it, and I feel that this takes away most of the scariness of the story. Ultimately, I think that this was a good idea but the execution let it down & it was not for me.

In order to reignite the love and passion in their relationships, three couples plan a full weekend getaway to a private remote island. Uninhabited for 20 years, Derth Island has now been fully staffed and consists of cabins, dining areas and beach bars. As the guests arrive and personnel is in full swing, a dark ancient existence has been slowly awaken from its island slumber.

Author Sara Brooke offers an exclusive invitation to visit...The Island. From the eerie northern woods to the distant blood-curdling shrieks, Sara builds an unearthly atmosphere guaranteed to shake the reader to the core. Its defiled land awaits the opportunities to seek morbid retribution on both guilty and innocent trespassers. Combining fear, superstition and jump scares, Sara Brooke’s impressive ability to conjure up numerous “creepy-as-heck” moments is a testament to her writing skills.

The conception of a diverse group of people trapped within a confined area has always been frightfully appealing to me. Add a mass of evil energy lurking behind every corner and you have an effective form of horror sure to please.

Published by Crossroad Press and coming in at just under 200 pages, late night reading sessions should be expected for the reader. The cover artwork is spectacular and a good representation of what should be expected. Overall a great visual package.

A scorned paranormal entity. An island at unrest. A cast of disposable heroes. No one is safe from The Island. Think of The Ruins meets The Grudge and you have a five star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Horror Bookworm Recommendation entitled The Island by Sara Brooke.

Unfortunately I did not enjoy this book. I loved the cover and the synopsis sounded interesting so I eagerly downloaded a copy. I enjoyed the first few chapters but after that, not so much.

I needed a few things to feel more invested in the story. The characters lacked depth and I found myself not caring about them. I also wanted to feel some tension as the plot developed but it didn’t happen for me. It felt that everything was told to me and it was hard to get any feeling of suspense.

Thank you for the copy to review.

The Island has a cool concept, but that's about all there is to it. Unfortunately, the scares aren't there, the characters are one dimensional and feel like stereotypes about the worst kinds of people, and the constant switches between different characters' perspectives were confusing and didn't do anything to serve the plot. Maybe I'm just not the audience for this particular book. Overall, this was a quick read, and I'm glad I read it, but I wouldn't read it again.

I had high hopes for chills reading this book, especially given the super creepy cover. Instead I was mostly bored. The idea behind this book is great, a little like The Grudge, with a malevolent spirit possessing an island and revenge on all who dare to tread there.

The premise of the book is that a corporation bought an island in the Bahamas to turn into a paradise retreat with a steep price tag for those who can afford it. Sun, sand, drinks and paradise. Nevermind that among the Bahamians there is lore handed down in generations of an evil presence who haunts the island. The spirit is the example of Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and the spirit of Annelaise is still around and still really, really angry. Three couples come to the island, each with their own inner turmoil and outward resentment toward their respective spouses, hoping to fix their crumbling marriages and for one man, leap out of the closet.

None of these characters are likable. I agree with the irritating rotation of point of view. I think Annelaise was a lost cause in descriptors as I just keep seeing the little girl from the movie the Ring, only older and more shriveled. There was nothing terrifying about the deaths on the island and honestly some of the characters were so obnoxious it was a relief to see them go. Plus the premise makes no sense, if Annelaise is determined to destroy those who come to her island, how did they manage to build the resort there without their construction people disappearing?!

The ending is garbage too. The only reason I gave it 2 stars is because I finished it but I would not waste your money on this wannabe "horror" story. There is no horror and maybe a smidgen of suspense but you quickly lose interest.

The writing was excellent. But what kept me from giving this 5 stars were the characters. I did not like any of the characters. Yes, they were flawed like most of us; but, I was rooting for the supernatural entity to knock them off one by one. But this was an fast and entertaining read.

A island where the inhabitants fled in fear of a curse on the land. Is the place three couples go to try and reconnect. People start to disappear.
Suspense filled likable characters. Characters you could hate. Intense what next moments.

Good idea, but I was personally disappointed by the execution. The idea of an island witch who will keep everyone off her land is very promising, but there were outdated and harmful stereotypes, opinions, and messages throughout that I believed took away from the plot. Additionally, the pacing felt a little jagged. With some more time and editing, I think it could have been solid, but as it stands, just 2 stars from me.

An island paradise rented at $600 per night. No locals want to work there due to them believing the island is haunted.

Three couples who are friends have rented the island. None of them are happy in their marriages and are on this trip to try to right some wrongs and reveal some secrets. No one seems to really care that much for the others so it's hard to like any of the main characters. Things start to go wrong the first night on the island.

Annelaise was a priestess who lived on Derth Island years ago. She used magic to hurt anyone who defied her including her cheating lover. She murdered many people and then was killed and burned by the islanders. Afraid that the island was defiled from all of the killing, the island people fled the island. She is still on the island and doesn't like having the others there or maybe in her own way she's glad because she has someone to murder. The ending was okay but nothing new for the horror genre. It could have been better.

All in all, not the best book I've ever read and not the worst either. 3.5 stars. It would have been higher if the main characters would not have all been annoying people.

I’m sorry to say that I liked the idea of this book more than the execution.

I was excited to read it. The plot sounded just my speed. As I began, I found that I liked many of our female characters and one of the males. But…it all kind of fell apart.

The storytelling got messy. Our evil entity was 1 dimensional. While there was some attempt at explaining the why of everything, there was no depth there and no real…character. I was confused by the term "magic noir" – does Bahamian patois normally contain one French word? Would it be better if this were some other island nation?

Our characters never really developed beyond their initial introductions. The ones I kind of liked, I kind of liked. The frat bro types stayed frat bro types. The staff was…generic staff, even as they died.

But the real sin was in the ending. It was not okay. It was a lazy ending – an easy solution to what should have been a very difficult problem – and I felt cheated.

The book needs a rewrite. The bones of a good book are there, but the characters need broadening, the evil needs to be more than a cardboard cutout, and the ending needs…much, much more.

With apologies, I cannot recommend the way this is right now.

*ARC via Net Galley

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC!
I’m mostly disappointed? The blurb looks very good and the idea is also pretty good, but… the way it’s executed leaves a lot to be desired. It reads like a first draft, something that hasn’t been edited whatsoever; there are awkward sentences, weird phrasings, and multiple useless repetitions (within paragraphs, sometimes). Everything is overwhelming or dramatic: motivations for characters, for the great evil, for small things, the writing itself.
I could have dealt with all of this, but I also lost count of the number of POVs that the author switches between (and insufficiently introduces), which means that every introduced character feels shallow and not at all fleshed out, which led to me not feeling connected to any of the characters at all. I felt… detached and thus didn’t care at all that everyone died in this book.
All of this would work if only the evil had been… more evil and more horrific? And maybe wasn’t introduced in chapter 1. This took away any and all suspense that I might have felt at all, and it also made the entire book less scary. I didn’t feel like this book was horror as much as it was a massacre because of one woman who was slighted. The horror-element to this book didn’t work because it was out in the open since the very start.
And let me just get back to that. Because okay, all of this doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t get three stars. It’s an ARC, there’s time to edit (I hope). The thing that pushed it over into 1.5/2 stars was really the fact that the ending sucked. It was a typical “white flash of good” versus “dark evil” and if I hadn’t been at 96%, I’d have DNF’d the book. Sorry. It’s just… adding more and more and more things that I don’t like and that don’t work, so I can’t be happy with reading this book at all.
The last word is sadness and that's what I'm feeling at losing like 3 or 4 hours of my life to this book.