A creeping gothic horror that will leave you craving more! The atmosphere of this book is off the charts. As a character driven reader I wish there was a little more development on that end, but overall an excellent read.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This was good, but it wasn't quite as enjoyable as I had hoped. The pacing was a major hindrance to my enjoyment with the beginning being very slow and confusing. I felt like it took way too long to really get to the things I wanted to know and to a point where things were happening to advance the plot. In the beginning and middle, I just had no idea where this was really headed and didn't particularly enjoy this. However, the ending really redeemed the book for me. The pacing and character development were so much better, and my interest level was much higher. I do wish this had been more spread out throughout the book because as it is, it made for a very uneven reading experience. If everything had been liked the ending, I would have loved this so much more.

There are several Fast and the Furious type sections with car racing and while I enjoy those movies, I apparently don't particularly enjoy reading about them and think this will be hit or miss for some people. I did really enjoy the Southern Gothic tone of the book and getting some folklore elements. This was fascinating, and I would have loved to see more of this throughout. The horror elements (and really the whole story) were more of a slow burn. We definitely get some creepy scenes with this phantom following Andrew, and I thought these were well done (but again, I wanted more!). This does have some heavy themes like racism, homophobia, grief, and loss. There's also drug and alcohol abuse which got to be a bit much at times.

The characters were not super likeable, especially at the beginning. I honestly disliked Andrew for most of the book because he's selfish and rude. Admittedly, this is at least in part due to what's going through. However, he does have some amazing character growth with understanding himself more and opening up to people. By the end, while he's certainly not a favorite character of mine, I did like him so much more.

Eddie just seems like a jerk, and I never really liked him. I found him to be rather selfish and toxic. Riley and Sam were hard to get a read on initially, but I did grow to like them once we get to know them. Riley seems sweet and helpful overall, while Sam definitely has a protective type of personality. There are several complicated relationships here, including some toxic ones. There are some polyamorous dynamics, as well as characters who haven't admitted (even to themselves) that they might be gay. I did enjoy exploring this and the struggle of overcoming internalized biases.

In general, this was more of a mixed reading experience than I had expected. I'm glad that I stuck with it because the end was definitely what I was looking for from this book. I'd recommend it for those who want a horror book that's more of a slow burn.

My video review can be seen on my booktube channel (around minutes 3:26-7:37 of this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TEP2aIRsrw

Thank you so much, NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Tordotcom, for the chance to read and review this book in exchange of an honest review.

TW: homomisia, suicide, murder, torture

Andrew and Eddie were best friends bonded more deeply than brothers, until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, though, before Andrew can be reunited with him, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide, leaving him a stranger as roomate, a mystery to solve, a gruesome inheritance and an hungry ghost determined to follow him and force him to see the truth. Andrew doesn't want to accept that Eddie killed himself and he's determined to uncover his lies and secrets, what Eddie hid from him in these last months, what he uncovered, discovering a bloody family history, curses and ghosts. While grieving Eddie and their lost chances, navigating the complex and backstabbing academic world, Andrew finds himself involved in hot boys, racing cars, truths he's afraid to admit, to himself and to others.


Summers son is probably one of the best book I've read this year. It hit me so hard, capturing my attention, dragging me in a story hauntingly beautiful, full of grief and pain, blood and gore, but, also, dreams and hopes. Summer sons is a queer gothic, mixing m/m romance, dealing with grief and loss and the struggles in facing them and moving on, regrets and lost chances and it, also, doesn't shy away from the ugly realities of homophobia, classism, racism and murder.
The strong bond between Andrew and Eddie is the cornerstone of the whole book and I felt so hard, it was sometimes difficult to read, their connection, feelings and regrets.

"That friendship was a muted fraction of the real thing, the marrow-thing, that tied them together. Through the cavern and their hauntings since, through a life spent with Eddie keeping him leashed but cared for at the same time, the couldn't find a label that fit where he needed it to go. Maybe instead, just a hard stop: he was yours."

A bond, literally, stronger than death, when Andrew finds himself alone and haunted and determined to find the reason why Eddie is gone. The author dealt in an outstanding way Andrew's grief and regrets, his memories with Eddie, the lost chances, their unsolved feelings, while he, and the friends (and maybe more) he finds himself involved with, start an investigation to understand what happened to his best friend, his other half.
The story is multilayered, pieces fitting together while Andrew, and with him the reader, pieces together Eddie's research, the family bloody history, a gruesome inheritance, while battling his loss, trying to move on, to fit, to meet new people, to know and understand himself and his sexuality too.

Andrew is a brilliant and very relatable main character. He's realistic in his rage and fear, his questions and demands and his journey to understand and avenge Eddie and, at the same time, to understand and know himself and his feelings was written skillfully and it's impossible not to love him in his complexity.
Eddie is a strong presence in Summer Sons, both before and after his death, haunting (sometimes literally) Andrew with their memories and feelings, their gruesome past and shared inheritance.
Riley, his roomate, is one of my favourite character, funny, stubborn, determined to help and Sam Halse, his cousin is another brilliant character, with his jokes and taunting texts to Andrew, his and Riley's stubborness and joviality hiding a painful past, but a strong bond between them.

Eerie, intense and written skillfully, the author did an outstanding job and I felt like I was there with the characters, feeling their emotions, fears, dreams and hopes. I smelled fear and rot, gasoline and summer heat, I was moved by regrets, rage and grief and I followed Andrew in his investigation and memories.
Summer Sons is achingly beautiful, haunting, brilliant, mixing bloody histories and curses, grief and loss, a captivating murder mystery, lost chances and new ones It's an horror story, but also a love one, a story about the struggle and necessity of letting go and moving on, about love and grief and relationships stronger than death.

This book was not for me. And by that I don’t mean I didn’t like it. I mean i was not the target audience for this book. This book is a screaming cry for the gay men struggling and fighting for their identity. And it was wrapped up in a supernatural southern gothic horror murder mystery to get there.

The main character is painfully oblivious to why he is so so angry. And he is so very angry. His best friend dead, supposedly suicide, and he’s left behind gutted, confused and adrift in the world his friend had created for himself without him. You watch Andrew’s struggle unfurl as he’s figuring out not just what happened to his friend but what happened between them and it hurts you more than a little to think of the wasted time being afraid of who you are.

If I look at it as just a gothic horror, it was well done, though I could have used MORE folklore. I wanted more of the backstory. More take weaving and less mystery, but the mystery gripped you as well.

I ultimately DNF this book at about a third of the way in. Found it absolutely tedious. The characters were flat and uninteresting. There was not one thing that compelled me to read any farther. I rarely DNF a book, but to plod through this one to the end seemed too much to bear.

Summer Sons is a dark and creepy slow burn. It's a winding southern gothic trip through grief and love. The juxtapositions of race, class, and education level are done in an interesting and engaging way and play up the southern setting and culture. It felt very of a place in a way that only comes from an author that is writing about somewhere they really know in their bones. While the beginning was a little slow it was still an enjoyable read. I enjoyed the academic setting and the fact that academia was more that just a backdrop, it was interwoven into the story and helped propel the plot. I also like the variety of characters and personalities that made up the cast.

I think I first became aware of this book in a weekly horror newsletter from Book Riot and immediately requested it from NetGalley. What a heavy, ominous ride it was – a fabulous debut novel.

Andrew shares a deep connection with his best friend Eddie and refuses to believe he committed suicide. He travels to Nashville for several reasons – to deal with Eddie’s estate and substantial inheritance left to him, prove Eddie was murdered, and attend grad school. Someone knows the truth behind the supposed suicide, and Andrew immerses himself into Eddie’s life to find answers. Soon, he’s drawn into late nights of fast cars, drugs, parties, and alcohol and learns Eddie hid plenty of secrets during their six months apart. Andrew is lost, drowning in his grief, and reaches for a lifeline wherever he can find one.

At its core, this story is about Andrew’s overwhelming grief and devastating loss of his best friend. It quickly becomes evident that their feelings for each other went beyond friendship, but Andrew hasn’t allowed himself to dig deeper and examine the true nature of their relationship. Several summers ago, they became trapped in a cave and went missing for a couple days. They weren’t alone in the darkness – something else was with them. It was a pivotal moment that significantly impacted their lives, but you won’t realize exactly how until late in the story.

Filled with eerie moments, regrets, questions of what if, and a family curse, Summer Sons is a dark, slow burn, Southern gothic horror story. Hauntings aren’t limited to places. This is an author I’m keeping an eye on.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I jumped from ARC to audiobook and back again. Let me say if I didn't have the audio for this I may have DNF'd it. It was so slow the first 50-70% of the book. BUT, I will say the narrator did a fantastic job of keeping my attention. This has all the drama of a dark academia book and all the weird and creepy of a southern Gothic you could want IMO. I would have given 3⭐ if not for the narrator. So that bumps it to 4⭐

This book was very high on my list and I was so excited to get approved through netgalley! It started off very suspenseful, Andrew going to Tennessee after his best friend apparently committed suicide. Andrew is convinced Eddie did not harm himself and he will stop at nothing to prove it. Eddie and Andrew had planned on living together in the house Eddie had bought for him. Andrew moves into the house and into the bedroom Eddie has setup for him and tries to get to know who knew Eddie and figure out who had an issue with him.
I was very underwhelmed by this book. It was just a miss for me personally. The writing was great, but the plot was too much of a slow burn for me. Andrew, as the main character, is very unlikable. I will read more from the author, but just couldn’t connect with this book!

"Lee Mandelo's debut Summer Sons is a sweltering, queer Southern Gothic that crosses Appalachian street racing with academic intrigue, all haunted by a hungry ghost." (Publisher summary)

I found out about this book on an August Tor.com article, "The Hills are Haunted; the Mountains are Hungry: Digging Into Appalachian SFF," and went looking for it immediately. It comes out September 28, 2021.

Andrew and Eddie were inseparable from childhood until Eddie decided to go to grad school early and kept making up excuses for Andrew to wait, then Eddie died by apparent suicide. Eddie is left to clean up the pieces and try to figure out the truth, but from when he first arrives in Nashville and picks up Eddie's car, he finds Eddie isn't *completely* gone.

There is some fun juxtaposition here between south and north, rich and not, academics and country (and some who seem to bridge the gaps - I've been in a Folklore PhD program and it's hard to picture those students racing cars and doing drugs but that is the world of this novel.) It also has a found family element that is pleasing! A great read for October if you're spooky.

I think it was just a mindset thing for me, because I wasn’t interested. I went in expec info a horror book, and while there is a creep factor, it’s not to the extent I was sold on. And I just wasn’t connecting with the characters. Maybe at a different time, this might work for me, but not right now.

Content warning: blood, gore, suicide, drug use and abuse, car accidents, emesis, homophobia

Andrew Blur lost his best friend Eddie in what looks like a suicide. But the ghoul haunting him suggests that there is something more at play and he’s determined to find answers, whether the academic establishment and newfound friend group Eddie found like it or not. This spooky read has a bit of everything: conspiracies, dark family histories, a mystery at its center, the full messiness of coming-of-age, and so much more. An absolute treat for those who enjoy hauntings and disaster gays.

The hauntings are terrifying and the book swelters in its atmosphere, but it’s the character journey we go on with Andrew that really makes this book shine. The way Mandelo uses ghosts to illustrate just how messed up the grief over Eddie has made Andrew really works within both horror genre constructs. There’s the terrors haunting him, but also the shitty choices he keeps making. (Although, one can argue that they’re more trauma responses than active decisions, but that’s a different discussion). Andrew seems to be chasing closure and healing to his own detriment, but luckily it’s hard for him to be alone in the chase.

Do no harm, but take no shit is a resounding chorus among our side characters. Riley is my favorite because he is not afraid to hold a mirror up to Andrew and make him take a good, hard look at himself. There’s a maturity in the character choices made throughout the narrative that keep both the plot rolling but also Andrew’s self-actualization. It’s super effective and hella heart-wrenching.

I’m also obsessed with the fact that the dark academia here has to do with actual academics. It just doesn’t happen to take place at a university. The process of onboarding for graduate school and the study itself is as essential to the plot as are the extracurriculars. It’s something that’s been missing for me in a few reads, and I love how prominent it is here. Each aspect of the book is used to its fullest effect.

This is a very hard book for me to review. The story line is great. But, the majority of the book is sloooow. Thankfully the end portion of the book makes up for how slow it is.

I was able to listen to this on audio and I'm so thankful for that. I honestly may have DNF'd it otherwise. The audio added a lot to the feel of the story and I really enjoyed the narrator's southern accent.

Through the majority of the book you only gets small parts of the Gothic Horror and Mystery of the story. A lot of it is talking cars (which I like, but didn't feel added as much to the storyline) and trying to get their hands on lost research.

One thing I did love, other than the Mystery and Gothic Horror aspects was how much Queer rep there is. There were so many aspects and people in different stages of their sexuality. I thought this was wonderfully represented and it felt so natural and believable. Probably one of the best portrayals of discovering ones sexuality that I've read in a while.

I also really enjoyed the feel of the story. I got a lot of Ronan Lynch (Raven Boys) vibes from Andrew and the group. Also a little Adam Parish in the supernatural aspect. I really enjoyed that feeling as The Raven Boys is one of my favorites. So thank you Mandelo for giving me that feeling.

All in all, I would reccomend this one, just go in knowing it's a super slow burn, but the rep and finish line is worth it.

🔪🔪🔪🩸/5
Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Netgalley for a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting book but I felt like it was just okay. This book had some good stuff going for it but there was just to much that I didn't like. The constant talk about and use of drugs in this book was just to much for me and is what really made me dislike this book. I don't mind a little bit of that but it was just to present in this book for me. Also the characters felt very dry to me. I just overall couldn't really handle this book. This is definitely a book that could and will be popular.

Andrew and Eddie were best friends, bonded more deeply than brothers. But Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, a few days before Andrew will join Eddie in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew not only his entire family's inheritance and estate, but also a roommate he doesn't want, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom with bleeding wrists that mutters of revenge.

Andrew decides to search for the truth of Eddie's death, and he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trust most, discovering a family history soaked in blood.

First off, for a debut novel, it was a great and fascinating read. The way Lee Mandelo cleverly weaved together this modern-day, gothic story was creepy and satisfying. It was so great to have it set in the South, and I kept thinking of the painting American Gothic by Grant Wood while reading this. I thought the journey that Andrew had to go on to confront the relationship between him and Eddie, along with his own self-discovery was what kept me reading. However, the story itself was okay.

I'm still not sure if I understand what the curse was for Eddie and his ancestors (the curse was passed down to Andrew when him and Eddie were children). The reveal at the end was kind of a let down as well, I was hoping for something a bit more juicy than what we were left with.

I truly appreciated the wide variety of characters! Andrew and Eddie had this interesting friendship (romantic feelings that were never acknowledged when Eddie was alive), along with many other LGBTQIA+ representations! There was Andrew's new roommate who is in a throuple with a man and a woman, and then there's the roommate's cousin who is also on a journey of his own sexuality it seems.

Overall, it was a fun book to read, and I'm definitely looking forward to what Mandelo writes next!

Summer Sons is an intoxicating read that sets the scene of a hot southern summer really convincingly. The realistic depiction of the queer community was refreshing, but I did find it hard to concentrate on some of the more action packed moments. At some points I definitely tuned out of the story and my attention wasn't held.

4.5 stars rounded up. This debut is Southern Gothic - which seems to be fast becoming its own solid subgenre? - dark academia queer creepy goodness. I was slow to get started because honestly I'm a baby and I had to read it in daylight so couldn't really dive in all the way until the weekend, but then it really took off. Andrew was not a fan of his best friend Eddie starting grad school a term earlier than planned and without him. When the worst happens, Andrew starts the term as planned with a secret-not-so-secret goal of finding out what really happened to Eddie, convinced there is something more sinister at play and that his best friend didn't take his own life. He's aided by Eddie's new roommate Riley and Riley's cousin Sam and a ghostly apparition that clutches Andrew and won't let go. Thus begins a journey of literal hauntings and curses and pain and self-discovery and fast cars and codependency and legacy and messy queerness. I think this is going to speak to a lot of people, myself distinctly included, and I can't wait to see what else we get from Mandelo.

Content warning: death, violence, brief homophobia and homophobic slurs, drug use

Five phenomenal, engrossing stars. Summer Sons easily shot to the top of my 2021 reads and has become an all-time favourite as well. A combination of messy grief, horrific haunts, adrenaline laced secrets, and dangers both phantasmal and all too real, this novel grabbed me by the throat and didn’t let me go until the very end.

Thank you to Tordotcom and NetGalley for an advance reading copy. All opinions are my own.

‘For a moment, he hadn’t felt alone’

Summer Sons is a novel that pulls you in with its skeletal fingers and doesn’t let you go. It’s a petrol fuelled, southern gothic story that’s filled with fast cars, angsty boys and a plot that will make you reenact the Charlie Day meme.

What begins as a death of a best friend, turns into a slow, agonising decent of identity issues, grief & codependency. The take on being queer was something I’ve never really encountered before in books and I savoured it with each chapter. I can really see a lot of queer readers being able to understand and identify with the main character Andrew, in his pursuit of finding himself.

If I could give this book more than five stars, I would. It was eerie, spooky, there was moments that really frightened me, which isn’t easy, but it also had beautiful moments of boys being tender, caring and protective.

Mandelo’s writing, his prose, the way they were able to conjure such a beautiful, compelling novel that was also filled with such horror, dread and guilt has completely blown me away.

Half way through the book, I started describing myself as a SFS, Simp for Sam. I don’t think I’ve felt this drawn and infatuated with a book character in nearly a year, so thank you for that.

I’m actually quite upset that I’ve read it now because…It genuinely was a perfect book to me. The pacing, the setting, the characters, everything was perfect to me, and the fact that its a horror book that I can really relate to in the sense of being a gay trans man, has made me extremely happy.

I envy all the new readers who going to experience this for the first time. Savour it.

A huge thank you to Nightfire Books for giving me an advanced copy in the exchange for an honest review.

3.5. this book was reaaaally hard for me to rate and comes down to personal taste>quality.

so i never read books of this genre, but ~queer gothic~ ofc i’m gonna be curious! i will say i tuned out of about 45% of this story because i found all the action to be boring. i much prefer romance & character interactions to action, which this book has very little of; however, the little bits of romance and character development given were FANTASTIC. like seriously, this book gave me in 10 pages what so many books fail completely at, which is a charismatic, electric romance paired with a complicated backstory of dead lovers, and an unresolved toxic poly trio that has a beautiful two-page-long climax.

This book does beautiful things with grief and loss, original character voice, gothic tones, and suspense. Had it had more character building and romance this definitely would’ve been a 5 star read for me. Highly recommend picking this up for anybody who is interested by this review!

As for TWs, i don’t pay attention to them normally as I don’t list them in reviews, so I don’t have a complete list; however I wanted to note there are mentions of slavery and racism both past and present, and some of the horror plots take place on a plantation.