YOU GUYS THIS BOOK WAS SOOO ADDICTING. It is 100% the most consuming book I read this year and continues to live rent free in my head long after I’ve finished it. Not to mention, it is unbelievably cool- I don’t know how else to describe it but as that- the psychic abilities, the whole town of La Cachette is just so undeniably surreal and intriguing

There were twists and turns that made me audibly gaspppp, mind was literally blown, and I have to admit I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder while reading, so sure Estrãnger was watching me- it’s one of those books with a mystery so compulsively absorbing you won’t think of anything else. So much so this is the standard I’m setting future mystery/thriller reads to

Hola Hola! I wanted to come on here and talk about this ARC that penguin teen recently sent my way! Dark and Shallow Lies is a thriller supernatural book that follows seventeen year old Grey in her small town La Cachette, Louisiana. In this tiny town full of psychics one of the 10 "summer children" Grey's best friend goes missing and she returns home a summer later to dig into the night her best friend went missing.

This book is full of secrets, twists and turns! I adored the setting, the characters felt so real and I was hooked from page one! For me this book was a mix of We Were Liars + House of Hollow + Burn Our Bodies Down = 🔥

I ended up giving this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars 🌟

"The dead? They lie. Just like the rest of us."

I read this book in one afternoon because I could not put it down! This is going in my top ten reads of 2021.

Deliciously creepy and atmospheric, this book brings the Louisiana bayou to life. Brimming with supernatural phenomena, the small, swampy island town of La Cachette, Louisiana, is the kind of place where you can't necessarily trust your own eyes and ears.

The last time Grey saw her best friend, they got into a huge fight, but then Elora disappears before they can make up. When Grey returns to La Cachette the next summer, the missing posters all over town may have begun to fade, but the pain of not knowing what happened hasn't. Even with all the town's supernatural gifts, which they play up for tourists, no one seems to have many clues. Grey's determined to spend her summer with her psychic grandmother solving the mystery, even as her own newly emerging gift gives her scary flashes. But the tiny town is hiding big secrets, and the deeper Grey digs, the more confusing everything gets.

Grey spends her winters in Little Rock with her dad, but summers in La Cachette with her grandmother Honey feel like her true life. In between selling salt lamps and mystical stones to tourists arriving on the boat every day, Grey reunites with the Summer Children - ten babies born in the same year who grew up together. Only two died long ago, and now Elora's disappearance fractures the group further. Grey's long-time crush, Hart, is heading into troubled waters as he struggles to deal with his grief, while Elora's boyfriend, Case, is persona non grata until he clears his name. The town is haunted by its past and its present, and each person holds a different piece of the puzzle. Each twist and turn builds a deeper mystery, and I loved how the author incorporated some of Louisiana's French legends, such as the rougarou, which is similar to a werewolf, and the fifolet, mysterious ghost lights that appear in the swamp. Grey ends up with two romantic possibilities, and the chemistry with both is fire.

This is one that I will definitely reread!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for the Advance Review Copy of this book.

Disclaimer: I did receive a copy of this book as part of a paid partnership with Penguin Teen, however all opinions are my own.

“How do you keep a secret in a town full of psychics?”


They’re called the Summer Children. Ten kids born just a few months apart seventeen years ago to a small town deep in the Bayou. When the children were little, tragedy struck when two of them were murdered. Now, years later, Grey’s best friend Elora is also missing. Her twin flame. Born the same night and inseparable ever since. In a town full of psychics, how can nobody know what happened to her?

This book was incredibly atmospheric. I could almost feel myself sweating while reading about the swampy boardwalk. It had just the right amount of mundane magic interwoven throughout that I could potentially believe that somewhere deep in Louisiana, there are people who have these kinds of psychics abilities.

This is a YA thriller, and while I thought I had the mystery solved pretty early on, I still devoured this book by flipping pages so fast to get to the end. Turns out I was only half right, and the twists at the end were pleasant surprises.

I did have a few issues with the main character being incredibly naive, she felt younger than seventeen to me and made a lot of questionable decisions. There were also a few moments where other characters were a bit over dramatic in my opinion too.

However, overall I thought this was a fun book. It was fast paced, the setting was beautiful, and the mystery was so much fun to solve. If you’re into YA supernatural thrillers, I definitely think this one should be on your radar!

Disclaimer: I did receive a copy of this book as part of a paid partnership with Penguin Teen, however all opinions are my own.

“How do you keep a secret in a town full of psychics?”


They’re called the Summer Children. Ten kids born just a few months apart seventeen years ago to a small town deep in the Bayou. When the children were little, tragedy struck when two of them were murdered. Now, years later, Grey’s best friend Elora is also missing. Her twin flame. Born the same night and inseparable ever since. In a town full of psychics, how can nobody know what happened to her?

This book was incredibly atmospheric. I could almost feel myself sweating while reading about the swampy boardwalk. It had just the right amount of mundane magic interwoven throughout that I could potentially believe that somewhere deep in Louisiana, there are people who have these kinds of psychics abilities.

This is a YA thriller, and while I thought I had the mystery solved pretty early on, I still devoured this book by flipping pages so fast to get to the end. Turns out I was only half right, and the twists at the end were pleasant surprises.

I did have a few issues with the main character being incredibly naive, she felt younger than seventeen to me and made a lot of questionable decisions. There were also a few moments where other characters were a bit over dramatic in my opinion too.

However, overall I thought this was a fun book. It was fast paced, the setting was beautiful, and the mystery was so much fun to solve. If you’re into YA supernatural thrillers, I definitely think this one should be on your radar!

the meat of the book was a snoozefest. unfortunate because the synopsis was banger. new orleans?! psychics?! missing girl?! hell yeah! in actuality, nothing happened for 400 pages and the last 20 made me want to throw my phone across a room and voluntarily take a yoga class to get myself to calm down because that ending was... something (derogatory)

This is a supernatural thriller set in the bayous of Lousiana, in a tiny town called La Cachette, where Grey's best friend has been missing for six months. Even though the town is full of psychics, no one knows what happened to Elora. Some people think it was a boyfriend, or a stranger from out of town, or even some kind of monster, but as Grey tries to uncover the truth, she finds that her hometown has more buried secrets than she ever knew.
When I first started reading this book, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. The first half didn't pull me in, and I think that's because the exposition felt a little bit all over the place. I often felt myself wondering if something I was reading was meant to be mysterious, or if I had accidentally missed a page somewhere. There were a lot of threads being developed at once, and not all of them felt like they were going anywhere.
BUT, the last half of the book blew me away. I suddenly found myself unable to put the book down, and even now I can't stop thinking about it. I realized how invested I had become in the characters, and finding out the truth. As far as the mystery, I thought I knew what was coming, but I was thrown for a loop entirely. The book did an amazing job of pulling me along the mystery and making me doubt my own perception of things, and I loved how the supernatural elements tied in to the setting and plot. It was also quite intense and action packed in the second half, and it took me on a suspenseful and emotional ride.

Review to be posted on Alisoninbookland.com on 8/23 and cross posted to Goodreads
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Dark and Shallow Lies is a book full of atmosphere. I've never been to Louisiana but I was able to picture it perfectly. The humidity. The tension. The darkness. It was a wonderful blend of what I imagine small town Louisiana is really like and what this fictional town is like.

Unfortunately for me, the book focused more on characters than the plot. It actually reminded me a bit of The Raven Boys with that particular aspect. [Plus the non-psychic around all the psychics] There's an awful lot of time spent on the personal relationships amongst all the characters. It does make sense since this is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Someone here has to know some thing. As always, I craved a bit more sleuthing & investigating [that's always a personal preference].

The characters were good though! I did love the idea of this giant group of friends born & raised together like they're almost family. It was also interesting to see the different abilities present throughout the group and the town. As with any story with a big cast a characters, I could have used a character list (maybe with their abilities listed?) to keep everyone straight in my mind.

The story does dabble a bit in the ever present YA tropes: smitten with your best friend's brother; falling for the mysterious new boy in town; the town is full of secrets. I don't it was done in an over-the-top way so I wasn't too bothered with it.

All in all, it was an interesting mystery set an a rich & powerful setting. If you love character based mysteries, you're going to love Dark and Shallow Lies.

I flew through this book because I needed to know the secrets. It's hard to review without giving away any details and I do not want to spoil anything! However, here are the things I loved about the book:

- The setting was lush and I felt like I was in the bayou with them.
- The friendships and relationships between characters who have know each other since birth, but have grown up. I think the book did a good job of showing how those relationships change whether you realize it or not.
- I love that I didn't figure out what was going on. It was very twisty and surprising.
- The whole theme about the destructiveness of secrets and how we keep them even from those closest to us was an important one.

What an atmospheric and incredible read. I felt like I was in the bayou and right in line with the characters on the dock. I loved the setting and the mix between superstition and supernatural. This was definitely and incredible read and I loved it from start to finish.

3.5 rounded down. This was really unique and kind of spooky, but it didn’t have nearly enough magic like it promised it would. I thought this was going to be a fantastic look about what happens in a town full of people with psychic powers, but it was really a letdown in that department. I didn’t like how everything was repeated constantly- phrases, scenes, and anything in between. I felt like this could’ve been about a hundred pages shorter if they had cut out all of the times Grey said the same sentence. And a personal issue for me is the manic pixie dream girl/everyone who meets her is in love with her/the best friend obsession trope that was happening with Elora. It just seems so creepy and toxic to me that you would be that into a friendship, like you’re never allowed to have space from them.

So, onto the things I liked. The mystery was good, and I thought I had figured out who did it, so I was pleasantly surprised that I was wrong. The last thirty pages or so were very intense, and had my heart racing. It was just the right amount of spooky tension that makes you just want to know already. I liked the small twists that happened, and definitely thought it ended in a satisfactory way.

Overall this is definitely a good read, but just be wary that it’s not as magical or supernatural as the description says it is.

Well this was a slow suspenseful build, that blew me away by the ending. Small towns always hide secrets, especially ones people come to to have their fortune read. La Cachette, Louisiana is that tiny town and it’s the worse place to hide anything. Grey grew up there until her parents moved and her grandmother still lives, so every summer she comes back. It’s where her true friends are , all 10 of them, born within several months. This summer is different, Elora, Grey’s best friend is missing. And while most believe Grey doesn’t have the touch, she could sense it with Elora. They’re twin flames after all. She doesn’t believe she just disappeared, especially in a town where psychics live and there isn’t many places to hide. Secrets have a way of coming to light, and there’s a lot that come out in her search, including a mysterious boy. Past and present collide in this small town thriller.

For a debut, I really enjoyed this story. I love small town mysteries. While the characters were fun TJ get to know, there were a couple we didn’t get to see much of and I wish we learned more in the span of the book. It does take a minute to get through the murky writing, but once it’s established, the story line itself isn’t bad. Like I’ve stated before. I love the idea of a small town where there’s mystery and a past killer that people start to believe is back. The ending even came out of no where and left me sad for some of the characters and wishing for just a touch more!

5 stars! Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain is a truly unique and incredible book. Everything from the characters to the setting is perfect.

Thank you to PenguinTeen for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. Wow. Wow. This book absolutely blew my mind. I loved where it was set and the "magic" within this book was nothing short of incredible. The entire mystery of this book gripped me from the first page and I am still trying to process it. I thought I had solved the mystery of this book within the first 40 pages but I was so wrong. I was completely speechless not only with the impeccable writing style of this novel but also with the complex character relationships. I felt right at home with the close-knit family aspect of the teenagers in this story. There were so much betrayal and deception within this book, and the foreshadowing and flashbacks were so well done.

I would recommend this story to anyone and everyone, especially those who enjoyed a Good Girl's Guide to Murder.