Hailey’s father has recently passed away. She is now living with her aunt and her husband. Her husband, Vaughn, is the local cop with a hard reputation. He makes Hailey’s life almost unbearable with all his rules. Then he starts to make other suggestions. Hailey knows she must get out. But she does a little investigating on her own and discovers Vaughn has a huge secret.

Hailey is positive that Vaughn is the one behind the missing girls. She discovers quite a few secrets on his computer. Hailey, with the help of her good friend, takes off to the live wilderness to hide. Then, she discovers a body!

Wow! This is true Chevy Stevens! I was so wrapped up in this mystery. And then when you find out who, what, when and where…GEEZ! No one can create intensity and tension quite like Chevy Stevens!

This audiobook is narrated by Angela Dawe, Brittany Presley and Isabella Star LeBlanc. And these ladies did a fantastic job. They absolutely had the perfect tone and intensity.

Need an intense, fast paced thriller you will not want to put down…THIS IS IT!

I received this audiobook from the publisher for a honest review

I don't know if Chevy Stevens can do any wrong. Dark Roads is her latest release and it was excellent. The build up and suspense kept me listening well into the night and the narrator was so good. Fast-paced and left me with a range of emotions. Chevy Stevens is now on my short list of must read authors.

Do you like slow burn mysteries? They’re actually not usually my favorite, I prefer something fast paced most of the time but if I find a slow burn from a trusted author I’m willing to give them a chance. I had heard before reading this that it was slower paced, so I think that helped set my expectations, but I’m actually glad I went against my initial reaction and ended up giving this one a chance, it was pretty solid!

There’s something so eerie when a thriller is atmospheric and this one was seriously creepy and pretty all consuming. Besides a strong setting the characterization was also very good, I really felt like I knew both main characters by the end and I was definitely invested in them as well. This was more of an emotional mystery than anything else, but again the plot was pretty good as well. Recommended for anyone that really wants to sink their teeth in a thriller ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This story grabbed my interested from the first page and held it throughout. Wow! I loved this one so much, even though it was super disturbing and a difficult read. It tells the tale of about twenty young women who've gone missing and found dead along the 500 mile stretch of Cold Creek Highway, a logging and mining town.

Hailey McBride is a seventeen year old whose been dealt a bad hand of cards. Her mother died in of cancer and her father died in a car wreck, so she's orphaned but her aunt Lana takes her in. Her aunt is married to a character I detested, Erick Vaughn who is the sergeant of the local sheriff's department and he is one mean, evil SOB.

The three MC's are Hailey, Beth, and Jonny and I loved them all for various reasons. The three really bond and Jonny is really protective of both girls, but Vaughn has it in for Jonny and being the sheriff gives him the opportunity to do him wrong.

There were several narrators and each one was unique and distinctive. I thought it brought more clarity to the characters and they all added to my insight into the characters.

There is so much to this one and the killer of the girls was definitely not on my list of suspects at all! That one was a shocker to me.

I want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an copy of this audiobook in exchange for my opinon.

Hailey moves in with her aunt and uncle after her dad passes away. Her uncle is a jerk who takes his profession in law enforcement too far. He wants to enforce rules and push boundaries with Hailey. Hailey loves the nature and all of the areas to explore within Cold Creek. Hailey is cautious due to a slew of young women who have gone missing on the nearby highway. Hailey decides to ditch her aunt and uncle and risk something sinister happening to her - it's better than dealing with her uncle, right? This was a great book to listen to in audiobook format. The narrator did a fantastic job conveying all aspects of the story. I was clueless and did not know what was coming. I will be recommending this to many. I would love to read more from Chevy Stevens.

This was my first novel by popular author Chevy Stevens. It centers around a highway that stretches through a small town in British Columbia that has been known for decades as being unsafe due to many young woman traveling that road going missing.

When Hailey McBride's dad suddenly passes away, she is forced to move in with her Aunt and police office Uncle. When her Uncle forces her to vanish into the mountains with his controlling and suspicious ways, rumors swirl that she has been a victim of the highway killer.

Overall I thought this one was okay. I was really enjoying it at first because I liked the narrator for Hailey, but then it switched to a new point of view and honestly, I couldn't stand the narrator or the character.

It did keep me guessing and I did not see the big revelation coming until it was closer to it being revealed.

3/5⭐️

DARK ROADS really snuck up on me -- it was the sort of book that was a slow burn for a few hundred pages then bang! Un-put-down-able.

Even the slow burn was hard to set aside. Seventeen-year-old Hailey is living with her aunt and uncle after the sudden death of her father. The only problem with that (besides her grief)? Her uncle is a CREEP. And a cop! I both wanted to speed through these pages, wishing & waiting for him to be found out, and wanted to set it down, never having to consider the sort of behavior he was engaged in.

They all live in a fictional small town called Cold Creek, near the Cold Creek Highway in British Columbia. For decades, young women have gone missing and been murdered along the highway, but no abductor or killer has been found.

I hesitate to even describe as much of the plot as is in the synopsis, as I didn't know that much going in and liked letting the story unfold. Be advised there's a big chunk of the story that felt more like The Great Alone than a suspense novel (think more wilderness survival than hunting a potential serial killer). There also is a fantastic dog character. Overall I'm glad I picked this one up, especially given how much the story sped up in the last 100 pages. (I just love that feeling of, "I need to read these pages NOW.")

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. The opinions are entirely my own, and any quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different in the final published copy.

17-yead old Hailey's world upends when her father dies suddenly, and she is forced to live with her aunt and her controlling and passively aggressive abusive uncle. Discovering a secret, Hailey turns to the woods to hide in rather than living with her uncle.

While hiding, another female, Amber, is killed, and Hailey is convinced hiding is her only option.

Beth arrives to find out who killed her sister Amber and her searching put Hailey's hiding in jeopardy of being exposed.

This is the first novel by Chevy Stevens I read. Her ability to vividly build the town and her word choices made this a suspenseful and thrilling story. The story grabs you immediately and never lets you go. She creates likable characters who live in a messed-up situation.

Having three narrators, Angela Dawe; Brittany Pressley; Isabella Star LaBlanc, helps the story flow. They are not simply reading lines, they bring the characters to life and add another layer to Stevens's already suspenseful work.

This is one of the best books I read in 2021. I am going back to Stevens's beginning and read her debut novel, Still Missing.

Knowing Stevens based the fictional Cold Creek Highway on the real Highway of Tears in British Columbia which consists of hundreds of miles of desolate highway where too many women have gone missing over the years, added to the overall feeling of dread surrounding the story.

This 200-word review will be published on Philomathinphila.com.

The realness of the fear and grief throughout Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens is emotionally draining and completely authentic.

There is a dark road through a small town where teenage girls, especially indigenous girls, seem to just disappear. Sometimes they are found but it is just their lifeless bodies with remnants of the pain they suffered found in the bruises left behind. They are warned to not hitchhike or walk this road. But sometimes you have to leave to survive and for some this is the only road out.

Hailey is living with her Aunt after her father's tragic accident. Unfortunately, Vaughn lives there too. He is a cop who uses his power to intimate. We all know men like him. He uses his hulky body to make you feel trapped. He uses his position of authority to make you fear him. He is the worst type of human and his character is very triggering for anyone who has been in this claustrophobic fearful situation.

Amber, a runaway working at the local diner, befriends Hailey. They are falling in love but someone is watching and soon Amber's body is found in the woods. Hailey has no choice but to runaway. Beth, Amber's sister, shows up looking for answers but someone is watching and Beth doesn't realize how close the killer is to her.

The narrators Brittney Pressley Isabella Star Lablanc and Angela Dawe bring heightened anxiety and nail-biting suspense of impending doom in their heart pounding performances.

There are twists at the end but this is a thriller about brave young women who have to fight to stay alive but fight they do with fierce resilience, the most loyal dog Wolf and the world's best friend Jonny. The prologue/epilogue tells of the real life highway of unsolved murders that inspired this story. Please listen (or read) this book from beginning to end.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed listening to both main characters’ narrators. They changed voices for gender, hysteria, sad, scared, etc. The story at first started slow. I was not interested in step uncle issues which took a bit of time. I liked that there was a second view. Amber’s parents were one of a kind. The story was good but I realized that no one was truly investigating the murders. Beth couldn’t really be said to investigate when she’s often high. There’s no views of the police force doing the investigations or at least that gumshoe motel owner. Beth irritated me sometimes. It’s not believable that she survived the fast water currents when she was still recovering as well as when Wolf was injured. Many people normally died from fast river currents and they usually go in without injuries.

This book started with a prologue talking about the roads where so many unsolved murders occurred. Then the story began with Hailey, 17 in 2018, woken up by her little cousin. She’s now living with her aunt, cousin, and her aunt’s second husband, Vaughn because her dad recently passed away. Hailey found out that Vaughn was a dirty cop when she found her naked pictures among others in his computer. She suspected him out cheating on her aunt and killing those missing women but couldn’t prove it. She decided to go into hiding because she no longer felt comfortable at home since there were hidden cameras in her room. Part two followed Beth, Amber’s older sister. Beth dropped out of school because she couldn’t deal with what happened with Amber and moved to the area to get closure to her. She got involved with Johnny and curious about Hailey and the dog that continued to rescue her repeatedly. There’s a part 3 and an epilogue.

Dark Roads was a thrilling audiobook, especially at part 3. The killer caught me by surprise. I definitely couldn’t guess it. For the most part, I enjoyed the story. I liked that Hailey was not a typical girl. She’s outdoorsy and able to handle a gun. The LGBT romance was super brief. I liked Beth’s determination. She doesn’t know the woods but she was not afraid to try. The story has good suspense. It hooked me in at part 2 and I was invested into the mystery. This is my first listen from the author and I’m interested in her other books! I do recommend everyone to read or listen to this book!

xoxo, Jasmine at www.howusefulitis.wordpress.com for more details

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review. Please be assured that my opinions are honest.

Reading Between the Wines book review #89/115 for 2021:
Rating: 4 🍷 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book 🎧: Dark Roads
Author: Chevy Stevens
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers | Women's Fiction RELEASED on August 3, 2021!!! GET YOUR OWN COPY!

Sipping thoughts: Chevy Stevens is an author that has so much clout in the thriller world and this new book did not disappoint. I loved Hailey’s character and how she was such a strong female protagonist. The mystery behind what’s going on is not earth-shattering but I was still a little bit surprised. The best part of this book, in my opinion, is reading how Hailey makes her new life in the woods and her plan if she gets caught. I really enjoy Stevens writing and can’t wait to read another book by her.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley, @StMartinsPress and @MacMillanAudio for an advanced copy of @DarkRoads

#DarkRoads #StMartinsPress #MacMillanAudio #NetGalley #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThriller #GeneralFictionAdult #WomensFiction

Hailey and Beth-both troubled for different reasons. Hailey uses the lonesome mountains to get lost and escape. She hopes her disappearance won't be looked at too closely. That people will make assumptions. Some even assume she has been a victim of the killer who takes girls from the lonely Cold Creek Highway. Beth's sister was one of those victims. She comes to Cold Creek to relive her sisters life. To walk in her footsteps. Does that ever go well? No.

These girls, though their experiences are extreme, are so easy for any girl or woman to identify with. The fear and knowing that everyone assumes you are not capable of taking care of yourself. Hailey's uncle and his control. The judgement women are subjected to for everything they do. The need to escape it. To disappear.

For a while I wasn't really sure where the story was going. But the story transitions from one narrator to the other and started bringing it all together. It moved a little slow, but I almost always listen to audiobooks at a slightly faster speed. And when it does? Oh, boy!

Even if you cannot commiserate with Hailey or Beth, you should be able to find companionship in all of our shared disgust and hatred for Vaughn. Give it the time it needs. You will not be sorry,

This is quite the ride! It's a murder mystery, young girls disappearing and being brutally murdered along the dark highways of rural Canada. It's a coming-of-age story about a teenage girl who goes to live with relatives after both parents die, and it's a story of survival when the odds are against you and it's almost impossible to try to trip up a dirty cop. When you can't even protect and help yourself, how exactly are you supposed to save those that matter most to you, especially when you're a teenager! This one is not for the faint of heart but definitely for those who enjoy Karin Slaughter books. #netgalley

3:5 stars

I find this author’s books to be quite dark and creepy. In her author’s note, she reveals that the idea for this book was conceived by The Highway of Tears, a notorious highway in B.C. where many women have disappeared with a high proportion being Indigenous women. Like the author, I remember being warned growing up about hitchhiking because of these missing women.

I appreciated the concept of this crime thriller and thought the mystery aspect was cleverly executed. There were also some emotional moments during the end that surprised me. I wasn’t expecting to get teary-eyed but did! I only wish the characters and dialogue had been carved out better as both rang shallow and irritated me. It was difficult to connect to both Hailey and Beth as I wasn’t able to get a good sense of them beneath their facade. Beth in particular came across as shallow and juvenile. I didn’t enjoy listening to her sections as much.

The audiobook used two different narrators to represent Hailey and Beth’s perspectives. I thought Hailey’s narration was much better than Beth’s. This may have compounded my inability to connect to Beth.

Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for an advanced audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

What an exhilarating and spooky book! I could not stop listening, partially because the story was so engaging and partially because it made me so anxious to know what would happen after every twist and turn of the plot. Strong female leads always make for an interesting read, and this one is really great. My first Chevy Stevens book, but hopefully not my last! Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Dark Roads
by: Chevy Stevens
Macmillan Publishers, St. Martin's Press
In this riveting thriller and murder mystery, author Chevy Stevens will have you engrossed while your heart pounds and your emotions are on edge. The setting, plot, and character development make for an experience like no other in this page turner.

The setting of the long Cold Creek Highway in British Columbia is the place where people mysteriously and eerily disappear. Teenager Hailey McBride's father, who made her feel safe, is now gone and she is left in the care of her aunt and her spouse. It is her aunt's husband in the household whom Hailey has plenty of reasons not to trust. Hailey's story unfolds and takes readers on a not to be forgotten, pulsating journey of suspense, surprise, and shock.

Thank you to Net Galley and Macmillan Publishers and St. Martin's Press for the advance reader's copy and the opportunity to provide my unbiased review.
#DarkRoads #NetGalley

My first book by Chevy Stevens and I am so glad to have experienced it via Audiobook as well as with a paperback ARC from the publisher.

A HUGE thank you to Roz Nay for putting Chevy into my radar as I had never heard of her or read any books written by her before this. Love Canadian Female Authors and their amazing support for one another!!

August 18th I get the honor and pleasure of chatting via zoom with Chevy as I have picked this book for my Book & Wine Club Toronto August selection. I cannot wait to discuss this one! Want to join us? DM me on instagram @bookwineclubtoronto - all are welcome to join the conversation while we chat and sip #sipsipZOOM #WINEnot ?!

The story was brilliantly written, based in CANADA ya'll!!! It had the reader (me) guessing and asking "whodunnit" right till the end when it is actually revealed. What a TWIST that was! Magnificent - truly!

Thank you to Chevy Stevens, Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press, the Narrators were fabulous! (Narrated by Angela Dawe; Brittany Pressley; Isabella Star LaBlanc) and NetGalley for my complimentary ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A friend of mine introduced me to Chevy Stevens earlier this year with Never Let You Go. I immediately followed up with Still Missing. So when I saw that she was back with Dark Roads, I knew I had to get my hands on it. Dark Roads did NOT disappoint. Main character Hailey lives in Cold Creek with her aunt and uncle, after her parents have died. Her uncle is one of those police officers who REALLY doesn't like teenagers and uses his badge to control every little thing. Hailey tries running away from town, but instead of assuming a runaway, the town assumes that she became another victim of the highway killer. The way Chevy Stevens tied all of this together was great. I definitely thought I had things all figured out, until about 3/4 of the way through when BAM, everything was completely changed. It was such an unexpected change, yet still a realistic one, which is what I look for in my thrillers. Of the three Chevy Stevens books I've read, this would be my least favorite. However, it was still a solid 4 star read and I will still 100% pick up whatever she puts out next.

I received an audiobook free from the publisher and Netgalley, in exchange for my review. Thank you.


Dark Roads is the newest novel by Chevy Stevens, and my first time reading this author. The novel tells the stories of two teenaged girls living in Cold Creek. A small town in Canada. Hailey and Beth are each grieving. A murderer has been abducting and murdering young women for many years, and one of the recent deaths was a girl they both loved.

Hailey has recently lost her dad and is now living with her aunt and her husband Vaughn. Unfortunately he is a cruel and controlling man who also happens to be a local cop. Hailey discovers some of his dark secrets and makes the choice to run away. She goes to a very old, abandoned cabin in the woods and hopes to survive there until her 18th birthday. Much of the town believes that she has been taken by the murderer.

Unfortunately she soon finds the body of her friend/girlfriend, Amber. She watches as Vaughan snaps photos of the body but doesnt call in the crime scene investigators. Hailey suspects that Vaughan is the killer, and while I hoped the author didn't make the answer that easy I suspected it too.

Beth, Amber's sister, arrives in town seeking answers. Unfortunately she is soon on Vaughan's bad side as well.

Told from alternating perspectives, the account is personal and intimate, giving the reader the feeling that they are inside the story.

Unfortunately there were two issues that kept me from rating the book higher. 1. I felt that Beth's part of the story started too late into the book and didn't allow me to connect with her enough. Plus it was jarring when the narrative changed so late in the story. 2. The book didn't feature the First Nations in the way I hoped going into it. I found this story minor and almost insignificant. That wouldn't have bothered me, except that it is supposed to be inspired by a true story about the deaths of Native girls. It should have either focused on this more heavily or deleted it completely.

I enjoyed the story, and it could easily have rated 4 stars if these two things were remedied.

This book is broken into three parts with the first being Haley with a creepy uncle by marriage who is a cop and is trying to overly control her life after she has to live with him and her aunt after her fathers death.

Second POV is Beth, the sister of one of the girls who was murdered on the “Dark Road”.

I went back and forth between enjoying this and feeling like it was dragging on too long. I think a good portion should have been edited out to keep the flow of the story but overall it was a decent read.

The narrator was good and I enjoy her voice.