I am so appreciative for the ARC from the publisher. I requested this when I read Young Adult books, and that is no longer the case. While this book sounds wonderful, my review won't be a fair assessment of the book.

I hate saying one of my favorite authors is so hit or miss for me but this is another book by them that I didn't enjoy. I picked it up and put it down multiple times over the years but I finally buckled down and binged it and now I'm sad. This book just felt really dull to me. I loved the eerie setting but other than that I didn't enjoy much. I love how the author throws in fantastical elements in her books but this one fell a little flat for me. I enjoyed how much it picked up towards the end but I was also really happy to be done reading it.

Ginny Myers Sain's sophomore novel follows an aspiring actress as she pieces together what happened to her mother--and her--over a decade prior as she attends a theater program in the same coastal Connecticut town where her mother died and she almost died. Avril remembers bits and pieces of that summer, and being back in the town seems to bring them back in a major way. Avril also struggles because she knows that there are things that the adults in her life, including Willa who is running the program, aren't telling her which I thought was done well, too.
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I also liked the relationships in this book. Avril befriends a boy in the program, Lex, and I loved their friendship. This book (unsurprisingly) got really emotional at times, and I loved how Lex was there for Avril. She also ends up falling for Willa's son, Cole, with whom she has some history she's seemingly forgotten. Since this book is about Avril uncovering repressed memories in order to figure out what actually happened 12 years prior, I thought it was interesting how she also has to work through past memories with Cole while coming to see him in a different, more romantic, light.
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This book does have some supernatural elements, but it's not scary per se-- more so emotional and shocking. It's still a good spooky season read, though.

Honestly I almost DNFed this book multiple times. I don’t know if it was the characters or the actual writing but I did not want to finish this book. Overall I thought the story was good but something big felt like it was missing.

This is not for me. Slow pacing and I just don’t care about the characters. I have a harder time with modern day set YA because I don’t relate as well and just get frustrated with choices.

I feel like this could have been at least a 3 star read for me if it weren't for the slow pacing. This book either needed more action or less pages because it seemed to take forever to get through. I figured out what was going on very very early on and the twist wasn't a twist for me.

This book was an absolutely enticing read. The author's attention to detail and world building was phenomenal, and I was at the edge of my seat during the entire read. As a former thespian, I am usually a bit apprehensive about theatre-based books, but there was no cause for concern here. This was so well written!

This book was really good and I absolutely loved it!
The mystery aspect was absolutely perfect. This is one of those books that you get lost in and don't even realize your reading. I kept thinking about this book all the time while reading and never felt that I had to force myself to finish. The characters were amazing and I loved them! I loved her boy best friend the most. I also didn't know that there was going to be any romance sub plot in this book but it
made it even better and kept me very interested.
The mystery of her mother was very
good and paced out really well. Nothing was rushed or too slow. I loved the ending and was very shocked and surprised too.

Read if you like:
-YA
- mystery
-thriller
-suspense
-romance

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for sending me
an ARC.

Archived prior to being able to read the book. Lost interest in trying to pick it up. I was originally interested but as it sat in my library, I did not feel the summary grabbed my attention anymore.

3.5/5 Stars

Twelve years ago, Avril's mother drowned at Whisper Cove theatre. It was deemed an accident, but Avril has always felt that something else may have happened. She decides to return, participating in the theatre camp run by her mother's best friend, Willa, hoping to unravel the mystery behind her death.

This started of very slow, and didn't quite pick up pace much as the story continued. The setting of the theatre camp was interesting, and I thought the mystery was intriguing. I liked how everyone seemed to be a suspect at one point or another. I thought the concept of the fog was cool, and wanted to know more about why that kept happening. I did find it a bit strange that the adults didn't seem all that concerned as Avril continued to sleep walk, pass out and just seem to be completely out of it repeatedly... I will say that the book could have probably been shorter, as it became a bit repetitive, and still given us the same message. Didn't care for the romance between Willa's son Cole and Avril and felt that it was very insta-lovey. I would have preferred the story to focus more on the paranormal aspect of the story. I liked the friendships Avril had with Lex especially, a lot more then the romance.

Overall it was a quick read, and would be a great spooky autumn read for the fog alone.

This book was a DNF for me, I really tried to get into it but struggled so much and just could not connect. I think it may just be my struggle with the YA genre but I may give this one a try at a later date

Ginny Myers Sain is easily becoming a favorite author of mine! And why are her covers always the most stunning?!

I’d had my eye on Ginny Myers Sain’s works for a while, despite my rocky relationship with young adult thrillers, but I was so happy to be approved for an Advance Reader Copy. However, I found the pacing of this novel to be much too slow for my liking. I considered DNFing, but I managed to slog through to the end. I will likely not be reading any other works from Ginny Myers Sain, unless there is an interesting genre change.

All I have to say is:
URGHHHHHHH IMMEDIATE 5 STARS


Into the real review now.....the ending made me question what I thought I knew when it came to my theories, it made me question the ending, the answers that Avril was looking for, everything. EVERYTHING. This book it just blew me away. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time and I have absolutely nothing else to say because this book was just THAT amazing. Go read it right now. Right now. Go.

2.5/5 stars, it just slowed down way too quickly

Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group & Razorbil for the arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

A year ago I was granted this arc and did not have time to get to it unfortunately during my adjustment period into my first semester of college. This year I wanted to read it and see what I was missing out on but unfortunately, I did not enjoy it. My reading experience started off strong with the audiobook, as I've really enjoyed lately listening to more audiobooks, but over time it just...lost my interest.

The idea of the story was unique, but the writing style didn't give me enough incentive to feel very involved with the characters and the story. There just wasn't enough tension for me to feel like I should care about anything happening and that was the big problem. That was pretty much why it took me so long to finish because I could not bring myself to be excited.

[TW: death of loved ones and parent mentioned, underage drinking, drowning, mental health depiction]

This was unfortunately a DNF for me at 37% after spending a month trying to push through it. I’m defeated because Dark and Shallow Lies was a five star read but I’m just so bored by this. I will continue to pick up her books, though.

SYNOPSIS: At Whisper Cove theater, the sea takes what (and who) it wants. Avril's mother was taken by the sea many years ago, and she has returned to the scene of the crime to uncover if there's more to this unbelievable story. She struggles to piece together her memories of that night, and hopes spending time at the theater will help her remember what she has lost.

MY FEELS: As much mystery and intrigue there was throughout the story, I felt that the ending just didn't deliver the way I had hoped. The ghost story elements were really fun and entertaining, but the pacing didn't grip me throughout the entire book. It was good overall, just not a favorite of mine.

3/5 Stars

[Gifted by Razorbill/Penguin Teen and Netgalley - thank you! All opinions are my own.]

Sometimes this one moved too fast and sometimes too slow. I liked the flashback scenes and that at times it felt like it had a magical/fantastical element to it. In the end it was a murder mystery that was a predictable but enjoyable.

Love Ginny Myers Sain and the dark gothic way in which she writes. Her debut was one of my favorite books the year it came out. I found myself loving this book too. Oh the story's she tells!

It honestly pains me to say that this was a waste of my time. I should have just DNF this in order to avoid reviewing it.

I absolutely loved Dark and Shallow Lies. It was a fantastic debut. Maybe I expected too much from this one.

This book felt entirely too long. So much could have been removed. I also knew immediately who the killer was. There was one detail that the author kept plugging in for absolutely no reason. After the third time I knew it would be significant and how I figured out the mystery.

Maybe it’s cause I’m a mom but I was incredibly annoyed by the fact that one seemed really worried about the MC. This girls is passing out left and right but no one bats an eye? Um what?

I’m also still confused. Is this supernatural or not? I honestly can’t tell.

I will still read her next book and I’m hoping I love it as much as her debut.