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.

DNF at 58% the story felt extremely repetitive. I loved the intrigue, the setting. The romance was cute. The mystery is fun and unsettling. However at the point of 58% i felt like we were going around in circles with no new development for the last 10-15%. It made me lose interest.

Do you want to know the end to the story? Then you miss the journey there. This was a great character driven story. Avril is a great MC that is driven figure out her past while at an intensive acting camp that her mother died at. You go on this journey with Av as she discovers the truth about what happened that night and becoming the person she is meant to be. I also enjoyed the tragic romance between Avril and Cole.

I loved the uniqueness and cleverness of Ginny Myers Sain prior novel, so I knew I had to read Secrets So Deep, and I can tell you the experience I had with this one was just as immersive. YA used to be one of my go-to genres, but I have since then cut way back on them, and it has to be something that REALLY interests me now to get me to read one. Clearly, this is saying something, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this if you want a YA that is both gripping and extraordinarily unique. Some parts were just plain weird (sorry not sorry), but this author has such a beautiful way of writing that nothing was going to stop my enjoyment. Also, the parts that I found weird were important to the story and in no way is weird a bad thing here. The storyline is so vivid, and I was a huge fan of how the fog felt like a character in itself.

Valerie Rose Lohman is the narrator for the audiobook and while her reading pace was probably too slow overall, I really enjoyed listening to her. She was also quite lovely as Avril, so if you asked me if I would recommend listening to the audio I would say yes. I loved that Secrets So Deep has some romance elements going as well as a mystery, and I was completely invested in both of them. It's hard not to root for Avril and with a setting as creepy and ominous as the one that Myers Sain created here, it's also hard not to be on edge the entire time. I really had no idea what to expect from the end, and what happens was a complete surprise to me. I'm sure there are some people out there who will see the major twist coming, but I did not, and I almost got chills at the audacity of it. Myers Sain is one of my top young adult authors now, and I will continue to read everything she puts to the page.

a beautiful haunted story, such a wild ride. This was great to dive into after reading Dark and Shallows lies last year, which I absolutely loved. The characters were luring. I enjoyed the romantic side on me. The mystery in Whispering Cove, was definitely hypnotizing. I would have loved to learn a bit more about the reasoning behind everything. I loved the twists the author took, it kept me interested in the story.