I love the cover art on this book and the premise sounded really interesting but unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me. I struggled to get into it but kept pushing forward because I’ve seen some really good reviews for this book.

I think ultimately I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters so I wasn’t invested in the story. I found a lot of their behaviour annoying and it just wasn’t the book I was hoping for. A lot of people liked this one though so it could just be a ‘me’ thing.

A charming southern town, a creepy haunted abbey, a handsome psychopath and revenge seeking young women. This book has it all! Let me start by saying the cover is absolutely stunning! I would buy this book based on the cover alone! Then I started reading it and I was hooked! I loved that the story was told in both Beau and Leslie’s point of view. It’s a fast paced book with a twisting plot, an ending that surprised me and left me wanting more! The authors give us glimpses of hidden secrets in the Deveraux family. I can’t wait to see what is revealed in the second book! Highly recommend this dark thriller!

Teens of St. Benedict High gather on Fridays at the abandoned St. Francis Seminary. The only child of a powerful family, Beau can do no wrong. He is also a psychopath. His evil grows unchecked. In the shadows of the haunted abbey, he commits unspeakable acts on his victims and ensures their silence with threats and intimidation. Senior year, Beau sets his sights on his girlfriend’s headstrong twin sister, Leslie, who hates him. Everything he wants but cannot have, she will be his ultimate prize. Trigger warning: rape
This book gets you hooked within the first few chapters. The beginning of each chapter offers beautiful illustrations of trees, meant to look like the trees along the river where most of the book takes place. While this book is labeled horror, it felt more like thriller. I loved the pacing of this book, and I cannot get enough of the feeling this book gives while reading it.
Thank you Netgalley for a chance to read this book.

It took me awhile to truly get into this book. I’m not a big fan of high school fiction as that is not a time in my life I want to go back to. When I got over that part of the story, I was all in and I flew through it. It’s an easy read with plenty of mystery and tension. It can be hard to read at times and I highly recommend anyone considering reading this book to check the trigger warnings. The ending was both sad and shocking. And Beau, well… let’s just say he deserved much worse.

I enjoyed the writing style and appreciated the multiple POVs. Everything seemed wrapped into a neat little bow until the epilogue and then BOOM… I did not expect that!

I am curious to see what becomes of the Devereaux family as well as Leslie and Derek. I’m rooting for them! I’ll be checking out the next in the series when those books are released!

3.75⭐️

River of Ashes will forever haunt me. This psychological thriller has tormented my nights my days and filled my days with trepidation. This shocking psychological thriller is a masterpiece is not for the faint of heart. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, I could not put this book down. I had to know what made Beau Devereaux tick.

Some truths are better kept secret.
Some secrets are better off dead.

The blurb says it best, Beau Devereaux is an “American Psycho!” His twisted sense of self-worth and penchant for pain oozes from the pages and leaves you feeling dirty for having shared space with him. He is the epitome of evil. This dark, twisted, thriller is quite the page-turner from beginning to end.

The ending (no spoilers) is poetic. Karma is a BITCH!

River of Ashes is a psychological thriller set in a high school and centres around twins, Leslie and Dawn Moore. Leslie and Dawn have very different personalities and have been struggling to get along recently due to Leslie’s dislike of Dawn’s boyfriend, Beau Devereaux. Leslie’s dislike of Beau is not just personal, her sister’s boyfriend has been stalking her around the school and making inappropriate comments to her. For Beau, his interest in Leslie borders on obsessive and as the story progresses his desire to control and hurt Leslie takes a very dark turn. The story is set against the backdrop of the abandoned abbey which adds an air of unease and creepiness to an already disturbing story.

This novel reads as a young adult story due to the main characters being Seventeen years old but the themes it explores are very dark and can be disturbing to some readers. This psychological thriller twists and turns and tension builds up with each chapter until it reaches the explosive finale. It explores important topics like abuse in high school and also the pressures and influence parents can have on their children.

What this novel does well is to slowly build up the tension and create a feeling of genuine concern for the characters. I quite literally couldn’t put this book down; it was a real page turner and I couldn’t wait to get to the end as quickly as possible to find out what happened. Some of the characters were not as well rounded as they could have been and some of the situations were a little unbelievable but, when I was reading it, that didn’t matter so much because I was invested in the story and I really wanted everyone to be okay at the end. If you are looking for a fast paced dark thriller then this definitely delivers.

One final note - that cover is stunning!

Trigger warnings – sexual abuse, graphic violence

I received an Advanced reader copy of this novel. My review is given voluntarily.

I read this title in one setting. The book description gives you some idea of the story, but nothing can prepare you for what you find within these pages. Beau Devereaux is a character you love to hate. Being in his POV was hard at times but always fascinating. He was very well drawn. I would recommend this book for anyone who likes dark thrillers or Southern Gothic horror, but also as a cautionary tale to young woman everywhere. #MeToo

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers for this eARC.

This just wasnt the bok for me, however I can see how some might enjoy it.

I feel like I was tricked by the cover. I couldn't get through this book. I'm not interested in reading from the perspective of a psychotic rapist. There also should have been a warning for graphic depictions of rape.

I grabbed the ARC for this book based on two things: the phenomenal cover and the disturbing description.
The cover did not disappoint. The story? It did.
Let me start by saying that the ending of this book surprised me so much it almost had me second-guessing my three-star review and upping it to four stars.
However I expected so much more from such a twisted summary. Beau was evil and wicked and the lack of detail and dialogue with his POV really didn't help me feel as turned off by him as I should or remotely terrified. I was hoping to delve more into his psyche as he was committing his crimes. I'm sure that would unsettle some readers - and I know that some readers felt even this was too graphic - but for me it didn't shed much light on Beau's character.
We got bits and piece of each character and when an author does that I cannot immerse myself completely to enjoy the story.
What I loved was the women all binding together to help each other. I wish we could have had more details on that as well- it would not have ruined the ending one bit.

River of Ashes by Alexandrea Weis & Lucas Astor ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was an astounding story! Beau is a psychopath who has convinced the town he's the model boy. He's an expert manipulator and beastly savage underneath his golden mask.
The story unfolds with Beau's obsession with Leslie, his girlfriend Dawn's twin sister. He has major anger issues and buries it deep until he can explode on a naive girl in his special spot, The Abbey, where no one can hear them.
The story kept me so hooked that I slept only after finishing it, at 2 am. The characters were so stunningly expressed, I loved it. It was like I got a peek into the minds of rapists and psychopaths, of how they behave and get what they want. Also, it gave a gory description of the emotions of the victims. The comparison of the twins' relationship was staggering. Leslie had a perfect love relationship while Dawn was stuck up in a toxic one. I am happy that the story is in the third person as it is because of this, all the characters are justified. They were beautifully articulated.
The only thing I have a hitch is with the ending. It seemed to me very stupid of Dawn to go instead of Leslie to save her from Beau's assault. Dawn could have just informed Leslie about how Beau had overheard her plans. I'm a hundred percent sure that then Leslie would have come up with a plan with the other girls to catch him red-handed and expose his sins.
Anyway, I hope the whole town learns the truth about Beau and his family in the upcoming book(s).
I totally enjoyed this nerve-wracking and thrilling novel.

I loved this cover and I like horror books, so I requested this. This book needs a way better trigger warning, especially one before the start of the book. There's graphic rape in this book. This book follows a manipulative psychopath and the girls he hurts that team up to eventually stop him. I think this subjects in this book were handled decently but could have been handled much better. I think the psychopath got off too easy. What happened to Dawn's character wasn't right. Also, this book didn't feel scary, I just hated Beau and how some of the characters couldn't see it. I like the setting and the lore about the lady by the river and the dogs. I thought it was interesting how Beau's parents were afraid of him and allowed him to do so much of what he did.

I wasn’t sure how to rate this book. I didn’t like it but that’s because it is not a me book. Too violent. Too graphic. Please be aware of trigger warnings: rape, sexual assault, gaslighting…

However, I do recognize the excellent writing and the well defined characters. These two authors wrote well together.

And I want to add, THAT COVER!!! The artwork in the book is gorgeous! It is what caught my attention and made me want to read this book. Just beautiful!

Thank you Net Galley and Vesuvian Books for this digital arc in exchange for my honest review which is not affiliated with any brand.

River of Ashes is about a group of Teenagers from the St. Benedict Highschool who meet up at the River near the abandoned seminary of the town, to party and to get out of the sight of their parents. One of them is Beau Devereaux. He is the most popular guy of the school, star of the football team and his family practically owns the whole town. Everyone is charmed by him and only a few people notice his psychopathic and evil character. At the seminary he commits horrible crimes on his victims and threatens them to keep their silence.
One of the first to see his true self is Leslie, Beau's girlfriend ´s twin sister, which he is obsessed with. The more victims appear, the more obvious it gets, that someone has to stop Beau Devereaux.

Leslie: Is strong willed and doesn't give anything on the opinion of others, including her parents. She sees through the image Beau created of himself and tries everything to get her sister away from him. Leslie struggles that Beau gets everyone to believe that he is the nice guy and she is just crazy. It takes everyone else too long to see what he is up too and even Leslie isn't aware of how cruel he really is.
Dawn: Has the feeling of always being second behind her perfect sister. The tries to appear different from Leslie and wants to be better than her in everything they do, starting with being the perfect daughter. She thinks she has achieved her goal, when she starts dating Beau, who is the most popular guy and comes from a wealthy and most influential family of the town. She don't want to believe her sister, that her boyfriend isn't the charming guy she believes he is, but utterly cruel and evil.
Beau: His future is already planned out by his father and he has the family's reputation to uphold, even though his father knew of agressions and of what Beau is capabel of. Beau's father wants him to shut his emotions down and encourages his manipulative behavior with this even more.

First of all I want to point out, that you should definitely read the trigger warnings before starting this book. A lot of serious topics are addressed, such like bullying, abuse, rape and sexual assault, gaslighting and excessive violence. River of Ashes is partly written of the villains view and he is not your typical morally grey character or an antagonist you kind of like. He is truly a terrible and evil person, you should be aware of that! I would recommend to read the author's note at the end of the book. You get a good explenation and background, why they created such a violent storyline.
For me, there were a little bit too many passages from Beau's point of view. I would like to have read more about the emotions and struggles of the ones he is terrorizing. Especially of Dawn's way of thinking and her change of opinion of her relationship with Beau. Some parts of her evolution seems too slow, some too fast.
I really liked how the girls stuck together at the end of the book and would have also liked to read more about them!
River of Ashes gives you all the creepy and disgusted feelings you would expect from such heavy topics, but also get you thinking about how easy it is not to recognize the signs and to overview what happens to people around you.