thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy of Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves. If where the crawdads sing was more adult and more detailed, this is it.

3.5 ⭐️

𝐂𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬
𝐁𝐲 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐫
𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫: 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝟓.𝟑𝟎.𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑

Thank you @bookmarked for the gifted ebook.

📖 Years ago, yellow fever gripped the small lakeside town of Prosper, Arkansas. At the height of that summer swelter, in the wake of an unexpected storm, the dam failed and the valley flooded—drowning the town and everyone trapped inside.

The secrets of old Prosper drowned with them.

Now, decades later, when a mysterious locked box is pulled from the depths of the lake, three descendants of that long-ago tragedy are hurled into another feverish summer. Cassie: the reclusive sole witness to an impossible horror no one believes. Lark: a wide-eyed dreamer haunted by bizarre visions. June: caught between longing for a fresh start and bearing witness to the ghosts of the past. Bound together, all three must contend with their home’s complex history—and with the ruins of the town lost far beneath the troubled water.

🪲 🪦 📦


I’ll be honest; I’m still mulling this story over in my mind; it was not what I expected. A slow and haunting tale, to be sure, but I did get a bit distracted by the three POVs and their own stories.

There are some big themes here: race and class inequalities and injustices, as well as grief and loss. But they kind of float in amongst the narrative and never gain solid ground. This does offer atmospheric Southern gothic fiction, with a touch of magical realism, and it’s based on a real town that suffered a flood in the 1950s.

So, I really loved the ideas behind this one. There was some magical realism, various POVs with interesting stories, some ghost story vibes, and it was all based on actual historical events that I can’t believe happened, honestly.

Unfortunately, the execution didn’t really work for me. I would often read something and then have to go back and read it again because I didn’t get what was going on or I felt like I missed something. The characters were all interesting, but they were also kind of one-dimensional, and that made it very difficult to remember who was who.

I also felt that it dragged quite a bit. I wish a big chunk in the middle could’ve been cut out. I found that I wasn’t invested until close to the very end, and although I enjoy a slow burn, this was a bit too slow for me.

I can see this being a huge hit for some people, so make sure to check it out if it sounds interesting!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for my gifted copy!

Such a beautiful story I loved it!
Covers different genres
It gave me the actual feeling like if I was at a lake!
So many feels! Love the cover that’s what caught my attention more. Thank you for letting me read this amazing book.

I loved the atmospheric writing of this one. I thought it was nice for summertime and I enjoyed the lake setting as well. However, I struggled with the different perspectives in the book as it was difficult to distinguish the different characters. I was also a bit bored with the lack of plot still at 40% into the book.

This book comes from the point of view of three women. It is how they are each connected to the lake and what had happened back in the 1930’s. Back then there was a town there but it got wiped out one hot summer day by a flood that broke the damn. This is each of their stories from what they remember of then and what they are still going through today.
This is such a good book, the characters and each of their stories. I loved this book coming from the south and loving good haint stories. I hope you all will try this book and love it as much as I do.

This book is filled with wonderful writing however, it is not a light-hearted read. It’s deep and multi-layered. It deals a lot with loss and letting go.

This was based off the true facts when a dam flooded a town in Arkansas in the 1950's and how those traumatic events linger and change the lives of generations. The characters were strong and the place atmospheric and haunting. I loved the magical supernatural elements. I found this very thought provoking so very different than the main stream and I really liked that. I listened to the audio book. Great debut.

Dawnny Ruby
Novels N Latte
Hudson Valley NY

#cicadassingofsummergraves
#quinnconnor
#sorcebookslandmark
#bookclubread
#2023debutreads

The cover of this strange book is what captured my attention. The story bounces between the three main characters; Cassie, Lark, and June. The story is suspenseful in its own magical and weird way. I actually like the lake setting. If you read Science fiction and fantasy, this book is for you. As for me, I'm staying away from Arkansas. Thanks to author Quinn Connor, Sourcebooks Landmark, and NetGalley. I received a complimentary copy of this ebook. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

This book had such an amazing premise. I was so ready to be hooked into a generational ghost story with sunken history, but this book didn’t not deliver. So much of the paranormal aspects were not well explained from the start, and weren’t resolved/explained further at the end.

The prose in the book is beautiful and atmospheric, I loved the lyrical descriptions of scenery. The characters were also colorful and interesting, I wanted to know more about them and wish I did. The murdery teenagers were a random bit halfway through that didn’t sit well with me either.

Overall this book had promise, but doesn’t quite deliver. I’d like to try another book by the authors and see if they tighten their flow because the ideas and writing were there.

I was excited to read this one because I’ve always been fascinated and horrified by the stories of real towns that were flooded to create lakes. This book is about a fictional town in Arkansas that suffered a similar fate during an outbreak of Yellow Fever and the secrets of the past and how they can haunt us. I did have a somewhat difficult time getting into this one because I kept getting the 3 main POV characters (all young women) and their back stories confused. It was difficult to set down and pick up again for this reason - it would always take a bit to reorient myself and figure out who was who, which isn’t ideal when I’m trying to read in short snippets. The chapters are long and the story is a bit confusing at first as you try to work everything out and figure out what’s going on (namely the magical realism/supernatural elements, which weren’t explained very well in my opinion). I kept thinking there would be a turning point where I’d be hooked and things would start speeding up and we’d get some answers, but it didn’t really happen, at least not enough to make up for the slog through the first 80%. At 368 pages, I think it could have benefited from tighter plotting. All of that said, there were some definite pros. In true Southern gothic style, the setting is very atmospheric - I could almost feel the summer humidity and cicada songs while I read, and the eerie vibe of the lake and its previous (and current) inhabitants. The writing is also lush and descriptive - I would definitely try another book from this author duo. Overall, I liked but didn’t love it and thought there were areas for improvement.

Pub Date: 5/30/23
Review Date: 6/20/23
eARC received from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book should have been something I loved - haunting, beautiful writing, magical realism. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me. I love multi POV stories, but I had a hard time differentiating between our POV characters. Also, in a book like this I expect the atmosphere to carry the story, but it just wasn’t there for me.

At turns haunting and breathtaking, Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves explores legacies of love, family, and the ghostly imprint grief leaves behind as three women face the past to bring light to an old Southern town lost deep beneath the surface.

Years ago, yellow fever gripped the small lakeside town of Prosper, Arkansas. At the height of that summer swelter, in the wake of an unexpected storm, the dam failed and the valley flooded—drowning the town and everyone trapped inside.

The secrets of old Prosper drowned with them.

Now, decades later, when a mysterious locked box is pulled from the depths of the lake, three descendants of that long-ago tragedy are hurled into another feverish summer. Cassie: the reclusive sole witness to an impossible horror no one believes. Lark: a wide-eyed dreamer haunted by bizarre visions. June: caught between longing for a fresh start and bearing witness to the ghosts of the past. Bound together, all three must contend with their home’s complex history—and with the ruins of the town lost far beneath the troubled water.

This book was intriguing and interesting with twists around every corner!

First off the cover of this book is stunning! This story is eerie, creepy and will have you hooked.
Cassie, Lark was my favorite character in this book.
Such a great slow burn mistical magical book. I wanted more of this story, I really hope there will be another book.

I loved the premise of this book but it was confusing to read and the elements of magic realism, which I usually love, only made it more confusing rather than enhancing the story. Not for me.

I am so thankful to Sourcebooks Landmark, Quinn Connor, and NetGalley for getting advanced digital and physical copies of his book before publication day. What a seriously twisted and demented tale needing to be told. I am literally living for this book.

Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves tells the story of three women and their connections to the town of Prosper. It's a mix of genres, it has a bit of everything, but I'd say fantasy (and magical realism) best describes the book. As the book introduces many things, many POVs, the plot ends up being a bit confusing. And since it's pretty slowpaced doesn't help a bit. The book only got me after 60% and I considered DNFed it several times, and you can see it took me about 4 months to finish reading. But despite that, it is a very well written book. Extremely descriptive, with long chapters and a lot of history to tell. Unfortunately it's not my type of book, but I'm sure a lot of people will like it.

Very complex story that took me longer to read than other stories due to the number of narrators. I enjoyed how eerie it was at times, and I enjoyed the glimpses of queer joy among the complex relationships.

Story follows three characters: Cassie, Lark, and June. This one is very much a slow burn, and there are elements of magical realism within. While I do typically enjoy a slow burn , this one did seem to drag on to get to the point. I was just left hoping for more. More out of the characters and more out of the stories.

This is LGBTQ representative which was a welcome addition.

Overall enjoyed the story, and felt myself wanting more, of what I am not sure. Either way go grab a copy and come to your own conclusions!

I’ll start with the things I loved. I loved the southern imagery and the descriptive and atmospheric language used mostly towards the beginning to set the story up. The author did a great job pulling the reader in.

What didn’t work for me - the shifting of multiple POVs made it very confusing to follow the point of the story. I found myself going back and forth to try and figure out who was speaking. There was not clear direction of where the story was going and why we are supposed to care about the characters.

I enjoyed the book, but find myself wondering why I am having a hard time explaining what the story was about.

Thank you to sourcebooks, netgalley, and the author for the copy of this book on exchange for an honest review.