I really wanted to like this story but it just fell a little flat for me. The narrator though did a great job. Maybe in the future I’ll try it again.

I love books that explore grief in interesting ways, so naturally Where Echoes Die sounded like a good book to read. We have a teenage girl who is trying to come to terms with her mother’s death, but is really clinging to every last echo of her in the world. This leads her into a precarious situation that threatens the well being of her and her little sister.

I thought that the plot of this story was interesting. Backravel is a strange place where a lot of unexplained things are happening. I enjoyed the mystery while Beck unravels what is happening.

That said, the story does require a lot of suspension of disbelief. We get a concept that explains the mystery, but I thought the explanation of how it is happening could’ve been a bit more thorough.

All in all, if you enjoy a mix of young adult, mystery, science fiction, and grief, you will likely enjoy this book.

Thank you to Netgalley, Courtney Gould and Wednesday books for the audio-ARC of this book. This in no way affects the objectivity of my review.

There is definitely a lot to follow in this book. The intricate world building is top notch but can be challenging to keep up with.

Two sisters have recently lost their mother. On top of grieving, there is an air of mystery surrounding a good portion of her life that Beck can't let go of. They decide to go to Backgravel for a vacation before moving to live with their father. Backgravel is the town their mother was continually drawn to for years.

There's just so much to this story. It's clear that Backgravel is an unusual town. It's just a matter of determining why and how bad it truly is. But none of that is as easy as it sounds. This book definitely feels a bit Twin Peaks to me. It's unexpected and twisty but still follows a standard recipe. For instance, there's always a bad person (or people) at the helm in a story like this. That person is typically hiding something and may or may not have the well being of the town as a priority.

While the main characters are struggling through trying to uncover the mysterious town of Backgravel much like Scooby Doo and his crew would do, they also make some solid discoveries about who they are as people. It's a book that really speaks to someone who's trying to find their way.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The audio was done quite well with top notch narration. 4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for early copies of both the ebook and audiobook. I chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I love YA so I knew that I would be intrigued by this novel. It’s also my first from the author and I would definitely read more. I love a creepy town setting and Back Gravel definitely fits the bill. The mysterious people, lost time and treatment center were great additions to the plot. The sci-fi vibe was a plus too. I always wonder why teen characters always have to do such stupid things sometimes though because I was always a cautious kid so I can’t relate to that. I do kind of wish the story was flushed out a little bit more though. I felt I needed more about Beck’s mother and I wanted to know more about what happens to Avery. There’s mystery, thriller vibes and some sapphic romance. I also enjoyed the narration and it kept my interest. I would recommend this book.

Thank you to the publisher for the ALC. I loved the Dead and the Dark and Where Echoes Die was even better.

I did listen to the audiobook and would recommend that as a format choice. The narration is excellent. I felt it fit the tone of the story very well. During the story, Beck will form some relationships, and have to figure out her relationship with her sister, and of course, come to terms with what happened to their mother. So it is definitely emotional and certainly mysterious! I felt quite invested in this creepy town as well as Beck's journey. Can't wait for more from this author!

The cover of this book is absolutely amazing!!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Young Listeners for allowing me to listen to this ARC for my honest opinion .

After Becca and Riley convince their dad they’re going to Gabby‘s house for a few days before permanently moving to Texas with him and his wife they go to a little town called Back Gravel. The Little town is nestled in the middle of a bunch of nothing… Just desert but her mom was obsessed with this town. Her mom was a reporter and like research reporters they tend to get a little manic but this time it totally went overboard and led to the loss of her life and Becca and broadly want to know why? It’s mainly Becca who wants to know and she does her best to find out while poor Riley sits in the trailer day after day but it seems the more questions Becca ask The more it seems they’re watching her and since the beginning of their trip she now has more questions such as what are those ruins in the desert, what is the treatment center for, and who is Ricky and why does everyone revere him? There is someone who is take a notice and doesn’t mind if Becca know she’s watching she’s Ricky‘s daughter and although they at first have a love-hate relationship… Mostly eight it may just turn into something else. Will Becca find out everything she wants to know about that gravel or will they be run out of town and why does everyone keep axing Becca if she’s been there before? This book was so good and I like the narrator but sometimes it felt as if she was just reading the text and I couldn’t tell if that was part of her performance but either way I think she did a pretty good job now reading this great book. I love horror stories and this one is original and so good! Is there a book I highly recommend if you love strange towns with even stranger people then you love Where Echos Die. I love horror stories and have been really lucky out with good ones this one is definitely included. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

This was weird but in a good way I think. Two sisters go to this little town and the older one is investigating some of her dead mom's notes from her journalist career and trying to figure out what is going on in this town because something is up. There's some magical elements and some horror and some suspense with a little sprinkling of sapphic romance. It was a good book and one that I think that I'd recommend to people who like semi cozy / messy mystery horror-esque books. That feels a little bit niche but whatever

Courtney Gould does it again! WHERE ECHOES DIE delivers all the small-town-with-a-secret vibes you could possibly want. A rich and creeping dissection of grief and the horrible things some will do to erase it.

Rating: 3.1 leaves out of 5
Characters: 3/5
Cover: 4/5
Story: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Horror: .5/5
Genre: Horror/Mystery/Thriller/Sci-fi/LGBT/Romance
Type: Audiobook
Worth?: Yeah


Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to listen to this book.

For the people who know me, they know I don't like YA. I am very turned off by the genre BUT this was kind of well done. Yes, Becca has her YA moments but given what she has gone through I can't fault her for it, plus you know... her age and all. Though I usually say that writers need to stop making their characters stupid. Just because they are a teen doesn't mean they don't have freaking brains. These adult AF writers need to learn that shit real fast.

Courtney is a prime example of having a teen be a teen but have brains. Kudos. You might be asking well, if you liked it so much why is it so low rating? Well, as you can tell it is the horror part of it all. I wouldn't call this a horror. I'd call it a mystery thriller. I get the concept of it all could be scary but in the end I am not really scared at all. Also, reactions. BOY LEMME TELL YA. How she treated her sister that WHOLE time and how her sister was a WEE bit mad but MEH about it all? That isn't a normal reaction nor can it be justified. I was gravely disappointed in that whole bit. This could have been an easy 4.5 or even 5 if it hadn't have been for those two things.

In the end, is it worth? YES! If you like things like A Cure for Wellness I HIGHLY suggest this book to you.

Backravel, AZ is not your normal town. Beck realizes this as soon as she arrives, following a mysterious note from her deceased mother telling her to go to the middle-of-nowhere desert town. The more time she spends in this town, the more she needs to know its secrets and find out what really drew her mother here and why she left. It also helps that she's being pulled toward Avery, one of the town's residents.

I hate to compare this to The Dead and the Dark because aside from the author, these books are completely different. However, I LOVED The Dead and the Dark, but Where Echoes Die just didn't have the same impact on me. I didn't much care for Beck, and when what the town was all about was revealed, I wasn't that impressed as I thought it would be something with much more impact.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. Isabella Star LaBlanc was a fine narrator, but this book just wasn't for me.

This book wasn't for me. I can see how others may like it.. especially those in the YA era. I usually enjoy YA but this one just wasn't a great fit for me!

I really liked Courtney Gould's debut and sophomore books are notoriously difficult but Gould really nailed it! Her writing is excellent and Isabella Star LaBlanc did a great job narrating; I thought she made the desert setting in particular come to life and her voice seemed to fit Beck perfectly. I'd listen to anything by LaBlanc and read anything by Gould again!

*3.75 Stars*

Beck has been spiraling ever since she lost her mom but now, she has a plan. Before moving to another state at her dad's, she'll go with her sister to the place her mom was obsessed with for a good part of her life, she has notes and will figure everything out. But she didn't tell her sister why she wanted to go and is lying to her dad about where she is. And yet, that's the least of her worries, because this town is not just weird, it might actually be dangerous...

This started very well, I was very intrigued and freaked out in the best way. The atmosphere was so eerie and I truly fell into the rabbit-hole. I was captivated and couldn't stop reading but after a while, I kind of lost the plot. It became a bit too messy? I don't know... I lost interest by the end... I'm honestly not sure that it was the book's fault though, might have just been my brain. I just felt like the end was rushed but the middle was very slow? Basically, to me, the pacing was off. But I still liked this book overall... I found the setting, the characters, the relationships between the characters, especially between the sisters so well written and interesting.
Basically, a good horror novel, with ups and downs, but very entertaining and I can't wait to read more by Courtney Gould.

I think that this book was definitely too long. It really dragged on. The characters lacked a lot of depth outside of Beck and Avery. I mean, even Beck's sister seemed to just be there for plot convenience, lacking a lot of long-term value, so much that she was basically written out of the first two days in Backravel.

Overall, though, the story was amazing. It reminds me of the movie Palm Springs. The climax was gripping, however slightly predictable.

The narrator was alright. She didn't do anything award-winning, but she did her job, and she did it well.

Heartfelt take on being an adult child to an aging parent. Unfortuntely, for me, I felt the narrative dragged through batches of information and to get to action. At 50%, I DNFed due to pacing and lack of interest. For fans of slow burn mysteries.

Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould was such a great book. I was approved for the ebook version which I enjoyed so I was excited when I was also approved for the audiobook so I had to re-read and it was so damn good. I can read this book over and over again and never get tired of it. Courtney Gould knew what she was doing when she wrote this book.

This was an excellent sophomore novel by Courtney Gould. I really enjoy the way Gould creates eerie small towns and sets up spooky happenings. This one definitely had me intrigued from the very beginning. Some of the suspenseful pieces were a little slower than I would like, but the last third of this really made up for it.

I loved the way this book handled grief and it certainly made for an emotional ending.

The narrator did a fantastic job.

Overall I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good spooky yet emotional read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

This is a really hard one to review because to say much of anything truly feels like a spoiler. Where Echoes Die follows two sisters who are grieving the death of their mother. The older daughter, Bec, is determined to find out the truth about a place her mother frequently visited. She takes her sister Riley to visit this town where nothing is what it seems and the inhabitants appear to be suffering similar memory problems to those of their deceased mother. Bec starts following her mom’s notes to try to piece together the mysteries of the town.

This is such an interesting story that explores one of my favorite story tropes *spoiler alert* Groundhogs Day and explores how we handle grief. I would recommend this story to anyone who’s experienced a loss, or to anyone who likes stories that talk about the more difficult parts of life.

Courtney Gould knows how to make it weird but also have that touch of heartfelt in their books!

I might have been very consumed or maybe Backravel stole my memories cause when i reached the end i was like "wait were done" not even realizing i reached the end of the book.