From page one, I didn’t know where this story was going to go, and by the end, I was still left on a mental rollercoaster, not exactly sure what had just happened.
Sisters Beck and Riley Birsching are grieving the death of their mother. When looking through one of her last investigative reports of a small Arizona town called Backravel, they receive a letter in their mom’s handwriting to come find her, and they had to the town where everything immediately feels off. No cars, no cemeteries, just old rundown buildings and a mysterious, new “treatment center.” As they spend longer in the town searching for answers, mental and physical changes begin to happen to them and it’s a fight to pull themselves out.
While exploring tough topics like grief, relationships, and family, this is also a supernatural, psychological thriller that constantly kept me second guessing. There were times where the story became hard to follow, but otherwise, a really interesting premise, and great narration.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Wednesday Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This will be out June 20th.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for sending me an early copy of this audiobook! All opinions are my own!

What a fun and spooky read for all our girlies who are looking to celebrate spooky summer! This story will keep you thinking and guessing until they very end, and I loved the twists and turns it ended up taking. The story of Backravel itself is so mysterious that it would keep me up at night itself, but then adding in Beck's mother and her own journey with the town, and it was a recipe for living rent free in my mind.

I love the setting and the way that Backravel is so creep and eerie in its own right, regardless of what has happened to the people who are there. It really stands out as one of the most unsettling towns I've read about, and that makes it perfect for this adventure.

I love the story of family and loyalty that comes out of this book, and I loved the way that the characters evolved and grew despite Backravel trying to hold them back (literally). They each learned so much, not just about the town, but about themselves as well, and it really made their stories stand out.

If you're looking for a spooky read to leave you thinking, definitely check this one out!

- 3.5 Stars -

What an absolute mind trip of a book. It was a weird one for sure but I definitely enjoyed myself as I was reading/listening to this one! I really liked the plot line of the town of Backravel. Beck and Riley going to the town that their mother was obsessed with was such a good draw in and made you want to know more. The whole book actually just made you want to know and understand what the heck was going on. It really propelled me through the book (which is why it only took me a day to rip through it).

While I really liked the story, the mystery and the need to figure out what was going on the story was a little slow moving for my liking. The relationship we got to see between Beck and Riley was sweet, but seemed a little toxic with the lying. However, there is a redemption for that, but it still rubbed me the wrong way.

Overall, if you need a young adult book that will hurt your brain (in the best way) this could be the one for you!

🤍 Thank you so much to the publisher @wednesdaybooks & @macmillian.audio & @netgalley for this advanced reader copy!

⚠️TW: death of parent, grief, cancer, child death, chronic illness, death, terminal illness

Rating: 4.5/5
Pub date: June 20

I received an eARC for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this YA mystery/thriller a lot. I am so happy that St. Martin Press approved me to read this because this book has moved up to the list of books I will recommend. I really liked how different this book was from other mystery/thrillers that I have read in the past and I don’t know if it was just the plot that made it so for me or if it was the YA aspects of it.

I loved that the plot took place in AZ in a small town in the middle of nowhere, they don’t get a lot of visitors there unless they’re on their way to get help from the town founder/doctor there. However, the biggest mystery there is where are all the people who are supposed to be living there, they don’t use cars, there are no animals, no cemeteries. It’s just an eerie town and Beck is determined to find out why her mother sent her a letter telling her “Come and find me”, after her mothers’ death.

Beck is the MFC in the book and as you are reading this book you will be seeing the world through her eyes. She is a normal teenager who sadly had to grow up too fast to take care of her sick mother and younger sister, but after her death Beck and Riley take a road trip to the town that the letter came from. Beck has her mother’s knack for wanting to find out the truth about things. Just hopeful she will be able to find out the truth and still be alive afterwards.

This book was amazing. I loved the plot, I loved the characters, I loved the twists and turns and all the truth that comes out of the book. I loved how the author handled the topics of grief, panic attacks, LGBT romance. I thought the growth of Beck was done beautifully, I loved how you were there with her going through everything, trying to piece together the story. I would love to go on and on about this story, but I am worried that if I do, I will spoil the greatness of this book, so instead go pick this book up or the audio when it comes out and read it because it was a great read.

I did the eARC and the audio for this book and I thought the narrator did an excellent job. You could tell when it was another character talking to Beck but not only that she knew how to draw you in but kept you interested as well.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes YA mystery/thrillers, twists and turns, and an eerie atmosphere.

I struggled with this one. Beck Birsching has been struggling since her mother, a brilliant but unreliable investigative reporter, died. On day she receives a mysterious letter from a town called Backravel, AZ that states "Come Find Me." It seems to be from their mom. Beck and her sister, Riley, travel there to discover what their mom was actually working on. There are no graveyards, no churches and no cars. in Backravel Time keeps slipping and Beck wonders what it is about the town that makes everyone seem so lost. Their enigmatic leader, Ricky Carnes, gives the townsfolk "treatments" that seem to help them cope with any ailments, but does it actually help them? His daughter, Avery, is torn between loyalty to her father and her involvement with Beck.
Beck is complex and although not entirely unlikeable, I just couldn't empathize with her. The plot sort of meanders until the denouement, and then it's kind of like, huh. That's it? K.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio e-arc.*

I was very excited for this book, because I read Gould's other book with my library's teen book club. This one started off really spooky (which I really wanted and enjoyed) and I couldn't stop reading. But then the "twists" started and I wasn't really invested anymore. I thought the book was going to stay spooky but ended up more sci-fi, which isn't really my genre of choice.

I requested this book because I really enjoyed The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould.
We spend a lot of the book getting to know Beck and Riley and learning about why they have traveled to Backravel, Arizona. Their mother has just died from cancer and she visited Backravel many times, but told the girls they could never go. Beck wants to know why their mom went there over and over while Riley doesn't really care and just kind of wants to humor Beck before they go live with their dad in Texas. I knew this was marked as horror, so I just kind of kept waiting for the horror to show up. It crept in slowly and by the time I realized what was going on, I was really invested.
The residents of middle of nowhere Backravel seem to have no real memory of anything that happened before they moved there "a few years ago." They all moved there for treatments at the mysterious treatment facility run by Ricky Carns. These treatments succeeded where everything else failed. As Beck manages to dig deeper and deeper and find more clues, she ends up discovering more about Backravel than she bargained for.
I liked Beck, though she didn't have perfect relationships with anyone. Her relationship with Riley was strained, it felt more like Riley was taking care of Beck even though she's the younger sister. They were both processing the death of their mother in different ways. Neither of them had a good relationship with their father who left when they were young. I loved how different Beck and Riley were, Beck is very withdrawn and has panic attacks, while Riley can make friends with anyone, anywhere in a day. While in Backravel, the girls meet Avery who is Ricky's daughter. Beck and Avery hit it off, but I personally didn't feel a lot of chemistry between them. Avery had an interesting backstory though.
While the horror element did manage to hook me, there were times where my jaw dropped and there were times I was a little confused. The ending was very fast paced and exciting.
The narrator did a wonderful job, there were slight differences between each character as well as the narration which made it very pleasant to listen to.
If you are looking for an atmospheric, not too scary horror book, give this one a try!

There is a lot happening within this novel that I found engaging, however, the pace is incredibly slow. If it had been more of a slow burn my rating overall would have been higher. There were also so many plot threads that flitted around for a long time before solidifying into a connection.

Beck and Riley are grieving the recent loss of their mother as they travel from the Pacific Northwest to their father’s home in Texas. Unbeknownst to their father they take what was meant as a short detour in Backravel, Arizona. Backravel remains important to Beck as the place she lost her mother to before her illness.

Upon their arrival the residents seem an odd bunch and not exactly welcoming. Beck has various encounters before meeting Avery and attempting to get some solid answers to questions she has about the town. Questions like: why are there no cars or cemeteries and why are there weird outdated military complexes and libraries that use microfiche instead of the internet? Avery isn’t very forthcoming until it is deemed that Beck should meet the town treatment guru, her father Ricky.

This is where the plot lost me a bit with memory loss and slow connections. Example is the woman in the desert. I knew who she was in the beginning and taking the entire book to reveal her relationship was an unnecessary waste of time. The unspooling was a bit mind boggling…I’ll admit I still feel a bit unspooled after finishing.

Overall, the topic was interesting and there were parts that held my attention. The narrator does a good job as the primary voice of Beck as well. Unfortunately, there really is no twist or if there was it was incredibly predictable.

Thank you Macmillan for the audiobook copy of Where Echoes Die and Novel Suspects and Wednesday books for the physical review copy.
This is a fascinating examination of grief embedded in a mystery (but not really thriller) plot with elements of sci/fi and themes on memory and forgetting woven in. This is a hard one to review because I don't want to give the story away but I will say it is a slow burn drama with two sisters trying to understand the loss, in many ways, of their mother, visiting a town with secrets and secretive people, and layered, complex themes about wanting to move past loss and grief but also being pulled towards those feelings and memories of the past. How can the sisters merge the past with the present, memories with their future pathways?

I will also say that that the audiobook is nicely narrated, the style and slow burn pace is nicely developed and I somewhat preferred the audiobook format for keeping me engaged with the plot.

Really enjoyed this one! Eerie, spooky, and and fascinating. Makes for a wonderful audiobook! Plus wonderful lesbian rep.

I switched between the audiobook and digital copy of these eARC and thoroughly enjoyed both.

This story is part Stranger Things season 1, part Welcome to Nightvale, part Eerie Indiana. It sits with you like a layer of caked on sand. And I mean that in a good way. All vibes, written in a way that is succinct but also extremely detailed. There’s a journalistic stick to the facts flair, but it’s still literary. I can’t say much other than I loved the vibe of this book. It was an intriguing story, the narrator of the audiobook was pleasant, and overall I love this supernatural mystery! Can’t wait to get it in kids hands!!

Having loved "The Dead and the Dark", I had high expectations for this book as well. I listened to the audio version, so this review will be in reference to that.

"Where Echoes Die" was not as strong of a story for me, and I found myself losing interest in the story on occasion, my mind wandering off before snapping back to the storyline. Surprisingly, this didn't hinder my comprehension of the book. The pacing felt slow, dragged out in places where it didn't need to be.

I also had a hard time connecting to the main character and caring about her. Beck felt flat, just a few key points stacked together in the semblance of a person. I didn't invest in her, and so I wasn't rooting for her at all. In fact, I can't really think of a character I cared about.

The storyline and main premise were great. Gould is also an excellent writer. I will definitely read her next book. I just wish this one had tighter editing and more compelling characters.

As for the audiobook: The narrator was fine, but she was fairly monotone in delivery without enough difference to keep me engaged.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillian Audio for the advance copy for review.

I didn't hate is and I didn't love it. I think if I had been reading the book I would have put it aside. Listening to the audiobook while I multi tasked kept me going. This is the story of two sisters. Beck and Riley. They travel to Backravel, Arizona, a town their recently deceased mother was obsessed with. There is something strange about the town. The people seem very dissociated and forgetful. Beck wants to figure out what is going on and why her mom was so obsessed with this town.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review!

This was quite the tale. I appreciated Courtney Gould's story telling, as well as the characterization throughout the novel. Perhaps this text didn't translate as well to audio, as it felt tricky to follow at times. I would consider this a solid 3.5 and would definitely read another book by this author.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance audiobook and reader copy of Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould in exchange for an honest review. I wasn't too sure of this book as it does deal with grief and the pain of loss. I have been sensitive to that since my mom died last year. I kept listening and before I knew it, it was 2am and I was 65% done and really wanted to finish, but also needed sleep. I really liked the story of Beck and Riley and them trying to find peace after their mom died. Of them going to a town to try to understand her better and finding more than they expected. This was a beautiful and heartbreaking story that I am so glad I read.

4 out of 5 Stars

Where Echoes Die is sapphic masterpiece about stranger town, sisterhood and the grief that comes with losing a parent and coming to terms with having to move on with life after that loss.

Audiobook Review - Where Echoes Die is masterfully narrated and gives the reader all the creepy feelings that this style mystery/thriller calls for. Perfect for readers who enjoy not knowing where the story is heading. Recommended for all YA collections!

I read this as an ARC and fell in love with it. I wanted to listen to it as an audiobook because that is a whole new experience. I am so glad i did. It was amazing! The narrator was perfection. It was a great experience. I would recommend this to anyone.

This books was so much more than I expected! The audio was exceptional and it truly pulled me I to the story and elevated the entire experience.

I would say this book is a YA version of Don’t Worry Darling and a bit of Rory Power vibes.

The entire story I was wondering if there was actually magical healing going on, or if (as the reader) I was joining our main character’s, Beck, descent into a cult.

How the twists all came together in the end was satisfying and I couldn’t stop reading this book.

It hits well on the complicated topic of grief and time and what we will do to steal more time or to revisit life before our loss. As someone who has lost a loved one to cancer and then was diagnosed with cancer, I felt this story and it’s underlying themes around grief were spot on!

This book isn’t very captivating. It doesn’t grab and hold my attention. It’s an ok book but not something I will read again.
On another note the cover is beautiful.