The concept behind this book drew me in right away. Imagine being able to see swirling dark clouds above someone when something bad was about to happen… and have the ability to possibly help them. The inner turmoil Whitney struggles with throughout the book from choices she made and the impacts those choices had… gripped me. Would you make similar choices if you had the chance? Does everyone deserve a second chance?

This book was so good 😍

4. Wow! This is a different way of looking at school shootings than I’ve ever seen portrayed before. At first, I wasn’t sure how to feel about having a sort of fantasy-super hero type ability Involved in such a brutal, real type of event. As I read on, I really began to respect what the author did here. This has all the twisty drama of good YA thrillers, and I like that our main character struggles to figure out who is attacking her. She s definitely age and stage appropriate.. The fact that the book starts after the shooting, as the entire community struggles through the first anniversary is good. The effects of school shooting on the larger population and the different ways grief shows up are seldom addressed by the media. Yes, read it. It’s great and there is a lot to pull a part and examine in a classroom, book club, or lit circle group. Excellent choice, I’ll be looking for more from this author,

I wanted to love this book, but I just couldn’t! I found the writing so immature and disjointed that it was distracting from the story.

This book follows Whitney, a high schooler who has a secret: she can see death. When a dark cloud appears over someone, Whitney knows they're marked to die. The darker and larger the cloud, the more immediate the threat. Despite her grandma's warnings about interfering, Whitney can't resist saving people when she can. Until one day, a person she saves goes on to commit a school shooting. Whitney blames herself and resolves not to tell anyone about her role in the tragedy. But as the anniversary of the event approaches, she starts getting mysterious notes blackmailing her: tell the truth about her involvement, or her family and friends die. 

This was a fun and fast-paced thriller with some good red herrings and a satisfying reveal---I did guess who was behind everything, but not the full motivation, so the AHA moment still got me. I liked Whitney but she suffers from the same issues a lot of YA thriller characters do: some extremely questionable decisions worthy of me texting my mother about to complain. I think that's a pitfall of the genre, though, and teenagers can be dumb, so. There were a couple of lines that took me out of the story with how awkwardly hard they were trying to sound Gen Z (ex. "I hope when I'm married my husband stans me like that.") but for the most part I enjoyed the writing. 

I'm not usually a huge supernatural powers fan, but I really liked Whitney's. It was unique enough that I wanted to learn more about it, but it wasn't so strong of an ability that it made the plot ridiculous. Nothing more awkward than wondering why someone doesn't just fix a problem with their easily accessible magic. The moral questions and implications of her ability and fate were really interesting, and made for a story that was both compelling and also full of depth and nuance. If Whitney's not-fully-formed brain hadn't made me facepalm several times this concept could have been 5 stars for me, but overall I had a good time anyway! Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Book read like a movie. Which I really enjoyed. Not sure if seeing death is a gift or a curse but this book made it seem like both. Highly recommend.

This book really had a lot of triggering things for me and I didn't even survive a school shooting. It wasn't what I expected at all, which for some reason was some kind of paranormal horror book. However there are some good topics touched on here.

3.75 Stars
The story opens almost a year after a mass shooting at a high school football game. Whitney and her friends are seniors and are still reeling from this, but Whitney also feels a sense of guilt. With her special ability to see death coming for someone, she feels she could have made different choices that would have resulted in fewer deaths. Whitney has been able to see a cloud above the head of those that are near death since she was seven years old. The darker the cloud the closer it is. She has always felt like her job was to save these people, and was proud of this role. Her grandmother, who also had this ability, warned her to ignore the clouds, and not to tell anyone, but Whitney didn't listen. Was the death toll at the football game her fault? How could she have allowed this to happen?

This book is a compelling read, and the ability to see death added a valuable component to the story. The author does a good job of portraying teenaged angst regarding friendship, romance and perceptions. If you, like me, are a sucker for a well written YA novel, pick this one up!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Solid YA thriller with an intriguing and immersive story. Loved Whitney's character and tenacity. Really well done. Would definitely read more by this author.

Tysm for the e-arc!

This reminds me of a book I read when I was younger.
Having to choose between letting someone die or saving them, knowing that if you save them that they could do something evil.
Imagine having to make that decision every day.

Y’all I tore this book UP. From the very beginning the concept was interesting to me, and I loved how Stokes seems to blend an element of magic into the midst of a fast paced thriller. I was engaged from start to finish as the suspense is well constructed and keeps you on your toes for sure. It was heart wrenching to read about the aftermath of a school shooting, especially knowing that there are so many in real life who are suffering and experiencing the same kinds of things that the characters in the story are going through. I also really liked how profound this book was, looking at issues of agency, responsibility, and the ripple effect that ensues from our choices. It was something I didn’t necessarily expect to see in a YA book but really liked. Whitney as a character had some flaws for sure but she was interesting and her romance with Isaac was really cute. Overall this book just hooked me and I thoroughly enjoyed!

Thank you to Penguin Teen for gifting me both an arc of both the ebook and a physical copy!

Rating: 4.5/5

The Darkness Rises by Stacy Stokes was an engaging YA mystery/thriller.
Brimming with eerie mystery and hair-raising details. Once I started reading this book I couldn’t stop!
This story definitely had me interested from the beginning, but to get to the ending and the twist of it all. Amazing.
Overall, it’s an entertaining, fast-paced, smartly executed YA mystery that I highly recommend!

Thank You NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group | Viking Books for Young Readers for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Genre: YA paranormal thriller

Synopsis:
A teen girl can predict if people are going to die, a secret she has kept her whole life. When her grandmother dies, she suspects she was murdered and now someone is after her too, willing to expose her secret.

This was a fast paced YA thriller with just a dash of the paranormal. I liked the concept of being able to save someone’s life which in turn could alter the future. There were multiple suspects and outliers to keep you guessing and a good twist at the end.
Part of the book is based on a school shooting (the MC saves someone from it). It made the book a little heavy for me. The plot was really good on its own and I didn’t think it needed the school shooting piece. It wasn’t the main focus of the book, just mentioned a few times (if it’s a TW for you).

It’s marketed as similar to Ginny Myers Sain books and that is very accurate. They both write thrillers with a dash of paranormal that isn’t overly done.
I would read more from this author!

Thank you Penguin Teen for the ARC! 🌫️😶‍🌫️

The Darkness Rises is a new YA thriller/mystery about a girl who can tell when people are going to die. She sees a dark cloud above peoples head when they are near death. She has to decide if she should save people or not. When a school shooting happens at her school, her world is rocked. Someone wants revenge against her.

I liked the idea of this book and the dark clouds. It adds a level of sci fi to a thriller. I liked all the characters as well.

I unfortunately didn’t like the book itself though. I felt like it was very repetitive and dragged on. I feel like her guilt didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. There was also some teenage drama that didn’t work for me.

Thanks so much to netgalley and Penguin for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉--𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆'𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒓. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒚.

Some of the women in Whitney's family have a gift. For Whitney it started when she was seven years old and saw "the darkness" swirling over the head of a stranger; instinctively, she knew it was death. What to do with the gift, however, was much harder. When she tried to tell her parents, they brought her to doctors and specialists. Her grandmother finally told her not to tell anyone but her, as she had been given the gift too.

But what happens when you use this gift to help someone and you end up hurting many others instead? That's the basis of this speculative thriller that delves into this complex moral dilemma.

Whitney saves someone at her school from taking his life. Hounded and bullied by classmates, including Whitney's own boyfriend, this young man had reached his limit. Whitney literally talks him off a ledge, and she feels proud that she's used her gift once more to save a life.

Until that same young man becomes the perpetrator of a horrific school shooting. Whitney can't escape the feeling of guilt for the role she played in the event, so she withdraws, quitting dance, the only thing she loves, and hiding her ability even more. But when a threatening note shows up in her locker and a picture of her with the shooter surfaces, Whitney realizes that someone knows. Do they want to simply expose her, or do they want something more...like her life?

I was glued to this book and couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Though it was a YA read, I feel that it will appeal to adult thriller lovers as well, especially those who savor moral dilemmas in their reads.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Viking Books for this early copy. This title will publish April 9, 2024.

TW school shooting
This was a really relevant story about how the choices we make impact our future in ways we might not anticipate. I don't tend to enjoy stories where large-scale tragedies are a main part of the plot/set up, but I did like this story. I think it was because of the supernatural/magical realism twist that comes from the main character being able to see when someone is going to die. I have to say, too, that the mystery was really compelling--I found myself flying through this story trying to piece together what all was happening and the ultimate twist introduced caught me completely off guard.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is an engaging YA mystery/thriller. It had your classic “teen being stalked and getting mysterious notes” trope but with a bit of a twist. The main character can see when people around her are going to die. This one kept me guessing and I was hooked for the majority of this one. A fresh plot idea and a good read overall.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

"The Darkness Rises" by Stacy Stokes is an engaging thriller/mystery that delves into the complexities of fate, guilt, and morality amidst the backdrop of a high school plagued by a haunting past. Before going into the book, I definitely recommend reading the content warnings for this book as the book does focuses on some sensitive ideas/themes, though they were all respectfully discussed throughout the book.

Whitney, the protagonist, possesses a chilling ability to foresee preventable deaths, marked by ominous black clouds hovering over individuals. However, her gift turns into a burden when a person she saves from death becomes a perpetrator in a tragic school shooting. Haunted by guilt and stalked by an unknown adversary, Whitney grapples with the consequences of altering destiny and wrestles with profound moral questions.

Stokes was able to create a very unique and engaging story that makes you think about whether you would make the same choices as Whitney, that if you had the ability to save others, should you actually save some people, depending on who they are. The book prompts introspection about the ripple effects of our actions. I really liked the unique take Stokes gave to the plot as I have read YA books before about characters who can predict death, but I have never actually read a book before that focused on the aftereffects of saving the wrong kind of person.

The twists throughout the book are extremely engaging as you will find yourself trying to guess who the perpetrator is right alone with Whitney. There are definitely a lot of red herrings in this book to keep you guessing, but I will admit that there was this clue towards the beginning of the book that made me predict entirely the big twist at the end. Even despite this, I still found myself guessing as the plot progressed. And despite the somber undertones, "The Darkness Rises" exudes a sense of hope through its message of redemption and the desire to do good. The well-rounded characters, particularly Whitney, established that feeling of hope. The romance in the book didn’t take over too much of the plot and was slowly developed, which I appreciated. I really enjoyed the complexities of the side characters, particularly Marissa and Penny, and how there was also a sense of loyalty in the characters surrounding Whitney.

Throughout the twists and turns of the plot, Stokes culminated the book in a satisfying conclusion that ties up loose ends while leaving a lasting impact. For fans of psychological thrillers and thought-provoking books that focus on morality questions, "The Darkness Rises" is a must-read that will keep you engaged and emotionally invested until the very end.

I had so many feelings reading this novel! I fell in love with all the characters and was so enthralled by the mystery that I read for hours on end. I was so sad at the end because I had to leave these characters behind, but I think they'll stick with me for a bit. In this novel, you follow a girl named Whitney who is dealing with some pretty heavy teenage things on top of being a survivor of a school shooting a year prior. New School year fresh start but there seems to be someone determined not to let her forget.
Whitney has the ability to see dark clouds above people who are marked for death, and she's dealing with guilt and a stalker in this gripping thriller, I had such a good time guessing who done it.

I love this cover!!! Please proceed with caution if you have trigger warnings.... there is definitely a trigger warning with school shooting!

I found the story intriguing and very easy to follow. This follows MC Whitney who sees when people are going to die and she can do something to change that to make sure they dont die. This follows the anniversary of the shooting and Whitney has a feeling someone is following her and leaving her messages that is really starting to scare her.

I enjoyed this plot and trying to figure out who was after Whitney. Great writing and will read more by this author.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

Definitely a trigger warning for school shootings for this book. I did find this ya thriller to be intriguing. It follows Whitney who can see clouds over people's heads when they are about to die and she can do something to change that. The events take place the year following the shooting at the first football game of the year. The lead up to the anniversary of the shooting has Whitney wondering who knows as someone is following her and leaving scary messages. I definitely didn't see the twist coming and enjoyed trying to figure out who was after Whitney.