3.5 stars out of 5.

I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. Without giving away spoilers, this story jumps back and forth between past and present and honestly, I feel like the story would have been better off if it was told all in the past; everything that happens in present time feels very… not irrelevant, but hardly anything happens until the very end and even then what happens didn’t really need to be told, it could have been wrapped up in the past. The sorta dystopian, post-climate catastrophe that ruins our normal way of life isn’t really brushed upon as much as I had thought is would be, it doesn’t really play into anything super important (well, I guess to get two of the main characters to where they end up), but it doesn’t really affect the main plot at all. I do like the horror-ish aspect to it, again without giving away spoilers, I very much like how all of that was handled and how it was written, everything was kept pretty imaginative and had you guessing what was going on until the end and I loved the First Nation’s mythology that also comes into play too. Overall, an enjoyable read, but I was hoping for a bit more.

This was a really good mix of tense/scary and female empowerment all at the same time. I have to admit however, for the majority of the book, I wished we only heard from Lavinia's diary and didn't keep jumping back to the present story of Mads and Waynoka. I liked how their storyline ended, but I really just wanted to skip to the diary entries throughout the rest of the book.

Still a really good read, and I'll be reading more by [author:Jo Kaplan|19785183]. Thank you to NetGalley and CamCat Books for the free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The book had a very unique concept which I enjoyed. It has dual timelines - unfortunately I only cared for one of them. I liked the historical aspect which is a rarity for me

Overall I thought the book was well written and the plot was intriguing

I was expercting a little more horror though, but I suppose that could be just me. I also did not like the characters very much

Two women wander into the Nevada desert. Climate refugees heading toward a mythical New York, Waynoka and Mads take refuge in an abandoned mine, searching for water. There, they quite naturally find themselves trapped, one of them injured, with only their wind-up flashlight to ward off the endless, oppressive dark. It doesn’t take long before both the characters and the reader are sure that there is something else in the mine, something silent, hunting them through the dark.

I was ready for this story: a postapocalyptic version of The Descent? Sign me up.

But Jo Kaplan’s When the Night Bells Ring (CamCat Publishing) is interested in much more than things that go bump in the night. Waynoka, our protagonist, discovers a diary in the mine, written in 1869 by Lavinia Cain, and this story pushes Waynoka and Mads’s story aside, relegating it to the status of frame story, the narrative shifting continuously back and forth between the survival narrative of the two women and Lavinia’s narrative of arriving in Prosperity, Nevada, hoping to strike it rich.

Lavinia’s story wins.

This weird-western spook story has a distinctive folk-horror feel that is remarkably effective. Every door in Prosperity bears a little bell, and no one will say why, and the children sing songs about a strange lady who wanders the desert, draining people of their blood.

As Lavinia is slowly stripped of resources and the body count begins to rise, I was put more in mind of Victor LeValle’s Lone Women, another western creature-feature that presents female protagonists who aren’t just fierce, but who are morally complex characters armed with a strong power of denial.

And it goes without saying that, yes, the creature is real, and soon it begins to work its way through the town. Lavinia seems to be the only one who is willing to face facts, but when her child falls ill, she is faced with a terrible choice. That choice plays out in a savage denouement that is as shocking as it is well-earned.

There is a certain sense in which the frame story appears superfluous, and perhaps it is. I almost wished that Kaplan had simply told Lavinia’s story in all its fullness, but when it comes to a story about man’s greed and hubris, and the curses it calls down on itself, seeing Lavinia’s story through the lens of climate disaster is, if nothing else, highly appropriate.

When Mada and Waynoka flee from the wildfires burning south California due to the irretrievable environmental damage they wind up in a ghost town. They’re dying of thirst and are so desperate for something to drink they go looking in caves for a runoff water they can drink. Before climbing in the cave when Noka has already seen strange things that makes her feel like she’s not alone in the ghost town but Meda convinces her it’s just her imagination and fear telling her that while climbing into the cave however a ladder breaks in Mada breaks her leg horribly and although Waynoka is all right after the fall they are trapped in the cave The girls come up on a little room with a bed of rags miners tools and an old diary not to mention the dead bats they keep running into or at least Waynoka does when her friend falls asleep due to the pain and exhaustion why no could read the diary and it turns all to be a journal from the 1800s about homesteaders who came to the town of Virgil an experienced the Roan nightmare. This was a pretty good book oboe I wasn’t OK with the ending I can see how the ending added to their own going nightmare and I have to say I was glued to the book from beginning to end and was on the edge of my feet more than once and although not much happened I thought the story in the diary was super interesting and so all I know this is a solid horror read. As for as scarce go it was mostly shadow in innuendo not in the diary but in modern day or future tense whatever still a solid read however. I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I loved When The Night Bells Ring a lot more than I imagined I would. The dual timeline is such an incredible idea in this premise and I loved seeing how the past has affected the future through a slow unravelling of secrets. I also thought the claustrophobic tunnel atmosphere was great and created another layer of terror to everything else. I did think the 'dust devils' parts were a bit too slow in some areas though and I enjoyed readding about the 1800s a lot more but overall I really enjoyed this and will be keeping an eye out for more of Jo Kaplan's work.

When the Night Bells Ring Review! 🔔

Thank you so much Camcat Books and Netgalley for this gifted audio, in exchange for an honest review! When the Night Bells Ring is out now!

I’ve become a big fan of claustrophobic horror, so I wanted to dive right into this one. When the Night Bells Ring was a 2.25/5 ⭐️ for me. If this wasn’t an arc I would have dnf it. It was just very dry and not much seemed to happen. I had trouble with the imagery while listening to this one and it just fell flat. I did loved the journal entries in this one though, they literally made the whole book for me.

Synopsis: Two climate refugees descend into the cool darkness of an old mine where they find a settler’s diary that whispers of horrors haunting the ghost town, only to realize that the caved-in tunnels are haunted still.

Book Review 📚
When The Night Bells Ring by Jo Kaplan - 3.5/5 ⭐

Audiobook review 🎧

I've been testing the waters with audiobooks and really enjoyed the narrative behind When The Night Bells Ring.

The story itself is a very strange concept. Your in the future after a worldwide crisis but also in the past? To begin with, I was very very confused. But the concept fits really nicely with the plot. The writing comes together amazingly and the jump back and forth between time doesn't make it a difficult read.

Although there are some gruesome elements within the book, it's not quite as "horror" as I first thought. It could of used some more jump scare scenes. But I did really enjoy the characters in the story, there was some good imagination with the entire book but the characters were definitely the best part of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and CamCat Books for allowing me to read this ARC - this is an HONEST review from my own personal opinion.

I listened to this on audio, and I honestly really enjoyed it. There are two timelines, one historical from the 1800s (read from a journal) and the current setting which is slightly in the future after a global warming crisis. Is it a bit of a slow burner, with only glimpses and whispers of the monster are seen. But as a claustrophobic, the thought of being trapped in an old mine had my stomach roiling the whole time. And honestly, I loved the ending!

When partners drive through a desert, they come upon an old ghost town to take shelter in from the soaring temperatures. They explore at night looking to find some water or shelter for a bit. They happen along an abandoned mine and come across an old diary. Alternating between reading the diary from 1890s about the massacre that happened then, and the current journey through the mineshaft where they don’t feel alone, the creeping dread ends up boiling over.

This is very much a story of two halves, I didn’t like the ” “dust devil” side, I disliked both of the characters.

I preferred the story of Sephronia and Levinia, it was much more interesting, but I understand why the “dust devils” side had to exist, if that makes sense.

The narrator was excellent, but for me the story was the problem. It just didn’t hold me as a whole story.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the audio book.

This book had a really interesting premise. I love dystopian novels and so I decided to give this one a try.
The book is well-written and obviously very well plotted. There are different characters and how their stories align was well thought out. I appreciated the creepiness of some parts of the book as well.
The book goes back and forth between the current time and a past time. The current time period only has two characters and honestly I never felt like I really cared about them. They end up stuck in an old abandoned mine and while what is happening to them is harrowing in itself, I never got enough of a sense of their personalities or who they were as people to care about them. Even the pieces that were creepy never had enough attention on them for me to be truly creeped out.
The past story was much more fleshed out but I felt like it dragged. I got to the 60% or so mark and was really struggling to finish.
This is not a bad book at all, I just did not connect to it.
The narration was very good. Great voices and emotion.

Mads and Winoka are in a dystopian future, where climate change has lead to more and more wildfires leaving the majority of people without homes and creating severe draught conditions. Taking motorbikes they head into the desert to look for untapped water sources or deserted towns when they come across the mining town of Virgil. Heading down a mineshaft to look for water Winoka finds a historical diary written in 1869 by a woman called Lavinia and documenting a ‘curse’ in the mine and a series of frightening events that took over the town.

This book was very well written and the story was good, but I was expecting somewhat of a horror story and it fell flat for me. there are gruesome, horror elements in the book but nothing that kept me turning the page to find out what happens next.

The two story lines played with each other nicely but ended dragging the story out longer than it should have. I enjoyed the discovery at first but got frustrated at how long it took for realizations to come to fruition.

Narration had two different ladies--one for the Dust Devils and one for Lavenia's diary. At 2x listening speed, both were fine. Not a ton of inflection or emotion, but also nothing to detract from the story.

I didn't really get the horror/thriller vibe from this one. The connection between modern day Dust Devils and 1800s Lavinia is clear, but the stories didn't meld well together. I was pretty bored by the Dust Devils; there wasn't much action for them. And Lavinia's diary entries seemed a bit forced; she'd address how she was able to remember such details or address what she included-which would've been questioned by readers if left out-in a way that made her words seem ingenuine. As a result, the story dragged for me, and I often felt the two timelines would've been better told separately.

Honestly, I think it was Lavinia's treatment of her son, Oscar, that really turned me off to the story. I'll just leave it at that for now.

Overall: 3 stars

I'll tell my students about: language, graphic imagery/violence, animal death, death/murder, parent death, trauma, alcohol, brothels

**Thank you to NetGalley and CamCat Books for the free ALC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

This is quite different to what I usually read and I was really excited about the horror aspect of it. Unfortunately, I didn't find it very 'scary' so that kind of fell flat for me. I really liked the story from Lavinia's perspective, but I was kind of bored with the Dust Devils' perspective because literally nothing happened. I would've liked them to find more in the mine that linked back to Lavinia's story, or maybe explored the town a bit more and found things that relate back to what Lavinia writes about (I love hearing about creepy abandoned places). I liked the narrators a lot and I LOVED Lavinia's ending. Also, Waynoka did exactly what I would do in her situation tbh.

🖋️ARC read book review🖋️ + 🎃Halloween rec🎃

When the night bells ring by @joannapary

📚Blurb:📚
Don't awaken what sleeps in the dark.

In a future ravaged by fire and drought, two climate refugees ride their motorcycles across the wasteland of the western US, and stumble upon an old silver mine. Descending into the cool darkness of the caved-in tunnels in desperate search of water, the two women find Lavinia Cain’s diary, a settler in search of prosperity who brought her family to Nevada in the late 1860s.

But Lavinia and the settlers of the Western town discovered something monstrous that dwells in the depths of the mine, something that does not want greedy prospectors disturbing the earth. Whispers of curses and phantom figures haunt the diary, and now, over 150 years later, trapped and injured in the abandoned mine, the women discover they’re not alone . . . with no easy way out.

The monsters are still here—and they’re thirsty.

🖋️Review:🖋️
I am in shock because this book represents exactly what I have been thinking recently: That we all understand life as we experience it, and refuse what we do not understand. Yet there is possibility for more, as different cultures interpret life in different ways. This book was one of two that actually kind of scared me in this Paranormal, spiritual genre. It encapsulates the fears of a mother in a time where survival is hard, condemning the doings of humans through the world of god.
It was very interesting to witness how priorities shifted in the narrative and people the characters professed their love for had to be left behind in the fight for survival. The will to survive is at the core of the plot and so powerful I found myself siding with each character despite the horrors depicted. I liked the two timeliness and the way they connect to one another, considering the diary form the best one to depict the feelings of the character. The read also once again reflects the trouble with religion and faith I am personally going through at the moment, once again leaning towards it and interpreting knowledge under a different lense. If you are looking for a spooky read, pick this one up ASAP, it won't disappoint.

OH
MY
GOD.

I feel like this book was written specifically for me. It reminds me of Shirley Jackson's work (like We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Lottery) for its protagonists and the way it contrasts the "normalcy" of a village with the supposed madness of the narrator. I always love this kind of stories because they show how many people who are preoccupied with morals and tradition can do horrifying things in its name, or how they show their true colors under stress.

The book is divided in two timelines: two women are trying to survive in a near future affected by the consequences of climate change. They stumble upon a ghost village and they decide to explore the mines for water. They get trapped and it seems like they aren't alone. Trying to find a way out, one of them sees a diary of a woman who lived there in 1869, so she begins to read it to see if there's anything useful said there. Both stories are intertwined perfectly.

I wouldn't say this is a scary book per se, but I felt a great tension that it couldn't leave my body until I finished it. I think this is because you get very attached to the characters, so seeing them go through the stuff they go through makes you worry about their safety (both physical and mental).

I don't want to talk much about it because of spoilers, but I appreciate the conversation this book has on greed, colonization and the way some abuse their power just because they can and it is convenient for the preservation of their status and wealth.

The audiobook was also quite nice. The voices helped to feel the tension and the stakes of the situation. I don't know how to explain it, but the woman who does Lavinia's voice does really make it sound like she's from the 19th century.

I also loved the ending, It is quite self-indulgent. It's pretty cathartic, at least for me.

By the way, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

It took a lot of determination for me to get to the end of this. The default speed of 1.0 dragged, not sounding proper to my ears like every breath needed to be a pause. Pushed the speed to 1.5 and the narration seemed a little better.

I found hearing the audiobook, the narration by Rachel Fulginiti & Nicol Zanzarella was very monotone. I didn’t hear much excitement, fear or concern in their voices.

The story itself was lacking for me and I just could not enjoy it. I had to take breaks throughout over the course of days at time to get through.

Wow!
This is precisely the type of horror that I like to read! A well thought out story, and from the beginning you have that creeping sense that something is wrong.

I love that a great deal of the book is the diary, and that it’s incorporated in such a good way. And the way the two timelines interact with each other is phenomenal.
I really didn’t think I would root this much for all the characters, but here I am!

Sometimes it gets a little too long winded, but that is really a minor issue on my part, and my personal preference.

I have mixed feelings about this. I loved the section that were Lavinia’s diary. The sense of dread and unease kept building and was done excellently. I wasn’t as taken with the modern section of the story. I found the characters boring and one dimensional. I think it would have been better had it just been from Lavinia’s perspective. The narrator was great though!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a creepy book for sure with events occurring in the present and in the past at the same time. I wish there would have been more about the apocalyptic world that is the present day, I think that would have been an interesting world to learn more about. The time period for the past was fascinating and I was hooked on those chapter because they were so creepy and gripping.