This book is told in two timelines. The current timeline was creepy and I loved reading it, however, the past timeline became slow and boring for me. As the story progressed it spent more time in the past "telling" a drawn out story opposed to in the present "experiencing" the situation. I struggled to stay engaged and ended up DNFing at the 51% mark.
This story has a great premise and I really enjoyed the present storyline, I just couldn't connect with the past timeline.

In the future were drought and fire have consumed the earth two women on motorcycles try to find shelter and water. This leads them to a cave in an old silver mining town in Nevada. Once in the mine Mads gets hurt and her companion Waynoka must find a way out to go get help. They stumble upon a room with a diary of Lavinia, a prospectors wife from 1860's. The more Waynoka reads the more scared she becomes of their surroundings they cannot escape.
I loved the duel time lines. All three ladies are survivors. This book was creepy and I loved it. It is exactly what I want in a horror book. Confined to a space that is gloomy and dark Waynoka believes Lavinia's diary might help them escape this hopeless situation. Something lurks in the caves . The more Waynoka reads the more frightened she becomes.
This was a very compelling story and I loved every minute of it. I could not put it down. My kind of horror book. I am glad I discovered it. I also want to mentioned I listened to this book on audio and I enjoyed the two different voices for Lavinia and Waynoka.
Thank you NETGalley for the ARC audio book and thanks to CamCat book in exchange for an honest review

The setting and storyline were right up my alley but it took a while for the story to truly kick off .

Overall enjoyable read . Thank you for the audio arc .

After a climate disaster has left the West Coast burning, Mads and Waynoka leave for the East Coast on motorcycles. They only make it to an abandoned mining town in Nevada.

Needing to escape the scorching sun, they seek shelter within an old silver mine. As they are looking for water deeper within the mine, an accident happens, leaving Mads severely injured and blocking off their only exit.

Searching for an alternative exit Waynoka discovers an old journal dated 1869. It tells the story of a woman named Lavinia who lived in the town with her husband and children. Strangely, Lavinia speaks of something bizarre and evil about the mine itself. Creatures or spirits come out at night; thus, the bells are placed over doors to warn people.

Whatever Lavinia wrote about all those years ago still haunts this mine, and now Mads and Waynoka are trapped deep inside with it!

This was a chilling read, but it had that Old West feel too. Lavinia’s journal is its own timeline, and you feel what life in an 1800s mining town might have been like. The suspense builds slowly, but I did not expect the creatures that came at the end. A perfect spooky book to end October with!

This is the first book from the author I have listened to and boy was I pleasantly surprised.

I found myself not wanting to turn it off (audiobook), and when I had to, I was eager to dive back in.
I found that this book is more a dystopian thriller than a horror.

The world building in both timelines was really great, and I was able to picture both so clearly. The story was easy to follow and not all over the place, which. I sometimes find with dual timelines. I wasn’t so emotionally invested in Mads and Waynoka’s story, but I was drawn to Lavinia’s diary entries and what happened next.
The ending is something that was probably a bit too easy to predict, but none the less wrapped the story up well.

Two women from different times. One realises she can't live on her own, the other realises that she can. Both are doing anything to survive.

The two storylines follow Waynoka in the present day and Lavinia in the late 19th century. Their paths both lead to an eerie silver mine, decades apart. The tales surrounding this mine and the creatures that live within them would rattle any sane man.
Waynoka and her partner are refugees, stranded in the desert and desperately seeking water and shelter in the mine. once inside, they stumble upon Lavinias diary, and slowly they learn the blood-curdling secrets of the silver mine they are now trapped in.

Jo Kaplan's subtle hints at the mysterious creatures in the caves are phenomenal, making the reader feel uneasier, as they find more and more out about these beings. She manages to capture the essence of what I would imagine a small village in the 19th century would have been like perfectly, giving each character a distinct personality.
My only wish would have been to get more context of why there are so many climate refugees in Waynokas time, and how this affected their actions. I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook nonetheless, with the narrator also doing a great job of distinguishing between the timelines, with Lavinia's accent being one of my favourite things about this audiobook.

New rule no matter what don’t go into a mine.

I loved the eerie aspect and the finding of the journal that gave the towns history.

I didn’t like how it was two girls in a cave the whole book. It would have been cool to see the girls explore the housing and hear the bells while sleeping and give it more of that creepy aspect.

To where they have to run into the mines to “stay safe” and then the rest has happened.

I loved the book for the friendship of the girls and how they wanted a better life. The book was a decent read and I did enjoy but I wish I had gotten more out of it.

Apocalyptic horror done well. I'm not sure what was more terrible, the monsters or the climate. The main characters were easily relatable and therefore it was much easier to root for them and want for their survival. This being said, the ending was heartbreaking. Not sure what I was expecting, but that wasn't it. Rating: 3.5

The books starts with two women tying to escape the wasteland that large parts of the USA have become because of climate change. This is actually what first drew me to the book as this kind of future is already starting to develop. They crawl into an abandoned mine in search of shade to hide from the hot sun above and hear a bell, which they follow. After Mads falls and injures her leg, her and Waynoka are forced to stay in the mine, where they find what seems to have been someone's home at some point in the past. They find a journal belonging to Lavinia, a pioneer woman from the 1800s who lived in the mining town. We switch between the lives of Mads and Waynoka and the mysterious happenings of the past, where we learn that the mine they are trapped in is believed to be haunted and have unleashed monsters on the town in the past.

I enjoyed the stories and though that the narrators did a fantastic job bringing it to life. I loved that there were two narrators - one for each time period. I wish that more books with duel timelines/ points of view would do this. It definitely helps provide an even more distinct voice to the different characters. But that being said, some of the Lavinia chapters were very long. As in over an hour very long. There is nothing wrong with this per say, but I do think they could maybe have been divided into parts? Even if this means two Lavinia chapters in a row. (But this could also just be a me not liking stopping in the middle of a chapter thing more than anything).

The stories were intriguing and I was definitely interested in the mysterious events and mounters. But that being said, it wasn't exactly scary? At least to me. I would describe it more as a paranormal story than a horror. But this is a good thing for those who don't like their horror being to disturbing, I didn't mind this, but I do think that those going in specifically looking for a horror might be a little disappointed, even if they end up enjoying the story.

Most of the plot goes by pretty slowly, especially in the mine where they are essentially just trying to survive. But there was enough mystery to keep things interesting and I wanted the answers as to what was happening. And what will happen. Up until the last chapter where a lot happens. This chapter very much pulls the whole book together and I think it added an extra half a star to my rating. It is also the chapter where the most horror happened. I am not quite sure how to feel about the ending though... It was definitely different and an interesting way to end the story, but the lead up felt a bit... I don't know.

If you are interested in the concept of a historical paranormal novel with haunted mines, I think you will enjoy this book. It definitely explores a lot of interesting themes and I'm glad I read it. I received a free copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. As always, all views are my own.

3.5 stars. A dual pronged story full of tension and suspense, but not much else. First of all, this is not horror and should not be marketed as such. This is historical fiction with horror elements. Considering this is a genre I rarely read, I enjoyed this immensely, even though absolutely nothing happened for 95% of the story. There were a few creepy parts, but it was the ending that really pulled this all together for me.

In a not too distant future, two women become trapped in an abandoned mine, injured and alone in the darkness. Or so they think. Something hides in the dark, watching and waiting. At at times, the distant sound of bells. With no way out, they find a old journal and begin to read in the hopes it will provide them an exit. The 'present day' chapters were great. I was invested in their situation and could feel the darkness closing in around me as I listened. I loved the atmospheric writing and the narrator did an amazing job.

The story then moves back to the 1800s and follows a frontier woman and her family as they move to a new town so her husband can begin work in the mine. The very mine the two women are trapped in in the present day. This is where the story lost me somewhat. The 'past' chapters dragged on and were sometimes over an hour long. There was so much extra information about the town, Lavinia's sewing and just her everyday thoughts that had nothing to do with the story that I found myself zoning out several times. But when she heard the sound of bells in the night, when she wasn't sure if it was her own children or something not of this world, I had to find out more.

Despite all this, I couldn't stop listening. The author has created a dark, atmospheric read that made my skin crawl and had me thinking I heard the sound of bells for days.

I feel like this story could have been much more. It’s starts off in a post apocalyptic world where there’s barely any water so they have a feast idea to go into a mine and check for water only for one of the girls to fall down a broken ladder and break her leg. While stuck in the line they find a diary from someone long ago, and decide to read it for answers and after finishing the book and discovering that it held no answers to what is going on and why the diary is in the bottom of the mine the girl with the broken leg decides she cannot go on like that and has the other girl chop of her leg with a rusted axe that was there. After completing said action the demon that had been plaguing the area appears and drains the girl of blood, the other girl then precedes to run only to discover who the demon was and then drinks the blood and joins the demons

WTF? OMG! Okay this is the best audiobook I have listen to all year. We have two perspectives, our modern times girl who is a climate change refugee, and an 1860s mining pioneer wife in New Mexico (you know that is the best place for cryptids).
Our modern gal find the diary of the widow in a creepy abandoned mine.
She s trapped in there and the diary is her amusement. She is in there with her partner and best friend, who is injured.
Our pioneer widow was a mother who had already lost a child and was terrified to lose her daughter, although she isn't as fond of her son, but he is a bit creepy.
In the end she gets desperate to save her daughter and takes drastic measures. I think I would have done the same.
This was creepy and amazing and they just perfectly nailed the pioneer diary.
Definitely listen to this one.

When I tell you this book was not at all what I expected I absolutely mean it. I picked up this book off the instant reads net galley shelf. I love a good audiobook and there was not much else that caught my eye. The cover, the voices they use in the audio, the story line, the plot, the build and even the ending all had me going. The book is something like no other. A dystopian take on the worlds end and man did I miss books like this, and I want more of this.

It is dystopian. It is divergent meets stranger things meets saw. I am so thankful for net galley and Jo Kaplan to have been able to read this book and find a world where climate change (an actual fear currently) has so vastly affected what we know. It is worth a try, and it is an amazing eye-opening experience from cover to cover. By the end you will be thinking about our world and if you would make the same choices the girls in this story had.

Plot 5/5 (Keeps you wanting more, I could not put it down)
Storyline: 5/5 (Had me going the entire time)
Horror: 4/5 (It's one of those that makes you think and that's scary on its own)
Character Developoment: 4/5 (Not sure I loved the decisions she makes in the end)
Audio Quality: 5/5 (I loved the voices they did in this audiobook)

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and wish I was able to read it again for the first time. Jo Kaplan does an amazing job of keeping you wanting more. I also LOVE when they insert journal entries into books because it mixes it up and he did an amazing job at this.

Two women, Mads and Waynoka, are traveling on motorcycles across a landscape ravaged by fire and drought. They are chasing a dream - a better life on the east coast. What they find instead is a long-abandoned silver mine in Nevada. Trying to get cool, they venture down into the mine but one of them is injured and they become trapped. They do find water, but they also find the diary of Lavinia Cain who came to Nevada with her husband and children in the 1800's.

The diary shows how Lavinia, and her family faced an unwelcoming settlement where everyone has bells on their doors. They are stared at, and no one will speak of Emery Henry, Lavinia's brother-in-law. After making a home in an abandoned cabin, tragedy strikes the family. Plus, there are bodies piling up.......

I listened to the audiobook and was instantly swept into the story. I thought the narration was fantastic! I found When the Night Bells Ring to be atmospheric, dark, riveting and hard to put down. I enjoyed both timelines but especially Lavinia Cain's storyline.

Both timelines have a sense of dead, unease and danger. Why do the night bells ring? Is there something lurking in the dark? Are the mines cursed? What would you do to survive?

Riveting, atmospheric and hard to put down! This was my first book by Jo Kaplan, and I look forward to reading more books by this author in the future!

Thanks to #CamCat Books, #NetGalley, and #AuthorJoKaplan for a truly spooky reading experience in the audio ARC of When The Night Bells Ring. If you get spooked easily at noises in the night I definitely suggest you listen to this one in the daytime. I’m always up for a good scare and even this one had some good old fashioned spooky spots. I am not one for tight places and so when the main characters get lost in tunnels that end up leading into natural caves it gives me the chills. When they come across a journal belonging to a woman from the 1800’s they are curious about how her book ended up there. The story goes back and forth between the past and present and it is done very well. Nicely done and I enjoyed the suspense of whether the main characters would survive or not—the ending is a major twist I did not expect but I liked it. If you’re looking for spooky stories to add to you TBR for the Fall season I recommend this one.