Holy heck, Batman! An entirely original take on a slow burn thriller, there were ingenious supernatural elements that gave A Step Past Darkness a very Stranger Things feel. From the fully fleshed out characters to the skillfully interwoven plot, I found myself utterly spellbound from beginning to end. After all, I can’t think of many books that managed to keep my attention riveted quite like this. With more twists than I could count, each made me think “What the f***?” more than the last. But only in the best possible way, of course.

As for that perfectly plotted and finely tuned storyline, the dual timelines and multiple POVs delivered enough blind turns that I was at a total loss at what was going to happen next. Perhaps it did drone on just a little too long in the middle, but I have to say that I loved the insights into each character’s past and present regardless of any lack of action. Plus, the dynamite climax (no pun intended) and soul satisfying conclusion meant I closed the cover of this one happy as a clam.

The characters were easily the star of the show, however. With deep backstories and carefully crafted arcs to their personas, I grew invested in their experiences in a way I wouldn’t have expected. Thanks to this, the slow reveal of events from the past in this cross genre book took on a genuine turn. So much so, in fact, that this thriller/fantasy/horror plot seamlessly blended the line between reality and fiction.

All said and done, I thoroughly loved this one from the first word until the last. Even though it was probably a bit too long-winded and was certainly nothing like I’d anticipated, I ripped through all 448 pages with hardly a break. After all, it all flowed so easily with sharp writing and a palpable tension. So as long as you aren’t expecting an out-and-out thriller or the length doesn’t put you off, I definitely recommend giving this book a shot. I, for one, am extremely glad that I did. Rating of 4.5 stars.

Thank you to Vera Kurian and Park Row for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Did you read that book?


A Step Past Darkness

By Vera Kurian

Plot: Six classmates. One terrifying night. A murder 20 years in the making. Six unlikely kids are thrown together for a class project. When they attend a party at the old abandoned mine in their town, they never expected that night would bond them all for life and lead to a murder. Now 20 years later, the person they murdered is back (But how?) and one of them has gone missing. With so many questions, our cast of characters must find answers in a town full of secrets.


Review: Vera Kurian took us on a masterpiece of a journey. The first few chapters I was trying to figure out where we were going. What road are we being taken on? But once it grabs you, it doesn’t let go. It takes a skilled author to somehow get us to care about six individuals all within one book.


Maddy - The town “it girl” who went from spoiled socialite to caring friend.
Casey - Player jock, using his muscles for justice.
Padma - Shy girl finally finding her own.
James - Burnout with a heart of gold.
Jai - Social outcast, now finally found people who care about her.

Kelly - Introverted bookworn turned pilar of strength for her peers.

Each of the characters worked so well together in both past and present. Their relationships were what held the story together. Plus Vera did a wonderful job of almost making us feel like we were the seventh member of their team. Watching from the outside but feeling like we were right there in the mine with them watching our step.

The plot felt similar to Stephen King’s “IT”. As the story showed us what happened with our six students back in 1995 and then revealed what became of them as adults 2015. But now with the person they murdered mysterious back from the dead 20 years later. My favorite part was how each section of the book ended with a cliffhanger leaving you wanting more!

My only criticism would be that I felt the book wrapped up everything a little too quickly. I was reading saying “How will this end in 25 pages!!”



Thank you Vera Kurian, NetGallery, and Harlequin Books for this advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.



“A Step Past Darkness” comes on Feb 20th, 2024. Get your copy!!

I can always count on Vera Kurian to come up with something completely original. Her first book, Never Saw Me Coming, was about a group of college students participating in a psychological study about psychopaths.

I described A Step Past Darkness as an adult Breakfast Club crossed with Stranger Things. A group of adults who witnessed something terrible in high school swore never to speak of it again. But a new tragedy forces them to reconvene.

Yes, it sounds like you've read it before but this book has intriguing characters, a claustrophobic small town, hints of the paranormal, and a creepy megachurch.

Yes, it's long, but I enjoyed every page!

This book had real potential but unfortunately the writers style is just not for me. It never connected and the situations never seem fully fleshed out. I wanted to like this book a lot but I just don't.

Thriller/mystery that really had some horror elements

6 kids from different backgrounds but all in the same weird town decide to do their capstone project on the abandoned mine. During their research they stumble into something bigger and more complicated than they could understand and quickly separate and try to never see each other again. Until 20 years later they are forced together to solve and make sense of what they uncovered as kids.

The premise and really the story itself had so many elements I love, with a creepy church/cult, twists and things you’ll never see coming. BUT. It just dragged. I don’t know if I should have switched to the audio version or what but I kept finding myself shutting the book to do something else… I think part of my problem was how the timeline switches were so far apart. It didn’t keep me very engaged…

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trading for an eARC.

Well this book was so different from what I thought it was going to be but it was so interesting! This is definitely a character driven story detailing the fate of six teenagers who witnessed something awful. The six MCs were unique and interesting. The small town felt so claustrophobic - I would 100% not want to live there! This is a mashup of a few genres and perfect for thriller, horror and mystery fans. If you haven't read NEVER SAW ME COMING from Kurian I highly recommend it!

I devoured Vera Kurian’s novel, Never Saw Me Coming so I was excited to get my hands on A Step Past Darkness, her latest. This is a long book with a lot of characters to keep track of and it took me a while to get into the rhythm of the story.

Sinister, thrilling, and creepy always appeals to me, so I enjoyed this though it has supernatural elements which I do not usually gravitate towards.

Synopsis:

There’s something sinister under the surface of the idyllic, suburban town of Wesley Falls, and it’s not just the abandoned coal mine that lies beneath it. The summer of 1995 kicks off with a party in the mine where six high school students witness a horrifying crime that changes the course of their lives.

The six couldn’t be more different.

Maddy, a devout member of the local megachurch
Kelly, the bookworm next door
James, a cynical burnout
Casey, a loveable football player
Padma, the shy straight-A student
Jia, who’s starting to see visions she can’t explain
When they realize that they can’t trust anyone but each other, they begin to investigate what happened on their own. As tensions escalate in town to a breaking point, the six make a vow of silence, bury all their evidence, and promise to never contact each other again. Their plan works – almost.

Twenty years later, Jia calls them all back to Wesley Falls—Maddy has been murdered, and they are the only ones who can uncover why. But to end things, they have to return to the mine one last time.



Coming out on Feb 20.

Too slow for me, and the writing wasn't strong enough to back this up. I'm sure this book can find its audience, though. Check it out if the premise sounds interesting.

After reading Never Saw Me Coming last year by the same author, I was so excited to be approved for an ARC of A Step Past Darkness.

I loved the beginning and the end of this book, but I have to say, the middle really dragged for me. It seemed like the plot got stagnant, the chapters didn’t move the story along as much as I hoped - however, by the end, I had really formed an emotional attachment to each of the six main characters. There was a lot of depth to each of them; I think she did a wonderful job of giving them their own voices and making them full, well-rounded people.

I went in thinking this would be a sort of small-town murder mystery with thriller elements. I was surprised by some of the spiritual/supernatural details, but they worked well within the confines of the story!

I think if you enjoy slow, character driven plots with a hint of mystery running in the background - this is for you.

Thank you so much to Harlequin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

A group of high school students are paired together to work on a summer project in a Breakfast Club pairing of stereotypes. The "Capstone Six," as this group is called, make the decision to learn more about the convoluted past of the mines in Wesley Falls as their group project.

When they witness something that haunts them all, they work together to uncover the secrets of the town of Wesley Falls. What they discover is beyond anything they could have ever envisioned.

They agree to split up and never speak to each other again as a route to keep the secrets and findings safe. Until, twenty years later, circumstances compel them to return back to their hometown together when one their own is found dead.

With a split timeline storyline bouncing back and forth from 1995 and 2015, the book very much has IT vibes.
So it has both adult and YA aspects.

I had no idea what the mystery would unfold to. And at no point did I guess the twist.
I wasn't expecting a super natural aspect in the book. The bio didn't mention it. Had the supernatural element been mentioned in the bio, it may not have piqued my interest and would most likely have not read this book. Those are typically not the type of books or genres I read. But, it did not deter me from finishing. I trudged on. Although it's not within my normal, it doesn't hurt to branch of from the norm from time to time. I would have preferred the supernatural element be divulged in the book description, though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Books for an advanced digital reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

You know the drill, right? Well, you don't. This tale of six teens has dual time lines in 1995 and 2015 and multiple perspectives. Six students- a diverse rag tag group- are bound together by something that happened in a mine in 1995 and now, in 2015, one of them is dead and those who are still alive must figure out what happened. And what happened back then as well. This is more than the expected mystery- it's got horror and supernatural elements as well. It wasn't what I expected at all. While it's longer than it needs to be I found myself caught up in the story and turning the pages. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. No spoilers.

Unfortunately, this was a missed mark for me. Just slightly too many characters and timelines to keep them all straight. It felt long and drawn out which made it too tough for me to get into it.

A Step Past Darkness follows Kelly, Maddy, Jai, Padma and Casey in 1995 and 2015. These 6 vastly different teens were lumped together for a group project in High School when they witness something horrifying in the mines in their town. This leads them to searching for answers in their crooked creepy town. The book flashes forward to 2015 when they’re all brought back to the town when one of the 6 is found murdered.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Park Row for this e-arc.*

This author has been on my radar ever since I read Never Saw Me Coming back in 2021, so I was very excited to hear that she had a new book coming out in 2024. I loved the sound of the blurb of A Step Past Darkness, with the abandoned coal mine setting, the crime in 1995 and the murder that might be connected to the past in 2015. I've been looking forward to finally read it, as I fully expected to enjoy my time with it... But in the end it was a book of two halves for me. What do I mean with this? I'll try to explain below.

First of all I have to say that I still love the premise, and the Pennsylvania setting made for a great backdrop. It was fascinating to learn more about Wesley Falls, the coal mine and how the community was corrupted by Golden Praise, and I could really appreciate the way the supernatural/horror element was woven into the rest of the story. There was such an ominous vibe especially in the second half, and it really helped redeem this story for me. The supernatural is also not that overwhelming, so you should be fine even though it's not really your thing.

What made me struggle considerably for quite a long time had a lot to do with the pace and multiple POV structure. A Step Past Darkness read SO incredibly slow during the first half, and the fact that there are SIX different POVs doesn't really help either (actually even more than that, but I don't want to spoil certain events). Add the fact that there are two timelines (1995 and 2015), and the multiple POVs pop up in both, and this means a LOT of jumping back and forth between the different characters. Sure, it was interesting to get to know them better, but there were so many switches and it slowed down the pace way to much. It also made it harder to properly warm up to the cast, but I felt like I never got to spend enough time with any of them.

There was also way more focus on the high school drama than expected, which I'm never a fan of. I get that this drama is used to reinforce the fact that the capstone group are such an unlikely group to form a bond together, but still... With all the high school drama, I ended up much preferring the 2015 timeline over the 1995 one, but then again this is something that often happens with dual timelines for me. On top of this, A Step Past Darkness focuses a lot on another pet peeve of mine: religion. Golden Praise is of course extremely important to what happens in the plot, but I'm never a fan of more religion focused stories and especially Maddy's POV was quite a struggle.

Like I said before, A Step Past Darkness was a story of two halves for me. I struggled considerably with the first part, with its focus on the 1995 timeline and all that drama. It was so SO slow to read, and I even put it temporarily on hold because I wasn't enjoying it as much as expected and nothing much was happening in the first 20% or so. When I picked it up again and finally made it to the part where all five remaining capstone members were back in Wesley Falls, things did improve drastically. Once the focus is more on the 2015 timeline and them trying to figure out what happened to Maddy, I started looking forward to my time with this story again. This had a lot to do with the added tension and supernatural/horror element... Basically the first part was a 2.25 star rating for me, and the final part more of a 3.75 star rating; which is why I ended up with the 3 stars.

I've seen mentioned that the author used the popular It as her inspiration, and this is where it might just have gone wrong for me personally. I wasn't really a fan of that book either, and both stories seem to suffer from being overlong and too much drawing out. I probably would have enjoyed A Step Past Darkness so much better if it had 100-150 pages less and more focus on the present timeline instead of all that high school drama... If you enjoy more slow-paced and character-driven thrillers where the 'exciting' part only pops up later on, A Step Past Darkess will most likely work better for you though. I did love most of the second half myself!

I really wanted to like this book. After reading the description I had hoped that it would read like a coming of age novel with some mystery and suspense.
I did like how the author would move from each timeline giving us each of the main character's point of view. However, in the same token this made for a long, drawn out, slow conclusion that just seemed too neat and rushed in the end.
Even though the book dragged for me, I did finish it. Not every book will be my cup of tea.

Thanks to HarperCollinsCanada and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very slow burn with many points of view and some time jumping. There was a lot of background set for each character (maybe even a bit too much), yet I still didn’t feel connected to them. I originally liked the cult-like and supernatural aspects that crept in. However, what started as an interesting mystery quickly turned into a storyline that I couldn’t make much sense of. Ultimately I had a hard time finding a good flow.

The length of this book is daunting and it took me several weeks to get through it. It was mildly entertaining but I was never excited to read it.

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
I admit, I was a bit intimidated by the length of this book (its a chunk), but after about 50 pages in I was absolutely hooked. This book starts off strong and gripped me in, so getting through this one was a breeze for me, despite the size. From the plot, the characters, the mystery, and a bit of romance…I was fully invested and could not put this book down. I think that Kurian did such an amazing job with her ability to keep the reader's interest with the length of this book and the amount of characters. I loved the dual timelines and different perspectives (six to be exact), and usually I would get confused with this many POV…but Kurian made it work perfectly as not to get confusing and bogged down. I came to adore the characters, the small town vibe, and loved Kurian’s talent of weaving a bit of supernatural horror elements, mystery, a speckle of romance, and even a bit of fantasy. However, do not go into this one expecting your typical thriller-this is definitely unique and weaved with other genres throughout. If you want to embark on a fun, addictive, incredible journey I highly encourage you to pick this book up!

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗜𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗘𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆:
✦Chunky books
✦Likable characters (and MANY of them)
✦A book with many different genres sprinkled throughout
✦A bingeable and addictive read



𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4/5

I enjoyed Kurian's last novel, "Never Saw Me Coming," and was pleased when I received an ARC for this forthcoming one - but honestly, "A Step Past Darkness" surpassed my expectations. A solid, epic-feeling thriller with lots of cult creepiness.

The format can be a tough one to pull off - alternating between the protagonists as teens and adults The novel is clearly influenced by Stephen King's "It," with a sprinkle of "The Breakfast Club." It is well done; there is no confusion between the two time periods, and the jumps forward/backward are pretty seamless. I often struggle with stories that jump around, but it wasn't a problem here.

The highlight for me? The characters. I have read many novels where the adult author does not create believable teens - the language, behaviour, etc. just seems off and it is very distracting. Kurian did a good job writing the teens in a way that made sense and also hinted at the people they would become as adults. You genuinely care about each of them, even the ones who aren't very likable on the surface.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy to read and review. Publish date: February 20, 2024.

2.5 stars

After devouring Kurian's "Never Saw Me Coming" in 2022, I was so excited to see a new title released. Yet I struggled to the end, in part because of the format: the ARC I received was a poorly formatted PDF with several blank pages in between chapters + section breaks and did not allow for even the simplest of changes like light mode to dark mode so I was stuck reading blurry black text on white pages on an endless scroll. But also because so many chapters ended right when things were getting interesting. The dialogue felt choppy and I found myself more interested in what was happening off page than written. Several times I hit the end of the chapter and found myself scrolling backwards and forwards searching for what I felt had to be missing pages. That's it? That's the end of the conversation/scene?

I all the "big ticket" plot points to be anti-climatic: Maddy's murder, the crime scene in the mine, the big reveal of the mystery behind Wesley Falls (this scene I had to re-read three times to see what I missed. I'm still unclear about it.) So it was difficult for me to care about the present-day problems our group faced after returning to reckon with Maddy's death.

Things I did like:

1. The initial "Breakfast Club" of it all. I love a classic coming-of-age tale where a group of kids realize they have more in common than they first believed. Kurian does an excellent job at building the early relationships of these kids as they begin to reveal their secrets and dreams and ultimately, support one another when their adults (mostly) fail them.

2. The church. Creepy cult with creepy expectations and requirements of its members? Oh, AND secrecy?! That checks out with everything I've personally experienced in a church.


Many thanks to Net Galley for an ARC!