Dark and disturbing. Just the way I like it! Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the free eARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

4.5 stars

What a strange little treat this was. From page one there is a sense of dread and mystery surrounding this island. If you like your books bleak and unnerving...please....please check this one out!

When first starting this book I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get into as the writing style isn't one I usually enjoy. However, I was endlessly intrigued by Aoileann and decided to keep going...
This book is a lot darker and more disturbing than I had any inkling of going into it. Aoileann is a young woman almost 20 who with the help of her Nan has been taking care of her comatose mother for as long as she has been able to. We get a lot on her thoughts on her mother who is often referred to as the thing, and while I can absolutely see why she would have resentments towards her mother and what she has to do to take care of her I didn't love how in-depth the descriptions of her mother's body were. I don't usually mind body horror, although I'm not sure I would really describe this as that. This is just what happens when someone who is in the medical situation her mother is in has to deal with... and its not pretty.

Aoileann starts acting weirder than I guess she already normal is after she meets a young woman on the beach. She becomes obsessed and a lot more is revealed about Aioleann than we could have every guessed, and the story takes an even darker turn.

Looking at other reviews for this book its clear it does have an audience, but I'm not it. From the writing style to the descriptions and just disturbing things Aoileann does I just couldn't get into the story. Although I think it did its job because I think this one is going to be living rent free in my brain for quite awhile.

Really engrossing disturbing Irish gothic horror. I really enjoyed the isolated perspective of the 19-year old Aoileann. Not only living on an isolated and treacherously atmospheric island, but isolated from being ostracised by the islanders and her own family for a supposed curse. For most of her young life, every day has been labouring to caretake for her mother, who is non-responsive and bed-ridden. An act of intimacy so horrific for a child to endure chronically. Without formal education, friends or comfort from her family, this is all she's known.

So as a newcomer reaches the island, her curiosity descends into obsession. New feelings emerge. New thoughts spiral. This changes her and her fate.

There are so many slow, creeping moments of disturbed events and thought patterns. The way the mum moves by herself at night. New scratches of individual letters on the floors that the daughter transcribes. The lore of the island and its desolation. And the immersive darkness of Aoileann's curiosity. She is a creature of trauma and yearning. This might be a difficult read for mothers or those in caretaking roles, but otherwise very captivating. It's a desolate heaviness I can't describe. I definitely look forward to more from this author.

Trigger warnings: self-harm, body horror, rape, child abuse, sexual assault.

Where I End
Sophie White

5 / 5

A fascinatingly original folk horror, Where I End was just incredible.

The writing is blunt. It's sparse, yet rich with provocatively relatable sentiments, and moments that punch you in the gut and make you emphasize ... and really think. The bleak ambiance ... The sadness and the sense of unfamiliarity is what pulls you, like the tides, through this novel. You feel a desperate need for answers to certain questions. And the ending was perfection.

The terror of the novel comes from it's ability to be unapologetically honest about the ways in which mental illness and trauma can manifest.

A very smart, very heavy, dark, and compact horror novel ...
I HIGHLY recommend checking this one out, if its premise intrigues you.

5 / 5

I loved this book and was enthralled with the writing. I loved the character study. Would read more from the author!

Where I End by Sophie White is a haunting exploration of isolation, family curses, and the inescapable pull of dark desires. Set on a desolate island off Ireland’s coast, the story follows Aoileann, a girl trapped in a life of relentless care for her bedridden mother—a woman she calls the “bed-thing.” Her world is limited to the eerie rhythms of this island and the haunting silence of her mother’s tragedy. When Rachel, an artist from the mainland, arrives with her baby, Aoileann’s curiosity awakens, spiraling into a need that’s as unsettling as it is poignant.

Sophie White’s prose captures the chilling beauty of the island setting, making you feel the oppressive weight of isolation. Aoileann’s desperation seeps through every page, and the secrets she uncovers push the story into disturbing, unforgettable places. If you’re drawn to dark, atmospheric reads that probe the boundaries of human nature, this is one you won’t want to miss.

A horror story set on a small Irish Island. It wasn’t an easy read; every page was more horror than the one before, but I was keen to find out what secrets lay hidden.

Aoileann is tasked with helping her grandmother look after Aoileann’s bedridden mother.

Aoileann has had a bad life, she is shunned by the Island inhabitants, and she longs to have a relationship with her mother.

Why was she treated so badly by her family and the other people living on the Island? What secrets will she uncover?

Full of horror and cringe worthy scenes.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for a chance to read this E-Book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

4⭐️

This was a great book for coming into fall and the spooky season. It takes a bit to get into the story telling writing style but overall I really enjoyed it.

I'm really loving books set in Ireland. This setting really played into the gothic darkness of this book. It made it feel more isolating and eerie.

I would recommend this book to others that like unique gothic horror style books. It was unique and different to what I'm used to.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington books for this advance reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

Thanks to NetGalley, publishers and author for an ARC of Where I End.

This is a well written, disturbing story that hooks you at the start, and doesn't let go until the last word.
Not for the faint hearted.

It feels weird to give a book this high of a rating when there were several moments throughout when I said “that’s it, I cannot take any more of this” yet I kept reading like some f*d up masochist. It’s labeled as gothic horror, and it’s definitely horrific but I wouldn’t consider it scary. Vivid descriptions of abuse of several characters. The narrator is out of her goddamn mind because of it. It touches on themes of cycles of abuse, neglect, mental illness and the ramifications of all of those things when combined over the course of a lifetime.

I’ve never gotten physically ill over a book but this one had me gagging and horrified. Not gory, necessarily, but the descriptions left me in absolute shock and despair.

Would I recommend this one? No. Did I learn anything? Also no. Did I enjoy it? I am ashamed to say I did. It was well written and an absolute gut punch. This is one of the most f*cked up books I’ve ever read and I regularly read horror.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

This book won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel and I can definitely see why. This book is terrifying and unsettling. It's graphic and it's disturbing. Aoileann lives with her grandmother on a desolate island off the coast of Ireland. They are tasked with taking care of Aoileann's mother, who is referred to as the bed-thing, almost creature-like. It has been like this for nearly 20 years and no one in the village wants anything to do with Aoilleann, not the adults or the children. Aoileann never went to school. She does not know how to be social. She has been in the closed up cottage all of her life taking care of her mute, bed-ridden mother watching her waste away.

Then a young mother moves to the island, someone who doesn't know anything about Aoileann, and befriends her. This changes everything for Aoileann. Problem is, Aoileann is not like other people. And the more time she spends with Rachel, the more she learns about herself and her dysfunctional family.

The author's note at the beginning of the book is bold and brutally honest and will give you a sense of just how dark this book is going to be. This book will not be for everyone. Many, many thanks to the author for sharing a list of resources at the back of the book for those in crisis.

4.5 stars. A brilliantly written look into the mind of a teenage girl who lives on an isolated island and, along with her grandmother, has to care for her bedbound mother. Secrets from the past are slowly revealed as she tries to rebel from her restricted life. Heads up for some scenes of cruel and disturbing acts towards the vulnerable. I thought the bleakness and unhinged nature of this story was really well done and will certainly stick with me.

A modern gothic horror novel that explores themes of family, fixation, and the dark shifts of relationships. Beautifully written and a dreadful tale that blends Irish folklore with gothic fundamentals. Terrifying.
Many thanks to Kensington and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Aoileann leads a cursed life, on a small island where the locals spit any time they encounter her. Forced to look after her also-cursed mother, unresponsive and confined to the bed for most of the day, her days are all the same. That is, until Rachel arrives.

Rachel is plump and full of life, glowing from the recent birth of her son, and is staying on the island alongside the newborn as an artist in residence at the newly opened museum. Aoileann becomes obsessed with her, determined to manufacture ways to be around her, until it seems like her darkness will also infect the lives of Rachel and her baby.

This book was enthralling and deeply horrifying. The descriptions are not for the faint of heart, providing a true, deep body horror, as Aoileann describes her day-to-day life and infatuation with Rachel. I loved the use of Irish in the book. This is a book that truly gets under your skin and lodges in your throat, and is difficult to prise out once it does. Not for the faint of heart.

Where I End is a dark and disturbing tale of isolation, family, obsession and ties that bind which this had me so engrossed. The author wrote this very well and all of the characters were interesting. It had such a great setting, which was a isolated island off the coast of Ireland. Ending of the book did not disappoint either. Overall, this was a dark gothic read that was perfect for the spooky season. I highly enjoyed this one and would recommend it to any reader who loves horror or gothic books. Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this creepy read in exchange of my honest review of Where I End by Sophie White.

HOLY SH*T WTF DID I JUST READ!!!! This was so good. I couldn't put it down. Literally just finished it in one sitting. It was filles with dread and an impending sense of doom with lots of mom/daughter relationship horror and just mom horror in general.

Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for this Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

White’s novel, Where I end, is an eerie thing. Atmosphere seeps from the book at every turn. Aoileann faces isolation both within her family and within her community. Her mother is an invalid in a vegetative state, to whom she refers as the "bed thing.” Aoileann’s fellow islanders shun her, rendering a narrator who is the epitome of unsocialized. With the desolate, wet, and foggy island as the environment in which the story takes place, these elements begin to breathe down the neck of the reader—and it’s a cloying, vaporous breath. White’s rendering of Aoileann’s A-Social nature is so thorough that I would believe she could be a method writer, sinking so thoroughly into her character that she begins to understand her intimately. This is a story of obsession, deep loneliness, and mystery. For those who love Shirley Jackson’s We Always Lived in the Castle, this will be an irresistible read.

Where I End by Sophie White, this is a quick read and all I can say is thank God it was. Eland lives on an island where she was raised by her grandmother who takes care of Elland’s mom while her dad goes to the mainland and works but does come to visit once a month. Eland is now 19 and must help her grandmother care for what Eland refers to as the thing, which is actually her mom in the bed. On an island full of incestuous families Eland and her grandmother for some reason are outcast she is never had friends until Rachel in newborn Séamus come to the island but seeing Rachel mother and care for little shamus something she never remembers getting from her own mother only heightens her mommy issues and takes Elyn to some very dark and disgusting places. There’s a lot to be said for great horror writers and I don’t think this is it. For one thing with the exception of the description of her mother the first horrific thing we see is the disgusting things 19 year old eland does to her mom in this has nothing to do with violence or body hora it’s just unnecessary disgustingness by the time the book is over you will need a bath a priest in a cleanse this book is just too much for my sensibilities and I have no issue with body hora at all this was just… I DK it has left me speechless. Also let me say it took me two attempts to finish this book because I cannot, not finish a book but it’s stories like these that make me wish I could. #NetGalley,#Kensington books, #SophieWhite,#WhereIEnd,

Atmospheric and dark and the perfect fall read. This will get under your skin, and is for fans of literary horror or looking to try it!