Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

There’s a whisper in the thicket—a rustling not quite of leaves, not quite of breath—that guides this debut novel through its surreal and unsettling Southern Gothic terrain. Marlee Bush crafts a story that is ghost story and testimonial, as much about the dead as about the silenced.

Told through the fractured lens of a young Black girl (half-rooted in the living world, half-claimed by the dead) "Whispers of Dead Girls" unspools like a memory you didn’t know you had. Bush paints the narrative with lyrical precision, each chapter a vignette of elegy and unraveling. The prose drips with atmosphere: cicadas drone like a dirge, kudzu cloaks the bones of history, and ancestral spirits haunt the margins of a town that refuses to reckon with its past.

What makes Bush’s novel unique isn’t just the spectral mystery at its heart—it’s how it gives voice to the silenced. These aren’t merely ghosts; they are girls with stories that were never meant to surface. In a narrative landscape that shifts between the poetic and the devastating, the book functions as a reclamation and as a reckoning.

Though the storytelling might challenge linear-minded readers, its structure mirrors trauma itself—recursive, elusive, yet undeniable. The protagonist’s voice is tender yet furious, aND this debut author is one to watch.

What a great book! It is filled with twists and turns. I couldn’t put it down,
. I will plan to read other books by this author!

I don’t mind a main character that you don’t always like but then the book needs to move at a good clip. This book started out promising even if the small town setting nosy parker routine is a bit overdone but then it slows down and drags in the middle. The twist at the end wasn’t quite emoji to save it.

Very interesting read. I enjoyed it, and would recommend it to a friend. I keep seeing this everywhere so I know it’s going to be a favourite for some people!

Not everything is what it seems in this absolutely WILD ride through the dark side of humanity. I love that it took so long for this to fully be revealed because it made the twists so much more shocking. Marlee Bush really knows how to write a thriller! If you enjoy being misled and then blown over by a twist, this should be your next read!

This was a great follow up after I loved Bush's debut, When She Was Me. Ren, influenced by events from her past, just wants to do the right thing. Because of this, she becomes a bit of an unreliable narrator and goes down a path that she can't turn back from. There are some great twists here and there's a constant level of unease that you feel as a reader. I also really enjoyed the paranormal element.

This story pulled me in right from the beginning. It’s filled with twists and turns while also tackling some heavy themes—like the complexities of a teacher-student relationship, the grief of losing a sibling, and the lasting effects of past trauma. The story slowly reveals what’s haunting the main character, and as those pieces come together, you start to understand how much it’s shaped her life and decisions.

I could predict a few of the twists, but definitely not all of them, which kept things interesting. I really enjoyed this book—it was emotional, gripping, and thought-provoking all at once.

The first 10% of the book really grabbed me, but then my interest started waning. I couldn't put my finger on why until another reviewer noted it: The dialogue just does not feel natural. Unfortunately, this bled into the characters' interactions and made everything feel a little forced. This ended up in my DNF pile, but I will definitely try something else by the author in the hopes that this book is an outlier for me.

A big pet peeve of mine is when the main character's secret is dragged out for nearly the entire book, hyped as this horrible thing they did, then the reveal ends up being a huge letdown.

Anyway, I struggled a bit with this one. Ren, the main character, was extremely unlikable. Actually, every character was unlikable. No one talked naturally with each other. They'd start off sharing information then suddenly, for no apparent reason, switch to being suspicious and closed off. Plus, there were a lot of motives and actions that seemed unrealistic. And jeez, can someone send Ren's parents to therapy? Preferably with her?

This next pet peeve of mine will be hard to explain without spoilers but I'll try my best: After reading the synopsis and the majority of this book, I felt like there was a clear, powerful message. But the ending, in my opinion, undid that message, even to the point where it felt like it was perpetuating a stereotype against women.

I will say, despite this book going in a direction I did not care for, the final few pages were pretty good.

Disclaimer: I received an arc of this book in exchange of an honest review.

I support womens right and also womens wrongs.

Wow, okay, this one really made me think.....in a good way or a bad way, I'm not sure.

What I loved about this book was the characters were fleshed out. You knew their motives, intents, sorrow, guilt, etc. There wasn't a character that felt unimportant or who you didn't understand the purpose of - and each character also felt real in their reactions and real in how people can handle certain things. It was a heavy book with the subject matter which is why I'm kind of torn on if I enjoyed it or not. If you take it at face value and don't think too much into it, it's great. I enjoyed it. Fun mystery. Fun story. Fast plot. It never slugged or felt tedious to sit through.

If you think more heavily into it, and I don't want to give anything away, I'm not sureeee....how I feel....given the subject matter and the way it was handled.

Overall I enjoyed!

A decade has passed since Ren left her hometown, but now she's back, accepting a job at her old high school. She's hoping the position will help her find some sort of closure regarding her traumatic past, and the death of her older sister when the two were teens.

Back in the school, Ren is unprepared for the wave of memories and emotions that come rushing back to her. Additionally, there was a bit of a scandal wrapped-up in her sister's death, and people sometimes still whisper about it. For her part, Ren will never forget the days and events leading up to tragedy, but being back is causing her to see things a little differently.

We get a bit of past and present, as well as a current situation involving one of her coworkers, a physics teacher, Mr. Lewis. Ren becomes suspicious of him, fearing history will soon repeat itself. She vows, not on her watch.

While Whispers of Dead Girls was compelling and enticing, it did sort of tick me off, NGL. I've been thinking on it for a while, anticipating that resounding sense of annoyance with it would dissipate in time, yet it hasn't. With this being said, most of the journey to get to the conclusion kept me entertained and invested. I was sucked into both the past and present timelines.

Additionally, I loved the set-up of the MC returning to their hometown after a long period of time away, and investigating a circumstance that seems reminiscent of something she herself had gone through. This returning MC aspect is actually one of my favorite tropes.

I also liked how Ren was an unreliable narrator. I never knew what she was going to do next. Nevertheless, the resolutions she came to, I was sort of miffed by all that. So much so, that in a way, it started to feel like a waste of my time. Though I can acknowledge this is a good story, and I think Bush pulled off a lot of great twists and turns, I still feel a slight sense of distaste about how it all played out.

I wish I could say more about this, but I can't without spoiling major reveals, and I'm not about to do that. I still want others to enjoy this book and I know many will. It does have many strong aspects, it's a good story, but at the end of the day, I rate based on my personal reading experience, and this one left me a wee bit perturbed.

Thank you to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I'll definitely be picking up more from this author.

This grabbed me from the first chapter. I was a little skeptical going into this because I didn’t care for ‘When She Was Me’ but this book was way more interesting and entertaining. The storyline was pretty eerie and when we get more into the story it does get pretty dark and disturbing, so TW: SA of minors and grooming. The only thing I think I don’t care for was the small story line that our FMC goes on the hunt for bad guys..I felt like it didn’t do much for the storyline and it felt out of place But I did like our FMC, I felt so bad for her and when we get to her truth, just made me hurt for her even more. And the end, I felt like it was rushed and messy but the more I think about it, the more I liked how it ended. It felt like a full circle moment in the end and it made it kind of eerie which I liked.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it at first. A girl seeing her dead sister and talking to her seemed a bit extreme. But the ending twist was good and super complex. It makes you think. Should make predators just get murdered without remorse? What should the punishment be. I also like the aspect about how Ren would look for men that were cheating on their wives just to hurt them. It added background to the story.

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My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Marlee Bush
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 292
Genre: Thrillers
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THOUGHTS:

‘’ When girls die, when they can’t speak their truths anymore, all we have left are their whispers’’

So, this was an extraordinary thriller, loved how twisty and nail-biting this amazing novel was.

Copy received by @poisonedpenpress & @netgalley for an honest review.

BLURB:

She's right. It can never happen again. She won't let it.
Ten years have passed, and Ren Taylor is back at square one, having accepted a job at her old high school. She'd hoped to make peace with the past but now she's thrust back into it: her murdered teenage sister is still immortalized in town, and Ren can't stop seeing her wherever she goes. She's dogged by the scandal that ruined her childhood and killed her sister.
Then Ren meets physics teacher Bryson Lewis. Handsome and charismatic, all the other teachers and students seem to fall at his feet. But Ren knows men like him – she knows they can't be trusted.
The more Ren watches him, the more suspicious she becomes. And when she notices his close relationship with a girl in one of his classes – a girl just like her sister – she worries history is about to repeat itself. This time, she won't sit back and watch another girl be taken before her time.
This time, Ren will do what she must to save her, even if it means revealing her own darkest secrets.

Thank you, NetGalley, for a digital copy of this book.

I enjoyed reading this book. I did keep waiting and wondering what happened to Margo and you really to find out till the end, but that is ok, because there is another storyline that builds up to it. This shows an "unbreakable" vow between 2 sisters and how long 1 can keep the others secret.

This one was a slow slow burn and I didn’t quite love it. I didn’t love the unreliable narrator. She was a bit too unpredictable for me

I love a book with a pervasive sense of dread, and this one has it in spades. The small town setting really works well, and the slow burn buildup was so worth the wait. Lots of fun twists and turns, and I think thriller readers will really like this one.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Wooaaah! Amazing book great author.
Did not expect those twist & turns. I would say this one has a couple good twist that left me stunned. Fast paced steady entertainment.

I could see this book being made into a movie or show. I had a great time seeing it play out in my mind. I enjoyed the slow mystery as it unraveled and revealed more about the MC’s, Ren, past. Although her sister Margo died, she very much still haunts Ren by showing up on the daily. Full of secrets, twists, supernatural and suspense makes this an excellent thriller!!

Ren returned to her hometown 10 years after her sister Margo died, presumably at the hands of her teacher. She accepted a job teaching at her old high school and finds the teacher across the hall giving similar vibes as the teacher who killed her sister. She doesn’t want history to repeat itself so she gets suspicious.

2.5 stars
This was good. There were aspects I liked and the twist at the end I definitely didn't see coming. The downside for me was the pacing and a few odd time jumps. Also, some characters seemed inconsistent. Overall this was a good read and I'd still recommend it.