There's complicated drama aplenty when Willow Lamott's best friend, Ashton Keller—also an accused murderer—returns to their small town. Mystery, suspense, danger, and of course, romance fill Langdon's story as the pair works to reestablish their friendship and discover what exactly happened all those years ago. It's a fun, intriguing, spooky-ish read.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC of Gilt Hollow by Lorie Langdon.

Willow will always be shadowed by her ex-best friend Ashton who went away for four years for murder. She can't keep a job and is relentlessly tormented by classmates, save a few close friends. But things are about to get worse when Ashton suddenly reappears into her life without warning. And he needs her help. Struggling to seek a normal life, Willow does everything she can to avoid getting caught up in the web of drama Ashton is constantly surrounded by, but also wants her best friend back. How far is she willing to go to help a friend?

I'll be honest, I got about halfway through it before I started skimming. It's not that it wasn't good or well written, I just wasn't the best audience for it. It smacked way too much of Twilight. "Ooooh, I'm a sad, introverted angsty teen who can't seem but help attract all the hottest HS boys for no reason." I'm just too old for it. Had I been a seventeen year old, I'm sure I would have lapped it right up.

Started off slow and stayed that way. It was a struggle to finish this book and not just because the dialogue was weak.

Wasn't able to get into, but will try again eventually.

Blink and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Gilt Hollow. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

In the four years that Willow Lamott’s best friend was in juvenile hall as a convicted killer, the small town of Gilt Hollow will not let her forget it. When Ashton Keller comes back to school, full of rage and wanting vengeance, he goes back to his place at Willow's side. With Willow's help, will Ashton's attempts to clear his name destroy everyone he loves?

Gilt Hollow is a simple YA mystery with well developed main characters. The book is worth reading simply for Willow and Ashton, as they will remind many readers of high school and teenagers who are on the fringes. The story dragged a bit in the middle and the suspense was not as dramatic as per the usual mystery novel. Gilt Hollow has a good premise, but the book itself would have been better if the author had focused on the mystery instead of bringing romance into it. Readers who like YA romance with a little mystery and teenage angst will like Gilt Hollow.

I stopped reading this book at 30%. Maybe it's because I am a mood reader butI just could not get into this book. Sadly

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and most of all, the author for the opportunity to read this book in return for my honest opinion.

A YA book, and I know I am not a YA, but you shouldn't disregard these books. My daughters have introduced me to a few YA books that I have loved. This was no exception. It was a good book, it had a great storyline and the author did a great job of creating the characters. Willow and Ashton were very relatable and I loved the storytelling. Satisfactory ending as well.

Gilt Hollow, by Lorie Landon, is a YA mystery/thriller filled with plenty of twists and turns to keep you on your toes and a budding romance between two nearly ex-best friends.


The novel follows Willow and Ashton, two teenagers who grew up inseparable. Until Ashton was convicted of killing his friend and sent to juvie for four years. After he gets out, he has revenge on his mind and find himself back in his hometown of Gilt Hollow, a free flowing hippie community. Ashton has been disowned by his wealthy, successful family and resorts to sneaking into his old house he's set to inherit, now occupied by Willow and her family.


Willow has always known Ashton was innocent, perhaps the only one in all of Gilt Hollow. She's lost friends because of this, and even jobs over it. But now that Ashton is home, she may lose her life over it. Still continuing to stick by Ashton's side, Willow starts receiving threatening text messages, telling her to back off or else she's next. This only fuels Willow's desire to get to the bottom of what happened to Ashton, while Aston is determined to protect Willow and seek revenge on the true killer. Only he doesn't know which of his friends did it.


Gilt Hollow keeps you on your toes with fantastic pacing, and just enough clues that you're never really sure who's the killer until Willow and Ashton themselves figure it out.

Not gonna lie, I really liked the cover for this one. I liked the simpleness of the colours, with the title being bright but not in your face.

The book itself, I didn’t know what to make of when I started it. I really wanted to like it. The premise looked great and it’s felt to me like a very short read. I hadn’t previously read anything by Lorie Langdon before so wasn’t really sure of what to expect.

Honestly, I was a little disappointed. Especially with the end of the book. It just seemed kind of abrupt, like too quick of a wrap up. In other places it felt forced, such as some of the characters interacting with each other and the amount of romance.

Having said that, I thought it was a fair read and I would like to try more by Laurie in the future.

3 out of 5 stars.

I was so suprised with Gilt Hollow! I loved it! My two favorite things from this book's were the charaters as well as the pacing.
I was sad for the male character and all he lost but things arent always easy as the young couple finds that out.

I recognized Lorie Langdon from Doon and I thought that I would give it a try, but I'm not fan of this book. I wish I could have gotten into this book but I couldn't. I hope that I like her other books better.

Ashton has been stuck in prison for four years, he is now eighteen and being released from serving his manslaughter charge. His mum signed release papers but like the rest of his friends and family, didn't want to see him.

Willow is new to working in a coffee shop, yet an awkward scene occurs early on between her and a lady whose son, Daniel was killed by Willow's accused possible boyfriend Ashton.
At school she's best friends with Lisa, a new girl and mostly has her head in a book, she's super smart and wants to study biochemistry. She also testified Ashton was innocent at his trial as they had been friends for years, since she has suffered panic attacks and anxiety.

We also see Willow going on a few dates with Brayden who told her of Ashton's release originally to warn her. Ashton seems to accept that she needs to be happy and seems okay with her and Brayden as the book goes on initially.

There is also the factor that Willow keeps hearing creepy sounds and creaking around the house and woods which its seems her brother also hears too. Their mum doesn't believe them but it really freaks Willow and makes a lot of suspense and intrigue build up throughout the book.

It really keeps you guessing and especially to really find out what happened around the whole Daniel issue and how his death really occurred. Overall, it was a great book to read and especially when you read it at night as I did during this storm we have right now!

Thank you to the publishers for allowing me to review this book!