I was hooked from the first chapter--a missing teenager from the self-proclaimed "Psychic Capital of the World" and no one knows where she is or what happened to her!
In a tiny Louisiana town of 106 souls, a group of ten teens, all born within six months of each other, are called the Summer Children and have a close connection with each other, despite having various psychic abilities. Two were drowned at age four (who?, why?), but the remaining eight share an invisible bond. Grey returns for her summer visit and begins to see flashes of her missing friend Elora, the first sign of her own psychic gifts. Danger lurks all around--from the monster gator to the rotting wood all around to the untold secrets. As the summer heat intensifies, Grey seems to get closer to what happened to her best friend, but a stranger appears and adds more mystery. Does the drowning of two 4-year-olds thirteen years earlier have anything to do with Elora's disappearance? Does the suicide of Grey's mother years earlier have any meaning? Will the incoming tropical storm-turned-hurricane uncover any clues or destroy everything?
I figured out one clue midway through the book, but other ideas I had were blown apart as the chapters flew by. The descriptions of the weather, the landscape, and the people took me back to the six years I lived in Louisiana. I wish the author had not used the F-word so liberally, but I'm far beyond the target audience of Young Adults (age 14+). Nevertheless, I have a feeling that "Dark and Shallow Lies" will stick with me for quite a while.
I received an ARC from BookishFirst in exchange for a full review.
In a tiny Louisiana town of 106 souls, a group of ten teens, all born within six months of each other, are called the Summer Children and have a close connection with each other, despite having various psychic abilities. Two were drowned at age four (who?, why?), but the remaining eight share an invisible bond. Grey returns for her summer visit and begins to see flashes of her missing friend Elora, the first sign of her own psychic gifts. Danger lurks all around--from the monster gator to the rotting wood all around to the untold secrets. As the summer heat intensifies, Grey seems to get closer to what happened to her best friend, but a stranger appears and adds more mystery. Does the drowning of two 4-year-olds thirteen years earlier have anything to do with Elora's disappearance? Does the suicide of Grey's mother years earlier have any meaning? Will the incoming tropical storm-turned-hurricane uncover any clues or destroy everything?
I figured out one clue midway through the book, but other ideas I had were blown apart as the chapters flew by. The descriptions of the weather, the landscape, and the people took me back to the six years I lived in Louisiana. I wish the author had not used the F-word so liberally, but I'm far beyond the target audience of Young Adults (age 14+). Nevertheless, I have a feeling that "Dark and Shallow Lies" will stick with me for quite a while.
I received an ARC from BookishFirst in exchange for a full review.