Dark and Shallow Lies

I wanted to like this book based on the description, but I could never really get into the storyline. The story follows Grey, a teen who grew up in a small Louisanna town called the Psychic Capital of the World. She has just returned to town for summer break, and sets to solving the mystery of what happened to her best friend Elora who vanished a few months back. Sounds like a cool concept, but throughout the book nothing really happens. There’s a lot of dialogue in this book as opposed to action, which would be fine if something actually happened in the dialogue. Instead we just get to hear the same characters say they don’t know what happened over and over, and don’t actually get any clues to solve the mystery. There was also not much character development in the story. All of the side characters have cool-sounding powers, which are introduced in a single sentence, and some of them are never explored again. I would have loved to have seen more of the kids use their powers, or the author go into greater depth to describe their character. Many of the characters come into a conversation to say a line, and then leave. What’s the point of having all of these extra characters if they don’t do anything? There were also some inconsistencies in the storyline. Without spoiling anything, one of the main characters was born in the midst of a hurricane. They tell the story that they came out of the womb and the hurricane picked up the baby and the roof of the house and carried them away. His parents then rushed after to find him unharmed. Then, in a later chapter of a story we learn he was a twin. When did the other baby have time to be born in the midst of this scenario? I get that the author wants to add surprise by adding this extra factor, but it doesn’t really fit in with the story they told. Overall, I did finish the book and there was a good amount of action in the ending, but it still wasn’t a very satisfying ending.

Thank you to Razorbill and BookishFirst for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain is an atmospheric, contemporary YA novel that blends fantasy with mystery. The story revolves around Grey, a 17 year-old girl whose best friend Elora went missing 6 months ago. Grey believes that something bad happened to her, and she wants to find out what. Then, a new boy arrives in town, and everything changes. The town of La Cachette, Louisiana is hiding secrets, a dark past filled with murders. Will Grey be able to wade her way through the lies to uncover what happened to Elora? Or will she be swept out in the tide? Here is a chilling excerpt from the first page of the book: "He’s tearing through the brush behind me. Breathing hard and calling my name. Even with the wind and the driving rain, he’s all I hear. So I push myself faster. We break out onto the wide-open flats, and I feel him closing in on me. There’s nowhere left to hide except inside the dark. So I turn off my flashlight and let the blackness eat me alive." After I read that excerpt, I knew that I had to keep reading to find out what happens next. I love fantasy books and thrillers. They're my two favorite genres, so I was so happy to find a book that combines the two. Just like the excerpt above, there are also interspersed pages between the regular chapters that reveal the chase scene and what happens after, which definitely heightened the tension of the book. One highlight of this book is the setting. I felt like I had been transported to a rural, mystical town in Louisiana. Overall, Dark and Shallow Lies is an amazing, atmospheric book that blends fantasy with mystery. There were also twists at the end that I did not see coming. This book will appeal to fans of creepy contemporary fantasy books like The Dead and the Dark or House of Hollow. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of YA mysteries with a supernatural twist, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in September!

In the small town of La Cachette, magic is everywhere. It is self-proclaimed as the Psychic Capital of the World. Seventeen-year-old Grey spends her summers here when she's not living with her father. However, six months ago, her best friend Elora goes missing. Grey can't understand how her best friend vanished in a town full of psychics and no one knows what happened. She begins to dig into the night Elora went missing and she discovers that everyone in town is hiding a secret. When a blue-eyed boy who has links to Elora mysteriously appears, Grey realizes that the past of La Cachette is more present and dangerous than she thought. She doesn't know who she can and can't trust. Nobody can be presumed innocent when secrets run rampant under the surface of the town and there's a murderer on the loose. La Cachette's dark and shallow lies may end up ripping the town apart. I wasn't a fan of this one. It felt incredibly drawn out and slow and I found myself bored for most of the story. The ending was good but the rest of the story was so monotonous and repetitive.