It turns out the real deadlights were the friends we made along the way.

This book felt long, but not in a bad way. I really enjoyed the world-building, as well as the characterization. I could have spent more time in this universe, as it resolved quicker than I would have liked.

Really just a lot of fun. There are six main characters but they all have a really distinctive voice and it was fun following them in the 1990s trying to deal with a mystery in their creepy small town only to be drawn back in 2015.

I was not expecting a supernatural twist but it worked!

The only thing I didn’t love was some of the mine descriptions, I had a hard time following what they did there, I swear it was different every time. Maybe it was?

There’s more to Wesley Falls than meets the eye, but for six high school students, it’s home.

I'm a sucker for small-town, YA mystery and so I ate this up. Very well done!

This book was fine but the writing style just wasn’t for me

~This book was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

After Vera Kurian's excellent debut (Never Saw Me Coming) I was looking forward to seeing what she wrote next. A Step Past Darkness does not disappoint. I was delighted to find that VK was as interested switching around different genres as I am to reading them. The history of Wesley Falls is as dark and deep as the mountain the town is built on. Enjoy the ride.

A Step Past Darkness will resonate with anyone from a small town with big secrets. 6 friends to to an abandoned mine party, and leave with a major secret. 20 years later, one of them is murdered, leaving the remaining 5 to figure out what happened. Is it related to what happened 20 years ago? I couldn’t put this book down. 6 main characters is a lot to keep track of, but it’s totally worth it. Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars. This book was quite long winded, but I really enjoyed the dynamics between the characters. The story sometimes did not logically make sense, but the characters and the plot made up for it.

I was excited to read A STEP PAST DARKNESS, having read and enjoyed Vera Kurian’s previous book. Unfortunately, this one was a disappointment. There were far too many characters that weren’t very well differentiated, making it difficult to follow the plot. To complicate things even more, there were also time jumps that weren’t well executed, which made the entire book convoluted and hard to track, much less enjoy. This one was unfortunately a miss for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the opportunity to read and review A STEP PAST DARKNESS.