It starts off slowww, but that is really my only complaint about this book. Once I got into it, I was hooked, could not put the thing down, and at that point it definitely did not feel long.

There are six main characters who end up sort of thrown together for a project which takes them out of their comfort zones (let’s just say these six were not exactly running in the same groups until this project). But it takes an unexpected turn when they see some at a mine party. And I do mean Some Stuff™. The book alternates between the past, during the summer that changed their lives, and the present, when they reunite- minus one- to figure out what happened to their fallen friend.

I don’t want to give much away, but the mines are so atmospheric and creepy (also, I very much hope that they were kind of based off Centralia, which I have always wanted to incorporate into a book of my own). To add to the sketchiness of the town, there is a mega-church which is culty at best, frankly. It gives those vibes- you know the vibes. Some of our characters’ families are deep in the culty church scene, but the whole town is affected by it one way or another. And then you have murdery shenanigans happening, and a lot of questions.

The mystery was so good, I could not stop reading. I also loved the characters, and being able to see them both as teens and then adults was pretty fun- you see how all they have been through has changed them, and it makes things even tenser when they have to go back to their hometown and revisit the junk that made them get out of there to begin with. So to summarize, we have great character development, an incredibly compelling mystery, high stakes and murder, some humor to make it palatable, relationships to navigate, some commentary on the creepy mega churches, and it all adds up to a simply unputdownable book.

Bottom Line: It may start out slow, but it gets so good that I promise you won’t care.

A woman's death brings 5 old High School friends together again and back to their home town where none of them have been since they graduated.

The friends reminded me of the Breakfast Club,  Maddy, a devout member of the local megachurch, Kelly, the bookworm next door, James, a cynical burnout, Casey, a loveable football player, Padma, the shy straight-A student, Jia, who’s starting to see visions she can’t explain.  

This book had a great creep factor when it came to the church that basically runs the town, and what happened all those years ago that created a bond between the 6 friends who may never have bonded if not for the mysterious and unbelievable incidents that occurred. 

The beginning of the book was very fast paced and then waned somewhere in the middle.  I really enjoyed the story and the different time lines but it started to drag a bit. The ending picked up again and I was happy with the ending. Overall a good read but could have been a bit shorter to keep it more engaging all the way through.

I will always gravitate towards a thriller featuring a reunited friend group who dealt with something horrific happening in their past. When they all must reunite because those buried secrets have resurfaced, I’m ON BOARD! I loved that about this one.

I enjoyed the beginning of this book. I enjoyed the chapters that depict the past and how everything built up to this main event that shaped this group of people.

It’s the second half of the book that had my interest waning some. This wasn’t bad, in fact it was very entertaining. This has a great creepy purity culture aspect rampant with predatory nature. All in all, quite enjoyable, I just wish that the intensity of the first half carried over into the remainder of the book.

Set in the 90s this YA mystery suspense has Breakfast Club and Stranger Things vibes. The strengths were the wide range of characters, some you were rooting for, others you weren't. setting the story 20 years later gave time for the development of characters and for the reader to see how the events that happened in the mined impacted them. I went into this book knowing very little and I think not having expectations helped me go with the flow of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This was a struggle. When I started skimming at 13 percent in, I knew this book wasn't for me. There were too many characters and I wanted to be in the present timeliness, not the past. This isn't marketed as a young adult novel, which adds to reader frustration.

I really liked the setting of this book and I also enjoyed the dual timelines. I found it to be a bit long with maybe 1 or 2 too many characters. I got the feeling they were going for with the group of friends and the nostalgia. My biggest issue was that the big “mystery” was something that the group seemed to know about all along. It was mentioned in the very beginning. More character driven that thriller/mystery in my opinion.

This was a soft DNF for me, I tried, but felt like I had to slog through and was not following the plot. There were many characters which may have had me a bit confused. I will give this another try at a later date. It is a long slow burn. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read.
2 star for now until I revisit

Holy heck, Batman! An entirely original take on a slow burn thriller, there were ingenious supernatural elements that gave A Step Past Darkness a very Stranger Things feel. From the fully fleshed out characters to the skillfully interwoven plot, I found myself utterly spellbound from beginning to end. After all, I can’t think of many books that managed to keep my attention riveted quite like this. With more twists than I could count, each made me think “What the f***?” more than the last. But only in the best possible way, of course.

As for that perfectly plotted and finely tuned storyline, the dual timelines and multiple POVs delivered enough blind turns that I was at a total loss at what was going to happen next. Perhaps it did drone on just a little too long in the middle, but I have to say that I loved the insights into each character’s past and present regardless of any lack of action. Plus, the dynamite climax (no pun intended) and soul satisfying conclusion meant I closed the cover of this one happy as a clam.

The characters were easily the star of the show, however. With deep backstories and carefully crafted arcs to their personas, I grew invested in their experiences in a way I wouldn’t have expected. Thanks to this, the slow reveal of events from the past in this cross genre book took on a genuine turn. So much so, in fact, that this thriller/fantasy/horror plot seamlessly blended the line between reality and fiction.

All said and done, I thoroughly loved this one from the first word until the last. Even though it was probably a bit too long-winded and was certainly nothing like I’d anticipated, I ripped through all 448 pages with hardly a break. After all, it all flowed so easily with sharp writing and a palpable tension. So as long as you aren’t expecting an out-and-out thriller or the length doesn’t put you off, I definitely recommend giving this book a shot. I, for one, am extremely glad that I did. Rating of 4.5 stars.

Thank you to Vera Kurian and Park Row for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Did you read that book?


A Step Past Darkness

By Vera Kurian

Plot: Six classmates. One terrifying night. A murder 20 years in the making. Six unlikely kids are thrown together for a class project. When they attend a party at the old abandoned mine in their town, they never expected that night would bond them all for life and lead to a murder. Now 20 years later, the person they murdered is back (But how?) and one of them has gone missing. With so many questions, our cast of characters must find answers in a town full of secrets.


Review: Vera Kurian took us on a masterpiece of a journey. The first few chapters I was trying to figure out where we were going. What road are we being taken on? But once it grabs you, it doesn’t let go. It takes a skilled author to somehow get us to care about six individuals all within one book.


Maddy - The town “it girl” who went from spoiled socialite to caring friend.
Casey - Player jock, using his muscles for justice.
Padma - Shy girl finally finding her own.
James - Burnout with a heart of gold.
Jai - Social outcast, now finally found people who care about her.

Kelly - Introverted bookworn turned pilar of strength for her peers.

Each of the characters worked so well together in both past and present. Their relationships were what held the story together. Plus Vera did a wonderful job of almost making us feel like we were the seventh member of their team. Watching from the outside but feeling like we were right there in the mine with them watching our step.

The plot felt similar to Stephen King’s “IT”. As the story showed us what happened with our six students back in 1995 and then revealed what became of them as adults 2015. But now with the person they murdered mysterious back from the dead 20 years later. My favorite part was how each section of the book ended with a cliffhanger leaving you wanting more!

My only criticism would be that I felt the book wrapped up everything a little too quickly. I was reading saying “How will this end in 25 pages!!”



Thank you Vera Kurian, NetGallery, and Harlequin Books for this advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.



“A Step Past Darkness” comes on Feb 20th, 2024. Get your copy!!

I can always count on Vera Kurian to come up with something completely original. Her first book, Never Saw Me Coming, was about a group of college students participating in a psychological study about psychopaths.

I described A Step Past Darkness as an adult Breakfast Club crossed with Stranger Things. A group of adults who witnessed something terrible in high school swore never to speak of it again. But a new tragedy forces them to reconvene.

Yes, it sounds like you've read it before but this book has intriguing characters, a claustrophobic small town, hints of the paranormal, and a creepy megachurch.

Yes, it's long, but I enjoyed every page!

This book had real potential but unfortunately the writers style is just not for me. It never connected and the situations never seem fully fleshed out. I wanted to like this book a lot but I just don't.

Thriller/mystery that really had some horror elements

6 kids from different backgrounds but all in the same weird town decide to do their capstone project on the abandoned mine. During their research they stumble into something bigger and more complicated than they could understand and quickly separate and try to never see each other again. Until 20 years later they are forced together to solve and make sense of what they uncovered as kids.

The premise and really the story itself had so many elements I love, with a creepy church/cult, twists and things you’ll never see coming. BUT. It just dragged. I don’t know if I should have switched to the audio version or what but I kept finding myself shutting the book to do something else… I think part of my problem was how the timeline switches were so far apart. It didn’t keep me very engaged…

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trading for an eARC.

Well this book was so different from what I thought it was going to be but it was so interesting! This is definitely a character driven story detailing the fate of six teenagers who witnessed something awful. The six MCs were unique and interesting. The small town felt so claustrophobic - I would 100% not want to live there! This is a mashup of a few genres and perfect for thriller, horror and mystery fans. If you haven't read NEVER SAW ME COMING from Kurian I highly recommend it!

I devoured Vera Kurian’s novel, Never Saw Me Coming so I was excited to get my hands on A Step Past Darkness, her latest. This is a long book with a lot of characters to keep track of and it took me a while to get into the rhythm of the story.

Sinister, thrilling, and creepy always appeals to me, so I enjoyed this though it has supernatural elements which I do not usually gravitate towards.

Synopsis:

There’s something sinister under the surface of the idyllic, suburban town of Wesley Falls, and it’s not just the abandoned coal mine that lies beneath it. The summer of 1995 kicks off with a party in the mine where six high school students witness a horrifying crime that changes the course of their lives.

The six couldn’t be more different.

Maddy, a devout member of the local megachurch
Kelly, the bookworm next door
James, a cynical burnout
Casey, a loveable football player
Padma, the shy straight-A student
Jia, who’s starting to see visions she can’t explain
When they realize that they can’t trust anyone but each other, they begin to investigate what happened on their own. As tensions escalate in town to a breaking point, the six make a vow of silence, bury all their evidence, and promise to never contact each other again. Their plan works – almost.

Twenty years later, Jia calls them all back to Wesley Falls—Maddy has been murdered, and they are the only ones who can uncover why. But to end things, they have to return to the mine one last time.



Coming out on Feb 20.

Too slow for me, and the writing wasn't strong enough to back this up. I'm sure this book can find its audience, though. Check it out if the premise sounds interesting.

After reading Never Saw Me Coming last year by the same author, I was so excited to be approved for an ARC of A Step Past Darkness.

I loved the beginning and the end of this book, but I have to say, the middle really dragged for me. It seemed like the plot got stagnant, the chapters didn’t move the story along as much as I hoped - however, by the end, I had really formed an emotional attachment to each of the six main characters. There was a lot of depth to each of them; I think she did a wonderful job of giving them their own voices and making them full, well-rounded people.

I went in thinking this would be a sort of small-town murder mystery with thriller elements. I was surprised by some of the spiritual/supernatural details, but they worked well within the confines of the story!

I think if you enjoy slow, character driven plots with a hint of mystery running in the background - this is for you.

Thank you so much to Harlequin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

A group of high school students are paired together to work on a summer project in a Breakfast Club pairing of stereotypes. The "Capstone Six," as this group is called, make the decision to learn more about the convoluted past of the mines in Wesley Falls as their group project.

When they witness something that haunts them all, they work together to uncover the secrets of the town of Wesley Falls. What they discover is beyond anything they could have ever envisioned.

They agree to split up and never speak to each other again as a route to keep the secrets and findings safe. Until, twenty years later, circumstances compel them to return back to their hometown together when one their own is found dead.

With a split timeline storyline bouncing back and forth from 1995 and 2015, the book very much has IT vibes.
So it has both adult and YA aspects.

I had no idea what the mystery would unfold to. And at no point did I guess the twist.
I wasn't expecting a super natural aspect in the book. The bio didn't mention it. Had the supernatural element been mentioned in the bio, it may not have piqued my interest and would most likely have not read this book. Those are typically not the type of books or genres I read. But, it did not deter me from finishing. I trudged on. Although it's not within my normal, it doesn't hurt to branch of from the norm from time to time. I would have preferred the supernatural element be divulged in the book description, though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Books for an advanced digital reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

You know the drill, right? Well, you don't. This tale of six teens has dual time lines in 1995 and 2015 and multiple perspectives. Six students- a diverse rag tag group- are bound together by something that happened in a mine in 1995 and now, in 2015, one of them is dead and those who are still alive must figure out what happened. And what happened back then as well. This is more than the expected mystery- it's got horror and supernatural elements as well. It wasn't what I expected at all. While it's longer than it needs to be I found myself caught up in the story and turning the pages. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. No spoilers.

Unfortunately, this was a missed mark for me. Just slightly too many characters and timelines to keep them all straight. It felt long and drawn out which made it too tough for me to get into it.

A Step Past Darkness follows Kelly, Maddy, Jai, Padma and Casey in 1995 and 2015. These 6 vastly different teens were lumped together for a group project in High School when they witness something horrifying in the mines in their town. This leads them to searching for answers in their crooked creepy town. The book flashes forward to 2015 when they’re all brought back to the town when one of the 6 is found murdered.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Park Row for this e-arc.*