‘THE DARK BENEATH THE ICE’ BY AMELINDA BERUBE IS PARANORMAL ACTIVITY & BLACK SWAN’S QUEER LOVE CHILD

The title of this review is 100% true; no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The Dark Beneath the Ice by Amelinda Berube is Black Swan & Paranormal Activity’s Queer Love Child.

Let me explain.

The Dark Beneath the Ice is a contemporary horror story about a teenage girl named Marianne. She’s smack dab in the middle of her parents divorce, the unraveling of her mother, and a paranormal possession that is slowly tearing her apart. Marianne is quiet, invisible to her peers, and is content with cruising through life burying every single feeling that comes her way.

Her “cruising” ways are put the test when she arrives at her aunt’s home and starts to note the weird things that are going on around her. She doesn’t remember throwing a figurine and smashing her rooms mirror. She doesn’t remember silently staring at her teacher while snapping every single piece of chalk at the front of the classroom. She even doesn’t remember making phone calls and having conversations.

Shit gets spooky.
It doesn’t take Marianne and the reader long to see the connections with something like Paranormal Activity. There’s something dark and twisted haunting her that wants to destroy/take over Marianne at whatever cost. This entity will hurt Marianne, hurt those she cares about, and slowly break her down until Marianne feels like she can’t fight anymore, just like in Paranormal Activity.

The similarities to Black Swan ground this book in a way that Paranormal Activity never could while giving it a twist of dealing with mental health issues. Like Black Swan’s main character, Marianne was into ballet. She was gifted, to say the least. Then something snapped in her, something changed, and she gave it all up in one fell swoop. And ever since that moment she’s felt torn and like she can’t touch the world anymore. Like she’s disconnected.

Marianne going to therapy and starting medication makes you wonder if the reality of her situation is that she’s mentally ill. That right there makes you second guess and read over every single thing that you knew about the entity that is haunting her. It also grounds the story in a manner that I’ve never seen before when it comes to horror stories such as this one.

You never see the victim actually seek out help in possessions/supernatural occurrences like this. It’s always, “There’s a ghost! Let’s call the church or those people from The Conjuring!” Or they ignore it, foolishly thinking that it’ll go away with time. Marianne going to get help, attending therapy, and taking her medicine made me question the state of her mind but also made me become more patient with the development of her story. It made me respect her and want to really figure out what was going on with her.

And then there’s the queer love child of all of this that I included in the title.
I didn’t know that this book had queer characters. I went in thinking I was just going to have a good time getting my socks scared out of me. The queer snuck up on me. Seriously, I was minding my business, engrossed in everything that was happening to Marianne, and then she met Ron.

Rhiannon was this emo badass outcast of the school who despite her appearance doesn’t fall into the stereotypes that go along with women like her. She stuck her neck out for Marianne, got to know her, and helped Marianne uncover what was happening to her. And when the queer started happening….YOU BEST BELIEVE I READ IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN TO CONFIRM THE GAY!

The heteronormative gaze sometimes means that people will write things while looking through a straight lens without realizing what they’re writing is hella gay. This wasn’t the instance here. Marianne and Ron are hell queer/gay for each other and it’s A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! There’s hand holding, people! And not just, “Oh she took my hand.” I’m talking Marianne was trying to remember every single point where their hands touched and the warmth of Ron’s hand.

The Dark Beneath the Ice gave me a queer romance that stuck to their guns and treated it like any other romance I’ve ever read. Marianne and Ron stood up for each other, supported each other, and grew as people next to each other. They were funny, sweet, and honest, even when it was hard to do so. It became the focal part of the story, for me at least, without drowning out Marianne’s journey or Ron’s development.

Crazy supernatural shit aside, their friendship, their romance, made me feel less alone when it comes to my mental health issues.
The Dark Beneath the Ice made me realize that there are people in my life that are my ride or dies no matter what’s going on in my mind. It gave me perspective on who I am, what I try to hide about myself, and the ways that I cut myself off from the world just so I can cruise through it without bringing attention to myself. That right there is what sets The Dark Beneath the Ice apart and why you should give it a chance yourself.

The story itself is good but I felt a bit disconnected with it and somehow confused at some parts but I still give it 3 stars

I'm wasn't entirely sure how I would feel about this book, but I did generally enjoy it. I found the comparison between mental health and supernatural happenings to be surprisingly realistic, and it really has you on edge the entire time because you're not fully sure what's going on.The LGBT representation was done well, in that it was important but not made the focal point of the book and dragged out. Teens that enjoy "creepy" books will probably jump at this one.

I was so unprepared for how much I ended up enjoying this haunting story! Halfway through this book, I realized that I have been waiting to read a spooky horror story for far too long this year and this book definitely earned the creepy vibes.

The Dark Beneath the Ice is about a teenager named Marianne who is dealing with a lot in her family life right now. Her parents have just split up and her mom is not handling it well at all. Marianne is struggling to hold everything together when she begins to realize that something strange is happening to her. She keeps losing time or blacking out into a dreamlike state only to come to and realize that items have broken around her, or she herself has done something she would never do. Something is following her. Something dark, angry and hungry for her life.

The creepy scenes in this book are so chilling and brought me straight to the same feelings I have when watching a horror movie unfold. The way the author unfolded the supernatural elements of Marianne’s story and the horror that follows her, left me thinking about this book whenever I would put it down. It ended up being so compulsively readable for me that I put aside every other book I was reading at the time to finish it (which isn’t something that I do often).

But it is not just reading the chilling scenes that make this story, it’s also the compelling way that the author reveals parts of Marianne’s character and her relationships with others. I can say for myself, I’ve certainly felt some of the pressures Marianne felt in high school and with family, she is the type of character who carries too much of the burden of others on her own shoulders. And ultimately, it wears her down. Not to mention that on top of that, she’s being haunted.

I also absolutely loved the character of Rhiannon and the relationship that developed between her and Marianne. I have to say I was super excited when I realized that the story was leading them towards being more than friends! The things that we learn about each of these characters and how they dealt with their feelings amongst their peers are poignant and really made me fall for these two even more.

I gave this book five stars because I could not put it down, it was chilling and spooky and so many of my favorite things. But also because I was thoroughly impressed with how the author managed to convey a great message through a horror novel. I will definitely be buying a hardcopy of this for myself and I cannot wait until her next spooky tale comes out!

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the opportunity to review this book!

I absolutely loved this! It’s so hard for a lot of authors to bring fear and the paranormal. Success! I loved it! Thank you for allowing me to review this! Can’t wait to read more.

This book is a wreck. The write up was strong, but I had no idea it was going to fall apart and going to go mixed up and confusing homosexual. The main character decided she was possessed and it went from there. The ending fell apart. It was like a lot of drama and then a long slow fizzle. I'm sorry, but this book disappointed me on every level.

My copy came from Net Galley. My thoughts and opinions are my own, left of my own free will.

I love debut novels. I like to think of an author’s first book as a blind date. You’re all excited and a little nervous to get there because you’re unsure of what to expect but then you see your date and start thinking that it could have promise and you’re really happy that you wore that dress everyone says you look smoking hot in. As the night goes on, you might decide that there just isn’t enough chemistry to keep you interested so you part ways respectfully knowing that you won’t see each other again but you’re happy you gave it chance. You also might realize half way through that this guy is just an idiot who is going to stiff you with the cheque so you duck out the back door while he isn’t looking so you don’t have to deal with him again. There is also the possibility that your date goes quite well and, even though you aren’t really sure about it just yet, you see a lot of potential, are more than happy to exchange numbers and look forward to seeing what that second date has in store. The Dark Beneath the Ice is definitely getting my number.

What stood out the most to me while I was reading this book was the amazing imagery used. It was brilliant! I don’t know a single teenage girl, or any woman for that matter, that doesn’t feel like they are drowning at times and portrayal of the water and the ice speaks so powerfully of where Marianne is both mentally and emotionally and there were so many times that I could almost feel her terror with her. Such an amazing way to display those feelings. I also thought that it was important to focus on the mental illness factors that plagued, not only Marianne, but her mother as well.

Unfortunately, that is pretty much where my enjoyment of this book ended. I do enjoy a good Young Adult book from time to time and I am a big reader of the paranormal but I felt that this particular coupling lacked the finesse I was hoping for. The parts of the book that focused on Marianne’s haunting were psychologically terrifying but they came across in a very awkward manner. The same goes for pretty much anywhere Ron, her mother or Marianne’s father came onto the scene. The flow just wasn’t there and it seemed like the first half of the book dragged a fair amount and then just exploded to a rushed ending.

I also didn’t find I had any real connection to any of the characters. I wanted to like Ron and towards the end I started to get a feel for her character but it was too little, too late for me. Marianne’s family just annoyed me and don’t even get me started on Ron’s mother!

I do want to point out that I was incredibly impressed about the Esther Cox mention. Although it didn’t mention her name specifically and you probably wouldn’t notice this wonderful piece of Nova Scotian paranormal history unless you actually knew the story, I got a little too excited to see it in this book. The Great Amherst Mystery is a huge part of my hometown’s history so it’s a story I grew up with and I would highly recommend reading up on this terrifying tale. Massive love to the author for adding in this detail!

I think this is the kind of book that would be more enjoyed by its target audience than by an adult that loves YA from time to time. Most of all, though, I think that this book really shows the potential the author for more books and I will look forward to the second date!

A really complex narrative that twisted and turned. The drama and the darkness were great. I do think marketing it as "Black Swan meets Paranormal Activity" was a mistake. It set expectations too high for what the story turned out to be.

I'll look forward to reading other works by Berube.

-3.5/5 stars-
The Dark Beneath the Ice is a Young Adult horror based on a girl, Marianne, who is going through a rough stage in her life where she has just given up dancing and her parents are going through a divorce. On top of this she is also trying to deal with a paranormal force that seems to be haunting her, causing many more problems. This book is given the description of "Black Swan meets Paranormal Activity".
Overall this book was a great YA horror read! The whole book was very intense and I often found it very hard to put the book down most times telling myself the usual, "just one more chapter!” I found that the writing of the author was great, truly horrifying at times and captivating how the possession/paranormal aspects were portrayed. The pacing of the book was neither fast nor slow. I really loved this about the books as I was never waiting for something to happen and then things did not end up blowing over too fast either, I always wanted the book in hand to carry on the story!
The romantic relationship of the main character and Rhiannon was very well portrayed (a nice touch to the story line) and seemed to be talked of a lot more than Marianne and her past experiences. I would have liked to hear more about the main characters past, especially within her dancing as some things seemed to just be skipped and missed out.
I am not too sure how I really feel about the ending, the reveal was not in any way what I thought it would be and to me didn’t add up too much with some of the events that happened within the book. It did not satisfy me as such, although it was a very smart and different route to go down!
I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in paranormal books as even though I do not think the main character was explored very well and the ending did not blow me away, I still thoroughly enjoyed the book and my whole experience of reading it!

This was a pleasantly spooky surprise. I think it'd be a perfect Halloween read, when the trees are turning, and there's a crispness to the air, and the days get shorter. I sped through his like it was a 100 meter dash.

Marianne was a very real character to me, fleshed out and flawed while also being deeply relatable. I genuinely worried about her and, while I knew what was plaguing her early on, I wanted to know how she would overcome it. Her unreliability as a narrator made the story all the more tense.

The Dark Beneath the Ice has a lot of layers to it, not just a suspenseful popcorn read. It's a story about a girl's relationship with her mother, her growing feelings for another girl, her insecurities about herself and her self-worth. It resonated with me and I'm really glad I had the opportunity to read it early.

I'm not sure I entirely agree with the comparisons between Black Swan and Paranormal Activity. It was far more atmospheric and internalized than anything and wasn't necessarily what I would consider horror.

I definitely recommend it for fans of Maggie Stiefvater's flare of magic and eeriness. Overall I give The Dark Beneath the Ice four stars.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire for taking a chance on a little book blog and giving me an ARC.

I’ve been watching loads of horror movies lately, but recently I realised I haven’t actually read a huge amount of YA horror…so I decided to fix that. Luckily this book was up for request on NetGalley and sounded pretty cool so I decided to give it a go – the comparison to Paranormal Activity got me intrigued.

I like the Paranormal Activity franchise, OK? (But don’t talk to me about PA: The Ghost Dimension…)

But anyway. I got stuck into this YA debut pretty easily. It starts off intriguingly enough – Marianne, our protagonist, is caught in the middle of her parents’ separation. She’s struggling with her emotions and soon strange things start happening – she’s losing time, getting odd messages, finding herself unable to recall certain events. The family drama is very effectively done – her father’s gone off by himself and her mother has checked herself into a hospital, and Marianne is now staying with her aunt Jen, who tries to convince her that everything will be OK. Marianne is also weighed down by the fact that she no longer loves dancing and her parents found out that she’d been skipping classes, which she thinks contributed to the family drama. Her friend has also moved away, so she feels even lonelier – but soon the strange occurrences in her life lead her to get closer to the school’s resident “weird girl”, Rhiannon (better known as Ron), whose mother is a psychic who may be key in understanding just what is going on with Marianne.

I thought the queer rep in this novel was pretty good – it’s not central to the story (the haunting and family drama is the main plot) but it remains important to Marianne’s character. So thumbs up for that.

For the horror aspect…well, the first half of this book was really effectively creepy and well-done. I felt worried for Marianne as she slowly came to realise that maybe her mother did actually see something terrifying before she checked into hospital and wasn’t just hallucinating. I find that the trope of “character doesn’t realise something horrifying happened until they play back a tape/video/recording” always makes my blood run cold, and I thought it was really effectively used here when Marianne and Ron get too close to the thing that’s haunting Marianne.

But, uh, the second half. I wasn’t a fan of the explanation for what was going on – I appreciate that the author was trying to be a bit more original, but this is one of those rare cases where I wish she’d gone down the more generic route for her explanation of events. It’s incredibly hard to make horror endings satisfying (just look at most of Stephen King’s novels – a lot of them run out of steam by the end), and this one just didn’t do anything for me. As soon as the reasons were explained, it stopped being creepy – it just made me a bit confused and unsatisfied. I do give it props for being an example of a very atmospheric, emotional horror novel, but there were too many things that the author was trying to tie together with the “big reveal” and in my opinion, it just didn’t work, and it didn’t freak me out either.

I thought this was a decent novel with some original elements and great characterisation and drama, but as a horror it fell a bit short for me. I’d be interested to see the author’s next book – I can’t deny that it was an enjoyable read.

Frightening and riveting!
Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the opportunity to read and review The Dark Beneath the Ice by Amelinda Berube!
Marianne is staying with her Aunt Jen until her mother straightens some things out. Marianne’s parents are split up, but her parents leave her in the dark. Marianne breaks and throws chalk during her math class when the teacher asks her to solve an equation at the board but she has no recollection of that. Her parents keep reassuring her that their separation is not her fault. This makes me wonder about the situation they were in and what is going on with Marianne. While living at Aunt Jen’s, Marianne makes a new friend, a helpful friend in Rhiannon, who prefers to be called Ron. Together they try to get to the bottom of Marianne’s struggles. During an experiment with Marianne, something frightens Ron terribly and she runs away and leaves Marianne on the beach where Marianne had an episode and Ron recorded the audio part of it. Frightening and riveting! I didn’t want to put the book down. This creepy, supernatural read gave me chills and food for thought- we all have to fight our own personal demons. 5 stars!

A paranormal thriller, The Dark Beneath the Ice is a mystery with high stakes. Marianne has just been told her parents are getting a divorce, and her Mom then checked herself into the hospital for emotional problems. Just as her life is falling apart around her, paranormal things start happening to her. She starts loosing time, having dreams about drowning in a deep ice water lake, breaking lights and mirrors around her and seeing ominous writings on the surfaces around her. Whatever is happening is getting worse, and she has to navigate her life and family problems, all while going crazy and facing off against the powerful and paranormal.
It was fine. The Dark Beneath the Ice was okay, but right at the end it had a random lesbian relationship that came out of nowhere and didn't feel appropriate to the pacing. It felt quite abrupt and didn't really fit, being thrown in within the last couple pages. The story was very family and individually focused, which was fascinating, but then in the last pages changed to a romance, which felt very unearned. Besides that, the story before then was very interesting as it was written in a way that you could imagine that the story was not a paranormal thriller, but the story of a mentally ill young girl who is seeing the outcome of bottling up trauma and extreme emotions. It was fairly interesting in that way. All it all, The Dark Beneath the Ice was fine and I give it the rating of THREE AND A HALF STARS OUT OF FIVE!!!

The Dark Beneath the Ice is the debut novel for Amelinda Berube. The story follows Marianne, a high school age girl suffering an identity crisis. Marianne’s parents are in the middle of a charged separation. Marianne’s mother seems to suffer from a history of emotional disturbances and decides that it is best for Marianne to stay with her aunt while she works through the divorce.

Soon after Marianne relocated to her Aunt’s, mysterious occurrences start to happen to Marianne. Unexplainable things that make Marianne think she has truly lost her mind. Not knowing what to do, Marianne starts seeing a therapist and starts taking medication designed to make her brain operate correctly.

The story is well written and seems realistic for a teen suffering from angst and familial issues. The book has lots of vivid imagery. Novel touches on a few different issues that a budding teen trying to find where they fit in the world might deal with. Storyline is kinda built up as a ghost story, but it definitely ends up heading in a different direction. It’s a quick, short read, easy to get through, and mostly enjoyable to read.

Dark Beneath The Ice follows Marianne after she’s just quit ballet which has taken up her entire life and caused a tremendous amount of stress for her and her family. She starts experiencing strange things, first some objects being moved, and eventually a voice. And she wonders who, or what could be haunting her.

I was really excited to start reading this as soon as I got it. It’s described as The Black Swan meets Paranormal Activity and as a former ballerina dancer, and someone who also quite enjoys horror movies, I thought this would fit me to a T. But, the book just didn’t follow through. Dark Beneath The Ice really is The Black Swan meets Paranormal Activity when you really think about it, but with less thrills and suspense. And I think that’s the reason the book fell flat. It needed a few more jump scares, and also the writing was too “pretty” at times and not creepy enough.

Something I really enjoyed was the family dynamic, and the main character. Marianne is a former dancer, but she’s also struggling to share with her friends that she’s into girls. In addition, she’s also dealing with the divorce of her parents, her mom dealing with a potential disorder of some kind, and learning to live with a relative she’s not super close with thanks to her parents’ divorce. I really liked that even in a thriller/horror novel, the main character had real-life issues.

Overall, I’m giving this one three stars, mostly because it just wasn’t creepy enough. Also, I wish the author had come back to the psychic reading at the end.

The Dark Beneath the Ice is an unputdownable YA queer thriller that I encourage everyone to read. It's been blurbed as Paranormal Activity meets Black Swan and I completely agree.

I'm going to say it right out: this book is scary as hell. Oh my gosh, I was terrified and I'm not someone who gets scared easily. The paranormal elements were mixed perfectly with tension to create such a frightening reading experience.

The main character, Marianne, was a very intriguing character. Her self-hatred was heartbreaking to read but it also felt very real, and I felt as though I could connect with her. I was also fascinated by her relationship with her mother -- which revealed another intriguing layer to The Dark Beneath the Ice.

I absolutely adored the romance, which is something I didn't think I'd say in a horror novel. It's an f/f romance, which I'm so thankful for (!!), and it's such a wonderful slow burn. You really become invested. M

The Dark Beneath the Ice was truly a unnerving story with a well-planned plot, characters and motivated storyline. I haven’t enjoyed reading a scary book in a long time, which says a lot because I read a great deal of horror and zombie books. I was spellbound by the story this author has created and look forward to reading and reviewing more of her books.

The Dark Beneath the Ice took me a little while to get through. The book wasn't particularly long and I didn't particularly dislike it, but it was a little slow for me for a couple reasons in particular. First, Marianne, the narrator, was unreliable and I had a difficult time sticking with her. Marianne's mother commits herself to a hospital and Marianne goes to live with her aunt in who's house she begins to see and hear horrific things. This leads to the second thing I didn't like, which was how short-lived the creep-factor was. It was great and fun but it didn't last and it really slowed down.

My favorite part of the book was probably the character Ron. She was a great secondary character to Marianne and her personality was just fantastic.

Overall The Dark Beneath the Ice wasn't all that I wanted it to be but it was all right. The cover is also a big draw-in and talks about mental health and LGBTQ are pretty good.

The Dark Beneath the Ice is a paranormal thriller that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. It’s described as being Black Swan meets Paranormal Activity. Admittedly I haven’t seen either of those, so I can’t really comment too much; but I will say that based on the trailers alone that’s a pretty decent description of the feeling and mode of this novel. It’s dark, eerie, and chaotic at times (as only a paranormal event can be), but it’s also full of raw emotion, determination, and perseverance. In short, it’s a wonderful blend and a fascinating story.
Warnings first: I’d say that this novel is pretty safe on the whole. There are a couple of characters that question their mental stability throughout the book (which will make sense when you start reading it, I promise) and they seek various levels of care.
I’ll be honest with you here, I went into this novel expecting one thing, and I ended up getting something completely different. I don’t know if I absolutely loved what I got, but I really did enjoy all the twists and surprises throughout.
I devoured this book. Once I got started the plot just grabbed me and I absolutely had to know what was happening and what the cause was behind everything. I just couldn’t get to the ending fast enough. I sincerely think I may have finished this book in one sitting. Actually, I know I did. And then once I finished I sat there staring at it for a good fifteen minutes, trying to process the emotional roller coaster this book just threw me aboard.
I’ll admit that I was a little disappointed with the revelation at the end. I think there’s more she could have done with it, some smoothing over or something to make it feel less…sudden. Still, getting us from point a to point b will extremely interesting, so I’m happy with having put aside the time to read this one.
This is Amelinda Berube’s first novel (that I can see listed on Goodreads at least) and I have to say that I’m exceptionally impressed. She came out of the gate swinging, so to speak. And she certainly made an impression on me. I do know that her next novel is titled Here There Are Monsters, which already sounds fantastic. I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

Although this is a YA with a flair of the paranormal, I do think how a reader experiences the read depends on the perspective you have on the story. If you completely eliminate the paranormal and ghostly element of the story ask yourself what you’re left with. You are left with the internal emotional turmoil of a teenager, which manifests itself in physical reactions, blackouts and auditory hallucinations.

The stress of feeling inadequate and not being able to live up to expectations in regards to her dancing. The fear of being rejected for her sexuality and not feeling as if she can be true to her inner desires, and the distress of being a pawn in the middle of a battle between her mother and father. All of those things throw Marianne into a tailspin and threaten to completely destroy her sanity.

Bérubé takes all of those elements and covers them with thin dark veil of a dangerous paranormal presence. Something waiting to consume Marianne when she lets her guard down. To drag her under the icy water and take the life she knows away from her.

Marianne and her new friend Ron set out to discover who or what is threatening both of them, and unfortunately they underestimate the power behind the mysterious presence. The truth is something neither of them can really comprehend.

It’s a tale of teenage distress, pain and fear. When you take the simple paranormal structure away – what remains is a heartbreaking story of a breakdown and a cry for help, albeit a subconscious one. The author writes it in a very lyrical and haunting way. The dark presence haunts, taunts and scares the girl, and ultimately tries to destroy her. It’s a fascinating combination of a psychological premise combined with a paranormal flair. It’s understated and yet extremely powerful at the same time.