" The Dark Beneath the Ice" is the debut novel by Author Amelinda Berube. I did not know what to expect when I began to read this book but what I found was a dark yet beautiful tale. Amelinda has quite a way with words! The pacing was good albeit a bit fast at times. I think some of the characters could have been a little more developed than they were, specifically Marianne. I won't' give away any of the storyline or events that happen as to not spoil anything.

I think where it fell short was the tag line that it was Black Swan meets Paranormal activity. It is entirely in its own lane and that is perfectly ok. I love horror and creepy. I love books and movies that make me afraid to close my eyes at night. This book definitely made the hair on the back of my neck stand up a few times. I loved the LGBT representation!

*** I received this book from the Publisher and NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review ***

**Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review**

**2.5 stars**

I wanted to love this book. I really really did. The Dark Beneath the Ice promised everything I wanted in a YA supernatural horror/thriller book; it just didn't deliver in my opinion. The story and the characters fell flat.

Originally, I started this book a month ago. I put it on pause because I thought I simply wasn't in the mood for this type of book, but in reality, it was just this book. The Dark Beneath the Ice just didn't work for me. It may work for you, and I hope it does. The premise of the book is great.

Where it went wrong for me:

1. Marianne is a bland narrator/main character. She is so dull. I was bored a lot of the time (I skipped several pages at a time)
2. The other characters weren't that great either. Ron was the only interesting character, but even she couldn't save this reading experience for me.
3. The pacing was a bit slow. It took a while for me to feel the teensiest bit engaged (roughly around 70%)
4. The family dynamic between her and her parents was very weird and confusing. I was hoping by the end of the book I would be able to understand more, but there were still some holes left.
5. Things wrapped up in a weird way. You're left wondering how much was supernatural related, how much was simply all in Marianne's head, and how and why it all started. I don't know, the ending just didn't sit right with me. It felt rushed and I didn't feel any sense of closure from it.

I'm going to stop my review here. I hate writing negative reviews. I hope some people still decide to give this book a chance. I'm sure this story will work and satisfy tons of people. The writing and the characters simply didn't work for me.

I received an ARC from Netgalley for an honest review. That in no way has affected my review of the book.

Okay, I'm trying to collect my thoughts here because holy bat balls that was an emotional ride! I can happily say yay for LGBT representation! That was the biggest surprise and also the biggest enjoyment. I'm a sucker for unreliable narrators that have you guessing, paranormal stories with ghosts and hauntings or oddities, horror that's more atmospheric, and this book had all of that! The story started out with the suspense and buildup beautifully. There was a part of me during the beginning that wanted it to hurry it up. We were getting teasing glimpses of some kind of paranormal weirdness reminiscent of Stephen King's Carrie and I was anxious for more. I mean, I will admit that both Black Swan and Paranormal Activity were huge disappointments as I was wanting more out of them. This one did live up to it more, in a sense, but I honestly wanted more. Around the 60% mark, I knew who the ghost was. Adding in that back in high school I was obsessed with paranormal investigators and ghost hunting (laugh all you want), I had an extensive knowledge of ghost stories and occurrences going in. Believe me, I was that kid who'd stay up watching Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, The Dead Files, and any others I could get access to on cable without getting yelled at by my father. It also didn't help that my mom was a complete New Age person believing in some of the oddest things not even I could comprehend understanding (ancient aliens and those types of conspiracy theories). But yeah. By that point in the book, I was 98% sure what the ghost was and what would most likely transpire. And what happened? I guessed right. It sucks when you can pick up the ending a little after half way through. The hints needed to be a lot more subtle, and the red herrings needed to have more grit. The atmosphere and writing of the "other world" beneath the ice was beautiful and it was in those moments when she was in this other world that the story really came alive! I also didn't like the whole "you're not really crazy, it's just paranormal activity" trope. It's always overused and sometimes it can be turned in a good way. This one wasn't completely bad as the characters weren't dissing the mental healthcare systems so completely like a lot of the ones that take this trope do. It seemed to straddle a nice fine line between crossing it with the horror of this trope and kind of not fully playing with it. It was written in a way that made the narrator completely unreliable because you'd think what she was seeing was the truth and then something else would turn it on its head, which made it enjoyable for me. I will really say that I did love the whole lesbian love story come up because that just gave me the tingles to have an OTP to ship and root for through this story. It was sweet and nice for a change instead of trying to cram them into a hetero relationship. Overall, this book was decent. It needed a bit more and I desperately wanted more subtlety when I figured out the whole shtick at the 60% mark. It's a lot better than some of the other ones I've read around Halloween time that were cringe worthy so it's decent in it's own way and stands apart from the others.

This was such an emotional whirlwind! It was the "Black Swan meets Paranormal Activity" descriptor that hooked me, but it was the Babadook-esque happenings that kept me enthralled. This was a wild read that I sped through in less than 24 hours. Loses a star because after ratcheting up the tension and the scares for the first 3/4 of the book, I found the ending to be a bit of a let-down. Everything seemed to resolve too easily/neatly after all the emotional upheaval the characters went through for the majority of the book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy - I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for Amelinda Bérubé's future projects.

The Dark Beneath the ice, what can i say...This book grabbed me from the very beginning and kept me reading until the very end. It had just the right amount of creep factor that put me on edge and made me not want to look in a mirror for a couple days. I was disappointed about the ending though and there were some holes in the story and I would have liked a bit more backstory into Marianne's life but otherwise I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good mystery with a touch of creepiness.

The Dark Beneath the Ice was my favorite kind of paranormal story. I love realistic settings and characters that have unusual experiences. In this case, the plot revolves around high schooler Marianne. During a turbulent time in her life, unexplained events start to make her worry about her sanity. It was a deliciously creepy read!

There were a few reasons I didn't give this more than 3 stars. First, it was really heavy on dialogue (both internal and between characters). I get bored easily with reading conversations. Also, the repetitive mentions of water/ice/cold became super tedious. I understand the necessity of providing a bit of context, but it was overkill. It also seemed like "swimming" would have been a more relevant fit to the story instead of dance.

This will appeal to teens who want stories with -- what do they call it now -- diversity? The main character struggles with her sexual identification, and it plays a significant role in her emotional baggage. It actually fit well with the plot, and added an interesting layer to the side characters.

This review will appear on www.powerlibrarian.wordpress.com on Tuesday, July 3.

Marianne's life is falling apart. It isn't because her parents are getting divorced, because her mother had a psychotic break, or even because her best friend moved away. It's because strange and terrifying things keep happening whenever she's around. Light bulbs burst. Mirrors crack. Furniture moves. Convinced she's possessed, Marianne tries to communicate with the demon inside of her. This turns out to be a horrible mistake...

A major strength of The Dark Beneath the Ice is the language Bérubé uses as she describes the horrors that Marianne is experiencing.  She describes the world she's created through lyrical prose.  The frequent use of water and ice imagery—which ties back to the title perfectly--is haunting, yet beautiful.

I do have a few criticisms of the story.  The paranormal events escalate too quickly. This novel is marketed as “Paranormal Activity” meets “Black Swan”, but in both of these movies, the mysterious occurrences are subtle at the beginning. So subtle you could almost miss them, and you could easily explain them away as being caused by something based in this reality.  My major issue with this book is that Marianne always suspects she’s possessed.  She does question her sanity for a brief moment at the beginning, but the reader cannot experience this uncertainty with her, because of how quickly the events escalate. In one of the first chapters, Marianne walks down the street and the streetlights blow out.  Immediately the reader is tuned into the fact that this can't be a figment of her imagination and that there is definitely something paranormal going on.  The movie "Black Swan" is beautiful in its simplicity.  Natalie Portman’s character might just be going mad. I wanted Bérubé to explore this possibility, if only for the first portion of the book. Instead, we discover right away that it can’t just be in her head.  Something supernatural is definitely taking over Marianne.

I love the exploration of Marianne's relationship with Rhiannon, or “Ron”, an outcast at school. Their interactions and the development of their relationship is definitely one of the highlights of the book.  Marianne has recently lost her best friend, who moved out of the country.  Ron fits perfectly into this gaping hole in her life, and whenever they interact, we get to see parts of Marianne that we wouldn't otherwise.  It isn't quite insta-love, but it's a touch of sweetness in an otherwise dark story line.

For a book about possession, I expected the main character to have more introspection. She’s going through a lot. Her parents are getting divorced, her best friend moved away, her mother just might be insane.  Yet she doesn’t ruminate over it, and while this could be a defense mechanism, she doesn’t even think about not thinking about it. There are some flashbacks in the story, but not enough to fill in the blanks of her past. Whether this is intentional or not is beside the point—if she was intentionally ignoring the pains of her past—then she should have thought about it occasionally to let the reader know why she doesn’t like remembering.

Marianne’s relationship with her mother is fascinating. It’s clearly an unhealthy relationship, which unfortunately doesn’t get explored much, as Marianne spends the majority of the book living with her Aunt Jennifer.  Unhealthy family relationships are often at the centre of a good horror story, with the supernatural plot line mirroring or accentuating distorted relationships and emotions.

This book is beautifully written and very fast-paced, but it doesn’t spend enough time developing the characters. I felt like I understood the love interest, Rhiannon, better than I understood the main character.  I wanted to see more growth and revelations about Marianne’s motivations, fears, and desires as the story unfolded, but unfortunately the plot didn’t turn this way.

The Dark Beneath the Ice is a deliciously atmospheric read set in Ottawa (hometown represent!).  I recommend this book to anyone who’s looking for a light supernatural horror that puts an emphasis on setting, but if you’re looking for a darker take on psychological issues, psychological abuse in family relationships, or other themes that are often explored in possession or haunting books, you might be better off picking up a different book.

e-arc via netgalley

content warnings: horror, obviously, anxiety, discussions of hallucination

oh wow, okay. this book. the star of this book is marianne. not the horror plot, not the romance, not the ghost in the story. it is marianne, her character development, and how she interacts with the world around her. the horror is interesting and feels like a subtle commentary to so many different in the world around us, but if you're looking for a horror novel that is akin to a horror movie that will keep you up at nights and give you nightmares, then maybe this book isn't for you. that being said, it WAS undeniably creepy, and honestly, if you put yourself in marianne's shoes.....yeah. you wouldn't want to be experiencing what she did.

i know this is pitched as black swan meets paranormal activity, and i'm not sure how i feel about that. yes, there are elements of dance and psychological horrors, and yes, there is a ghost 'villain', but i'm not entire sure if the comp works perfectly. i feel like this is a story that stands on its own without the comp, which i mean, is a good thing. but if you're a hardcore fan of either of those movies and you're looking for something super similar to them, this might not be it.

anyways! onto the good stuff! my god, i am in love with marianne. she is such an interesting main character and i love how there are "light" and "dark" sides to her without making her an antagonist as well as a protagonist. i mean, in a way, i suppose you can say she is, but i'd argue that the antagonist in this story is the environment around her. there's just....so much to read between the lines with this story and personally, those are my favourite horror stories. horror is so often done for the sake of being scary, but at its core, horror to me is a genre that serves as a commentary about the things that we fear around us in our society. as in, mundane things but morphed into something else in horror stories as metaphors. and i feel like the dark beneath the ice did exactly that, which i loved.

and while marianne is the star of the story, her relationships with other characters were done so beautifully. my heart ached for her as she experiences the constant anxiety of how to act around the people that she loves. as someone who is mentally ill, i can relate to constantly checking myself to not be "too much" for the people around me.

and oh my god! the romance! it was such a cute f/f romance thrown into a horror story, which WORKS. the romance doesn't overshadow the story, but it also doesn't feel like a random subplot. it's a subplot that adds a lot to the story, and it was such a cute and healthy relationship that i really enjoyed.

overall, this was a worthy read, and despite its horror theme, it felt sort of like a light read to me in the sense that it won't take you long at all to finish it.

Something is wrong with Marianne. It’s not just that her parents have split up or that life hasn’t’ been the same since she quit dancing. It’s not even that her mother has checked herself into the hospital.


Marianne is losing time. Doing things she would never do. And objects around her seem to break whenever she comes close. Something is after her.

But a first attempt at an exorcism calls down the full force of the thing’s rage. It demands Marianne give back what she stole. And Marianne must uncover the truth that lies beneath it all before the nightmare can take what it thinks it’s owed, leaving Marianne trapped in the darkness of the other side.



I read this book in nearly no time at all. Its a little darker than my normal reads and I was captivated almost instantly. The story was really well paced and that was really good for this kind of book especially as the suspense was still built really nicely. Its been a long time since I last read a horror and so this book was creepy enough for me to be spooked but not so scary that I couldn't sleep at night which I appreciate.



The story manages to keep its tension through out the story which is nice and the characters felt real enough for me, I do wish there was a little more of a build up on the characters as I didn't feel like I knew them very well.



I think that Amelinda could have made much more of the ending. Once Marianne had fought her demons or whatever I felt like that was kind of it everything after that was a bit of a dud. It was a nice ending and there was nothing really wrong but I thought there should maybe some view of the aftermath because surely after all of that life didn't just go back to normal.



I liked the book and would be interested to read something by this Author in the future.



Thanks For Reading

Emx



emmacoxy88@gmail.com



This book is scheduled to be released August 1st 2018



I received an early copy of this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This is no way influenced my opinion of the book

A complete review will be posted on my blog close to the release date, but wow this was really good! It was delightfully creepy and I loved the unreliable narrator. I loved that there was F/F representation as well. However, I did find that the end was a little... rushed? I mean I still thought it was good because of the hidden message that the monsters we are afraid of are often ourselves, but I felt it could have been better. Also there were some things that were not addressed that I feel SHOULD be addressed.

I didn't care much for Black Swan, so I shouldn't REALLY be surprised that I was not a huge fan of The Dark Beneath the Ice either. The characters are fairly generic, and you could swap them out with no repercussions. Our main character is flat and a bit boring, and the big reveal didn't seem to hold much water. There was unnecessary relationship drama between the main events, too, that we could really cut out all together. 90% of the time, YA and I play nicely, but I think this is one of the rare YA novels that I would just be better off leaving to actual young adults. Mara Dyer might be a better bet for those looking for a "reliable narrator" twist.

THE DARK BENEATH THE ICE is a terrific, creepy story that poses many questions, one of which is: can an inner demon cause paranormal activity?

THE DARK BENEATH THE ICE is a fun-filled ghost story that covers all the possibilities - the occult, religion, psychological imbalance, inner demons, and yes, even ghosts.

If you like gasping aloud while reading, then dive into Amelinda Berube's fabulous debut novel.

The scariest element of this story was the examination of inner demons, because as a fully invested reader, you can't help but ask, "What parts of me have I been burying and denying? What would I be capable of if I truly accepted and loved myself? And on the flip-side, what am I capable of if I deny myself the love and acceptance I deserve despite my perceived shortcomings and flaws?"

We can't all be perfect ballerinas, but we can be the perfect individual we were created to be.

Some of my favorite lines from the book:

"It was quiet, but a comfortable quiet, a book-and-a-blanket quiet."

"We spent the second night on the beach watching a meteor shower. It was cloudless, moonless, the sky alive and infinite. Looking up into it made gravity seem precarious, like you could lose your grip on the world and tumble into the air."

I wanted to love this, but ultimately, it fell flat. Don't get me wrong, the potential is there, but I was left unsatisfied at the end. I would say I enjoyed it though.

**I was provided an ARC of this book by NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for my honest review. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

A very generous 3 stars.

I do not typically read YA paranormal books, but when I saw this one being marketed as "Paranormal Activity meets Black Swan," I had to give it a go. But I did not get what I expected.

Marianne's life has been turned upside down. Her parents are divorcing, her mom has checked herself in to a hospital, and she is staying with her aunt during all of this chaos. Suddenly, strange and unexplainable things are happening around her.

Marianne was a quite boring MC. She has no friends and she suddenly quit ballet. So forget the Black Swan comparison because this girl does not even dance anymore. The MC dances around the subject of why she quit, and then you find out what happened and it was such a let down. I felt the same about the reveal of the ghost at the end. We had twenty chapters of build up, and then the reveal is one big let down. I thought the end was the easy way out. There was so much potential for the ghost and where it came from.

I'm sure I would have loved this when I was a preteen, but this one was not for me. I devoured the first 75% of the book, then it suddenly felt like the story was just circling. It is a quick read though (I finished it within one day), and I pushed on hoping for a big pay off at the end. There were certain points where I did feel scared for the MC, and that is one reason I gave a generous 3 star rating to this book. The author creates a wonderfully scary atmosphere at the right moments, and I would read another one of her books.

4.5 stars. Reading this book was terrifying - I was having a full-blown meltdown while reading. This novel was so well-written, just building the fear and tension throughout, until the conclusion. A mix of Black Swan and Paranormal Activity is the perfect comparison, but I wish, and what I thought when I was getting into it, was that this was going to be more Paranormal Activity, with a side of Black Swan, instead of the other way around. That is on me - I was left so disappointed by the ending, but it was 100% because I misplaced my expectations (I was leaning too heavy on the "failed exorcism" part of the summary).

A+ for build of tension and fear, A+ for storytelling, A+ for including wlw characters (one confirmed lesbian, one still figuring out her label, one unconfirmed but suspected), C for follow through on the "failed exorcism" promise in the summary, and C for the ending (good, but not what I wanted, what I needed).

This is definitely more psychological thriller than horror, which was disappointing to me, despite my overall enjoyment. BUT this was an absolutely fantastic book and I still highly recommend it.

Received an Arc from sourcebooks,(thank you), I enjoyed this book, it held me right from the start and I had a hard time putting it down for sleep,(got up and read two more chapters), I am left a little confused by the ending, sort of working everything out in my head.
Deep down we can all understand struggling with our selves, it was a good way to bring it to light.

I was looking forward to this ghost tale especially since it's marketed as another Black Swan, but this was quite a disappointed. It started off intriguing and then the ghostly events started happening, and that was the whole story. Weird things happened every chapter multiple times and Marianne was terrified and Ron attempted to help her, but Marianne wanted to be secluded so the ghost couldn't hurt anyone. Each chapter repeated and there wasn't a real story outside of it. The characters were two-dimensional with no personality, like they were copy and pasted with different names and looks. The ending didn't make any sense and the details could have been reduced to make this novel half its current size.

Thanks Edelweiss and NetGalley for an ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley for the copy of this book to read & review

I loved this novel! It was so well written and it really held my interest. This was marketed as a cross between Paranormal Activity & Black Swan and in my opinion that is a perfect description.

Something is terribly wrong with Marianne or perhaps there is something very wrong that is following Marianne and is out to get her.. All Marianne knows is that he is in danger and her life is falling apart. She seems to be losing time and odd things happen while she is out.

I wouldn't say that this was extremely scary but then I did have a few moments where I was creeped out. I feel that Amelinda Bérubé did a fantastic job describing everything that was happening. I could picture the scenes completely. I could picture Aunt Jen's house as well as Marianne's home.

I feel like that novel did a wonderful job straddling the line between straight up horror and psychological horror. You could feel how scared Marianne was which is often something that I find is lacking with main characters in horror books. Often there will be ghosts or whatever and the main character is like "Hey, a ghost, will it hurt me or what?" It's like Duh! Yes!!! It is trying to hurt you girl!! Another thing I really loved about this novel was the LBGT representation in this book. There is a very sweet romance between two characters that I really enjoyed.

Excellent, thrilling book! So much suspense and honestly I'm still a bit confused by that ending, but it's not unpalatable. I found myself constantly having to pick up the book to find out what the mysterious entity is and what it wants. Loved the touch of romance as well. It was innocent and cute.

’m thinking between 3 and 4 Stars.

3.5 Stars
I DID RECIEVE A E-ARC FROM NETGALLEY FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.

This was a wonderfully weird story with horror, lgbt rep and anxiety rep. I enjoyed this story, it scared the crap out of me during some parts and pissed me off on a few others.

There isn’t much I can say without spoiling it but Marianne is haunted, she doesn’t know by what or what it wants but it’s out to destroy her and everything around her until it gets what it wants. Marianne is a character with extreme anxiety and it’s written to where you can tell for sure and feel the anxiety inside of her and I thought that was amazing. She also doesn’t know who she is yet or what she wants but she slowly figures it out during the story.

Ron was an amazing character. Vivid and kick ass. She took no shit and was loyal till the end. She showed Marianne who she was and who she wanted to be and I really enjoyed their relationship.
Marianne’s parents are weird in this story, it’s hard to explain and maybe that’s the point but I was struggling to get a grasp on her dad and what happened. Her mom was understandable and written with a story and a personality.

In the very beginning I came across a passage that really bothered me because The characters it was talking about we had not yet met and had no part of the story and honestly didn’t at all in the book. So basically two boys got suspended for online bullying and when they talk about it around school they claim a boy named Jeremy told on them and the passage says :
“It was Jeremy who told they said. You’d think he was some whiny little ninth grader instead of a senior. But it only made sense, others argued, since he was one of those special snowflakes in the so-called gay-straight alliance. Why did they have to be so In your face anyway, it was like nobody was allowed to have an opinion anymore. That was Jeremy all over, he took everything too seriously. No sense of humor. It’s not like they actually would have hurt him or anything, they protested and why did they have to share a locker room with him anyway, it wasn’t like they’d let guys use the same change room as girls. And guys like that, what they were into? That was just gross no offense or anything”

So as you can see. The passage itself is homophobic and I couldn’t tell if Marianne was thinking some of it or the bullies were or what? But it was just thrown in the story and I couldn’t figure out why. This was also before Marianne is ever written as gay or any sexuality actually so it almost made me put the book down in the third chapter?


Also Ron tells Marianne something very deep about herself and an old friend/ girl crush and then Marianne is thinking to herself how she should tell Ron about her story but then gets self conscious and doesn’t and then never does. So Ron opens up and tells you something secret but you don’t have to return it? Just wasn’t fair.

The ending also did not satisfy me at all. I was kind of left wondering and hanging. The haunted wasn’t what I expected but it made sense.

Overall decent book, good creep factor, nice relationships and characters. Just some parts were a little off for me.