I wasn't sure what to expect going into this, but I was quickly hooked within the first few pages. For the first quarter of the book, I was really interested in figuring out what was going on and why it was happening - but that interest did eventually turn more a bit toward boredom as the middle of the book became monotonous.

The writing itself is good, and the pace of the story was quick enough to keep me turning the pages - but I just didn't feel invested once things started explaining themselves and the action began picking up again. Unfortunately, the repetition happening in the majority of the story was off-putting for me, and I found that I wasn't enjoying it by the end nearly as much as I had for the first 25%.

For those who don't mind the sort of Groundhog Day-esque repetition featured in The Echo Room, I'd definitely recommend it - Parker Peevyhouse' writing is entertaining, and I'd be interested to see what else she comes out with!

Updated Full Review:

Review of Debut Novel Echo Room by Parker Peevyhouse
ON SEPTEMBER 2, 2018 BY SUSAN CROSBYIN 2018, REVIEWS, SCI-FI/FANTASY, SEPTEMBER, YAEDIT
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3.5 Stars Publishes on September 11th

Netgalley and Torteen provided an e-galley of EchoRoom for an unbiased review.

Parker Peevyhouse turns out a solid debut in Echo room, which begins with a ground hog day motif. This tool could have dragged on but works because like Rhett and Brynn, readers have no clue what is happening.

In all honesty, I am a sucker for narration that can’t be trusted. First person point of view comes courtesy of Rhett who awakens with a gash on his head and has no clue how he came to waken in this huge, enclosed chamber with Brynn. All he knows is that he keeps waking up in it, in the same manner, day after day.

Sean Bean: His Movie Career is Groundhogs Day. He is a walking spoiler
Sean Bean: His Movie Career is Groundhogs Day. He is a walking spoiler.
Bit by bit they are able to put together pieces of information. The earth has been decimated, torched with nothing but huge bugs running around it. This is interrupted by the “of course” moment in the book.

Sparks fly between the two main characters. This wasn’t necessary. Brynn is a strong, independent character in her own right. But. There it is… Rhett and Brynn figure out there’s more of a connection and interest between them than they first realized. Moving on…

The end kind of just happened. That was a bit disappointing. Once they realized that the earth was pretty much toast (literally) and that there were ginormous … ok maybe I haven’t gotten the enormity of the bug issue across…

Bryzgalov

….like that big, someone who I picture being played by Woody Harrelson if there was a movie comes along and just mind vomits a bunch of essential information (about the bugs, the government… I’m keeping this vague on purpose… you don want to read the book, yes?) to them. At that point the book basically ends. There are some great philosophical debates that could have been more flushed out.

At some point you have to at least start wondering just how bad this chamber is compared to what is waiting for them on the other side. Ultimately, you know what decisions the character makes but at least have the debate. Make them think through it. Especially after Woody Harrelson gives them the whole low-down. Wrap-that up into the ending and have the sequel start off with the answer and take-off from there. Just a thought.

Now you are wondering… wait did she say sequel? Let’s be honest. This is the young adult world. When doesn’t it sequel? One simple tweak would make for a huge upgrade coming from Brynn’s point of view. She is a much more interesting character than Rhett. Even for those that liked Rhett’s point of view, it would be a good way to mix things up.

If you like vague, untrustworthy narration where you are in the dark with the characters for the first part of the book, you have a better shot of liking this book than others. I imagine I like the book more than those that don’t like that kind of specific type of writing.

This book wasn't for me. I didn't mind the repetitions (living the same thing over) if I had some clue of what was going on. Unfortunately, the author wanted me to find out along with the characters and this technique did not work for me.

I was also bored of Rett's little internal dialogues.

What was really going on? Why were there locked up in that room? I have no idea and lost all interest to find out.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this title

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book!

I'll start off by saying I'm never a fan of the vague type of storytelling that just gives you nothing. This was a kind of Groundhog day to begin with, and I hated the repetition; I just wanted to know what the heck was going on and instead of being intrigued I was simply frustrated. Over and over and over again. Argh.

It did pick up a little, but even as the action increased and things changed, I had been lost early and never found myself enjoying this. There is a promise of good writing that just isn't held up by the actual story, and in all honesty, if this was from Bryn's POV it would be immensely improved. Rhet was kind of terrible (was that his name?) She was kick ass. I wanted more Bryn.

Not the greatest read, but it may still appeal to others. Two stars.

Very reminiscent of Maze Runner. Rett wakes up in a strange dark room with no memory of how he got there. Bryn also has the same same experience. The two find out secrets that connect them more than they thought possible.

Bryn and Rett wake us in a locked depot. Rett has not memory of how he got there or what the place is. Every time he tried to escape he reawakes back in the depot. As his memories begin to return, he realizes maps in the depot are familiar and me has more of a connection to Bryn than realized. This book reminds me of a slower, milder Maze Runner.

This books seemed to be along the same vein of a few popular books and movies that have been out recently. I kind of got a little deja vu while reading this. There were a few unique ideas but overall it was just a bit too similar to a few other books for me to rate it much higher.

I found the concept of this book intriguing. Rett wakes up with no memory of how he got where he is or why there's blood on his clothes. He meets a girl, Bryn, who doesn't seem to have any answers either. They must figure out what to do in order to save themselves...

And then it starts all over again. They keep waking up and they must figure out what to do. But all is not what it seems.

This book was just okay for me. Nothing really happened until about the middle of it and I found myself looking for other things to do rather than read the book.

However, when things did finally start happening this book did pick up. I found the premise interesting but not enough so that I'll probably remember it in 6 months.

It's an okay read but it could have done better. Didn't hit it out of the park unfortunately.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read! The Echo Room, at a bare minimum, seems to be heavily influenced by The Maze Runner series, and while I would have liked to see a story that felt a bit more original, I appreciated what the author was trying to do here. The first 25% of the book had me completely hooked; I had no idea what was going on or why everything involving the room was happening, and the final 25% was really gripping and exciting. The middle chunk was quite repetitive though, and difficult for me to push through at times. All in all, I really did enjoy this one, but I probably would have tried to grab it from my library rather than purchasing if I hadn't received a copy for review. I'm definitely intrigued to explore Peevyhouse's work further!

“After that night, Rett started drawing his own comics. Scrap-paper issues, filled with magical artifacts–amulets, wands, keys–found just when they were needed most. There’s always something that can help. There has to be.”

Rett is terrified to wake up in a strange, dark room with the door jammed shut and an unfamiliar girl singing an eerie song. He doesn’t remember her or how he got there. It’s clear they’ll have to work together if they want to escape, but there’s danger outside of the bunker as well as within. When a mistake has deadly consequences, Rett wakes up in a strange, dark room with no memory of who he is or how he got there. For some reason, he’s reliving the same day again and again until he and Brynn find what they were put there for.

I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Macmillan-Tor/Forge. This is a solid science fiction/dystopia novel, and if those were my genres, I think I would have rated it higher. The Echo Room is very well put-together and masterfully structured so that reading about the same day doesn’t get boring or repetitive. Rett discovers new things about Brynn and the bunker each time so that it feels like things are happening and the characters are developing even though time isn’t moving forward. It’s a little like a video game in the way that they have to complete certain steps in a specific order before they can move to the next “level”, or escape the bunker and find what they’re supposed to find. I was impressed by Peevyhouse’s controlled storytelling; it’s almost experimental without being difficult or off-putting to readers who don’t like experimental novels.

I didn’t really get attached to the characters, but I think it’s more personal preference than a lack of development. Rett and Brynn are both resourceful and a little ruthless, which are good qualities in a slightly futuristic world with widespread famine, disease, and poverty. Rett is the more compassionate and needy of the two, and Brynn the more cutthroat, which puts an interesting dimension in their relationship; they need each other, but it’s never clear whether they can trust each other. The dialogue is surprisingly funny for overall grim circumstances. I typically find romances unnecessary, but there’s a slow burn in there that fits well with Rett’s general character.

Books like this are rarely as interesting in explanation as they are in premise, so I was pleasantly surprised by the direction Peevyhouse takes it in. It’s a little more science fiction than I’m used to, but it’s well-explained and near enough to plausible that I didn’t feel like the rug was being yanked out from under me. The end provides enough closure to the plot but is still somewhat open-ended, and I was satisfied with the way things turned out. I would highly recommend it for fans of things like The Maze Runner (only with better writing).

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

This was an interesting read, I enjoyed the story but it just wasn't what I was hoping for. The ending also left me a little unsatisfied. I feel like the pacing and the uneasiness of the story will appeal to a lot of different readers, but it just wasn't what I was hoping for from this one. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really wanted to like this, but I just didn't. Don't get me wrong - it's a super compelling book! I absolutely did not want to put it down once I started; I just kept turning and turning the pages. Unfortunately, this is a book where the ending can really make or break it and for me it was definitely broken. It left me mostly confused, with a little annoyance because really, that's how it's gonna end??? It just left a lot of things unexplained - or if they were explained, they were explained in a way that I didn't understand. Maybe I missed a couple things along the way since I was reading so fast, but either way I got to the ending and it didn't really feel worth it. It makes me sad to say that when I was looking forward to this one and the beginning was so strong, but that's just how I ended up feeling about this book. It's a weird one, for sure, so maybe other readers will enjoy it. I think fans of Andrew Smith's Grasshopper Jungle might enjoy it, potentially (I haven't actually read that, so that's just a guess here with what I know about his particular brand of weird). I don't necessarily NOT recommend it - it just didn't work for me.

Rhetts awakens to a blistering pain in his head, locked away with a strange girl, with no memory on how they got there. They don't know who to trust, and that is not aided by the fact that Rhett woke up with somebody else's blood on his hands. Why are they there? Why are they locked in? What have they locked out? A thriller/ mystery, The Echo Room cannot be described without giving away parts of the plot, which is unfair to any future readers. To prevent giving away any of the many plot points, this is as far as my description will go.
Now to my thoughts on the story. I was bored. I was promised thrills unparalleled, but what I received was luke-warm confusion. I found that the story was an odd hodge-podge of a wanna-be horror, and dull thriller, and an odd and unexpected vomiting of science fiction. I found Rhett was a flat character, as was Bryn (his semi-companion), which was a huge negative influence on the rest of the novel. Plot wise, I see where it was trying to engage the audience, but I feel it fell short of its desired plan. The story just didn't do it for me, and neither did the characters. I don't really recommend The Echo Room and give it the rating of TWO AND A HALF STARS OUT OF FIVE!!!

But they’re not alone.

I liked the description of this book, and it has a Maze Runner/Groundhog Day/Memento feel to it.  As the description implies, Rett has 'do overs', waking in the same room, Bryn with him, etc., and although the descriptions vary each time he wakes, the repetition gets to be a bit much pretty quickly.  The pace picks up somewhere around the 50% mark.

With their backgrounds, it's easy to sympathize with Rett and Bryn, and their trust issues are understandable.  I enjoy anything having to do with time travel - this book adds a nice spin to it, and the world-building is interesting.

While Echo Room held my attention for the most part, it was just an okay read for me.  I never felt like there was a 'big reveal' moment, and the ending comes about quietly.  I'm not sure if the author has a sequel in mind, but there's potential for one.  This isn't a bad book by any means, just more of a slow burn for sci-fi fans.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

When I first saw this book mentioned, I was immediately intrigued by both cover and blurb. There is just something about it that sounds dark and menacing; the promise of a very good dark thriller, especially with the potential amnesia angle. What I can say is that The Echo Room definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. It’s one of those books that either works for you, or it doesn’t… And sadly I belong to the second group. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot to avoid ruining surprises, but let’s just say it’s more appropriate to call The Echo Room a science fiction read rather than a dark thriller. And I think I appreciated the whole idea behind this book a lot better than reading the actual story. There is no doubt that the author has thought up something really inventive and has come up with an original way to tell this story. Like the main characters, we are completely left in the dark about crucial information that would make it easier to understand what is really going on… While this can add a lot of intrigue when done right, I don’t think I actually appreciated this technique in The Echo Room. I mostly felt the story was too vague and strange to be actually able to connect to it. I wasn’t sure about the writing either, as the chapters just felt way too repetitive and didn’t manage to keep me interested. Like I said before, I understand the reason behind this repetition and I find the idea itself ingenious; I just didn’t enjoy actually reading it. I had problems with the main characters as well… Especially Rett came over as a bit whiny. Overall I thought The Echo Room was based on a very ingenious and inspiring idea, but unfortunately I liked the idea of this book a lot better than reading the actual story. This might just have been because The Echo Room simply isn’t for me, so if you are into science fiction and don’t mind repetition, you might just have a blast reading this one.

If you like science fiction, are looking for something different and don’t mind repetition in the plot, you will probably enjoy The Echo Room a lot better than I did. I still really like the idea behind this story, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to enjoy actually reading it. Between the lack of crucial information, repetitive chapters and lack of connection to the story and characters I had a hard time making it to the final page, although things did improve later on. The story was just too strange and vague for me… But like I said before, the problem might just have been me.

I liked this one! As YA novel it did embrace some of the trendy cliches, but avoided many of the annoying tropes that make a story difficult to enjoy. Romance, sure, but with only two characters there was at least no love triangle. And fortunately, it was mostly a standalone, not the first in an already-planned trilogy with a crappy cliffhanger.

I found the story to be an interesting puzzle to figure out. While I see some reviewers complaining about the repetitive time-loop aspect, I am actually a huge sucker for it, so I would have enjoyed even more iterations. In the end, however, it probably would have dragged the story too much. Overall well paced.

Thanks to the publisher, via Netgalley, for providing the ARC for review.

I really enjoyed the idea of this book, more than the book itself. I made it 48% through the book before I decided to be done. The main character Rett just does not hold my interest and he was whiney. Bryn, the other main character was devious and too child like at times. After reading more of the same about the day starting over and over again, I had to stop. It was confusing and difficult to follow.

I think the author writes well, but this repetition is just too much for my personal taste.

Remember that movie from 1993 where when the guy woke up each morning and realized was destined to repeat the same day over and over again? Okay bare with me here, in case you're younger than me by a lot....it was called Groundhogs Day. And that my friends, about sums up The Echo Room. Well with a sci-fi twist.


Rett wakes up in a mysterious room covered in blood that isn't his own. He meets a girl who doesn't trust him. Cut scene. Rett wakes up, covered in blood, meets a girl and .... cut scene. Seriously, you get the picture right? Rett wakes up, over and over again remember a bit more each time but also not remembering much.



Every time Rett woke up I wanted to chuck my kindle into a wall. I mean, how many times can this guy wake up in one book? And yet....I couldn't quite put it down. The second half of the book did get better; there were twists and turns that I didn't see coming. Maybe that's because I was so ready to call it quits that I didn't care to figure it out...or maybe it was just that good.


The writing was fine...the characters were interesting and the world building was even mostly there. It was a bit to sci-fi for my tastes, but for anyone that really enjoys that genre, you'll probably love this. If you can get past the redundant beginning.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Rett wakes up in an unfamiliar room, with a large scar on his head and no idea where he got where he is or even where he is. He quickly realizes that a young woman named Bryn is also trapped with him, also appearing to have had her memories erased. Deciding to trust each other, the two try and work together to find an escape. However, they soon became faced with another danger entirely- the danger of an outside world completely devoid of life. Or at least, of any human life. Rett and Brynn must decide if what is waiting for them out in the scorched world is scarier than staying where they are.
“The Echo Room” by Parker Peevyhouse is a YA science-fiction novel from the first time novel writer. Ms. Peevyhouse has won awards for her previous children’s stories and YA novellas, and “Echo Room” is her first venture into the full-length novel.
I may be alone in this, but I found a lot of similarities between this novel and “The Maze Runner” series (James Dashner). Two young people, one boy and one girl, who are in a strange location, with no memories of how they got there, the world as they know it has “scorched” and both of our protagonists seem to be under the control of a secret “government” organization. Although the science-fiction, time-travel component of this novel was a separate entity, I did feel that Dashner’s (fantastic) work was exerting, in the very least, a minor influence.
The “Groundhog Day” effect at the beginning of this novel got old fast, and I am happy to say that it didn’t last long. Once I made it through this repetitive bit of novel, I was quickly pulled into the storyline.
The novel itself is relatively creative, with powerful characters and strong plot development. “The Echo Room” was easy to follow, and hard to put down (once you got going). I had a vested interest in the characters’ outcome, and was really not all that surprised when the ending came around (a potential sequel? In a YA novel? Shocker!) but was relatively satisfied with the way it played out all the same.
Peevyhouse appears to have the writing chops to gain a strong YA audience, but I would be interested in reading a novel with a completely original storyline and see what Ms. Peevyhouse can do with it. A quick, entertaining read for fans of post-apocalyptic YA.

This is the first book that I have read by this author. I also don’t really read many Sci-Fi books so maybe that’s why I didn’t really get into this till half way. I was disappointed that it happened that way. I think that people that enjoy this type of genre will have a better time reading it.
I did request this from Netgalley because the synopsis of this sounded good. I thought that it was going to be a great read. I’m still going to give this a 3 star rating because of how much I liked the second half.