in smoke and key, a dark young adult paranormal historical mystery (say that three times fast), a young woman wakes up in the under. she only knows herself by the name of key. and soon she learns that everyone who inhabits this place is dead. but she has memories she shares with another, a boy names smoke. and these fragmented memories seem to hind at the moment of her death.

but someone doesn't want her unraveling that mystery. and soon the others in under start to turn up deader than they already were. and so key has to find a way to access all her memories and solve the mystery of this killer. it's a whodunit, so no spoilers here. but an enjoyable, atmospheric young adult read.

**smoke and key will publish on april 2, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (entangled teen) in exchange for my honest review.

Kelsey Sutton hits it out of the park again! I love her writing and her books are always unique. This one is about Smoke and Key, a boy and a girl who are in a mysterious place called “under”. We go through their journey and learn through flashbacks. I really loved the twist and turns and thought it was really well done. Thank you to netgalley for the ARC!

This is such a beautiful and sad story. I loved it so much, the whole concept of Under and the curse made it epic. What started as a simple love affair soon resulted in many deaths and a mystery that needs to be solved before any soul can rest in peace.
In Under no one has a name. Everyone is simply called by whatever they had on them at the time of their falling. So, Key is Key because that's what she had on her when she fell. She is the new arrival and everyone is trying to teach her the ways of Under in their own way. She meets Smoke and feels things that the dead should not feel. Then there is Journal, always reading something and researching. People around her are good and she starts making friends. But in the shadows, a danger lurks, a murderer is on lose and only Key can solve this mystery. Because no one remembers their lives from Topside, it is not easy to learn the truth. Key, however, feels that there is more to this place than meets the eye. This in-between place where they are neither alive nor dead is holding some secret and only when it is unraveled will they be able to cross-over.
The story is told beautifully and the mystery is kept until the very end. It is the kind of novel that will make you hold your breath and sit at the edge of your chair while you try to make sense of everything going on in the Under. I really enjoyed reading it and would definitely recommend to all fellow readers.

The cover and summary of Smoke and Key sucked me in from the get-go. I was initially a little hesitant to read a paranormal book, but this book walked a great line between fantasy/magic and paranormal without ever getting *too* creepy. That being said, if you really love paranormal stories, I think you'll enjoy this, too! I thought the world of Under was unique and I loved that the setting of the book was really tight and contained. It was refreshing to read as compared to a lot of YA books with sprawling fantasy settings.

Generally, I thought the book suffered from being a little too ambitious in everything it wanted to be. Like I said, I loved the world of Under and was intrigued by how people ended up there and the murder mystery going on and the "whodunit" of it all, but then I felt as if the parallel story being told in Key's "real" life was a little lacking. There was magic but we are never told where it comes from and how it works and that particular part of the story felt a little underdeveloped.

And while I don't mind it too much, there is some definitely insta-love going on, which I know bothers some readers, which is why I feel inclined to mention it here.

Overall, I'd give this a solid 3 stars!

Smoke and Key is a story about a girl who wakes up in the dark not knowing where she is and a boy named Smoke who is there to help her. It’s a fast pace read even though it was confusing at times. Key is a loveable character and Smoke is too. There were just places that I didn’t understand. Overall though I enjoyed it tremendously and can’t wait to read what Kelsey Sutton has next for us.

“I suppose some things don’t have a proper explanation. They just are.”

You guys. Smoke and Key is such an amazing read! It’s like this suspenseful historical YA paranormal with a magical morbid feel to it. A genre mouthful I realize. While reading I kept thinking if The Wizard of Oz & the movie Clue had a love child in the early 1900’s and gave birth in a magical graveyard, then this book would be that baby. There’s a smidge of romance, but Smoke and Key is a highly plot driven story. We are focused on the why’s and the how’s of a place called ‘Under’ and it’s people. When a girl falls from the dirt sky and questions everything about the place and it’s people, things start to happen. Bad things. Memories. Good things.

Even though this book was mostly about the ride, that’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of amazing characters that you will meet and try to figure out while both loving and questioning them. The world that Ms. Sutton builds is mysterious and somehow beautiful although it is morbid. I enjoyed trying to figure out whodunit. There are moments that even felt a tiny bit scary, but there were also times that I felt sad and happy as well. I will say that pacing at times did feel slow, but it was mainly because I just wanted more answers. This story does jump back and forth between the present and the past, and I think that does make it a bit hard to follow at first. Once you get the hang of it and understand what exactly is going on it’s easier to follow.


All in all I enjoyed the characters and journey to the end very much! This is my first read from the author, and will not be the last.

I received an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Title Smoke and Key

Author Kelsey Sutton

Release Date April 2, 2019

Description from Amazon

She has no idea who or where she is. Or why she’s dead. The only clue to her identity hangs around her neck: a single rusted key. This is how she and the others receive their names―from whatever belongings they had when they fell out of their graves. Under is a place of dirt and secrets, and Key is determined to discover the truth of her past in order to escape it.

She needs help, but who can she trust? Ribbon seems content in Under, uninterested in finding answers. Doll’s silence hints at deep sorrow, which could be why she doesn’t utter a word. There’s Smoke, the boy with a fierceness that rivals even the living. And Journal, who stays apart from everyone else. Key’s instincts tell her there is something remarkable about each of them, even if she can’t remember why.

Then the murders start. Bodies that are burned to a crisp. And after being burned, the dead stay dead. Key is running out of time to discover who she was―and what secret someone is willing to kill to keep hidden―before she loses her life for good…

Initial Thoughts

I thought the concept of this book sounded really interesting. It was unlike anything else I had seen before. I was definitely intrigued by the mystery concept of the main character investigating her own identity.

Favorite Part

The best part of this book was the setting. I loved the time period that the story takes place in (no spoilers, so I can’t tell when that is 😉).

Final Thoughts

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I read it all in one shot and found it to be quite enjoyable. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending because it was a bit underwhelming. But all in all, I liked the setting, the plot, and the characters.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Recommendations for Further Reading

Olivia Twist by Lorie Langdon – references are made in Smoke and Key to Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, so this seems like a fitting recommendation
The Lost Girl of Astor Street by Stephanie Morrill – mystery, time period, references to an American. If you like Smoke and Key, check this book out.
Links

Smoke and Key on Goodreads

Once upon a time, there was a girl with a key. She was rudely awakened by someone from her slumber...in a tiny box...with seemingly no way out...until it all simply fell away. No really, she actually FELL further below to who knows where with who knows who to do who knows what for all time. Curious? Yeah, well imagine that being only the TIP of the proverbial iceberg because there is oh so much more!

From the moment Key lands in Under and is taken under the wing of several friendly "locals", you can't help but start your puzzler puzzling. I mean, the questions rolling around in my heard were NONSTOP! I was hurling accusations at new faces that struck me as somehow wrong, holding suspicions for several folks (several of which turned out to be achingly accurate!) that seriously raised my creep-o-meter to WARNING levels, and majorly feeling the heart stopping sizzles zinging left and right...and yet wondering what could it all mean? What was the greater purpose of it all? Why were they there? What had they done? Who wanted those whose lives already ended...even more dead -- if that was somehow possible?!? As it turns out, the greater WHY is answered in a BIG way, but not before dragging us deeper into the mysteries the abound, and the love that would not die.

Really and truly, it was a fabulous story filled to the brim with magic, mystery, and heart, that'll have Young Adult Fantasy fans clamoring for more as they add another FAVORITE to their shelves...and a new book boyfriend to their lists!

Very enjoyable book with interesting concepts involving undead characters in a way I didn't expect. A bit predictable at points through the story, but I still enjoyed unraveling the backstory along with our amnesiatic protagonist.

Smoke and Key is one of the books that I am not quite sure how to rate. I settled for 3 stars.

The book begins with a girl falling from her grave to what is called Under. There she meets other people that experienced the same thing and she discovers that no one remembers anything from their previous lives, not even their names. A boy informs her that she should pick a name and that the rest of them has chosen theirs from an object they found on them. He is Smoke she is Key. As the story unfolds Key starts to remember her past and who everyone was before they died. At the same time people are being murdered and Key is trying to discover why they are in this situation.

The story was dark and the atmosphere felt weird and almost like a Tim Barton movie. I was confused in the beginning because I could understand what was going on exactly, but It was a unique story with interesting characters. There were a constant switch between Key's new reality and past life and sometimes I couldn't understand immediately when the switch happened.. What it was supposed to be a plot twist wasn't really one, at least to me. I was certain who the murder was from the beginning, but it was interesting to see the reasons behind it. I also had an issue with the world building and the magic, because I wasn't even sure when the story takes place up until the middle of the book, and the mention of magic and a curse was very sudden.

I would characterised this nook as a story of star crossed lovers with a dark and eerie atmosphere. All in all I found Smoke and Key a unique story and a good and quick read.

I received an arc via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

This book starts of really interesting, I immediately wanted to continue after one chapter.
This book takes place in a world where some people go after they die. They remember basic things, but not their former lives. We follow Key, who just arrived here, while she is trying to figure out this world and tries to remember what happened before. In the meanwhile the dead people get killed by some mysterious
murderer.
I really liked this idea, and it was really interesting to see how she slowly figured things out and how everyone was connected. By slowly learning who was who before, you also got to understand them better and why people spend time with certain other people.
The writing style of this book was really good! I just could not put the book back down. Every time I said okay one chapter, and ended up reading three.. #oops
I think I would have rated this book a star higher if the introduction of the world was done better. People were being killed, but we literary knew them for half a page, so I’m sorry but didn’t really care?! I really think the book would be better, if we were introduced to the world more and knew the characters better. In that case you really would want to figure out who was the murderer. Now I only wanted to know who some characters were in relation to the main character. Which was also interesting, but only half of the point I think.
I also had a problem with the time. It kinda feels as if the book takes place during one day, but you know that’s not possible and it should be longer.
I really liked figuring out who was who and the writing! I will definitely be interested in her next release!

I have to admit, this was an odd story. It felt like I fell into a Tim Burton movie/animation - and we all know how odd, yet awesome those are!

But, I'll be honest, in a sea of YA books where so many are alike - nothing wrong with that - Smoke & Key stands out with its oddness. I applaud it.

I was curious and intrigued from the start. The heroine, Key, suddenly wakes up and then she starts falling, ending up in a sort of Underworld, where she finds others like her - dead, it seems, yet not - and nobody knows who they are, where they came from, but each has been named after an object.

As Key tries to understand exactly what's going on, why she ended up there, how she is connected to the others, someone starts murdering the dead. Yet another odd factor - the dead are being murdered.

But stay with me, it's not weirder than when we read about vampires being killed.

Smoke, Key's trusted sidekick, is also connected to her somehow - and this connection broke my heart. As clues come to the surface and truths are revealed, it all starts making sense and that's when the story truly grips you. It's actually bittersweet, but I did enjoy the ending. I enjoyed the book, as a matter of fact and who knows, might reread it in the future. But I'm definitely going to keep my eyes peeled for this author's work.

4 stars, voluntarily agreed to read an early copy via Netgalley.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy!

I picked up this ARC mainly because of the stunning cover and it was not disappointing at all. The plot was unique and I flew through it. I recommend checking out this Gothic and intense novel! I will be checking out more from Sutton in the future.

Posted to all links in my profile 3/28

Welcome to the world of Under, where you aren't dead, but you aren't alive either. Not zombies. People that arrive at various states of decomposition depending on when they wake up after burial and fall through the ground to just below the ground. Kelsey Sutton uses the setting of Smoke and Key as a character in itself with the dirt, shadows and darkness to emote a mood. The tavern can bring a light and glimpse of life when necessary. The torches that provide light waver and give to provide foreboding.

Kelsey Sutton uses the setting of Smoke and Key as a character in itself. Under's dirt, shadows and darkness to emote a mood. The tavern can bring a light and glimpse of life when necessary. The torches that provide light waver and give to provide foreboding.

Key arrives in Under not remember anything about who she was when she begins meeting the rest of the residents of Under. Each, like herself, named by a singular item that comes with them to Under from their coffin. Smoke (named by the cigar that comes with him, but he doesn't light) is the first person she meets that introduces her to the world of Under. Soon she finds Doll and Ribbon- the "voice of reason" and longest known resident of Under.
No one remembers anything of their lives before death although they have knowledge of the world. As Key inquires more about wanting to remember her past life she is shut down and told it is an exercise in futility. She needs to accept her new reality and shown how the residents of Under have made a life there a good one.
However, when unexplained and final deaths begin to start plaguing the citizens of Under, Key realizes that a murder spree began with her arrival. As waves of memories from the life she knew before begin to flood her mind Key comes to a startling revelation. If she doesn't reconcile her past before Under, she may be the next to die, if not be accused of murder, herself.

With the one object she brought with her from the life she once knew, Key sets out to find the truth. As her other life forces her way into Under a mystery unravels that makes it harder to know who she can trust and who is the puppet master in Under.

Dealing with themes of grief, pain, loss and unrequited love, Smoke and Key entwines the consequences of unresolved conflict with the ability to be at peace with the decisions and paths we choose in life.

It is a smooth and easy read that builds two different mysteries simultaneously. The suspenseful murder mystery in Under growing more tenuous as Key's memories of a life she once knew are slowly pieced together like a puzzle.

How they collide is crafted together by Sutton in a stunning fashion that changes Under forever and keeps the reader hanging throughout the book.

Smoke and Key by Kelsey Sutton
4⭐️

She’s falling, fast and swift into a dark place. Not knowing who she is or, where she is. When she starts to learn where she is she meets a boy named smoke. Smoke is one of those characters that almost immediately grabs your attention for the story. While smoke tried to explain that she is died and has fallen out of her grave into a place called “under”.

When one falls out of their grave and into under, their names become something they were buried with. Her name is key, with a key around her neck and no memories to her life before key begins to want to unravel the secrets of her life before her death. One memory may lead her down a dark path but they also may lead her to the path to make everything right again. Will she want to know everything or become content with being in under?

I enjoyed Smoke and key, to me it was a little slow at first but once I got through a few chapters I was hooked to know how the story ended! Thank you to Riki at Entangled publishing and netgalley for an e-arc an exchange for a honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2766405724?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

"Smoke and Key" is a story of a girl that died and now she's in a place that is called Under. She doesn't know who she is, what is her past, what is going on AT ALL! So she has to deal with her life in these circumstances. The blurb really intrigued me, seemed well developed and it gave me a feeling that I will be sitting on the edge of my chair while reading.
But... it didn't happen... I felt that the author wanted to go easy on the plot of this book as there was so much more to add here to make this story more captivating as the whole story felt flat to me...
The plot was interesting enough to continue reading, but nothing more as I hadn't developed any connection with characters while reading the book as I had not seen any sense in the magic that was here as it was there for some bits but... no complexity here!
I'm still not sure if I will follow book 2 in the future.

3.5 stars

I have really enjoyed a lot of Sutton’s books, she has a unique storytelling style that is different from other YA authors and her ideas are very unique. This ended up being an interesting read. It's a weird combination of historical and paranormal elements, curses and undead. I ended up enjoying it but it was different from what I thought it was going to be based on the synopsis.

Key falls through her grave into a grey world and meets others in this grey world. As Key struggles to figure out who she is, she begins to recognize some of the people in this dead grey place and starts to remember disturbing things. Then the dead of the grey world start showing up well...completely dead. Can Key figure out secrets behind this grey world before the dead wandering through it are completely destroyed soul and all?

I enjoyed this but at times it felt a bit distant to me. I love the idea of curses making the dead fall into an alternate world. I also enjoyed some of the characters. However the whole writing style seemed to keep me at a distances and the whole story felt kind of blurred.

There is a love triangle of sorts in here which I wasn’t crazy about. I did enjoy the quirky characters of this grey world though.

Overall this was a decent read. In the end I had kind of mixed feelings about it. It was interesting and had some neat ideas in it and I liked a lot of the characters. The way the mystery tied up was a bit strange and I never felt fully engaged in the story. I would recommend if you’ve enjoyed Sutton’s previous books, but I don’t think this will be a book everyone likes.

“You’re dead, darlin’. This isn’t hell, but it’s the next best thing.”

She hears a voice imploring her to wake up. She falls and finds herself surrounded by dirt. In Under she meets a group of strangers whose bodies are in different stages of decomposition. While they can all remember general knowledge they do not remember anything personal from their lives. Each awoke with an item that was buried with them, an item that helps their owner decide their Under name.

The girl who wakes at the beginning of the book becomes Key. She meets Ribbon, Smoke, Journal, Handkerchief, Doll, and many others. Shortly after Key arrives in Under the first murder occurs and there’s no waking up from this death.

‘We are ghosts, but we are the ones being haunted.’

Key’s flashbacks provide frequent snippets of information about her life before death, building towards revelations that may hold more danger than she could imagine. I found the flashbacks interesting but expect readers who aren’t a fan of multiple flashbacks could find their frequency and slow drip of information irritating.

Given the exponential growth of my TBR pile I was definitely attracted to a life after death that included books and no need for sleep. I loved guessing who the characters may have been before their deaths, the mysterious writings on the wall, the magic and Journal’s tower with all of his books.

I liked getting to know the main characters but found many of the minor characters interchangeable. I didn’t always know which minor character was being referenced as I didn’t know much more about them other than the item they were buried with. I was disappointed by the lack of resolution surrounding Doll; I did learn who she was in life but I have so many unanswered questions about her.

While I enjoyed some aspects of the love triangle I did find the kissing scenes when the characters were dead a tad squirmy, although I acknowledge I probably overthought it. Maybe if I hadn’t already read about the putrid death breath of other characters (who don’t need to breathe because they’re dead, but anyway) it wouldn’t have bothered me so much, but the idea of death breath kisses didn’t exactly make me want to go, “Awww!” I can only hope that Tintype found some toothbrushes and toothpaste for these kissing corpses to use that I wasn’t aware of.

I adored the concept of this book and loved the initial world building but would have liked to learn more about Under and its residents. Had this book covered all of the details I craved it would have been close to twice the length though. The magic was interesting but could have been fleshed out (sorry!) more. I also found the mystery fairly predictable. The final few chapters wrapped up the story too quickly for my liking. Despite my need for more, most of my questions were answered and a sneaky tear did escape quite unexpectedly.

Content warnings include physical abuse and abandonment. Characters also discuss a death by suicide that occurred before the events in this book.

Overall this was an enjoyable read (one I can see myself rereading) and I am interested in reading more of this author’s books. I don’t usually wander into historical fiction territory but this book made me wonder what I’m missing out on. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Entangled Teen, an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC, for the opportunity to read this book.

Smoke and Key was such a unique take on a book! It revolves around Key who is "dead" and stuck in a world of Under. We spent the novel with her trying to figure out why people are being killed in Under and where she came from and who her true name is.

The beginning is a bit confusing as you are just thrown into the world, but if you give it some time it all makes sense and flows better with time. I enjoyed the flashbacks and were explained and brought on well so you knew what was happening it one. While it's mostly a YA Mystery/Fantasy, it also has magic and a splash of romance so it kept me going as mystery isnt usually something I grab for, but I'm glad I tried something new.

I really liked that this book was a standalone, I don't see enough of them anymore especially such a good one! I recommend this book if you like a good magical mystery.

(I received a review copy through YA Bound Book Tours and will post a more detailed review on my blog as part of the tour.)

This book balances the creepiness of Under and the looming mystery with soft moments of romance, family, and friendship. Key's frustration at not being able to recall even her own name comes through alongside the urgency of solving the murders, and although she gets help from friends along the way it's really a single-heroine narrative that focuses in on her thoughts and feelings and struggles. Smoke is pretty awesome in that he keeps to the sidelines so she can do her thing, but is ready to step in if Key's in danger ... or needs a hug. Each of the minor characters adds interest to the scene, whether they're suspicious figures or just a little quirky in their undead-ness.

All in all, this is an entertaining story with both highs and lows, moments of defeat and of triumph, and it's certainly different from anything else I've read in recent memory.