WELL HOLY MARBLES

this was my first book of 2021 and holy crap what a great choice, good job past self. this book spoke to me as a survivor, as someone who wasn't believed, as a former angry traumatized teen hellbent on justice. i loved every goddamn word

please why aren't we all screaming about this book on main constantly, when i tell you it's the PROSE and the CHARACTERIZATION and the SUSPENSE and the GHOST GIRLS and the METAPHOR and the LOVE SONG TO SURVIVORS EVERYWHERE god read this book i beg

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Deliciously gothic and haunting, Don't Tell a Soul is a work of suspense and intrigue. It's always a great read when you don't know who to trust, maybe not even the narrator herself.

I loved the setting of this story. Creepy, wintery small towns give me weird vibes in real life, but this really was the perfect setting for Bram's story. The typical trope of a creepy old house is often overused in this genre, but I can't complain since it fit so perfectly.

I enjoyed Bram's character. I found her determined and full of moxie. Female empowerment is important to me, so it was nice to see it used in this book.

My only qualm was that it was a tad predictable. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out big twists so I wasn't surprised to do it this time. These books always tend to go the same way, making it hard to have something completely original.

Don't Tell a Soul made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It made me feel uneasy and like I was being watched. When simple words on the page can do that, you know it's a good read. 3.5 stars.

- the vibes of this were SO good (eerie, melancholy, cold)
- I really enjoyed the feminist commentary throughout

- I'm confused why this is categorized as horror
- the characterization was so poor; I know absolutely nothing about any of the characters personalities and there were so many of them with different timelines it actually got pretty hard to distinguish between them
- the direction the book went in was really disappointing. I was hoping for a spooky, ghosty story but it just did not go that way at all

I’ve been reading a lot more YA horror/thriller recently, and this book was an excellent one. It’s very mature, definitely on the older end of YA (my preference), with a strong coming-of-age theme; the main character has a lot of her childhood conceptions shattered as she discovers secrets and family history. There’s also a powerful found family theme, which I love. The mystery is tantalizing, with a rather subversive reveal, and the setting is very atmospheric.

Pros
Gothic Atmosphere: Reading this novel in many ways feels like stepping into Gothic classics like Jane Eyre or Rebecca. Kirsten Miller does an excellent job of creating the necessary creepy atmosphere, complete with rotting houses that have been restored to a less-than-perfect condition, girls fleeing in the night, and creaks and bumps at all the right moments. Miller provides the classic elements to bring her uncanny world of Louth to life.

Women Believing Women: The women of Louth--Bram newly included--listen to each other and respect each other's stories. They trust their guts, and they give each other the benefit of the doubt whenever they can. They are not rivals for each other. They are support networks against a harsh and callous world that would see them as insane or addicted or simply "trouble." Having a cast of women who believe each other and want to help it as refreshing and necessary in literature as it is in life.

Book Lovers: This book is not only fun for harkening back to old Gothic writing in its style, but Miller actively calls upon the names of those great Gothic writers, too. It turns out that our main character Bram is a fan of du Maurier and the Brontës, as well. Anyone that can appreciate the quality of Miller's writing will appreciate the callback to these literary ladies as well. It is great to see a new Gothic piece pay homage to its worthy predecessors.


Cons
Old-Fashioned: Though the Gothic nature of the writing and worldbuilding is excellent, it is also rather old-fashioned. A lot of terminology and phrasing harkens back to previous eras. There is a reason Rebecca has been given as a comparable book to this one. I don't mind the old-fashioned prose, but some will have a problem, especially because the narrator is supposedly a contemporary teenager. She feels like an old soul, certainly, and her voice might not resonate with every audience.

Reliance On Unspoken Need: Though this sort of "need" certainly falls into line with Gothic storytelling, I still take issue with it. Bram, from the very beginning, is often led by some unspoken "need" to do things--to stay in a particular room, to walk down a particular path, to ask a particular question... This sort of intuition is common in the genre, so it makes sense. However, it is one of my personal peeves when it comes to Gothic literature, and Miller does not always weave this "need" as carefully into the narrative structure as she should for the incredulity of it to be overlooked. Sometimes, that is, the "need" feels more random than genre-driven.

Nosy Questions: Bram is tactless. She is trying to get answers, of course, and she is tired of having her own story questioned, downplayed, ignored, and erased. It is great to have a character who pushes so hard to have the stories of women heard, especially women who have been victimized and then pushed out of the limelight where no one will see or hear them anymore. However, she feels a little too pushy at times. That is, she often goes overboard, doesn't read social cues, and doesn't apply any finesse when necessary. She kind of blunders through her interrogations, which is unfortunate indeed. Her goal is admirable, but her means of accomplishing it can be difficult to read.


Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7/10

Fans of the not-quite-supernatural creepiness of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre should take a look at this unsettling contemporary work. Those who enjoyed the spooky and haunted house of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House should settle into Louth Manor alongside this modern day cast of characters.

When all is lost, Bram seeks refuge with the kind uncle who recently has lost just as much, but when Bram arrives at the mansion only to learn of the haunting deaths that linger. Desperate to prove the Dead Girls' story wrong and find their true killer, Bram dives headfirst into the frozen tales of deadly curses while trying to keep herself out of the ghostly grasps of the local lore.

I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this novel completely...it wasn't that I didn't like it, but I definitely didn't love it. The two stories did not run parallel with each other, but were broken and jarring when jumping back and forth in my opinion. I didn't really feel any sort of connection with the characters and honestly they fell a bit flat.

The mysterious story Bram uncovers was interesting and there were a few twists and turns, but overall I don't think I would recommend this to anyone in my reading circle,

This book is amazing! I highly recommend reading it! I loved it so much! The characters, the writing, the twist and turns! Everything!!! It kept me wanting more and I honestly didn’t want it to end! It was fast paced and kept me turning the pages. I didn’t get bored at all and wanted to figure out what happened. I didn’t expect a lot of the things that happened and was surprised to find everything out. I really enjoyed the book and can’t wait to read more by the author. Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy of the arc in exchange for an honest review!

While there were a lot of aspects of this book that I thought I was going to like, overall DON'T TELL A SOUL had a number of unexplored paths and muddled outcomes. There were some really well done moments of horror and dread, with descriptions of unease and late night paranoia that I did like. I also liked that there was some examination of how so many ghost stories have women who are victimized, even through violence and death, or through those who think they are crazy because of their experiences. But building on that point, a lot of the messaging around that undercut itself as characters who were supposed to be actively questioning the dangers of victimizers (specifically violent men) would excuse the actions of other victimizers. Many a time people who were supposed to be making good points would say that our main character, had nothing to fear in the local small town men even though she was rightfully threatened by or wary of them. On top of that, we didnt' get a very good exploration of Bram's tragic past, with a lot more telling about her drug abuse and own victimization as opposed to showing it or slowly letting it come to light organically.

I had high hopes for DON'T TELL A SOUL, and overall it didn't quite live up to them.

"In the dark, it made no difference if my eyes were open or shut."

Do you enjoy YA novels that lean more toward the mature side of writing, ones that are dark and eerie yet beautifully written with a powerful message? Then Don't Tell a Soul is the gothic novel for you! There are subtle similarities between this book and Rebecca, but more so via appreciative retelling rather than anything malicious like outright plagiarism. The plot feels two-fold; there's a focus on the mystery behind her family's tragic loss, and the local legend of the Dead Girls, the victims who have fallen prey to the haunted nature of "the house". I enjoyed unraveling the mystery on both ends, and I loved even more how this book had a huge sense of female empowerment, and even taking that sense back after the unimaginable happens. While this book may be too dark and graphic for some YA readers, I think it's an important read for those who can manage to open the pages and still turn out the light at the end of the night.

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Kirsten Miller presents a YA mystery thriller in Don't Tell a Soul. Readers follow Bram, a troubled girl going to live with her uncle in the country after something has happened to make her leave Manhattan. Bram soon follows that there are rumors about her uncle's manor being haunted, and begins to experience things that seem to be unexplainable. Of course, that just means Bram has to seek an explanation.

Miller's writing is readable and fast-paced, with a good build. Unfortunately, I never really got hooked, which left me a bit middle-of-the-road. It was interesting learning about all the small town rumors and secrets, and I felt that Miller did well at intertwining them. Everything established followed good logic and solid explanations, which is great, but contributed heavily to me finding the ending disappointing. I really wanted a paranormal thriller, and didn't find that here.

In addition, the characters were established, but I really wasn't invested in any of them. I never felt the stakes were high enough to be truly thrilling, and didn't particularly have enough attachment to care about the characters even if the stakes had been high.

That being said, I feel like this book would be great for its target audience of young adult, possibly folks new to the thriller genre, or folks interested in thrillers but don't actually want to feel scared. As an adult who knows their way around a thriller or two, the book came across as well-written but a little lackluster.

I do look forward to seeing what else Kirsten Miller comes out with in the future, and would be interested in potentially reading other works.

A gothic mansion. A cold winter town. Mysterious deaths. A mystifying mural. And one girl on a mission to find the dark truth that could possibly kill her.
This book was so addicting, enthralling, heart-pounding and suspenseful. I found myself staying awake to finish- I could feel the tension through the pages and it was honestly brilliant.
This book follows our protagonist Bram- a “troubled” teenager who has been sent to live with her uncle after some unfortunate circumstances in her hometown
Once settled in this new and strange small town, Bram is set on discovering the truth of the “dead girls”- girls who have mysteriously died in different eras in the house- and the truth about Lark- her uncle’s stepdaughter who burned part of the mansion down and went insane
However, everything is not what it seems and the haunting truth could doom Bram in the process...
This book had me guessing and doubting the entire time and the twists and turns were impeccably done- right until the end I honestly had no idea what would happen and I LOVED that! Highly recommend this one!

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC!

Trigger Warnings: attempted rape and drug abuse

Bram moves from Manhattan, NY to escape her troubling past. She goes to live with her beloved Uncle in a small town in New York so she can get away from everything happening in Manhattan. Her uncle had bought and tried restoring an old house that was intended to be turned into an Inn at some point, but a fire broke out and killed her uncle's wife. Bram uncovers some unsettling things while living in the house and it throws her into a haunting adventure.

This book kept be guessing the entire time and I read it in one sitting. The flow of the writing was easy to get lost in and before I knew it, I would be halfway through the book and wanting MORE. I rated this book 4 stars because Bram annoyed me every time she would ask how these small town people knew about her before they met. Every single person she would run into, she would ask "how do you know my name?" "How do you know who I am?" It happen like 4 times and every single answer was the same. "Its a small town, everyone knows everyone" I wanted to grab Bram by the shoulders and shake her to remind her that she should know this by now. It annoyed me after the first few times.

About 75% into the book i started to get how everything was playing out. I knew what was going to happen but it was still fun to see if I was right. I would recommend this to anyone who needs an exciting and quick read.

I had been looking forward to this “modern retelling of Rebecca” ever since I read its description and saw its cover. I’m a fan of “Rebecca,” the story more than the writing, and I thought that I would see the obvious parallels right away: a second wife living in the shadow of the first.

I would say that if you are looking for “Rebecca,” this isn’t it, but it doesn’t disappoint. What this is though, is a gothic story set in modern times, with a cold, wintery town and a creepy house. The story is gripping with twists and turns right up to the last chapter.

Our lead character and narrator, Bram, has a secret, and I had guessed what it was before the big reveal about half way through the book. This wasn’t the only twist that I had guessed, but I wasn’t disappointed since there were enough that at least a few caught me off guard. I recommend this book to people who enjoy gothic mysteries and have been bored by recent books. “Don’t Tell a Soul” is refreshing for those of us who have learned to guess all the possible outcomes of twisty novels!

The only two notes I have is one or two grammar errors. For example a sentence begins: “I’d just had begun...” which I assume will be fixed before final publication. The other error I noticed was with a character’s name. The name “Karen” is used about three times when I believe they meant “April.” Besides these two small errors, I highly recommend picking up this book when you can. You won’t be disappointed and I look forward to reading more of Kristen Miller’s books in the future! Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an advanced copy. This is my first advanced copy of a book, and I hope it won’t be my last!

Great story and loved the slight romance. Really enjoyed the characters and how the plot moved and how the characters changed throughout the book. I would read this author again.

Don’t Tell a Soul by Kirsten Miller is a modern love letter to Gothic literature, filled with a haunted manor, a mysterious mural, and a string of dead girls. The main character is even named Bram, after all, which seems like an obvious nod to Bram Stoker.

Set in the sleepy, small town of Louth, it’s a beautifully atmospheric mystery filled with twists and turns. However, some of the plot twists were revealed in unclimactic info dumps, and I feel if you poked at the story’s explanations too hard, the story would fall apart at the seams.

Overall, Don’t Tell a Soul starts of really strong, but two-thirds of the way through some of the character decisions are baffling and seem to be done sheerly for cheap scares, which unfortunately ruined some of the story’s believability for me.

Wow. Wow. Wow wow wow. This was such a great story. From the beginning the atmosphere was perfect. Just creepy enough that it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stick up and has you muttering warnings to the main character, Bram. I loved the angle that this story took, that Bram wasn’t there because she believed in the ghost, she was there to figure out why people assumed Lark was crazy. Later learning a more personal reason for this vendetta, you appreciate Bram even more. Women standing up for women. I think the layers of stories really helps build the tension and makes the twists and turns that much more frightening. There’s a point where you have a few ideas as to what is going on but the new information you’re getting just keeps making you doubt yourself. It is fantastic. A book that keeps you on your toes and makes you keep reading because you, like Bram, demand answers. I couldn’t stop reading this book. I would pick it up to casually read a chapter and find that I had sat there for 40 minutes reading because I couldn’t turn away. I finally finished this book in one sitting for two and a half hours in the middle of the night. Great ambiance for the story, but it just speaks to have captivating the story and the writing are that I put off precious sleep so I could keep reading. I think this book tackles some really heavy topics and does so with honor and courage and daring. I felt so seen and validated by this. I know we can’t quote anything from arcs, but there is a line about women always fearing for their safety and I felt that. I have never read Rebecca, so I’m not sure how much of this was true to the story and how much was changed. I don’t know if someone who is familiar with Rebecca would be surprised by this story. But I have to believe that they would be and that if they enjoyed Rebecca that they’ll enjoy this too.

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of parental death, mentioned death of grandparents, death (by suicide, fire), mentions of suicide (drowning), mentions of mental illness (nondescript, a character was committed, another character went to rehab), house fire, underage drinking and drug use, mentions of alcoholism, drug addiction, overdose, attempted rape, neglectful parenting, mentions of physical abuse, mentions of pedophilia, murder

This book was absolutely wild. It starts off as a ghost story, but it's so much more than that. I was hooked right from the start. The mystery unraveled so smoothly and everything made so much sense as the pieces all came together. A few of the twists I figured out fairly quickly, and then some I didn't piece together until Bram did, and the way everything fit together was done so cleverly.

This was wonderfully creepy and such a fun ride. This story definitely reminded me of Home Before Dark and Horrid, so fans of either of those will definitely enjoy this story. I loved the setting and the writing style. Some reveals I saw coming and some totally took me off guard. I will definitely check out this author again.

I’d recently watched the remake of Rebecca on Netflix when I read this book description. Ghosts, an old manor, a string of dead girls – what about this description doesn’t grab you?

I loved the setting of this story – a small town full of layers upon layers of secrets, an old mansion with disturbing rumors surrounding it, locals who don’t trust the newcomers and vice versa. It takes place during winter in the northeast, so the snowstorms and occasional loss of power just add to the atmosphere. The story unfolds slowly, and I had several questions concerning Bram – Why was she sent away? Why was she immediately on guard around males? Why was she so obsessed with Lark? All were eventually answered, and I feel the gradual reveal adds to the mystery. Between the manor and the town, Bram meets several people, all who seem to be telling her who she should trust. Suffice it to say, it’s all conflicting advice.

With so many deaths connected to the manor, I formed several theories and actually figured out one of the biggest twists early on. It seemed pretty obvious to me, so the final reveal didn’t come as a big surprise. Being a fan of the supernatural, I was excited for the paranormal aspects of the story, but things didn’t develop exactly as I’d hoped. It may not have been the story I’d expected, but I appreciated the underlying positive themes of overcoming adversity and reclaiming control.

This is an atmospheric story, and Bram is a plucky, determined MC who’s dealing with more than anyone her age should have to. A couple other reviewers mentioned the cover, and I agree it doesn’t seem to fit the book. Although there are a couple of plot holes (I read an ARC so this may change), the mysteries (there are several) may keep you guessing.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

4.5/5 stars.

TW: drug abuse, attempted sexual assault, gaslighting.

This was a brilliant and eerie book, and I really enjoyed reading it! It was great YA gothic novel, full of spine-chilling parts and a nail-biting ending that had me on the edge of my seat.

The story followed Bram as she tries to uncover the mystery behind the manor she is staying at, though she may be in over her head. While the storyline is a classic in horror novels, it was still a gripping plot that held my interest and made me eager to uncover the secrets of Louth.

From the very beginning we’re shown that not everything is what it seems, and as Bram questions everything and doesn’t trust a soul, we as the reader are encouraged not to either. I liked all the characters but didn’t trust a single one other than Bram, making all the interactions very tense and adding to the uneasiness of the story. I also enjoyed reading about Bram’s thoughts and fears as she thought about her past, it really added to her character and explored trauma, mental illness, and drug addiction. She was a sweet and passionate character and I was rooting for her the entire time.

The ending was amazing though a little bit expositional, though that’s a fault I think many mystery novels share when all the clues are uncovered. Despite that, I really loved the resolution and it was not disappointing at all.