Oh my gosh, I’m in love!!

Logan’s dads are the stars of a reality paranormal show, and they decide to film the next season in their hometown of Snakebite, Oregon. When Logan arrives, we find out very quickly that something isn’t right in the town. Kids are going missing, and there’s a…thing. A very creepy and disturbing thing. Is there more going on here than Logan originally assumes? (Hint: Yep!) Can she figure it all out before more people get hurt? Read and find out.

Honestly, this book takes every ingredient I love and mixes them all together into a very new and exciting recipe. Is it spooky? Yes, but not too much. It’s just the right amount of spooky. Are there well-realized characters to fall in love with? Oh, you betcha. Is there a solid mystery that will keep you scratching your heads and guessing until the very end? YESSSSSS!!!!

Fun, thy name is The Dead and the Dark. I need Courtney Gould to write a book a day, maybe even more than that. I’m hooked!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I liked this book. I'm always looking for thrillers/mysteries/paranormal books for my library - as that is what the kids tend to flock to. This is going to be one that gets added.

Logan is the daughter of two television ghost hunters. When they show up in the small town of Snakebite, Oregon, the odd things that are already happening now are getting worse. Ashley has grown up in the town and her boyfriend is the first teenager to go missing, but now she is seeing his ghost everywhere. Ashley turns to Logan, unsure of where else to turn and who she could trust. Together, they are determined to get answers for what is going on in Snakebite.

The vibe was absolutely here for this book. I enjoyed the ghost things and the small town vibes. Man the small town vibes were strong with this one (which unfortunately does bring up some other things which I'll talk about later). This really was able to tickle that little itch I had and had not been able to reach. Now, the itch is still there as I do think there was some issues or rather something lacking, but it's a lot less annoying.

How Gould set this story up really was too much for my small brain. I'm getting so dumb as I'm getting older and really can't do anything. But, I don't mean that in a negative way. I think that really played into the mystery aspect for me. I was sitting there trying to figure it out and really unable too. Gould really set this up beautifully. It was easy to tell that she had spent a lot of time crafting some of the details that went into the mystery and set up of this story.

Logan was a fun character. I love how blunt she could be, but how she also had a big heart who cared for the people around her. Ashley, I'm really not sure if I ever grew to like her. She participated in a lot of homophobia and excused/remained silent while it was going on. There was a little bit of growth there, but I would have loved to have seen more.

Really, I had a good time reading this. It was an entertaining read, but there was nothing about it that really jumped out at me to make it stick with me for very long. But, as this was a debut, I'm really excited to see what else Gould does.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I think the problem was I went into this one with incredibly high hopes and no book could have delivered with that high of expectations, including this one. It was ok. Just not what I was hoping for.

I gave this a five out of five stars. I really want to get myself a finished copy I loved this a lot. I loved the queer rep in this book. This book has a lesbian main character with two dads. One is gay and one is bisexual. This is a murder mystery in a small town in Oregon that starts happening when this family comes back home.

The opening interlude is deliciously dark and entirely creepy, which sets an ominous tone for the town of Snakebite, Oregon. While definitely a slow burning story, both in the mystery behind the disappearances and also the budding romance between two of our main characters, I think the pacing works well for the type of story that this is.
I enjoyed the plot and many twists, but the ending seemed unconvincing and didn’t quite match the level of menace that permeated most of the story.

My favorite part of this book is between Logan and her dads, although the romance is fine (a little insta for my taste, but okay for a YA book). Still, the family dynamics were beautiful, and I love how the author weaved in a complicated but loving family history for Logan's family without making it feel overwhelming. The message of the dark was especially hard hitting. The story had great pacing and the town had a great vibe.

The Dead and the Dark is an LGBTQ+ ghost story for the YA set.

Teenagers have been going missing in Snakebite, Oregon and some have even turned up dead. Many in town start pointing fingers at the ParaSpectors, a famous pair who hunt ghosts on TV. They are from Snakebite and have recently returned. Logan, the daughter of the two men who are the ParaSpectors, knows that her dads aren't responsible for the missing and dead teens so she sets out to redeem them. She connects with local teen Ashley, whose boyfriend was one of the first missing teens. Together, the two girls investigate the mystery of the missing teens in a quest that seems like it could involve a touch of the paranormal.

This was a creepy adventure. I loved the inclusion of LGBTQ characters in this story. I also like the uncertainty as to whether this was a straight-up mystery or a ghost story. Ashley and Logan make a great pair and I loved following their progress as they uncovered dark secrets in Snakebite.

I listened to this on audiobook and it was a good listen, with a full cast. A full cast really does a lot to make a book come alive especially when the book is told from multiple perspectives like this one.

Would you sell your soul to the Dark? What if the Dark promised to bring back a loved one in return?

Logan is always on the run with her dads. They are ghost hunters on a popular tv show, and the end up back in Snakebite where the grew up, and the town is not happy with their return. Teens have started disappearing again since the men came back, and it seems that they have something to do with it.

Logan teams up with Ashley, a local girl whose boyfriend was the first to disappear, and together the girls try to uncover the secrets of Snakebite and put an end to the missing teens. But what will they uncover with their search? Can Logan and Ashley face what Snakebite is hiding?

I listened to the audio version of this book. I enjoyed the narrator and I felt like I was invested for most of the story. I kept thinking about what might happen next. I also liked that the story was told in alternating points of view. Each chapter was told by either Logan or Ashley, which helps keep me invested in a story. I also thought that some of the twists in this book were unique and original, and that made the book stand out.

I did feel like the middle portion of the book dragged on a little bit and not much happened, and I was a bit confused by the ending, but that could be partly because I listened to the audio version, and I have been known to zone out a bit. (After discussing with a friend, the ending made more sense and I think I just missed something that helped tie everything together. My review and rating take that into consideration and that fact does not affect the overall rating of this book for me.)

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. I don’t typically read paranormal stories, but this one sucked me in from the beginning. 4 stars, recommended to anyone who likes YA and paranormal stories.

This one was… wow. I literally couldn’t put it down. It starts out slow but once it picks up, it’s a page turner. I love a good mystery with supernatural elements and throw in some representation? *chef’s kiss*
This is one I’ll be thinking about for a while.

The Dead and the Dark is the perfect combination of true crime and supernatural. Set in a small town where secrets don't just live in the shadows, the main character Logan returns with her fathers back to where they grew up to investigate the paranormal. The creepy and unfriendly setting pairs perfectly with the building intensity of the plot and left me on the edge of my seat every chapter.

This book definitely kept me guessing and there was a twist that I certainly didn't see coming! I really enjoyed this debut!

This book is the perfect amount of spooky and thriller. I loved being able to connect to the characters, especially when I saw Logan's personal growth. They felt really organic and honest. If you're looking for a unique twist on a ghost story, I recommend checking this one out.

4 stars. I expected something very different from the description but I wasn’t upset with what I got. For my own tastes I would have enjoyed the actual paranormal tv show having more a front seat during the action but that’s a minor complaint. Atmosphere was 10/10, had me turning on my table lamp while reading in bed at night. Will continue with this author

This is a small town ghost story with a Ghost Hunters type reality TV show and dark family secrets at its core. The story alternates between two girls-- the town's golden girl and the newly arrived outcast-- as they try to discover who (or what?) is killing local teens. Gripping and atmospheric.

i don't usually dive into the horror-paranormal genre, but had to do it for the sapphics that gould was truly serving. the dead and the dark was truly a well done thriller with the cliche small town setting with its suspense and aura of atmospheric writing with mystery of finding missing teens. i enjoyed logan and ashley's development being ghost hunter partners with ashley's boyfriend missing but then the two developed feelings along the way. the town having conservative views that included internalized homophobia made it all the more scary with how it has impacted the lives of our main characters. both logan and ashley's personal character development and getting to see the layers they had with struggles and trauma they've both add made the story all more strong. this was a captivating debut and im looking forward to what other works gould has in store for us.

I recommend this one. It's a good book and everyone should read. Of course I would love to have this book in my bookstore.

I was immediately hooked by this story and the descriptive writing. The writing simply oozed spooky vibes there is no other way to describe it. If you’re looking for a spooky sapphic book I would defintely recommend this. Speaking of which, I enjoyed the spookiness of this book (though I would suggest only reading it when the sun is out unless you enjoy being legitimately scared). I also thought the two different queer perspectives that this dual POV shared complimented each other so well and were each important stories to be told.

The mystery itself kept me guessing the whole way, though I admit some of the directions it went in weren’t necessarily my favourite. This book was written very well, but it leaned a lot more towards horror and away from mystery than I thought it would, so certain elements weren’t really for me.

I had so many feelings about this book (all good). The story was wonderfully paced — I was initially hesitant after the first chapter but with the second chapter, I felt the story was starting to wind and pick up. I loved the relationships in this book and how the story’s perspective alternated between Logan and Ashley. I always worry with alternating perspectives that the two characters will sound similar, but Logan and Ashley had their own unique voice. Logan’s relationship with her family was something I enjoyed reading and learning more about — I was so tempted to skip to the end to see how her dads were involved, but the reveal was well worth the wait. I’m looking forward to whatever else Gould writes!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

It's been a while since I've read a "horror" story and now I remember why. They scare the bejeebers out of me!! Ones that are well done just feel malevolent and make me feel uneasy...and I just love that. This one was very well done. It's creepy and insidious, but not so over the top that it feels like it could be real and could be happening to me.