This eerie novel captures the intensity of grief and stifled queer desire through a Southern Gothic lens. I found the novel most affecting in its portrayal of otherworldly hauntings and self-destructive isolation, but struggled connecting to the characters and the slow-paced nature of the plot. This novel is at its best when it comes to mood and tone but struggles to develop its central mystery. I would recommend this for fans of contemporary gothic works, but not for primarily horror or thriller readers.

I'm going to be honest. I requested this book solely based on the fact that it was comped to Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle series and I was all over that. Unfortunately, this book and I didn't click. I was a little anxious going into the book because I don't read much horror and I am a lightweight when it comes to scary. That part of the book wasn't bad. I got confused about what was happening a time or two. But my main turn off was the main character. I get he is going through it and he was grieving the loss of his best friend but his character never developed past that. I can see so many people loving this book. Unfortunately, this was a miss for me and I DNFed it around the 35% mark.

It's the end of summer, and Andrew Blur is moving to Nashville for graduate school at Vanderbilt. While he'd been looking forward to this for ages, it's with a lot of emotional baggage that he makes the journey now — his best friend and adopted brother, Eddie Fulton, had already been at Vanderbilt for a semester, getting ready for Andrew to join him, when he inexplicably committed suicide just weeks before the fall semester was to begin. Andrew is sure that Eddie wouldn't kill himself, and it's with that in mind that he makes the move — yeah, he'll go to school, but his main goal is to prove that Eddie was murdered. However, Eddie and Andrew had a deeper connection, dating back to a horrific incident when they were 13 that tightened their bond and gave them both the ability to see revenants of dead people. When Eddie's revenant attaches to Andrew, Andrew's mission gets even harder, as Eddie's ghost is certainly an angry one.

This is a great horror novel with plenty of spooky situations, yes, but it's also an amazing look at the grieving process, self-realization, and learning to let go. I was thrown a bit at the beginning by Andrew's copious alcohol consumption and drug use, but as I continued to read, I realized how right it was for Andrew's character. I ended up really enjoying this book, and I highly recommend it to fans of horror.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

This book should have been a book for me. It has so many things I love in a book, unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations.

This book perfectly combined my love of Southern Gothic horror and queer fiction. Mandelo painted a gorgeous picture of Nashville in late summer. As someone who lives an hour from Nashville, I loved his rich descriptions of setting and characters. Mandelo painted such a gorgeous picture of relationships between all of the characters; I cared just as deeply about the family Andrew was building as I did about the (literal and figurative) ghosts that dogged him. This one is a highly recommend for me and I'll definitely be seeking more of Mandelo's work as I go forward.

CW: drug use, alcohol use, self-harm, suicide, gore, violence, sexual content, homophobia, racism, driving under the influence

Though I’m not a car person by any means, the characters in this book were enough for me to not care. They were wonderfully written, as was the story.
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Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved the combination of so many genres mixed into one in Summer Sons – horror, coming-of-age, fantasy, and action. It's a gothic suspense that I ate right up.

Focusing on two friends–Andrew and Eddie–Summer Sons is about their inexplicable bond that was cut drastically short when Eddie dies by suicide. Eddie leaves Andrew everything, including a mystery and growing suspicions of Eddie's friends.

Lots of unlikeable characters, but such a loveable story. And yay for the Nashville rep!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to read this early. Review has been posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Street-racing meets dark academia meets the Southern Gothic in this heart-wrenching novel full of ghosts, grief, and piercing portrayals of masculinity. Summer Sons reels you in with its rich, claustrophobic writing, then keeps hold of you with the sharp, painful claws of heartbreak. Sam loves Eddie like you love breathing, and Eddie is gone. Lee Mandelo never lets you forget that, but he also doesn’t let that stop you from falling hard for the rest of this angsty and vibrant cast of characters.
Because the *boys* in this book, my god. Such gorgeous descriptions, full of rawness and intensity. So much violence and tenderness and camaraderie surrounding Andrew, who is fractured and raging at the centre of it all. So much suspense and repression and terror surrounding the mystery, which leads you inexorably forward into the darkness of this world and its broken young men. A book about grief, love, and release; a visceral and powerful read.

This would be a 4-star or higher read for me if you took out all of the car sections. I simply didn't care about the lengthy drag-racing scenes or characters whose personalities were Cars. The supernatural plot was honestly less interesting than the academic intrigue and folklore bits.

Great spooky tale that examines complex relationships. I think the ending was a little rushed, but beyond that I liked Andrew well enough as a character and was very fascinated by the incorporation of all the lore and mythology the book presented.

An Appalachian Southern Gothic novel about what one friend might do for another. We have car chases, LGBTQ themes, and the dense heat of the South. Lee Mandelo is a name I will continue to look for in bookstores!

I loved this book. It took me a really long time to read—I started it in summer 2021 and didn't finish it till spring 2022—because of the pandemic; I immediately went out to buy another copy because I know a re-read of the final book will do me good and also because I LOVED it and want it on my bookshelf.

Summer Sons follows Andrew, who has come to Nashville for grad school. He was supposed to meet his best friend Eddie there, but Eddie committed suicide just a few weeks before—or so everyone seems to believe. Summer Sons is an excellent slow-burn book, its pacing both giving a sense of wading and also bated breath as our protagonist struggles through overwhelming grief and loss—while walking heedlessly ever closer to danger. The haunts in this book are excellently creepy; I STILL think of them frequently. The story addresses queerness and homophobia, racism and allyship (or lack thereof) in academia, and grief and the feeling of being lost that comes with it; it's not a delightful 'quick read' horror. But it is a deeply meaningful book and beautifully written at that. My only qualm: the ending felt too fast; I would have liked it to be as lingering as the rest of the book.

I'm not sure if its the writing, or the pacing, or a combination of both, but it took me a really long time to get into this book. However, once I hit around the 20% mark, I found myself really enjoying the atmosphere and messy characters and dynamics that play out across the gothic ghost story of this book

I really enjoyed this! It wasn't too scary but it definitely put me in the spooky mood! I really enjoyed the pacing and the writing style. I hope Lee Mandelo writes new books in the future!

A fantastic southern gothic horror love story that definitely took me by surprise. Lee Mandelo creates a fantastic atmosphere throughout.

Action, horror, dark academia, queer love, crime and suspense all combine to create this fantastic novel.

This dark novel is a slow burn leading of longing, grief, and misery, where the main character reveals more and more of his soul along the way, hoping he can use it to pay for answers. The atmosphere is deliciously unsettling and I got lost looking for answers that could very well have not been there.

This was a ghost story with a little bit of gothic and dark academia vibes.
It tells the story of Andy and Eddie, best friends forever, until Eddie left Andy behind to start at a new collegue. Six month laters, Andy received a letter that Eddie died and left him a inheritance: a roommate he doesn’t know, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom with bleeding wrists that mutters of revenge.

Its a coming of age but for an adult public with a lot of slow burn to create a creepy vibe among side ghosts and a haunted mansion. I love the characters and how they found themselves exploring their sexuality and identity but also how they deal with homophobia. About the book itself, the plot is predictable but I was so into the story that I found myself enjoying it. I´d love to read more about the author because i really like this one and definetly I'd reread it again.

TW: death and grief; mentions of suicide and self-harm; blood, gore, vomit, graphic injury, and graphic violence; drug use and inebriated driving; some homophobic slurs; brief reference to child abuse; and some graphic sexual content