I loved this! It was creepy and fun and had all the makings of a great horror novel. If you're a fan of Stephen King or Karen M. McManus, this is definitely the book for you.

I enjoyed this read. I loved contempoary reads that might have magic twist. I though the main character was a fun character and her backstory made her super easy to read from. I also thought the mytery elements and the pacing of the books was strong. I thought some of the murders were a bit predictable but still a really engaging read. I also did not see the end coming and that was def my favorite part. A fun read, but does deal with harder topics like grief and was a super fast pace read!

This was such a great book! It's about Ava who has nightmares after her parent's car crash in Burden Falls and wonders if it's real plus there is a killer on the loose. How better can the story sound am I right?! I have read Harrow Lake which I enjoyed a lot and when I heard that Burden Falls was releasing by Kat, I knew I had to check it out which I was glad I did. Kat never disappoints with the mystery and thriller plus this book gives me chilly vibes which I have never received from other thrillers. I enjoyed the writing, pacing, setting, and plot structure of this book. I do have to say that the pacing was a little slow and hard for me to get into but once the story picks up, it's hard to stop reading.

This is written in Ava's pov and I enjoyed her character. She is grieving from her parent's death and seeing her develop throughout the story by going through so much showed how strong and brave she was. There were some great side characters in the book but not many. The main side character is Dominic who I loved but I wish there were more side characters. There are also enemies to lovers romance for my romance fans!

The ending was well done and just as amazing as it was from Horrow Lake. Kat just doesn't disappoint with the way she ends things and she also throws in many great twists and turns into the novels! At this point, she is my favorite thriller/mystery author because they are just so GOOD! I totally recommend reading this book especially if you love Riverdale, kind of Supernatural and Stephan King.

Harrow Lake was one of my favorite books of 2020, therefore when I saw Kat Ellis was releasing a book this year I immediately added it to my TBR.
I’m so glad to say I loved this!
We follow Ava in the small town of Burden Falls. There is a lot of superstition surrounding the town, as well as talk of curses and ghosts. People begin turning up dead and mutilated in a way that has people scared and talking of a town legend...
I definitely think this is one readers should go into without knowing very much.
It was so atmospheric and dark, I didn’t want to put it down. I loved the speculative elements that kept us guessing until the end.
Burden Falls was such a fun/creepy story, exactly what I needed at the time I read it. Safe to say, Ellis is becoming an auto-buy author for me.

*Thank you NetGalley for the ARC and all opinions are my own*

After I read the last sentence of this one I actually wanted to clap, like when you watch a really great movie in the theater and everyone is all hopped up at the end and the audience bursts into applause. It felt like that.

Ava is a Bloody Thorn, a legacy family in the town of Burden Falls. Unfortunately, her family has come across hard times. After the untimely death of her parents and the sale of Thorn Manor to their mortal enemies, the Millers, Ava, her Uncle Ty and his wife Carolyn are barely hanging on. And then the Millers' teenage kids, Freya and Dominic, begin using their web-based ghost hunting show, Haunted Harvest, to do an expose on Thorn Manor and Dead-Eyed Sadie, the town ghost. And of course, shit gets real.

I was enjoying this book until I got until a little more than halfway. And then I started to LOVE IT. Dead-Eyed Sadie is an incredibly creepy specter haunting the pages and town of Burden Falls, much like my favorite literary ghost, Mary Hand of the Broken Girls. The story gets atmospheric and downright creepy. And that ending! it was perfect. Grab a drink, a blanket and lock the front door because I promise Dead-Eyed Sadie is going to give you some legit shivers

First off, I was so excited to read this because I LOVED Harrow Lake so much. Burden Falls was not a disappointment and I devoured this book. Kat Ellis really knows how to write eerie atmospheres that pull you in and won’t let you go. The small town vibes, family history, and legacies make this such a great book full of creepiness.

We are following Ava who recently lost her parents in a car crash. She is dealing with a lot of grief and to make matters worse her Uncle Ty has to sell the family house that has been in their family for generations. Ty sold it to the Millers who have always hated the Thorns. Madoc Miller was the one who hit her parent’s car that killed them. So, Ava really isn’t doing her best at the moment dealing with so much, but then one of the Miller’s shows up dead. Everyone seems to think it’s Ava getting revenge, but Ava thinks it might be something paranormal and whatever it is isn’t done killing.

While the beginning of this book was a little slow, I understand why the Ellis put in so much information at the beginning of who was who and talked about the family histories that have always lived in Burden Falls. Once you get through a couple of chapters things start getting creepy and have you on the edge of your seat. I loved the main character Ava and I actually enjoyed all the side characters and thought they were well written and played an important role in the book. I like the mystery and how I truly couldn’t pin point who was murdering the people in Burden Falls. While this is a YA book, the murders were pretty gruesome which I think made it all the more spine-chilling and dark.

I think this is definitely a great horror book that will keep you guessing until the end, and you might even have to sleep with the lights on. Kat Ellis did it again and wrote another book full of secrets, horror, and twists.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for sending me an eARC through Netgalley!
This book is set in a small town following the main character Ava Thorn after someone close to her gets murdered and she is the main suspect. I liked this story overall. Ava is a very complex character. She has undergone trauma at a young age when she lost her parents. She's a bit of an unreliable narrator and that added to the over-all creepy atmosphere of this book. I liked the romance subplot. It is also quite atmospheric as the story also ties in with the legends of the small town. I did guess the plot twist as well as the motives of the culprit. It was largely enjoyable especially with the inclusion the horror elements.

This was a fun read for me. I'm guessing most people say that with romantic comedies. But I love books like this. Anything with suspense and spookiness. It's just fun.

Ava Thorn had to leave her house just one year after her parents died in a car accident. Ava was also in the accident and watched her parents die. She lives with her uncle and his wife. They didn't have money to keep the manor, so they sold it and the orchard it sits on. They are staying in town though, at a college. The town has a curse on the falls there. Ava grew up hearing about dead-eyed Sadie. It's said that Sadie's eyeless ghost appears as a warning that you're going to die. Ava swears she said Sadie the night of the accident. She's still struggling a year later, but was doing well enough to stop seeing her therapist (and to save money). But when someone Ava hates ends up dead with her eyes destroyed, things start to spiral quickly. Ava is seeing Sadie everywhere. When she's looking at people, she sees them with missing and bloody eyes. Ava uses her art as therapy and it brings her closer to someone she never thought she would talk to. Their lives are both a mess and I very much enjoyed the start of their relationship. When another person close to Ava ends up dead, the town starts to freak out that there is a serial killer. Or is it Ava? She's definitely the connection to both and she had a lot of clues to tell the police about. Ava decides to try to bait a suspect and she wants to see if she can find the killer. And to see if she's really going crazy or not.

I gave this book 4 stars. I enjoyed the story and pacing. I did figure out something very early on, but there was still a twist for me in the end. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my earc.

Warnings for blood, death, talk of inappropriate relationships, fire.

Thank you, Penguin Teen, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Burden Falls is a YA Horror Thriller that has a little bit of everything. The reader encounters ghosts, murder, mysterious, small-town lore, romance, and high school drama. A lot was happening in the book, but Kat Ellis made it flow together rather well. If you are a big fan of CW shows, you will like Burden Falls.

Ava wasn't a dislikable main character, but I was more invested in solving the mystery than in Ava and her relationships with Dominic, her friends, and her family. To me, this book felt more plot-driven than character-driven. There wasn't a lot of diversity in this book. What was present were characters that were supporting Ava and didn't really have their own storyline.

I would love it if the author wrote an entire story just about Dead-eyed Sadie. The legend of Sadie was what I liked most about the book.

Overall, I enjoyed reading the story and rate the book 4 stars.

BURDEN FALLS' gothic atmosphere, spooky family legend, and gruesome murder mystery make for an intriguing, twisty tale. Visual and eerie and full of surprises.

Wow!
What a great ride! I love when a book feels like a horror movie. It’s my favorite kind of flinch when it occurs when I’m simply reading!
At first, it took me a minute to get into it. I wasn’t sure if it was the right book for me, but I was quickly proven wrong when the creepy came knocking at my fictional door. I couldn’t put it down, I honestly didn’t expect to finish it in two days but I did and i ended up really enjoying it. I especially loved Dominic and Ava’s relationship ✨ I felt as if I was watching a horror movie, the vibes and set up the author built was brilliant.

Burden Falls is very similar to Kat’s other book, Harrow Lake. They both revolve around urban legends, and they’re both horror novels. The writing of the story was atmospheric and I can see this book being a good fall/Halloween read. There was some unnecessary romance, but overall I enjoyed the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dial Books for providing me with a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Burden Falls was a fun mix between traditional thriller and supernatural. Penguin Teen describes it as “Riverdale meets The Haunting of Hill House”, which I thought was a really fitting description, because as I was reading it, I was getting major Riverdale vibes, if Riverdale had a little more of a New England-y, old money, old families type vibe.

Burden Falls follows Ava, a young woman who recently lost her family in a horrific car accident which left Ava alive, but scarred both physically and mentally. Burden Falls is the kind of town with legends, including local legend Black-Eyed Sadie, the ghost of a young woman with her dark, empty eye sockets. Ava’s family believes that they see Sadie before they die, and she believes that not only did she see Sadie before their car accident, but also that she’s been seeing her again.

And then people start dying. And a lot of evidence points toward Ava as the killer, and she is finding it harder and harder to turn suspicion away from her. But could the local ghost really be to blame?

I really liked how this book mixed thriller and mystery aspects with the ghostly, more supernatural side of things. It really kept you guessing all the way through as the characters knew there had to be a human among them doing these things, but couldn’t help but also wonder about this local lore that they had all grown up with. They even brought old school ghost lore into the modern day by giving a couple of the characters a pretty popular YouTube ghost hunting show, which I thought was an interesting addition.

The overall vibe is very spooky, and you really get a cool, creepy vibe from the setting of Burden Falls itself. There’s also a little bit of hate-to-love romance, so if you’re into that enemies to lovers thing but in a contemporary setting, this might be the one for you. I also liked the little bit of sidebar about Ava’s comic book she is working on, and how she pairs up with one of the other characters to complete it. If this were real web comic, I’d definitely check it out, so if this pops up somewhere as something I can actually look at, someone definitely let me know.

I never ended up reading Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis, but after checking out Burden Falls, I’m a little more interested in picking that one up, too. Ellis does a great job with the spookiness, and overall, this was an enjoyable read. It’s always fun to solve the mystery along with the characters and guess at what’s going on, and this had that added element of watching in horror as the characters go down a path you know is leading toward doom and attempting to scream at the page to help them out, but there’s nothing you can do but sit back and watch.

If you like spooky books and creepy settings that give you Hocus Pocus vibes and trying to solve mysteries that have a whole hell of a lot of shady characters milling around that just make you want to give them squinty eyes, then you will love Burden Falls and you should definitely grab a copy when it’s released on August 24th—juuuust in time for the beginning of spooky season (even though we all know I think spooky season starts roughly mid-July).

Ok, I could not put this book down.
I suspected I would like it because I LOVED Harrow Lake, but Burden Falls was even more of all the things I love, and put together in a story I felt even more immersed in and attached to.
Ava Thorn is doing her best to recover from the loss of both her parents, and on top of it, the home she grew up in, an apple orchard estate which has been in her family for centuries, is being sold off to the man responsible for her parents deaths, and who's family has been the sworn enemies of hers for generations. Ava thinks it's probably the grief and stress getting to her when she starts seeing Dead Eyed Sadie, the ghost of local urban legend, haunting her every move. But she just can't shake the feeling that maybe the legends, which say members of the Thorn family are cursed to see Dead Eyed Sadie before they die, might be more than just stories. But it's the people around Ava who keep dying, and when two of her classmates are murdered and Ava becomes entangled in the investigation, she knows she has to find out who the killer is, whether they are human, or something more sinister.
Honestly, Kat Ellis just knows everything I love in a good horror story. Burden Falls gives that small town with a dark history atmosphere, and the types of people, rumors, and legends that take root there. Just like Harrow Lake, Burden Falls creates a perfectly creepy urban legend to explore, and then fleshes it out with the real world that Ava has to wade through at the same time. The constant push-pull between what's real and what is just a silly ghost story kept me buried in this book until I could uncover the real story of the Thorn family, Burden Falls, Dead Eyed Sadie, and Ava.
I absolutely loved this, and can't recommend it to my horror friends enough!

Ava Thorn lives in the town of Burden Falls, a small town shrouded in mystery and thought to be haunted by the ghost of Dead- Eyed Sadie. Ava grew up at Thorn Manor, the place where Dead-Eyed Sadie is said to reveal herself to members of the Thorn family right before their deaths. Ava's parents died in a tragic car accident a year ago and now she is having nightmares about the ghost of Sadie that feel hauntingly real. When people close to Ava start turning up dead, she becomes the primary suspect and must work to find out if the murderer is the ghost in her nightmares or someone else entirely.

I really enjoyed this book! It was spooky and atmospheric. The writing style definitely set the scene well and the plot was interesting and fast paced. I really liked the ending, there was a plot twist that I definitely did not see coming! While I liked the ending, I feel that it could have been drawn out or built up a little more to create even more suspense, I felt that it was all concluded rather quickly. Still a really fun, suspenseful read that would be perfect for spooky season! I would recommend this book to fans of YA, horror, and paranormal thrillers and mysteries.

Burden falls by Kat Ellis was a captivating story that kept me on the edge of my seat, so much that I completed it in one sitting. The book follows a teenage girl by the name of Ava, who lives in a superstitious town. When one person close to Ava is murdered, she becomes a suspect and wonders if the superstitions and stories are true. I really liked the supernatural aspect of the book. I think it was woven in very well and fit the story. It also added tons of extra angst that amplified the “edge of your seat” type beat. This book is perfect for a good spook. I also really liked Carla and Daphne. In fact, I wish we saw more of them! The romance in this book is definitely there, but I feel like there could of been more of it. To me though, this book isn’t really about the romance, but it was a nice bonus. One thing I didn’t love about this book unfortunately was the pace at the beginning . It was a bit slow and a ton of set up. I will say though, the end made up for the beginning. If you’re a YA horror fan, who also loves a bit of romance and high school drama, then you should give this book a try.

I loved Harrow Lake by the same author but this one was a serious winner. I adored the mystery, the atmosphere, the lore surrounding the town, and the main character was likeable enough. Of course, there's some typical high school drama and I could have done with a little less girl hate BUT it was great. The friendships are realistic, the arguments and the way they spoke to one another. I saw a relatively large twist coming but I was still surprised at other parts.

Ava has seen a lot of horrors in her life and as if losing her parents wasn't enough now she's losing the manor that is a part of her family heritage. Add in fights with her "male" best friend (because yes, it's distinguished as such) and a generational grudge with another family in town and there's plenty of drama. The pace in this doens't slow and even as a grown woman I RAN from my light switch to my bed to get under the covers because I freaked myself out reading too late into the night.

Another fantastic read from Kat.