Fraught With Danger…
Dark and engaging atmospheric suspense with cleverly crafted historical overtones. Many threads here which are expertly woven to create a compelling tale, fraught with danger and death. Characters are well drawn and wholly credible. Immersive reading.

Interesting read with a literary mystery as it’s focal point. Magda has devoted her life to an author’s home in the Florida Keys when Aragon hurricane decimates it. Magda discovers some long covered up secrets as she sorts through the destroyed ruins. This book reminded me of a cross between the movie the Shining and Friday the 13th (the original one from the 70s). At times I thought Magda was totally obsessed with Isobel and was a bit deranged. It was an interesting tale.

What happens when a hurricane is coming, but you decide to stay to protect a historical landmark? And then, you also discover a murder? For some reason, this story reminded me of the Nevada Barr series with the park ranger. The conflict involves the storm, a current day killer, and a long lost mystery. The battle with the hurricane only makes the story more tense. Recommended...especially if you are history buff.

One word describes perfectly how I feel about this book and that word is WOW! It’s quite intense, very dark, which I love! The author wrote in such a phenomenal manner, with such an unique and elegant manner about it (especially with more dark themes). The characters were done flawlessly! It was completely captivating, fast paced, and absolutely unputdownable!!! I have a hangover and will definitely be looking for more by this author! Cannot recommend enough, as it truly is such an intense story!

Will make sure to buzz around platforms and use top Amazon reviewer number on release!

Some places are steeped in mystery. And sometimes danger is just drawn to them.

In this intense story, Magda Trudell is willing to risk her life to save a bit of Florida history. Even if it means staying put in the middle of the hurricane of the century. But that is just the beginning of her fight for survival.

What I Liked
I loved the main character. With emotional baggage from a past relationship and a need to prove herself, Magda is woman after my own heart. This book had plenty of twists and turns and so many edge-of-my-seat moments...and then we got to the really juicy stuff. The action never stops.

Magda is a strong, intelligent, independent woman who isn’t afraid to get dirty and get things done. It’s a wonderful contrast to her affinity for history and bittersweet affection for a young poet who lived and died over a century before.

There are some very adult themes in this book, but the author handled them with grace and purpose.

For its ability to keep me glued to the page, its incredible yet relatable female lead, and the ultimate triumph at the end, this book earns 4.5 stars.

Creepy and atmospheric, although I never quite felt that the protagonist was believable. Nonetheless, a quick and enjoyable read.

The Bone Cay is a certainly a very atmospheric, dark mystery, full of bone chilling twists. I have not read this author before and didn't know quite what to expect. The book is by no means your typical mystery. The poet and her haunting prose is such a unique concept to build upon. The story has a timeline of 5 days that are absolutely an adrenaline rush.
Magda has been caretaker at Whimbrel House for a decade, the former estate of Isobel Reyes in the Florida Keys. It's now a museum with tours. Isobel was a young girl who penned dark and mysterious poetry more than 100 years ago. Her death by suicide continues to be legendary.
There's a hurricane bearing down on the island. Knowing the house has withstood storms for decades, Magda decides to stay. She tries to put away and protect the important, historical relics. In addition, there are lemurs housed at the estate which need to be saved. Hank, the handyman and a local, stays to help her. Magda discovers an old steamer trunk in a long forgotten cistern and becomes quite obsessed with it. The contents may change everything she thinks she knows about Whimbrel House and Isobel. There's still some history to discover and rewrite.
In the midst of this, some questionable guests, (Charles and his pregnant, young daughter), arrive seeking shelter. Magda may regret her hospitality.
Ironically, I read this just a matter of weeks before the real hurricane Ida slammed into New Orleans. The horrific damage, the power of the wind and flooding was accurately descriptive and terrifying in this fictional story. Many years ago I was vacationing on a small island when a hurricane developed. I could only survive one claustrophobic day of being all boarded up and I evacuated. As I read this I wondered who in their right mind worries about an ancient trunk in the midst of a hurricane? Magda's much more dedicated and brave than me!
The Bone Cay was so interesting and different that it's impossible to find a place to stop reading. Carve out some quiet time and prepare to be thrilled with suspense, twists and surprises. I did guess some things early on, which did not deter me from continuing to read at breakneck speed. I especially enjoyed the poetry and historical aspects.

Thanks so much to Netgalley, Crooked Lane Books and Eliza Nellums for the opportunity to read this advance digital copy. The thoughts and opinions stated hate are mine alone, given voluntarily.

I enjoyed this one . It is very dark and atmospheric but captured the Florida keys perfectly. The setting was much like another character. Very good read

DNF at 35%. Life is too short for this. Nothing of interest has happened and I can't imagine anything will at this point. I was sucked in by the Key West setting but it is more of a Hemingway House than Half Shell Raw Bar setting. Not my thing but thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc of this book. Very engaging read which I enjoyed. You could almost feel you were right there in The Keys. Well done.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for allowing me to read a digital copy of The Bone Cay
Key West, the southern most point of Florida, is where we are taken to in the story. Magda is the caretaker of Whimbrel Estate, which was the home of a famous Poet Isobel Reyes....we learn through Magda how Isobel grew up and about her poetry.
Magda vows to protect the estate and Isobel's poetry. Even though Isobel commits suicide at a young age it doesn't stop Magda from speaking highly of Isobel during the tours of the estate.
There is a hurricane headed for Florida and there is a mandatory evacuation but Magda stays at the estate to protect it. How do you protect an estate from a Cat 4 hurricane...that is what Magda tries to do...but once the outer bands start to hit the island Magda faces a series of events that would make any one else turn around and leave. Finding the old trunk in a cistern is what really confuses Magda...how long has it been there? Magda opens the trunk and finds a body in it, the remain are skeletal but the clothing that is left ages it to be around the time that Isobel kills herself. Who is the woman in the trunk? What happened to her? All the questions and having to try to keep the estate protected.
This story is more of a survival of the fittest...can Magda survive the hurricane and keep Whimbrel Estate from falling down around her?
The author takes us on a journey that kept me reading well into the night...my first book by Eliza Nellums and it won't be my last.

Well I definitely won't be travelling to the Keys anytime soon. .... OR EVER. HA! This book was dark and twisty and had me jumping at every little sound I heard. Listen, you need to read this in the daytime, or you are not going to sleep well. I'm just saying! It gave me the shivers, but it kept me turning the page to find out what would happen next.

This book is dark, atmospheric, and set in the old mansion of a long dead poet, Isobel. Sold!!!! THE BONE CAY has the elements of everything I love in a novel. Magda is a no nonsense woman, whose singular life goal is to preserve Isobel’s home through a massive hurricane. As if this wasn’t enough, Magda ends up with two visitors to save as well, one of whom is a very ill pregnant teenager. Part adventure story, part mystery, thoroughly character driven, this novel blew me away (almost literally, there is so much rain and wind in this, and it’s so immersive you get lost in it!)

Magda Trundell has been the caretaker of Whimbrel Estate in Key West for the last decade. She is a botanist and an avid historian and has spent the years lovingly restoring the house. Magda is obsessed with the poetry of Isobel Reyes who committed suicide at her childhood home of Whimbrel Estate in 1918 at the age of 23. Magda has spent many years fighting to keep the legacy of Isobel and her poetry alive through the Estate that has now been turned into a museum. When a raging hurricane is headed her way Magda makes the decision to bunker down and ride out the storm in the aging house. While there she discovers females bones hidden beneath the house and tries to piece together who they belong to and why. A father and daughter also appear at her door and she must fight to keep them alive through the storm. I was expecting more from this story. It is labeled as a thriller/mystery, but I found it to be quite boring. The action didn’t even begin until about 80% through the book. The writing is good, but the story itself was not as creepy as the description made it sound. I found it all to be pretty predictable. The last 20% of the book was interesting and this would have been a great book if that intensity had been throughout. Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A side note- this arc had the letter "f" and numbers missing throughout. I don't know if this is the normal practice for this publisher, but it was very odd and hard to read at times. It felt very disjointed.

Thank you NetGalley, Titan Books and Author for this ebook copy!

I enjoyed getting the chance to read The Bone Day
Set in Key West was a fun add on. Errie even!
The entire book has a creepy vibe to it!
The book is well written, and the characters were all developed.
The story was complex and had good some twists and turns.
Overall.... This is one I really liked. And ill recommend it to my friends and family.

Thank you again the opportunity to read and review this chilling book!
Ill post to my Goodreads and Bookstagram accounts closer to pub date!

Key West is a tropical paradise. One my fiancé raves about and one I’ve personally only ever visited through books, so I do go there any chance I find. Then again it may be a tropical paradise on paper only, the name creepily enough means bones and the place is entirely at mercy of the sea. And oh how that sea loves to make the bones rattle.
So this isn’t the sort of story that’ll make you want to visit the Keys. This is the kind of story where the place gets hit by the worst case scenario global warming powered storm. Essentially a survival story. And I do like those.
It’s all about poetry, which for me is an obsession difficult to relate to, in fact any obsession that would make someone stay behind and risk life and limb in an extreme weather event is difficult to relate to (safety first, people), but then there’s be no book. So yes, poetry, specifically poetry of a young woman who has lived all of her 23 years in a castle like Keys estate under the care of her overprotective father, wrote poems and then walks into the sea and never came back. Or so the story goes. Goes convincingly enough to make a place a popular suicide locale. Also, a museum. A museum whose caretaker is so obsessed with the dead poet that she has dedicated her life to her and is willing to die for her. Enough to stay behind during a state wide evacuation.
And if taking care of a place that nature seems determined to obliterate isn’t challenging enough, and if finding a skeleton in a trunk wasn’t eerie enough, two visitors show up and throw their own stranger danger drama into the mix. There are mysteries to solve now, but first priority is to survive.
So that’s basically it. The bones of this novel are a survival story and it shines at that, with vivid realistic descriptions of nature’s brutality and increasingly desperate conditions. The rest, meat, sinew, whathaveyou, the skeleton in the trunk, the two people who show up, the mystery elements …all of that isn’t quite on the same level, mainly due to general predictability. Creepy is as creepy does and no surprise there for one thing and lack of suspects for another. So I’d say don’t read it for mystery, read it for the action driven survival suspense. This is one of the wettest books you’ll ever read and should probably ideally be read during a storm for maximum effect. Either way, it’s fairly entertaining. Thanks Netgalley.
Additional note for Netgalley readers and a reminder for myself…avoid this publisher’s ARCs. They provide really crappy ones. This book omitted first words of chapters, letter or letter combinations of fl, fi, ff and all numbers. WTF is that and why does a publisher think it’s ok to offer a copy like that and how do they not expect the reading enjoyment of the book to be affected by that? Seriously, there are plenty of books out there and plenty on Netgalley that manage to publish all 26 letters and all the numbers and there’s really no reason to read something in this condition. Advance reading is a privilege but there should still be standards of quality. So if you do decide to read a book, maybe wait for a properly published copy.

Whimbrel Estate is the home of legendary poet Isobel Reyes, a woman remembered more for her suicide in 1918 than her poetry. Magda has been the caretaker of the Key West estate for more than a decade and during that time she been slowly restoring the home to its former glory and trying to scare off the scores of people who want to use the estate for their own suicides. Now, there’s a hurricane on the way and Magda has no intention of leaving the home open to destruction. She gathers supplies and hunkers down to ride out the storm. The hurricane is fierce, with fire, flooding and the destruction of Magda’s supplies threatening both the home and its occupant. But the biggest shock occurs when a section of house collapses, revealing a trunk with the remains of a woman’s body inside. When a man and his daughter arrive seeking shelter from the storm, Magda wonders if this a coincidence, or something more. I loved this book, it’s the perfect beach read, atmospheric and creepy