Theo and her brother Marko are being sent from their sunny home of Arizona to Nightfall, Oregon to spend their summer with their dad. They’ll also be meeting and living with their mysterious Grandmother, a paranoid woman who is a little mean and a little weird.
Theo and Marko take no time getting to know the fellow neighborhood teens, who host nightly parties down at the beach and LOVE tourists and making everyone feel at home.
I wish I knew what about this book bothered me, I really kept flipping between 5 stars and 2 stars. It seemed to change with each paragraph. I loved the mystery of this book and the spooky unanswered questions. A lot of things felt continent though, like grandma not answering questions until the end, or two podcast hosts being their to info dump whenever Theo had suspicions. Or the only vampire boy in town falling in love with Theo? Don’t even get me started on Grandma having an anti dote the WHOLE TIME?! But only using it on her grandson to save the day at the end. Eye roll.
Also a lot of the dialogue felt a little insane. You’re telling me this guy is gonna be pissed while in the middle of a fight for his life with a literal vampire because said vampire insulted the production value of his podcast?? Bro.

This book is described as Lost Boys meets Buffy and it definitely is but I think it's a little TOO Lost Boys (like some pieces seem like a direct retelling) and then the Buffy piece not enough. The book is well-written and pretty fun mystery wise, but not as original as I would expect. If this was marketed as a retelling I think it would go down a little easier.

On just the book itself, it's a fun read. I enjoyed it but wanted a little better balance in the plot. The "mystery" goes on for a bit too long so the pacing of the story felt off to me. I think it's worth reading, but probably a library borrow or ebook for me.

Mysterious, atmospheric, and a whole lot of fun, IN NIGHTFALL combines all of the elements of some of my favorite paranormal fantasy books and tv series and gives readers a delightful tale of a secretive town with something lurking in the night. Readers will be kept guessing what exactly Nonna Maggione warns Marco and Theo about Nightfall after dark, and it’s such a fun ride trying to figure it all out. ⁣
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The book had the drizzly feel of Forks, the small town feel of Riverdale, and characters that were just as kickass as Buffy and the Winchesters. Nightfall was in itself the main character, and I loved how eerie, atmospheric, and gorgeous the setting was. You could practically feel the fog rolling over your skin, smell the sea, and feel the ocean breeze. Young did such a phenomenal job transporting readers to the quaint (and super mysterious) coastal town. I absolutely loved the siblings Marco and Theo and the bond that they shared. I adore strong sibling relationships and theirs was so delightful and so precious. The side characters, aside from being just as mysterious and secretive as the town itself, were all delightful as well, and I loved the friendships that the siblings made in this new town. ⁣
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All told, a fun ride from start to finish. Perfect for fans of Buffy, Supernatural, Twilight, and even Riverdale, this book will pretty much turn the pages all on its own. Many thanks to @tbrbeyondtours and the author for gifting me an arc!

Scheduled to post 4/8/23.

I had to give myself a little time before reviewing IN NIGHTFALL. I was so far into my feels with it I needed a passport to get back. I am all for Lost Boys-inspired books. It's pretty much a guarantee that I will pick it up. It's how I found the Blood Coven series by Mari Mancusi (after a referral from a friend) and MAYHEM by Estelle Laure. GIVE. IT. TO. ME. So when I saw that IN NIGHTFALL was Lost Boys-inspired, I went YES.

Until I read the blurb.

Why did the blurb take be aback? Because it's basically the plot of The Lost Boys. Down to moving from Phoenix to a small beach town in California, I mean Oregon. Commence rage.

No, Donna! Don't! Don't judge it until you can read it! That might not be the case!

So I read the first chapter preview.

There was more rage.

Why? Because it's the opening credits scene of The Lost Boys. Nearly to a T.

THINGS AREN'T LOOKING GOOD. 

I'd requested the book as soon as I heard about it back in July or August. I just got the approval for it in March and I immediately started reading because I had to know.

I HAD TO.

And????

I'll start with what I liked about it:

Divorced from its source material, it's exactly the sort of YA horror I've been looking for in the current market. Not too deep, kind of kitschy, fun, spooky, underlying creepy. An all around good time. Doesn't require too much thought and gives me exactly what I was looking for. In that aspect, it nailed The Lost Boys right on the head.

Unfortunately, it nailed everything else about The Lost Boys right on the script.

IN NIGHTFALL isn't an homage to The Lost Boys. It's not inspired by. It IS. Young did not deviate from the plot of the movie at all. So readers, if you're familiar with The Lost Boys, you will know the entire plot of this book before even picking it up. You will know which character is which, what happens to who, every twist and turn, and how it ends. You already know how this book pans out. There aren't Lost Boys easter eggs in here. It's the whole damn rabbit. Characters, actions, scenes, character motivations, the blood-sucking Brady Bunch. It's all there.

What's different about it? It takes place in Oregon and the vampires are chicks. That's about it.

It's The Lost Boys without the personality of The Lost Boys. Gone is Joel Schumacher's sexiness, the dark undercurrent of the story wrapped in a pseudo-happy-go-lucky veneer, and the flash genius in the frying pan of the 80s to do something wholly unique. IN NIGHTFALL ends up being a pale, bland knock off that's disappointingly straight. Where Schumacher's movie was throbbing with queer subtext, Young's book gives mid-teens YA vibes in its heteronormativity. Of course, I can't forget the Frog brothers, I mean the gay podcasters that are the token gay comedic relief that exist to serve the main character. I've literally read better, more inventive TLB fanfic (and I've read A LOT of TLB fanfic). This book screams self insert Emerson sister fic.

I was so, so hopeful that Young was going to do something different with it. Killer mermaids or sirens or selkies or something. Do something to make it actually her own story. Those were the vibes I was getting for the first, like, third of the book. NOPE. It's The Lost Boys, slightly tweaked.

Who is this book supposed to be for? Because when the blurb is using comps like The Lost Boys and Buffy, are today's teens going to know what any of that is? Probably not, unless they have parents with taste. Those comps are for people my age, because this YA book isn't really being sold to teens, now is it? Says the teen librarians themselves, books like this are being written for the adults who buy them, not the teens who read them. The thing is, IN NIGHTFALL is actually a great book to fit in that space. The MC doesn't even have her license yet. This is actually a fantastic YA book FOR TEENS. But the marketing is targeting the nostalgia of the people with the bank accounts. I'm sure teen readers, especially younger teen readers, would love this book, but it has nothing to do with The Lost Boys or Buffy.

It's just getting old that publishers are getting so risk averse with what they put out that they just keep regurgitating the same thing because it's safe. Young, with her impressive backlist, is as safe and as sure of a bet as one can get in publishing, which is why we're here. Her writing is fine. It's nothing to write home about, but she can string a sentence together. It gets the job done and moved me from one end of the book to the other. But this safety also guarantees that instead of a unique take on The Lost Boys, something that is genuinely a hat tip to the movie but stands on its own and speaks to a newer author's imagination and verve, we get barely conceived fanfiction that doesn't do anything with the source material except follow the movie's plot. I'll just watch the movie, thanks.

PS: Where the hell does Buffy come into this? The fancy dress and vampire-staking at the end? Bit of a stretch.

1.5

I grew up in the 80s, and The Lost Boys was one of my favorite movies. I watched that so many times I lost count. I also devoured the Anne Rice vampire novels – like I was reading them as she was writing them (yes, I’m old!). So when I saw that Suzanne Young was writing what looked to be a sort of homage to The Lost Boys and 80s/90s vampire fiction, I was all in! And In Nightfall *definitely* gave me all of The Lost Boys vibes!

It’s funny because the movie happened to be on TV the weekend I started reading this book (of course I rewatched it, ha), and I noticed a fair amount of similarities that made me smile. At the same time, Young created a story that is wholly her own, with a great origin story for the tiny town of Nightfall, Oregon. The tension and creep factor rose steadily as the book went on, which definitely kept me flipping the pages to see what would happen. I was rooting for Theo and Marco, and there was a pit in my stomach several times. And Nonna…good old Nonna was definitely my favorite character! She was an amazing, teeny tiny force of nature.

Now, In Nightfall is definitely YA, so although it’s classified as horror, it’s not gonna be as scary or gory as, say, Anne Rice’s work. So don’t be put off – there’s just enough creepy tension to freak you out a little, but it’s not like adult horror. And there’s a great sense of dry humor permeating the whole thing, which had me chuckling many times while reading (and which you can see from my favorite quotes bellow). If you’re a fan of The Lost Boys, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the like, you should absolutely pick this one up – it will give you all the vampire nostalgia!

Rating: 4 stars

**Disclosure: I received an e-ARC of this book for purposes of this blog tour. This is my honest rating and review of the book.

Back in the day, Suzanne Young wrote some YA dystopian classics.

She's back with a standalone paranormal story for the 2020s.

Though many reviews have said what kind of paranormal story this is, I'm not going to because the book keeps you in suspense about what is going on in Nightfall for some time.

Theo and her brother Marco get sent to Nightfall to stay with their grandmother as a punishment for a huge party Marco through without permission.

Right off, their grandmother tells them not to stay out past dark. What? This is a tiny Oregon town. What dangers could possibly lurk here?

This did take a bit of time to get started, but I found it a fun and atmospheric read. This series will always be my favorite YA paranormal series, I think teens will love it, but adult fans of 1990s paranormal shows and movies will love it too!

In Nightfall is a book that captured my attention just from seeing the cover and reading the synopsis. I often find myself having a love or hate reaction to supernatural YA books and I'm happy to say that this one falls into the LOVE IT category! Theo and Marco come across as fairly typical teenagers, but they have a great sibling relationship that made me like both characters from the start. Once they met Nonna, the story really grabbed me. I thought Nonna was a great mix of quirky and caring and she was probably one of my favorite side characters. I love that there were so many strong female characters in this book and that they didn't allow their thoughts to become muddled over what they were feeling.

There was a lot of foreboding alluding to what was going to happen, but I think that helped make the book a little more suspenseful because I was wondering when the characters were going to figure it all out. The action really picks up in the second half of the book and I was left feeling satisfied by how everything played out. Other supernatural YA books have disappointed me in the past, but I feel that this one is a great addition to the genre and I will happily recommend it to YA readers.

This is a fun vampire story, if not an inventive one.

I liked the vibes, it did feel like Oregon, which books set in Oregon don't always.

The decision to not reveal the vampirism till the last 25% or so of the book made for an interesting dramatic irony.

3.5 rounded up

In Nightfall, we follow Theo and Marco who have to live with their grandmother in Nightfall during the summer as their punishment. And it won’t be a fun vacation because their grandmother has one rule: to be home before dark. Theo and her brother don’t think much of this rule because they want to have fun during their summer break and so they start meeting some new people. Soon they’ll start to regret not having listened to the ONE house rule…

When you tell me that there are going to be vampires in a book, I’m always all in! So I just had to read this book. I enjoyed the setting and the descriptions that we got of Nightfall, and was immediately intrigued by the house rule of the grandmother.

I was a bit disappointed however because I found the pacing to be a bit too slow for my personal liking. Also, the “real” action only appears very late in the story. And another thing that made me rate the book only 3.5/5 stars is that I didn’t like the characters. Not because they were supposed to be unlikeable, but because there was just something that didn’t make me “click” with them. Even though the vampires appear late in the story, I really liked the way they were written by the author.

Overall, “In Nightfall” is a great read that I think many of you will certainly enjoy. I just had too high expectations, which I should have set aside. And after I did just that, I enjoyed reading it. If you love books about vampires set in small towns and mysterious things happening, then this will have to be your next read!

This book is described as The Lost Boys meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the synopsis, and that describes the vibe and the story perfectly!

It's a fun & emotional read about two siblings who are forced to spend their summer in the small town of Nightfall, Oregon and the dark secrets that the town is hiding.

I haven't read a book solely centered around vampires in a long time, and this story has convinced me to get back into this niche!

I loved the FMC Theo - she's inquisitive, determined, and will anything to protect her family! Plus, I thought that her grandmother Nonna was very interesting, and the more I got to know about her, the more I admired her.

Also, there are a few *complicated* romances in here that are super entertaining to watch play out!

All in all, if you're interested in a charming story about a small town plagued by vampires, check this out!!

In Nightfall is a solid YA supernatural light horror. It is in every way a modern version of The Lost Boys. Very enjoyable.

I went into this book knowing almost nothing and because of that, I was so pleasantly surprised. I knew that something bad was going on in Nightfall but I wasn’t quite sure what it was. This book is such a good summer read. It’s takes everything that we love about a summer slasher with everything we love about monster/paranormal books. However, there was so much sadness in the book that I never anticipated. that emotional depth made the book all that much better.

the only thing I found was that Theo’s realization of what was going on happened way too late in my opinion. and because of that, the ending felt a little rushed. other than that though, it was such a fun read.

Theo and Marco got caught throwing a party and now they have to spend the summer in Nightfall, Oregon with their dad and grandmother. Not only is it miles away from their friends in Arizona, but they have a population of a whopping 846! They quickly learn that their grandmother is antisocial and very superstitious, but they plan to make the most of their summer. There is something off about the girls in this town and Theo wonders if she should be listening to her grandmother’s warnings after all.

In Nightfall is a stand-alone supernatural novel that was a fun escape without being a deep read. I found myself laughing at the beginning when they said “welcome to Nightfall” because I was wondering if I was reading the “Welcome to Night Vale” book. This is not gory or scary, but readers should enjoy the supernatural element throughout. The story is wrapped up well and I don’t think there is a need for this to become a series.

Being a fan of The Lost Boys movie, I expected this book to be better -- 2.5 / 5 overall.

POSITIVES!
- It was light, also fun at times
- I wish I could travel to the town where this story takes place
- The gender reversal of the Lost Boys was cool
- The main character's relationship with her brother is enviable
- You expected a happy ending, and you got one

Here are the PROBLEMS I had with it:
- I expected more depth
- The pacing can be perfect, then really slow, then unecessary, then BOOM you are done
- The author's writing style makes me feel like there is a fog around characters, the plotline, etc, and NOT in a good way. Her other books are better with this.
- Reminded me of a stupid horror movie: an insanly, poweful creature is somehow taken down by a normal person no problem. Sound familiar?

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

In Nightfall was my first Suzanne Young book, and it did not disappoint. I read it in one sitting, and it was like pure nostalgia for me. Think the female version of Lost Boys and throw a badass grandma in the mix, and you have this book. At times, I did want the book to pick up some pace, but at the same time, I was enjoying the ride and couldn’t wait to see what happened next. This book made me want to go back and watch all the 80′ & and 90s vampire movies and relive my youth again.

This book is incredible! I absolutely love every minute of this book!
My passion for reading began with young adult horror books, and In Nightfall reminded me of where my love of reading stems from. So, I eagerly devoured this story.
In Nightfall is a pretty chilling tale for a young adult novel. The story is told from the perspective of Theo, the new girl in town, who has a love of volleyball and true crime podcasts. For her, everything about Nightfall, Oregon, is unsettling. She doesn’t know who to trust, family included.
The setting is reminiscent of Forks, Washington, from Twilight, but the vampires in Nightfall, Oregon, do more than sparkle. They have more insidious things in mind like in Fright Night.
I love that vampires 🧛🏻‍♀️ aren’t sequestered to evening hours. Vampires can be anywhere at anytime and… they can anyone.
This story nicely ties up in the end. So, no big cliffhangers. However, I’m dying to reading 📖 the sequel. 💗
I highly recommend this book if you like vampires, Buffy, Lost Boys and Fright Night.
Thank you Tbr and Beyond Tours, Delacorte Press, and PRHAudio for the complimentary copies of In Nightfall by Suzanne Young.

**Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Anything described as being reminiscent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a huge win in my book and this is stellar. The vampires are great, the interpersonal dynamics are interesting, and I'm a huge fan of the way that this author wrote characters that were messy and snarky and anxious. I wish that the pacing was a little bit more consistent throughout but I still had a great time.

I saw that In Nightfall had vampires in it and I was like “right yes, instant add and read right here.” I’ve got those specific tropes and creatures that I’ll read about in any format (film, tv, books) and vampires is certainly high on that list. Yes, mostly due to my Twilight phase but actually I think it’s largely due to watching the Underworld Saga with Kate Beckinsale at a young age 😅. When it comes to vampires vs werewolves I’m very firmly in the vampires camp. Even like with Teen Wolf if they had vampires I would… probably vote for the vampires (sorry!).

I mean vampires, as a whole, can mostly be seen as morally grey characters. Maybe that’s why I like them so much? They have lower morals, not so worried about consequences, they don’t worry about hurting people like their human counterparts do.

In Nightfall took what I wanted (that dark, obsessive nature of vampires) and placed it in a familiar setting (small town, a bit of family drama). But it also brought something new to the genre and I liked that. I always enjoy it when a book brings a breath of fresh air to a genre, even if it’s one that I enjoy reading a ton of.

I did have some issues, mainly with the main characters. I found Theo and her brother, Marco to be… plain? I only started to like them at the very end and even then it wasn’t very much. I didn’t like their personalities, their motivations; just sort of them in general? Even when I started to like them at the end; it was sort of begrudgingly.

I’m big on characters – their stories and development – especially seeing their development throughout the book. Unfortunately I didn’t get that as much as I wanted to while reading this. The book is nearly 400 pages so I should’ve started liking the characters before; but that didn’t really happen.

Luckily the book was more than its characters and the plot was more interesting so I’m glad my dislike for the characters didn’t mar my experience for the whole book. I liked the way vampires were approached in the book – their oddity and the main character realising something wasn’t exactly right – I can read this or watch this any day. I appreciated how the pacing was just right from Theo seeing the oddities in the town members, trying to figure out what the problem is and then making the plans to deal with the problem.

Other than my character issue, I think why I didn’t rate this higher – even just half a star more) was because I wanted more. Out of the characters, the plot, and the writing. The book is over 350 pages so you’d think I would find the time to like what’s in the book. And I did… but not enough. Yes, I cared about the characters but I wanted to feel like I had to know everything about them. Or that the plot was so good I couldn’t stop reading. I didn’t get all of that – but also I still liked it so I wasn’t too upset as I thought I would have been.

Theo doesn’t want to be in Nightfall, though the girls in town are beautiful, friendly, and welcoming. Even though a young man named Parrish has caught her eye, she still wants to leave. But something odd is happening in Nightfall, and she’s not finding the answers she seeks. The deeper she digs, the weirder things get. With voodoo dolls and lingering smirks, if anyone can get to the bottom of things, it’s Theo.

Young portrayed Theo’s anxiety well, and it’s utterly relatable. Theo is strong and assertive, and doesn’t let her anxiety hold her back. She’s so funny, she had me laughing out loud a lot. In Nightfall unfolds at a leisurely pace, leaving the reader just as perplexed by what’s going on as Theo. Once things start happening, things go fantastically awry. The town is perfectly creepy, and the storyline is addicting. A super fun read from start to finish.

Hmmm.... a book about a girl from Arizona who reluctantly travels to a town in the Pacific Northwest without a lot of sunlight only to find that town is home to supernaturals? Seems familiar...

Base comparisons aside, this books is actually nothing like Twilight, which was a pleasant surprise. It had a delightfully creepy vibe that drew me in immediately. And unlike Twilight, there's only the slightest hint of a romance. Theo's focus is 100% on all the weirdness going on in Nightfall. In a lot of YA books with supernatural happenings, the main characters are either oblivious or just accept the weirdness without too much thought, so it was refreshing to see a main character who acknowledges the weirdness and tries to figure out what's happening without any romantic nonsense.

This book's one weakness is the pacing. Everything but the last quarter of the book was perfect, but the ending's pacing was just all over the place. It felt way too rushed to the extent that certain plot points that felt pretty major (like the fate of certain significant characters) was just glossed over. Some pieces felt like they didn't get the emotional beats or resolution that they deserved.

The mythology was also not explained well, in my opinion. There's such a huge mystery of what's going on, but the explanation of the rules for the world was pretty lacking.

Despite this, it was an incredibly entertaining read, especially if you're a fan of (or vehemently hate) the YA supernatural stories of the 2010s.

3.5