4⭐️

It's been fifteen years since the six of them made the pact inside one of the secret houses. It's been fifteen years since someone died. And it's been fifteen years since five of them left Eternal Springs for what they promised would be forever. The six friends had spent their senior year looking for the houses designed by Thodora Trader that were supposed to be magic. But magic doesn't always fix everything.

Jay has done everything she could for the last 15 years to forget that year in Eternal Springs. But when she gets a letter from Brandi, the only one who remained behind, she knows she has to go back. The letter consisted of two words that meant everything: YOU PROMISED. The five friends return to Eternal Springs to learn that Brandi is missing and that each of them may have been keeping a bigger secret than any of the other know.

One of my favorite tropes is the group of friends returning home years after a crime and this was full of that. This book also had major IT and The Magicians vibes; the secret, magic houses and the magic wounds that bleed when the pact isn't followed seemed like a perfect fit.

I liked that each character was flawed and had their own issues. Jay and Brandi always felt different because they were the lower class kids with bad grammar. Charlie always stood out as the only Black kid. Iggy was the popular jock that had to work to not fall into the expect stereotypes. The twins, Hilma and Max, were the rich transplants that were only supposed to be in Eternal Springs for a year. They were extremely out of touch with most of their classmates in a low economic town. Each of them had their own reasons for wanting to find the last of Theodora's houses and those reasons made since. I love how the whole story essential repeatedly points out you can't run away from your past, no matter how far you run.

Thanks Netgalley for providing this ARC to me!

The Wonder State by Sara Flannery Murphy has an interesting, fantastical premise and leverages flashbacks of a group of mid/late thirtysomethings in the late 90s/early aughts for nostalgic fun. Ultimately, I found the twists and turns rote, and the writing bordered a YA-level of simplicity. I don't know that I would recommend this unless you're a fan of YA mysteries. This is somewhat more elevated than typical YA fare.

Sara Flannery Murphy did it again in another deliberately plotted, twisty head bender! With complicated, multi-dimensional characters, atmospheric settings, and superbly crafted sentences, The Wonder State will thrill Girl One fans as well as any readers looking for a YA bend to their twisty tales!

If I had known this was a magical realism thriller, it's something I never would have picked up because magical realism never works for me. Give me a full blown fantasy or give me nothing. BUT- In this case, I'm so glad I read it because it was SO good!

This follows an unlikely friend group of teenagers in a small town in the Arkansas Ozarks who are looking for the historical houses over the town that have a bit of magic, designed by an architect who said she brought magic back from another world to build the houses. For example, one house you can only tell the truth, and another where you have incredibly good luck while inside it, and so on. Their quest to find all the houses ends in an unknown tragedy which causes everyone to leave town and never look back. Except one, Brandi. Brandi grew up in a trailer and never had the means to leave Eternal Springs so she stayed behind struggling with addiction while all her friends moved on and lost contact.

Fifteen years later, Brandi has gone missing. The whole group shows up back in town, making everyone suspicious. They think Brandi may have lured them as a form of revenge to make them feel guilty for abandoning her. The clues to finding out what happened to her are in the magical houses so they have to resume their teenage hunt to find them all and the truth about what happened to Brandi.

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It took me a few chapters to get into this, but once I was in- I WAS IN. The concept of Theodora and all of these houses is so fascinating and I really felt transported to Eternal Springs while I was reading this. I got pretty invested in the mystery. I definitely didn't see the reveals coming at the end either so I was shocked.

I loved the sense of nostalgia in the past timeline. Although, I think the characters read so much younger than 16-18 years old and I had to keep reminding myself they were teenagers because the picture in my head was like 12-13 year olds. I also could have done without the romance. Other than that, this was such a solid book and I highly recommend!

I really dug Girl One, so I was excited to learn of a new release from this author. That it was magic realism is the icing on the cake. The blurb does little to tell you what to expect, and I don’t know how much discussing you can do about the book before you ruin aspects of it. Especially when the blurb states, “strange houses that appear when you need them,” and it’s one house.

I’m always baffled when people call a book a thriller when it’s anything but. That’s not to say this book isn’t a captivating read in its own right, but a thriller it is not. I found the pacing to be slow at times. I wanted a little more for the ending. It felt like the author ran out of steam and was just like, meh, they don’t need to do this thing they’ve dreamed about for over 15 years after all.

However, when things finally started unfolding, it was exciting to learn about each place the author created. I loved the magical elements, and I loved learning about each of them. Overall though, this was a fun read. Thank you, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, for sending over an ARC.

I'm a fan of stories about revisiting childhood magic as an adult, especially when it's actual magic and just the way children look at the world. I also love when characters come together not because of their daily similarities, but because they share a longing or a curiosity that can best be satisfied by working together. Learning about the houses and the choices they made as teenagers in tandem with who they are as adults felt well paced. I only wish that there had been even more information about Theodora and her connection to the other worlds. There's a lot to love about this unique and fantastical novel, and it says something that my biggest complaint is that I longed for more of the history of the woman who created the houses and how she lived her life in this small town. There's a also a lovely happy ending, which was unexpected.

The Wonder State was a gorgeous read, and I enjoyed it so much that I immediately checked out Sara Flannery Murphy’s previous novels from my local library. In many ways, the book was a surprise to me. The set up is a familiar one from a lot of thrillers: former high school friends reunited by a long-buried secret surfacing. No shade here—I love tropes and there’s a reason I Know What You Did Last Summer is so much fun. However, The Wonder State goes in a different direction, leaning hard into the speculative and into the emotional bonds between the characters. Don’t get me wrong—it’s definitely a puzzle box of a book, and an excellent one. I had to stop myself from skipping ahead several times just to see if my suspicions were correct.

For me, where this book shone was in its deft and nuanced characterization. All of the high school friends appear one dimensional tropes at first glance (the jock with a heart of gold, the rich and disreputable siblings, the redneck girl with an addiction problem who was left behind, the Black nerd…) but quickly became real people with interesting and complicated motivations. In many ways, this is a book about childhood friendship as a kind of romance, a first love that marks you forever. I loved this novel and the story stayed with me long after I finished it.

On a minor note, it was also such a pleasure to read a book set in Arkansas by someone local who loves and appreciates the region and is able to offer more than a stereotypical one dimensional picture of it. If you loved Eternal Springs, I recommend a visit to Eureka Springs, where there may not be any mysterious and magical houses but there’s still a lot of beauty.


Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

There's something about The Wonder State by Sara Flannery Murphy that reminded me of The Secret History. A group of friends. A shared secret. A tragedy.

A group of friends are summoned by a cryptic letter from a high-school friend. When they all return, they have to confront their past and what they left behind. But...that's the simple summary. This is more about the desire to be somewhere else, to escape your circumstances, to have a better life. It's falling in love and wanting to stop time.

Come into this book with an openness for magic, for retribution, for friendship and rekindled love.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

"From the author of Girl One comes a spellbinding adventure about a strange power lurking in the Arkansas Ozarks, and the group of friends obsessed with finding it.

Five friends arrive back in Eternal Springs, the small town they all fled after high-school graduation. Each of them is drawn home by a cryptic, scrawled two-word letter: You promised.

It has been fifteen years since that life-changing summer, and they're anxious to find out why Brandi called them back, especially when they vowed never to return.

But Brandi is missing. She'd been acting erratically for months, in and out of rehab, railing at whoever might listen about magic all around them. About a power they can't see. And strange houses that appear only when you need them...

Told in two enthralling time lines, The Wonder State is a stunning, immersive follow-up to Girl One. Sara Flannery Murphy has created another dazzling, genre-blurring novel - an adventure story laced with nostalgia and magic, exploring belonging and the lasting power of community."

I've always been fascinated by the appearance of strange houses.

This book felt like the magical realism interpretation of Pretty Little Liars or I Know What You Did Last Summer. I wanted it to go a bit darker (like IT Light), but don't feel like this wont have some circulation popularity qualities. A second round purchase for most libraries.

I don't think there was something wrong with this book, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.
I tried really hard to engage with it, but I couldn't after a few pages. The plot seems interesting enough for those readers who want to read about a coming-of-age story, with a community of secrets and magic houses.
Something I do want to say is that I liked the idea of the different things that happened inside the houses and the reactions that the characters had inside them.

I want to thank the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This was a fun friendship to read. Main characters were likable. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity.

What I love about Sara Flannery Murphy’s novels is that she drops you in the middle of a story and through a series of flashbacks, connects all the dots while exposing surprising twists and turns.

The Wonder State opens with five friends returning to their hometown of Eternal Springs, Arkansas 15 years after graduating in 2000. Immediately, I felt connected to these characters as I am also a member of the Class of 2000. They are called back because of an irrevocable oath they made as kids and upon arrival, discover the one who summoned them has mysteriously disappeared.

What happens next is a slow burn of a mystery that continues to quickly build momentum. Magic houses, unreliable characters, and of course several unexplainable disappearances. My only complaint is that I would have loved more insight into Theodora’s journal and her story to flesh out the magic aspect of the book.

The Wonder State is a story of enduring friendship with a dark magical twist and the lengths we go to in order to save our friends.

Highly recommended for fans of speculative fiction and the supernatural. I will be sure not to miss any future novels by Murphy as her storylines are completely unique and riveting.

Thank you to NetGalley, MCD, and Sara Flannery Murphy for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Well this was great and weird and wonderful. The Arkansas Ozarks setting was one I haven't read much about and the concept of Theodora's houses was just so cool. Sara also captures so well the swirling and complicated feelings of being a teenager. Such a fun but also heartrending read.

This is such an intriguing take on a thriller. While I didn't connect with the storyline itself, I loved the beautiful, atmospheric descriptions. I'll definitely be looking out for the author's next books.

A bittersweet, nostalgic novel with hints of The Big Chill/St. Elmo's Fire mixed with some brooding magical elements (Think Atlas Six vibes). Entertaining, but the characters were not entirely likable. Entertaining, quick read.

I was confused by the significance of the houses. Max, one of the characters, provides an interesting perspective briefly as an adult for one of the houses. There is imagination but could have committed more to the setting and pushed the plot further. The world of Eternal Springs could have been stronger, especially with the prominence of the Ozarks in pop culture.

The timeline is interesting, going between the hysteria of 1999 into the new millennium and 2015. The parallels between the dreams of childhood into adulthood and the reality of adulthood are the strongest part of the book and create this horror of expectation.

The friendships/connections of the characters remind me of "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "It Chapter Two". A varied group of people tied to the place where they are from, dreaming of more.

The ending tried to tie the story together but had loose strings.

It took me ages to read this book because I never wanted it to end. This was a book where I wanted to savour every word, and it kept me hooked from page one. Sara Flannery Murphy does an incredible job at fabulism, and establishing a complex cast, environment and rules of the universe. I absolutely loved the ambiguity behind the decisions and each's relationship with the houses, the town and each other. The ending was heartbreakingly perfect and incredibly satisyfing. Cannot recommend highly enough.

A coming of age story about a group of friends, that discover magic and mystery in some of the houses in the Ozarks. some grew up there, some in poverty and with no parents, some dealing with racism and homophobia, and a pair of rich twins with artists parents who come to stay for a residency.

This is a book about magic, about houses that hold secrets and promises for a better life, about a group of friends and esp two best friends, whose love survived all the challenges they faced. well written, it did lag in the middle and seemed to take forever to get to where it was going, but still a good read