Unfortunately, I DNF this book. I really love the premise; Two girl’s go to an eerie town, where their mother began to change from a typical mother to a scattered, forgetful person, which ultimately led to her death, Needing to move in with their father, the decided to visit this town with the younger believing they are just there for vacation, but the older secretly investigating the town to figure out what happened to their mother.

I was just unable to get in to this book. The pace was really slow and I did not have any sort of emotional connection to the characters. I kept getting distracted and ultimately gave up reading after 25% of the book.

A sapphic romance in the creepiest of towns! I loved these characters, and I loved how Gould once again describes a place and its feeling so well that I can practically feel the dry desert heat on my skin.

Beck and her sister, Riley, recently lost their mother to cancer. However, the end of Beck's mother's life was punctuated by her many visits to a smalltown called Backravel. Beck could tell there was more going on here than what her mother said and soon took a trip with Riley to see this place for herself. To see what about this town drew her mother away from home so often.

Beck tries to find answers, although everyone in Backravel doesn't seem to know or to remember many details about even their own lives. Most of all, Beck is curious about The Treatment Center and what, exactly, it treats.

I love this author so much! Courtney Gould is so talented when it comes to these dark, unsettling stories that also really hit on some huge emotions such as grief. I definitely recommend this!

Out June 20, 2023!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

Thank you to Wednesday Books for this eARC! If I could give half stars I’d give this 3.5 stars. I thought this was a really cool concept for a YA thriller and I appreciated how the author explored the heartache and grief that comes from losing a parent. I felt more engaged by the second half of the book and it took me a little while to get fully into the story at the beginning, but I did still enjoy what I read! I also liked reading about the sister dynamic between Beck and Riley, and it’s nice to see more LGBTQ main characters in YA books, especially outside of the romance genre.

A mysterious letter written in her mother’s handwriting finds its way into Beck Birschings hands, but the thing is- her mother is dead. With the haunting sentence 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦 scrawled on the page, Beck is pointed in the direction of the small town of Backravel , and the need for answers pulls her into an unforgettable journey. Riddled with grief, lies and family bonds, Where Echos Die is heartfelt yet dark thriller just waiting for you to uncover its secrets.
—-

“𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣 𝘪𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩.”

This was my first book by Courtney and I must say, I was impressed! I found it a truly original tale, interwoven with memorable characters, intrigue and emotions, and I’m always a sucker for the small town vibes. I enjoyed the writing style and eerie elements of the town. I did find the story dragged a bit in the middle to three quarter section of the book, but picked up again with a great ending. I would recommend this to readers and I’m looking forward to reading another title from the author 🙌.


I give this one ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I enjoyed Courtney Gould’s debut, so I was excited to try her next book. Like her previous work, it straddles genres, being both a fantastical thriller and a deeply introspective story that muses on the impact of grief.
Gould does a great job of creating the atmosphere of the town of Backravel. From the moment the characters arrive, there’s a sense that something is not quite right, and I loved the subtle way the creep factor built throughout the narrative. It very much comes to life as a character in its own right.
As such, while it was a bit of a slow burn, especially at first, I was soon left guessing as to what was going on with the town, and the “why” and the “how” it was founded. I was not disappointed when things came together.
The characters aren’t necessarily likable, but I could understand them. Beck, as the character we follow in the present, is deeply impacted by her mother’s death, as is her sister Riley, and that in itself is relatable, even if she doesn’t necessarily endear herself to the reader, especially not right away. And getting to learn about what her mother Ellery was up to along with her was cathartic, which I expect was the primary goal of this character’s arc.
This was another enjoyable read from Courtney Gould, and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for books that blend fantasy and thriller with a hard-hitting depiction of the impact of grief.

Thank you for netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. The following opinions are my own.

I really liked the premise for this book. It's what drew me to initially. And the cover is also beautiful. Unfortunately I was not really prepared for it to be heavily on the science fiction side. Overall though the story telling is interesting.

- 3.5 Stars -

What an absolute mind trip of a book. It was a weird one for sure but I definitely enjoyed myself as I was reading/listening to this one! I really liked the plot line of the town of Backravel. Beck and Riley going to the town that their mother was obsessed with was such a good draw in and made you want to know more. The whole book actually just made you want to know and understand what the heck was going on. It really propelled me through the book (which is why it only took me a day to rip through it).

While I really liked the story, the mystery and the need to figure out what was going on the story was a little slow moving for my liking. The relationship we got to see between Beck and Riley was sweet, but seemed a little toxic with the lying. However, there is a redemption for that, but it still rubbed me the wrong way.

Overall, if you need a young adult book that will hurt your brain (in the best way) this could be the one for you!

🤍 Thank you so much to the publisher @wednesdaybooks & @macmillian.audio & @netgalley for this advanced reader copy!

⚠️TW: death of parent, grief, cancer, child death, chronic illness, death, terminal illness

Rating: 4.5/5
Pub date: June 20

I received an eARC for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this YA mystery/thriller a lot. I am so happy that St. Martin Press approved me to read this because this book has moved up to the list of books I will recommend. I really liked how different this book was from other mystery/thrillers that I have read in the past and I don’t know if it was just the plot that made it so for me or if it was the YA aspects of it.

I loved that the plot took place in AZ in a small town in the middle of nowhere, they don’t get a lot of visitors there unless they’re on their way to get help from the town founder/doctor there. However, the biggest mystery there is where are all the people who are supposed to be living there, they don’t use cars, there are no animals, no cemeteries. It’s just an eerie town and Beck is determined to find out why her mother sent her a letter telling her “Come and find me”, after her mothers’ death.

Beck is the MFC in the book and as you are reading this book you will be seeing the world through her eyes. She is a normal teenager who sadly had to grow up too fast to take care of her sick mother and younger sister, but after her death Beck and Riley take a road trip to the town that the letter came from. Beck has her mother’s knack for wanting to find out the truth about things. Just hopeful she will be able to find out the truth and still be alive afterwards.

This book was amazing. I loved the plot, I loved the characters, I loved the twists and turns and all the truth that comes out of the book. I loved how the author handled the topics of grief, panic attacks, LGBT romance. I thought the growth of Beck was done beautifully, I loved how you were there with her going through everything, trying to piece together the story. I would love to go on and on about this story, but I am worried that if I do, I will spoil the greatness of this book, so instead go pick this book up or the audio when it comes out and read it because it was a great read.

I did the eARC and the audio for this book and I thought the narrator did an excellent job. You could tell when it was another character talking to Beck but not only that she knew how to draw you in but kept you interested as well.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes YA mystery/thrillers, twists and turns, and an eerie atmosphere.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan audio for the opportunity to review this book.

I struggled with this one. Beck Birsching has been struggling since her mother, a brilliant but unreliable investigative reporter, died. On day she receives a mysterious letter from a town called Backravel, AZ that states "Come Find Me." It seems to be from their mom. Beck and her sister, Riley, travel there to discover what their mom was actually working on. There are no graveyards, no churches and no cars. in Backravel Time keeps slipping and Beck wonders what it is about the town that makes everyone seem so lost. Their enigmatic leader, Ricky Carnes, gives the townsfolk "treatments" that seem to help them cope with any ailments, but does it actually help them? His daughter, Avery, is torn between loyalty to her father and her involvement with Beck.
Beck is complex and although not entirely unlikeable, I just couldn't empathize with her. The plot sort of meanders until the denouement, and then it's kind of like, huh. That's it? K.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this e-arc.*

This book was really good. I loved reading about relationship between Beck and her family and unraveling what happened to her mother over the course of the book. The exploration of grief was really well done. The town of Backravel was so interesting and I loved the paranormal elements. I would definitely recommend this book.

This one was a tough read in my opinion. The story was a bit odd and while the characters were interesting, the story itself was hard for me to get into. Even after finishing it, I still don’t really understand what exactly happened in Backravel. This isn’t a book I would recommend.

The trend of me loving everything Courtney Gould writes continues. Not every supernatural thriller gets me, but hers do. Backravel is eery, atmospheric, almost to the point of feeling gothic. As Beck works to unravel the mystery of her mother's relationship with the town. Between the cultish feelings and the strange phenomenon they call "unspooling", there's so much to unpack. But rather than this being a thriller with a traditional culprit, the real villain here is grief. The themes of grief and loss in this book were so beautifully written and reminded me of how I feel at my lowest. Is it truly better to feel nothing rather than risk feeling worse? (No, the answer is no)

It's beautiful, it's queer, and it's killer on audio.

*Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest reviews and to Macmillan Audio for the gifted ALC*

I enjoyed The Dead and the Dark, so I was excited to read this one. And let me tell you, I liked this one even better.

Beck and her sister Riley travel to Backravel, Arizona after the death of their mother. Their mother, Ellery, was a journalist obsessed with the town of Backravel. And though Ellery traveled to the town many times, and wrote hundreds of notes, she never wrote a story. A few months after her mother's death, Beck receives a letter in the mail with a Backravel postmark in her mother's handwriting. In her grief, Beck convinces Riley they should stop and "vacation" in Backravel for two weeks before traveling on to Texas to move in with their father. Riley agrees because she hopes it will give Beck closure. But all Beck wants to do is figure out why her mother was so obsessed with this town.

"She doesn't understand yet that this story isn't a gift, it's a poison."

This story is eerie and mysterious and has so much freakin heart and tender moments. I loved all the symbolism and it reminded me of some other YA horror that I really loved--namely Burden Falls by Kat Ellis and To Break A Covenant by Alison Ames. I especially loved the Author's Note.

"And thank you to anyone reading this now, whether I know you or not. Thank you for trusting me to tell you a story about grief, and it hope it heals as much as it hurts. Goodbye is never easy, but it's only the beginning."

I was exited to read this based on the description. Initially, I was drawn into the story and trying to decipher the mystery of Backravel. I struggled with not liking Beck very much - I felt she was selfish and not at all likeable. I didn’t feel as though the actually mystery of Backravel was well developed - although the overall “mystery” was explained I felt it lacked detail and could have been expanded upon further. I would describe this as more of a story about grief, not a horror or mystery book. Overall this book wasn’t for me, however I would recommend that readers give it a try.

Where Echoes Die is an enthralling and enigmatic mystery that transported me to a dream-like state, much like the hazy heat of the desert. This poignant tale delves into the transformative power of trauma and grief, leaving a lasting impact on readers.

I requested this book because I really enjoyed The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould.
We spend a lot of the book getting to know Beck and Riley and learning about why they have traveled to Backravel, Arizona. Their mother has just died from cancer and she visited Backravel many times, but told the girls they could never go. Beck wants to know why their mom went there over and over while Riley doesn't really care and just kind of wants to humor Beck before they go live with their dad in Texas. I knew this was marked as horror, so I just kind of kept waiting for the horror to show up. It crept in slowly and by the time I realized what was going on, I was really invested.
The residents of middle of nowhere Backravel seem to have no real memory of anything that happened before they moved there "a few years ago." They all moved there for treatments at the mysterious treatment facility run by Ricky Carns. These treatments succeeded where everything else failed. As Beck manages to dig deeper and deeper and find more clues, she ends up discovering more about Backravel than she bargained for.
I liked Beck, though she didn't have perfect relationships with anyone. Her relationship with Riley was strained, it felt more like Riley was taking care of Beck even though she's the younger sister. They were both processing the death of their mother in different ways. Neither of them had a good relationship with their father who left when they were young. I loved how different Beck and Riley were, Beck is very withdrawn and has panic attacks, while Riley can make friends with anyone, anywhere in a day. While in Backravel, the girls meet Avery who is Ricky's daughter. Beck and Avery hit it off, but I personally didn't feel a lot of chemistry between them. Avery had an interesting backstory though.
While the horror element did manage to hook me, there were times where my jaw dropped and there were times I was a little confused. The ending was very fast paced and exciting.
If you are looking for an atmospheric, not too scary horror book, give this one a try!

Beck Birsching has had a hard life. Her parents divorced over her journalist mother's obsession with a story she was investing, and then her mother's illness leaves Beck in charge of herself, her mother, and her younger sister, Riley. In her search for answers about the story that consumed her mother, Beck takes Riley to Backravel, Arizona, the town their mother was investigating, to try to understand what it was that drove her so hard, and why she returned so many times over the course of years.

At first glance, Backravel is a seems like a normal small town, but that first impression quickly vanishes as Beck looks around; there are no churches or other religious centers, no cemetery, and no one drives - the few cars that are in evidence are carefully covered against the desert dust. The day after their arrival, the host of their AirBnB has forgotten their existence, although his wife and son remember. When the sisters set off to explore the town, they are offered a tour, which covers the minor attractions common to any small town, and highlights the odd mixture of defunct military installations with new construction dotted through it, but, notably, does not include the gleaming, new-looking treatment center on the mesa overlooking the town. Something is clearly off in Backravel, and Beck is determined to find out what, using her mother's notes to guide her.

This is an interesting novel, a mystery about secret government experiments and the aftermath that was abandoned in the desert, hidden in plain sight. It's also a novel about family, and the lengths people will go to keep their family together, as well as the lengths people will go to to understand what drives those they love to actions that appear inexplicable.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Where Echoes Die is a YA sapphic novel about a town that seems to stand still. It’s also about grief and how it changes you and the world around you. I think we’ve all experienced pain that made you hold on to the past.

It’s so hard to explain this book. I would say it’s similar to something like Stranger Things. It’s eerie and perfect if you love spooky towns.

I will read anything that Courney Gould writes. I absolutely loved her debut The Dead and the Dark and this one didn’t disappoint.
I recommend this if mysteries are your jam.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this book. I didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t a favorite either.

There were many many elements that I am not a fan of, in this book - one being, the author leaves the reader confused and with more questions all the time. And I get it, that’s the point. Other elements would be spoilers.
One thing that drove my CRAZY is the main character’s mom. Her first and last name were used 20+ times in the first five chapters. First AND last name. I got it after the first time.

Goodreads also has this tagged as a horror - zero horror elements in this. So that is misleading and I unfortunate since I was hoping this went more the horror route.

That said - I did enjoy the characters, I did enjoy all the guessing (usually I am good, and I got most guesses wrong), and I enjoyed the ending! I’m usually very critical of an ending - this one satisfies!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the e-arc.

A story about grief, memory, loss, and the things we are willing to do to get back to the ones we love, 'Where Echoes Die' is a beautiful sapphic YA horror novel and I loved reading it. In a town where the lines of past and present blur, Beck and her sister are pulled into a world of mystery and what-ifs as they reel from the loss of their mother and the uncertainty of what their futures hold. This story is deeply thoughtful and poignant, and weaves in themes of horror and mystery that are brilliantly done. I also loved the relationship between Beck and Avery and the ways that they both grew from each other in their time together. Like with Courtney Gould's previous book, I highly recommend this novel to those looking for a good sapphic YA horror and a thoughtful read on grief and time.

*Many thanks to the publisher for an eARC of this one in exchange for an honest review!