Thoughts

This book was fairly entertaining, I guess, and it certainly surpassed my expectations. It definitely wasn't what I expected it would be in any way. Even so, I found my attention wandering again and again. I'd skim passages inadvertently and have to come back to reread. And that's never a good thing.

Pros
Foreboding: One thing that Courtney Gould really nails right from the beginning is a sense of overwhelming sort of foreboding. Everything feels unsettling, from the littlest details in the setting to the stilted nature of the (really very normal) dialogue. These girls have done everything wrong. They've driven out to the desert in a rattly old car (nerve-wracking enough!), and they've lied to their father about it. They've lied to their AirBNB host. They've elected to stay at an AirBNB. They know things feel off, but they don't stay together. And everything feels oh-so-suspicious. Readers, we know something's going to go wrong. It's all just a matter of when. This book is full of the classic horror movie type of fear and foreboding.

Shifty Narrator: Not only are these girls making bad choices in unsettling places while surrounded by untrustworthy characters, there's also a particularly strong sense that we can't trust Beck as narrator either. She has gaps in her memory, bits of time that are gone or go too quickly. This isn't a new phenomenon, either. She's experienced these... lapses before. She's also obsessed, particularly focused and definitely not telling the truth to her sister, the person closest to her in the world. If Beck isn't telling her sister, why would she be telling us? We can't trust her senses. We can't trust her to be truthful. We can't trust her at all.

Desert Despair: There's just something about the desert that makes it a great setting for an unsettling tale. Perhaps it's the barren nature of it, devoid of life. The desert itself proves a harsh and unforgiving landscape. Adding in elements of fear and foreboding only enhance that. This particular patch of desert landscape comes with old military ruins, a warfare test site full of bones, and a strangely thriving little town right amidst it all. And those vibes can't be beat.


Cons
Slow: This is one of the things that occurred to me again and again throughout the story. There's a lot of great groundwork. There's an incredible amount of buildup. There's not a lot of payoff to make it all worth it. It takes too long to get anywhere good. I found myself losing focus, skimming, coming back to read the same passage over again. It was a bit of a slog. It was a disappointment.

Vague: Again, there's a lot of buildup, and then... nothing's really explained. There are a lot of gaps, a lot of places to fill in and suppose. There's a lot of time to fill in these gaps, too. So by the time the "reveals" happen, I had already put some pieces into place. I had a vague picture of what was happening, and I was ready for the whole picture to come into focus. But it didn't. Because the extent of the "revelation" was what I had already put together. Which was, all in all, rather vague. Nothing is ever really, fully explained, and so the ultimate payoff doesn't happen. In a book that's more science fiction than it is anything else, to have none of the "science," none of the explanation to back it all up, was such an incredible disappointment.

Secrets: I was so incredibly frustrated with Beck. She's so close to her sister. She's done everything to protect her sister, to keep them together when their mom went off the rails. And yet she really thought she could drag her sister all the way out to the desert, to the place of their mother's obsession, without telling her the truth? Without giving her a reason why? This felt like a ridiculous decision, and a very stupid move. The ramifications were, therefore, frustrating.


Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
6/10

Fans of Rory Power's Burn Our Bodies Down will appreciate this unsettling slice of Americana. Those who loved Rory Power's Wilder Girls will dive right into this not-quite-right town of secrets and experiments.

2.5 rounding up to 3 - I was intrigued by the Rory Power-esque YA horror pitch, which could have been such a cool story to read if the dread for the reader was kicked up a few notches. I think we learned what was going on way too soon, and that impacted my desire to keep reading. I struggled through the writing a bit, everything was laid out too much for the reader and I think some subtlety would have gone a long way. Riley as a a character was extraneous and didn’t add much to the story. But the idea and plot were such a cool concept and I like how the ending was done. A solid choice for the right reader but not something I feel personally knocked it out of the park!

This was just 'okay' for me. I liked some of the mysteries surrounding the town of Backravel, but I called a major twist early on which took some enjoyment out of it for me. It was a little longer than I thought it needed to be and left more questions than answers.

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

Overall, this book wasn't a bad one. It contained accurate depictions of grief and loss, and I would say that this is where the book shines. Without spoilers, the final scenes of the book were emotionally cathartic, and I really enjoyed the resolution that the author came up with. While I wouldn't say this book ever really scared me, and it did take a little bit to warm up, I did think the exploration of how different people deal with loss and how that can drive us to do some awful things to one another was compelling.

Unfortunately, I had difficulty connecting to the characters, which made it hard to get through. I liked the writing well enough and thought it was atmospheric and set the scene(s) well, but ultimately this just wasn't for me.

Unexpected throughout, it reminded me a little of the Blake Crouch Wayward Pines trilogy but younger. I enjoyed Gould's writing like I did with her first novel. Not liking Beck or Avery or Riley made this one a little harder but still a good story.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This didn't live up to my expectations, but I think that part of that is that it just isn't really in my genre wheelhouse. I definitely went in with the impression that this was going to be horror or thriller, just because the previous Courtney Gould novel I read solidly fell into that box. But WHERE ECHOES DIE skews more towards another genre, and I don't want to say much else lest it give anything away. Things that do work for me are still abound, however. I always like a small town with secrets story, especially when I seems like there is a cult-like mentality going on in that community that has to be parsed out by an interloper (therein putting them in danger). I also liked the building relationship between protagonist Beck and Backravel resident/daughter to the town leader Avery. I also liked having the flashbacks to Beck's mother in the months leading up to her death and as she spirals more into Backgravel obsession. But ultimately the genre it ends up being isn't really my thing unless there are VERY specific elements, and this one didn't really have it.

This is very much a 'don't take my word for it' situation, as I can see this one working for a lot of people. Check it out if it intrigues you!

Truthfully, Where Echoes Die erred more on the sci-fi realm, which felt weird. I love a good cult story, but this just didn't do it for me. Courtney Gould's writing showed promise, but the book as a whole was a little too overly dramatic.

Where Echoes Die is a compelling and satisfying thriller mystery that captured me early on and didn’t let up. The characters are complex and interesting and the story takes you on a wild journey that feels straight out of something along the lines of YA X-files. Very worth checking out!

I was very excited to receive/review this book. Mostly, because I am a huge fan of The Dead and the Dark and the fabulous cover. The story sounded promising so I was eager to give it a try.
I will admit that the first few chapters didn’t hook me right away and i did. take several breaks trying to get through it. Once I got through that though I was hooked and ended up having a great time with it. The ideas behind world-building and characters are so intriguing. This was such an interesting read that I'd definitely recommend to people who enjoy sapphic YA books.

Where Echoes Die follows Beck and her sister Riley as they investigate the town that their mother was so obsessed with before she passed away. Let me tell you, the town is the very definition of creepy but like in an overly creepy way. Just like walking through an abandoned building or moving through a park that should be filled with screaming kids but is dead quiet.

As Beck begins to get closer to Avery, the daughter of the mysterious cult like leader of the town, it’s clear that things are very much not what they seem.

I loved the mystery of this story. It definitely had me guessing till the very end (aliens?? Weird mystical rocks?? Magic???). I especially loved how we get to see slowly see the sinister side of the town and how terrible it actually is.

This was definitely an enjoyable read and I appreciated Beck and Avery’s relationship too!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this title.

Beck Birsching and her sister Riley travel to mysterious Backravel to discover the secret of what happened to their recently deceased mother.

Have you ever played The Sims 4 Strangerville Mystery? Because this book reminded me a lot of that. It's the desert the odd zombification of people, the mind control-esque feeling of the book. It was just odd to me. Not to mention that I didn't get enough fleshing out of the characters. It was just strange to me, no pun intended.

Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this book. The story was super captivating -- a town in Arizona suspended in time. The main character, Beck, had an interesting personality that I loved. Overall, I think this is a fantastic thriller with plenty of twists and turns to consume readers.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for giving me an ARC in exchange for a review!
I loved Courtney Gould's debut novel, The Dead and The Dark, so I was super excited to get my hands on her new release.

Where Echoes Die is a paranormal mystery/thriller following our main character Beck who is determined to uncover the secrets of the strange town that sucked in, and may have played a part in the death of her mother. The town of Backravel, Arizona is bizarre and its citizens are secretive. People who stay in town leave with no memory of their time there, and when Beck tries to ask questions, no one is willing to give her any answers. Similar to Gould's first book, the writing was fast-paced and the mystery was compelling, but what I liked the most was the themes of loss, grief, and ultimately, acceptance that run through the book. Gould does a great job of exploring the real world suffering of the death of a loved one through supernatural forces. If that sounds interesting to you, I definitely recommend picking up this book!

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Where Echoes Die releases June 20, 2023

Beck and Riley are two teenaged sisters who recently lost their mother. Before they have to uproot their lives from Washington to live with their father in Texas, they decide to take a two week detour and stay in an Arizona town called Backravel — a place where their mother often frequented while she was alive, hoping to uncover a journalistic story.
With a letter left to Beck with the words “come and find me”, will Beck finally be able to uncover the truths hidden in Backravel, and finish what their mother started all those years ago?

Backravel is a highly unusual town. It’s not quite idyllic, but it does seem to be set apart from the rest of the country. There are no churches or cemeteries here, bikes are the main form of transportation, and it’s unlikely that you’ll cross paths with another person.
With tourists presenting with sickness, this leaves for a close-knit community, with a lasting sense of confusion as a core theme and a treatment center being the root to everyone's purpose.

At the end of the day, this wasn’t really a book that had me feeling like I wanted to set everything else aside to pick it up to read. I wanted more of the actual logic explained, or some sort of tangibility with this whole concept of manipulating time within this one Arizona town. As a whole, I thought it could have been condensed to achieve a more well-rounded story in terms of pacing, and other side characters could have been developed more to give a richer perspective (Delia, the group of teens, pov’s from Ellery, etc.)

This definitely leans towards sci-fi, rather than strictly being your standard YA mystery/thriller.

A compelling, mysterious tale about time and grief, Where Echoes Die shows what can happen when you don't try to move on.

Beck and her sister Riley travel to a tiny town in Arizona that was the focus of their mother's obsession before she died. Beck wants to understand what made the town more important than her and her sister but finds a mystery -- and a girl -- she never expected.

This book was such an interesting exploration of grief. Gould is amazing at crafty twisty, haunting tales.

After the passing of her mom, Beck gets a letter, urging her to go to Backravel, Arizona, a town that her mother had been researching for her latest article. As soon as she gets there, she realizes that something is off with the town and the treatment center with the elusive leader, Ricky.

I was definitely hooked in the beginning. There are a lot of young adult books with similar premises these days (poor kid mixed with rich kids and murder), so this was refreshing, even if parts of it felt familiar. Gould's writing is strong, and I liked the protagonist, Beck.

It was a little predictable, and the pacing was back and forth. I don't think it's great when I want to skim the climax. I wasn't a huge fan of the love story in general, but I understand that I am not the target audience for the love stories, and it helped to make the stakes higher for Beck. Overall, 3.5 stars rounded to 4!

What a slippery and elusive story about time, which in itself is slippery and elusive. This book didn’t give me what I expected, but it was definitely a very good story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Wow, this was incredible--prose so gorgeous it made me want to slow down and savor, a mystery compelling enough that I could hardly put this down, an eerie setting that practically leapt off the page, and a lovely, understated sapphic romance. I absolutely loved this one.

Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould sounds like the perfect book for me on page. Mostly contemporary with some sci-fi twists and a deep exploration of grief, I was so excited to pick this book up.

Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me. I never wanted to pick it up. The story felt very slow to me. The romance felt forced to me as well. I’ve seen so many glowing reviews of this book that I know I am in the minority. I feel like I probably would have dnfed this if I didn’t have a physical arc alongside my eArc.

I think for anyone who enjoys more of a slow burn suspense plot, this will be a fun one. It just wasn’t for me.