The Dead and the Dark was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021, and I ended up really enjoying it . So, when I was contacted to read this, I was over the moon! Gould manages to intertwine themes of grief and mental illness (like PTSD) so effortlessly throughout her novel, but without letting it absolutely take over the story itself. It's terrific. This story is yet another sapphic masterclass in sisterhood, creepy strange towns and the way grief colors everyday life and experiences. I loved the characters and their development, I loved the way the setting was realized and I love the way the themes were handled. Another homerun from this amazing author, I can't wait for even more from Gould going forward. I highly recommend this and I cannot wait to get my hands on the physical copies for my library!

Thank you to the author and publisher for the advance reader copy.

I really enjoyed this book. It was my first Courtney Gould book but I won't be my last. I'd definitely recommend this to my friends and anyone looking for a book that takes on topics like grief, mental illness, PTSD, etc. with a creepy, suspenseful approach.

CONTENT WARNING

The author does issue a content warning for: grief, loss of family member, emotional abuse from family, mental illness descriptions, PTSD and memory loss…

I personally did not feel triggered by any of the depictions in this book specifically even though I could definitely relate to what our MC was going through.

PLOT

Sisters Beck and Riley have just recently lost their mother to a brain tumor and are in the process of relocating to Texas to live with their dad. Before they can make it to Texas Beck has a some loose ends in regards to her mother she wants to tie up. Prior to her death their mother was an investigative journalist and she had been working on the story of Backravel, a mysterious town in Arizona. Their mother becomes obsessed with this town losing her marriage and her sanity in the process. Armed with a letter from their mother, which seems to have come from beyond the grave, and all her mothers notes on Backravel Beck sets off with her sister to follow in her mothers footsteps and see what had her so obsessed with this town.

SETTING

Backravel, population 1000. Arizona desert town.

CHARACTERS

Beck-MC

Riley-Sister

The Sterling’s-who they stay with in Backravel

Daniel-Sterling’s son

Avery-unofficial Backravel tour guide

Ricky-founder of Backravel

Desert Woman

WRITING STYLE

I thought that this was super easy to read. Not really a lot of “big” words or long complex sentences or paragraphs. Straightforward reading ahead.

EXECUTION

Upon reading the premise for the book I was really looking forward to reading this, but the execution of this book just didn’t land for me. The plot moves along swiftly enough, but honestly really not much happens and when something did happen, like the big reveal as to the mystery behind the town, I was underwhelmed. I was also able to predict another reveal that felt like it should have been more shocking. There’s nothing particularly supernatural about this story either. Also key parts of the story are poorly explained/described so it made it hard to feel shocked or even fully understand what was happening.

The setting was also a bit of a disappointment. I’ve been to Arizona and this felt like it could have been set anywhere in the US and the same effect would have been achieved.

The characters I listed were ok, but overall pretty flat. Nothing changes with them through the story. The other characters I didn’t mention were intended for the purposes of driving home some creep factor(in my opinion) that was just lacking in general so the characters felt a bit pointless.

More so in the beginning of the book it seemed like there were some really great metaphors and other writing devices used that did make some parts a lot more pleasant to read.

READ IT OR SKIP IT?

Honestly this wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn’t a great book. I tore through it hoping for a sweeter payoff than what I got and ultimately just feel meh about it. I probably could have skipped this one personally.

5/5
Courtney Gould has written another sapphic masterpiece, about strange towns, sisterhood, and the relentless hold of grief. Wandering the backroads south to Arizona, Gould draws us into the mind of Beck Birsching, a grieving young girl trying to piece together the legacy of her deceased mother while struggling to keep herself together. Where Echoes Die breaches the past to prove the longevity of grief upon generations, and the universal struggle of the human experience. Courtney Gould continues to amaze me and I'll be reading any and everything she does next!

My full review will be up on my blog shortly and will be linked here upon post

I received an eARC of this book from Wednesday books in exchange for an honest review.

When I first saw this book on Instagram, I knew I had to read it. Anyone who knows me knows that the loss of my mom and the subsequent relationship change my sister and I had because of her death is a huge part of who I am.

I often struggle on the daily with staying in the present and moving forward. So often I just want to go back and be where we used to be. But I’m slowly learning that “goodbye is never easy, but it’s only the beginning.”

Enough about me - this book was really lovely. The description of so many things paints a picture like you’re in the desert. The way Courtney describes the world, makes you feel. It makes you sad, it makes you hopeful, it makes you scared, it just makes you feel.

This is a book about grief but it’s also a book about being present and why it’s important. It’s almost poetic how you root for <spoiler> Beck and Avery but at the same time you’re hoping Beck just survives and can get out of Backravel. </spoiler>

If you’re looking for a mysterious, sapphic, paranormal, grief-filled book - this is me telling you to read this. I wasn’t at all disappointed and my gut was right about reading this one.

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order this year and will recommend it to students.

This book does a nice job discussing the desperation that comes from illness or a loss suffered and the great lengths people go to in order to avoid the reality of those situations.

“Where Echoes Die” speaks to a journey through grief offered through a twisted promise of hindsight as sisters Riley and Beck look to unravel the mysterious of their late mothers messages finding themselves in a small town time seems to have forgotten.

Jumping right in, the plot itself is wonderful giving us this last ditch effort to keep someone alive even if it’s simply their memory and following along on this investigation into the unfinished story of a mother taken too soon. Between Beck and Riley both girls are managing this loss differently and the strain it takes on them both together and individually is one just about all of us can relate to. Having Beck as our narrator was interesting as we see both the horror of what’s happening paired against the nurturing tug of submission and the peace offered if one just gave in and that back and forth was one of my favorite aspects of the book.

Each piece of the story was nicely laid out and creeps in like it should giving just enough strangeness to pull you closer and want to know all of the secrets the town has to offer. I picked up on some of the twists a bit early but it didn’t take away the experience once we hit the final reveal and there weee still some that I missed which was (without sharing spoilers) both fun and awful once it sank in just how much had been happening.

Overall this was a good read and moved along a bit faster than I expected and I’m very satisfied with my first book of the year!

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

Following the loss of her mother, Beck pulls her sister along into a trip to the isolated Arizona town that enamored their mother in life. Backravel is a small, isolated town where it’s immediately clear that something isn’t right. The more Beck digs, the more she doesn’t understand. Where Echoes Die is Courtney Gould’s latest novel of family bonds, hidden secrets and things that go bump in the night.

After devouring The Dead and the Dark, I was so excited to dive into this book. I was not disappointed. Where Echoes Die is a beautifully written novel, one that blends sci-fi, mystery, thriller and the supernatural. This book had me hanging on every word, waiting to see what happened next.

Gould has an incredible ability to immerse the reader into the setting of the book. Backravel is perfectly fleshed out. You can imagine the people, the places, the thrill. The characters were all unique, with their own secrets and personalities that unravel over the course of the book. They all feel realistic in their voice, something that you don’t get in every book. I loved the contrast of Beck and Riley’s grief over the loss of their mother contrasted against Avery’s anger over the sudden disappearance of her mother. I enjoyed seeing ever the most minor characters having their stories integrated into the overall book. My only wish was for the romance in the book to be more developed, as it felt kind of sudden and disorganized.

The plot of the book is unique and well paced. You get even the smallest of details without feeling like the storyline is being interrupted and I enjoyed seeing how all of those details built up into the crazy ending of the book.

I cannot recommend this book enough.

Bit of an odd book. The premise was very creepy and it was a fast read but I’m not sure the ending explanation made a ton of sense. The answer to the mystery just led to more questions for me. But it was a quick fun read that kept me guessing.

*** I received an arc in exchange for an honest review

This book was WILD. It was super twisty and the mystery aspect was *chefs kiss*
The mystery of the town kept me on the edge of my seat and I couldn't figure out what was coming next!

A rare thing - a thriller where I didn't know how it would end! This setting of this book left me feeling unsettled in the best way and even though there were some connections and happenings that I saw coming, the ending was still a mystery to me until it happened. The descriptions of how disorienting the town of Backravel is made me dizzy and I could picture myself in Becks shoes as she began to spiral. I think everyone can relate to wanting to go back to a point in time before painful events which makes the prospect of the city even more compelling. Overall this was a quick read for me and I really enjoyed it!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC!

Beck has been the adult in her family for a long time, even before her mother died. Now she and her sister Riley travel to the isolated town of Backravel that captivated her mother enough for her to make dozens of trips there in her last years, growing more absent-minded each time she returned. Something is off as soon as Beck and Riley arrive— no one can say for sure how long they've lived in the town, and there are no churches or cemeteries. But the true cause is even stranger and harder to swallow than they could have expected.

This is nominally a contemporary sci-fi novel of sorts with a small sapphic romance, but it's ultimately a book about processing grief. The delicate, nuanced descriptions of Beck's internal struggles and panic attacks are heart-rending. The relationship between Beck and her sister— the easy camaraderie, the division of labor, the topics not to be discussed— feels so real. Beautiful.

This was a different kind of read for me. Interestingly, it was categorized as a supernatural thriller, but I would describe it more as a blend of Sci-Fi and Mystery. Beck and Riley are two sisters who have lost their mother to cancer. She was a vibrant, driven journalist that became immersed in her research and writing, and in so doing, was a distant and enigmatic figure to her daughters. After her death, Beck receives a note in her handwriting to "come and find me" in a little town called Backravel AZ. The town and its mysterious leader was the subject of her mother's obsession for years prior to her death, so Beck cannot resist the temptation to try and learn more about her mother's time there. Beck and Riley go there to stay in a trailer for two weeks prior to moving to Texas with their father and step-mother.

Backravel has a strange and otherworldly aspect, with a mix of shiny new construction alongside the ruins of old military buildings. The town residents seem to have no memory of their lives prior to moving to Backravel, and there are no churches, vehicles or cemeteries. Beck feels a bizarre pulsating energy in the town that seems to emanate from underground, and the only ones who seem to know the town history are the town leader Ricky and his daughter Avery. Riley must get to the bottom of this mystery before she has to leave and move to Texas.

The author did a masterful job of describing Backravel - ominous, strangely empty and stuck in a time warp with its vague inhabitants. Beck must decide whether to stay in Backravel and continue to live in her past life or to move forward with whatever unknowns life has in store. What will she do and what impact will her decision have on her sister?

Backravel is a metaphor for the state of grief, where one can stay immersed in their memories of the person they lost and times past, or consciously choose to keep moving forward and rejoin the world of the living. It is well-imagined and well-written, with a perfect desert setting and memorable characters. Many thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan.

5 stars. This was a book that made my most anticipated list and it did not disappoint. I was on the edge of my seat from the first page and this has become one of my favorites already in the beginning of the year. The writing flowed and it reminded me of her first book that i enjoyed. I will forever keep my eye on the author.

Thank you to NetGalley, Courtney Gould (the author), St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for granting me an advance copy of this book in return for my honest opinions.

Young adult mystery novel with sci-fi, yes! I am so in.

Loved the setting, the little town called Backravel, the characters Beck and Riley, and wierd towns huge secret.

The romance between romance between Beck and Avery could have been developed more and it needs more of the sci-fi paranormal, but overall a great book.

Recommend.

Wow! This one was absolutely crazy from start to finish for me. There's so much to think about as our main character and her sister make their way to Backravel to discover the truth behind their mom's lifelong obsession after her death. There are some insane elements to this one as we unravel the strange curiosities that stem from this strange little town and why they do things so differently. It keeps you guessing pretty much the entire book and the ending shoves it at us and waits for us to be undone by it. I think for those who love a bit of mystery and sci-fi mixed with a low-key romance this is most definitely for you. It's something unique and tantalizing in the best of ways.

Two sisters travel to an isolated Arizona town to investigate its connection to their mother’s death but uncover more than they bargained for in this supernatural thriller from the author of The Dead and the Dark.

I am a big fan of Courtney Gould's The Dead and The Dark so I was prepared to love Where Echoes Die. And I did. One of the pitfalls of YA is that the main characters tend to be teenagers and teenagers tend to be bratty, but I can forgive Beck and Riley for it considering the recent loss they've been through and the absolute craziness they are dealing with in Backravel, Arizona. A lot of the interpersonal conflict could have been avoided if Beck just communicated with Riley instead of lying and dragging her into things she didn't want to be involved in. But that's sisters for you.

The town was suffocating and the people in it gave me the creeps. The "Treatment Center" was a fascinating sci-fi element. And the mystery was well structured and executed. This book is a great study of grief, family, and the effects of time. I loved it and would definitely recommend it.

3 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews

Summary
Beck is on the trail of her journalist late mother's last story, and has both lied to her father about it, and dragged younger sister Riley along for the ride to the mysterious town of Backravel.

Review
I only recently came across Courtney Gould’s first book, The Dead and the Dark . I liked it, and when I saw this, I picked it up.

My fear after reading The Dead and the Dark had been that Gould would write a sequel and just keep following the same characters. I didn’t feel they could support the weight of a series. I’m happy to say that Gould didn’t do that; the story is all new. Unfortunately, while the characters are nominally different, there’s a great deal of sameness to them – the first book had a somewhat generic group of muddled teens meeting a troubled outsider who falls for one of them, and this book … has a somewhat generic group of muddled teens meeting a troubled outsider who falls for one of them. In both cases against a background of murky ‘bad stuff’ and problematic parents. The characters are so similar that early on I kept wanting to check whether it was somehow a sequel.

I felt the actual horror of Gould’s first novel was the weakest part, and again I felt that in this book the mysterious power (some sort of military site pollution with unlikely effects) was poorly supported. While, as in the first book, the characters were stronger (and similar), I also this time found them very frustrating. The protagonist, Beck, not only seems to have no care at all for her younger sister (but is not really presented that way), but consistently – in the course of her investigation – fails to follow up on lead after lead after lead. The story ends up being a jerky, start-stop process, constantly derailed by … it’s never clear exactly what.

In the end, I decided that the book was not intended as a straight novel at all, but as an allegory about … loss? depression? I’m not sure. Read that way, I give it a little more room. As a novel, it didn’t really work for me. Gould is a talented writer, but I’m thinking the stories she wants to tell are just not to my taste.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Some books you devour in hours, and some take longer. Some take root inside of you and can only be visited in increments. That was Where Echoes Die for me. Courtney Gould's writing style is so fluid and easy, you get lost in it. The way she writes about loss is heart wrenching, but beautiful.

Grief is such an unpredictable thing. Learning to move past it is an underlying theme here. While much of the book is told through the POV of someone lost and confused, all of this book felt intentional and certain in it's plot. I loved the atmospheric eeriness, the concept of the science fiction elements, and how it all came together to tell a story. I didn't feel like I was missing anything. And while I didn't always feel a connection to the characters themselves, I felt a deep connection to the grief that was preset throughout. What a honor it is to read a book that lets you experience emotions that are not your own.

"We all lose each other eventually. Living in an echo isn't enough."

Well, I bet it's safe to say that Gould could write a bunch of gibberish down on a piece of paper and I guarantee you I would still buy it to read it!

I think I could have tried to do a cartwheel when I seen this sitting for request.
That's how excited I was!
I loved The Dead and the Dark but WED is freaking amazing y'all!

Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould is unlike anything I've read before!
The plot is perfectly paced. The twists keep you moving along. And the characters are relatable and understandable. The character building is so well done here.
The town of Backravel is described so well it’s like I’m there. And the plot was well thought out and executed.
Everything flowed well together, connecting the characters, the plot and everything in between.
Courtney keeps you interested, builds the suspense, and masterfully tells a phenomenal story that's unforgettable.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.