MIDNIGHT ON BEACON STREET absolutely delivers on its promise of transporting the reader directly into a scream queen nostalgia bomb. Seventeen-year-old Amy is a Nice Girl and beloved babysitter who, ironically, calms her paralyzing anxiety with the gory predictability of horror movies--especially the ones where a masked intruder wreaks havoc on an unsuspecting babysitter. It's October 1993, and Amy is settling in for her favorite regular gig, watching sweet Ben Mozinski and his precocious sister Mira; a normal night of pizza and charades quickly goes off the rails, with unexpected visitors, unsettling phone calls, and eventually, a body in a pool of blood. The plot unspools much like one of Amy's favorite movies, but readers who are looking for a high-octane slasher will be disappointed: Verona is far more interested in peeling back the layers of Amy's anxiety and exploring the lengths she'll go to keep her charges safe. This spooky thriller is a true slow burn and a love letter to classic horror--it's a killer debut, and I can't wait to see what Verona does next!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Jan. 30, 2024
Emily Ruth Verona takes a place out of Grady Hendrix’s book with her novel, “Midnight on Beacon Street”. Verona takes a small town in 1993, adds a babysitter alone with two young children and sprinkles it with anxiety and fear to deliver a decently written YA horror novel.
Amy is reliable and dependable, so it is no great surprise when she is asked to babysit young Ben and Mira while their mother goes out on a date. What starts off as pizza, games and movies turns far more sinister when one uninvited guest after another starts to show up and the night turns from fun and games to fighting for their lives.
The vibe of this novel is evident right from the cover (which I loved). Obviously, it’s a retro novel (read: before technology!) which seems to be on trend right now. Verona’s characters are young and naïve, yet likable and charming at the same time. Although Amy suffers from anxiety disorder, she manages to take charge of a few very dangerous situations, and immediately aligns herself with the reader, building a quick rapport.
“Street” is told in two time periods; right before “midnight” (when the incident happens) and six years ago, when Amy herself was young and had a babysitter. There is a reason for these two timelines, although it’s not revealed until a little farther into the novel. Although Amy is the primary narrator, young Ben sometimes takes over, which leads to a few events being told twice (once by Amy and once by Ben) but Ben is so adorable that I overlooked the repetition.
This novel is easy to read and the plot is engaging. Amy handles an unrealistic number of stressful events (in one night!) and I desperately wanted to know how it would all play out. The ending was actually as I expected, which is a good thing, and I felt satiated and content when the novel was over.
“Midnight on Beacon Street” is a debut, and it’s quite a good one. Verona has the writing talent but “Beacon Street” is a culmination of Stranger Things, Grady Hendrix and Riley Sager. Although these are all stellar in their own right, I would love to see what Verona creates independently and I am looking forward to her next novel.

Great concept and I liked the different perspectives. Definitely kept me guessing throughout which is always the sign of a great read to me

**Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the eARC of this title**

I loved the cover of this one and was excited for the premise as well - this was pitched as an instant horror classic and I was looking forward to a 90s slasher vibe.

While the characters in this book were well developed and I did "care" about them, I couldn't get into the story with the lack of action taking place. The changing POVs were well done but the timeline going backwards and forwards was just way too much in my opinion.

While I wanted to love this one, it wasn't the fast-paced horror/thriller I was expecting.

As a lover of thrillers and mystery—this book was a let down.

It started interesting enough, but ultimately struggled with pacing and general clarity issues. It feels like this read wasn’t quite ready for publication. The cover is eye-grabbing though, and the premise was intriguing—but overall, this book fell short.

Amy is the babysitter amongst her neighbors. This week she's watching Ben and Mira, two quiet children who don't cause much grief. On this October night in 1993, things don't go exactly as planned. When you open the door at night, you never know who will walk in.

Starting off, this was a super short, fast read. I am a child of the 90's so I adored the interior of the house and the clothing choices described. The timeline switches back and forth from the hours leading up to the incident as well as before and after. There are two perspectives, Ben and Amy, because of that there's almost like an instant replay of some scenes just changed slightly. Very quick read, but I wanted more from the main scene. So much build up and tension, but then the ending seemed rushed.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.

Midnight on Beacon Street is a horror story that I feel has a nostalgic feel that I never connected with but I feel would be good for young readers or fans of Fear Street by RL Stine.

I really wanted to love this book but unfortunately I didn’t. I definitely liked it enough to want to know how it ended but the ending really fell flat for me. It felt a little too random, not built up enough, the connections throughout the book just were not there. What I did enjoy though was the classic 1980s babysitter slasher vibe.

Thank you to NetGalley, Emily Ruth Verona, and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for this ARC!
This book had all of the 90s nostalgic vibes that for me I know and LOVE. With multiple POVs, I thought the author was successful in portraying the personalities of each character.
I especially felt Ben was portrayed appropriately for his age and often this can be a really challenging thing to do!
Truthfully, I was a bit let down by some of the “twists” in this book and found myself reading back through after the end because the conclusion didn’t make sense to me. I went back and analyzed several prior chapters to see if maybe I missed something, but I don’t think it did.
Overall I enjoyed this book. The cover promotes 90s horror film vibes and the author absolutely came through on her promise! I’ll continue picking up books like this, my millennial heart just cannot resist!
3 ⭐️

A suspenseful and entertaining debut thriller—and love letter to vintage horror movies—in which a teenager must overcome her own anxiety to protect the two children she’s babysitting when strangers come knocking at the door.

This book is very short and told in a non-linear format from various points of view. I tend to stay away from Horror novels as I am an absolute scaredy cat. However, it was slightly predictable which allowed me to enjoy the story without hiding under the covers. I think this is what they call a "cozy horror" that highlights the nostalgia of things that scared us in our youth but that we now face head on as adults.

"Monsters turned out to be just trees" - Taylor Swift

The writing was simple, but impactful and overall a great read.

this is an homage to classic slasher films, set in the 1990s, focused on a babysitter and the kids she’s looking after. i love the concept, but found it a bit slow and i just wanted more from it. on the plus side, it’s quite short, so it’s a good choice for a one-sitting, rainy, fall afternoon read!

tw: self-harm, domestic abuse

thanks to netgalley and harper perennial for the ARC of midnight on beacon street by emily ruth verona. all opinions are my own.

I liked a lot about this (the writing, the tension in the first half, the characters) but definitely feel like it's being mismarketed. From the synopsis & cover I thought this was going to be "When A Stranger Calls"-esque. It opening with an ominous home invasion statistic confirmed this assumption. But it's BARELY a home invasion story. Nothing really happens until the 80% mark and it's resolved quickly.
I would try out something else from this author but found this disappointing.

Set in October 1993, a babysitter and two kids receive a series of unsettling guests and before the night is over there’s a dead body on the kitchen floor. Pitched as an homage to classic horror movies, which it kinda is? I was expecting a fast paced, slasher story but this is more of a slow burn look at the cross section between fear and anxiety in young people.

Thank you @harperperennial for the #gifted copy of this ebook!

Picture this: You’re curled up on a couch, under a blanket at a sleepover with all of your friends in 1993. You’re 13, eating popcorn and popping in a new VHS movie you picked up at Blockbuster. That's exactly how I felt reading this book! Love that nostalgic feeling! This was a very fast short slasher book that I read in one sitting. My favorite part was really how it made me feel young again! This was entertaining and a fun debut by this author!

What’s it about? A babysitter watching kids…at night….and the prank calls start! This was such a fun tribute to 90s horror movies. Even the cover took me back to those days!

Eleanor is a single mom who goes out on a date leaving her young son and sassy teenager at home with their anxiety prone babysitter named Amy. Amy is everything a mom would want in a babysitter. She plays games, eats pizza and even has a dance party. Soon she has some unexpected visitors and it’s up to Amy to make sure nothing happens to these children and everyone makes it out alive!

Thank you to Harper Perennial for the gifted copy of MIDNIGHT ON BEACON STREET by Emily Ruth Verona!

Publication Date: 1/30/2024

MIDNIGHT ON BEACON STREET takes place on one quiet night in October 1993. It begins with a dead body lying at the feet of a young boy, leaving the reader with a lot of questions. The rest of the book goes back in time to tell the story of how this came to be.

Amy is a babysitter tasked with caring for two children, six-year-old Ben and twelve-year-old Mira while their single mother is out on a date. Amy is a fantastic sitter, overcoming her anxiety disorder to provide trustworthy and fun care for her charges. It is a pretty typical night of games, pizza, and fun until things take a horrible turn, heading down the path to that dead body from the beginning.

I picked this book up early in October when I wound up with a #Spookoplathon reading prompt that was perfect for it and I wound up really enjoying my time with this book. I would say that it wound up a bit different from what I expected going in as there's more of as slow burn build up after that initial really intriguing chapter, but I wound up really enjoying that aspect. The way the author plays with the timelines backing away from that midnight focal point was really well done and I though that the blend of Amy's background and the kids' backgrounds worked well together and helped keep the tension building.

Amy is obsessed with horror films which I feel like is something that can be overdone in horror books, but I really enjoyed the way the author used Amy's interest in films to amp up the horror vibes without making it the whole focus. I also appreciated that we saw Amy struggling with her anxiety, but working through it and still being a strong main character!

This was a fantastic debut from Emily Ruth Verona and I look forward to seeing what she brings out next!

I love a good horror thriller, and for it being Verona’s first published novel, it was hit out of the park. Every moms worst nightmare - highly recommend.

Thank you to the publisher for the arc!

This unfortunately wasn’t my favorite. The writing kept flip flopping all over the place and I didn’t care for any of the characters.

This started off really strong but the climax and ending left me really disappointed. I liked the idea of the way the timeline was written but felt like it didn’t actually add anything to the story.

This book takes the classic babysitter horror trope and turns it on its head. Amy is sitting for Ben and Mira on what turns out to be a very eventful night with a revolving door of visitors until one person ends up dead on the kitchen floor. As much as I wanted to be drawn in and fully immersed in this book I felt like at times it lost me a little bit when focusing on Ben’s POV versus Amy’s. However it was very eerie and unsettling and will keep you guessing until the very end.

Creepy, disorienting, spooky vibes abound in this book. Tons for horror fans to enjoy, and the red herrings in the plot will keep readers turning the pages. Looking forward to more from this author! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this in advance of publication.