
Member Reviews

Thanks to NetGalley, publishers and author for an ARC of Where I End.
This is a well written, disturbing story that hooks you at the start, and doesn't let go until the last word.
Not for the faint hearted.

It feels weird to give a book this high of a rating when there were several moments throughout when I said “that’s it, I cannot take any more of this” yet I kept reading like some f*d up masochist. It’s labeled as gothic horror, and it’s definitely horrific but I wouldn’t consider it scary. Vivid descriptions of abuse of several characters. The narrator is out of her goddamn mind because of it. It touches on themes of cycles of abuse, neglect, mental illness and the ramifications of all of those things when combined over the course of a lifetime.
I’ve never gotten physically ill over a book but this one had me gagging and horrified. Not gory, necessarily, but the descriptions left me in absolute shock and despair.
Would I recommend this one? No. Did I learn anything? Also no. Did I enjoy it? I am ashamed to say I did. It was well written and an absolute gut punch. This is one of the most f*cked up books I’ve ever read and I regularly read horror.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

This book won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel and I can definitely see why. This book is terrifying and unsettling. It's graphic and it's disturbing. Aoileann lives with her grandmother on a desolate island off the coast of Ireland. They are tasked with taking care of Aoileann's mother, who is referred to as the bed-thing, almost creature-like. It has been like this for nearly 20 years and no one in the village wants anything to do with Aoilleann, not the adults or the children. Aoileann never went to school. She does not know how to be social. She has been in the closed up cottage all of her life taking care of her mute, bed-ridden mother watching her waste away.
Then a young mother moves to the island, someone who doesn't know anything about Aoileann, and befriends her. This changes everything for Aoileann. Problem is, Aoileann is not like other people. And the more time she spends with Rachel, the more she learns about herself and her dysfunctional family.
The author's note at the beginning of the book is bold and brutally honest and will give you a sense of just how dark this book is going to be. This book will not be for everyone. Many, many thanks to the author for sharing a list of resources at the back of the book for those in crisis.

4.5 stars. A brilliantly written look into the mind of a teenage girl who lives on an isolated island and, along with her grandmother, has to care for her bedbound mother. Secrets from the past are slowly revealed as she tries to rebel from her restricted life. Heads up for some scenes of cruel and disturbing acts towards the vulnerable. I thought the bleakness and unhinged nature of this story was really well done and will certainly stick with me.

A modern gothic horror novel that explores themes of family, fixation, and the dark shifts of relationships. Beautifully written and a dreadful tale that blends Irish folklore with gothic fundamentals. Terrifying.
Many thanks to Kensington and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Aoileann leads a cursed life, on a small island where the locals spit any time they encounter her. Forced to look after her also-cursed mother, unresponsive and confined to the bed for most of the day, her days are all the same. That is, until Rachel arrives.
Rachel is plump and full of life, glowing from the recent birth of her son, and is staying on the island alongside the newborn as an artist in residence at the newly opened museum. Aoileann becomes obsessed with her, determined to manufacture ways to be around her, until it seems like her darkness will also infect the lives of Rachel and her baby.
This book was enthralling and deeply horrifying. The descriptions are not for the faint of heart, providing a true, deep body horror, as Aoileann describes her day-to-day life and infatuation with Rachel. I loved the use of Irish in the book. This is a book that truly gets under your skin and lodges in your throat, and is difficult to prise out once it does. Not for the faint of heart.

Where I End is a dark and disturbing tale of isolation, family, obsession and ties that bind which this had me so engrossed. The author wrote this very well and all of the characters were interesting. It had such a great setting, which was a isolated island off the coast of Ireland. Ending of the book did not disappoint either. Overall, this was a dark gothic read that was perfect for the spooky season. I highly enjoyed this one and would recommend it to any reader who loves horror or gothic books. Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this creepy read in exchange of my honest review of Where I End by Sophie White.

HOLY SH*T WTF DID I JUST READ!!!! This was so good. I couldn't put it down. Literally just finished it in one sitting. It was filles with dread and an impending sense of doom with lots of mom/daughter relationship horror and just mom horror in general.

Thank you to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for this Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.
White’s novel, Where I end, is an eerie thing. Atmosphere seeps from the book at every turn. Aoileann faces isolation both within her family and within her community. Her mother is an invalid in a vegetative state, to whom she refers as the "bed thing.” Aoileann’s fellow islanders shun her, rendering a narrator who is the epitome of unsocialized. With the desolate, wet, and foggy island as the environment in which the story takes place, these elements begin to breathe down the neck of the reader—and it’s a cloying, vaporous breath. White’s rendering of Aoileann’s A-Social nature is so thorough that I would believe she could be a method writer, sinking so thoroughly into her character that she begins to understand her intimately. This is a story of obsession, deep loneliness, and mystery. For those who love Shirley Jackson’s We Always Lived in the Castle, this will be an irresistible read.

Where I End by Sophie White, this is a quick read and all I can say is thank God it was. Eland lives on an island where she was raised by her grandmother who takes care of Elland’s mom while her dad goes to the mainland and works but does come to visit once a month. Eland is now 19 and must help her grandmother care for what Eland refers to as the thing, which is actually her mom in the bed. On an island full of incestuous families Eland and her grandmother for some reason are outcast she is never had friends until Rachel in newborn Séamus come to the island but seeing Rachel mother and care for little shamus something she never remembers getting from her own mother only heightens her mommy issues and takes Elyn to some very dark and disgusting places. There’s a lot to be said for great horror writers and I don’t think this is it. For one thing with the exception of the description of her mother the first horrific thing we see is the disgusting things 19 year old eland does to her mom in this has nothing to do with violence or body hora it’s just unnecessary disgustingness by the time the book is over you will need a bath a priest in a cleanse this book is just too much for my sensibilities and I have no issue with body hora at all this was just… I DK it has left me speechless. Also let me say it took me two attempts to finish this book because I cannot, not finish a book but it’s stories like these that make me wish I could. #NetGalley,#Kensington books, #SophieWhite,#WhereIEnd,

Atmospheric and dark and the perfect fall read. This will get under your skin, and is for fans of literary horror or looking to try it!

Wow. What a perfectly eerie book for October.
In Where I End, Aoileann lives—or rather, is trapped—on a remote island where she and her grandmother care for her mother, who was left in a vegetative state after a horrific accident years ago. Because of this, Aoileann's life is stagnant, and she is isolated, shunned by the other islanders. When Rachel, an artist, moves to the island with her newborn son, Aoileann stumbles upon them at the beach. Rachel’s kindness sparks an unsettling obsession in Aoileann.
Where I End is atmospheric, chilling, and difficult to fully put into words—a perfect read for any horror fan.

I almost gave up on this book halfway through because of a certain thing that happened (iykyk). I'm not really that put off by being made uncomfortable by something I read, it's just that I wasn't all that invested from the beginning anyways. However, I picked it back up and ended up getting kind of intrigued by the "mystery". I wanted to know what happened and why etc etc. I have to admit that here at the end of it all I am a teensy weensy bit disappointed by said "mystery". It was interesting enough but it didn't knock my socks off or anything. I kinda thought the book would be even more creepy and scary, but that was just my personal prediction. Anyways the book was pretty good, but maybe it was not 100% for me. I will say though, that our MC was very interesting to follow

oh my god. oh MY GOD!!! I am horrified, yet this is one one of my fave reads of the year.
this will haunt my brain for... probably forever. I didn't think it was going to be as dark as it was going in (I don't mind, I loved it) but be sure to check the content warnings.
A tale of family, isolation, obsession, manipulation, loathing, revenge and SO MUCH MORE. This book made me feel disturbed and heartbroken.
Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Books | Erewhon Books for sharing a digitial copy. As always, opinions are my own.

Where I End is not a book I can widely recommend. It deals with incredibly dark themes, in incredibly dark ways, with body horror elements that I think will make even the most seasoned horror reader uncomfortable. It’s a book for a specific kind of reader who is willing to engage overtly with a lot of unrelenting darkness – and I am definitely that reader, because this is one of my favorite horror novels of the year so far.
Where I End is set on a dank, desolate island off the coast of Ireland, where Aoileann lives with her grandmother and bedridden mother, who is non-verbal and requires a lot of care. Aoileann is an outcast, shunned by the other villagers. Lonely and isolated, Aoileann longs for a loving family…and when she meets mainlander Rachel and her baby on the shore one afternoon, she sees a chance to finally have one.
I don’t want to say anything else about the plot, because what follows is one of the most intense, raw, claustrophobic examinations of motherhood I’ve ever read. Author Sophie White, who won the Shirley Jackson Award for Novels for this book, says in her Author’s Note that she began Where I End with an anchoring question: ”What kind of person is produced when they have a mother, but has never experienced her love?” And she answers that question brilliantly: in horrifying, unflinching, thought-provoking, and heartbreaking ways, asking us to think about what’s left over after we’ve given so much of ourselves to others, with no reward or even acknowledgement. She explores the theme of nature vs. nurture: Are we born a certain way, into a certain fate, no matter what – or is it solely our upbringing that shapes who we become? The setting of this book is almost a character in and of itself; you can practically feel the island’s dampness and hostility dripping from every page. And White’s prose is so visceral and strange, with Gothic undertones and folk horror roots that made this such an unsettling, affecting reading experience.
Before Where I End, Sophie White had only written romantic comedies. I haven’t read any of her other books, but I’m really hoping she sticks with horror from now on. This book is depraved in the best way: the kind of book that horrifies you on every level, while also leaving you pondering the human condition in a way you never have before. I know it won’t be for everyone, but from me it earns every star. Thank you to Erewhon Books for the complimentary reading opportunity.=

I unfortunately wound up DNF’ing this at around the 20% mark. Not for anything specific, but I just had difficulty getting into the story through the writing style. I think I just wasn’t in the right headspace to read this, as the writing is very descriptive and distinctive, but I had trouble caring about anything that was going on or paying attention to the characters or their actions. I might come back to this story at some other time to see if it resonates better with me, as I can tell this is a huge hit with many horror fans and I wonder if the miss for me was simply just because I wasn’t in the mood to read it at this time.
Thank you to the NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Gorgeously dark and darkly gorgeous, intensely ominous and filled with the darkest mentalities I've ever really read

Where I End was a dark and twisted story about a daughter living on a remote island off the coast of Ireland while caring for her physically incapacitated mother. I loved the unexpected directions the story went and its twists throughout. It was unique and especially dark.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book!

Wow. Where do I begin… (ha, see what I did there?)
Where I End deeply unsettled me. I was uncomfortable throughout the entire reading but I was also completely captivated. Once I started, it felt impossible to stop.

Where I End is a beautifully written literary horror following the life of Aoileann, a young girl and her lonely life on an Irish island.
This accomplished novel explored issues surrounding motherhood and caregiving and what happens when you diminish in the giving of yourself.
The narrative voice of Aoileann is horrifyingly creepy and reminds me of Merricat in We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Both characters yearn for love and faced abusive, lonely childhoods. However, without the sister bond Merricat had, Aoileann's destruction of her family has a darker ending.
This was a thought provoking own voices novel but trigger warnings for those who are carers or have suffered from post partum depression.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.