In a Nutshell: A YA Paranormal-Fantasy-Mystery about a teen girl who can hear the bones of the dead. Amazing atmosphere, great use of the setting (The Ozarks), interesting characters, average mystery, simplistic plotting. Recommended to YA readers.

Plot Preview:
In the last three years, more than two dozen people have disappeared in the hiking trails of Lucifer’s Creek, a small town in the Ozark mountains. There’s never any clue about what happened to these hikers, until seventeen-year-old Dovie hears the bones singing, calling her to dig them up. Dovie’s special skill is the only way the sheriff can discover the location of the dead.
Several people believe that it is the Ozark Howler, the mythical monster, who is doing away with the visiting hikers. But despite her skill, Dovie doesn’t believe in magic, or in the Howler, or in her best friend Lo’s claim that he is being haunted by dark shadows. However, when the murders don’t stop and Lo’s mental state worsens, Dovie knows she needs to do something before another hiker is killed.
The story comes to us in Dovie’s first person perspective.

Bookish Yays:
☠ Fabulous description of the Ozarks. It’s very clear that the author loves and respects the mountains. Her words bring the location to life.
☠ The atmosphere, whether in the dark mountains or the murder scenes or the mysterious howls or the supernatural shadows. Brilliant and vivid!
☠ The small-town vibes of Lucifer’s creek, and its myriad denizens with their varying attitudes towards superstitions and religion and xenophobic attitude towards hill people. Added well to the claustrophobic feel of the book.
☠ Dovie as a character is perfect for her age. Strongwilled, brave, and impulsive. I love how she has her head on her shoulders for the most way and considers her talent a natural skill than magic.
☠ The two grandmas in the story: Dovie’s Grandma Fern and Lo’s Grandma Pearl. Both so unlike each other in beliefs and yet such interesting characters who could do anything for their grandchildren.
☠ Lyrical writing that made me pause and ponder many times, especially in the first half.
☠ Decent pacing despite the descriptive prose.
☠ The concept of the magical humming of the bones of the dead. I wish this had been explored more, but like all good fictional magic, it stays unexplained and intriguing.
☠ The Ozark Howler! Hadn’t heard of him before, so it was great to learn about the mythical cryptid.
☠ That fabulous title and the cover art!

Bookish Mixed Bags:
👻 I was worried that the book would turn into a typical YA Romance the minute Lo came on the picture. Well, it does happen but not for a long while. However, there is a hint of a love triangle. This development bugged me as there was absolutely no need for it. YAs might feel differently about this inclusion.
👻 While most of the conversations in the book are quite well-written, there is a good deal of secret-keeping in the second half. This gets a bit annoying after a point.
👻 The ending was okay in terms of its reveal (I guessed the guilty party even before the halfway mark), and with an extended infodump confession, a bit tedious. However, I did like the revelations and was also surprised by a couple of details.

Bookish Nays:
👺 In certain scenes it's tough to understand why the youngsters do dangerous things on their own instead of asking reliable adults for help. Yeah, I know… Typical of a YA book! But these events should have been penned in a more convincing manner.
👺 It was quite easy for me to figure out the identity of the villain as the overall approach is a bit too straightforward. I wish there had been multiple suspects in parallel instead of having the light shine on the characters one at a time.


All in all, this is quite a good atmospheric read. Had the mystery been handled more cleverly, I would have rated it higher. But the book might work better for the right age group. The murders and the spooky vibes make this a good fit for older YAs, aged 15+.
Recommended to lovers of YA mysteries with mild fantasy and paranormal vibes.
3.75 stars.

My thanks to Penguin Young Readers Group and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for providing the DRC of “When the Bones Sing” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

This was an OK read for me, solidly 3 stars, but my least favorite of this author's work so far. I am always very excited to read Ginny Myers Sain's novels so I suppose it was a minor letdown in that way (but only because my expectations are high). It was still a good read and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to read an early copy!

This was more than about hearing the Bones of the dead sing, it was also about the love of Lo and Dovie. She may hear the bones of the dead hikers, however Lo sees/ feels their splits/ ghost all reaching out due Lo to find the killer. What You think, may not be it at all.

My only issue is that I felt as if the pace of the book did not flow; starting out it was a struggle to get into it. I am glad that I finished. I look forward to reading Dark and Shallow Lies.

When the Bones Sing had that eerie, Southern gothic vibe I usually eat up, and the concept of hearing the dead through their bones? So cool. But the execution didn’t fully hit for me—it was moody and atmospheric, sure, but I found myself drifting a bit, wishing for more urgency or emotional depth. Dovie was an interesting character, but I never felt fully in it with her, and the pacing felt more slow-burn than suspenseful. Not a bad read by any means—if you like your thrillers ghostly, folklore-laced, and dripping in Ozark mystique, it might totally be your thing—but it didn’t quite crawl under my skin the way I hoped it would.

This book was so creepy but such a great read that I couldn’t put it down. I love the mix of supernatural elements and the dash of romance along with suspicious characters and all that made it hauntingly delicious book that I had a hard time putting it down. Might have stayed up past my bedtime reading this!!

I don’t typically read this genre, but I really enjoyed this book. An unputdownable story that pulled me in right away! With plenty of twists and intriguing details, I couldn’t bring myself to put it down.

** Thank you NetGalley, Penguin Group, and Ginny Myers Sain for an eARC copy of When the Bones Sing.

When the Bone Sing is an Ozarks tale where ghosts creep and a teenage girl is the only one who can find their lonely bones.
In the last three years, more than two dozen people have disappeared on a hiking trail in the Ozarks near a small town named Lucifer’s Creek. The only way the bodies are found is by the special gift of 17-year-old Dovie. The bones sing to her, and they lead her to their resting place. Whenever a new person disappears the sheriff comes to her to help unite the body with the family in order to provide some peace.
But Dovie’s best friend is haunted by the ghosts of the hikers. Lo is the son is a long line of mountain healer, and he believes that magic and hauntings. Despite her special skill. Dovie does not believe in magic, the afterlife or anything supernatural. But if Lo doesn’t convince her to help him find out who is killing these hikers, the ghosts will drive him to ruin. Will they find out who the killer is? Are these ghosts real?
Ginny Myers Sain builds a beautiful but creepy environment. While I don’t live in that region, I do live in the rural South, and I could see most everything she was showing me intimately. I know those sandy rural roads and those shacks where people live. I know those little cemeteries with their broken fences. So, I can tell you, this world is real even in this day and age. And we all have our stories and legends. And I love the legend created for Lucifer’s Creek. It’s creepy and keeps nosey neighbors out of people’s business.
There were a few answers that didn’t tie nicely and left me questioning and I was hoping for a bit more supernatural, but overall When the Bones Sing is a solid YA horror.

Phenomenal! I absolutely loved Dark and Shallow Lies so I was really looking forward to this read and it did not disappoint. This book is dark, suspenseful and has a great supernatural/paranormal feel. It is dark, but not too dark and the story had me fully on the edge of my seat the entire time.

Can a paranormal thriller be adorable? Because this was adorable.

I loved all the guess work involved in the journey this story took me on. I fell for almost all of the false leads, and was pleased to be wrong a lot of the time. Small town backwoods is one of the best microtropes IMO.

The young romance of the two main characters is very will-they-wont-they, and also very true to all the new experiences involved in young love - the hurt, the yearning, the indecision.

This was great!

Thank you to Penguin Group for sending me a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley.

This book had me hooked with its twists and turns, keeping me guessing until nearly the very end. While the pacing started off a bit slow, it gradually picked up, making for an engaging read. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

When the Bones Sing has a great eerie atmosphere and some beautifully written moments, but it didn’t fully deliver for me. The mystery was intriguing, and I liked the Southern Gothic vibes, but the pacing dragged in places, and some plot points felt predictable. The romance was decent but not super memorable. Overall, it was an okay read, good for the vibes, but not a standout.

Love me some southern gothic especially that this author writes. She writes the best atmospheric YA dark gothic reads around!

Dovie can feel the bones of the dead sing and then she can find the missing for their families. It’s a blessing and a curse but now she’s found over 20 dead hikers. Lo has his own demons and the dead chasing him. He just can’t find peace till Dovie and him figure out who is killing all these hikers in their small Ozark town.

What they don’t plan on is it being someone local and that they will solve their own family secrets also and quiet their own demons too.

Such a great layered read filled with magic, potions and family nostalgia.

Wonderfully written and filled with wonderful details. this book takes the reader on a dark but emotional journey and I adored it and Dovie and fam. 4.5⭐️

This murder mystery had me on the edge of my seat I could not read it fast enough it was that good.

Usually I’m really good at predicting who the killer is early on but this book had me guessing through the whole thing and I never truly guessed who the killer was until it was revealed.

I can’t begin to explain how much I adore this book, and how much I recommend picking up a copy of this book and reading it. The moment I finished reading this book I bought a copy for my girlfriend and have already recommended it to several people.

Thank you Netgalley PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for the arc

I just love this author. Sain writes the most vivid settings, with characters that jump off the page, romantic tension that breaks your heart, and a twisty speculative plot that makes the book hard to put down. When the Bones Sing is no exception. Dovie and Lo live in a small mountain town in the Ozarks, where everyone makes their living from tourists coming through on a famous hiking trail. But since the tourists have started going missing, Dovie has been busy finding their bones, which sing out to her. She decides to investigate who's killing them, with the help of her best friend Lo, a troubled boy from up on the mountain, and maybe find out why her mother left her many years ago. I loved the twists and turns in this book, the Ozark mountain lore, the tension between Dovie and Lo, and the mystery--while I had a hunch I knew who the villain was, I did NOT see the motive coming, it was WILD, and made for the best ending. Can't wait for her next one!

I absolutely loved this dark, eerie and atmospheric story! The plot and characters were so unique and intriguing. Dovie, who is able to hear bones sing, teams up with Lo, who has some haunting shadows, in order to solve a string of murders. I was rooting for them until the very (twisty) end!!

Ginny’s writing is always a win for me, and i’m looking forward to reading more of her books! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This was one of my favorite books I have read so far! I loved the creativity of the idea behind Dovie's ability. one of a kind story, I felt like this was very different than everything else I have read this year, not the same old. I really enjoyed the writing style, and she had me turning the pages until I was at the end. I would def reccomend this book to anyone who loves a thriller/horror novel.

When The Bones Sing by Ginny Myers Sain is both a mystery and a thriller all in one. It’s a magical and mythical read about a small town in the Ozarks, Lucifer’s Creek, Arkansas, that is haunted and hunted by a serial killer. The two main characters, Dove and Lowen are 2 young adults that are somewhat shunned by the other residents in town. Dove has the ability to sense where the buried remains are of the killers victims. Lo is haunted by their spirits. The two of them have grown up as friends but their connection is much stronger than that. Both of their mothers are deceased but when alive they were the best of friends. The bond between these families has been strong for generations. This was a story that really held my interest and kept me turning the pages. I really thought I had it all figured out twice as to who the killer was but both times I was completely wrong. It really keeps you guessing! I’d like to thank the publisher, G.P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for the arc. I really enjoyed this story, it’s one I would recommend to others and I’d love a chance to read more by this author in the future. I’m giving this book a 4.5 star rating!

“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝-𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬, 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 ’𝐞𝐦.”

Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pub Date: 3/4/25

Thank you @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

First off, what a beautiful cover!

Ok, into the review…
I loved the premise of this YA fantasy/thriller.
This book starts off strong.. and continues that pace for about half the book. It starts to slow down a bit and pick up in the very end.

I think the author did a good job with the red herrings and the twists. The ending was a little much, and could have been simplified a bit.

Worthwhile read if you like YA content!
I LOVED the Appalachian Mountains setting, added to the mystery of the story.
#whenthebonessing

3.2 Stars
One Liner: Great atmosphere but... repetitive

Lucifer’s Creek, Arkansas
A seventeen-year-old Dovie comes from a long line of women who could hear the dead bones sing. She doesn’t believe in magic until she begins to hear the songs. In the last three years, many people have gone missing from the trials in the Ozark Mountains.
Some think it’s the Ozark howler snatching people, though Dovie doesn’t agree. She doesn’t listen when her best friend Lo says he is haunted by shadows. Her only focus is on leading the local sheriff to the dead bones. However, Lo knows the shadows belong to the dead people, and they want justice. Can Dovie and Lo find the killer before more deaths occur?
The story comes in Dovie’s first-person POV.

My Thoughts:
The book starts with a bang. We see Dovie hearing the ‘song of the bones’ and follow her. Right away, we also see the superstition and bias against ‘witches’ though even the police seem to wait for the bones to sing to her instead of actually doing their job.
Dovie is your typical seventeen-year-old, meaning she thinks she knows the best, her emotions are intenseeeee, she is dramatic, and well… you get the gist. Despite the repetition, it wasn’t too bad being in her head. Though I initially sympathized with her, the constant ‘I don’t believe in magic’ got boring. After the initial quarter, I could increase my reading pace.That made the book quite enjoyable.
I admit I liked Lo a lot more, though we don’t get a lot about him. There are only a few things the FMC has to say about him and those tend to go on a loop. The other guy is… I don’t know. He’s just there.
The atmosphere is the biggest strength of the book. It is amazing! I could feel the dark forest, the stinky Lucifer Creek, the humidity, the weight of uncertainty and fear, and the presence of the howler. Still, I wish we got a wee bit more of the supernatural element. The setting is ripe for a proper horror mystery.
Coming to the mystery, it is okay. Rather strange that the most important question doesn’t even occur to the FMC until someone points it out. Or maybe it aligns with her teen personality where she is the center of the universe. Anyhoo!
The reveal is rather underwhelming. The topic is great. No doubts there. There’s even some foreshadowing but the focus is on the sub-mystery. The main one needs a bit more detailing and an extra touch of darkness to drive home the point.
However, I did like the execution of Brother T’s role. It is quite stereotypical what with the Christian brother intent on converting ‘witches’ and ‘hill people’ but given how extensively such events occurred (and occur) around the world, I don’t mind it being shown in books. That said, he gets a lot more limelight than necessary. Maybe he was used as a smoke screen but not really needed.
I would have rated this higher if not for the supposed ‘love triangle’ that had no place in the book. It is nothing more than exotification on one side and silly curiosity on the other. Imagine being surrounded by death and you prioritize kissing someone. How romantic (not)! Remove this attraction/ complication from the plot and nothing changes. My rating would have been higher.
There’s an epilogue which I do like. It ties up the loose ends. Since mine is an ARC, there wasn’t an author’s note. I’d have liked to know about the forest and its local lore.

To summarize, When the Bones Sing has a great premise and starts well but meanders into an average YA mystery with drama, romance, and a touch of supernatural.
Thank you, NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

This book is captivating and suspenseful. I really enjoyed the twists and turns throughout the story as the mystery of what/who is killing the hikers comes to light. It was a pleasure getting to know Dovie and the Ozark folklore within this story. I also loved the unique idea of the bones singing. This book tackles grief in such a way that makes it slightly lighter than one might expect.
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and author for an advance ebook. All opinions are my own.