⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

You Can’t Stay was an intriguing read with a spooky, suspenseful vibe that hooked me early on. I liked the unsettling atmosphere and the twists kept me curious, but some parts felt a little slow and left me wanting to stop reading. It still delivered a chilling story that people who love psychological thrillers will likely enjoy! The fantasy/horror aspect was a different vibe than I thought it would be, but still enjoyed!

This is a Horror/Thiller that will leave you with goosebumps!

You Can’t Stay is a standalone horror from S.T. Ashman and I thought it was brilliant. This story follows Ester as she refuses to let the disappearance of her sister slip through her fingers, she becomes obsessed with whispering of a dark secret others want to keep buried.

This book contains kidnapping, Norse Mythology, The Occult, Native Cultures, Murder Mystery and a whole lot of suspense.

One of the things I liked about this book is the multiple POV’s as I am someone who loves to get the story from all perspectives and views of the characters. The pacing of this book was spot on and just had me wanting more.

Thank you NetGalley & S.T. Ashman for letting me read this amazing book! ✨

This was my first novel from S.T. Ashman, and I will remember it for a long time. This book was eerie, suspenseful, and downright crazy! However, I loved it and will be reading more of Ashman's books. It is a great read

I found this book to be an enjoyable read. The story kept me engaged from start to finish and had some moments that really stood out. Overall, it offered an entertaining reading experience.

WOW. I absolutely LOVED this book!
You Can't Stay was an adrenaline filled novel full of suspense, mystery, mythology, and surprising twists.

I was drawn in quickly, and I devoured it in one sitting. This is the second book I've read from S.T. Ashman, the first being: I Kill Killers, which was also a fantastic read. I'm looking forward to reading the next two books in the series.

I loved the mix of thriller, horror, Germanic/Norse mythology, and Native American elements woven into this action-packed, wild ride of a novel.
I really liked Esther, Erickson, and Jasmine. They were all interesting characters. They were strong, charismatic, courageous, and intelligent. Characters you actually care about.

I very highly recommend You Can't Stay.

5 well deserved stars from me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Netgalley, Victory Editing, and S.T. Ashman, for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You Can’t Stay is a breakneck thriller that grabs you from the first page and refuses to let go. S. T. Ashman delivers a gripping tale of escape, isolation, and survival with relentless pacing and chilling suspense. Set in a remote location where danger lurks in every shadow, the novel keeps readers on edge with masterfully placed twists and psychological tension. Ashman’s characters are vivid and raw, heightening the stakes with every choice they make. This is not just a thriller—it’s an experience. Perfect for fans of No Exit and Behind Closed Doors. Don’t plan on sleeping.

Esther's sister has vanished. Esther is a failed Vet Med student, who dropped out on the cusp of graduating due to her sister's disappearance. In the meantime, she is working a thankless job she is overqualified for, trying to make ends meet and cope with the loss of her sister. Her sister is the only family she has left. But make no mistake, her sister is a drug addict and law enforcement is making no effort to find her.

She chances upon an opportunity to sneak into a clandestine group, but has a lead on where her sister may be. So she takes it. Every year, an unnamed government agency sends a group of people deep into New Hampshire’s Mountains that are behind a thick and tall fence. Once inside, we learn that no one has ever returned.

It took me a minute to figure out how to even classify this book. Horror/Thriller it is. This was my first S.T. Ashman book. I was intrigued by the rest of her work but noticed it is tagged as dark romance, which is not my cuppa tea. However, I am excited to see what she comes up with next because this was FANTASTIC!!

A dark and gripping horror tale of finding family, with a hint of supernaturalism.

I really, really enjoyed this book. This was an unapologetically gritty read told over two viewpoints that told a beautiful story of the importance of family.

I’m excited to read more Ashmans, and definitely recommend her books to anyone who enjoys a walk on the darker side of literature.

A huge thanks to NetGalley and S.T. Ashman for the ARC!

Relentless and razor-sharp, this thriller barrels forward with breathless momentum. Just when you think you’ve figured it out, the story flips the game entirely. The final page leaves a haunting echo you’ll carry long after the book is closed.

Definitely out of my comfort zone but surprisingly found myself enjoy it. It was a great mix of horror, suspense, thrills. So many twists and turns it definitely kept me on my toes.

I have been a fan of S. T. Ashman ever since getting her debut, I Kill Killers. I have been lucky to be a part of her beta and arc teams ever since. You Can't Stay is unlike her previous work and was something I was unsure of at first, as it is not my regularly chosen genre; however, I am glad that I took a chance, as I was able to learn about some other cultures in a fantastical way.

I will read anything and everything S. T. Ashman puts out, and I am 99.9% certain that when I do, I will love it.

This book really pulled me in. It is about a woman named Esther who has been searching for her missing sister. She ends up on this secret government trip into the mountains, and that's when things get interesting.

If you like books with mystery, folklore, and a good dose of suspense, this one’s worth reading. Just maybe don’t read it at night!

3.5 rounded up!
This was a nonstop action ride from start to finish. I loved the mythological horror so much and really enjoyed diving into the norse mythology and Native culture. While I loved the horror and native vibes mingling, I did think the pacing was a bit sporadic. I felt like it was either conversation or nonstop action and not a lot of build up or come down. It definitely kept me on the edge of my seat though! Many thanks for this arc!

Thank you to NetGalley, S.T. Ashman, and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for a digital copy of the book.

S.T. Ashman’s novel, “You Can’t Stay,” is a mashup of action horror movies, Norse mythology, and the lasting effects of white colonialism on Native American communities. With that being said, while there were some fun action scenes and witty one-liners, “You Can’t Stay” just isn’t for me.

The novel follows two main characters–Esther, a half-Native American woman who lost most of her family in a fire when she was a child; and Ryder, a man of Nordic descent who murdered a child predator in order to keep his son safe. These two start out at odds, with Esther pretending to be someone she isn’t in order to find her sister, and Ryder seeing through her act easily. The two, thrust into a military mission to deliver cargo to an outpost in the middle of nowhere, quickly learn to trust one another in order to keep living. The forest has teeth, after all, and there are all sorts of old Gods at play…

…and that’s what I really didn’t enjoy about the novel. There is a very large emphasis on the lasting impact of white colonialism on both the land and the Native People of the United States. We are shown the idea from two sides; Nordic settlers from long ago, and from the Abenaki people. However, the novel focuses far too much on the settlers. S.T. Ashman relied far too much on Norse mythology and not enough on the beliefs of the Pequawket people. Furthermore, the book comes across as presenting the Nordic beliefs as being just as powerful as the Pequawket people’s beliefs despite the novel taking place in America, on Native American land. If both beliefs pull from the land, trees, and spirits around them, then why are the white settlers so powerful in a land that is not theirs? This is something I am very passionate about, as I am a descendant of Native American People from the same area of the United States, but due to Residential Institutions, that was stripped away from my family–from me. I may be mixed blood but not knowing anything about my heritage is something that claws at me. I suppose that’s why “You Can’t Stay” just strikes me in the wrong manner.

That aside, none of the characters felt real. Other than Esther and Ryder, the rest of the cast were just cannon fodder. There were a few characters that are met about halfway through the book that seemed like they would be important later in the story, only to disappear completely. Most of the military characters had maybe one quirk about them that they were addressed by (“the engineer” or “the tracker”), rather than any sort of deeper backstory. They were simply there to die, and that made their deaths feel meaningless.

As for the overall plot, it was interesting. The idea of a group of military agents going into a spooky forest to deliver an unknown cargo, all the while being followed by creatures beyond their understanding? Sign me up! However, “You Can’t Stay” felt more like a long slog of nothing in between action scenes. When there was action, it was very well written, and I did like it a lot. However, the times in between these scenes were boring. Very little was done to move the plot along aside from describing walking, shouting orders, bathroom breaks, and whether the group should follow along a river or not. I feel like, had the pace been kicked up a bit, the novel would read far better than it did. The ending scenes felt too long winded as well, especially the very last one, which seemed to be sequel baiting. Count me out.

Would I recommend “You Can’t Stay?” Honestly, no. With that being said, I know there was a great attempt at the author doing research into the Pequawket Tribe and other tribes from the New England area. I believe this book could be a stepping stone into learning more about the Native People of that region of the United States. Otherwise, if you’re looking to turn your mind off for a bit and relax with some action horror, then maybe “You Can’t Stay” is just what you’re looking for.

tl;dr Don't read this expecting a serious horror. If you like military novels and the supernatural, then this is for you.

I wish S. T. Ashman would have led with "This book isn't a literary masterpiece. It's a wild, Hollywood-style fun ride that asks you to suspend belief and enjoy the chaos." Instead, she put that in the afterword.
Based on the description, especially since it mentioned, The Blair Witch Project and Annihilation, I was expecting a creepy horror novel with some similar themes to both of those. Some plot elements are the same but otherwise, it is completely different. The entire time it was reminding me of the cheesy military films and books that my father would watch or read when I was growing up.
It certainly wasn't boring, but it wasn't good either. I did finish it quickly, but the writing wasn't complex and it wasn't that bad. It was action packed, perhaps even a bit at the expense of the story as a whole.
All of that is to say that if Ashman would have led with the story being more of a Hollywood style military movie with supernatural elements, I wouldn't have been surprised at the vibes the book actually had. For a book where that was the goal, it does it well, which is the only reason this got 4 stars. As it is, I would have given it 3, but she meant it to be that way and I am certain there is an audience for this type of book. This review may change to 3 stars at some point as I mull it over (and possibly if the blurb doesn't change, though I do doubt this will be seen idk though!).
Overall, I didn't care about the characters too much and I am not really sure the significance of showing mainly two different points of view (with a few others sprinkled in) because unfortunately Esther was kinda eh and Erikson was where it was at. I was disappointed in that because Esther is native and I really wanted to like her but I didn't care much about her. I did like her drive to save her sister but that is about the only thing of note. Erikson was interesting and had a cool backstory, though, again back to cheesy Hollywood (ifykyk). I am being purposefully a bit vague, but there were two characters I liked a bit more later on and a few others that were so clearly just for developing other characters and weren't characters of their own.
The actual story was actually interesting and was why I kept reading. Besides one detail (won't be mentioning because spoilers) I really enjoyed the ending and I really liked the twists and turns the plot took as you learned more.
For anyone interested in reading but is a bit wary of native characters written by a nonnative, Ashman does it mostly respectfully HOWEVER that is based on my understanding of how to represent native characters in a positive way but I am not going to claim it was perfect. I am not native so if a native person (or someone else knowledgeable) tells me otherwise I will so gladly change this part of the review to reflect that.
Thanks NetGalley for providing this book.

This book I could not put down loved it from beginning to end. I would highly recommend!! This isn't like something ie read before.

An intriguing horror/mystery! I enjoyed the writing style, short chapters, and characterisation. It was a bit gory in places too!

There was a lot of talk relating to mythology, goddesses/gods, and vikings. I did have to skim read some of these parts unfortunately, as for me it did drag the pace of the book a little.

Not a bad read but not sure it was for me really.

I am grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC copy.

Absolutely brilliant horror/suspense novel with fascinating native American and norse tidbits woven throughout. I didn't want to put it down to sleep. Can't wait to read more from this author!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and S. T. Ashman for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for You Can't Stay coming out April 30, 2025. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is the first book I read by this author. I really love horror movies and books. This story was right up my alley. I really enjoyed the characters. I thought the storyline was spooky and fun. I would definitely check out my books by the author.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys horror books!

This book was brilliant. Not my usual as it was very creepy and a little scary but a brilliant story with an absolutely beautiful setting. Although very creepy. Highly recommended