Categorized as a horror novel, My Lips, Her Voice turns out to be a heart-wrenching story about coping with the loss of a loved one, about moving on, and about growth. All that wrapped around a small town murder mystery that has been claiming lives for decades.

We journey alongside three high school kids, Mara, Audrey, and Zadie, one of whom is dead. All of the characters have their own flaws, and it wasn't easy to like any of them. Despite my dislike for Mara's selfishness, I was overwhelmed with a sense of loss when I reached the end of the book. Kudos to the author for the beautiful character development there.

The plot moves pretty slowly initially and is told from multiple POVs with an alternating timeline. I liked how the author chose to switch between first and third-person voices, especially at the end. It added an extra depth to the experience.

Overall, if you enjoy small town murder mysteries with a hint of horror, loads of lingering ghosts and a slow burn romance thrown in, you should pick up My Lips, Her Voice.

Thank you to NetGalley and Creature Publishing for a copy of the ARC!

4 stars This book was so eerie and emotional—I couldn’t stop thinking about it after I finished. The story follows Audrey, who’s dealing with the death of her sister Mara… except Mara’s spirit doesn’t exactly stay gone. Things get intense fast, and the whole possession angle was creepy in the best way.

I loved the messy relationships and how it explored grief, identity, and queer love without ever feeling forced. The setting—Copper City—is basically a character on its own. It’s moody, haunted, and full of secrets. Some parts dragged a little, but the ending totally made up for it. If you like horror that’s atmospheric, character-driven, and full of heart, this one’s worth picking up.

This was a really good read to get me back into YA books.
This book was a well written mix of murder mystery and supernatural horror. I enjoyed getting know all of the main characters even though I found it hard to keep track of them at the start.
Not all of the characters are likeable (especially Mara and Zadie) but I was still rooting for them and enjoyed the tension between them and Audrey.
My favourite part was the relationship between Audrey and Mara and how Audrey overcame her bullying and found her own power.
I also loved the flashbacks to Shirley’s past and how it filtered into the modern day/
At times the story felt a little bit predictable and I saw the whodunnit coming but I think that was outshone by the world building and the supernatural elements of the story.
I really recommend this, especially to fans of horror or supernatural fiction who want something a little less extreme.

My Lips, Her Voice is haunting in the most delicate and unnerving way. L. L. Madrid blends psychological horror with obsession, identity, and performance—turning a love for a voice into something that slowly morphs into possession. It’s intimate, creepy, and deeply emotional all at once.

The story feels like a slow spiral—what starts off soft and dreamy shifts into something unsettling. It plays with the idea of losing yourself in another person, to the point where the boundaries blur. The writing is sharp and surreal, with a kind of quiet menace that creeps up on you.

This worked really well and truly sucked me in, a page turner and a half. At first the differing time lines were a bit confusing and there are a lot of characters to keep track of, but it is very well crafted and flows nicely.

I’m not normally one for a ghost story nor YA but I found this one immediately intriguing and engaging. It managed to be super creepy, yet feels real and believable with the messes of teenage girl drama.
It worked well crafting this century old story, where you know and care about so many different characters across that time, while also steadily building so much tension. A rollercoaster of a read.

Nice description and tone, although lots of changes in tense and style, but for the most part it works, building that atmosphere. It’s an interesting and well done YA horror/murder mystery.
I enjoyed this and recommend, thank you NetGalley for this ARC

Thank you to NetGalley, Creature Publishing, and author L. L. Madrid for providing an ARC in exchange for a review! I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

My Lips, Her Voice is a darkly atmospheric yet cosy YA ghost mystery set in Copper City, the most haunted town in North America. The novel blends eerie gothic suspense with the emotional turbulence of girlhood, and it’s told from multiple perspectives, weaving intergenerational stories from both the present and the past, which I quite enjoyed.

It’s a gripping story filled with complex and emotionally charged relationships. However, we don’t learn much about the characters outside of these dynamics, and I wish we’d seen more of them as individuals. I think this may be why I didn’t fully connect with the girls and felt rather uneasy about Mara’s (and at times even Zadie’s) behaviour towards Audrey.

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable spooky read that I’d highly recommend picking up around Halloween!

“The next time my life is on fire, it better be because I lit the match.”

(I’d like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for accepting my request to read this arc in exchange for an honest review ♡)

This book was such a different experience to what I was originally expecting and upon looking back, it would have been a great decision to leave this story and its world until the autumn, as it is most definitely an autumnal/halloween coded read. The release date (14/10) is just so perfect for it!

Now, I don’t often read mystery/detective/crime/thriller stories but this one was very interesting and had me hooked for the majority of the storyline. I’m hesitant to say too much because I think I could easily spoil important plot points, but I will say that it is very female led (which I loved) and has some complicated/messy lesbian/sapphic relationships, that I personally found really fun. These relationships are more part of the storyline, than being the centered focus, but it definitely adds interesting elements to the characters, plot, environment, etc and was, in general, just interesting to read.

The atmosphere of this book was just perfect for me. It’s cozy, unnerving, and mysterious, leaving you guessing and trying to figure out just what sinister truth is lying beneath the deeper, darker layers of this town. Eerie, spooky, strange mysteries haunting mines and the nearby woodland? Yes, please.

However, while I had a strong positive experience with this book, there were a few things that had me feeling a little off, so I’ll try and explain this without giving any spoilers!

The relationship between two of the main characters in the book, Mara and Audrey, was definitely a stand out experience to me, not because it was necessarily good, but because it was just so mean. Mara was such a bully, in my opinion, and I genuinely didn’t know what to think of her throughout most of the novel. While I don’t have issues reading about morally grey or even morally black/just plain wrong characters (within reason), the way she treated Audrey felt so unfair and borderline abusive that I truly just wanted some reflection and growth from her. Unfortunately, by the end it was clear that nothing was really going to change her behaviour, and despite Aubrey seeming to get over it, it still felt so wrong that Mara hadn’t made any/much effort into apologising or making amends. It did ultimately feel like her treatment and actions were kind of just swept under the rug, which did leave me feeling a little put out.

Secondly, whilst being a primarily supernatural-thriller-mystery, there were some supernatural elements that left the execution feeling a little weak (for my personal taste). It just felt like so many different things were going on that it began to feel less concise and more messy. Whilst I did leave the story having full comprehension of what had happened and what was going on, there were just so many themes being explored, mostly toward the middle to middle-end, that left the execution feeling a little more flimsy than I would’ve liked. The ideas were amazing and I did love the supernatural/crime mix, but I think for the length and the overall theme of the story, it would’ve been best to have tried to keep it simpler? I’m unsure, but I do think it needed a little more polishing around these areas.

Nevertheless, despite these few negatives, I do have an overall positive feeling towards the story, mainly because I did find it refreshing and truly enjoyable. There were so many elements that I loved about the atmosphere and nature of the story that just added to the overall experience. It’s humour, whimsy, and ominous energy were delightful to read and it’s so so important to remember that this is a debut novel by a debut author! Amazing work; I’m definitely excited to see what comes next.

A great story with an intriguing plot and well written characters. I liked the multiple perspectives.

It felt so forced and shallow at times I have to dnf. I didn't find it interesting at all. The characters are supposed to be teenagers but they feel so mature that it's hard to picture. 2 STARS.

in a sleepy mining town with a haunting history, Mara is murdered and her ghost takes residence in her cousin Audrey's head. Whilst tensions rise around sharing one body, they team up with Maras ex girlfriend Zadie to find Maras killer and stop him killing again. We also follow their grandma, Shirley, as she gets glimpses into the future and tries to stop tragedy. I enjoyed the eerie atmosphere, supernatural elements and explorations of grief and generational trauma, and messy queer love.

thanks to netgalley for an arc - out in October (perfect timing👻👻👻)

🍒REVIEW: 4.5/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🍒

My Lips, Her Voice by L.L. Madrid

✨synopsis: A grandmother tormented by visions tried to warn the town, but no one listened. Now, a haunted inheritance has passed to her granddaughters 🫢, Audrey and Mara. When Mara’s body is discovered in the old mine, Audrey fears her grandmother’s premonition is manifesting.

🍒my opinion: this book had all the perfect vibes to be a Halloween read 🙂‍↔️🧡

I started reading it knowing absolutely nothing and I really liked it!!

Ok so, when Audrey’s cousin Mara is murdered, Mara’s ghost takes possession of Audrey’s mind (and, sometimes, body) so she can find out who her killer was, this along with the help of her cousin (evidently girl, she’s using her body 🫠...) and her ex-girlfriend Zadie.

It was a fairly light book, it has a lot of magic and possession vibes but it’s not terrifying, so it’s an accurate read for a quiet evening where you don’t want to go out into the real world, but just immerse yourself in a sort of Discovery ID adventure. 🧚

✨Highly recommended if you✨

- Like possessions.
- Like magic.
- Like queer drama.

I would like to thank @llmadridwrites and @netgalley for the advanced e-copy. <33

I actually think the books is much darker than the cover would lead you to believe, I was originally drawn in by the cover, I love it, it this is far more horror leaning than I expected it to be. It has some gothic moments and was reminiscent of classic Virginia Andrew’s at times. It’s gonna be a fun book to recommend at Halloween for a spooky literary tale.

DNF – While I didn’t personally connect with the storytelling style, there’s a lot in the heart of this book that others might really appreciate. The premise has promise, and I can see it resonating with readers who enjoy a more unconventional narrative approach. This one just wasn’t the right fit for me.

Her Lips, My Voice is a haunting, poetic exploration of identity, connection, and the strange intimacy of shared truths. I wasn’t prepared for how deeply this story would affect me—it’s lyrical, layered, and lingers long after the final page.

The narrative unfolds like a dream and a confession all at once, pulling you into a world where voices can be borrowed, stories can be shared, and the line between self and other blurs in unexpected ways. It’s both unsettling and beautiful. The prose is stunning—sparse in places, but weighted with meaning—and the emotional undercurrent is powerful without ever feeling forced.

This is a book that asks you to slow down and feel—to sit with discomfort, with longing, and with quiet transformation. If you’re drawn to stories that feel more like experiences than plots, this is one you won’t want to miss.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Audrey and Mara are daughters of identical twins who come from a family line that sees ghosts, only for Mara to die gruesomely. She finds herself trapped in Audrey's body, and the girls have to deal with communicating what's going on to the girlfriend Mara left behind while trying to solve the mystery of who killed Mara. Audrey and Zadie's POVs alternate with the POV of Audrey and Mara's grandmother, Shirley, who never could understand the ghosts of Copper City and also died mysteriously.

This book was more of a psychological horror novel than a classic one (although it did have some classic horror tropes like tunnels the killer moved through). I think it was well done — the Audrey/Mara body sharing situation almost felt like it could be a metaphor for DID, and the novel does a good job of depicting mental illness. It was slower-paced than some horror novels, and I did find that the pace dragged at some points, but overall it was enjoyable. The tension of Mara, a girl who was in a sapphic relationship, possessing her cousin who had never been kissed and wanting to continue her relationship with her girlfriend despite that was very well done. Audrey talks about how she's never kissed "someone", not never kissed a boy, so I think she's some sort of questioning or bisexual, not straight, but it still made for interesting tension.

I didn't really like Zadie very much, honestly. I mean, she was somewhat sympathetic, and I understand her situation was complicated, but she kind of did cheat on Mara. She at the very least was emotionally cheating on her while still with her. I obviously don't blame her for Mara's death, but it seems like the narrative justifies a lot of the kind of shady things she did. Yeah, ethics are complicated when your girlfriend's a ghost possessing her cousin and still wanting to be in a relationship with you, but it's still not impossible to be a decent person. I couldn't root for the romance between her and Rhea due to this.

Additionally, the author's trigger warnings are a little misleading, which may be done to avoid spoilers but I don't think that's appropriate. The child death is not only off-page as it is also seen through a vision.

I did not realize it would lean into supernatural elements, but the way the plot was woven together—past and present, memory and mind—was really well done.

we follow three women:
- Audrey and Mara, whose mothers are twins. Mara is now somehow inside Audrey's mind after her mysterious disappearance and murder
- Shirley, their grandmother, whose storyline is set in the past
- Zadie, Mara's ex-gf, who has her own role to play in this layered mystery.

Technically, the writing is strong and the author knows how to build suspense and create atmosphere. But despite all that, there was nothing particularly addictive about it, and I probably wouldn't have finished it if it weren't an ARC. Once I finished it, I appreciated what it was trying to do.

I felt the book was a bit too long for the kind of tension it was trying to maintain. By the halfway point, I was ready for answers, but the story kept dragging. I think horror-thrillers hit harder when they're shorter and more fast-paced.

A bloody history steeped in ghost stories and whispers of serial killers where three girls have caught the attention of something far more sinister. A haunting inheritance, visions tormenting women who won't be believed and a nightmare of vengeance desperate to be fulfilled. An atmospheric novel of ghost possession, psychic visions and a story of revenge.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐲 𝐋𝐢𝐩𝐬, 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐋. 𝐋. 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐝

My Lips, Her Voice is a hypnotic, fever-dream of a book—lush, unsettling, and dripping with dread. L.L. Madrid doesn’t just tell a story; she casts a spell. I found myself completely consumed by the atmosphere, by the shifting identities, by the eerie intimacy that wraps itself around every page like smoke.

This is body horror with a pulse—alive, seductive, and deeply feminist. The kind of horror that gets under your skin not just because of what it shows, but because of what it suggests: that becoming someone else might be easier than facing who you really are. And in Madrid’s world, that transformation is both ecstatic and terrifying.

The writing is sharp, lyrical, and strange in all the right ways. I kept rereading lines—not just because they were beautifully written (though they are), but because they felt like they were telling me something I wasn’t quite ready to hear. There’s a queasy, magnetic pull to this book, like following a siren song into deep, dangerous water.

If you’re drawn to horror that explores identity, obsession, performance, and the grotesque beauty of becoming, My Lips, Her Voice is unforgettable. Unnerving, provocative, and entirely original—it got into my head and stayed there.

I loved the writing style and the characters. Honestly loved everything about it. The plot was also very interesting and I couldn’t put it down. Will definitely recommend to my friend and family.

You gotta love kids being creepy and the unsettling tones in this book had be riled up! I found this to be a quick read as I couldn’t put it down.