A hauntingly atmospheric and beautifully written read! Sarah McCarry has a way of pulling you into a story and not letting go. I couldn’t put it down!

Someone at Netgalley was looking out for me personally by adding this to Read Now.

This book had so many things I love. Lesbians, vampires, murder investigations, vengeance, concerningly intense female friendships, I could go on.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC!

OMG I am so glad this was a READ NOW book. This was absolutely CHEFS KISS! This had it all. Vampires, murder, friendships. All of the above. Sarah McCarry is now on my auto buy list for sure!

This book. I hope it gets all the hype that the fictional Possession Island novel got.

It’s lush and lyrical and devastating in the best way. I found myself reading it slowly because I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to live on this dense, stormy island in the Pacific Northwest- to be possessed by it.

It’a a murder mystery but really, it’s a meditation on isolation and girlhood, sapphic longing, fraught parental relationships, sibling loyalty and the way the world seeks to eat women and girls alive unless they bite back.

It’s also very meta with themes from the fictional book taking place in the lives of our characters and unfurls the story from the viewpoints of Angela, Sally and Mo with chapters from the fictional eponymous novel interwoven throughout.

I’ve never read anything like it and I find myself becoming obsessed with it just like our protagonists did and it is truly, delicious.

Infinite thanks to Netgalley, Sarah McCarry, Saturday Books and Macmillan publishing for the ARC.

I am gobsmacked that I am not seeing more mentions of Twilight in these reviews.

Let me tell you that this book was so specific to my experience as a queer Twihard from Idaho I felt like I was losing my actual mind. I had to rant to a friend from home for a good 15 minutes about this book just to list out all of the references and similarities in our experience.

Now. If you are not specifically reading this book for deep cuts of the Twilight fandom, I still think it's a fun queer read! There is a fun gothic atmospheric vibe to the writing that I really enjoyed. I truly did not know what was going on with the plot in a way that I haven't experienced since I read Gone Girl. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read about queer teenaged girls, getting revenge on a man who wronged you, or who was immersed in some sort of vampire fandom in the 2000s. For everyone else, it's still a good mystery/thriller read.

P.S. Sarah, do we know each other? This feels too specific to my life! Wild.

⭐️Thank you to NetGalley + St.Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review! ⭐️

Blown away by the talent of Sarah McCary.. her writing is so vivid and atmospheric, and her world building is insane. I think I may be biased as I’m born and raised in the PNW but she painted such a clear picture of Possession Island.

I was SHOCKED at the plot twist, and I’d like to think I’m pretty good with sussing those out early on in books. The pacing was perfect and I felt engaged the whole time. Will definitely be checking out her other work, one of my new favourite authors!!!

What a delicious story about female friendships, desire, hunger and growing up in the late 90s in the Pacific Northwest! And vampires, sort of. As someone who also grew up in the late 90s in the Pacific Northwest, this book absolutely transported
me back to rainy nights, young love, body glitter, mix tapes, Y2K panic, and intense friendships.

It took me a bit to get into it— Possession Island is a book within a book, as well as a fictional place, and there are multiple narrators. Once I was hooked, I couldn’t wait to see how the mystery unfolded. I thought there might be more vampires involved, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book all the same.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Saturday Books for the arc; all opinions are my own.