The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould-- The Ghosts Text In This One...

The Dead and the Dark

Logan's reality TV famous dad's are dragging her back to the small town they grew up in for the summer-- and she's not happy about it. Upon arriving, she knows this trip is more than what it seems. Strange things are happening here, including disappearances of several teenagers. Her ghost-hunting dads are being very secretive, and the only person that can help Logan figure this out happens to be the one person she should probably be staying away from.

When Logan and Ashley (the girlfriend of the first teen to disappear) team up and find out that ghosts are real, the danger gets amped up-- and so do their feelings for each other. Will the darkness encircling this dusty town ever lift?

This book starts out deliciously creepy and then goes downhill fast. It seemed to be a case of a good premise, bad execution in my opinion.

I severely wanted to like this book. I mean, do you see the cover?? It's gorgeous!! Also, the description sounded so creepy and mysterious-- and I love a small town under a curse!!  But no-- this fell so flat that I couldn't make myself like it as hard as I tried.

It starts out with a really cool description of something called The Dark stalking a teenage boy, who we eventually find out goes missing.  I was all in!!  What is this Dark??  Then there were the main character's dads, who could've been so cool. They were reality TV ghost-hunters!!  I thought I would be in for some A+ level ghost-hunting... but they were barely in this book.

Basically this book was a debut and REALLY felt like one. The writing wasn't polished, the characters were flat, and the story was kind of just all over the place and didn't even make much sense. It could have been so creepy and legendy and cool, but it was none of those things.

I think it was nice that there was a lesbian relationship-- but I didn't love that the one girl was completely straight beforehand. I get that people (especially teens) are still figuring themselves out, but something about it just felt forced. We get to be in Ashley's head. It was the perfect opportunity for the author to explain how she was bisexual and this was the first time she wanted to act on it. Instead we hear how Ashley is completely straight and wants to fight against the feelings she's having. It just rubbed me the wrong way, but I'm not LGBT so I'm in no way an authority on it.

Now we get to the ghosts.....  and admittedly, I'm picky about my ghosts. But these ghosts were TEXTING the girls.  Say what????  Yeah, that happened. Texting ghosts. I'm sorry, just no to that.

OVERALL: SO MUCH POTENTIAL. But it didn't get there. This book was such a debbie downer for me. It had all the elements of a creepy mystery, but none of the execution. The characters were bland, the writing was unimpressive, and the ghosts were texting people. If you're thinking of reading this, I'd say pass. There are much better, creepier, gayer mysteries out there.

Date Published: 8/3/2021

How I got this book: Thanks to Netgalley/Wednesday Books for providing me with an advanced copy to read and honestly review

Publisher: Wednesday Books / St. Martin's Press / Macmillan

Add it to your To-Read List!!

My Rating: 2/5

Character: Logan Ortiz-Woodley

Book: Just for Clicks by Kara McDowell

• Logan and Claire have a lot in common with their parents being in the spotlight and them just trying to have a normal life.