The Dark Finds You by Chantelle Atkins

Synopsis:

14 year-old Finn Douglas is missing.

Best friend Elliot is desperate to find him, but why is mutual friend Leah strangely reluctant to help?

Elliot’s pregnant mother fears her agoraphobia has returned, while his almost-brother, Bill, agrees to help look for Finn but risks exposing his secret drug habit in the process.

Meanwhile, ex-con Danny knows his nightclub is being infiltrated by drug dealers who work for a gang from his past. And drug dealer Leon can’t have the fresh start he wants until he has repaid his debt to the same criminal gang.

A collection of characters with dark pasts find themselves linked by a common mystery that they all have a clue to solving – what has happened to Finn Douglas?

Review:

Firstly, thank you for the author and TBConFB for an advance copy of this brilliant book.

I feel this book should comes as a warning and education to your people. It was written with grit and reality to it and it didn't hide anything. It is a part of a series but I read this as a standalone novel and it can be read like that as it gives hints at previous events in the lives of the main characters which also means spoilers so if you want to read the whole series, read it in order.

The book goes into the world of some of the poorer town areas where drugs and drug dealing is on the rise, drug dealers using younger kids to deliver packages to earn a bit of money. When a 14 year old Finn goes missing. his friend Elliot starts looking for him and with some unexpected friends, they uncover a complicated web of drug dealing and hierarchy. 

It's brilliant and gritty and detailed and raw and I loved it. I have read other books by this author and will most certainly read others. I love her writing style, the truthfulness of her characters and actions. She has a great talent showing how weak and vulnerable humans really are and how some mistakes have a domino effect on whole families, but that redemption is also real.

Just excellent - and as this was my last finished book for 2025 - what an end! Thank you

Rating: 5/5

Silent Lies by Kathryn Croft

Synopsis:

Five years rebuilding your life. Five words will destroy it again.

Mia Hamilton lived the perfect life with her husband, university teacher Zach, and their two-year-old daughter. But everything changed when Zach committed suicide on the same night one of his students vanished. 

Five years later, just when Mia is beginning to heal, stranger Alison walks into her life, saying her husband didn’t kill himself. 

Fragile, slight Alison leads Mia on a path into Zach’s past, and Mia begins to think she never really knew her own husband. As the secrets revealed get darker, Alison becomes harder to read, and Mia starts to wonder – why is Alison so keen to help?

And then a piece of the puzzle appears in an impossible place, and Mia has to ask, is she losing her mind, or should she be afraid for her life?

Review:

Mia has moved on from the awful event that change her and her daughter’s live. Zach is gone, betraying them both. But life is on the up. She has someone who cares about her, someone she can trust. Freya is now 7 years old and thriving.

Until Alison knocks on the door with claims that Zach didn’t kill himself, which set Mia off onto a path of searching for the truth. This book keep going and is a quick read once the story grips you. I really enjoyed the timelines swap between Mia and Josie, it brought authenticity to the story.

There are a couple of unexpected turns and I must say I was surprised by the ending which is fab as it’s far too often now that we guess the ending and I certainly didn’t with this one.

Any fan of a psychological thriller will enjoy this book – give it a go.

Thank you to Netgalley for this book.

Rating: 4/5

Available from:

Amazon UK

Moonstone by Laura Purcell

Synopsis:

From award-winning bestseller Laura Purcell comes her YA debut, MOONSTONE, a sparkling, chilling gothic romance with real bite… Following a scandal at Vauxhall pleasure gardens, Camille is sent away to her reclusive godmother, who keeps a strict watch over her and her own sickly daughter, Lucy.

Camille must stay away from everything she has known until the scandal is forgotten, keeping strictly to the small farmhouse in the woods. Away from the corsetry and curtsies of polite society, Camille finds herself surprisingly…free. She is also strangely drawn to Lucy, a pale, fragile girl who dreams of stars, but has never left the farm.

Yet as Camille and Lucy grow close and cross forbidden boundaries, the fine balance of their woodland home begins to death stalks between the trees, claw-marks rake the doors and the moon rises to the song of a creature Camille has never heard before. Camille begins to realise her godmother was holding more than unladylike behaviour at bay… 

Review:

Reading this as an adult I can see the simplicity of the story, however, thinking about reading this as a young adult, which this is targeted too, I would have loved it.

The pace goes between slow and fast as the story progresses. The ‘secret’ seems quite obvious from the start, but the development of the story is presented really well. I enjoyed this book even as an adult. It’s a bit of an escapism into a world of YA fantasy.

I liked Camille as the main character, she had her human flaws like naivety, but she was brave, head strong and not afraid to get stuck in. She was also kind and understanding and I felt she questioned things for all the right reasons. Lucy was clearly trapped in a very sad world her mother Rowena and Bridget created for her to keep her safe and Camille became the one bright star in the darkness.

I would certainly recommend this to any budding young adult reader, who would like to delve into mystical creatures fantasy genre, it’s a great start into this world and a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Thank you to Netgalley for this book.

Rating: 5/5

Available from:

Amazon UK