ARC review, book review, young adult

Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain (ARC Review)

Title: Dark and Shallow Lies
Author: Ginny Myers Sain
Type: Fiction
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery,
Thriller, Paranormal
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Date published: August 10, 2021

A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

A teen girl disappears from her small town deep in the bayou, where magic festers beneath the surface of the swamp like water rot, in this chilling debut supernatural thriller for fans of Natasha Preston, Karen McManus, and Rory Power.

La Cachette, Louisiana, is the worst place to be if you have something to hide.

This tiny town, where seventeen-year-old Grey spends her summers, is the self-proclaimed Psychic Capital of the World–and the place where Elora Pellerin, Grey’s best friend, disappeared six months earlier.

Grey can’t believe that Elora vanished into thin air any more than she can believe that nobody in a town full of psychics knows what happened. But as she digs into the night that Elora went missing, she begins to realize that everybody in town is hiding something – her grandmother Honey; her childhood crush Hart; and even her late mother, whose secrets continue to call to Grey from beyond the grave.

When a mysterious stranger emerges from the bayou – a stormy-eyed boy with links to Elora and the town’s bloody history – Grey realizes that La Cachette’s past is far more present and dangerous than she’d ever understood. Suddenly, she doesn’t know who she can trust. In a town where secrets lurk just below the surface, and where a murderer is on the loose, nobody can be presumed innocent–and La Cachette’s dark and shallow lies may just rip the town apart.

⤖ My Review ⬻

Ginny Myers Sain’s Dark and Shallow Lies was dark, atmospheric, and suspenseful! I don’t know what it is about Louisiana, especially in the swampy areas, but I really love it as a book setting! There’s something that allows my imagination to expand and start to believe more in things that go bump in the night.

I really like Louisiana as a setting for romance, historical fiction, but also especially horror, thrillers, and suspense genres! I’m not sure why I’m like this, haha, I’m just letting you all know that I went into reading Dark and Shallow Lies knowing this about myself.

So, it should come as no surprise that the setting was my favourite part of Dark and Shallow Lies! Following closely behind, was the superstitions and stories of the folks living in the area (which could count as part of the setting, but I wanted to mention them anyway).

Afterward, it would have to be the way the story was told as well as the pacing! I think I flew through Dark and Shallow Lies in under 24 hours. The suspense and need to know what would happen next was constant–I could not put it down! I definitely recommend if you’re in the mood for an atmospheric, YA thriller!

⤖ About the Author ⬻

Ginny Myers Sain lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and has spent the past twenty years working closely with teens as a director and acting instructor in a program designed for high school students seriously intent on pursuing a career in the professional theatre. Having grown up in deeply rural America, she is interested in telling stories about resilient kids who come of age in remote settings. Dark and Shallow Lies is her debut novel.

⤖ Places to Purchase the Book ⬻

⤖ Let's Chat ⬻

Thank you for reading my review! Have you read this book? What did you think? And if you haven’t read it yet, do you plan to? Let me know in the comments!

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