I thought Marin was a great YA character. Not a pushover, and definitely not a Mary Sue. She takes Thea and Wren on (dealing with awful pranks) but realizes that something seems off with Alice. She finds herself falling for Evie, but realizes that something is going on that she doesn't understand. A rich, disquieting novel for fans of horror, fairy tales, and good storytelling." — Booklist (starred review) The Haunting of Bly Manor meets House of Salt and Sorrows in award-winning author Kyrie McCauley’s contemporary YA gothic romance about a dark family lineage, the ghosts of grief, and the lines we’ll cross for love. All women have a goth phase, we all need to mourn. Some of us just choose to show it on the outside.” The poem comprises six quatrains, that is stanzas of four lines each. There is a simple ABCB rhyme scheme. The metrical rhythm is made up of alternating iambic tetrameters — that is four metrical feet, each foot comprising an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable — and iambic trimeters, that is three metrical feet per line.

Molly’s also covering the passage of a bill through the State Senate which will legalise the carrying of hidden weapons. She’s against it, but the gun lobby is rich and resourceful. It’s bound to get through. The Senate doesn’t realize that some vigilantes believe that the bill will work against them; and that the right to bear arms is more important than any other, including the right to live.This was such an interesting and spooky book! The first half of this book had this kind of dark gothic feel of a story. I was trying to figure out what was going on with the two young kids and was expecting at any moment they would turn into demon children. The atmosphere in this book was the perfect eerie setting for a spine chilling horror novel. I loved the way that everything slowly unraveled as Marin unfurled the mysteries of the Lovelace family. Her romance with Evie was soft and tender, and it was so sweet seeing the two girls band together to protect the younger sisters. The horror aspect slowly unfurled and was cleverly done. The ramifications of Evie's power slowly lead to escalating horror and gore. This was a great YA horror read! There are a lot of secrets at play in this book and I think McCauley hints at them well throughout. The foreshadowing was sometimes a little too opaque, but all in all it was fun to find clues. I also loved the reveal of the stalking. Even before you get it confirmed why Alice was monitoring them, the sudden understanding of how deep it all went and how much Alice had been effecting her life was so creepy and impactful. Overall, I feel like the synopsis didn’t match what the novel actually delivered and I was expecting something much more atmospheric and creepy. All The Dead Lie Down might be something I’d recommend to a reader who had never read in the paranormal realm before but other than that, I’d say skip this one.

Cow Lady can’t see why she should do anything about it. What’s anyone ever done for her? Who’d listen? Only the journalist covering the lives of her homeless companions. Molly Cates. Cow Lady realizes that their plot against the State Senate is in deadly earnest, but she can’t see why she should do anything about it. Who’d believe her, anyway? Only the journalist covering the lives of her bag-lady companions – Molly Cates. Cow Lady realises that their plot against the State Senate is in deadly earnest, but she can’t see why she should do anything about it. What’s anyone ever done for her? Who’d believe her, anyway? Only the journalist covering the lives of her baglady companions – Molly Cates. Molly’s also following the passage of a bill which will legalize the carrying of hidden weapons.The senators don’t know that a faction of extremist vigilantes believe that the bill will work against them, and that the right to bear arms is more important than any other, including the right to live...As Marin tries to untangle the mystery around the Lovelace estate and the complicated history between her mother and Alice Lovelace, she also meets a girl her age, and a tenuous romance develops between them. I loved the sweetness of that love against the darkness of the rest of the story. Conclusion

A great way to start off spooky season early! (If I'm being honest, I've been in a spooky mood all year, but let's say that this is my official entryway into Halloween-time). The book takes you on a ride within the Lovelace house. A combination of magic and horror, the book is about Marin who receives a letter to be a nanny at Lovelace House. Now that she has lost everything, this seems like a good start. But the girls are weird and there is something unnerving about the house. 🏡. As she is settling down, the level of incidents occurring at the house increases with the return of the eldest daughter. The game of death and shadows has begun! In the heat of the Texas summer, there are few cool places for the homeless to hide. Cow Lady guards her patch with grim ferocity, until one evening, when strange men arrive and talk of guns and gas.

All the Dead Lie Down

The other characters all have quirks and I love that we slowly get pieces to a puzzle that Marin is trying to figure out. I also laughed a few times (mostly with the little girls).

Since her mother’s recent tragic death, 17-year-old Marin Blythe is all alone in the world, without a place to live or any money to support herself. A lifeline comes through an invitation from famous horror writer Alice Lovelace, her mom’s old childhood friend, who offers Marin room and board in her remote house in Maine in exchange for taking care of her younger children, Thea and Wren, while she finishes her latest novel. But from the moment she arrives, Marin notices something is off at Lovelace House, from Alice’s strangely disconnected behavior and the kids’ increasingly unkind pranks to the house’s secret corners and the dead, mutilated animals that appear everywhere. It’s only when Evie, Alice’s beautiful teen daughter, comes home from school that Marin slowly finds the answers she is looking for and starts to fall in love—just as events spiral out of control. This gothic story merges horror and a lovely queer romance with a helping of the fantastical in what is ultimately a story about grieving, secrets, and belonging. Marin’s yearning for a place to belong informs most of the narrative, which starts off with her as the outsider looking in but shifts as she slowly but surely carves her way into becoming part of the family in unexpected ways. Main characters are cued White. Our main character Marin is invited to live at Lovelace House by the owner, Alice Lovelace, who is a famous horror writer. Marin shows up without a penny to her name and tries to be nanny to the 2 Lovelace children - who of course play creepy pranks on her and are generally creepy ("creepy" is the word of the day for this review). She finds dead birds in her room and learns about creepy Lovelace traditions like how when you cut your hair, you keep it in the house forever. Marin is determined to understand what is actually happening at Lovelace House and get to the bottom of what everyone is hiding. The story unfolds and gets weirder (in a great way) as time goes on. I had a few guesses for what the reveal was going to be and none were right. Days after a tragedy leaves Marin Blythe alone in the world, she receives a surprising invitation from Alice Lovelace—an acclaimed horror writer and childhood friend of Marin's mother. Alice offers her a nanny position at Lovelace House, the family's coastal Maine estate.

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Nobody knows that within the gun lobby lurks a band of extremists who believe that the bill will work against them. And that the right to bear arms is more important than any other, including the right to live. This novel was simply incredible. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down. It was advertised as a novel for those who are fans of The Haunting of Bly Manor, one of my favorite horror TV shows (albeit I love Hill House more), and the inspiration was very clear. The slow unraveling of all the mysterious secrets held by the family, and the confines of their secluded property, left me hooked until the very end. While, at times, I felt the story was getting too similar to Bly Manor, I can happily say the uniqueness of this story shines through. The “slow burn” nature of the gradual horrors unfolding was done perfectly, and I think the Bly Manor writers would be equally impressed. Given that this story was compared to one of my favorite shows, I had high expectations, and this novel exceeded them.