Hello hello and welcome or welcome back to my little bookish corner of the internet. Today I’m sharing my review of the young adult horror novel, In Nightfall, as part of the tour by TBR and Beyond. You can find the full schedule of posts here.
Synopsis
In the quaint town of Nightfall, Oregon, it isn’t the dark you should be afraid of — it’s the girls. The Lost Boys meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this propulsive novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Treatment.
Theo and her brother, Marco, threw the biggest party of the year. And got caught. Their punishment? Leave Arizona to spend the summer with their grandmother in the rainy beachside town of Nightfall, Oregon — population 846 souls.
The small town is cute, when it’s not raining, but their grandmother is superstitious and strangely antisocial. Upon their arrival she lays out the one house rule: always be home before dark. But Theo and Marco are determined to make the most of their summer, and on their first day they meet the enigmatic Minnow and her friends. Beautiful and charismatic, the girls have a magnetic pull that Theo and her brother can’t resist.
But Minnow and her friends are far from what they appear.
And that one rule? Theo quickly realizes she should have listened to her grandmother. Because after dark, something emerges in Nightfall. And it doesn’t plan to let her leave.
Review
Rating: 5 stars
This book absolutely blew me away. I was cackling from the first pages to the last, yet also managed to be on the edge of my seat throughout large portions of it. The perfect balance of comedy and catastrophe. I loved it.
Theo and Marco had a wonderful sibling dynamic, the kind everyone wishes they had. They’re close enough to read each other with simple gestures, bicker in a loving way, and know each other’s weak spots in both good ways and bad. When Marco wants to flirt on their first night in town, Theo allows herself to be banished out of earshot… and does a little flirting of her own.
There were so many brilliant characters in this story that worked like perfect ingredients to a wonderful dish. They each added that bit they needed to for the story to come together in culmination of action, emotion, and drama. The dynamic between Theo and the male love interest was cute as hell, allowing for moody moments, and keeping you questioning as to exactly what his motivation was. Then there were the three main girls in town: Minnow, Annemarie and Beatrice, each of whom had personalities who jumped off the page, grabbing you with talons and keeping your attention.
The other well planned and paced dynamic that really allowed for this story to play out as it needed to was the recent divorce between Theo and Marco’s parents. As well as providing that little bit of angst that every teen fiction book needs, it truly united the siblings in being an “us against the world” pair, so that when things started to go wrong, we could see that very clearly through Theo’s eyes.
Honestly, it’s so hard to write about this book without just raving and spoiling it all, because there were so many moments that I’d like to shout about. What I will say to sum up is that if you are a fan of young adult lit, horror, paranormal, romance, found family and literal family, any and all of, you will find something for you in this book. It’s powerful, witty, engaging, and an all around power-house of a book. I had no hesitation in giving this five stars.
Book Links
Good Reads
Amazon US / Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble
Book Depository
Indie Bound
About the Author
Suzanne Young is the New York Times bestselling author of The Program series. Originally from Utica, New York, Suzanne moved to Arizona to pursue her dream of not freezing to death. She is a novelist and an English teacher, but not always in that order. Suzanne is the author of the critically acclaimed Program series, as well as Girls with Sharp Sticks, Poet Anderson, All in Pieces, Hotel for the Lost, and several other novels for teens.
Author Links
Website
Instagram
Good Reads
Facebook
Thanks for stopping by for this review today. I honestly enjoyed this book so much – I’m sure that’s obvious! Be sure to come back again soon, for posts every other day or more.
And On She Reads 
Yes, I did like the siblings having to stand together and fight – it’s usually one of my favourites things to happen in a book – especially if it’s accompanied by the “no one believes us” line.
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