Jessica Hamilton

First, we meet Jonathan, a photographer, a widower, and a father to Joanne, who I found to be one of the creepiest children I have ever encountered in a story. Jonathan himself is no stranger to creepiness either. He is obsessed with a harpist...Sara. He describes her as being beautiful, but she has a profound power over Jonathan who desperately wants to photograph her. I don't trust him very much and really think that he's a pig....and that's doing all pigs a disservice and for that I apologize. The story is somewhat slow, but with a great deal of anticipation and eerie scenes. To add to the eeriness, we find that Joanne has an imaginary friend, whom we will soon learn is not so imaginary or so alive. Joanne constantly makes statements saying that she hopes that she has another birthday and wondering if her father will miss her when she dies. The "beautiful" Sara is also creepy and has an over abundant obsession with blood. Jonathan makes jokes to her about vampires, but by now we readers know that it's not, nor is it going to be a joke soon. Sara finally lets Jonathan into her bedroom, and let's just say their first sexual encounter is...."different"..."odd"..."abnormal"... Sorry, there really isn't a better way of putting it. That scene is not going to be forgotten anytime soon. It's a lot like the sex scene in Katherine Dunn’s [Geek Love] that makes references a squashed cockroach. Think of the steamiest romance you have ever read, the creepiest ghost or haunted house story, combine them with an M. Night Shyamalan movie and you pretty much have [Childgrave]. I don't understand the why or the how, but this whole thing...just worked.… (meer)

Hannah and Scarlett are life-long best friends. They meet Thomas in college and Scarlett invents The Daring Game. They keep track of their dares and sadly, there are some bad consequences of the game. Now, years later, Hannah is married to Evan with 2 daughters. Scarlett is in Australia, and Hannah tracks her on social media. Thomas re-enters Hannah's life, but Scarlett attempts to warn her from him. The Daring Game begins again. Will the results be as disastrous this time around?
This is a tale of jealousy, deceit, revenge, and secrets. At times chilling, be careful of dares and your past!… (meer)

Hannah and Scarlet were BFFs for years and didn’t make room with other friends, until everything changed in college after meeting Thomas. To make college more interesting they began playing a daring game, with each dare growing increasingly and there relationship evolving more into a triad situation.

Everything was great, until one dare went too far and Thomas wasn’t heard from again. That is until married Hannah finds a Do You Dare in her mailbox, years later from Thomas. However, Thomas might not be the only person who is in on their daring game this time.

A thrilling read with intriguing character dynamics. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fast-paced stories with unexpected twists and turns.

Thank you thrillerbooklovers for my gifted copy.… (meer)

An incredible debut, this book is a superb piece of nostalgia that transported me to my own childhood summer. Unfortunately, that was where most of the similarities ended because I would love to have my own family mystery to unravel. The back and forth between the two sisters’ point-of-view, in addition to the paranormal aspect, gave this book a fun twist that I hadn’t expected nor seen since reading The Lovely Bones.

With innumerable moments of nail-biting suspense, it was difficult to put this book down. Characters and their dialogue are so expertly crafted, you come to love or hate them with an abrupt intensity.

The best part of this book was that you never knew what was going to happen, despite your best theories, and it was refreshingly unconventional in its conclusion.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the advanced copy. The opinions are my own.… (meer)