My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I picked this up last night to get a feel for it... and kept reading. 😅
Audre recently moved from the city to a rural town with her parents and little sister. So she's finding it hard to fit in with the churchy crowd. It's not just that she's different, but also that most of the town is obsessed with the concept of Satanic cults hiding in the woods. And when the preacher's daughter goes missing, the police is quick to suspect Audre's family...
I really enjoyed this! It's a YA horror story that is ambiguous in many ways, while also highlighting the real-life horror that is religious zealots. Dealing with the self-righteous, who honestly believe they're doing 'god's work', is terrifying. And fucking gross, tbh.
Anyway, I really liked Audre's voice. She was stubborn, determined, and believed in herself. Something that's hard to do for any teenager, let alone one who doesn't fit the forced narrative about how a girl is supposed to dress, behave, and have a crush on. Plus I loved her parents. They were cool and so supportive, about so many things.
The family dynamic really worked for me. As well as the setting and the fact the story was set in 1996. Very cool.
Also, the mystery at the core of the story turned out to have a good twist. I suspected some, but not all of it.
This is a great book!
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