Our Last Echoes

It's official: Kate Alice Marshall has become an auto-buy author. After reading Rules for Vanishing in 2019, she was definitely on my radar. However, after finishing Our Last Echoes, I am thrilled to say she's becoming a new favorite. Each of her stories are carefully crafted, eerie in nature but exciting with every turn of the page. I have no hesitancy in stating that her stories are completely unique, and with every additional published piece, she seems to be shaping a personal brand for herself that I am falling in absolute love with. Our Last Echoes follows Sophia, a foster child just aged out of the system. When a mysterious tip suggests the circumstances of her mother's death are questionable, she finds herself traveling to Alaska for answers at Bitter Rock, her mother's last known location. The spot is near abandoned, its eerie history driving everyone but a small team of researchers away. With an internship as her cover, Sophia begins to secretly investigate not only the disappearance of her mother, but Bitter Rock's string of disappearances across history. With their intricate link to a dangerous mist that falls over the island, Sophia soon uncovers not just the truth behind the disappearances but the truth of herself. This was a definite page-turner. Easy to read and exciting, the story sucks in readers right away and does not let go until the end. If you are a fan of horror or spine-tingling legends, this one is definitely for you. I found myself floored with terror yet still eager to continue. Marshall truly fashions a unique story, sprinkled with some classic horror tropes yet still wonderfully fresh. I'll definitely be sleeping with the lights on tonight!

“All stories turn to ghost stories if you wait long enough” Qotd: what was the last spooky book you read? Our Last Echoes by Kate Alice Marshall was a spooky tale of entire towns disappearing and echoes left behind. 3/5 stars Let me preface this review by saying I didn’t love this book, and I actually dnfed it the first time around. That behind said, I did end up binge reading it in one day. Onto the premise; Sophia Novak was lied to about her mother’s death and entire life. She returns to the place where here mother disappeared, a couple thousand miles away from where she believed she died. The town called Bitter Rock is known for unexplained mass disappearances. Let’s start with Sophia, she was a very interesting main character. Her shadow isn’t in tune with her, and she doesn’t cope with emotions well. And there’s the whole sees monsters in the middle of the day thing so everyone thinks she’s crazy. I liked her, and I thought those were super interesting details. Abby was a very strong, bullheaded character who I loved as the side chick and though I loved Liam, the insta-love with so real with this one! The plot is really unique and interesting and originally it drew me in immediately. It’s told through interviews, video evidence and Sophias first hand take. But towards the end of the book, I was extremely confused. Some of the evidence just didn’t make sense. The actual like ending didn’t really make sense in my opinion, and I honestly didn’t understand what was going on. I did however like Kates writing style. It was very engaging and the aspects all came together nicely. I don’t know if it was just me, but parts didn’t mesh well, weren’t explained enough... yeah idk. If you like a borderline spooky mystery, I think you would like this one. I wish I had loved it cause the plot was fascinating, but it fell below expectations. I still liked it.

I read and enjoyed Rules for Vanishing (except for the ending which I felt was rushed) and so it was nice to get a chance to read this companion book. You don't need to have read the other book to understand this one. This story is all about Sophia Hayes aka Sophie Novak on her search for her mother who she thought died when she was three but seems not to be the case after all. Her search leads her to Bitter Rock where there are peculiar disappearances (I liked the records of those) and things in the mist. It is nicely creepy with the echoes and the weird red throated terns and I enjoyed traveling along with Sophia, Liam, and Abby on their search for answers to what had been found and why it was taking people. I liked the theme of family in this book and what people will do to protect their loved ones. I do not feel like this ending was as rushed and I was satisfied with it. I am also looking forward to the next one!