general

• quick summary - 10-year-old quiet and spiritual lauren and her slightly negligent father niall deal with the disappearance of lauren's mother, christine in their own ways. supernatural phenomena have been happening and confusing lauren for the past few days, and when a teenager in the neighborhood disappears, she gets involved in a tale of magic, mystery, and thriller.
• key themes - isolation, grief, nature, supernatural, neighbor bonds.
• fav character - diane and anne-marie were the coolest teenagers ever, and i loved how they cared for lauren.

interests

• what i found interesting - the vivid descriptions of the scottish highlands that created the perfect atmosphere for this kind of story. lauren's way of dealing with the absence of her mom and the negligence of her father were heartbreaking but realistic. despite the rumors, the neighbors do not hesitate to take care of this small family, and billy's mother acts made me smile despite the seriousness of the story. niall's alcoholism was difficult to read and despite how much I wanted him to be a better dad to lauren, my personal experience made me perhaps less frustrated than most readers.
• what i learned - I learned a few nature-related terms, such as sleet (the only one I seem to remember) + what a cèilidh was!
• fav quote - "(..) these kind of memories are like rocks rubbing against raw skin. he prefers to believe they happened to another man". relatable.

books it reminded me of

• we have always lived in the castle - while lauren's reliance on spirituality is a means to connect with her mother and merricat's is a compulsive superstition, the young age of both characters reminded me of each other. however, I believe lauren sometimes came across as older, while merricat's characterization was more believable.

further reading

• follow-up context research - i want to read a bit more about the highlands, and perhaps some scottish folk tales to find some parallels with this story.

rating

• 3.75/5 - I am not usually a fan of supernatural books, but in this case, I wished the book didn't switch from a gothic tale to a thriller in the last few pages. The author could have introduced the mystery thriller elements a little bit earlier if she wanted it so. I wished the author would have prolonged the ending a little bit more, and we would have learned more about the killer's motivations and the lives of the characters in the aftermath in a less rushed way. The atmosphere building was chilling, and the scene in the basement creeped me out so much. I wouldn't call it exactly disappointing, but again, I wished the resolution would have been more folkish, macabre, and mystical.