17-year-old Nora's and her best friend since childhood, Becca, aren't speaking when Nora gets an unexpected text from Becca in the middle of the night. The same night that Becca mysteriously disappears, along with 3 other seemingly not connected residents of their small town. Nora is desperate to find out what happened, and when she starts finding what appear to be clues left for her by Becca, she starts to question if the fantastical games they played as children were actually make-believe.

Nora teams up with the obligatory mysterious new guy, James, who of course, "... looked extremely good in that looks-like-shit way almost no one can pull off. Like he'd rolled out of a ditch twenty minutes ago and put on shoes." I actually really vibed with James despite his seemingly cliche archetype. He wasn't what I expected and his humor wasn't trite, plus he didn't overpower the heart of the story, the friendship between Nora and Becca. Because while James might look rolled-out-of-a-ditch hot, Becca and Nora are "... in black and white. Two girls on the hood of an old sedan, shoes kicked to the concrete ... Americana as anything, a small-town summer dream. But if you looked close you could see a darkness between them, shaped like a question mark. A complicit edge to the way they looked not at each other but straight ahead. That's what made it an interesting photograph."

This is marketed as YA horror-meets-fantasy, and it delivers. I loved the writing style and how Melissa Albert depicts the whimsical magic of childhood and the dangerous power of belief and feminine rage. I don't want to give too much away because I think going in blind for this will make it so much better, but I loved how it walked the line between the creepy and sinister occult and innocent and beautiful imaginings of kids and how the disillusionment of reaching adulthood can distill one into the other. Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review!