After her private school is rocked by a gruesome murder, a teen tries to find the real killer and clear her brother’s name in this psychological thriller perfect for fans of The Taking of Jake Livingston and Ace of Spades.
Sunny Behre has four siblings, but only one is a murderer.
With the death of Sunny’s mother, matriarch of the wealthy Behre family, Sunny’s once picture-perfect life is thrown into turmoil. Her mother had groomed her to be the family’s next leader, so Sunny is confused when the only instructions her mother leaves is a mysterious note: “Take care of Dom.”
The problem is, her youngest brother, Dom, has always been a near-stranger to Sunny…and seemingly a dangerous one, if found guilty of his second-degree murder charge. Still, Sunny is determined to fulfill her mother’s dying wish. But when a classmate is gruesomely murdered, and Sunny finds her brother with blood on his hands, her mother’s simple request becomes a lot more complicated. Dom swears he’s innocent, and although Sunny isn’t sure she believes him, she takes it upon herself to look into the murder—made all the more urgent by the discovery of another body. And another.
As Sunny and Dom work together to track down the culprit, Sunny realizes her other siblings have their own dark secrets. Soon she may have to choose: preserve the family she’s always loved or protect the brother she barely knows—and risk losing everything her mother worked so hard to build.
Liselle Sambury is the Trinidadian-Canadian author of the Governor General’s Literary Awards Finalist, Blood Like Magic. Her work spans multiple genres, from fantasy to sci-fi, horror, and more. In her free time, she shares helpful tips for upcoming writers and details of her publishing journey through a YouTube channel dedicated to demystifying the sometimes complicated business of being an author.
I figured that since ARCs are out it’s time for my regular tradition of posting content warnings:
Content Warnings: Death of a parent/grief, animal death (on page - cow and lizards; off page, referenced but not described - cat; off page, referenced and somewhat described - unspecified animals), mentions of self-harm/suicide, drinking and drug use, infidelity, discussions of toxic intimate relationships, detailed body horror/gore, violence, death (includes child death)
Also, since someone asked last time about rep: it is a mostly Black Canadian cast and there are two more major LGBTQIA2S+ characters (Black cis gay man, Black cis bi woman) and two more minor queer characters (two Black cis lesbian women) plus one very minor white cis gay man.
I finally have my copy! She's even more stunning in person.
Furiously shuffling around previous reading plans in order to get this one on the agenda for March. I'm so excited to dive in!!!
Original:
I've already sworn my fealty to Liselle Sambury, so you better believe I will be preordering the heck out of this. Tender Beasts sounds freaking incredible!!!
Damn Liselle just doesn't write a bad book! I wasn't sure what to expect going into this and I'm not sure the marketing totally captures some of the big selling points. So....
If you like psychological thrillers with cult elements, a serial killer, complicated family dynamics, and a protagonist who tries to seem perfect and happy on the outside while seething on the inside, then Tender Beasts is for you. I don't want to give too many specifics, but Sunny is one of several children in a privileged but messy family and she always tries to live up to her name. Her brother Dom was accused of murdering his girlfriend, but wasn't found guilty. Now their mom has died and left Sunny with instructions to "take care of Dom", so when a grisly murder victim is discovered at the school their mother founded, she is determined to protect him from being suspected. But Sunny's happy, perfect facade is beginning to crack and their family is fracturing as the violence continues.
This is such a richly layered narrative that is at once a mystery and coming of age story dealing with generational trauma, family dynamics, privilege, and heavy expectations being placed on young women. It's twisty and gripping with an excellent character arc for Sunny. And theres a brief nod to Delicious Monsters (the previous book by this author) which was fun! Definitely recommend reading this. Note that I am mutuals with the author, so feel free to take my review with a grain of salt, but I love how she does storytelling. I received a copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own.
Wow. This was a definite page turner. That plot twist was a "wtf moment" this book is the question of .."how far will you go to protect your family?" Highly recommend
This was one of the craziest books I’ve ever read, in the best way possible. Liselle Sambury is a literary GENIUS for writing this book. The plot was amazing and it kept me engaged the entire time! The characters were super dope and the character development throughout the book was goddamn fantastic lol I’ve never read a book that I related to so much but also felt so far from relatable at the same time. The themes and underlying messages that were written are so well laid out and easily digestible that it makes you think about your own life and how you would handle certain situations. I genuinely could’ve read this book in a day or two. It was THAT good. I’ll definitely be checking out more work from Liselle Sambury & that’s a fact!
I'm not gonna lie.. I wanted to love this book so bad and I feel like there was so much potential!
In the beginning, it really had me hooked! I wanted to know who the killer was so bad and I was invested in figuring out who the hell the Milk Man was. After the first 150ish pages of the book, I think it just dragged a little bit too much for me. It made it even worse that we (the readers) were able to read the journals that the mom left behind, and Sunny had no idea of what the journals consisted of at that specific time. So, her "investigation" just fell a little flat for me because we (the readers) can already gather the information from the journals but we still have to read through her figuring it all out. It was just a little redundant for me personally.
Once we get past the investigation and the build up, the ending was 100% predictable. It basically told you throughout the entire book what was going on... and I was expecting some type of plot twist because of this fact. I think I was expecting a plot twist because the same thing was reiterated multiple times, so I thought surely there was gonna be some type of twist to spice it up. No. I just wanted to be wowed and, unfortunately, I was not.
I think if this book was maybe 200 pages shorter, I may have enjoyed it a lot more. It was just unnecessarily dragged out, just for the ending to be something we already knew was happening. I feel like when you have these books that are 400+ pages, I need something that is gonna make me feel like it was worth it. Unfortunately, that was not the case for this book.
There was just nothing that really stuck out to me from this book to make me feel like it should be rated anything higher. I just felt myself getting a little bored halfway through but I was intrigued enough to want to figure out the ending. Overall a decent book, but it just fell a little flat for me.
I became a fan of Sambury when I read Delicious Monsters. She has a great way of combining multiple storylines and the book was so creepy and chilling that I fell for it quickly. I was hoping for this one to cement itself into my great read list but I have to say it hasn't. I did like some of it but I it didn't grasp me like I was hoping.
The story centers around a wealthy family who run a cattle ranch and a private school in Canada. They aren't the closest of families but they deal with a lot and take time to keep up the image needed of them. When the mother is found dead and one of her sons, Dom, is being investigated for the murder of his girlfriend, the family slowly starts to unravel. One of her daugthers, Sunny, is the main POV and we get most of the story from her perspective. Secrets that were being kept for the safety of the family begin to spill and more murders pop up hinting of a serial killer. When that happens, Sunny must use everything in her power to keep the family from breaking apart. This part of the story is great, and sometimes a little gory, and I was liking it a lot. Especially as Sunny and her brother Dom look into what or who is leaving an evil-looking symbol alongside the dead bodies.
The other perspective is from Sunny's mother's journal she kept when she was younger. It focuses on her life on the cattle ranch. This is where the story fizzled out a little for me. Her mother describes her time trying to fit in with the other kids living at the ranch. She becomes part of a cult-like group of them who all participate in killing animals to satisfy the cravings of the "Milk Man". As long as the Milk Man is happy, things go well for the ranch. But if he isn't happy, all goes wrong. Those who feed the Milk Man are called "calves". and I wasn't feeling that. Especially the milk with the taint of blood in it. Sambury does a nice job of blending the two stories but as the Milk Man part is brought up more and more I cringed. The story also dragged in the middle, where it is mostly filled with Sunny's thoughts about what was happening and there wasn't a lot of action. I needed more here.
Major props for Sambury's creativity in bringing something fresh and new to the scene though. And if the Milk Man wasn't part of the story I would have loved it.
Thank you to the publisher for the chance to read this!
i received an advanced review copy from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. this did not affect my rating.
sunny was raised to be her family’s leader, so when her mother dies, she’s confused to learn that all she left sunny was a note: “take care of dom.” dom, sunny’s youngest brother, is the family outcast, with one murder charge under his belt and another on the way. still, she gets close to him, which means looking for who really murdered the dead boy she found dom standing over.
i really liked the family dynamics in this one. it’s rare that a child besides the eldest would be raised as the leader, so it was interesting to see how this affected sunny’s relationship with her older siblings, especially karter, the oldest child who took over everything after their mother died. sunny also learns many unsavory things about her mother after her death, which is always hard. i think liselle sambury does family dynamics well in all of her books, and i’m glad it was so present in this one.
the mystery and horror aspects were also captivating. the villain was unconventional and was so interesting to me. i enjoyed how everything played out and could not put this book down!
i highly recommend this book to ya horror fans and i can’t wait for whatever’s next from this author.
Wowwww! This was a fast-paced read filled with hella little parts and details. Many elements didn’t exactly make sense until the last chapters of the book, and I’m so glad I kept reading. I was also really happy that the author included an epilogue (I was silently yelling for one while reading) because I needed to know what happened to the Behre family after the final chapter. This is the first book I've read in which most of the family has been possessed by a demonic entity and I’m all here for it. 👏🏾👏🏾
I appreciate how the author incorporated themes mixed with Easter eggs that included race, social class, privilege, time, queerness, dark academia, journal entries, and family pressures all in one story. Each family member was different, and even though some of them (especially Sunny) drove me crazy at times, I liked how they were all essential to the narrative. Plus, I love that the author is Trinidadian! 🇹🇹This is my first book by her, but it definitely won’t be the last. Listening to the audiobook while reading a physical copy from my library was everything.
Another great YA Horror novel from Sambury! I love how she writes family and, specially, sibling dynamics and how complex they always are. The writing here was excellent as always and fully worked to bring up tension and emotion to the story.
The book was mostly told from Sunny's perspective and she was a fascinating character. There was so much going on with her in relation to her family and what she thought they expected her to be/how to act and it was intriguing to read about her journey deconstructing that.
The plot in regard to the murders was also exciting! It kept me on my toes throughout the entire book and had quite a few twists that caught me off guard. Some pretty messed up things happened and to see it all come together was very satisfying. I just found the milk thing to be a little lame lol
Thank you Simon & Schuster #partner for the #gifted copy and @simon.audio for the audiobook! —— I have been a huge fan of Liselle Sambury’s dark YA horror novels ever since I read 𝑫𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔. Her storytelling is like a slow cooker delicious recipe. She lets all the dark elements of a psychological YA horror marinate for a juicy, explosive ending which is exactly how 𝑻𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒔 works!
This book deals with an ultra rich Black family in Toronto, The Behres, who own a prestigious, private school called Behre Academy for underprivileged students. All Behre children go to the school but Sunny Behre takes the mantle of representing the Behre family name, after her mother dies.
However, several grisly murders begin to take place one by one and Sunny’s little brother, Dom, is arrested, tarnishing the family name. Sunny, who is fiercely loyal to family, believes in her brother’s innocence and digs deeper into who might the real killer only to unearth eerie discoveries along the way, including some dark history that runs in her family.
Tender Beasts is more than just a YA whodunnit though. Liselle Sambury boldly weaves in several urgent topics relevant to our times such as imbalance in class, social status and privilege, and where privilege ends for a rich Black family. The story also further explores societal and law enforcement bias and exploitation of young Black men, and how intergenerational Black families have to continue working harder to preserve family legacy and lineage.
I love the way the author uniquely crafts her endings. You get closure but it is not set in stone, and allows for conversations and thoughts on the characters’ trajectories and motives. 5 stars. P.S: Read this book if you need the push to stop drinking cow milk 😂
I wanted to give this book five stars, but when the book ended, I had to take away a star. This story just left me with a few questions in the end: it was just like eating a meal, and while it tasted good, I still did not feel satisfied.
I have loved every Liselle Sambury book I have read so far. She does such a great job of creating new types of stories and including diversity that it does not feel like a "here fine" vibe that occurs with some authors.
The big bad in this story was another reason I did not give it five stars, mainly because I felt it was unnecessary. This story still would have been just as fine without it. I struggled to understand the big bad more than I should have. Because I felt like the family itself was their own big bad, that would have worked in driving the story alone.
That aside, I would still recommend this book to readers because it kept me on the edge of my seat and engaged me.
I really wanted to enjoy this book, but unfortunately it fell short for me. I did appreciate the sibling dynamics and their journey of processing their mother’s death. At first, the mystery element had me hooked, but as the story progressed it felt more focused on the family’s relationships than the actual mystery and I wish there was a better balance between the two. The pacing was slow, and I think the story could have been more concise. Many conversations felt repetitive which contributed to the slow pacing. The journal entries provided throughout the story gave some insight into this mystery but at a certain point we knew things the main character didn’t and we were waiting for them to catch up. The final explanation was underwhelming and by the time it came it was hard to stay invested after a long buildup. While I haven’t found a book by this author that I truly enjoyed I’m willing to give them another try….
This book is for you if you enjoy whodunnits, subliminal messages, horror, graphic stories, family drama, bipoc representation, lgbt representation, etc…
Overall, I appreciated the books message and I loved the gore. I enjoyed reading a book with different types of representation. I could not figure out who was the murderer, so that was great! But I was close! 😅The book definitely made me guess myself. I enjoyed the thrill of not knowing. I think the writing was repetitive at times. It was a lot of things that didn’t need to be mentioned because the reader would figure it out through context. There were two characters that I did not like. One was Shirley. In a way I understand why Shirley was the way she was, but then I don’t. I’ll have to read it again. Thank you @Simonteen for the ARC!
I'm usually such a huge Liselle Sambury fan and I was really looking forward to this latest one but I found myself struggling to get into it. A complex, layered (and LONG) family drama/horror/mystery that sees one sister trying to defend her younger brother when a number of dead bodies show up. Twisty and dark, this was good on audio but took me several attempts to finish. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and Simon Schuster Audio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!
Sambury is an auto-buy author for me so when I saw Tender Beasts in the works it was a must I get this book. I mean look at the cover how could that not influence you to read/buy it?
Tender Beasts was full of interesting twists and surprises packed with gory murders, family secrets, drama, and a mysterious supernatural entity. It’ll have you wondering and questioning who and what the milk man is.
The whole Behre family was rather odd and I love how Sambury played the characters against each other. She vividly describes them in such an intriguing way adding more emphasis to their mischievous side which made them all appear as suspects. Dom, the Feeny’s, the dad, the middles, a student seeking revenge, the crazy lady who keeps showing up‼️ It was nonstop back and forth between who was behind the school murders. I didn’t wanna believe it was Dom I actually thought it was the dad the whole time. But the author found a clever way to twist that narrative.
She staged the deaths and portrayed them with the kind of suspense you’d get from movies like The Bone Collector or Mindcage. She really used mystery and suspense to her advantage with this one but I still felt it was missing something. If it weren’t for the journal entry’s written by Ainsley I don’t think the story would’ve come together as smoothly.
Overall, Tender Beasts was worth the read Sambury is a masterful storyteller and knows how to keep you guessing. Although it didn’t outdo her last book I still think it’s worth the read. Special thanks to the author & @simonandschuster #MargaretKMcElderryBooks for my e-ARC‼️
I was so excited for this: a fairly estranged family somewhat works together to clear their younger brother of murder. Mostly it's Sunny, the fourth of 5 children, who is helping her brother Dom find out who killed the people he's been accused of murdering. Their family does not get along very well - their mom, who was the undisputed leader of the family, died a year ago, but her work to alienate the sibling from each other really had lasting effects.
Liselle Sambury's books are just so freaking long. But this book specifically just didn't really... have a point? I really did not like the way that the mystery ended up going, but even besides that, we are just stumbling through 500 pages of Sunny going on about how she's supposed to be the bubbly and fun sibling who is liked by everyone and eventually finds out she's liked by pretty much no one. I mean, it was a good exploration into the idea of people-pleasing, but I don't know. I just didn't feel very tied to it.
I just think that there are people who like their mysteries to go one way on the mystery spectrum, and people who like them to go another way, and this one just went the way I don't like. I'm being very vague because I don't want to spoil anything lol
Sunny's older brother has panic attacks, and her younger brother was in a somewhat controlling relationship, and one of her older sisters is having difficulty creating art which is something she's normally good at, so I liked the way that Sunny kind of realized that they had no clue what was going on in each others' lives due to the rift their mom had caused. They were kind of all basically healing from their mom's controlling nature separately and eventually came together to finish the job. So this definitely wasn't a total bust of a book. The family elements were interesting. It just was longer than it needed to be and like I said, just generally not my kind of book in the end.
Tender Beasts is my first Liselle Sambury book, and it will not be my last. This book was easy to get lost in as I was so consumed by the murder mystery element, wondering who could be behind the grisly killings that Sambury described with just the right amount of gore. Throughout the chapters, I could not predict where this book was heading (and I mean that in the best way). The elements of murder mystery were balanced well with family affairs, elements of horror, and social commentary on class, race, and privilege that kept me invested in Sunny's life and her strange family. I also found that the character development was well done, and I grew attached to Sunny as she worked tirelessly to uncover the truth of the horrors happening around her. It's hard to comment much on this book without spoiling the ending, and since I want my review to be accessible so that others can read it and decide to pick up this novel, all I will say is that the last 100 pages of this book had my jaw on the floor. I genuinely could not have predicted any of the outcome, and I loved that I was left questioning so many moments of this novel, trying to do my own detective work and come to my own (inevitably wrong) conclusions. This is the perfect YA novel as the language is accessible, it can be discussed through a social justice lense for its roots in reality, and there are so many elements that I did not expect, making for a highly entertaining read. This is one you should not skip in 2024 if horror mysteries are your thing!
I wish we had more of the epilogue. That interested me so much more than the 400 pages of the whodunnit. This was set up for a possible sequel though.
But let’s talk about poor Dom. His entire life was beyond traumatic. All of the kids didn’t have great upbringings with the parents they had, but Dom especially had it rough, being excluded from literally everything. How could a family just exile a child like that? He’s the only character I really felt for because that was so sad. Nobody loved or cared about him his entire life. His entire family wouldn’t even talk or interact with him, and that’s heartbreaking. He didn’t ask for the life that his parents forced onto him.
I did like Sunny’s eventual growth near the end. I loved that she started sticking up for herself, speaking her mind, and showing Dom sisterly and familial love that he deserved.
Again though, the epilogue was my favorite. I was excited reading that and truly wish it wasn’t the epilogue, but a few chapters before, giving us further insight on the more bonded family and their attempts to rid Dom of this damn milkman curse.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I was eager to read this book based on the synopsis and even pushed it up on my TBR once released. Unfortunately, it fell short to me.
None of the characters were particularly likeable. I felt somewhat sorry for Dom, which is what kept me invested in the story. The Sunny vs Karter storyline/leading the family was repetitive and not all that intriguing.
There were some aspects that were suspenseful (ie. Dom standing over Sunny while sleeping or sneaking into the house while at the ranch). I also enjoyed seeing Sunny finally stand up for herself.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, however I ended up listening to the audiobook after publication. As always all opinions are my own.
I found this to be more of a YA mystery/thriller than horror, but it does have some horror elements as the story progresses. The majority of the story was more of Sunny uncovering family secrets and solving a murder mystery. This is disturbing and dark, but I didn't find it overly gory or gruesome. It does tackle social social issues like race and class.
This follows Sunny, the favored child of her late mother. Sunny is a people pleaser and was poised to be the next head of the family, especially her troubled brother Dom. Dom has always been treated poorly by her parents and siblings and Sunny has never really questioned why. She always smiles and puts on a happy disposition and does her best to diffuse any uncomfortable situation. Dom on the other hand always seems to be surrounded by trouble. Now having been accused of murder and being at the scene of yet another crime, Sunny isn't sure what to think about Dom. Determined to figure out what is going on with Dom and prove that he is innocent, she begins her own investigation into the crimes and finds that her family's wealth and success has been built on very dark secrets.
This was a great YA thriller. It was a little slow burn for my tastes, but the pacing fit the storyline. The story really starts to come together once Sunny's investigation leads her to her mother's journal, and the author really starts to clue the reader into what is going on. As the journal entries are revealed we learn more and more about the Behre family secrets and hone in on the horror elements. That was a really creative way to tell the story and slowly let out tidbits of information leading up to the big reveal when all is explained. If you like family drama with a twist this is a great one to pick up. I think this is perfect for younger readers or those who want to dip their toes into horror without tons of gore, though you will want to check the content warnings as this is dark.
Content warnings copied as indicated by the author
I'll list some major pros first: Unique story concept, amazing representation, distinct/digestible themes surrounding race, familial acceptance, and discussions on classism.
Okay now for what could have been better... This storyline had a lot of potential, but by the middle of the novel, I just wanted to skip to the final plot twist. The paragraphs were lined with way too much fluff. Seriously, Sunny (the FMC) must have asked the same questions 20-30 times. I would say 40% of the book is just the FMC reiterating her confusion while making no actual headway on answering the questions posed. (This makes sense of the main character but then you just end up feeling trapped with her-- switching to another character's perspectives could have helped here.)
If the chapters had been more lean, I would have liked this book 10x more. Instead, there were so many scenes that begged us to understand Sunny's forced cheeriness and her plight as a black girlfriend to white boy. In the end, these subplots seemed trivial and overlooked by the main plot. While I liked them, these themes seemed misplaced in this genre.
All that said, we were given too much of an opportunity to piece the plot together ourselves. By 60%, we're just waiting for Sunny to wisen up. At 80%, it became painfully obvious that this thriller is really a story of familial betrayal. But unfortunately, we never warmly connected to any of the siblings beside Sunny or Dom so any betrayal, in the end, didn't feel life changing.
Overall, I think it could have used a better, more thorough editor. Too much was overexplained for us and it would have been nice for the author to let us ask our own questions and leave some things open-ended, as well. I'm slightly disappointed but it was still very fun to read because of the unique premise.
Sunny Behre has four siblings, but only one is a murderer.
With the death of Sunny’s mother, matriarch of the wealthy Behre family, Sunny’s once picture-perfect life is thrown into turmoil. Her mother had groomed her to be the family’s next leader, so Sunny is confused when the only instructions her mother leaves is a mysterious note: “Take care of Dom.”
The problem is, her youngest brother, Dom, has always been a near-stranger to Sunny…and seemingly a dangerous one, if found guilty of his second-degree murder charge. Still, Sunny is determined to fulfill her mother’s dying wish. But when a classmate is gruesomely murdered, and Sunny finds her brother with blood on his hands, her mother’s simple request becomes a lot more complicated. Dom swears he’s innocent, and although Sunny isn’t sure she believes him, she takes it upon herself to look into the murder—made all the more urgent by the discovery of another body. And another.
🍂 My thoughts:
I read this in the summer and for some reason didn’t get around to writing a review so here I am! If I’ve read it months ago and can still remember it… I know I enjoyed it! This was the first book I’ve read by this author, although I’ve had Delicious Monsters on my TBR for a while now and totally plan on reading it soon! I loved the family dynamics in the story and of course that it was dark and twisted. I personally did not know who did it but I am still happy I was kinda close to guessing. I do remember it taking me some time to finish it because it is on the thicker side (same, Tender Beasts, same) but my interest was never lost! I’m actually surprised I can still drink whole milk without issue after reading this honestly.
Thirty pages in I knew this was going to be five star read
This was my first Liselle Sambury book and I’m so glad I wasn’t disappointed I loved all the characters especially sunny and dom
The whole milk man concept was so creepy and I thought it was rly cool that basically this creepy monster lived inside you and you had to sacrifice to keep it happy and the whole sour milk part 🤢and I think the mothers journal entries added such a good Tuch to an already spooky story (I originally thought that the story was about Dom turning into a beast but I was pleasantly surprised learning this book was more less about actual beasts and more figurative beasts)
The ending was a little hard to comprehend because so much was happening but it was still rly interesting
Throughout the whole book I felt so bad for Dom and everything that he went through from getting arrested to not even having his family like him I’m rly glad him and sunny became so close
I also thought it was rly amazing how Sambury dealt with such hard topics in her book like how both Dom and Jeremy get treated, how the mom and dad got treated at the farm, and people wanting Dom to be charged as an adult when he was fifteen like whattt
I was waiting for this book forever and I can’t wait to read more of her books ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
What happens when the matriarch of the powerful and wealthy Behre family dies unexpectedly? A strong family comes together and tries to pick up the pieces, right? In their attempt to do so, the Behre’s family bond seems to be in disarray.
Ainsley Behre left behind her husband and five children, each with their own set of personal issues. Sunny, Ainsley’s youngest daughter, believes she should become the new matriarch because of her ability to remain calm under pressure. It was imperative the family showed a united front when the school they operated, Behre Academy, opened for the first day of school. Dom, Sunny’s brother, has been accused of murdering his girlfriend, and of course, that’s not good PR.
But as soon as school starts, a student is murdered in a horrifying way, with Dom found next to the body with blood on his hands. To make matters worse, a strange woman has been frequently roaming the campus, warning Sonny about the “Milk Man.” Who is this Milk Man? Is Dom a serial killer or is something more sinister transpiring?
The pacing of this book is slow, and sometimes Sonny’s dialogue felt repetitive. Ok girl, we know you’re FAKE! I was hoping the climax was going to be epic, but unfortunately, it did not GIVE like I wanted, and the ending was easily predictable.
If you asked the me of 2016/2017 would she ever think of reading horror, she'd flat-out refuse.
Now? If it's by a BIPOC author, I'm definitely intrigued.
What are the lengths you'd do to protect your family? What are the lengths, the sacrifices you'd go to maintain that perfect image? And what happens when the mantle of responsibility is passed down and everything that was done to maintain that order must be your sole mission? That was what our main character, Sunny has to wonder as she tries to protect the brother deemed to be dangerous by the family while uncovering the dark secrets of her mother's past that connect to the murders being done at their school.
I couldn't put this book done. I seriously was glued to the pages, and despite my mixed feelings on the big twist and ending, this was seriously so good
3.5⭐️ Omg, what did I just read??? I had fun reading this book! Even though I had no idea what to expect, it was an enjoyable read. I did notice that the writing felt a bit repetitive at times, and there were parts where the author included more information than was necessary. I didn't think the characters were likable, but Dom was the only character I liked and felt sorry for. I recommend this book to anyone who is into Horror and Mystery books.