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Before the Guide: RH Series
Willa Walker just wants to spend her summer relaxing before for her year of high school. Is that too much to ask?
Her nightmares shifting into daytime hallucinations and bring additional symptoms, making her suspect her issues aren’t health related as she’d been led to believe. How long can she continue to blame her body's extreme chills and odd visions as a condition stemming from an abnormal case of diabetes passed down from generation to generation the second she hit puberty?
Of course, there is one upside to all these compiling problems. Willa finds herself on texting terms with several classmates who hadn't spoken two words to her before she went off-roading at a state park and crashed her four-wheeler in front of them.
Her senior year is certainly shaping up to be interesting.
This is a paranormal ghost, why-choose, suspense series with high-plot and slow-burn.
Her nightmares shifting into daytime hallucinations and bring additional symptoms, making her suspect her issues aren’t health related as she’d been led to believe. How long can she continue to blame her body's extreme chills and odd visions as a condition stemming from an abnormal case of diabetes passed down from generation to generation the second she hit puberty?
Of course, there is one upside to all these compiling problems. Willa finds herself on texting terms with several classmates who hadn't spoken two words to her before she went off-roading at a state park and crashed her four-wheeler in front of them.
Her senior year is certainly shaping up to be interesting.
This is a paranormal ghost, why-choose, suspense series with high-plot and slow-burn.
329 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 22, 2025
57 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Mia Smantz
20 books278 followersA little about me. I love to read, write, travel, and drink tea. I especially love it when I can do more than one of those at a time. I have too many different series started, but all of them are definitely reverse-harem. It took me years to finish my first book, and now I have started to publish them.
My style leans towards paranormal, mystery, thriller themes when I write and read. If I'm trying to write, and I don't have time to read until I get inspired, I like to listen to music. That'll usually get me out of a block and back to writing!!
My style leans towards paranormal, mystery, thriller themes when I write and read. If I'm trying to write, and I don't have time to read until I get inspired, I like to listen to music. That'll usually get me out of a block and back to writing!!
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 23, 2025
An exceptional first foray into the paranormal
Now, despite the title, I’m unsure whether the author has previously written other paranormal series, but since The Cardinals isn’t, and it’s what I’ve read in its entirety, I’m basing my review off of that.
Another user said that this book is confusing in its latter portion and simply doesn’t make sense in certain parts - they’re not wrong, but I think this is more of an opportunity for the author to fill in the blanks at a later date than a lack of forethought. Having read her work before, I doubt decisions were made without an at least general outline as to the outcome. All this to say, if the story is confusing now, it isn’t infuriatingly so, and I predict that the answers will be fascinating, when we eventually get them.
The storyline is interesting, full of twists and trauma as to be expected from the author, and with relatively relatable and loveable characters. I generally prefer to read MCs in at least their twenties, so the age did throw me off, but it works well for the purposes of the story.
In short, a captivating story about a 17 year old girl finding her place among unlikely friends, the corrupt town they grew up in, and the mysterious ‘illness’ that seems to plague the women in her maternal line.
Now, despite the title, I’m unsure whether the author has previously written other paranormal series, but since The Cardinals isn’t, and it’s what I’ve read in its entirety, I’m basing my review off of that.
Another user said that this book is confusing in its latter portion and simply doesn’t make sense in certain parts - they’re not wrong, but I think this is more of an opportunity for the author to fill in the blanks at a later date than a lack of forethought. Having read her work before, I doubt decisions were made without an at least general outline as to the outcome. All this to say, if the story is confusing now, it isn’t infuriatingly so, and I predict that the answers will be fascinating, when we eventually get them.
The storyline is interesting, full of twists and trauma as to be expected from the author, and with relatively relatable and loveable characters. I generally prefer to read MCs in at least their twenties, so the age did throw me off, but it works well for the purposes of the story.
In short, a captivating story about a 17 year old girl finding her place among unlikely friends, the corrupt town they grew up in, and the mysterious ‘illness’ that seems to plague the women in her maternal line.
April 26, 2025
Brilliant
This was fantastic, fantastic characters, weird but wonderful storytelling and heartbreaking moments. I can’t believe how much I’ve enjoyed this. Totally recommend.
This was fantastic, fantastic characters, weird but wonderful storytelling and heartbreaking moments. I can’t believe how much I’ve enjoyed this. Totally recommend.
June 9, 2025
For the life of me, I don’t understand how this isn’t more popular! (The only reason I can think of is the horrible book art—I liked the original a bit better.)
In my opinion, Mia Smantz is currently the best—THE BEST—RH writer. I’ve been through a pile of “popular” RH “books,” and it beats me how people read such trash. But I am rarely disappointed with Mia’s work. It happens, but not often.
The slow burn in this is chef’s kiss 👩🍳. It dragged me right out of my RH hate phase. I finally get why I fell in love with RH in the first place—since Academy by C.L. Stone—thanks to this one.
If you love SLOW BURN, this is it—the best I’ve found (as of this year 2025). My ideal slow burn would take characters three books to kiss, but I doubt most people are into that. That kind of pacing means the plot has to be strong, and most RH relies way too much on erotica, which I haaaate. This has it all. (It doesn’t take three books—but it feels natural and makes sense!)
I noticed some people said they missed the descriptions of actual dates, and I sort of agree—but not entirely. I do think there could’ve been a bit more time spent with Ben to make the impact stronger, but overall, it felt natural, and honestly, I wouldn’t want to be present for every single date as a reader. (That would be tedious without anything meaningful actually happening.)
In my opinion, Mia Smantz is currently the best—THE BEST—RH writer. I’ve been through a pile of “popular” RH “books,” and it beats me how people read such trash. But I am rarely disappointed with Mia’s work. It happens, but not often.
The slow burn in this is chef’s kiss 👩🍳. It dragged me right out of my RH hate phase. I finally get why I fell in love with RH in the first place—since Academy by C.L. Stone—thanks to this one.
If you love SLOW BURN, this is it—the best I’ve found (as of this year 2025). My ideal slow burn would take characters three books to kiss, but I doubt most people are into that. That kind of pacing means the plot has to be strong, and most RH relies way too much on erotica, which I haaaate. This has it all. (It doesn’t take three books—but it feels natural and makes sense!)
I noticed some people said they missed the descriptions of actual dates, and I sort of agree—but not entirely. I do think there could’ve been a bit more time spent with Ben to make the impact stronger, but overall, it felt natural, and honestly, I wouldn’t want to be present for every single date as a reader. (That would be tedious without anything meaningful actually happening.)
April 27, 2025
Willa is a sheltered, somewhat naive 17 year old. It’s the summer before her senior year and during a weekend of off-roading and camping she gets noticed by 4 of the popular guys in her class. She starts spending going out with one and some strange things start happening, This is the start of a series, so there are definitely some questions that are not yet answered, but I’m intrigued (and heartbroken) by the ending. I’m excited to see where this series will go.
July 30, 2025
Great Story
Loved the storyline ! Willa is a great character with a lot of mystery surrounding her. The guys are great and I can’t wait to find out more about them. The next book can’t come soon enough!
Loved the storyline ! Willa is a great character with a lot of mystery surrounding her. The guys are great and I can’t wait to find out more about them. The next book can’t come soon enough!
April 25, 2025
Confusing and Unbalanced
I’ve read other books by this author I’ve liked so I was excited to start a new series, but I found this book really confusing. The first 1/3 is literally all spent going into tiny detail about off roading and four wheelers which was super boring for anyone not fascinated or familiar with it, but the character development was intriguing so I waited through the first 1/3 to get to more of the story. The romance aspect was very slow burn which I’m totally fine with, but also kind of lacking details which felt unbalanced compared to the exhaustive detail I had to hear about atvs. Like I would much rather have exhaustive detail on their dates. Then the book takes a total turn which was super aggravating and was rushed through with some plot holes and it was like wtf. I don’t think I’ll read the next book unfortunately as I don’t think I’d trust it would be worth the aggravation along the way to the conclusion. The setup was really strong for a paranormal reverse harem which not every book has or does well, and I liked the main character, so disappointing it didn’t deliver. I’ll hope the next series lands better!
I’ve read other books by this author I’ve liked so I was excited to start a new series, but I found this book really confusing. The first 1/3 is literally all spent going into tiny detail about off roading and four wheelers which was super boring for anyone not fascinated or familiar with it, but the character development was intriguing so I waited through the first 1/3 to get to more of the story. The romance aspect was very slow burn which I’m totally fine with, but also kind of lacking details which felt unbalanced compared to the exhaustive detail I had to hear about atvs. Like I would much rather have exhaustive detail on their dates. Then the book takes a total turn which was super aggravating and was rushed through with some plot holes and it was like wtf. I don’t think I’ll read the next book unfortunately as I don’t think I’d trust it would be worth the aggravation along the way to the conclusion. The setup was really strong for a paranormal reverse harem which not every book has or does well, and I liked the main character, so disappointing it didn’t deliver. I’ll hope the next series lands better!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews