What do you think?
Rate this book
A Song in the Dark
Not yet published
Expected 14 Apr 26From the author of
Hearts Still Beating
comes a chilling and romantic supernatural novel set in a small town with dark secrets, about a teen girl who falls in love with a ghost.
Every summer for the past twenty years, a kid from Blackridge has disappeared, snatched away and never seen again.
It’s not the ideal town to relocate to, but after a tragic accident kills Jo’s best friend, her mom drags Jo and her siblings to the small, haunted town to start fresh. They move into an old house, and quickly, Jo learns they are not alone. Flickering lights. Radio stations that inexplicably change. A cold, faint breath across her ear....
Then she meets Finn. Finn is mysterious and sweet, and he shares Jo’s passion for music and songwriting. There's just one problem—he's a ghost. And he’s not the only one in the house. There are two others, and more that came before them.
As Jo and Finn grow closer, Jo believes that he and the other spirits are connected to the missing kids whose disappearances have devastated Blackridge. Desperate to hold on to the one bright spot in her dark world, she must unravel the mystery of what happened to them all before she loses Finn forever.
Every summer for the past twenty years, a kid from Blackridge has disappeared, snatched away and never seen again.
It’s not the ideal town to relocate to, but after a tragic accident kills Jo’s best friend, her mom drags Jo and her siblings to the small, haunted town to start fresh. They move into an old house, and quickly, Jo learns they are not alone. Flickering lights. Radio stations that inexplicably change. A cold, faint breath across her ear....
Then she meets Finn. Finn is mysterious and sweet, and he shares Jo’s passion for music and songwriting. There's just one problem—he's a ghost. And he’s not the only one in the house. There are two others, and more that came before them.
As Jo and Finn grow closer, Jo believes that he and the other spirits are connected to the missing kids whose disappearances have devastated Blackridge. Desperate to hold on to the one bright spot in her dark world, she must unravel the mystery of what happened to them all before she loses Finn forever.
336 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication April 14, 2026
2 people are currently reading
4788 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 24, 2025
3.5
i love writing about grief. i love reading about it. i'm happy to report that this book portrayed it wonderfully. it checked all the boxes of what i wanted to read. jo's narration felt realistic, characteristic of a teenage girl who has lost more people than someone so young should have (she's just lost her best friend in a car accident, her dad is barely in the picture, her sister is distant, and she has lost herself). she's jaded, cynical, and understandably so. every metaphor hit me in the feels. it's one of those books that makes you wish you'd written them.
it's the paranormal part that fell a bit behind my expectations. another review highlighted this in a much better way than i can articulate, but there were some inconsistencies with the way the ghosts were portrayed and their nature + behavior. i won't get into it now because of spoilers, but there were some headscratchers that kind of took me out from what could have been a really cool concept.
the villain plot and the reveal weren't too impactful. they were just.... eh. at least their reasoning to do what they did was well explained and it fit well with the themes of the book, but villain monologues bore me, and i would've rather seen it be hinted throughout the book instead of having the villain info dump it at the end. the epilogue also felt a bit disjointed? but it can serve as an interesting sequel hook.
overall, i really enjoyed this. the portrayal of grief is the real superstar here.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review!
i love writing about grief. i love reading about it. i'm happy to report that this book portrayed it wonderfully. it checked all the boxes of what i wanted to read. jo's narration felt realistic, characteristic of a teenage girl who has lost more people than someone so young should have (she's just lost her best friend in a car accident, her dad is barely in the picture, her sister is distant, and she has lost herself). she's jaded, cynical, and understandably so. every metaphor hit me in the feels. it's one of those books that makes you wish you'd written them.
it's the paranormal part that fell a bit behind my expectations. another review highlighted this in a much better way than i can articulate, but there were some inconsistencies with the way the ghosts were portrayed and their nature + behavior. i won't get into it now because of spoilers, but there were some headscratchers that kind of took me out from what could have been a really cool concept.
the villain plot and the reveal weren't too impactful. they were just.... eh. at least their reasoning to do what they did was well explained and it fit well with the themes of the book, but villain monologues bore me, and i would've rather seen it be hinted throughout the book instead of having the villain info dump it at the end. the epilogue also felt a bit disjointed? but it can serve as an interesting sequel hook.
overall, i really enjoyed this. the portrayal of grief is the real superstar here.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review!
arc-tbr
November 6, 2025
Want to read
November 9, 2025pre-read notes:
ARC received! Paranormal romance and mystery? Say less, this is going to be greattt 🤭🩵
ARC received! Paranormal romance and mystery? Say less, this is going to be greattt 🤭🩵
November 28, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for providing this book, with my honest review below.
A Song in the Dark is a book I eagerly looked forward to having been a massive fan of Brooke Archer’s Hearts Still Beating. While it’s very different in focus from that book it does further prove that Brooke Archer’s name is going to be well known in the YA space.
Jo is our main character, having moved to a small town, Blackridge, with her family that is on edge all summer waiting for the other shoe to drop. See Blackridge has experienced a kidnapping of a child every summer for the past few years and as a result it acts the opposite of most small towns, early curfews and a careful eye out on kids running around enjoying themselves. Jo doesn’t seem to mind it much given she’s grappling with the searing grief and guilt of losing her best friend in a crash they were both in, feelings that were beautifully written. The paranormal parts of this book were really refreshing as (despite being based on tragic mysteries) they brought some humor and light heartedness to the heavy shroud Jo has around her.
The book goes so much deeper and wider than all this but its marriage of the dark and light was so well done, as was the journey to self realization and growth.
But this is what really excited me - completely out of nowhere - THAT EPILOGUE! I didn’t believe this was at all related to Hearts Still Beating until the very last sentences. My goodness, so unexpected but such an amazing moment. It may be a little unexpected for those who didn’t read that book (and you don’t have to) but for Brooke’s fans this is everything!
A Song in the Dark is a book I eagerly looked forward to having been a massive fan of Brooke Archer’s Hearts Still Beating. While it’s very different in focus from that book it does further prove that Brooke Archer’s name is going to be well known in the YA space.
Jo is our main character, having moved to a small town, Blackridge, with her family that is on edge all summer waiting for the other shoe to drop. See Blackridge has experienced a kidnapping of a child every summer for the past few years and as a result it acts the opposite of most small towns, early curfews and a careful eye out on kids running around enjoying themselves. Jo doesn’t seem to mind it much given she’s grappling with the searing grief and guilt of losing her best friend in a crash they were both in, feelings that were beautifully written. The paranormal parts of this book were really refreshing as (despite being based on tragic mysteries) they brought some humor and light heartedness to the heavy shroud Jo has around her.
The book goes so much deeper and wider than all this but its marriage of the dark and light was so well done, as was the journey to self realization and growth.
But this is what really excited me - completely out of nowhere - THAT EPILOGUE! I didn’t believe this was at all related to Hearts Still Beating until the very last sentences. My goodness, so unexpected but such an amazing moment. It may be a little unexpected for those who didn’t read that book (and you don’t have to) but for Brooke’s fans this is everything!
October 26, 2025
I received a copy of this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway.
Spooky mystery story about kids going missing and a ghostly romance that sets up an interesting premise with the missing kids in town and the main character's paranormal experiences, but then the ghost stuff often doesn't really make that much sense, and the ending is disappointing both in the reveal of the villain and the larger story it hints at.
The main character, Jo, has lost her best friend Harper in a car accident, and so her mother decides to take Jo and her younger sister and brother and move to Blackridge, where Jo's aunt Paige lives in an old house, and children disappear every summer from the town. The book sets up an effectively spooky atmosphere with the disappearing kids in town and the old house, along with Jo's past trauma from the accident and the loss of her friend. Jo then comes to realize that there are three ghosts in the house, and she's able to see them and talk to them, while everyone else cannot. She grows closer to Finn, the teenage ghost who's friendly and shares an interest in music with her, and his twin sister happens to be Jo's coworker at the bookstore. But she might eventually lose Finn, which makes her determined to figure out what happened to these ghosts and what's happening to the disappearing kids.
The ghost stuff of course requires some suspension of disbelief, but it also just doesn't really make sense under even a bit of scrutiny. Much is made of how the ghosts have trouble interacting with things in the real world unless they really concentrate, so they can sometimes turn the dial on the radio or move silverware, but can't really reliably interact with every object. But then how are they able to walk everywhere without falling through the floor? How do they sit on couches and beds without worrying about falling through them? They also cannot seem to leave a certain area around Jo's house, but the reason why is never adequately explained, and it seems to be just for plot convenience, so that they can't be present or helpful in certain scenes. I understand that it's all fantastical and made-up, but it still needs to be consistent to some degree.
The ending is also kind of a letdown. The reveal of the villain is not all that surprising, since there's only so many suspects that are introduced in the story, and the villain turns out to be a cartoonishly villainous figure, in complete contrast to how they are presented before then. There's even a secret facility involved, straight out of the crazy villain handbook. The book then goes on in an epilogue to hint at some much larger, international conspiracy, which feels completely out of place after this small-town, intimate story with teenagers. Is the intention that it's a setup for further books? The tone and setting of the epilogue are so completely different from the book that precedes it that it was jarring to read.
I found the setting well done and the premise interesting, but I was let down by some of the nonsensical ghost rules and the ending that is both cartoonishly stereotypical in the villain reveal and also completely jarring in its change in tone in the implications of a much larger plot.
Spooky mystery story about kids going missing and a ghostly romance that sets up an interesting premise with the missing kids in town and the main character's paranormal experiences, but then the ghost stuff often doesn't really make that much sense, and the ending is disappointing both in the reveal of the villain and the larger story it hints at.
The main character, Jo, has lost her best friend Harper in a car accident, and so her mother decides to take Jo and her younger sister and brother and move to Blackridge, where Jo's aunt Paige lives in an old house, and children disappear every summer from the town. The book sets up an effectively spooky atmosphere with the disappearing kids in town and the old house, along with Jo's past trauma from the accident and the loss of her friend. Jo then comes to realize that there are three ghosts in the house, and she's able to see them and talk to them, while everyone else cannot. She grows closer to Finn, the teenage ghost who's friendly and shares an interest in music with her, and his twin sister happens to be Jo's coworker at the bookstore. But she might eventually lose Finn, which makes her determined to figure out what happened to these ghosts and what's happening to the disappearing kids.
The ghost stuff of course requires some suspension of disbelief, but it also just doesn't really make sense under even a bit of scrutiny. Much is made of how the ghosts have trouble interacting with things in the real world unless they really concentrate, so they can sometimes turn the dial on the radio or move silverware, but can't really reliably interact with every object. But then how are they able to walk everywhere without falling through the floor? How do they sit on couches and beds without worrying about falling through them? They also cannot seem to leave a certain area around Jo's house, but the reason why is never adequately explained, and it seems to be just for plot convenience, so that they can't be present or helpful in certain scenes. I understand that it's all fantastical and made-up, but it still needs to be consistent to some degree.
The ending is also kind of a letdown. The reveal of the villain is not all that surprising, since there's only so many suspects that are introduced in the story, and the villain turns out to be a cartoonishly villainous figure, in complete contrast to how they are presented before then. There's even a secret facility involved, straight out of the crazy villain handbook. The book then goes on in an epilogue to hint at some much larger, international conspiracy, which feels completely out of place after this small-town, intimate story with teenagers. Is the intention that it's a setup for further books? The tone and setting of the epilogue are so completely different from the book that precedes it that it was jarring to read.
I found the setting well done and the premise interesting, but I was let down by some of the nonsensical ghost rules and the ending that is both cartoonishly stereotypical in the villain reveal and also completely jarring in its change in tone in the implications of a much larger plot.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Young Readers Group, and Brooke Archer for the opportunity to read and review an Advance Reader Copy of this book!
If you enjoy A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder mixed with paranormal elements, this book is absolutely for you.
I was fully engrossed from the very beginning. The first ~30% of the book focuses heavily on grief as we follow our FMC and get grounded in the world, the town, and its atmosphere. The worldbuilding was strong, and once the paranormal elements were introduced, everything started clicking into place. We slowly begin to understand why this town is so strange and why so many things feel “off.”
I really loved the paranormal and mystery aspects of this story. One thing I appreciated was how the book gives you enough information to figure out who did it without ever outright stating it too early. As someone who reads a fair amount of mystery, I will say the answer felt fairly straightforward, but I was never 100% certain. It was more of a “this person seems most likely” feeling rather than a guaranteed conclusion, which kept me engaged.
The friendships and romance were another highlight. I did cry a little while reading, and I thought the themes, especially grief, were handled with a lot of care. Seeing how different characters processed loss in their own ways felt very real and meaningful. The romance was especially well done; it truly felt like a friends-to-lovers story, with a lot of tenderness, patience, and natural connection between the characters.
My only very tiny gripe is the epilogue. What was that?! I typically enjoy ghost-focused paranormal stories, and other paranormal elements don’t always work for me—so for my own peace, I’m choosing to pretend the epilogue doesn’t exist haha.
4.75 ☆
Thank you again to NetGalley, Penguin Young Readers Group, and Brooke Archer for the opportunity to read and review this Advance Reader Copy!
If you enjoy A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder mixed with paranormal elements, this book is absolutely for you.
I was fully engrossed from the very beginning. The first ~30% of the book focuses heavily on grief as we follow our FMC and get grounded in the world, the town, and its atmosphere. The worldbuilding was strong, and once the paranormal elements were introduced, everything started clicking into place. We slowly begin to understand why this town is so strange and why so many things feel “off.”
I really loved the paranormal and mystery aspects of this story. One thing I appreciated was how the book gives you enough information to figure out who did it without ever outright stating it too early. As someone who reads a fair amount of mystery, I will say the answer felt fairly straightforward, but I was never 100% certain. It was more of a “this person seems most likely” feeling rather than a guaranteed conclusion, which kept me engaged.
The friendships and romance were another highlight. I did cry a little while reading, and I thought the themes, especially grief, were handled with a lot of care. Seeing how different characters processed loss in their own ways felt very real and meaningful. The romance was especially well done; it truly felt like a friends-to-lovers story, with a lot of tenderness, patience, and natural connection between the characters.
My only very tiny gripe is the epilogue. What was that?! I typically enjoy ghost-focused paranormal stories, and other paranormal elements don’t always work for me—so for my own peace, I’m choosing to pretend the epilogue doesn’t exist haha.
4.75 ☆
Thank you again to NetGalley, Penguin Young Readers Group, and Brooke Archer for the opportunity to read and review this Advance Reader Copy!
October 28, 2025
I won a free copy of this in a Goodreads giveaway. Here is my honest review:
'A Song In the Dark' is an interesting mix of supernatural/paranormal YA and 'murder' mystery with an obvious conclusion.
Jo is back in the small town her mother grew up in after having moved there from the city. They're looking for a new start after Jo and her best friend Harper got into a car accident that only she survived. The new town and living with their aunt are supposed to help her out of the shell she's been in since that day. Maybe, she'll even start making music again.
This isn't just any small town, though. Every summer for years, a kid has gone missing - just vanished, poof! - as if they never existed. And their house isn't normal either. It's haunted! Not by your average ghosts, but by the spirits of some of those missing kids.
As I mentioned, there's a bit of a 'mystery' here, but it's extremely obvious what was behind it all. It was heavily foreshadowed. There were so many hints. There was really only one plot twist that got me to raise an eyebrow - everything else was predictable.
As a ghost or mystery story, this book is just ok. Where this truly shines is in its depiction of grief, blame, survivor's guilt, and learning to move on and live life again after tragedy. There were many realistic examples of love destroying people - even the villain of this story fits well into this theme.
3.5 because, even though I'd never reread it, I'm glad I gave it a chance this time. Also, kudos for a YA novel with a cute and healthy romantic relationship - even if that wasn't the focus. Also, supportive family dynamics that are also believable for the win.
'A Song In the Dark' is an interesting mix of supernatural/paranormal YA and 'murder' mystery with an obvious conclusion.
Jo is back in the small town her mother grew up in after having moved there from the city. They're looking for a new start after Jo and her best friend Harper got into a car accident that only she survived. The new town and living with their aunt are supposed to help her out of the shell she's been in since that day. Maybe, she'll even start making music again.
This isn't just any small town, though. Every summer for years, a kid has gone missing - just vanished, poof! - as if they never existed. And their house isn't normal either. It's haunted! Not by your average ghosts, but by the spirits of some of those missing kids.
As I mentioned, there's a bit of a 'mystery' here, but it's extremely obvious what was behind it all. It was heavily foreshadowed. There were so many hints. There was really only one plot twist that got me to raise an eyebrow - everything else was predictable.
As a ghost or mystery story, this book is just ok. Where this truly shines is in its depiction of grief, blame, survivor's guilt, and learning to move on and live life again after tragedy. There were many realistic examples of love destroying people - even the villain of this story fits well into this theme.
3.5 because, even though I'd never reread it, I'm glad I gave it a chance this time. Also, kudos for a YA novel with a cute and healthy romantic relationship - even if that wasn't the focus. Also, supportive family dynamics that are also believable for the win.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
I loved this book. This is the book I wanted to tell everyone about and get people to read. It is well-written and atmospheric and a great exploration of grief.
And then we had the epilogue. The epilogue is so jarring. It kind of insults the rest of the book. I highly encourage the editor and author to nix it before publication. As far as I can tell (not having read her other work), I think it is supposed to link this book to the author's previous work. However, there is nothing in the promotion of this book that says it is related to the previous work so for those of us who haven't read it, it is not a great addition. It did not make me want to read the previous work. I feel like those who have read the previous book could make the connections the author wanted them to make without it and the book would be better for it. Also, I would be more interested in reading the previous work if I read people talking about how excited they were about that connection without it being an incongruous addition to this otherwise amazing book.
Or I could be wrong and it could be a set-up for a sequel which still doesn't make me happy.
UGH. I talked myself into rating this three stars instead but because of this new verification system Goodreads is not letting me change my rating. UGH.
And then we had the epilogue. The epilogue is so jarring. It kind of insults the rest of the book. I highly encourage the editor and author to nix it before publication. As far as I can tell (not having read her other work), I think it is supposed to link this book to the author's previous work. However, there is nothing in the promotion of this book that says it is related to the previous work so for those of us who haven't read it, it is not a great addition. It did not make me want to read the previous work. I feel like those who have read the previous book could make the connections the author wanted them to make without it and the book would be better for it. Also, I would be more interested in reading the previous work if I read people talking about how excited they were about that connection without it being an incongruous addition to this otherwise amazing book.
Or I could be wrong and it could be a set-up for a sequel which still doesn't make me happy.
UGH. I talked myself into rating this three stars instead but because of this new verification system Goodreads is not letting me change my rating. UGH.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews