ALL THE DEAD LIE DOWN By Kyrie McCauley

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

All the Dead Lie Down by Kyrie McCauley
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 5/16/23
Genres: Gothic, Horror & Ghost Stories, LGBT, Mystery & Detective, Young Adult
Pages: 363
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Days after a tragedy leaves Marin Blythe alone in the world, she receives a surprising invitation from Alice Lovelace—an acclaimed horror writer and childhood friend of Marin’s mother. Alice offers her a nanny position at Lovelace House, the family’s coastal Maine estate.

Marin accepts and soon finds herself minding Alice’s peculiar girls. Thea buries her dolls one by one, hosting a series of funerals, while Wren does everything in her power to drive Marin away. Then Alice’s eldest daughter returns home unexpectedly. Evie Hallowell is every bit as strange as her younger sisters, and yet Marin is quickly drawn in by Evie’s compelling behavior and ethereal grace.

But as Marin settles in, she can’t escape the anxiety that follows her like a shadow. Dead birds appear in Marin’s room. The children’s pranks escalate. Something dangerous lurks in the woods, leaving mutilated animals in its wake. All is not well at Lovelace House, and Marin must unravel its secrets before they consume her.

Short and Sweet Review

After the passing of her mother, Marin is now alone in the world. When Marin gets a surprise invitation from Alice Lovelace, an old friend of her mother’s to come and nanny for her over the summer she accepts. Thea and Wren are a bit strange, Thea likes to bury her dolls and hold funerals for them and Wren just goes out of her way to try to make Marin leave. Evie the girls older sister comes back unexpectedly and that when things really start to get weird at Lovelace house. Marin has to figure out what’s going on before she’s taken down too.

The atmosphere in All the Dead Lie Down is what really makes the book amazing. Marin needs to be at Lovelace house because she doesn’t really have any where else to go. Alice Lovelace is an author and she shuts herself in a room most of the time, so Marin mainly interacts with Thea and Wren. The girls play some practical jokes on Marin, but she has nowhere else to go so she tries to brush it off and try to get the girls to accept her as their nanny. When Evie the oldest sister comes back home, Marin starts to see strange creatures in the woods that leave other animals mutilated. Marin ends up having to tutor Evie and there’s some romance there but I wasn’t really feeling it mainly because they tended to have their romantic moments during times when a lot was going on around them. It was interesting to learn the secrets that the girls were hiding and the final thing we learned really made my jaw drop.

All the Dead Lie Down, is a captivating book and I couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed the creepy atmosphere and learning about the girls and the history of Lovelace. Marin is a lot braver than me because I would have been out of there! If you want a chilling book that’s full of surprises to read this summer than this is the book for you!