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.

Only weeks ago, Avery pulled her best friend, Key, from the deadly black water. The cycle from her family’s Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) stories is finally broken, the black water is now a harmless lake, and her problems are far from supernatural: All Avery wants is a normal summer with Key, her now-boyfriend.

The trauma, however, casts a long shadow over the town. Some victims never returned. Terrifying memories threaten to resurface, but Avery pushes them down. Who she’s really worried about is Key. The two are supposed to be closer than ever—so why does he feel so distant?

Wracked by anxiety, Avery begins to see a chilling reflection in every mirror, one that moves on its own—and she’s not the only one. With her family’s safety in the balance, Avery must decide: Run away to the safety of normal life with Key, or return to lake’s edge and face her reflection, before her home is subsumed by darkness once and for all….

Short and Sweet Review

The Others takes place a few weeks after where The Unfinished left off, Avery has Key back, and she’s broken the curse of the black water, so she’s ready for a normal summer with her now boyfriend. What happened in the past is still bothering Avery, but especially the fact that Key is here but isn’t at the same time, Avery just feels like something is off. When Avery sees her reflection in the mirror but sees it doing things she’s not doing she knows something is very wrong. Avery can either ignore the bad feeling she has or go back to the lake and confront the problem head on.

I’ll start this review off by saying I enjoyed this installment more than the first book. We know all of the characters and the back story of the black water so now we’re seeing the aftermath. After something like that where people haven’t returned and some people don’t even remember what happened it can take a toll. Avery is trying to act like things are back to normal but she’s worried about Key who isn’t back to his normal self which is understandable after what he’s been through. After a night out at the fair and going in the fun house, Avery thinks she sees something but brushes it off. We later learn that her gut instinct is right and there’s something up with the other Avery on the other side of the mirror. Soon we see Avery on the other side and mirror Avery taking her place in the real world. I think this is the creepiest part of the book, seeing Avery on the other side and trying to figure out how to get out, luckily she finds some familiar faces. Throughout the book we see Avery trying to figure out what’s going on with Key and what’s going on with her reflection. I did love that Avery ended up figuring things out and even though she wanted to run the other way she stood her ground. The others are creepy and very believable when our characters interact with them. We also get to learn more about Avery’s indigenous background which was nice to see this explored more in this book.

Overall, if you’ve read The Unfinished and enjoyed it, then you’ll love The Others, it picks up shortly after The Unfinished and it’ll have you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what’s happening in the town now and the creepy vibes just make it that much better.