Kyrie McCauley

All the Dead Lie Down

She felt she'd played with death, saving one life only to condemn another. It was how Evie must feel all the time: responsible.

And on the other side or responsibility lay all her guilt– an unbearable weight she'd carried.

At least now she wouldn't have to carry it alone.

In that moment, Marin understood that fear had a limit. A threshold that it couldn't pemetrate.

"Sacrilege," Evie said. "But fine. Coffee."

"Oh, that woman thought the sun rose and set just for you, sweet one."

"I think my anxiety all these years was really grief just waiting on the tragedy to strike."

"I can't handle anymore skeletons in the closet."

Maybe it was the dark magic in Evie's hands, bringing Marin fully back to life. Marin, who had felt grief like it was woven into her and fear ever present in her mind, dictating her every waking thought and choice. The world "what if" had been her constant companion and constant threat to her peace.

All of that dissipated with Evie's touch.

This is not romantic. Do not ever do this to a performing musician or you risk a heart attack. I'm dead serious.

But Marin reached anyway, like she couldn't help it, and tucked Evie's hair behind her ear, knocking her hair pin loose so it clattered against the keys before falling to the soft carpet below.

"And I don't know about you, but I'd rather spend my time caring for the living than fearing the dead."

I would read a book titled Requiem for the Living.

It was just there– at the edge of her vision. It was just there, at the end of her dreams, in that final moment before she woke. But when she took her daughter's small hand in her own and led her through the moss-covered gravestones, the child's eyes shone bright and curious, and she ran from the safety of her mother's grasp, content among the ghosts of her ancestors.

"All women have a goth phase, Marin. We all need to mourn. Some of us just choose to show it on the outside."

Lovelace House was a sliver of a splinter caught under her nail, and despite her unease, and no matter how it hurt, she kept pressing, letting it dig itself deeper.

Really embracing the "dead" in "dead poet" here

Memento mori: Remember, we must die. Meant to serve as a reminder if mortality. Memento vivere: Remember, we must live. Meant to serve as a reminder to not take life for granted, to live it to the fullest.

If you are looking for something to be afraid of, you'll find it.

All the Dead Lie Down was such a creepy and chilling read. The writing was hauntingly beautiful and kept me on edge until the very end.

The story follows Marin, who just lost her mother in a horrific accident. Marin’s favorite horror author and mother’s childhood best friend offers her a nanny position after the accident. However, Lovelace House is rumored to be haunted or cursed by the townspeople. The children Marin is asked to care for are mischievous and quite creepy. One child is cold towards Marin and wants her gone. As Alice’s oldest daughter, Evie, returns home unexpectedly, darker and twisted things begin happening. 

These characters are all well developed. Each one has a personality of their own and they are written perfectly. To me, this story was equally character driven as it was plot focused and it was executed extremely well. 

This was my first sapphic horror and it is definitely not my last. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

britt

was slow in the beginning, but i just really wanted to find out what the FAWK was going on.

I was kind of bored with this the whole time. I liked the characters, but the ending was definitely rushed and confusing. I don't 100% understand what happened. Also, WHAT WAS IN THE LETTERS?!

Holly

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for the advanced copy (even though the AI-generated voice is a horror novel unto itself.)

A chilling and suspenseful sapphic horror. Toes the line of having too many "ingredients" but draws most of them together for a satisfactory ending.

TW: parent death, PTSD, flashbacks to train crash (mildly graphic), gore & body horror

Liz Griffin

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for the advanced copy (even though the AI-generated voice is a horror novel unto itself.)

A chilling and suspenseful sapphic horror. Toes the line of having too many "ingredients" but draws most of them together for a satisfactory ending.

TW: parent death, PTSD, flashbacks to train crash (mildly graphic), gore & body horror

If you want Stalking Jack the Ripper with a Sapphic romance, this book is for you. The plot twists were twisty. I did not like Marin much.

At first, I couldn't quite comprehend that what I was reading was Kyrie McCauley.

Then I realised what made her books hers was beautiful writing tied in with paranormal fiction. And then it made sense.

If you want Stalking Jack the Ripper with a Sapphic romance, this book is for you. The plot twists were twisty. I did not like Marin much.

At first, I couldn't quite comprehend that what I was reading was Kyrie McCauley.
Then I realised what made her books hers was beautiful writing tied in with paranormal fiction. And then it made sense.

All the Dead Lie Down

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