TW: child death & endangerment, strangulation, drowning, homophobia & homophobic slurs, hate crime
I received an ARC from Netgalley
4.4

Snakebite, Oregon is not the place Logan would've picked to spend her time in. First off, because it's a small and boring town, even if it is her where her dads grew up. Second, Snakebite doesn't want any of them there either. And third.... something weird is going on in Snakebite. The weather is strange, a teenager disappeared, and her already distant father is acting ever odder. The town thinks her fathers are to blame, but Logan knows that isn't true- right? On top of it, there's Ashley Barton- part of the family that basically owns the whole place, girlfriend of the missing teenager, and maybe the only one that can help Logan clear her family's name. With small town prejudice, heavy amounts of deja vu, something lurking in the dark, and doomed and poorly timed crush, it's more than either girl can deal with alone.

This is such a fantastic, dark sapphic read. It has everything to completely compel me into not wanting to put it down- the romance is a slowburn, the mystery picks at you from all angles, the characters all have friction.

Starting with the romance, I'm always a big fan of "golden girl meets outcast/rebel", and I love the way it's done here. I was afraid it was going to jump right in between them, and somehow I think Gould actually could have managed to make that work, but the tentative allies into confused friendship is so wonderful and done with just the right amount of tension and shifting feelings- plus, the pacing is perfect. Their chemistry is real, and given the perfect amount of space to grow without taking over the page and overshadowing the mystery.

The mystery itself is always well written. The tension and pacing in this book is great in every area. The way the antagonist was shown reminds me a lot of [b:Sawkill Girls|38139409|Sawkill Girls|Claire Legrand|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1518809258l/38139409.SY75.jpg|56431700], but with even more mystery and dread tied to it, because there's still such a shroud of mystery over what this thing even is. There's a great amount of hinting, and I got so excited by every implication and reveal.

This book is so full of ghosts and creepiness. It nails the up against the world vibes, it hits the romance wonderfully, but it never once forgets that it's a ghost story. The layers make it so good, but it could have easily lost track of itself, and it doesn't. There's a firm foundation of creepiness and the paranormal that gives you all the spookiness the premise promises.

There were a few things I wanted a little more expansion with, some moments that could have had more time devoted to them, but those are just personal wishlist items. Over all, I love what Gould set out to do, and how she did it.