See full review at https://booksbeyondbinaries.blog/2019/06/24/spooky-books-for-sunny-seasons/ ( )

Received via NetGalley for review.

Skye and her family move to a new town, and Skye sees this as an opportunity to truly start over. She's tired of protecting her weird sister, Deirdre, who doesn't even try to be normal. But while the move is good for Skye, Deidre retreats into herself and becomes ever more angry and isolated, eventually going missing. Skye realizes that she would do anything to get her sister back. Bérubé could have spent a little more time showing the depth of that relationship between the two of them, instead of relying on the fact that they're sisters to carry Skye's devotion to Deidre. There are some memories presented, but they're so emotionally complex (and Skye's more recent relationship with her is so complex) that it muddies it a little bit.

A beautifully atmospheric and creepy book with a nice twist at the end. I love stories that portray fairies as as mischievous and cruel, and, boy, does this book deliver (I guess the book never technically calls them fairies or anything else, but they sure seem to fit the bill). Skye is truly tested in her devotion to her sister, and succumbs to the darkness inside without really much protestation.

There's darkness in all of us, and a willingness to use our power for what are really selfish reasons, and that's something that needs to be acknowledged. Certainly, Skye struggles with it, and there could have been more exploration of Kevin's struggle with it, to really tie it all together. ( )

This book is a roller coaster ride through dark monster filled woods and the human psyche! Bérubé has woven an intricate story in Here There Be Monsters.

The story hits the ground running when Skye is woken in the middle of the night to find out that her younger sister Deirdre is missing. Deirdre is more than just typical-little-sister-annoying: she’s been challenging her whole life. She is unruly, wild, doesn’t want to bathe or comb her hair and it happier outside up to her knees in mud than anywhere else. Skye, on the other hand, wants to be normal. They’ve just moved to a new town and Skye wants to start over… reinvent herself.

At first, Skye thinks that her sister is off somewhere in the woods and just wants attention but soon enough, she realizes there is a lot more going on. There is something in the woods… and it’s creeping up on Skye…much like her own past.

What I loved about this book is that the story isn’t just about the monsters we come up with in our imagination. The monsters in this story are very real and very dangerous. As Skye tries to play the game the monsters want her to…she has to come to terms with her own past and the possibility that she is also a monster.

I don’t want to give away the plot of the story. Bérubé does a wonderful job of unfurling the tale at just the right pace.

If you’re a fan of Young Adult horror then you should definitely pick up a copy of this book. The writing is dark and descriptive, the characters compelling and complex. The main character is sixteen years old but keep in mind this is a scare book and there is a fair amount of violence. ( )

*I WAS PROVIDED A PHYSICAL ARC BY THE PUBLISHER IN RETURN FOR MY HONEST REVIEW. THIS DOESN’T AFFECT MY OPINION*

Going into this, I’ll admit, I’m normally not the first person to sign up for anything horror related. I’m not well experienced with the genre, nor am I a humongous fan of it. However, overlooking my normal judgement of the genre, I took a leap of faith and tested this book out for my liking.

The results were mixed.

Here There Are Monsters starts out by stealing your breath. It jumps straight into the synopsis description, with a family frantic to find their missing Deirdre. Skye, our main character, is in disbelief and denial, claiming that her sister is just playing a game for attention.

Something that kind of stuck out to me was the fact that the characters lacked in certain aspects. For one, Deirdre was made to just be creepy. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing for this certain genre, it felt like she lacked any thought process other than “be creepy”.

Skye’s character was the most important one of the story, and I do felt like she was created wonderfully. I felt the emotion when something happened with her, and while some of those scenes may have not made entirely too much sense to me, I was still able to grasp what the character was feeling.

I’ll admit, a good chunk of this book had me questioning what exactly was going on. Especially the climax, falling action, and resolution.

For that, I rate this book 3.75 stars. This book was alright. I wasn’t the biggest fan of it, but it was okay. ( )