Many thanks to NetGalley, Farrar, Straus and Giroux MCD for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest novel by Sara Flannery Murphy - 5 stars!
Five friends arrive back in Eternal Springs, Arkansas, the small town they all fled after high-school graduation. Now 15 years later, each of them is drawn home by a cryptic, scrawled two-word You promised, as well as a burning, bleeding scar. They are anxious to know why Brandi called them home. But Brandi is missing and the friends are determined to find her. But to do that, they have to revisit the strange group of houses that appear only when they are needed and the strange magic they possessed.
I really enjoyed the author's previous book, Girl One, and this one was even more intriguing. Told in two timelines - late 1999/2000 and 2015, this is a totally immersive world to fall into. It's part coming-of-age, part mystery, part magical realism, but full of friendship, community, second chances. The setting in the Ozarks added to the feelings in the story of young people anxious to escape and start life somewhere else, yet that pull to home and those tight friendships is always there. This sort of felt like a magical Nancy Drew mystery = just what you need to add to your beach bag this summer!
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