After a late season hurricane decimates much of the island, Eliza finds a letter from the 80's, purportedly written to a high school girl who wound up dead. Stone Cove Island is by definition an insular place, so I couldn't resist the 'locked room' style mystery that ensued, as Eliza and Charlie delve into the past no one wants to talk about. I really liked the build up to the end of the story, we only know what our seventeen year old Eliza knows, so trying to guess too much of the mystery ahead of time was hard. Myers tosses in some quick twists at the end, but all in all, I really enjoyed the book. ( )

I was curious to read this book when I saw it promoted saying "Stepford Wives meets Stephen King". Like who would not get hooked by that tag line and want to read the book. The author did write this more for the younger teen readers. The mystery that the people of Stone Cove Island were hiding was not portrayed as dark. It was on the lighter side. Even the murder was light so that it did not seem so gruesome. The author did feel like Eliza needed help solving the mystery so she gave Eliza a budding romance with Charlie. Yet the romance was on the sweet side with a few kisses here and there.

Back to the mystery, I was thinking and hoping that this story were be more chilling and dark. Yet as the story went on I could not help but think I have read this story before several times. I did finish it because I wanted to see how the story would end. When it did I was like "ok". I did see some bits of promise in this book and so I will keep an eye on this author and hope her next book is better. ( )