This seemed like it had the potential to be a great book, as the concept was unique enough, and overall was good but did fall flat in places.

This book was a DNF read unfortunately, thank you for sending it to me however! I hope I get more opportunities to try this author's work

I am no longer interested in reading this book. I am very thankful for the opportunity given to me to read it and I wish the author the best.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

I’m not sure why Louise O’Neill was mentioned in the details as I didn’t see a link while reading, and it was the sole reason for the request.
That said, it was an interesting read and kept my attention until the end.

I found this book difficult to get into and ultimately did not end up finishing it. It may be one which other readers enjoy, but ultimately was not for me

Psychics, rituals, hauntings and death, what does your future hold?!
This tale takes you on a journey of grief, magic and what really happened to your friend

Slow to get into but once you do it grips you.
It’s dark and not recommended for younger readers.
I did love it once I was hooked.

Stylish, dark, haunting, immensely enjoyable. Love this book and will recommend to anyone looking for a totally new YA voice.

Hard to know what to say about this one. It's rather lush, full of whimsy, but with a deep, dark side and a generous helping of twists. The writing, the fanciful scenery and outlandish characters put me in the mind of a gothic historical thriller, but it's set in the present day, which makes for a slightly muddling juxtaposition, but it's no worse off for it - just different. It certainly gripped me, with the fervency of a good ghost story, and kept me enchanted up until the last page.

The book takes places in the countryside not far from London, but it oddly vague in its descriptions. Ever since her mother died, Kitty has felt like a guest with her foster family, the wealthy Bramleys that live in the castle on the hill. Kitty’s boyfriend, Nikki, died under mysterious circumstance with the Bramley’s grieving in separate corners of their home, Kitty sets out to find the psychic who read Nikki his fate. Instead she finds Roan, an enigmatic boy posing as a medium who belongs to the Life and Death Parade–a group of supposed charlatans that explore the thin veil between this world and the next. Through this, Kitty gets familiarised with the Life and Death Parade, a group of individuals who perform dark magic tricks for tourists. I found that this book makes you believe in the magic and blurs the lines beautifully between fantasy and reality.

The characters in this book are delightfully complex, have plausible chemistry and made for an odd but harmonious cast. Kitty at first is a bit mopey and unlikable, but I enjoyed seeing her character growth. Nikki, who is almost Kitty’s exact opposite. The other members of the family are eccentric and strange yet believable. The most mysterious character is Roan, he is deep and creepy and a real joy to read. The characters from the Parade are unique, with just the right amount of creepiness to feel the unsettled atmosphere.

The Life and Death Parade is a fast-paced and fun read. It has some dark elements to it, so I don't recommend it to those who are looking something more romantic although it does have some sweet moments. This book was not about young love, it was about how people react to death, which made for a fascinating read. I was amazed by Eliza's skill using word choice and sentence structure to create a wonderful creepy atmosphere, while pulling ideas back and forth through the novel, creating a beautiful work of art. Although this is a short book it’s incredible how Eliza was able to pack so much emotion in, I admire Eliza's ability to beautifully tell such a full and satisfying story

This book would be great for those who enjoy thrillers with some supernatural elements.

This was a slow starter but it built and burned and slithered inside my brain until I was racing through the final chapters. I loved the sense of surrealism that blurred the ever-shifting lines between magic and reality, madness and sanity.

A departure from the style of her debut <i>In the Dark, In the Woods</i> (US title <i>The Cresswell Plot</i>), Wass delivers a tense and tantalising read. Would recommend for readers age 15+

Right from the start I didn't connect to the book or the characters because it was very fast paced and I felt like the book shouldn't have had a modern day setting. The plot moved really fast and for the majority of the book there's nothing really going on until the ending part. Even then everything's rushed and there's really no real atmosphere built for the 'life and death parade' part. I also thought the book was just a weird mix of different things that did not really go together. 

2/5

This was slow to get into, but so beautiful once I got into it. It was filled with mystery and madness, slowly revealing piece by piece of information about what happened to Nikki, while also exploring the mysterious Life and Death Parade.

I loved how the Life and Death Parade was so involved in everything. How it starts out with just a simple fortune reading but slowly turns out to be so much more rooted in Kitty's life than it first seems. It also just felt so real. All the magic is so hidden away, covered in scams and spectacle so that it feels like it really could exist, tucked away in the secret areas of a travelling carnival type show.

It was just so beautifully written. It's so evocative, filled with magic and a wonderfully constructed mystery that once I'd got passed the first chapter, I was completely hooked.

Going into The Life and Death Parade I wasn’t completely sure what I should expect but I knew that there were going to be some supernatural elements which is what I was the most interested in. I have to say that the one resounding issues with this book is that there it isn’t developed to the level I was hoping for. I thought the storyline and characters had so much potential that just wasn’t built upon. But it was an overall okay read for me, but it’s not something I would reach for again, unfortunately.

I really enjoyed the supernatural elements but as with the rest of the book they felt underdeveloped and rushed. I struggled to understand Ronan’s place in the story and the way that he fit in with the story and how he became a part of the family. I just thought that the way everything ended up working out needed a little more development and explanations, ESPECIALLY as he had such a big impact on the family and the way they operated.

What I did love about The Life and Death Parade was the flashbacks to Nikki and his descent into his madness, I thought that these we well-written and well spaced throughout the book to keep the mystery alive. It was definitely what drew me into the book and the story, it was also what kept me reading through. They were the shining moments throughout the entire storyline. Plus the twist at the end was really well played out and something I really enjoyed. Plus I hadn’t really seen it coming which is always an added bonus.

I think my resounding thought on this book is definitely that it should have been longer, with a lot more development of the plotline and the characters this book really struggled with unanswered questions and basically confusion on all sides. I was just left a little bewildered and wanting more.

I would recommend this book but make sure you’re aware that there are limitations in the story and the way it’s told. Saying that you might really love the simplistic nature of the characters and the storyline. But it just wasn’t for me.

A castle, wealthy family (who are all a little strange) and a young girl who has been taken in by them but doesn’t fit in. Ingredients for a rather unusual read.
When Nikki visits a carnival he sees a psychic who predicts his death. A year on he is, indeed, dead and those left behind are struggling to accept their changed circumstances.
Kitty is determined to find this mysterious psychic and work out what happened. She finds The Life and Death Parade, a strange carnival where everyone deals with illusion. Encountering Roan, Kitty comes up with a plan to help the family move on. What she gets is far odder.
A little like The Cresswell Plot I spent large amounts of time thinking I’d missed something. The way this is edited makes it feel rather disjointed and this is quite an unsettling experience. Things do get resolved by the end, but not quite in the way I expected.
Thank you to NetGalley for granting me access to this in exchange for my thoughts.

Gripping, inventive, twisty & atmospheric gothic thriller which explores themes of grief, family & belonging. It's a haunting read, with great shelf appeal for teens.

Kitty grew up in Bramley House after her mother died, but it's never really felt like home. Nikki the son of Lord Bramely however, is her best friend and maybe something more. But when Nikki visits a fortune teller, she tells him he as no future. A few months later he has died. The story of how and why unfolds through flashbacks.

I enjoyed this novel but I feel that the jacket copy is misleading. It makes it sound more like a carnival fantasy instead of what it really is which is a story about grief that tips magical realism into fantasy at the end. If you've ever lost someone you'll recognise Kitty's need to make sense of it and her desperate wish to make it unhappen.

It would have been better to get to know the characters a bit better before the death but it's really more about how the we respond to grief rather than the specifics of the relationships.

The Life and Death Parade is an atmospheric YA novel that combines an eerie secret travelling occult group with a depiction of grief across a family. Kitty had a complicated relationship with her sort-of boyfriend Nikki Bramley, who she grew up alongside and whose family home she now lives in following the death of her mother. However, now he's dead, after a psychic told him he was going to die, and the Bramleys are all dealing with his death in different ways. Kitty tries to find the psychic who told Nikki his fate, but instead finds a strange medium, Roan. Roan seems like he could be the answer Kitty is looking for, with powers to talk to and maybe even bring back the dead, but she's not sure he's not a charlatan, even when the strange rituals and mysterious group lead her towards memories of her mother.

This is a novel filled with eerie and dark elements: the old castle that the rich Bramleys live in, the rituals and occult, intense obsession, and a strange group called the Life and Death Parade that Kitty decides she must track down for answers about Nikki and about her mother. Wass weaves a narrative that combines these with far more down to earth elements such as grief, love, and uncertainty. This makes The Life and Death Parade a book that feels far more real than its occult parts might suggest: something more like the fleeting magic of urban fantasy or the unnerving mysticism of the Bacchanalia from The Secret History.

Kitty is an interesting and unusual protagonist, who has lost almost everyone and needs to find something to fight for and a reason to keep fighting. Trying to work out what happened to Nikki and if there's anything she can do about it may serve that purpose, but the novel—for all its occultism—ultimately shows that people need to find ways to move on. Nikki's siblings Macklin and Holiday are also engaging, with Macklin's struggle with guilt and Holiday's extreme reactions helping to create the image of a messed up family in a moody old castle. And crucially, Roan works well as a mysterious and possibly dangerous figure, brooding over the death of his boyfriend and seeming to be a rock star medium who could solve the Bramleys' problems.

The Life and Death Parade is a gripping novel, part story about grief with hints of magic and part thriller featuring a mysterious stranger. It will appeal to people who like their books with eccentric characters, complex love and obsession, and a dash of something otherworldly, whether young adult or otherwise. This is a book to read for the story, which becomes difficult to put down, and for the creation of an eccentric and intriguing cast and atmosphere.