Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Burden Falls, a small town with its own beliefs, one being about “Dead-Eyed Sadie” – a 100 years old ghost of a girl. There are those who claim to have seen her, but the others dismiss her as just fiction.

Ava Thorn, witnessed a terrible accident a year ago, one that turned her life upside down. While she calls the incident an accident, she is still skeptic about the legend of Sadie.She’s still recovering from that trauma, and things get worse for her when one of her classmates is found dead by her, making her a prime suspect. Her quest for answers is prompted by the discovery of another body & she’s now compelled to unearth the truth about Sadie.

Is this all the doing of Sadie – the ghost, or is it the work of a killer on loose, with a vendetta against Ava?

It took me a while to get engrossed in everything that was happening in Burden Falls, but once I was there I could not stop reading. The book has the right amount of horror and suspense to spook you, but you can’t stop reading for the need to find out the truth. If you read this book before bedtime, ensure you’ve not only shut your windows but also drawn the curtains; you wouldn’t want to get delusional, seeing similar reflections.

The suspense was pulled of really well, it took me sometime to build my theory on certain aspects, but I definitely didn’t guess it all. The entire revelation left me with a sense of “What..? Why…?”. The way the revelation was conveyed was so cinematographic that I could visualize what was happening. I thought the ending was the most engaging, since the author kept a sense of humour even in the most difficult situations, which was such an essential aspect of the characters throughout the novel.

I loved that in spite of a proper closure of the plot, the ending leaves a dangling feeling.

The premise of this book is really captivating, and it hooked me from the start. The main character Ava does not have an easy life. She lost both of her parents in a horrible crash, and now her enemies – the family responsible for her parents’ untimely death – moves into her home, the manor in the apple orchard that was her family’s for centuries. Very much to take in, right? Especially for a teenager.
And not only that – suddenly, Ava starts seeing ‘Dead Eyed Sadie’ everywhere – the famous ghost of her hometown’s local legends and spooky ghost stories. Is it the grief and sadness she is experiencing that’s responsible for that, or is the actual ghost of Sadie after her? Or is it somebody or something else altogether..?
While I really liked Ava, I thought the other characters could have been fleshed out a little more. However, I can say that the book, to me, was much more plot-driven rather than character-driven, and once I heard about the local legends and Ava’s family story, I wanted to start solving all the mysteries and was much more focused on that. Other than these obvious plot points, we also get many surrounding themes such as the typical high school drama (that is a liiittle more extreme here), obiously some romance thrown in, and also friendship and family motifs that I find very important in my reads. Together with the ghost stories, the mysteries, the enemies, the horrible secrets and things that happened in the past, the author managed to weave a very gripping tale perfect for a rainy weekend.

Kat Ellis definitely knows how to write a good horror story. I liked the way Ava started the investigations, and how she didn’t just sit and wait for more to happen like many girls in old horror movies did. The setting is very atmospheric, the old mansion, the waterfalls, the darkness around the otherwise so lovely sounding apple trees. Ava’s new home that houses owls (or something else?), and Burden Falls with its dark secrets and scary history give the whole story a very nice spine-tingly atmosphere. Very much like Harrow Lake, once you’ve started reading about Burden Falls, you know that something in this place is very wrong, and you don’t want to stop the book before you haven’t reached the end and found out what that is.
4 stars from me!

Wicked Little Deeds is terrifying. Not one to read alone in bed at night. It's a fantastic read that I found myself reading in one sitting, just because I had to see what happened next.

The twists, the twists!

I loved this book, it was so atmospheric and spooky, and a nice twist on the "family curse" trope of horror. The setting was so wonderfully described, and the characters were well-rounded. Can't wait to read more of Kat's books - I read Harrow Lake and knew that I would be adding everything she writes to my "must read" pile.

This was a fairly solid, YA mystery that had me intrigued from start to finish. The writing was probably my favourite part of this book. The author has such a talent for creating an eerie and atmospheric read that keeps you unsettled and guessing throughout the entire book. This is my first introduction to Kat Ellis and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of her writing in the future.

' Wicked Little Deeds' follows Ava Thorn who lost her parents in a brutal car accident. She has been forced to move out of the only home she has ever known only to find out that the one buying her home is the man who killed her parents in that car accident. Things take a turn for the worst when Ava becomes the primary suspect of several murders that have been happening across the town. Slowly questions are being brought up, and secrets are being revealed. The first question is who is killing the local kids.

I did find the build up to the final conclusion a bit too slow for my liking-- I am generally not a fan of slow burn thrillers or mysteries. However, if that is something that appeals to your taste then you might enjoy this one. Other than that, the writing was phenomenal and really atmospheric.. You almost feel like you are right there with the characters and trying to solve the mystery. I did not see the twist at the end, so that was nice surprise.

3 stars.

This was so good. All gothic and horrifying, a cross between The Ring, The Grudge, Scream and I Know What your family did a few centuries back, with a dash of Romeo and Juliet thrown in.

Kat Ellis has created a truly spooky mystery thriller with lots of twists and turns. I did manage to guess who done it but literally only just before the book’s characters. I was led a merry dance with all the missteps and clever authorly suggestions too.

The Burden Falls legend of Deadeyed Sadie added a spooky layer to this murderous tale and I definitely got that horror movie heart racing vibe whilst reading this. I also loved that the manor and setting became a character in this tale too.

Full of newspaper clippings, family feuds and a hit teen version of Most Haunted this is a book to read with the lights on and 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 A film to watch with the lights off! I just hope I don’t get nightmares like Ava 😱😬😴.

Main character Ava is a intriguing heroine, one who maybe isn’t an innocent as she seems. Is there curse on her family? And will she be the one to survive it?

Wicked Little Deeds is out now so don’t delay, read and scare yourself today!

Thanks to Dave at The WriteReads and the publisher for the gifted ecopy for the purposes of an honest review.

Wicked Little Deeds is a brilliant YA horror novel set in the small, creepy town Burden Falls haunted by the legend of Dead Eyed Sadie. When people begin to show up murdered like Sadie was, Ava must find out the truth or go to jail because she's the main suspect. The story is creepy and filled with twists. It blends supernatural with thriller perfectly. Highly recommended! Be sure to check out Wicked Little Deeds today!

Another fantastic YA horror by Kat. I loved the whole book. I actually managed to guess who the culprit was which made me feel super smart. I will 100% pick up anything else by Kat Ellis, definitely recommend.

I loved this book! It's a thriller with supernatural elements, set in that staple of horror fiction, small town America. One of the things I really enjoyed about it is the way it played with feuds between bloodlines, from the distant past right up until the children of today, presented them as "just the way things are" but then slowly revealed the real reasons behind the bad blood, both from the stories of the past to the way things look when seen from another perspective. It is clever and sharp, with a perfect blend of originality with accepted horror tropes. Kat Ellis really knows her horror, and like in Harrow Lake, it informs her writing beautifully.
The pacing is superb throughout too, with the whole thing building up slowly and creepily to a breathtaking finale.

Ava Thorn is the sole survivor of a car accident, killing both of her parents only a year ago. Whilst trying to carry on as normal, she is having a hard time in doing so and faces a lot of struggles that come with her family name and the curse that comes with it. The legend is this; a young woman, Sadie, who died centuries ago in the hands of Ava’s grandparents, will appear just as you are destined to die. Sadie is a legend in the town of Burden Falls and a fascination to Ava – until the myth of her gouging eye’s out, becomes a reality and Ava starts to lose the people close to her, and possibly her mind. The town’s legend soon begins to make more appearances than ever and Ava is always the person to see her, along with other terrifying visions. So, when bodies start to show up for real and all possible connections lead to Ava, she has to give it her all to prove the town that Sadie, a legend, a ghost, is committing these crimes.

Wicked Little Deeds is a thrilling and fun read, with a strong main character and supporting cast. They were all likeable and never dismissed Ava’s worries and concerns, they never belittled her for the way she was feeling and was always there to lend a helping hand in finding out what was truly happening behind the murders. There is a little slice of romance within the pages for Ava, which gave the book some lightness during the darker chapters and it was really welcomed. Although the book does start off rather slow, Kat really does make up for it and takes you on the journey of a lifetime. And that plot twist!? I was so enthralled with Ava getting to the bottom of everything, that I didn’t even stop to think for a moment as to who could be behind such vicious acts, and whether or not it really was the ghost of Sadie – therefore, when all is revealed, it did leave me with my mouth hanging wide open and I am so glad I didn’t sit and try to predict, because it was a brilliant shock to experience! All in all, with Autumn slowly creeping up on us, if you are in the mood for an enticing thriller, you are in for a treat with this one.

Kat Ellis is a master of YA thrillers!

I don't know how she managed it, but Wicked Little Deeds is somehow better than Harrow Lake, and I absolutely loved Harrow Lake. I just could not put this book down, and if it hadn't been for work I would have read it in a day.

Although I had an inkling of what was really going on, I really did not expect that ending.

I cant wait for Ellis's next book!

After reading Harrow Lake by Kate Ellis last year, I knew I wanted to read more of her books. She has a fantastic way of using the town to add atmosphere and tension in such a way that the place itself almost becomes another character.

In Wicked Little Deeds the town of Burden Falls becomes as much of a persona as the actual humans and lore that live there.

With her fantastic descriptions of the mist covered falls and the plethora of ‘evil-eye’ carvings everywhere, you really get the sense of this town steeped in legend and superstition. I was getting X-Files, Riverdale, Twilight Zone vibes of a place suffocating and narrow where the lines between reality and the supernatural are blurred. It evoked such a strong response that I actually dreamt about Burden Falls.
The characters themselves were many and varied and yet each managed to stand out in their own way. Ava, as the MC, was flawed but realistic and her PTSD and attitude were both understandable and sympathetic and yet she never tipped over into victimhood. Dominic wasn’t your usual misunderstood teenage boy or mean boy. Uncle Ty was both guardian and heart-broken brother with a drinking problem that wasn’t a copy-paste ‘alcoholic’ adult figure.

In fact all of the characters were so nuanced that they all felt incredibly realistic and it was easy to feel for them. (Except Mr Hamish who can suck it.)

Even the legend of Dead-Eyed-Sadie came alive and you really began to believe she was real.
I have a nasty habit of guessing the twist or the murderer quite early on in most books and movies. I’m rarely surprised by whodunnits and, honestly, it can get a bit annoying. But, hand on heart, until chapter 34 I was guessing along with everyone else. It was one tiny action that made things click and I was genuinely excited to see if I was right.

I hadn’t got it all and some of the reveal was a total surprise. This is, in my opinion, what make a great thriller. When the foreshadowing isn’t rammed down your throat but, afterwards, you could kick yourself for missing the signs.

I thought it was clever and entertaining and reminded me of reading Point Horror books back in the day. There was that sense of genuine anticipation and enjoyment.

Wicked Little Deeds just exudes the perfect blend of twisty mystery, supernatural suspense and atmospheric thriller that will have you gripped until the last page.

Woah what did I just read? I haven't read many Ya horrors/thrillers but this is seriously good!

Burden falls a small town, well off the beaten track is filled with superstition and apparently haunted by a girl who was killed and her eyes removed, aptly named Dead Eyed Sadie.
None are more familiar with local legend than Ava Thorn.
Ever since witnessing a tragic accident that killed both of her parents, she's suffered from nightmares.
When people start going missing and turning up dead with their eyes removed the whole town is freaking out, but as the victims get closer to Ava, she becomes a suspect. Can she prove her innocence and solve the murder of her friends? Losing grip on reality and dealing with grief she relies on her Uncle Ty and his wife Carolyn to support her.
Times are hard and made harder by the fact her Uncle Ty has sold her family home to her worst enemies, The Millers, one of whom was driving the car that killed her parents. Who can Ava trust? And what exactly is going on in Burden Falls?

Kat Ellis literally had me in the palm of her hand from the first chapter and never let me go! Wicked Little Deeds is super creepy, atmospheric and completely captivating.
The whole book has you second guessing who is reliable and who isn't and I love books like that. The ending is explosive with twists I could never have guessed, so unexpected and actually so clever! I couldn't recommend this book enough and will definitely be seeking out more books from this author.

You would think that this book will start nice and slow, build up the momentum and mystery but NO.... this book just throws you into it's pages from the get-go.... the mystery and thrilling moments just keep going strong, and OH MY GOD that ending.... just WOW...
Okki so i kinda figured who is who but i also kinda wished it wouldn't be that person... you know that feeling when reading a mystery and at a certain point you go " please don't let that person be the villain" .... yeah ... up till the end i was hoping but it came true.... never the less... it was a Happy good ending.
So in the end here is what you are going to do... you will sit down like me and order a nice little copy of this book and you will find the coziest space on the couch, plunge on and binge-read it.
Not but seriously i HIGHLY recommend the book if you like thriller mysteries.

After my enjoyment of Harrow Lake I couldn’t wait to read Burden Falls. I’m not sure why the book is now being called Wicked Little Deeds, but I’m pleased to say it was another great read. Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read it before publication.
Ava Thorne was in the car accident that killed her parents a year ago. She is clearly still struggling to come to terms with her loss, so when her family home is sold to the man she blames for the crash that killed them we know things are not going to be smooth sailing. Ava feels the feud between the Thornes and Millers is alive and well, and tie this in to a town rumour about a vengeful ghost called Dead-Eyed Sadie and we have the makings of the perfect blend of supernatural and horror.
While watching Ava dealing with the upheaval in her life we also get the rather chilling story of unexplained deaths in the town. At least three teens have been found dead, and police are not convinced all are linked. Ava and her new (reluctant) friend Dominic Miller are convinced there’s more to this than the police know and try to do their own investigating.
Opening this book was like opening a can of worms. Once we uncovered one secret the way was paved to finding out a lot more hidden truths. Ellis misdirects us more than once, and there’s a range of plausible stories resented to us. I couldn’t help but root for Ava and Dominic, while also feeling sorry that they had got caught up in such seriously messed up circumstances. While the story behind the events of the book may be rather mundane, they build to an exciting climax and the supernatural element was always hovering in the background. Sometimes, not everything can be explained.

There were unfortunately a few things that I did not enjoy with this book. First it randomly mentions Covid in response to why masked parties (as in masquerade) started. Covid is never mentioned again, there is no one wearing masks, no one concerned about distancing etc. When we do go to a masked party, the masks are all traditional eye/disguise masks- not face masks. This just felt really annoying to me as if it was trying too hard to be relevant. There was a lot of tell, not show, and I did not believe in the love plot line at all.
Saying all that, it was definitely creepy and I think if you enjoy YA horror then you will enjoy it. Not for me, but I can see it being enjoyed throughout spooky season.
CAWPILE: 4.71 (low 3*)
Characters- 4. I didn't like the MC, and I didn't believe in any of the side characters motives.
Atmosphere- 6. Credit where credit is due, it was a creepy setting and made me look over my shoulder
Writing Style- 5. As I said, too much tell not show. I don't know why I was meant to hate The Millers, there were a lot of other plot points that I was told, but not shown why I was meant to feel that way, but I won't mention because spoilers
Plot- 5. It was OK. fairly predictable, but the creep element helped it.
Intrigue- 5. Again, fairly predictable, there were a couple twists I didn't expect, and these came out of no where, if there had been subtle hints I would have preferred it.
Logic- 3. Nothing made sense to me. This goes back to the tell not show, there wasn't enough world building to believe in anything that was happening.
Enjoyment- 5. It was fine. I'm unhauling because I'm not going to read it again. Objectively, I can see people enjoying this, it just wasn't for me.

Wicked Little Deeds by Kate Ellis is a Young Adult thriller story. This is my first Kate Ellis book and most definitely won't be my last!
From its creepy town mascot to the story of its cursed waterfall, Burden Falls is a small town dripping with superstition. Ava Thorn knows this well - since the horrific accident she witnessed a year ago, she's been plagued by nightmares.
But when her school nemesis is brutally murdered and Ava is the primary suspect, she starts to wonder if the legends surrounding the town are more fact than fiction.
Whatever secrets Burden Falls is hiding, there's a killer on the loose, and they have a vendetta against the Thorns...
A creepy and dark mystery that even heldba dash of romance for me, I couldn't get enough. Ava Thorne is struggling to see the brighter side of life in Burden Falls, but when your Uncle sells the family home to the worst person in the world, it isn't surpising. As well as her parents dying the year before and, as the story unfolds she becomes the main suspect in the murders that are happening in the town. I felt for Ava straight away. The murders that she is suspected of are not pretty, in fact Kate Ellis has brought some pretty gruesome killings to Burden Falls.
The characters are all really well done, as I said I really felt for her, her strength shines through in the story and I felt like I was with her throughout. Burden Falls itself, for such a small town has a lot of creepy myths and happenings. I loved this, I was hanging on to every, single word...just waiting for the next shock to arrive! The author hasn't missed a beat when it comes to bringing the dark and eerie to the story, I had goose bumps at certain times while reading this book too!
If you love a dark, creepy proper murder mystery that is so well written you feel like you are part of the story look no further, it is here.
A massive thanks to The Write Reads, the publisher and Netgalley for my gifted copy of the book to bring my own views on this tour.

Kat Ellis opens the curtain on this small town thriller with the introduction to our protagonist, Ava Thorn. Ava, a senior in high school, has been ousted from her childhood home, the manor and grounds of the once-thriving Thorn apple orchards which has been owned by the family for generations. To make matters so much worse, it's been sold by her uncle to the one person Ava despises most—the man who collided with her parents' car and who she blames for her parents' deaths—Madoc Miller. When one of the Millers turns up dead and Ava is the one to discover the body, rumors start to fly of Dead Eyed Sadie, a blight upon the Thorn family history. But is Sadie really behind the death or is it less supernatural?

The small-town setting of Burden Falls is absolutely dripping with superstitions from Dead Eyed Sadie to the drawings of the evil eye everywhere. This is one small town where the roots go deep and sometimes tear themselves out of the grave to haunt you. It's impossible for everyone in town to not know what's happening and easier for the rumors to spread. To make things even more interesting, Dead Eyed Sadie is a harbinger of death for the Thorns. It's rumored that every Thorn who has died has seen Sadie right before death and Ava even has first-hand knowledge of that with her dad's sighting right before the wreck. Is Dead Eyed Sadie for real? It's hard to know for sure. There's a crosshatching of supernatural and natural that is surprisingly effortless here.

Ava is an interesting MC. High schooler. Outsider. Bloody Thorn. The death of her parents is fresh in her mind as it only happened last year. She has the added benefit of being right there in the car with them when it occurred and those seconds are etched on her mind and heart. Typically, teenage protagonists annoy me. They are self-centered and vapid. While some of the side characters (looking at you, Ford), definitely had no inkling how to think of anyone but themselves, Ava is fallible and yet still lionhearted and intelligent. She's also grieving and attempting to come to grips with what her new life holds. On the outside, she's fine but internally, she's just trying to hold it together. Anyone who has ever endured grief like this knows that every day you might wake up with a completely different emotion than you had the day before. That made Ava much more relatable with the layers of emotions that she experiences. From our external viewpoint, we still know that Ava is an incredibly unreliable narrator. She dreams things that feel real and has moments of seeing things that are there—until they aren't. She doesn't even know if she can trust herself to know the truth. It's a fantastic trick to make the reader second guess everything but Ava is so vulnerable that you want desperately to believe in her.

This is one of those mysteries that the person you least expect is always the person you should most suspect. I can't say there were any surprises in the end given that formula but I enjoyed the ride. Even though it's technically YA, Ava's maturity has been thrust upon her and made her read much older. Great characters with complicated relationships start you down this dismal path but the urban legends, dark familial history, and a splash of blood will keep you there until the end.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great storyline with excellent characters. I would highly recommend this book as it was a great read.