Review Detail

Fern, Jaq, and Mallory never felt safe coming out. There was one place they did feel safe. A hidden abandoned house in the woods where the urban legend of the Patron of Port Promise resides. You make a wish and he keeps you safe. Only the friends find out there is a horrible cost. A cost that is rewoken years later when they start remembering the 'truth' of who they are. Even more frightening is the knowledge that they might know the truth behind the disappearance of Mallory.

What worked: Perfect twisty thriller with a paranormal presence that erases an individual's truth. It's now senior year and Fern and Jaq are no longer close. But an encounter in the woods has memories resurfacing. Memories that are painful but also have both of them question their true identities.

Think urban legend so-called Patron of Good Deeds meets paranormal conversation therapy. Both girl's parents have a certain vision for their futures. Jaq's parents are conservative Christians. Jaq even has the perfect boyfriend. Fern is on track to follow her older sisters in theater. Only Fern can't push aside the thought she's not a girl, but something else.

Once the girls remember their times with Mal, the pieces of the puzzle come back together. How they found safety with each other in a town that refused to accept who they were. It's then that Jaq and Fern reconnect and go back to the place where it all started. In the process, they help not only Mal but themselves.

What I really enjoyed about this thriller had to be Fern and Jaq struggling with emotions resurfacing on who they were. Fern finds that the animosity she feels toward Kaitlyn might be something more. Jaq no longer feels that her long-time boyfriend John is the one. Even though she feels an attraction to Devyn, she tries to fight it off.

Modern queer horror tale that is timeless with not only its story of survival but with it's message of hope. Another winning tale by author Natalie C. Parker.