Rating: ★★
Audience: YA Mystery
Length: 330 pages
Author: E. Lockhart
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: November 4th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A girl arrives at her long-lost artist father’s isolated seaside compound to find him missing, a mansion in neglect, and three teenage boys whose dark secrets might hold the key to her own family saga.

#1 New York Times bestselling author E. Lockhart delivers a standalone novel in the world of TikTok sensation We Were Liars, filled with her signature beachy gothic atmosphere, family intrigue, and high stakes romance.

Matilda has been through a lot. Her mum has run off to Mexico, her boyfriend has dumped her, and her friends have cut their ties.

So when her long-lost father, the famous and reclusive painter Kingsley Cello, invites Matilda to spend the summer at his seaside home, Hidden Beach, there’s nothing to stop her crossing the country to see him.

When she arrives, instead of a father, she finds a crumbling house in a state of neglect, filled with mysterious paintings and locked towers, and three teenaged

Meer – her open-hearted, tattoo-obsessed half-brother, who embraces Matilda as a sister, but is hiding a dark secret;
Brock – the damaged, professionally charming former-child star who is dealing with more than just the demons of his past;
and Tatum – sullen, wild, and hardworking – who for some reason wants Matilda to leave Hidden Beach as soon as possible.

With Kingsley nowhere to be seen, Matilda must delve into the twisted heart of Hidden Beach to uncover the answers she’s desperately craving. But secrets run thicker than blood, and blood runs like seawater.

And everyone here is lying.

Thank you Get Underlined for the gifted ARC.

IDK Y’ALL.

Honestly after not loving the second book I should have just stopped but I’m committed when handed an ARC so here we are.

I don’t know the point of this one? Its another mystery, but it feels like you can guess the entire thing from the beginning. The writing style didn’t work for me and I didn’t feel any connection between the characters.

There just wasn’t anything engaging about this book.

Overall audience notes:

• YA Mystery
• Language: mild
• Romance: closed door
• Violence: moderate
• Content warnings: loss of life, a loved one with dementia

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