The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James (#36 in 2020)
In 1982, Carly's Aunt Vivian went missing. The last place she had been seen was when she was working at her late-night job at a seedy motel called The Sun Down in Fell, NY. Even though she never had the chance to meet her aunt, Carly feels drawn to the mystery and heads to Fell to investigate her aunt's disappearance only to uncover some secrets that should have remained hidden.
I really really liked Broken Girls (St. James' last book). It had such a good balance between realistic fiction and fantasy. With Broken Girls, the reader is constantly back and forth between believing in the supernatural and still trying to find a reasonable explanation. With The Sun Down Motel, I felt like that questionable back and forth was lacking. This doesn't make the book bad by any means, but it was less of my style of reading. I enjoyed the "is it a spirit or isn't it" from Broken Girls, and I just felt like the supernatural elements in The Sun Down Motel were more clear cut.
I also figured out a number of the twists fairly early on, which sort of ruined certain parts of the plot for me. I felt like I saw things coming from pretty far away and just witnessed my own brainstorms materialize.
I did really enjoy this read because I like St. James' writing style and the way she develops her characters. I think part of me went into this read expecting to love this one as much as I enjoyed Broken Girls and Sun Down just fell a little short. Let me say it now - I'm NOT done with Simone St. James. I'll just be patiently waiting for her next book in the hopes that it blows Broken Girls out of the water. 3.5 stars
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