you can't go home again

Beckett Bowery has spent twenty years not going home again. She had grown up in a small Virginia town with a good college. Her parents had taught at the college, so she got a free ride after high school. But things went badly her last year there, and she ended up finishing her degree in England. That was where she met Trevor and got pregnant.

Beckett adored her daughter Delilah, but she was not ready for her to graduate high school and go to college. Especially when Delilah announced out of the blue that she was going to Wyatt Valley for college, and that she’d gotten a full scholarship. Beckett had never told her daughter about what had happened to make her leave, and she’s worried that Delilah will find out the truth on her own.

There is a tradition, the Howling, an annual hazing of the freshman students by the seniors, that happens every fall. It’s a sort of hide-and-seek, with freshman running through the woods in the snow. The high schoolers from town know all about it too, so they like to go out there and mess with the college students. Beckett knew all about it, from growing up in town. She knew her way around the college, including the tunnels that were underground, connecting the buildings. And she knew how to get the master key to the tunnels from her dad.

Back then, her senior year, she had made plans for the night with her roommate and best friend Adalyn Vale. But it turned out that Adalyn had made plans of her own, and two local men had ended up dead. Adalyn had disappeared after that night, leaving Beckett to face questions that she didn’t have answers for. In the years since, Delilah would come to town to visit her grandparents, but Beckett stayed away. Until it was time for Delilah to start school.

Delilah does okay at school for a while, but the night of the Howling, Beckett gets a phone call from her. Delilah doesn’t say anything, but Beckett can hear the wind, the howling. Then the phone goes dead. And Beckett can’t get ahold of Delilah again. So she once again heads back to Wyatt College. And Beckett can’t help but feel like what’s happening to Delilah is related to what happened all those years ago. She is heading home to find her daughter and face her past, to save Delilah from her the sins of her mother.

You Belong Here is a twisty slow-burn mystery about the secrets of the past and how they bleed into the present. Bestselling author Megan Miranda brings her powerful writing voice to this story of secrets and lies and kept me guessing with red herrings and breadcrumbs. The more I learned about what happened in the past, the more I could make sense of what was happening in the present, and I thought it all came together brilliantly. I really enjoyed this story and had trouble putting this book down to do anything else.

Egalleys for You Belong Here were provided by Marysue Ricci Books through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.