"A boy drowns on dry land, a map appears to a lake that shouldn’t exist, and three teens chase answers through grief, secrets, and a forest that feels alive. Lyrical and uncanny, We Were Restless Things whispers its mystery like a dream you can’t shake."
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Start or resume Shelf TalkThese picks are popular with readers who enjoyed this book. Possible spoilers below.
In We Were Restless Things, did you enjoy the dreamy, lyrical prose that made the impossible lake and ghostly texts feel like a hush over the real world?
If the way Jonas’s impossible drowning and those uncanny messages to his friend unfolded in whisper-soft, poetic language hooked you, you’ll love the lush, myth-tinged voice of Ava Lavender. Walton’s prose carries family curses and first loves with the same shimmering, melancholic beauty that made the woods and water in We Were Restless Things feel sacred and strange.
In We Were Restless Things, did you enjoy the subtle, uncanny magic seeping into everyday life?
You were drawn to how a lake that shouldn’t exist—and messages from a boy who shouldn’t be alive—slipped into ordinary days. In Summer of Salt, a storm-tossed island and its quietly inherited magic shape grief, first love, and a mystery surrounding a beloved bird. It captures that same gentle creep of the unreal into a close-knit community, with tenderness and a hint of danger.
In We Were Restless Things, did you enjoy the shifting perspectives that let you orbit a mystery from every angle?
If you loved circling the truth of Jonas’s death through different voices, The Raven Boys will feel like coming home. Blue, Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah each tilt the supernatural search in their own way—much like how each narrator in We Were Restless Things refracted the lake, the woods, and the lingering presence of a boy who wouldn’t let go.
In We Were Restless Things, did you enjoy that tight, intimate focus on a few teens and the secrets binding their small world?
If the close, almost claustrophobic circle of friends and the town hemmed in by trees and water pulled you in, The Accident Season echoes that intimacy. Over one dangerous month, Cara’s family navigates bruised truths, a missing girl, and a haunting that feels as close as breath—much like the way the forest and the not-quite-there lake pressed in on every choice.
In We Were Restless Things, did you enjoy the haunted interiority beneath the supernatural mystery?
If what lingered for you was the raw, unsettling headspace—the way grief, desire, and guilt bled into the uncanny circumstances of Jonas’s death—The Walls Around Us digs into that same psychological thrum. Two girls and a prison full of ghosts unravel a truth that feels inevitable and shocking at once, echoing the way the lake’s secret reshaped everyone who touched it.
