4.5 stars for Dead by Morning (Rituals of the Night #1) by @kaylathewriter9 #bookreview #yalit
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  • N. N. Light
    • Apr 8, 2020
    • 2 min read

4.5 stars for Dead by Morning (Rituals of the Night #1) by @kaylathewriter9 #bookreview #yalit



Title: Dead by Morning (Rituals of the Night #1)

Author: Kayla Krantz

Genre: Supernatural Thriller

Book Blurb:

"He was real, and he was a monster." Obsession is deadly. No one learns that better than Luna Ketz, a pessimistic high school senior. Caught between the intentions of her stern father and business-minded mother, boys are the last thing on Luna’s mind, but this fact doesn’t detour mysterious bad boy Chance Welfrey from trying to gain her affection. Luna doesn’t think twice about him until girls at their high school begin to disappear. Girls who tended to hurt her. Girls she wished would disappear. When she receives a call from a long-lost friend, normalcy goes out the window as she’s plunged into the paranormal. There’s a world beneath the surface of the unconscious mind, and the killer knows how to navigate it. Luna is in danger and although she can avoid the killer, in reality, she cannot avoid him in her dreams. *Rated for mature adult themes and depictions of violence*

My Review:


This is not a book for the lighthearted. This is a book that pulls no punches and takes the reader down a very dark path and never really brings light to the story in any way, shape or form.


Fans of the Brad Pitt classic, Seven, will love this book.

Dead by Morning takes on horror and I personally think this book touches upon the real horrors young people face today. There isn't much that can compare to the horror of bullying. Bullying is a cancer that is wiping out humanity everywhere it happens. In my view, bullying should be a felony punishable by ten years in prison.


A further horror seen in this book is the horror of arranged marriage. Since I last checked, this is 2020 and not 1820. There is NO place for an arranged marriage and any parent who forces that horror on a child should get life in prison.

The other horror that sadly exists today is the horror a child faces because they are a person of color or different religion today. Some of these poor kids don't get enough by being ostracized at school but then have to face the worry their family might not be there when they come home.


A taut, dark thriller that will grip and rend a reader. Not for the faint-hearted but very well written and well detailed in description.

My Rating: 4.5 stars

Buy it Now:







Author Biography:


Kayla Krantz is a proud author, responsible for a number of fantasy novels, and is fascinated by the dark and macabre. Stephen King is her all-time inspiration, mixed in with a little bit of Eminem and some faint remnants of the works of Edgar Allen Poe. When she began writing, she started in horror, but somehow drifted into thriller and fantasy. She loves the 1988 movie, “Heathers.” Kayla was born and raised in Michigan, but traveled across the country to where she currently resides, in Texas.

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Reviewed by: Mr. N

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