Girl of Lore, Melanie Dale
Girl of Lore, Melanie Dale
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Girl of Lore

Author: Melanie Dale

Narrator: Helen Laser

Unabridged: 1388 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/21/2026


Synopsis

A girl who’s used to battling the monster of her own mind discovers there’s a sinister evil lurking in her small town in this atmospheric, paranormal upper middle grade novel that “will be a hit for fans of the Wednesday series” (Booklist).

Stories of dark magic and even darker creatures have always swirled about high school sophomore Mina Murray’s town of London, Georgia. Mina knows they aren’t true—and are likely perpetuated only to drive the quirky tourist-trap ghost tours of downtown—but that doesn’t stop her from collecting the stories and drawing them in her sketchbook. Something about the possibility of real monsters helps her deal with the monster in her own head: her OCD, which convinces her danger lurks everywhere.

To prove to her adoptive parents and therapist that she doesn’t struggle with being social, Mina founds the Lore Club with her best friend, Jackie, and invites other classmates to join her in digging into the odd history of their town. Their investigation turns up more than Mina was expecting, including a pattern of someone going missing every time a sinkhole forms.

Then a new sinkhole appears, and Mina finds a body drained of blood and learns a classmate is missing. Unable to hold onto her skepticism, Mina and her fellow club members dive into the tangled web of London secrets…that seems to have Mina herself at the center.

About Melanie Dale

Before embracing her love of monsters and sneaking into Mina’s fictional world, Melanie Dale published a bunch of nonfiction books, shambled around as a zombie on TV, and survived cancer. She’s written episodes for the anthology horror television series Creepshow and over a decade of essays for Coffee + Crumbs. While she has won no awards for literature, she won a Halloween costume contest one time and still feels pretty stoked about it. When she’s not writing, she’s teaching yoga or battling her own brain. She lives in the Atlanta area.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Keshia on April 21, 2026

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This novel follows Mina Murray as she becomes entangled in a supernatural mystery involving vampires, a hidden legacy tied to the Carfax family, and an ancient entity known as the Old One. As strange event......more

Goodreads review by Ann on April 12, 2026

One of the few gothic horror novels that I've even been able to read all the way through was Bram Stoker's Dracula. Though I read it many years ago, too many to remember it as vividly as some might, I'm still familiar with it enough to recognize some of the plot points in Girl of Lore by Melanie Dal......more

Goodreads review by Tonja on April 17, 2026

Town's secrets and myths swirl with dark undertones to create a read, which is packed with danger, drama, and more. Mina suffers from severe OCD, her mind constantly shoving everything into category, sense, and place. She fights through each day in her mental, jumbled mess, and if that wasn't bad eno......more

Goodreads review by Leah on March 09, 2026

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc! This was...not my cup of tea, for several reasons. Still, a worthwhile contender for YA/middle grade readers. 1. While the premise was solid, I think the author is trying to do too many things at once, and the story is weighed down because of it. This book simultaneous......more

Goodreads review by Mark on March 15, 2026

What worked: Mina is the main character, and she has a variety of issues. Her psychiatrist says it’s unlikely that she’ll ever act on her thoughts of stabbing people, and her OCD is how her body maintains control. She doesn’t know how to get along with people, and she’s not sure why popular, pretty J......more