Month: July 2023

Kate’s Review: “Burn the Negative”

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Book: “Burn the Negative” by Josh Winning

Publishing Info: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, July 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Some remakes aren’t just a bad idea…they’re deadly.

Journalist Laura Warren is mid-flight to LA when she learns that the streaming series she’s about to report on is a remake of a ‘90s horror flick. A cursed ’90s horror flick. The one that she starred in—and has been running from her whole life.

As a child star, Laura was cast as the lead in The Guesthouse. She played Tammy Manners, the little girl with the terrifying gift to tell people how the Needle Man would kill them. But her big break was her last, as eight of her cast and crew mates died in mysterious ways, and the film became infamous—a cult classic of fictional horror that somehow summoned the real thing. Hoping to move on from all the negative press, Laura changed her name and her accent, dyed her hair, and moved across the Atlantic Ocean. But some scripts don’t want to stay buried.

Soon after landing, Laura finds a yellow dress just like the one she wore in the movie. Then the words “She’s here” scratched into the wall in an actor’s trailer. And then people working on the series start dying. It’s all happening again, Laura’s worst nightmare brought to life, and she finds herself on the run with her sister and a jaded psychic, hoping to find answers—and to stay out of the Needle Man’s lethal reach.

An homage to slasher films with a fresh take on the true price of fame, Burn the Negative is a twisty thriller best read with the lights on.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

We all know that of all the great horror film sub genres out there, I have a special place in my heart for a good old fashioned slasher film. I like the melodrama, I like the over the top nonsensical Savini-esque violence, I like the bursts of terror that come out in jump scares that then make me laugh in spite of myself. I also like weird real life strangeness, unexplained things or potential supernatural events. And when those two things come together, well that’s even better. So of course I was interested in “Burn the Negative”, a new horror slasher novel by Josh Winning about a cursed movie called “The Guesthouse” that is being revamped into a series called “It Feeds”, and how the old protagonist went into hiding to escape the notoriety only to be sucked back in. I mean that just screams “KATE, READ THIS!” And in a lot of ways it did everything that I wanted it to… Until it committed one of my most loathed sins of the slasher genre…

But let’s start with the positives! As there are a good amount! “Burn the Negative” is such a fun homage to not only slasher movies, but the lore around certain slasher movies that are supposedly ‘cursed’ films due to the terrible things that happened to various people involved in the productions. “It Feeds”/”The Guesthouse” has vibes akin to “Poltergeist” or “The Exorcist”, both horror movies that are beloved in the genre but have some really sad connections (“Poltergeist” especially: the actresses who played the daughters both died young, Dominque Dunne was murdered by her ex-boyfriend and Heather O’Rourke died of congenital stenosis). Everyone loves the idea of a cursed movie because of the high strangeness and lore of the unexplained, and “Burn the Negative” really runs with it. It also very much feels like a slasher movie, with lots of wacky deaths, a protagonist with secrets and a rough past, and a genuinely freaky “Needle Man” that has perhaps taken on a life of itself after being a horror movie villain whose actor was never actually publicly identified. I would absolutely watch this if it were a horror movie, and it was a quick and engaging read that had me hooked.

I also liked the other aspects of this plot, specifically those regarding Laura, the child star of the film who changed her name from Polly due to the notoriety, and her traumatic childhood as a child actress with an overbearing stage mom. Having this added layer to her character made her all the more easy to invest in, as man can this woman EVER catch a break? But it’s also something that feels like a real life horror to add to the supernatural ones, whether it’s the abuse that Laura/Polly endured from her zealous mother, or the way that it put a wedge between her and her younger sister Amy, or the way that adults involved with the film saw the difficulties she was having but ignored in favor of production, these things were almost more upsetting that The Needle Man.

But. BUT. We once again get a book that feels a need to do a final ‘gotcha’ kind of ending that yanks the carpet out from under the reader. And readers, we all know how I feel about such endings. I do appreciate that with a horror novel that is paying homage to/deconstructing slasher movie tropes and themes, the temptation to do a very slasher-y ending with a ‘but you were never REALLY safe’ is probably very, very present. But I’ve never liked stories that imply safety and release, only to make the antagonistic force come back for a ninth inning reappearance/victory. And I think that the reason it really cheesed my grits in this book is because there ARE a lot of other real life themes and metaphors like child exploitation, toxic parents, trauma, and self hate that it just felt especially galling to me. Sadly this was a situation where I was very ready to give this a pretty high rating, but the frustrating ending bumped it down a bit in my mind.

Hard pass on rugs being pulled out from under me. (source)

“Burn the Negative” is a clear love letter to slasher movies, and a fun take on the dark side of childhood fame and fortune. I wish it had stuck the landing a bit more. I’m interested in seeing what else Josh Winning has to offer horror literature, because there was a lot to like at the end of the day.

Rating 7: A fun homage to horror movies and a take on childhood fame and Hollywood pitfalls, though the ending was a bit hackneyed.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Burn the Negative” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but I think it would fit in on “Slasher Horror Books”.

Joint Review: “Silver Nitrate”

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Book: “Silver Nitrate” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Publishing Info: Del Rey, July 2023

Where Did We Get This Book: We received eARCs from NetGalley and Edeweiss+!

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic comes a fabulous meld of Mexican horror movies and Nazi occultism: a dark thriller about the curse that haunts a legendary lost film–and awakens one woman’s hidden powers.

Montserrat has always been overlooked. She’s a talented sound editor, but she’s left out of the boys’ club running the film industry in ’90s Mexico City. And she’s all but invisible to her best friend, Tristán, a charming if faded soap opera star, though she’s been in love with him since childhood.

Then Tristán discovers his new neighbor is the cult horror director Abel Urueta, and the legendary auteur claims he can change their lives—even if his tale of a Nazi occultist imbuing magic into highly volatile silver nitrate stock sounds like sheer fantasy. The magic film was never finished, which is why, Urueta swears, his career vanished overnight. He is cursed.

Now the director wants Montserrat and Tristán to help him shoot the missing scene and lift the curse . . . but Montserrat soon notices a dark presence following her, and Tristán begins seeing the ghost of his ex-girlfriend.

As they work together to unravel the mystery of the film and the obscure occultist who once roamed their city, Montserrat and Tristán may find that sorcerers and magic are not only the stuff of movies.

Kate’s Thoughts

I always look forward to Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s new books, because I know that I am almost assuredly going to be a well done take on whatever genre she wants to tackle. We’ve seen horror, we’ve seen fantasy, we’ve seen noir, and romance. She really knows how to be a chameleon and jump from genre to genre, and “Silver Nitrate” is no exception. This time we have a little bit of magical realism, a little bit of historical fiction, and a little bit of good old fashioned occult horror. As well as the real life horrors of post WWII Nazis fleeing to Latin America. Man, that’s another thing I love about Moreno-Garcia; she deftly inserts historical context from a place I have little knowledge of into her stories, and I find it so, so fascinating every time.

“Silver Nitrate” is both an exploration of mystic occult intrigue as well as a history lesson in Mexican cinema. I really loved learning all of these historical tidbits about movie history in Mexico, and the film industry in general and the inner workings of it. I was having to go and look into some of her references (okay, many of her references), but that made the experience all the richer because I LOVE connecting historical dots and how it can really elevate a tale. And she always does it in a way that flows very well, never taking me out of the story too much (just enough to go on a tangent or two). The history of Mexican cinema was just such a fun angle to me, and I really enjoyed learning more and seeing that side of the story.

And as for the horror aspects of this story, Moreno-Garcia once again really evokes the creepy in her narrative. Whether it is strange imagery that Tristán is seeing after getting in too deep, or the idea of a cursed film in general, or the very real scares of the idea of Nazis using mysticism as a way to gain power, there are so many unsettling aspects of this book and Moreno-Garcia balances them all. She can do flat out horror, or building unease, and both parts on the horror spectrum fit in very well within the story.

Another delightful story from Silvia Moreno-Garcia! I love that we get new content by her pretty consistently, and I cannot wait to see what kind of genre hopping she takes on next!

Serena’s Thoughts

Another summer comes, another Silvia Moreno-Garcia book to joint review here on our blog! At this point, it’s well established how much we both enjoy this author. But one of the things I appreciate the most is how I can never anticipate what sort of story I will get from her next. Yes, she often incorporates fantasy and horror elements (hence both of our love of her work!), but the exact sort of story is always very different. Last summer found us reading a re-imaging of “The Island of Doctor Moreau.” And this summer we do a deep dive into the 90s and classic Mexican film history.

I’ll be honest, I know next to nothing about this topic, so I spent a large portion of this book with my phone open to Google, frantically researching the various directors and actors mentioned. But, as I said, this is one of the great joys of her work. I also went down several rabbit holes regarding Nazis and mysticism; always a fun time! I really liked how these two seemingly very disconnected topics were woven together so neatly. One thing that stood out to me on this read is the unique approach to fantasy and magic systems that this author takes. That is, she doesn’t worry about it much. Much of the magic in her books is used to enhance the overall tone of the book, with very little put into explaining to readers how exactly any of this works. She’s a perfect answer to the types of fantasy fans who insists that complex systems with clear rules, ala Brandon Sanderson, is the only way to portray magic.

I also really liked our main two characters. Their relationship, a friendship built over decades of knowing one another, was such a true depiction of this sort of rare person in one’s life. Someone who you understand so well that you, on one hand, can’t stand them, but on the other hand, love them more than life itself. I particularly liked the swapped nature of their personalities from the sort that we typically see, with Montserrat taking on the more aggressive, proactive role, with Tristan very much serving as the softer one of the two.

Overall, this was another excellent story by this author. See you all next summer (fingers crossed!), can’t wait to see what we’ll be reading next time!

Kate’s Rating 8: A fun combination of horror, history, and occultism.

Serena’s Rating 8: A fascinating mix of historical deep dives and truly creepy moments!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Silver Nitrate” is included on the Goodreads lists “Vintage Media in Dark Fiction”, and “Non-Caucasian Protagonists in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Paranormal Romance”.

Serena’s Review: “Bonesmith”

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Book: “Bonesmith” by Nicki Pau Preto

Publishing Info: Margaret K. McElderry Books, July 2023

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Gideon the Ninth meets the Game of Thrones White Walkers in this dark young adult fantasy about a disgraced ghost-fighting warrior who must journey into a haunted wasteland to rescue a kidnapped prince.

Ready your blade. Defeat the undead.

In the Dominions, the dead linger, violent and unpredictable, unless a bonesmith severs the ghost from its earthly remains. For bonesmith Wren, becoming a valkyr—a ghost-fighting warrior—is a chance to solidify her place in the noble House of Bone and impress her frequently absent father. But when sabotage causes Wren to fail her qualifying trial, she is banished to the Border Wall, the last line of defense against a wasteland called the Breach where the vicious dead roam unchecked.

Determined to reclaim her family’s respect, Wren gets her chance when a House of Gold prince is kidnapped and taken beyond the Wall. To prove she has what it takes to be a valkyr, Wren vows to cross the Breach and rescue the prince. But to do so, she’s forced into an uneasy alliance with one of the kidnappers—a fierce ironsmith called Julian from the exiled House of Iron, the very people who caused the Breach in the first place…and the House of Bone’s sworn enemy.

As they travel, Wren and Julian spend as much time fighting each other as they do the undead, but when they discover there’s more behind the kidnapping than either of them knew, they’ll need to work together to combat the real a dark alliance that is brewing between the living and the undead.

Review: While I haven’t yet gotten around to “Gideon the Ninth” (I knoooow, what’s my deal??), I have always loved fantasy books that deal with death/ghost magic and necromancy. Dark? Yes. But often that same darkness leads to a lot of delicious action and plot! “Sabriel” by Garth Nix was probably one of my first introductions to this particular subgenre of fantasy, and I’ve been a convert ever since! All of this to say, I knew the moment I saw the awesome cover for this one and read the description that this book would be right up my alley. And that it was!

So, I read and reviewed the first book in Preto’s first YA trilogy, “Crown of Feathers.” It…wasn’t my favorite. But I do love to discover that either an author has improved their style, or that the first go around was just a fluke disconnect in taste! Without having read the second two books in that trilogy, I can’t say whether I would have liked them more due to more confidence in the author’s style or what. What I can say, is that I absolutely loved this one and will be lining up for more as soon as possible!

This book had so many things that I liked. The world-building was interesting, with a history of magical “smithing” families who have different connections to substances like gold, iron, and, of course, bone. What’s more, their land is plagued by the fact that the dead will rise again if they are not put to rest by bone smiths. Such is our protagonist. Wren is everything I love in a heroine. She’s brave to the point of foolish, a bit selfish, but also has the skills to back up a lot of her talk. Naturally, her story is one of finding a balance between her more thoughtless tendencies to rush in without thought and the need to sometimes step back and wait. She also comes from a supremely dysfunctional family, and I loved the unravelling mysteries to be found in Wren’s past.

The pacing and plotting were also tight and fast-paced throughout the story. I picked it up and never wanted to put it down! There were some excellent action scenes, as well as some descriptions and perils that were verging on horror. I was able to guess a few of the twists, but there were also genuine surprises to be found in this story. What’s more, there were several moments where the story walked right up to a YA trope or pitfall, seemed to stare at it a bit, and then neatly sidestepped the issue that I was all geared up to hate. I love it when authors manage this!

I also really enjoyed the love interest and side characters. Julian was stoic, competent, and also had a lot to learn about his view of the world. More importantly, this author took advantage of a writing choice that I REALLY wish authors would utilize more often. The book is told from Wren’s perspective for 95% of the story. But sprinkled throughout, we have two or three chapters from Julian’s perspective, and even a few from the captured prince’s. Why don’t authors do this more often?? This choice was so much more effective than had the author tried to make this the ever-popular, and often unfortunate, alternating dual POV story. So rarely is there truly enough story to justify two equally balance POVs. Instead, you often have characters repeating things that were discussed or dealt with in the previous chapter. Or you have one compelling character who has a legitimate story arch and then….another character who’s just kind of there. Instead, Preto gave us a few needed glimpses behind the curtains that clued the reader (but not Wren) in on what was going on in the heads of both men, but didn’t cut into a story that was, at its heart, Wren’s own. It was a very restrained decision, and one that I think speaks very highly to the skills of the author to know what is (and isn’t) needed to make the story sing.

Overall, this was an excellent read. I had a blast reading it, and I think it has the sort of cross-over appeal that will make it great for both YA and adult fantasy fans!

Rating 9: Darkly brilliant, this story plops you down in a fantastical world chock full of wonder and horror. You probably wouldn’t want to live there, but man, it’s a blast to visit!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Bonesmith” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on something like this list Popular Necromancy Books.

Serena’s Review: “Immortal Longings”

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Book: “Immortal Longings” by Chloe Gong

Publishing Info: Gallery / Saga Press, July 2023

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org |Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Every year, thousands in the kingdom of Talin will flock to its capital twin cities, San-Er, where the palace hosts a set of games. For those confident enough in their ability to jump between bodies, competitors across San-Er fight to the death to win unimaginable riches.

Princess Calla Tuoleimi lurks in hiding. Five years ago, a massacre killed her parents and left the palace of Er empty…and she was the one who did it. Before King Kasa’s forces in San can catch her, she plans to finish the job and bring down the monarchy. Her reclusive uncle always greets the victor of the games, so if she wins, she gets her opportunity at last to kill him.

Enter Anton Makusa, an exiled aristocrat. His childhood love has lain in a coma since they were both ousted from the palace, and he’s deep in debt trying to keep her alive. Thankfully, he’s one of the best jumpers in the kingdom, flitting from body to body at will. His last chance at saving her is entering the games and winning.

Calla finds both an unexpected alliance with Anton and help from King Kasa’s adopted son, August, who wants to mend Talin’s ills. But the three of them have very different goals, even as Calla and Anton’s partnership spirals into something all-consuming. Before the games close, Calla must decide what she’s playing for—her lover or her kingdom.

Review: I was excited when I saw this book coming out from Chloe Gong. For one thing, the idea of a reimaging of Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra” into an epic fantasy story is incredibly appealing, right up the alley of my own particular preferences. But I was also interested to see what Gong had to offer in this, her adult fantasy debut. I know she’s an immensely popular YA fantasy author, but I’ve struggled to connect to her work in the past. However, I do recognize the overall strength of her writing, so if paired with a more adult approach to storytelling and a shift away from YA tropes, would I have better luck?

Alas, no. But before I get into what didn’t work, I want to, as always, focus on the things that do work. And one of them is the simple fact that if you have enjoyed Chloe Gong’s work in the past, you will definitely enjoy this book. Many of the aspects of her storytelling strengths are on equal show here. Her writing is solid. Her world-building is interesting. There are a lot of political through lines that weave in and out of the story. And the characters are multi-faceted, dramatic, and prone to on-again, off-again romances. If this all sounds like a backhanded compliment, it kind of is. Many of these things are also where I struggled with this author in her YA work. But the converse side of it is that this is all what’s made her incredibly popular as a writer, so can I fault her for giving her fans more of what they want, if packaged now in an “adult” fantasy novel? No, no I cannot.

But, all of that said, I didn’t particularly enjoy this book. In almost every aspect of the story telling I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated as the story went on. What starts out as interesting world-building quickly began to feel like unnecessary and a bit rambling paragraphs upon paragraphs of scene-setting. This is a long book, and I quickly began to feel the need to skim as I read along. Further, she introduces some interesting and unique fantasy elements early in the story, the ability to essentially take over the body of another while that person’s identity then goes dormant. But what seems to be an interesting concept quickly fell into confusion and doubt for me. How exactly does this world function with this sort of body-hopping? It’s never addressed really how this powerful and dangerous tool would affect literally every aspect of society. Further, there are some serious issues of consent when one person is in another’s body that are simply never addressed.

And look, I still liked the idea over all, but this is where I am going to expect more from you as an adult fantasy author than I might as someone writing YA. I’m a big proponent of not writing down to young adult audiences. But that said, there is a case to be made that an author be allowed a bit more lenience in the realm of plot-holes and detailed explanations for how aspects of their story work within a larger world or society when they are writing for teenage audiences. But if your book is marketed as adult fantasy, I am going to expect the author to have fully grappled with the ins and outs of the fantasy devices they are using, especially one as central as this “body swapping” is to this particular story.

Beyond this, I was very disappointed with the main characters. I’m beginning to get the feeling that Gong is either only capable or only willing to write the same sorts of characters in all of her books. Indeed, the central two characters in this book are almost identical (if aged up) copies of the main leads in her “These Violent Delights” duology. Again, if you enjoyed those characters there, you’ll probably like them again here. But that’s not what I was looking for when I picked up this book. Indeed, in the author’s interview at the end of my early review copy, Gong essentially admits to this repetition of story, saying that in this adult book she wanted to adapt the same enemies-to-lovers romance that she already did once in her YA duology but just amp it up to enemies-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers, etc. Not only is this exactly the sort of romantic plotline and angst that most particularly drives me nuts, it’s disappointing to see Gong essentially decide to write the same exact dynamic and think that increasing the angst level is what will elevate it to adult fantasy.

Overall, I really struggled to enjoy this book. To me, it felt like Gong simply doubled down on her same old bag of tricks and called it adult fantasy. That said, I’ve adjusted my rating from what, for me, would have been a 6, to a 7 because I do think this book will appeal to a lot of fantasy readers. As I’ve now said ad nauseum, if you’ve liked Gong’s previous work, you’re sure to like this one, too, as it’s, largely, much of the same.

Rating 7: Fans of Gong’s previous books will be delighted to find that she’s stuck to her roots in this, her adult fantasy debut. Those looking for something fresh from this author, less so.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Immortal Longings” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Asian Folklore/Mythology/Influence and Upcoming 2023 SFF Books With Female Leads or Co-Leads.

Kate’s Review: “The Beast You Are: Stories”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “The Beast You Are: Stories” by Paul Tremblay

Publishing Info: William Morrow, July 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Paul Tremblay has won widespread acclaim for illuminating the dark horrors of the mind in novels and stories that push the boundaries of storytelling itself. The fifteen pieces in this brilliant collection, The Beast You Are, are all monsters of a kind, ready to loudly (and lovingly) smash through your head and into your heart.

In “The Dead Thing,” a middle-schooler struggles to deal with the aftermath of her parents’ substance addictions and split. One day, her little brother claims he found a shoebox with “the dead thing” inside. He won’t show it to her and he won’t let the box out of his sight. In “The Last Conversation,” a person wakes in a sterile, white room and begins to receive instructions via intercom from a woman named Anne. When they are finally allowed to leave the room to complete a task, what they find is as shocking as it is heartbreaking.

The title novella, “The Beast You Are,” is a mini epic in which the destinies and secrets of a village, a dog, and a cat are intertwined with a giant monster that returns to wreak havoc every thirty years.

A masterpiece of literary horror and psychological suspense, The Beast You Are is a fearlessly imagined collection from one of the most electrifying and innovative writers working today.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this collection!

It is always a good reading day when Paul Tremblay comes out with a new book, and my eyes are constantly peeled for a new title by him. I am so pleased that Tremblay is becoming more and more well known, what with the successful adaptation of his novel “The Cabin at the End of the World” hitting theaters this past winter. When I saw that he had a new book called “The Beast You Are” coming out, and that it was a short stories collection of previous works (as well as a novella), my usual nervousness about short stories didn’t even phase me. I trust Tremblay. And I was right to do so, because this is, on the whole, a good collection.

I will do the usual set up of talking about my three favorite stories, and then talk about the book as a whole.

“I Know You’re There”: This is one of the earliest stories in the collection, and it is almost certainly my favorite because of how ambiguous and heartbreaking it is. We follow Silas Chen as he works through the grief of losing his husband David to a sudden death, having found his body upon arriving home from work. As he tells the story to different people, aspects of if change, but one thing remains the same: Silas wasn’t sure if David’s dead body was staying completely still. There is a bittersweetness as well as an unease as we hear multiple iterations of Silas finding his dead husband, and the reader wonders if Silas is lying, or if his grief and sudden solitary life has led to him misremembering due to trauma, but the creepy descriptions of a body perhaps moving just a little bit, in various ways, when one’s back is turned, settled into my brain as I was reading it. As was the wonder about how grief makes it so that perhaps a departed loved one lingers in one way or another. Really unnerving, but also very emotional.

“The Blog at the End of the World”: We read a blog whose owner is talking about a mysterious disease that is making people drop dead, starting from what seems to be the end of the world and working backwards to earlier days when it’s just rumors and whispers, starting from the end and moving back towards the start. Tremblay wrote this one back in 2008, a good twelve years before COVID came into the picture and misinformation spread online like wildfire, so reading this was a bit surreal (and in the story notes he mentions it was surreal revisiting it now) because it almost predicted the way people would talk over each other, sow distrust, and disbelieve each other as things were falling apart around them. I loved the structure of this one, as it does read like a LiveJournal from the mid to late 2000s, and it was pretty neat getting the story told in this epistolary way (there is also a hilarious moment in the comments with a clear spam bot, man do I remember those days!).

“The Dead Thing”: An early teenage girl whose parents have split up due to substance abuse issues notices that her younger brother has come home clutching a box to his chest. When she asks what he has, he tells her that it’s just some dead thing but won’t show her. But something in the box is pulsing, and as he keeps it hidden and she becomes more and more curious, the thing begins to grow… This was one of the bleakest stories in the bunch, and honestly it kind of got to me in a not so good way, but I wanted to include it because 1) the stream of consciousness style really added to the reading experience, setting me on edge almost from the start and capturing the haphazard and spiraling situation at hand, and 2) I kept thinking about the 1980s remake of “The Blob” as I was reading. And that’s probably why it got to me because that movie just…. UGH. If you truly get to me (without triggering me, I should add, because that I DON’T like), I gotta give you props.

The collection as a whole is very broad and varied, with Tremblay doing straight up horror, to dark fantasy, to flash fiction, and beyond. What struck me the most about the stories is that a lot of them feel like they are pushing boundaries and looking to be experimental. There is the aforementioned “The Dead Thing” and its stream of consciousness narrator, or a meta pseudo-“Fangoria” column homage “The Postal Zone: The Possession Edition” that reads like it is the actual Fangoria magazine column ‘The Postal Zone’ (and was actually published in Fangoria, THE LAYERS OF THIS STORY). But the biggest experimentation was the lion’s share of the book, the titular novella “The Beast You Are”, in which Tremblay has created a new world with anthropomorphic animals who are going up against a monster that takes a sacrifice every thirty years. The way that Tremblay goes beyond the expected is what makes this book so interesting, and while some stories didn’t work as well for me as others did, I really did appreciate the way that he went outside the box.

“The Beast You Are” is a strong short stories collection that really shows off Paul Tremblay’s range. How great to see stories new and old gathered in one place, and to see the places the author is willing to go across so many tales.

Rating 8: Creative, bittersweet, experimental, and unsettling, “The Beast You Are” is a varied mix of stories by one of the most interesting horror authors writing today.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Beast You Are” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror to Look Forward to in 2023”.

Serena’s Review: “The Curse of Saints”

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Book: “The Curse of Saints” by Kate Dramis

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Casablanca, July 2023

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org| Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: As an elite spy and the Queen’s Third-in-Command, Aya has dedicated herself to a life of discipline and duty, using her gods-given abilities to keep dark magic from ever returning to the realm. Her oath ensures she will always act to protect those she fights alongside—including Will, the Queen’s Enforcer and Aya’s bitter rival.

Forced by circumstance to work together, Aya and Will struggle to come to an uneasy truce. But when tragedy strikes, Aya instinctively reacts, unleashing a power that hasn’t been seen in over 500 years. Shaken, she’s confronted with an impossible truth: one that threatens the precious grip she keeps on her control. One that forces her to work with Will to discover who—or what—she really is. And one that could turn her into a weapon in a war she doesn’t know how to win.

With Will at her side and untold power at her fingertips, Aya will have to decide: Has she been sent to save the realm she loves…or destroy it?

Review: I knew I wanted to read this book the moment I saw it (though, to be fair, I saw the UK cover which has an awesome golden wolf motif which I think is a much better fit than this cover, but oh well). The description itself is also right up my alley. Always love a good rivals/enemies-to-lovers story. Add on top of that a badass spy heroine who, whoops, discovers she has new powers and is more than she seems. Does this sound like a very tried and true plot description for fantasy stories, especially romantic fantasy? Yes, it does. Did this put me off in any way whatsoever? Absolutely not. Sometimes things are popular for the simple fact that they’re awesome, and that’s all I have to say on that.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t quite live up to my expectations. But there was still quite a lot to like about it. For one thing, I thought the world-building and history of this world was fascinating. Our main characters (the story was multi POV, which was something I wasn’t expecting and more on that later) each are born with powerful abilities. But due to a horrible war that required a terrible sacrifice years and years ago, magic users must always work for the protection and betterment of those around them and are never allowed to rule. I really enjoyed the slow reveal about how this particular history has influenced the various characters in this book, and how so many decisions are based around the fears of a similar power rising or a similar sacrifice being needed.

I also liked the action elements of the story, particularly in the beginning of the book when quite a lot happens in quick succession. We had a few early scenes where we see Aya’s skill as a spy master at work, and we also get some intense magic wolves action scenes. Which, of course, who doesn’t love magic wolves? Unfortunately, some of the strengths of this early section lead directly to some of my struggles with the rest of the book. For one thing, said magic wolves quickly disappear from the entire story, which left me wondering why they were included at all? I mean, they’re introduced as having bonds to Aya, Will, etc., and show up in several early scenes as important, unique creatures, and then they just…disappear for the rest of the book. You could literally take them out of this story and it would make zero difference to the overall plot.

Further, I was very disappointed to see Aya’s character quickly fall off her strong start as a master spy. After her magic flares up in unexpected ways, she seems to lose all sense of her original abilities. As the story continues, she and Will travel to a foreign court where they are supposed to be working to bring their allies onside for a brewing conflict. Aya, as a spy, should have invaluable abilities to bring to this mission. But, instead, she spends the entire time fretting about her powers and fighting with Will. Indeed, she blunders several times in ways that make no sense for a woman we are meant to believe is one of the top three advisors to her queen and a master of her craft.

This wasn’t helped by my increasing frustration with these fights between Aya and Will. Their rivalry and animosity starts off well enough, but as the story continued, it began to feel increasingly unbelievable and silly. Aya is a grown adult and a woman who, being a spy, should have an incredible read of people. So the number of times she flips back and forth from trusting Will to literally threatening to kill him (seriously, she does this flip flop at least 4 times over the course of the book, and, I can’t emphasize this enough, the “flop” side includes literal death threats/murder attempts even though she was trusting him just pages before) starts to become a serious detriment to my ability to respect her as a character.

For his part, I could never quite understand Will’s reasons for such extreme levels of secrecy. Once all of the truths are revealed, it’s never quite clear why he had to keep Aya so much in the dark to the point where he was almost intentionally making her hate and distrust him. So, yes, neither of these two characters really worked that well for me at various points. Which was made all the more frustrating because I think they each started off very strong and had a lot of potential!

Also, bizarrely, a third POV character and the sad hints of a love triangle showed up on the page about two thirds of the way into the book. This was honestly so abrupt a shift in the story that I had to flip forward a ways to confirm that yes, indeed, we were introducing a third POV and this wasn’t just an interlude. This was near the two thirds/half way point of the book, if I remember correctly, so it was just a really strange and abrupt shift. I didn’t have any problems with this third character on his own, but there was simply no recovering from the fact that his story started up so significantly behind the other two. We already were firmly in the heads of Aya and Will, and now here was this third character that was meant to compete with the two of them with his own chapters. It was an odd choice. I think it would have worked better had he been introduced right in the beginning alongside Aya and Will, thus creating an even playing field between the three. Or, honestly, left him out entirely. I’m not quite convinced that his POV really even added much to the story as a whole.

All of this said, I probably will continue with this series. The writing itself was strong, the world-building was intriguing, and even though I struggled with Aya and Will at times, I do feel that the author’s character work was pretty decent. I was frustrated with this particular story, but there seems to be a lot of room for growth and there were a few side characters who I would love to read more about in future books. If you’re a fan of romantic fantasy, especially if you enjoy angsty enemies-t0-lovers story arcs, this might be a good one for you!

Rating 7: While a bit wobbly on the character front, this romantic fantasy will likely still appeal to those looking for an interesting fantasy world and an angst-ridden love story!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Curse of Saints” isn’t on many Goodreads lists, but it is on Best books of May, 2023 (the UK version was published in May).

Kate’s Review: “Dead of Winter”

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Book: “Dead of Winter” by Darcy Coates

Publishing Info: Poisoned Pen Press, July 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: From bestselling author Darcy Coates comes Dead of Winter, a remote cabin in the snowy wilderness thriller that will teach you to trust no one. There are eight strangers. One killer. Nowhere left to run.

When Christa joins a tour group heading deep into the snowy expanse of the Rocky Mountains, she’s hopeful this will be her chance to put the ghosts of her past to rest. But when a bitterly cold snowstorm sweeps the region, the small group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin. Despite the uncomfortably claustrophobic quarters and rapidly dropping temperature, Christa believes they’ll be safe as they wait out the storm.

She couldn’t be more wrong.

Deep in the night, their tour guide goes missing…only to be discovered the following morning, his severed head impaled on a tree outside the cabin. Terrified, and completely isolated by the storm, Christa finds herself trapped with eight total strangers. One of them kills for sport…and they’re far from finished. As the storm grows more dangerous and the number of survivors dwindles one by one, Christa must decide who she can trust before this frozen mountain becomes her tomb.

Review: Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for sending me an ARC of this novel!

Back in the spring I took my solo trip up to Duluth, Minnesota, a city on Lake Superior that is definitely one of my happy places. It was late April, but let me tell you, it felt like winter. There was snow, it was about thirty degrees, and driving into the city felt like I was driving into a blizzardy tundra for the last ten miles of my drive. But that backdrop was perfect for one of the books that I brought withe me, Darcy Coates’s new horror novel “Dead of Winter”. I’ve really enjoyed pretty much everything I have read by Coates, and her more recent reads have been the “Gravekeeper” series, which is a bit more on the tamer side of horror. Sure, ghosts and those who can see them are creepy, but it was more of a cozy horror tale. So settling into “Dead of Winter” was interesting, given that the pretty early on we get a very graphic description of a decapitated head pinned to a tree. I cackled to myself and thought ‘oh that’s right, Coates can also go hard’. And that was a good omen for things to come, because “Dead of Winter” was a hoot and a half.

It was so fun to jump from the more dark fantasy/horror lite feel of the “Gravekeeper” books to this more hardcore/familiar to me Coates aesthetic of bloodbath and nightmare fuel. The horror elements merge well with the thriller ‘whodunnit’ aspects, with a familiar trapped in isolation with a killer trope combined with some slashery goodness. It’s a fast and fun read, with some pretty wicked gory moments and a no holds barred take on picking off the strangers in the cabin, therein culling the suspect pool in crazier and crazier ways. Coates ratchets up the suspense and gives us a lot of red herrings to the mystery aspect, and creates kills that feel like they are right out of any decent slasher movie. From decapitations to scattered teeth to frozen corpses, the visceral scares are continuous and always on point. Again, it was a real trip reading some of these really gory moments after the tamer “Gravekeeper” books, but it just goes to show that Coates contains horror multitudes and can achieve the vision she is going for across the board.

When looking at the thriller elements, this classic locked room set up is familiar but still engaging. Christa is our protagonist who is isolated in a winter snowstorm in a hunting cabin with strangers, and as they start dying one by one she has to figure out who is killing them and what their motive could be. It’s pretty old hat in how it is revealed and approached, and I had pretty easily figured it all out about halfway through. That isn’t to say that my conviction didn’t waver, however, as there were a few red herrings that did make me question my theories. Ultimately I could guess what was going on, but it didn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the book overall. Part of that is because I did like Christa as our main character and liked seeing her piece together all of the pieces. The other part is that, at the end of the day, approaching this like all my favorite 80s psycho killer movies, the journey through is the more important part than the ultimate solution. It didn’t matter that I knew who did it almost from the jump. It was a wild ride and that is exactly what I want from a book that reads like a slasher movie.

We are fully into the summer season now, and if you are a horror or thriller fan that wants a fun and bloody beach read, look no further than a snow ridden hunting cabin. Darcy Coates, you continue to impress me, and “Dead of Winter” should be on any horror lover’s list.

Rating 8: A fun and straight out of a movie slasher thriller that is the perfect summer read in spite of the cold setting.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Dead of Winter” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror to Look Forward to in 2023”.

Book Club Review: “Music From Another World”

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We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing book club running for the last several years. Each “season” (we’re nerds) we pick a theme and each of us chooses a book within that theme for us all to read. Our current theme is song inspirations, where we were given a random song from a random genre and had to pick a book based on the song.  For this blog, we will post a joint review of each book we read for book club. We’ll also post the next book coming up in book club. So feel free to read along with us or use our book selections and questions in your own book club!

Book: “Music From Another World” by Robin Talley

Publishing Info: Inkyard Press, March 2020

Where Did We Get This Book: Kate owns it; Serena got it from the library!

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Song Inspiration: “Alternative Ulster” by Stiff Little Fingers

Book Description: A master of award-winning queer historical fiction, New York Times bestselling author Robin Talley brings to life an emotionally captivating story about the lives of two teen girls living in an age when just being yourself was an incredible act of bravery.

It’s summer 1977 and closeted lesbian Tammy Larson can’t be herself anywhere. Not at her strict Christian high school, not at her conservative Orange County church and certainly not at home, where her ultrareligious aunt relentlessly organizes antigay political campaigns. Tammy’s only outlet is writing secret letters in her diary to gay civil rights activist Harvey Milk…until she’s matched with a real-life pen pal who changes everything.

Sharon Hawkins bonds with Tammy over punk music and carefully shared secrets, and soon their letters become the one place she can be honest. The rest of her life in San Francisco is full of lies. The kind she tells for others—like helping her gay brother hide the truth from their mom—and the kind she tells herself. But as antigay fervor in America reaches a frightening new pitch, Sharon and Tammy must rely on their long-distance friendship to discover their deeply personal truths, what they’ll stand for…and who they’ll rise against.

Kate’s Thoughts

Our newest Book Club theme is pretty unique, I think, in which we picked music genres out of a hat and then picking a random song from said genre. I was lucky in that I got punk, which is one of my favorite music genres, and then I got “Alternative Ulster” by Stiff Little Fingers, a Northern Irish band I had very limited knowledge of. But when I looked into the lyrics and it was about people dreaming of a better life and a better place where everyone can just live freely, my mind went to “Music From Another World” by Robin Talley, a book I bought in the early days of COVID but never read. It just seemed perfect given that it’s a book about two queer girls who are pen pals in the 1970s, who are contending with various laws that are threatening to make queer people targets of discrimination, hate, and violence. Sounds familiar, right? That’s the other reason I chose this book. And it just so happened punk music was also a theme!

(source)

Overall I really enjoyed “Music from Another World”, for a number of reasons. The first is that I liked the setting of late 1970s California, as this was a time that was pivotal in the gay rights movements of the 20th century, with Harvey Milk making history and making waves and LGBTQIA+ people pushing back against hateful legislation like Proposition 6 and other bills like it (all while said bills were being embraced and promoted by right wing bigots like Anita Bryant). Talley did a pretty good job of setting the scene, and showing protagonists Sharon and Tammy as they lean on punk music and each other through pen pal letters. The historical details were well presented and felt pretty easy to understand, and it breaks down this moment in ways that make it easy to connect to the current moment as LGBTQIA+ are being targeted again. I also liked the epistolary style of this book, told by letters and diary entries, but I know that such a style isn’t for everyone, as it can be a bit clunky at times (and is in this novel). I was able to forgive it because I like these kinds of found media/transcript plot devices, but also because I liked Tammy and Sharon slowly start to trust each other and develop a bond that neither were expecting. I also, as you can probably tell, really liked how this felt like a hopeful and earnest cry out to readers to not let discrimination and hate towards LGBTQIA+ people fester and take hold, and to push back. It’s hard to find hope in that regard these days. But like Harvey Milk said, ‘ya gotta give ’em hope’. And I fell like this book does that.

I enjoyed “Music from Another World”. It’s just the start of a new Book Club theme, and I have a feeling it’s going to be an interesting one!

Serena’s Thoughts

Overall, I liked this book, too, and agree with everything Kate said. I think the historical elements were particularly interesting and relevant to younger readers who may not be as familiar with this period in history, especially in the LGBT community. As Kate mentioned, there were some clearly intentional choices to focus on hope rather than despair, and I think that’s just always a really great message, regardless. This was especially noteworthy with the decisions made with regards to when and how to end the story.

I did struggle a bit with the style of the story. I’m a really hard sell the epistolary style in novels in general. I’m one of those annoying people who get fixated on details like “no one would EVER write out this much dialogue in a diary!!” So I did struggle to connect to the characters a bit. While I did like them, I think I felt so removed from their story due to the format of the story, that I never felt like I was really sucked into the story. I was too aware that I was reading the entire time to really enjoy this one, if that makes sense.

But I do think this book will appeal to a lot of readers and is a really unique way of telling this sort of story. It is very informative, while also reading as a sweet, teenage love story.

Kate’s Rating 8: A hopeful and far too relevant story about daring to be yourself and striving for a better reality, “Music From Another World” was enjoyable and inspiring.

Serena’s Rating 7: While I struggled with the format, I think this book will greatly appeal to a large swath of readers looking for a hopeful take on history and the present.

Book Club Questions

  1. What were your thoughts on the epistolary narrative device in this book? Did you feel like it worked?
  2. When Sharon visits the Castro with Peter, she notes that there are not many women at the protests, and that she feels like she doesn’t really belong. What do you think Talley was trying to say with this feeling of isolation?
  3. Talley opted to end the book with the failure of Prop 6, and didn’t go into the assassination of Harvey Milk by Dan White or the White Light Riots that happened after. With Milk being such a huge part of Tammy’s narrative, did you think ending before his death was a good narrative choice? Why or why not?
  4. Tammy and Sharon connected to each other at first because of their love of punk music. Have you ever connected with someone and bonded over a love of music?
  5. By the end of the book it’s a bit up in the air about Sharon and Peter’s relationship with their mother? Do you think that she will eventually accept her children as they are?
  6. This book came out in early 2020. What parallels do you see between this story and what is happening with American policy today?

Reader’s Advisory

“Music From Another World” is included on the Goodreads lists “Alex’s Sapphic Masterlist”, and “YA Set in the 1970s”.

Next Book Club Pick: “Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol” by Mallory O’Meara

Serena’s Review: “Thief Liar Lady”

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Book: “Thief Liar Lady” by D. L. Soria

Publishing Info: Del Rey, July 2023

Where Did I Get this Book: NetGalley!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org |Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: I’m not who you think I am.

My transformation from a poor, orphaned scullery maid into the enchantingly mysterious lady who snagged the heart of the prince did not happen–as the rumors insisted–in a magical metamorphosis of pumpkins and glass slippers. On the first evening of the ball, I didn’t meekly help my “evil” stepmother and stepsisters primp and preen or watch forlornly out the window as their carriage rolled off toward the palace. I had other preparations to make.

My stepsisters and I had been trained for this–to be the cleverest in the room, to be quick with our hands and quicker with our lies. We were taught how to get everything we want in this world, everything men always kept for themselves: power, wealth, and prestige. And with a touchingly tragic past and the help of some highly illegal spells, I would become a princess, secure our fortunes, and we would all live happily ever after.

But there’s always more to the story. With my magic running out, war looming, and a handsome hostage prince–the wrong prince–distracting me from my true purpose with his magnetic charm and forbidden flirtations, I’m in danger of losing control of the delicate balance I’ve created…and that could prove fatal.

Review: I was both excited and nervous when I first picked up this book. On one hand, I love fairytale retellings, and it seems like it’s been a bit since I’ve read one lately. On the other hand, “Cinderella” has always been a particularly hard nut to crack, as far as I’m concerned. There’s just so little “there” there. I mean, she meets the guy for three nights and then they get married. Kind of a tough sell for modern audiences who want a bit more foundation to their romances. “Ella Enchanted” did it well. But that book is also middle grade fiction and decades old at this point. And this one is not only not middle grade, but it’s not even YA (the usual haven of fairytale retelling). Nope, straight adult fantasy! But wow, was I impressed with this book!

There were a lot of really smart choices that I think the author made right off the bat that got this book off to a good start. For one thing, the story opens up after Cinderella/Ash has won her prince. After the balls. After the glass slipper. From there, we also swiftly learn that this fairytale romance is not what it seems. Ash herself is not what she seems. Instead of the picture perfect maid-turned-princess, she’s a spy with her own agendas. And I say agendas, plural, because there are layers to the schemes behind her journey to the palace. As the story progresses, we have a few jumps backward in time, so we do see some of the actual ball and events seen in the traditional fairytale. But even here, there are twists and turns behind how these events played out and what was truly going on behind the scenes. All of this gave the story an incredibly fresh, unique feel. Yes, you can clearly see the influences from the original. But 90% of the book is its own story.

This leads to the second choice the author made that I think was incredibly smart: changes to our main characters. Ash, of course, is no Disney princess. Her history, while containing many of the same bullet points from the original story, is one that has shaped a very different woman. Indeed, she’s partly aligned with her “evil” stepmother to further their own hatched plans. But further, she has her own political motivations, fighting for her mother’s homeland, a country that has suffered greatly under the pressure and power of this realm’s king. She’s brave, brash, and a truly morally grey character. She makes no excuses for the fact that she is bespelling and using the prince for her own ends. I enjoyed her entire arc throughout this story. It is a journey of accountability, of compromise, and of understanding just what sacrifices she is willing to make for the sake of a cause.

I also really enjoyed the fact that the romance was changed around. Instead of the prince (who is both sympathetic for being manipulated by Ash but also incredibly unlikable at different points), the love story is shifted to a different character. I really loved the slow burn nature of this romance. And even more than that, I enjoyed how the development of this romance forced Ash to confront some of the realities behind the choices she was making and the people she was working alongside. Beyond the shifts to Ash and her prince, I really like the roles the evil step-sisters played in the story. We don’t get tons of page time with them, but I think there was some really interesting commentary to be found there about sibling relationships, especially those formed in abusive households.

The writing was also incredibly strong. The book both made me laugh out loud, but was also incredibly sad at various points. Indeed, my one complaint about the book comes down to a bit of a dissonance in tone. I like the fact that the book went to some dark places (honestly, way darker than I was ever expecting). But then the switch in tone from light, funny, and action-packed to incredibly tragic, and back and forth…it became a bit hard at times to fully make that switch when the story took a sudden swerve one way or the other.

But even with this minor quibble, I was so pleased with this book! I had a blast reading it, and it’s definitely the sort of story that I can see myself re-reading many times in the future.

Rating 9: Fresh, vibrant, and bringing us a morally grey “Cinderella” who you can’t help but root for!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Thief Liar Lady” isn’t on any relevant Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on Cinderella Retellings.

Kate’s Review: “Harvest House”

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Book: “Harvest House” by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Publishing Info: Candlewick Press, April 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Deftly leading readers to the literary crossroads of contemporary realism and haunting mystery, Cynthia Leitich Smith revisits the world of her American Indian Youth Literature Award winner Hearts Unbroken. Halloween is near, and Hughie Wolfe is volunteering at a new rural attraction: Harvest House. He’s excited to take part in the fun, spooky show—until he learns that an actor playing the vengeful spirit of an “Indian maiden,” a ghost inspired by local legend, will headline. Folklore aside, unusual things have been happening at night at the crossroads near Harvest House. A creepy man is stalking teenage girls and young women, particularly Indigenous women; dogs are fretful and on edge; and wild animals are behaving strangely. While Hughie weighs how and when to speak up about the bigoted legend, he and his friends begin to investigate the crossroads and whether it might be haunted after all. As Moon rises on All Hallow’s Eve, will they be able to protect themselves and their community? Gripping and evocative, Harvest House showcases a versatile storyteller at her spooky, unsettling best.

Review: One of the most confounding book moments of 2023 thus far was I was having a hell of a time remembering a certain book that ran across my timeline. I am the kind of person who, when I see a book in passing that sounds interesting but doesn’t REALLY process in my brain so well, tells myself that SURELY I don’t need to make note of said book, because surely I will remember it. That’s what happened with “Harvest House” by Cynthia Leitich Smith. I saw it on Goodreads, thought ‘oh that sounds neat’, and then kept scrolling… and couldn’t remember it for a good long while. But eventually I did find it and tossed it on my request list, post haste! A Halloween haunted house attraction mixed with an actual ghost story with themes of Indigenous issues in the United States sounded really promising. The latter part of that description worked well, but the former? Not as much as I had hoped.

Like most of the time I will start with the things that did work. I really appreciated how Smith brings up themes of racism and appropriation towards and from Indigenous groups in American society, especially within a Halloween context. Lord knows every year the message ‘my culture is not a costume’ is ever relevant as you see people STILL dressing up in offensive Indigenous stereotypes and using imagery that is important to the culture said people are not a part of. I liked that our protagonist Hughie was grappling with this while volunteering at a town haunted house attraction, that wants to use a local legend of the ghost of an Indigenous girl as one part of the experience, as well as an ‘Indian burial ground’. Hughie is deeply uncomfortable with this, and his boss, Ms. Fischer, just doesn’t understand why these depictions are offensive and insensitive, and this part of the book is a great way to work through why these things are as such. I also kind of liked that Ms. Fischer, while completely clueless, wasn’t a moustache twirling villain, as it approaches the topic in a way that shows that sometimes this kind of racism comes from ignorance as opposed to malevolence, but still needs to be called out. The more contemporary YA elements of this book really clicked with me.

But here is the flip side of all that. I definitely picked this book up in part because I like books that have relevant things to say when it comes to social issues, but I ALSO picked it up because it sounded like it was going to be, ultimately, a ghost story with some horror-centric moments that weave in and out with the messages at hand. But unfortunately, I didn’t feel like the horror elements of “Harvest House” were prevalent enough. We do get some good first person perspective moments from Celeste, the ghost of an Indigenous young adult who is haunting The Crossroads, but it took until probably the last fifth of the book for there to be actual solid interactions between the ghost moments and Hughie. We do get a second hand account of another character encountering something strange at the Crossroads (with description of an online video), but it doesn’t last long, and then there are no more ghostly interactions until much later. It just didn’t feel like there was enough horror throughout the novel. I would say that perhaps removing the ghostly stuff and just stuck with the mystery about what happened at the Crossroads as the sole focus, but even that was abruptly wrapped up in one scene which felt more like an afterthought than anything else. I really just wanted more.

So while I really liked the social justice themes that were in this book, “Harvest House” felt less like a horror novel and more like a contemporary story with some supernatural stuff tacked on. A bit of a disappointment on the horror front, but still a read with some important points to make.

Rating 6: I liked the themes and I liked the messages about racism, appropriation, and misogyny, but for being a horror story it didn’t have the amount of horror that I would have liked.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Harvest House” is included on the Goodreads list “BIPOC Boy MC in YA Fantasy/SciFi/Mystery”.