Month: December 2023

Highlights: December 2023

It’s so, so dark here in Minnesota, but at least we have all the Christmas lights going up! We’re trying hard not to remember that this is just the start to the long months of dark and cold ahead, and instead drown our sorrows in hot buttered rum and early batches of cookies. And, of course, there are always more good books to look forward to!

Serena’s Picks

Book: “The Serpent and the Wings of Night” by Carissa Broadbent

Publication Date: December 5, 2023

Why I’m Interested: I’m always excited to see self-published authors finally get their due and be picked up by one of the larger publishing houses, in this case Bramble, Tor’s romance imprint. I haven’t read anything by this author before, but I know that she’s written a decent number of popular titles, so I’m excited to see what all the fuss is about! I’m also curious to see her interpretation of vampires and vampiric lore. I think I’m a hard sell on the whole “vampire as a love interest” front…just seems counterintuitive to have a romantic lead who also just wants to eat you for dinner. But I’d be happy to be proven wrong!

Book: “The Dragons of Deepwood Fen” by Bradley P. Beaulieu

Publication Date: December 5, 2023

Why I’m Interested: While I have…complicated…feelings about “Fourth Wing,” I will say that I’m happy if its popularity brings on another wave of excellent dragon books! They are one of those fantasy beasts that always draw me in. Put “dragon” in your title, and at the very least, I’m picking up the book to give it a once-over. I’m also intrigued by the alchemist angle that seems to be incorporated into this book. We’ve seen a big “academia” focus in fantasy recently, often with scholars at the heart of many stories. But alchemists are essentially the scientists of magic, and I always love books that tackle these sorts of characters. Plus, like I said…dragon riders, it’s kind of a no-brainer.

Book: “Ruthless Vows” by Rebecca Ross

Publication Date: December 26, 2023

Why I’m Interested: Talk about a no-brainer! I’ve been on the “Rebecca Ross” train for a while, but it seems that she really gained popularity last year with the first book in this duology, “Divine Rivals.” So I’m sure this will be on many people’s December TBR pile. The first book ended on a fairly significant cliffhanger, so I can’t wait to pick this one up and see where it all goes from here! Ross has always nailed the endings of her series in the past, so I’m fully confident that she’ll pull off another success here!

Kate’s Picks

Book: “Perfect Little Lives” by Amber and Danielle Brown

Publication Date: December 5, 2023

Why I’m Interested: This MAY be the last reference to ALAAC23, as I heard about this when I was at a panel where Amber and Danielle Brown were talking about their new book “Perfect Little Lives”. It’s about Simone, a woman who is haunted by her past where her father was convicted of murdering her mother, leaving Simone basically an orphan. But when a new documentary crew approaches Simone about her mother’s murder, and she reconnects with her childhood best friend Hunter, she starts to wonder if perhaps there is more to the story about what happened to her mother, and if perhaps her father is innocent. It sounds like a thriller that has a lot of potential, and I can’t wait to check it out.

Book: “Where The Dead Wait” by Ally Wilkes

Publication Date: December 5, 2023

Why I’m Interested: I enjoyed Ally Wilkes’s previous horror novel “All The White Spaces”, and knew that anything that she wrote next I would want to give a go. Enter “Where The Dead Wait”, her newest book about polar horror and polar expeditions gone awry. William Day is a former arctic explorer, who fell from grace when one of his missions ended in tragedy, death, and cannibalism, tainting his reputation. When he is approached years later to search for Stevens, his former shipmate with whom he had an intense relationship, and who has now disappeared on a new expedition, Day reluctantly agrees to join the search. But as Day, Stevens’s psychic medium wife, and the new crew go on their journey, Day is haunted by the things he’s done, as well as perhaps something else. It’s the exact right time of year to take on a polar horror story as the days get darker and the temps drop.

Book: “Salt & Broom” by Sharon Lynn Fisher

Publication Date: December 1, 2023

Why I’m Interested: As we are all fully aware, I love witch stories. I also really love the book “Jane Eyre”. So it’s just a logical conclusion that if you retell “Jane Eyre” and make it witchy, I am probably going to want to get my hands on it. Enter “Salt & Broom” by Sharon Lynn Fisher, which reimagines Jane as a witch who is hired to help keep dark forces at Thornfield Hall at bay. Armed with spells and tinctures, Jane is determined to help her new employer Rochester keep his house settled, but as she starts to fall for him, things start to get all the more complicated. This isn’t the first “Jane Eyre” retelling that brings in supernatural aspects that I’ve read, but I’m always going to be a sucker for this direction in any retelling, especially one of my favorite classics.

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What books are you all looking forward to this month? Let us know in the comments!

Serena’s Review: “The Witchwood Knot”

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Book: “The Witchwood Knot” by Olivia Atwater

Publishing Info: Starwatch Press, November 2023

Where Did I Get this Book:

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

Book Description: Victorian governess Winifred Hall knows a con when she sees one. When her bratty young charge transforms overnight into a perfectly behaved block of wood, she soon realizes that the real boy has been abducted by the Fair Folk. Unfortunately, the lord of Witchwood Manor is the only man in England who doesn’t believe in faeries—which leaves Winnie in the unenviable position of rescuing the young lord-to-be all by herself.

Witchwood Manor is bigger than its inhabitants realize, however, and full of otherworldly dangers. As Winnie delves deeper into the other side of the house, she enlists the aid of its dark and dubious faerie butler, Mr Quincy, who hides several awful secrets behind his charming smile. Winnie hopes to make her way to the centre of the Witchwood Knot through wit and cleverness… but when all of her usual tricks fail, who will she dare to trust?

Review: Olivia Atwater came out of nowhere for me as a reader. On a whim, I requested the first book I saw by her, “Half a Soul,” and that’s all it took! I quickly read all three in that series over the course of the summer. I know she has another book coming out sometime in the next year, something about baked good and the supernatural (sounds perfect to me!) so I was super surprised to see this book pop up on NetGalley when I was browsing one night. I didn’t even look into what it was, so I was that much more surprised to find that it is a story set in the same world as her original books, only this time taking place in the Victorian era, rather than Regency. Gothic horror and gothic romance? Count me in!

I’ve loved this shift towards gothic fantasy over the last year or so. Of course, there will always come a point where you can have too much of a good thing, but I haven’t reached it yet, as far as this trend goes. I was curious to see, however, how Atwater would fair taking on this sort of fantasy story. Her original three books were the epitome of light-hearted, comical, comfort reads. But a haunted house story and the gothic vibes that are meant to pair with it, well, that’s an entirely different tone! Low and behold, not only was this shift in tone successful, but the book also explores some fairly dark themes regarding assault and the nature of what makes a monster. I was incredibly impressed by how carefully these topics were covered, all without losing the overall appeal that is at the heart of Atwater’s style.

While this book is definitely more dark than her original trilogy, it also fit naturally within the greater world that had been created. In the other books, we saw hints of the darkness that existed in the world of the Fae and the nature of their strict, but confounding, approach to the rules of existence. Here, those aspects are drawn out and painted in darker colors. This book doesn’t shy away from its moments of horror, with violence seeping into scenes, as well as some truly creepy imagery. That said, this is by no means a horror novel. Not only was it laugh-out-loud funny at times, but within the story was an incredibly sweet romance as well as an unexpectedly touching relationship between Winnie and her ward.

I loved the main characters, as well. Winnie was a strong central character, working to unravel the mysteries at the heart of the Witchwood Knot while slowly beginning to form connections to those around her, breaking down walls that she had long-ago established for her own protection. I particularly liked the slow-burn romance between her and Mr. Quincy. The beginning of the book has him firmly slotted into a villain role, and I was impressed by how thoroughly the author worked to change the mind of both her main character and the reader. It was done in a very slow, subtle way. I will say that some of the character’s physical descriptions were a bit, um, unnerving, especially as a romantic interest. But on the other hand, I’m impressed with Atwater’s sheer audacity at just going with it and not trying to magic away the “otherness.”

I loved this book! It was right up there with “Half a Soul” as one of my favorites by this author. I’ve enjoyed all of her books, for sure, but I did appreciate this one more than some for the more serious themes at its heart. The balance felt more complete, with the lightness mixing naturally alongside the darker shades of grey, creating a more fulfilling read all around. Definitely check this one out if you’re a fan of this author or are looking for a solid stand-alone gothic fantasy novel!

Rating 9: Gothic fantasy at its finest, Atwater brilliantly combines her natural light-hearted style with the exploration of darker themes of redemption and what makes a monster.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Witchwood Knot” isn’t currently on any Goodreads lists, but it should be on Haunted House Stories and Gothic Fantasy Books.