Month: January 2024

Serena’s Review: “The City of Stardust”

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

Book: “The City of Stardust” by Georgia Summers

Publishing Info: Redhook, January 2024

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

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

Book Description: A young woman descends into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods and monsters bent on revenge to break her family’s curse in this spellbinding contemporary fantasy debut.

For centuries, generations of Everlys have seen their brightest and best disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor, a woman named Penelope, never ages, never grows sick – and never forgives a debt.

Violet Everly was just a child when her mother Marianne vanished on a stormy night, determined to break the curse. And when Penelope cannot find her, she issues an Violet has ten years to find Marianne, or she will take her place. Violet is the last of the Everly line, the last to suffer from the curse. Unless she can break it first.

To do so, she must descend into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods and monsters bent on revenge. She must also contend with Penelope’s quiet assistant, Aleksander, who she knows cannot be trusted – and yet whose knowledge of a world beyond her own is too valuable to avoid.

Tied to a very literal deadline, Violet will travel the edges of the world to find Marianne and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began.

Review: I was pretty excited when I saw that this book was coming out this winter. Between the book description itself and the marketing team literally referencing “The Starless Sea,” it sounded a lot like books I’ve enjoyed in the past. I obviously always love portal fantasies, and I was also intrigued by the potential slow burn relationship hinted at within the summary. Well, I’ll say that it definitely lived up to my expectations of the former, if less so the latter.

I’ll be honest, it took a bit to become invested in this story. In the beginning, we meet a lot of different characters, all hinting at mysterious curses and histories that the reader knows nothing about. From there, the story proceeds to jump forward in time for different chapters for the first 15-20% of the book. At a certain point, even, I was pretty sure we’d finally landed on the time period in which the rest of the story would take place but…nope! Another jump was in hand! Once the story finally settled down a bit, moving forward in a more linear fashion and following Violet’s day-to-day exploits more actively, I found myself quickly drawn in.

I was also very impressed with the world-building and greater approach to characterization, especially of its side characters and villains. It is one of those books that has stories within stories, and as you go, you learn various versions of events and are left to piece together what exactly you think really took place. Even by the end, the book never feeds you easy answers about Violet’s family history and what really happened. The point, importantly, is that people are flawed, neither purely good or bad, and their actions will speak louder than anything else, so at a certain point, knowing the actions and results, some of the smaller details matter less.

Similarly, there was an equally nuanced look at some of the side characters and villains. There are many characters who you meet (or hear enough about to feel as if you’ve met) and who you recognize from other archetype characters you’ve seen in other books. With that comes a lot of assumptions about whether they are “heroic” or “villainous.” I was truly surprised with some of the massive swings my opinions of some of the characters went through, often ending up nowhere near where I was expecting, either liking or disliking character who I’d expected to feel the opposite towards. Similarly, the villain of this story is truly evil at many points. But the book goes out of its way to, not justify her, but to explain some of her own tragedy. Of course, this character is still responsible for their actions, some of them truly horrific, but it’s not left as easy as hating them for just being a “bad guy.”

All of that said, this was one of those strange situations where I ended up more interested in the side characters and villains than in the two main characters themselves. For her part, Violet came across as incredibly naïve for much of the book. She does have an interesting arc, especially her relationship with her uncles and her missing mother, and I was pleased that towards the end of the book, she didn’t simply let people she loved off the hook for their bad treatment of her. But she was still fairly frustrating for the first half of the book, which is always a bit tough to deal with from a main character.

And then Aleksander. Here was a character who had a lot of potential, especially with a deeper look into the primary relationship in his life, an abusive, manipulative one with his parent/mentor. But as he is the secondary character in what is clearly Violet’s story, his story was often even more frustrating. We would get small brushes of what his life looked life, but not enough to truly understand all of his choices. And, as it stands, it left him as a fairly unlikeable character for much longer than I was expecting. There came a point around the halfway point of the book where I felt we were finally making progress, but nope! It still took a good while longer for him to have an awakening to his reality and adjust his relationships appropriately.

All of this left the romance in a very uncomfortable place: in that the time spent between these two was always filled with betrayal, lies, and disillusionment. There is such a brief window at the very end to see any interactions between these two that read as a true moment in their relationship. It was one of those cases where I feel like the book might have done better pairing down the romance all together. As it stands, it felt like the love story was jammed in around the edges of an already emotionally packed story.

However, those quibbles aside, I still very much enjoyed this story! The writing was strong and compelling, and I think if you make it past the rather disjointed first bit, it quickly draws you in. I loved the portal fantasy aspects of it all, especially the magical histories between these worlds. And most of the characterization was nuanced and deep, though the two main characters were notably a bit lacking. Overall, if you enjoy portal fantasies or books like “The Starless Sea,” yes, this might be one worth checking out!

Rating 8: Full of magic and mystery, this book beckons you to dive into strange worlds, quickly becoming lost in curses and doorways.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The City of Stardust” can be found on this Goodreads list: Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2024.

Kate’s Review: “The House of Last Resort”

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

Book: “The House of Last Resort” by Christopher Golden

Publishing Info: St. Martin’s Press, January 2024

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

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

Book Description: Across Italy there are many half-empty towns, nearly abandoned by those who migrate to the coast or to cities. The beautiful, crumbling hilltop town of Becchina is among them, but its mayor has taken drastic measures to rebuild—selling abandoned homes to anyone in the world for a single Euro, as long as the buyer promises to live there for at least five years. It’s a no-brainer for American couple Tommy and Kate Puglisi. Both work remotely, and Becchina is the home of Tommy’s grandparents, his closest living relatives. It feels like a romantic adventure, an opportunity the young couple would be crazy not to seize.

But from the moment they move in, they both feel a shadow has fallen on them. Tommy’s grandmother is furious, even a little frightened, when she realizes which house they’ve bought. There are rooms in an annex at the back of the house that they didn’t know were there. The place makes strange noises at night, locked doors are suddenly open, and when they go to a family gathering, they’re certain people are whispering about them, and about their house, which one neighbor refers to as The House of Last Resort. Soon, they learn that the home was owned for generations by the Church, but the real secret, and the true dread, is unlocked when they finally learn what the priests were doing in this house for all those long years…and how many people died in the strange chapel inside. While down in the catacombs beneath Becchina…something stirs.

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

I’m always excited when a new Christopher Golden book is coming out, because he is pretty reliable when it comes to telling a nice and scary horror tale. Because of this I was clearly excited about “The House of Last Resort”, his newest horror novel, as it seemed like it was going to be a haunted house story. Which is always a favorite of mine. So I was a LITTLE nervous when I realized that it was also going to be a demonic possession story, as that is a sub genre that I’m NOT as into, just because of tropes that feel overused, and the tendency to sometimes get a little, shall we say, preachy with it. BUT, I do have faith in Golden as an author, and so I went in with an open mind. And I’m happy to report that he can firmly consider his take on the sub genre more than acceptable and VERY enjoyable.

So even though possession and exorcism based stories can be pretty hit or miss for me, Golden has written an effective possession tale that goes beyond the tired tropes of the sub genre and broadens the themes to include societal and religious complacency as well as familial/generational trauma, which I thought really added to the concept as a whole. The idea of the Catholic Church owning a house where they sent supposedly possessed people to either be hidden away until they were ‘exorcised’, or until they had died, is such a deeply upsetting concept, but also feels like something that would absolutely happen in real life. I also liked the growing tension between Tommy and Kate, but also between the two of them and the community as they start to unravel the secrets of this house, and also how much the people around them knew about the disturbing history as a ‘house of last resort’ for the Church when it came to exorcisms. On top of that, there is the scary factor of the idea of demons lurking in the crypts beneath the home, but also the idea that there were very much NOT possessed people there, merely people who were mentally ill or in crisis, and were abused and further traumatized by people who thought they knew better.

And the horror parts of this book are spot on, and I’m saying that as someone who doesn’t usually feel affected by possession stories. There were multiple moments where I found myself setting my kindle down to say ‘oh my god this is scary’, especially early on when the dread it slowly building and we aren’t completely sure as to what is going on in Tommy and Kate’s new house. Golden has a true talent for bubbling up the tension until it reaches a snapping point, only to start again at a higher level and to rebuild once more. There’s also just the all around scares of the secrets that can be kept from people, whether the motivations are well intentioned or because of a shame on the part of those keeping the secrets. There’s just something SO sinister about everyone around Tommy and Kate knowing that there is something deeply wrong with the house they are trying to call home, and not telling them about it as strange and disturbing things start happening. I do think that perhaps one reveal happens a little abruptly and sends a bit of the rest of the suspense off kilter, but overall? Very creepy stuff from Christopher Golden, and I expect no less.

“The House of Last Resort” is another winner from Christopher Golden. It had some really scary moments and a fresh take on possession tales. What a lovely day for an exorcism.

Rating 8: A scary tale about secrets, be they religious, familial, or community based. “The House of Last Resort” is a possession story that sets itself apart from the usual demonic fare.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The House of Last Resort” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror to Look Forward to in 2024”.

Not Just Books: January 2024

While we do love us some books, believe it not, we do have a life outside of reading. So to highlight our other pop culture interests, on the last Monday of each month, we each will highlight three other “happenings” from the last month. Big events on favorite TV shows, new movies we’ve watched, old movies we’ve “discovered,” etc. Pretty much whatever we found of particular interest outside of the book world during the last month. Share your own favorite things in the comments!

Serena’s Picks

Game: “Baldur’s Gate 3”

My husband wisely got me a video game gift card as part of my Christmas present. Wise mostly because even I couldn’t have necessarily come up with a game I really wanted if he had asked me before Christmas. But then afterwards, armed with free money essentially, it was easy to pull the trigger on this game. I had heard of it many times as a very popular game of 2023, but I also have no experience with this sort of DnD style game. Building/leveling characters, managing party dynamics, figuring out the whole dice thing. But now many, many (waaaay too many according to by husband, but really it’s his fault anyways) hours into this game, I’m pretty obsessed. I’m so late to the game that it’s barely worth me plugging it as a game to check out but, well, check it out!

Movie/TV Critic: Dan Murrell

I used to watch “Screen Junkies” fairly religiously, especially their “Movie Fights” videos, and it was here that I first was introduced to movie critic Dan Murrell. He was a truly excellent debater, but I also often found myself agreeing with his evaluations of much of the media landscape. So I was sad when he announced he was leaving a few years ago. But, luckily for me, he set up his own successful YouTube channel that I’ve been following pretty much from the start. For me, in an arena like entertainment criticism, the most important thing I want from a critic is a sound, steady point of view that can differentiate itself from all of the noise of whatever the trendy consensus is. Murrell does a great job of this, not only in his reviews for movies/shows, but also in his long-running shows where he evaluates trends and the successes and failures in the cinema landscape. He also has an entire show that is titled and devoted to charts; so, for an academic librarian like me, this is all I’ve ever wanted from reviewers!

Game: “Connections”

I’m not sure whether it was my mom or my sister who got me started on this, but it was definitely one of them while they were visiting over the holidays! (My mom plays like 10 of these games every day on her phone, so I’ll guess it was her). Either way, I’ve really been enjoying it! For me, I think this one requires a bit less mental energy than “Wordle,” which is incredibly important for something I’m probably trying to do while also managing tantrums from two small boys. This requires just the right amount of brain power and not much more! If you need yet another time-filler game, definitely check this one out!

Kate’s Picks

Film: “Society of the Snow (La sociedad de la nieve)”

Last Podcast on the Left did a series on the Uruguayan Rugby Team that crashed in the Andes mountain range in 1972 back in December, and hearing Marcus, Henry, and Ed (welcome, Ed!) tell the harrowing tale of survival really piqued my interest in the topic. And what do you know, shortly thereafter Netflix released the Spanish film “Society of the Snow”, a dramatization of the crash and the survivors and what happened on the mountain and how the people who got off of it survived. This movie is a gut punch with its realism, letting the audience really experience the horror and hope of this story, with every actor giving a fantastic and sometimes gut wrenching performance. I found myself sobbing multiple times, but was also taken with some of the truly beautiful moments, whether it was the cinematography, the characters themselves, or the way that it captures the despair as well as the resilience. Really wonderful, albeit heart rendering.

TV Show: “Canada’s Drag Race”

So while it is true that the 16th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” premiered this month, it’s still a LITTLE early, and I haven’t quite gotten a full feel for it and the queens yet to decide if I’m into it. I’ve been burned in the past where I post early and then I end up not liking the season as a whole (Season 13, All Stars 8). But that being said, I have REALLY liked watching the sister show of the Great White North, “Canada’s Drag Race”! For one, I like seeing the format of the voting on the judges panel, as the judgement is split between Brooke Lynn Heights, Brad Goreski, and Traci Melchor or Amanda Brugel (depending on the season and/or episode). For another, I really love seeing the drag cultures from Canada and how it differs from the U.S.. And finally, the queens themselves are all INCREDIBLY talented and INCREDIBLY likable! Even the edited ‘villains’ aren’t really villainous, just a little bit extra. It’s just been a breath of fresh air since the mothership show (as much as I love it) feels SUPER produced. Right now, “Canada’s Drag Race” doesn’t!

Podcast: “Radio Rental”

With one of my podcasts going on its seasonal break I was looking for another one to listen to to fill that void. My friend Mark came through for me, as he recommended an episode of real life horror podcast “Radio Rental”, which immediately hooked me. It’s a quirky premise with some seriously scary true stories told by those who experienced them, as listeners can write in with the unexplainable or just realistic scary things and experiences that happened to them. What sets it apart from other podcasts like this is that it is build around the idea that it is being provided by a retro video rental store as run by an eccentric owner named Terry Carnation and his cat, his niece, and a store mouse. Oh and Carnation is played by Rainn Wilson. So it’s kind of like “Let’s Not Meet” meets “Welcome to Nightvale” with creepy tales and a goofy and at times sinister/intense host. Some of the stories are hit or miss, but the ones that hit REALLY hit. I’m tearing through the back catalog and overall enjoying it. I’m thinking this will enter my podcast rotation of reliables.

Serena’s Review: “Into the Sunken City”

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

Book: “Into the Sunken City” by Dinesh Thiru

Publishing Info: HarperTeen, January 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: from the publisher!

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

Book Description: In the slowly sinking city of Coconino, Arizona, the days are long, the money is tight, and the rain never stops.

For Jin Haldar, this life is nothing new—ever since her father died in a diving accident, she’s barely made ends meet for her and her younger sister, Thara.

Enter Bhili: a drifter who offers Jin and Thara the score of a lifetime—a massive stash of gold hidden in the sunken ruins of Las Vegas.

Jin knows it’s too dangerous. She stopped diving after her father’s accident. But when her sister decides to go, Jin’s left with only one choice: to go with her.

A ragtag crew is assembled—including Jin’s annoyingly hot ex-boyfriend. From there, a high-stakes heist ensues that’s beyond even Jin’s wildest fears. Crumbling ruins, sea beasts, corsairs, and a mysterious figure named João Silva all lie in wait. To survive, Jin will have to do what she promised herself she’d never do again: dive.

Review: While I do enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction, for some reason I don’t end up reading much of it. And I read even less cli-fi, though I have enjoyed many of them when I have picked up a title in this subgenre. So I was intrigued when I came across this book: an intriguing mixture of a climate -change stricken world and a swashbuckling pirate adventure story!

There was a lot to like about this book, starting with the world-building. At its core, its recognizable as the world we inhabit today by the names of current cities and the like. But nothing of the landscape we know remains; instead, much of it is sunken beneath rising ocean tides. I felt like the environmental aspects of the world-building worked very well, in that I felt immersed in this water-soaked world in a way that was both intriguing and, at times, uncomfortable! It was fun piecing together the bits of our known geography on top of this landscape that is completely foreign to what we know now. I also enjoyed how this society was built up around the challenges its people faced living in this new environment. It had a very “Waterworld” type of vibe.

I also liked our main character Jin. She had a funny, sarcastic voice that was immediately appealing. And, of course, I always love sisters stories, so it was a pretty easy win on this book’s part what with the focus being on Jin’s attempts to keep her sister safe, necessitating her dangerous dives. Is it a familiar character motivation, the young woman who takes on the dangerous task to prevent her sister from doing the same, ala “Hunger Games?” Yes. But is it still as effective a character motivation as ever? Also, yes. This book also doesn’t shirk in truly establishing the complicated nature of this relationship. They may be sisters, but there are messy aspects to that relationship, all tied up with their love for one another.

That said, I felt a bit mislead on the romance front. This book was tagged as a romance and includes a fairly decent focus on the relationship between Jin and her ex in the book summary itself. As it stands, this was a very minor part of the book. On one hand, I’m happy with romance taking on only a smaller role in a story (indeed, I think some of my favorite love stories are the ones that are secondary to the primary story itself). But I do think that this book was set up in its marketing in a way that may lead some readers a bit dismayed on the very subtle romantic elements. However, while the book doesn’t end on a cliffhanger per se, it’s clear a second book is coming, so the love story may take on a bigger role in that book.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this book! The unique setting was interesting, and I the close look at family dynamics and Jin’s relationships with those around her really drew me in. If you’re looking for a different sort of read, definitely check this one out. Just temper your expectations on the romance front (I didn’t think this was a loss for the book, but more for readers’ awareness purposes!)

Rating 8: Action-packed and surprisingly deep with regards to its portrayal of family dynamics!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Into the Sunken City” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Teen Pirate Books and Heist / Criminal Books in YA.

Serena’s Review: “The Dark Fable”

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

Book: “The Dark Fable” by Katherine Harbour

Publishing Info: Bloomsbury YA, January 2024

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

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

Book Description: Magical heists. Deadly secrets. Come along for the ride . . . if you dare. This heart-stopping, seductive fantasy is perfect for fans of Six of Crows .

Evie Wilder is an orphan who has gone through most of her life unnoticed . . . until she’s caught up in a dramatic heist and captures the attention of the Dark Fable. They have chosen her for a she can turn invisible. This skill would make Evie a treasured asset to the legendary group of thieves known for spiriting away obscure and occult artifacts.

Evie cannot resist their allure and is eager to join this newfound family. But she discovers there are more skeletons in the Dark Fable’s past than she could have ever imagined. And these secrets might be the answer to her own tragic past.

No one is who they seem to be and the price of uncovering the Dark Fable’s cryptic history just might be fatal . . .

Review: I honestly am starting to wonder if there has ever been another book as popular to name drop when attempting to hype an upcoming YA fantasy novel as “Six of Crows.” I mean, that book has been out for years and years now. There have been many other popular YA books since then, as well. And while there are other contenders (“Uprooted” sure had a run there for a while), I don’t think there’s any underestimating just how many books have been heralded as the next “Six of Crows.” But if producing another “Six of Crows” was as easy as it is to name-drop it, well, we’d have about a million excellent heist books on our hands! As it stands, it is not that easy, and instead we have an almost overwhelming number of found family/thief books that are mostly…ok. And this one, while definitely not the worst I’ve seen, is yet another continuance in a years-long trend.

One thing this book definitely did not lack was creativity and ideas. The author not only creates a huge cast of characters, but she equips them all with a plethora of magical abilities and detailed (often traumatic) histories. She also didn’t hold back in her descriptions of said characters; perhaps diving into exactly what they were wearing a few too many times for my taste. I felt like I had a very good, very superficial understanding of who everyone is, but not much more than that. While I was impressed by the large scope, the actual character development felt lacking. For a book with many characters, you’d think a larger focus would have been placed on creating more in-depth relationships between them. But, instead, I felt like I was quickly given the parameters within which they all engaged with one another, and not much more was established beyond this initial insight. And, again, because the cast of characters is so large, a decent chunk of the beginning of the novel must be devoted to Evie meeting each and every one of these characters, which puts an immediate stumbling block in front of the pacing right from the get go.

I also felt like the plot was a bit muddled at times. Again, there is no lack of ideas and the action kept on coming throughout much of it. But, in a weird way, there’s this thing when reading where too much going on can result in just as much boredom and disconnect as too little. And here, we definitely had the former. While seemingly important and exciting events were constantly unfolding, I felt myself loosing interest and drifting away from the primary story itself.

Towards the end of the book, there were a decent numbers of twists and turns that were able to draw me back into the story. So if you’re invested enough early on, I do think the book can offer up a decent payoff for those who stick it through. I also think the writing itself was approachable and fairly strong, and if I had gotten a bit more in actual character development and perhaps a bit less of some of the superficial descriptions, this book might have worked better for me. As it is, this was a bit of a middling book for me. If you’re a die-hard found-family/fantasy heists reader, than this one might be worth checking out. But if you’re already on the fence about yet another “Six of Crows” read-alike, then I don’t think this one is really going to blow your mind.

Rating 7: Approachable and even at times fun, but too little actual character development really sank this one for me.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Dark Fable” can be found on this Goodreads list: YA Releases January 2024.

Kate’s Review: “Holly”

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

Book: “Holly” by Stephen King

Publishing Info: Scribner, September 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it.

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

Book Description: Stephen King’s Holly marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly’s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr. Mercedes to Bill Hodges’s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King’s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.

When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.

Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.

Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.

Review: It’s finally time for another Stephen King book!! He is and has been my favorite author, ever since I was in middle school, and I am so happy that not only has he continued to write and thrive, but that he’s expanded his stories and genres beyond horror. “Holly” is his newest, and I held off on it for a bit because I wanted to savor it. And once I dropped in, eager to read a new book about Holly Gibney, I had pretty high hopes. And not only were they met, they were exceeded.

I know that Holly Gibney is a bit of a polarizing figure amongst Stephen King fans. King has always had a tendency to have a favorite characters or settings that he likes to bring from story to story, whether it’s Randall Flagg or Castle Rock or Shawshank Prison or Danny Torrence, and Holly is that character right now. And I happen to love it, because I really, really love her as a fellow anxiety prone neurodivergent woman. I love seeing how much she has grown as a character since her debut in “Mr. Mercedes”, and how she has come into her own while still having the challenges that come with being who she is (this book takes place during the Delta wave of the COVID pandemic and man oh man was I like ‘yep, that’s exactly how I was during this time’ whenever she was stressing about groups, masks, and hygiene as she investigates). King places her front and center in this nearly five hundred page book, and she shines like a star as far as I’m concerned. She brings me so much joy through her complexity and quirkiness and tenacity. But King also fleshes out his supporting characters really well, whether it’s returning favorites like Jerome and Barbara Robinson, or new characters like the deeply, deeply sinister Roddy and Emily Harris, whose depravity and cruelty is hidden by a veneer of intelligence and seeming fragility due to their ages. I felt like I knew everything about them by the end of the book, and it chilled me to the very bone.

Which segues perfectly into the horror/thriller elements of this book. King slowly unfolds the grotesque and absolutely horrifying secrets that Roddy and Emily Harris are holding through flashbacks in time to their various victims, and while he doesn’t hold his cards to the vest too long in terms of what they are doing (I won’t spoil it), he still builds upon it in a way that makes for a slow and grueling revelation that really, really disturbed me. Holly Gibney has faced some really nefarious antagonists in her time as a character, but these two really took the cake. And that’s a steep order given that past villains Holly has dealt with include Brady Hartsfield and The Outsider. It is a really good device being able to see Holly slowly but surely piece together the disappearance of Bonnie Dahl and the tangled web and nasty turns that come with it, as a potential body count seemingly grows and she circles the most unexpected of criminals. Sure, I knew what was going on, but seeing Holly (and to extent Barbara and Jerome) play their parts in figuring it out was so enjoyable.

I also thought that King used the time and place of the Delta Wave of 2021 to a chilling and effective degree, as Holly’s mother has just died of COVID after refusing the vaccine which has sent Holly into mourning, and post January 6th anxieties are also still at play. I know some people got up in arms about how overtly political “Holly” seems to be, but I thought that King gave a really good explanation in his author’s notes as to why he felt like he wanted to go in this direction. It also helped contextualize how DIFFICULT everything was at this time, and how it could absolutely hinder this kind of investigation (and how dangerous people will hide their dangerous nature until they feel emboldened). It worked really well for me.

I loved “Holly”. It manages to balance absolutely horrifying beats with genuinely hopeful and endearing ones. It’s top tier King as far as I’m concerned.

Rating 10: I adored this book. It sent chills down my spine, really got under my skin, and also filled me with a certain joy.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Holly” is included on the Goodreads lists “Books That Gave Me Nightmares”, and “Horror 2023”.

Serena’s Review: “The Longest Autumn”

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

Book: “The Longest Autumn” by Amy Avery

Publishing Info: Flatiron Books, January 2024

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

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

Book Description: Tirne is one of four humans rigorously selected to usher the turn of the seasons into the mortal world. Every year, she escorts the taciturn god Autumn between the godly and human realms. Autumn’s seasonal stay among mortals brings cooler weather, changing leaves, and the harvest of apples and gourds until Winter takes his place.

This year, the enchanted Mirror that separates their worlds shatters after Tirne and Autumn pass through, trapping both of them in the human realm. As the endless autumn stretches on, crops begin to fail and the threat of starvation looms. Away from the magic of the gods’ home, Tirne’s debilitating headaches return with a vengeance. Worse, Autumn’s extended stay in the human realm turns him ever more mortal and vulnerable, stirring a new, forbidden attraction to Tirne.

While the priesthood scrambles to find a way to reassemble the Mirror, Tirne digs into the temple’s secrets and finds an unlikely ally—or enemy—in the enigmatic sorcerer and master of poisons, Sidriel. Thrown into a world of mystery, betrayal, and espionage as she searches for the truth, might Tirne lose her morals, her hard-earned position, and the illicit spark between her and Autumn?

Review: I have to say, I barely made it past the cover on this one. I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t read “fantasy” to me. Instead, it looks more like some sort of historical, literary fiction type book (nothing wrong with those, just not my preference!). But once I actually looked at the book description itself, it definitely sounded like something up my alley! I’ll be curious to see if other readers had similar feelings. We all say not to judge a book by its cover, but in reality, that’s the first thing a perspective readers sees and, try or not, they make a lot of assumptions about the type of book it will be based on this initial glance. And, while this book wasn’t a perfect book for me, I do think there are a good number of fantasy readers who will enjoy this, and I’d hate for them to miss it simply because the cover looks like what you’d find for another book entirely.

When thinking back on my reading experience of the book, I find myself coming away with the thought that I still liked the overall idea of the book more than the actual thing itself. In that, I thought the world, magic, and characters all sounded interesting. There was almost the feeling of it being a re-telling of some ancient Greek myth (though it isn’t). It had nice nods to the struggle of chronic pain, and the approach to romance was more realistic than you often see. However, all of these things still never quite came together the way I liked.

For one thing, I found Tirne to be a very passive character, spending much of her time dealing with her chronic migraines and simply reacting to and trying to survive the various challenges thrown at her. And while I think this kind of representation of chronic pain is useful, it also began to feel as if it was Tirne’s only character trait. Beyond this, it seemed that much of the story’s plot and mystery was hung on Tirne’s struggles to deal with these debilitating headaches. I found myself increasingly wanting more not only from Tirne as a character but also from the story itself. Representation of chronic pain, no matter how good, is not a story in and of itself.

And, while I appreciated some of the nods towards more realistic romances, I also felt mislead on this front by the book’s overall description. I was expecting the love story to play a more important role in the book, but instead I found myself feeling rather adrift, not knowing who I was meant to be rooting for or whether the romance was actually going to be important to the story at all. Things ended in a satisfactory way, but not necessarily in the way that most romance readers will be looking for. So, again, kind of like the cover art, I’m concerned that this book won’t easily find its way to the readers who will most appreciate it. Instead, readers looking for a romantic fantasy story may find themselves a bit disappointed by the love story that is presented here.

I also never felt myself becoming overly invested in any of the side characters. The book is written in first person which can sometimes run into this problem. And its unfortunate that Tirne felt as passive as she did, since establishing a solid main character is the primary strength of this style of writing. But the weaknesses that can be found do often come down to the portrayal of side characters, as we only have the limitations of the main character’s perceptions of them to really paint any sort of picture. This was definitely the case with this book, as I can’t point to a single side character who really stood out to me.

Overall, this book was fine. It was a fast, easy read, but it wasn’t exactly the story I was looking for when I picked it up. Fantasy readers who are less interested in the romance may find themselves enjoying it more. And those looking for a heavy focus on chronic pain may also find this to be a good match for them.

Rating 7: A bit lackluster with its main character, and I felt like there was a bait-and-switch in the overall concept of the book as presented in the description.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Longest Autumn” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on Best Books To Read In Autumn.

Kate’s Review: “The Reformatory”

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

Book: “The Reformatory” by Tananarive Due

Publishing Info: Gallery/Saga Press, October 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it.

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

Book Description: A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.

Gracetown, Florida
June 1950

Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.

Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.

The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.

Review: After reading a few short stories by horror icon Tananarive Due in 2023, I told myself that I needed to finally pick up one of her novels. I don’t know why I haven’t, as she has always been on my radar. But for whatever reason it just never happened. When her newest novel “The Reformatory” came out, I bought myself a copy on my solo trip to Duluth. It took me a bit to get to it, as I had a stack of books to attend to and whenever I have a book that I have purchased I usually end up letting it sit a bit because of no deadline to read it. But then I did sit down and start reading. And my God. I was completely blown away by what I was reading. I was such a fool for waiting so long to pick it up. I was such a fool for waiting to pick up a book by Due. Because “The Reformatory” is magnificent.

The horror themes in this story are already top tier for me. I love ghosts in general, but I LOVED how Due brought in the folklore of Haints from the low country and the deep South of the United States (it’s been awhile since I’ve been to Savannah, Georgia, but one of the things that really stands out for me is how you see so many specific blue doors in a shade called Haint Blue, as it was thought to ward off Haints). Due really knows how to create terrifying moments in her pacing and descriptions, and with the tormented ghosts of dead children, who died at the hands of a racist and violent institution, being present and haunting said institution, it makes for a perfect metaphor as well as a great ghostly tale. It’s scary and nerve wracking and the high tension moments with the Haints were top tier horror. There were also the less focused on but certainly implied supernatural gifts of Robbie’s sister Gloria. While Robbie can see ghosts and communicate with them at least to a small degree, Gloria has her own talent of being able to get a sense of someone’s future if she is able to touch them or be near them. I am a complete sucker for both of these tropes, and I loved that Robbie and Gloria have different skills that they don’t necessarily want, but have to contend with.

But, unsurprisingly, it’s the realistic horrors of the Jim Crow South that really pack a wallop in “The Reformatory”, as both Robbie and Gloria are having to maneuver their way as Black people (children at that) through a deeply racist and violent society that has targets on their backs, not only because of their skin color, but because of their family name (as their father is on the run for a crime he didn’t commit that he was accused of because of his outspokenness). For Robbie, he is in what is essentially a prison as a child, for the audacious crime of kicking a white teenager who was harassing Gloria. Dozier School for Boys is run by a violent and sadistic warden, with dead children haunting the place that only Robbie can see. The brutal realities of the violent punishments are displayed in full, as Due basically tells the reader that they mustn’t look away from these real horrors that were committed about Black children, whether it’s torture, sexual assault, or murder. Dozier is a relentless prison that Robbie is barely surviving within, and seeing him and other detainees try to survive is enraging and devastating.

On the flip side is Gloria, who is determined to get Robbie out, and is trying to work through the justice system by reaching out to the NAACP, as well as well meaning (but at their heart ignorant) white people who may have the power to help, but have their own reservations. I thought that the dichotomy that Due showed between Robbie living in an overtly racist dangerous situation, and Gloria whose relentless pursuit for justice is putting her in just as much danger, while also displaying the everyday racism and dangers to Black people during this time and in this place. I also really appreciated how she not only took inspiration from her own family history, and also had in story versions of actual historical people, whether it was a reference to Thurgood Marshall or an actual interaction with Harry T. Moore. It’s so well done and so incredibly harrowing, and it’s an important reminder that even if Haints and psychic abilities aren’t real, the violent oppression against Black people at this time (and present times) was, and cannot and should not be washed away or forgotten.

“The Reformatory” is my first 10 Rating of 2024, and it has set an incredibly high bar for any and all books for the rest of the year. It’s phenomenal in every way. I never should have waited so long to read Tananarive Due. Expect more works by her this year, because I’m going to make up for lost time.

Rating 10: An astounding and horrifying horror novel whose darkest moments are less supernatural and more based in fact, “The Reformatory” is a knockout. Absolutely incredible.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Reformatory” is included on the Goodreads list “Popsugar 2024 #40 – A Horror Book Written by a BIPOC Author”, and “ATY 2024: Chilling Atmosphere”.

Another Take: Winter 2024

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

Don’t just take it from us, other readers like these books, too! And we have decided that we would like to showcase other reviewers and bloggers that have their own thoughts and feelings about books that we have loved. Here are a few of the books we’ve enjoyed recently and what other bloggers have to say about them.

Book: “The Witchwood Knot” by Olivia Atwater

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 realises 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 realise, 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?

Serena’s Review (9 Rating)

Lynn’s Book Blog (4 Stars)

Queen’s Book Asylum (4 Crowns/Stars)

Before We Go Blog (4 Stars)

Book: “The Serpent and the Wings of Night”

Book Description: The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.

But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival.

Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s crown… and her greatest competition. Yet, what terrifies Oraya most of all is that she finds herself oddly drawn to him.

But there’s no room for compassion in the Kejari. War for the House of Night brews, shattering everything that Oraya thought she knew about her home. And Raihn may understand her more than anyone – but their blossoming attraction could be her downfall, in a kingdom where nothing is more deadly than love.

Serena’s Review (9 Rating)

All the Books I Can Read (8 Rating)

Alicia Jeanne (5 Stars)

Girl in the Pages (5 Stars)

Book: “A Fragile Enchantment” by Allison Saft

Book Description: Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that will eventually kill her. Determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family, Niamh jumps at the chance to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding in the neighboring kingdom of Avaland.

But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While young nobles attend candlelit balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class. The groom himself, Kit Carmine, is prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a political pawn. But when Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more—until an anonymous columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to leave them alone only if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family’s secrets. The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of, and a love she never thought possible.

Transporting readers to a Regency England-inspired fantasy world, A Fragile Enchantment is a sweeping romance threaded with intrigue, unforgettable characters, and a love story for the ages.

Serena’s Review (8 Rating)

All About Romance (B Rating)

Back Shelf Books (5 Stars)

Tea Time Lit (3.5 Stars)

Book: “My Roommate Is A Vampire” by Jenna Levine

Book Description: Cassie Greenberg loves being an artist, but it’s a tough way to make a living. On the brink of eviction, she’s desperate when she finds a too-good-to-be-true apartment in a beautiful Chicago neighborhood. Cassie knows there has to be a catch—only someone with a secret to hide would rent out a room for that price.

Of course, her new roommate Frederick J. Fitzwilliam is far from normal. He sleeps all day, is out at night on business, and talks like he walked out of a regency romance novel. He also leaves Cassie heart-melting notes around the apartment, cares about her art, and asks about her day. And he doesn’t look half bad shirtless, on the rare occasions they’re both home and awake. But when Cassie finds bags of blood in the fridge that definitely weren’t there earlier, Frederick has to come clean…

Cassie’s sexy new roommate is a vampire. And he has a proposition for her.

Kate’s Review (8 Rating)

Books, Bones, & Buffy (3.5 Stars)

NeverImitate

The Neverending TBR (3.5 Hearts)

Book: “Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror” by Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams (Eds.)

Book Description: The visionary writer and director of Get Out, Us, and Nope, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions, curates this groundbreaking anthology of all-new stories of Black horror, exploring not only the terrors of the supernatural but the chilling reality of injustice that haunts our nation.

A cop begins seeing huge, blinking eyes where the headlights of cars should be that tell him who to pull over. Two freedom riders take a bus ride that leaves them stranded on a lonely road in Alabama where several unsettling somethings await them. A young girl dives into the depths of the Earth in search of the demon that killed her parents. These are just a few of the worlds of Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele’s anthology of all-new horror stories by Black writers. Featuring an introduction by Peele and an all-star roster of beloved writers and new voices, Out There Screaming is a master class in horror, and—like his spine-chilling films—its stories prey on everything we think we know about our world . . . and redefine what it means to be afraid.

Featuring stories by: Erin E. Adams, Violet Allen, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Maurice Broaddus, Chesya Burke, P. Djèlí Clark, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, N. K. Jemisin, Justin C. Key, L. D. Lewis, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nicole D. Sconiers, Rion Amilcar Scott, Terence Taylor, and Cadwell Turnbull.

Kate’s Review (Rating 8)

Ginger Nuts of Horror

Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together (8/10)

Life of a Female Bibliophile (4 Books)

Book: “The Intern” by Michele Campbell

Book Description: A young Harvard law student falls under the spell of a charismatic judge in this timely and thrilling novel about class, ambition, family and murder.

Madison Rivera lands the internship of a lifetime working for Judge Kathryn Conroy. But Madison has a secret that could destroy her career. Her troubled younger brother Danny has been arrested, and Conroy is the judge on his case.

When Danny goes missing after accusing the judge of corruption, Madison’s quest for answers brings her deep into the judge’s glamorous world. Is Kathryn Conroy a mentor, a victim, or a criminal? Is she trying to help Madison or use her as a pawn? And why is somebody trying to kill her? As the two women circle each other in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, will they save each other, or will betrayal leave one of them dead?

Kate’s Review (9 Rating)

Novel Gossip (4/5)

Jen Ryland Reviews

Always With A Book

Serena’s Review: “Once a Queen”

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

Book: “Once a Queen” by Sarah Arthur

Publishing Info: WaterBrook, January 2024

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

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

Book Description: When fourteen-year-old Eva Joyce unexpectedly finds herself spending the summer at the mysterious manor house of the English grandmother she’s never met, troubling questions arise. Why the estrangement? What’s with the house’s employees and their guarded secrets? Why must Eva never mention trains, her father, or her favorite childhood fairy tales?

After strange things start happening in the gardens at night, Eva turns to the elderly housekeeper, gardener, and the gardener’s great-grandson, Frankie, for answers. Astonishingly, they all seem to believe the fairy tales are true–that portals to other worlds still exist, though hidden and steadily disappearing. They suspect that Eva’s grandmother was once a queen in one of those worlds.

But Eva’s grandmother denies it all. After a horrific family tragedy when she was young, her heart is closed to the beauty and pain of her past. It’s up to Eva, with Frankie’s help, to discover what really happened, whether family relationships can be restored, and if the portals are closed forever. As she unravels generational secrets, Eva wrestles with the grief of a vanishing childhood–and the fear that growing up means giving up fairy tales forever.

Review: I don’t typically read books on the younger side of YA (or at least, ones that feature characters who are on the younger side, such as 14-year-old Eva in this one). I’ve found that more and more I’ve struggled to connect to YA fiction, especially when it reads on the younger side. There are still ones out there that fully grab my attention, and I can think of a number that rose to truly high levels. But, either it’s me or its the subgenre, but I feel like there have been more and more tropes, and less and less original content. That being the case, I was almost more intrigued to try this book, in that it was well outside of my usual YA fare, brushing shoulders more with middle grade fiction than anything else. And while it didn’t fully work for me, I do think it was a pleasant, satisfying read, especially for those who are looking for a good middle grade fantasy novel.

Let’s start with what I liked! In a lot of ways, this book will read as cozily familiar for classic fantasy fans: you have a mysterious manor house full of nooks and crannies and even more mysterious relatives who hint at secret pasts. It’s clear that the author was influenced by books like C.S. Lewis’s “Narnia” series and similar classic portal fantasies. But while it is referential to other fantasy stories, it also felt unique enough to hold its own. I enjoyed exploring alongside Eva as she discovered more and more about her family history.

That said, for the first 75% of the book, the pacing was fairly sluggish. It’s a long wait to actually see the main character dive into any real action or really put together all that she’s learning. It takes even longer for any of the actual portal fantasy elements to come into play. In this way, it was a bit of a frustrating read for me. However, I can see readers who are less familiar (or less interested in) fantasy feeling differently, that the magical elements were merely sprinkled on top of an interesting family-drama-centric middle grade story.

I also enjoyed the exploration of Eva’s relationship with her grandmother, a relation that has largely been an unknown entity in her life up to this point. As her grandmother’s history was revealed, I was intrigued to learn how her grandmother had ended up where she was and why she had made the choices she did. The idea of a granddaughter helping her grandmother rediscover her belief in fairytales is just as cozy at it sounds.

All of that said, I still struggled to get through this book. For me, I was looking for a bit more action and a bit more time spent in other magical worlds. However, I do think it will connect better for readers looking for a cozy fantasy novel with a strong focus on familial relationships and histories.

Rating 7: More successful as a family history story than a portal fantasy, but I do think middle grade cozy fantasy readers will enjoy this one more than I did!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Once a Queen” can be found on this Goodreads list: YA Novels of 2024