Author: thelibraryladiesmn

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

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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”

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

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”

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

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”

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

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”.

Serena’s Review: “Thick as Thieves”

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Book: “Thick as Thieves” by M. J. Kuhn

Publishing Info: Gallery / Saga Press, July 2023

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

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

Book Description: Ryia Cautella, a.k.a. the Butcher of Carrowick, and her motley crew have succeeded in the ultimate heist…with the most dire possible consequences. A terrifyingly powerful tool has fallen into the hands of Callum Clem, the criminal leader of the Saints, who was already one of the most dangerous men alive. With the newfound ability to force magic-wielding Adepts to his will, he is unstoppable.

With their group scattered throughout the five kingdoms of Thamorr—and not all on the same side of the fight—things seem hopeless. But can Ryia get the gang back together for one last job? Or will chess-worthy power plays and shifting loyalties change Thamorr as they know it?

Previously Reviewed: “Among Thieves”

Review: This was another of those nice situations where I’d held off on reading the first book for long enough that I was able to read this one right after the first. In this book’s case, this was helpful because there is a large cast of characters all trying to backstab one another and all keeping certain secrets from this person but not that person and and and…it can get quite confusing, quite quickly! So I do recommend those picking this book up after the year long wait to re-familiarize yourself a bit before diving into this one, just to keep everything straight!

One thing that really stands out about this series so far is the pace of the story and the action. While I think, on the whole, the first one was a bit more fast paced, there’s just no under-stating the snappy style of writing on display here. For a fairly lengthy book, I whipped right through this one pretty quickly. I also really enjoyed getting to see a bit more of this world. We travelled some in the first book as well, but we got even more new locations in this one, which I appreciated.

I really enjoyed all of our characters once again (surprisingly, while I still do have favorites, I don’t actively dislike any of them, though Tristan can have his moments). It was nice feeling as if I was getting a bit more depth for many of them as so much of the first book was taken up introducing this large cast. Now that we know a bit more about the backstories and motivations of several of them, the story was really able to dig into some of the meatier aspects of their characters. That said, I did feel like a few of their “special skills,” like Ian’s ability with disguises, did fall to the way side and could have been used more fully.

Part of this was due to the fact that our cast of characters were all split up into smaller groups for most of the story. That’s probably my biggest complaint of this book. Part of what made me enjoy the first book so much was the dynamic at play between this group of individuals. As it is, while the pairings we get here are still good, I did miss some of the quips, suspicions, and challenges that made up the larger group’s interplay. While eventually these groups do weave back together in a large, climatic ending, I wish we had spent more time with them together.

This book also felt a lot darker than the first. I’m not sure whether this is a good or bad thing, ultimately. On one hand, I have a hard time complaining about bringing in a more serious tone to some of the true horrors at work in this world. But on the other hand, I really enjoyed the fast, fun nature of the first book. Here, there were some truly surprising tragedies to be found, and I sure hope some of them don’t stick!

I think if you enjoyed the first book, it’s likely you’ll enjoy this one as well. There were a few loose ends that speak to the continuance of the series, but it also ended in a way that wasn’t a cliff hanger by any means.

Rating 8: A bit darker than the first, but still a fast, fun romp of a ride!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Thick as Thieves” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on Fantasy books with heists

Kate’s Review: “Dark Spaces: Good Deeds #1”


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Book: “Dark Spaces: Good Deeds #1” by Che Grayson & Kelsey Ramsay (Ill.)

Publishing Info: IDW, May 2023

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

Where You Can Get This Book: Comixology

Book Description: Scott Snyder’s Dark Spaces anthology line returns with an all-new story and creative team! In search of a fresh start, teenager Cheyenne Collins and her mother, Rebecca, move to St. Augustine, Florida, where they cross paths with Jean McKnight, a disgraced big-city journalist determined to pay her dues and rebuild her career, starting with a fluff piece on the town’s upcoming 450th anniversary celebration.

When the quaint community’s festivities give way to bloodshed and Cheyenne is the sole witness, Jean begins an investigation and the women find themselves at the heart of a supernatural conspiracy linked to St. Augustine’s colonial past. Together, they vow to expose the town’s historical sins, but the deeper Jean digs, the less clear it Who is Cheyenne Collins, and when does a quest for truth become a thirst for vengeance? Rising talents Che Grayson ( Urban Legends) and Kelsey Ramsay (Joan Jett and the Black Hearts, I Love Rock-n-Roll) team up for an eerie historical thriller about obsession, power, and redemption in Dark Spaces: Good Deeds!

Review: Thank you to IDW for sending me an eARC of this comic!

It is VERY rare that I review a comic in its single issue release format, as I much prefer to have the full story context in place in volume form. Volumes usually contain an arc within a story, or if its a limited series it can be contained in a full on graphic novel in one sitting. But when IDW sent me an email and some promotional pages for “Dark Spaces: Good Deeds #1” by Che Grayson, I was intrigued enough that I decided to take a chance on a single issue review series. Weird small town secrets, an eager to prove herself reporter, and something odd going on, all while simmering in a dark colonial past that leaks into the present? Oh yeah, this has the potential to be great, and “Good Deeds #1” is a great start!

We have a solid set up for our first issue, which is laying the groundwork for what is to come. The first storyline is that of Rebecca and her teenage daughter Cheyenne, who have recently moved to St. Augustine, Florida. They have bought an old abandoned diner, sold to them by a local named Mr. Foster, and they want to start over after having moved around a lot. The other thread is that of Jean, a journalist who, due to an unnamed mistake, has led her to lose credibility in the journalism community. So when she is offered a job to write a puff piece about the anniversary of the founding of St. Augustine, she takes the offer, and expects to have an easy, if not super satisfying, story to help rebuild her career. We have this well done juxtaposition of Jean meeting with the town leaders, who are bragging about how wonderful their community is, with new girl Cheyenne being bullied as an outsider by her very insular new class mates. Grayson, as I said, is laying a lot of groundwork here, and they do a very good job of showing the spun facade of the town the leaders want to present to Jean, all while weird and disturbing things are happening to Cheyenne at the hands of the townspeople. We don’t know what the issues with the townsfolk are and why they are being so secretive, and the unease builds and settles in in a very creepy way.

And then we get a whole other question by the end of the issue (no spoilers here!), that ties back to Cheyenne and Rebecca. Because the citizens of St. Augustine aren’t the only ones being a little bit cagey. I love the way that Grayson peels this back as well, and it feels done in a very deliberate way while happening all within the limited pages of a single issue comic. The climax of this issue alone is enough to make me want more, but there have been so many well placed questions as well as interesting characters that I am definitely hooked and wanting more. Especially since you can tell that there are going to be some complexities as to what is going on with this community, as it boasts of it’s colonial past while hostility is being thrown towards POC outsiders.

And finally, I really liked the artwork for this! Kelsey Ramsay makes good use of color, and I liked how some of the art is designed in a way that looks realistic, but also a bit odd and strange when it fits the scene.

(source: IDW)

All in all, “Dark Spaces: Good Deeds #1” is off to a promising and solid start! I will definitely be checking out where this goes next, as there are many questions I need to know the answer to.

Rating 8: A tantalizing and creepy start to what is sure to be a dark and layered series, “Dark Spaces: Good Deeds #1” has me hooked.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Dark Spaces: Good Deeds #1” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it would fit in on “Superheroes, Comics, and Social Justice” (admittedly we are early in the story so broader themes aren’t quite as clear yet).

Highlights: July 2023

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Ah, summer! The time of year where Serena is outside almost 100% of the time while Kate is indoors glaring at the sun and dreaming of fall. And now that we’re back from the ALA conference in Chicago, boy do we have a bunch of great books to look forward to reading! Here are some titles we’re excited about this month!

Serena’s Picks

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

Publication Date: July 11, 2023

Why I’m Interested: As has been well-documented on this blog, I’m always on the hunt for the next great fairytale retelling. And while “Cinderella” is one of the more popular tales for retellings, I was intrigued by the premise of this one which stars up after the ball and glass slipper escapade. Indeed, as the summary hints, our Cinderella here may have had an entirely separate goal in the first place when trying to nab her prince! I’m always a bit concerned with these sorts of “morally grey” characters, like this one is advertised as being, but I’m definitely hopeful and can’t wait to check this one out!

Book: “The Jasad Heir” by Sara Hashem

Publication Date: July 18, 2023

Why I’m Interested: I feel like every kid goes through an “Egypt” phase, and I was no exception! And what with my love of the “Amelia Peabody” series, did I ever leave this phase? Either way, I was excited when I saw this new fantasy title coming out from Orbit that is based on Egyptian mythology and history. There is also reference to a sort of “Hunger Games” style competition, which…I’m less excited about. Does every fantasy title ever have to include some sort of elaborate competition where death is highly featured? Yes? Ok.

Book: “Bonesmith” by Nicki Pau Preto

Publication Date: July 25, 2023

Why I’m Interested: I didn’t love Preto’s original YA fantasy trilogy. In fact, I was so uninspired that I didn’t make it past book one. But I’m always willing to give an author a second chance, and the super cool cover on this one definitely drew me in. Is it obvious manipulation pulling from the very popular “Gideon the Ninth?” Yes, and it’s working perfectly! The story follows a young woman who has grown up in a land plagued by the dead who will rise again unless bonesmiths, like her, put them to rest. Of course, there is also a kidnapped prince and brooding rebel in the mix. All good things, all good things.

Kate’s Picks

Book: “Dead of Winter” by Darcy Coates

Publication Date: July 11, 2023

Why I’m Interested: I’ve been wholly enjoying Darcy Coates ever since I started reading her books last year, and I was absolutely thrilled to meet her at ALA this past June. And now she has a new horror novel coming out, and not only is it a locked room-esque mystery, it’s also a snowstorm survival story WITH A MURDERER ON THE LOOSE! Christa and her boyfriend join a tour group in the Rocky Mountains, but when the bus is waylaid during a snowstorm the group gets trapped in a hunting cabin off the beaten path. And then someone starts murdering the members of the tour group, one by one. Christa has to try and survive not only a storm, but also a killer. I expect this to be gnarly as hell.

Book: “The Beast You Are” by Paul Tremblay

Publication Date: July 11, 2023

Why I’m Interested: Paul Tremblay is a must read author for me, his horror works not only scaring the hell out of me more often than not, but also making me weep almost 100% of the time. So obviously I’m going to showcase his newest short stories collection “The Beast You Are”. Collecting a number of Tremblay’s stories that have been published in other formats, as well as a new novella, this anthology is going to run the gamut from dark fantasy, to experimental horror, to even some anthropomorphic animals. And I’m sure that there are a lot of scares to be had.

Book: “Camp Damascus” by Chuck Tingle

Publication Date: July 18, 2023

Why I’m Interested: Well come on. When it is announced that Chuck Tingle is writing a mainstream horror novel, of COURSE I’m going to take notice!! Chuck Tingle, known for his ‘tinglers’ (aka short story monster erotica with tongue planted FIRMLY in cheek), has written a full length, non Tingler horror story, and I am NOT READY in the BEST way. Rose is a devout young woman living in a strict conservative Christian community, her Church being very influential and the conversion camp Camp Damascus a much respected organization. But when Rose starts seeing visions of demons, she starts to question her community, and how moral it actually is. SIGN ME UP, IMMEDIATELY.

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

Year of Sanderson: “Tress of the Emerald Sea”

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“Year of Sanderson” is an on-going, monthly series that will post on the last Friday of each month in which I will cover various Brandon Sanderson-related things. This will largely be comprised of book reviews (some from his back catalog and some from the books being released this year), as well as assorted other topics like reviews of the items in the swag boxes that will be coming out as part of Sanderson’s Kickstarted campaign. Frankly, we’ll just have to see what we get from this series, very much like the Kickstarter itself!

Book: “Tress of the Emerald Sea” by Brandon Sanderson

Publishing Info: Dragonsteel Entertainment, April 2023

Where Did I Get this Book: own it!

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

Book Description: The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie. But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?

Review: Those who signed up for Brandon Sanderon’s record-breaking Kickstarter are aware that this book has been a long-time coming. Honestly, I can’t even be mad about the fact that its arrival was several months delayed. The response to the Kickstarter was completely crazy, and it’s hard to imagine any small publisher managing that sort of volume in a perfect manner, especially when there has been a lot of upheaval in the book printing industry ever since Covid. All of that said, I was so, so excited to receive this book in the mail! And it will mark the first review of a brand new Sanderson book in this review series (instead of the reviews of previously published works that I’ve posted in the past.)

First off, I want to say that I understand that there were some pretty hefty price tags alongside the various levels of this Kickstarter. I’m going to try to do a review of some of my favorite items from the monthly boxes somewhere in this series, but I’ve been incredibly impressed with the quality and uniqueness of the items. I’ve subscribed to book boxes in the past, and very often they feel like they’re simply churning out low quality, similar items in every box. Not so here. But, more importantly for this review, I’m so happy that I went ahead and bought the special editions of these books. Judging by this first one, it will be well worth the price. The cover art is beautiful. The foiling and “leather” binding is awesome. And the interior artwork is simply gorgeous. I can’t say enough good things. It’s the kind of book that I now have prominently displayed on my shelves, and every once in a while I’ll just look over at it and it makes me happy. Sparks joy, and all of that.

The story itself is exactly that as well: joyful. I had a smile plastered on my face from start to finish. This is the type of “cozy fantasy” that I think will appeal to readers across the SFF board. It doesn’t lean too hard into any one aspect of “coziness,” but instead simply revels in being an action-packed story, with fun characters, snappy dialogue, and wonder-filled magic. The marketing and author’s note for this story mentions that the inspiration for this story came from “The Princess Bride” and the question: what if Buttercup had tried to rescue Wesley when he was “killed” by the Dread Pirate Roberts instead of simply…accepting it? Not only is that concept amazing, but the book that Sanderson produces perfectly matches the type of book that should have any connection or reference to “The Princess Bride.”

The story follows Tress, a young woman who has lead a quiet life on a remote island up until she is forced to team up with pirates in an attempt to rescue the love of her life who has been kidnapped by a powerful sorceress. Tress is a fantastic leading lady. She starts from humble beginnings and her evolution to the leader she becomes is organic and believable. Indeed, as the story progresses, the narrator of the story is very determined in highlighting just what makes Tress special. She doesn’t suddenly reveal here-to-unknown magical powers or an ability to suddenly become the best fighter/assassin/pirate/what-have-you. Instead, her strengths are the quieter kinds, the ones that people often forget about as so necessary to what makes a hero great to begin with. Her determination, her bravery, her willingness to question others’ and her own assumptions. It’s all great stuff.

Speaking of the narrator, the story is told by Hoid, a character who both shows up on the page and “tells” us the story. Now, this will either mean a whole lot to you or nothing at all depending on your familiarity with Sanderson’s back catalog. And the best thing I can say here is that either way, whether you know all about Hoid or are just meeting him for the first time here, this book functions equally well. I do think that fans of the Cosmere will appreciate the little Easter Eggs sprinkled throughout the story, but they also were so lightly touched upon that I don’t think they will feel noticeable or out-of-place to the casual reader. As a fan of the previous books, I really enjoyed reading a book narrated by this character. Yes, there were times where some of the humor was a bit too juvenile for my taste (such is often the case, I’ve found, with Sanderson’s YA work), but there were also entire paragraphs that I found myself re-reading several times and wanting to physically highlight for the clever and insightful things being said.

I loved everything about this book! For one reason or another, it’s been a long time since I’ve picked up a book by Brandon Sanderson, but this read was the perfect kick-in-the-butt I needed to remind myself why I need to work better at staying up to date with his writing. But, come on, the guy writes a crazy amount! It’s like a full-time job reading all of his stuff as it comes out! That is one very nice thing about these four new novels coming out this year: they’re all stand-alones (as far as I’m aware), so I can look forward to the next three with the simple joy of knowing I’m not committing to any more series. If you’re a fan of Brandon Sanderson, cozy fantasies, or, really, anything SFF, you should definitely add this on to your TBR list!

Rating 9: With first book in Sanderson’s series of four, he proves once again that yes, he really can write this many books and still maintain a level of quality that blows the mind.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Tress of the Emerald Sea” is on these Goodreads lists: Best books of 2023 and Fantasy with cozy vibes…