Category: Kate’s Reviews

Kate’s Review: “Fence: Vol. 2”

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Book: “Fence: Vol. 2” by C. S. Pacat & Johanna the Mad (Ill.)

Publishing Info: BOOM! Box, July 2018

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

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

Book Description: Nicholas Cox is determined to prove himself in the world of competitive fencing, and earn his place on the Kings Row fencing team, alongside sullen fencing prodigy, Seiji Katayama, to win the right to go up against his golden-boy half-brother.

Tryouts are well underway at King’s Row for a spot on the prodigious fencing team, and scrappy fencer Nicholas isn’t sure he’s going to make the grade in the face of surly upperclassmen, nearly impossibly odds, and his seemingly unstoppable roommate, the surly, sullen Seiji Katayama. It’ll take more than sheer determination to overcome a challenge this big!

From the superstar team of C.S. Pacat (The Captive Prince) and fan-favorite artist Johanna the Mad comes the second volume of this acclaimed, dynamic series. 

Review: As we are starting to get a bit more past a huge slew of ALA books and horror focused reads for the month of October, I am now going to make an effort to get more into graphic novels again going into the next year. We had the newest “Lore Olympus” to kick that off, and now I am going into the second volume of “Fence”, the YA sports story by C.S. Pacat about ambitious fencers who are trying to make the prestigious team at their school and to prove themselves, while trying to maneuver through teenage love, familial angst, and other stressful factors. I’m glad that we’re back at Kings Row and following their fencers duke it out to make the team! And duke it out they absolutely do.

Tryouts are still in full swing, and Nicholas Cox is hungry to make the team, even after having a bad first match back in Volume 1. He is desperate to make the team so that he can perhaps eventually go up against the half brother he has never met, but to get there he has to get past established Kings Row fencers, and also his rival and roommate Seiji Katayama. I liked seeing Nicholas have a fire lit under his ass this volume, and how we see his strengths come out through fencing technique and pure potential. As someone who fenced for one season, I liked how Pacat makes the tension of a fencing match leap off the page, and how she breaks down the various techniques and how they can work during a match. I also continue to like seeing Nicholas’s driven personality and how he is easy to root for while also being a bit of an endearing doof in other ways. He’s just a fun protagonist, and I’m fully invested in him making his way to his goal. I am a bit curious to see how long these tryouts are going to last, volume wise, but for now I’m still buying in to the plot.

But there is the added bonus that in this volume, as we kind of get to get a bit more into Seiji’s head as the tryouts go on and he starts to show cracks in his armor. Volume 1 was so focused on giving us Nicholas’s backstory that we didn’t really get to explore his rival Seiji. But in this volume, Seiji changes from being mysterious and sullen wunderkind into something a little more rounded and fleshed out. We start to see his insecurities, and we start to see that perhaps he isn’t so perfect, as he has a pretty significant stumble. Heck, I’d even go so far as to say that Pacat is now starting to move on to the other teammates, whether it’s the lothario Aiden or serious and driven Harvard (also, are Aiden and Harvard potentially going to be a thing? That will probably actually be pretty cute, right?). I like getting to know the fencers as they have to face off with each other, and like that it isn’t going to just be the Nicholas and Seiji show.

I will be curious to see where this goes, and when (if?) we get to see Nicholas face off with his half brother. But for now, “Fence: Vol. 2” continues to follow ambitious fencers as they strive to make the team, and builds on their complexity. Looks like I need to get my hands on the next one soon!

Rating 8: The stakes are high and the characters are starting to become more complex as the pressure is on, and “Fence: Vol. 2” continues to shine!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Fence: Vol. 2” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now (this kind of shocks me?), but like the fist volume it would fit in on “Fencing Fiction”, and “Graphic Novels: Featuring LGBTIQ+ Themes”.

Previously Reviewed:

Kate’s Review: “Never Whistle At Night”

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Book: “Never Whistle At Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology” by Shane Hawk (Ed.) & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (Ed.)

Publishing Info: Vintage, September 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: A bold, clever, and sublimely sinister collection that dares to ask the question: “Are you ready to be un-settled?” Featuring stories by:

Norris Black • Amber Blaeser-Wardzala • Phoenix Boudreau • Cherie Dimaline • Carson Faust • Kelli Jo Ford • Kate Hart • Shane Hawk • Brandon Hobson • Darcie Little Badger • Conley Lyons • Nick Medina • Tiffany Morris • Tommy Orange • Mona Susan Power • Marcie R. Rendon • Waubgeshig Rice • Rebecca Roanhorse • Andrea L. Rogers • Morgan Talty • D.H. Trujillo • Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. • Richard Van Camp • David Heska Wanbli Weiden • Royce Young Wolf • Mathilda Zeller

Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai’po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear—and even follow you home.

These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.

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

Up until quite recently I would always preface my review of short story collections and anthologies with some version of ‘I don’t really like short stories collections, but I wanted to try out _______ because of _____’. But in recent years, I’ve been enjoying a good number of the short story collections and anthologies I’ve picked up, and have therein become far more willing to give them a go. Especially if the collection appeals to me for one reason or another. And it is these reasons that I picked up “Never Whistle At Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology”, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. Not only have I had greater success with short story anthologies, this one also showcases dark fiction, be it horror, thriller, or dark fantasy, by Indigenous authors. I had read works by some of the authors, but a lot of them were new to me, and I was very eager to hop in and see what the experience was going to be like. And it was intense, but overall positive!

As usual with short stories collections, I will talk about my three favorite stories in the anthology, and then review the work as a whole.

“Kushtuka” by Mathilda Zeller: A young Indigenous woman is pressured to go work for a powerful white man for a dinner party, even though he is manipulative and predatory. But as he and his colleagues feast and put her down, a mysterious creature that looks like her stalks her and the house they are all residing in. This one was one of the stories that was the most straight up horror, with a shape shifting Kushtuka being one threat, but another threat being white people who are more than happy to take advantage of Indigenous people, especially women, when they have power over them. And man, the descriptions of the Kushtuka were TERRIFYING. This was the first story in the collection and it really started it off with a bang.

“Navajos Don’t Wear Elk Teeth” by Conley Lyons: A gay man living in a family summer home for the season meets a mysterious neighbor, with whom he starts an affair. Their relationship becomes intense, and the lover starts to behave in more erratic and violent ways, including showing off a tooth collection with some very strange teeth. This one was just a slow burn of creepiness, with our protagonist finding himself in a frog in a pot of boiling water kind of situation and as unsettling or flat our terrifying things happen and escalate. And there is really just something about a weirdo that collects teeth that really gets under my skin. Throw in some themes about queer identity and the ways that colonialism can appear in unexpected ways, and you have some great symbolism to add to the creep factor.

“Sundays” by David Heska Wanbli Weiden: A recent widower who has been carrying the trauma of sexual abuse at a Catholic boarding school decides that he is going to confront his abuser and take his revenge. While ruminating about his past, his marriage, and the horrific things he experienced at the school, he finds himself face to face with his rapist, and has to make a choice. This one was my favorite of the collection, and it was absolutely one of the hardest ones to read due to the visceral nature and the topics of child sexual abuse and the overall horror stories of the Boarding Schools. Weiden is such a powerhouse of gritty and realistic and DARK thriller stories, and this one was not only very suspenseful, it was also very emotional as it takes on the very real awful realities about the Catholic Boarding Schools that abused and destroyed so many Indigenous families and children. It’s SO upsetting and it’s content warnings all around, but it’s just astounding.

When looking at the collection as a whole, I really liked the variety not only in the types of genres and sub genres that are represented, but also in the writing styles of all the authors and how it reflects their visions and experiences as Indigenous people in the U.S. and Canada in modern society. Some of them were a bit too intense for me, or triggered me for various reasons and that made it so I had a harder time enjoying them, while others sometimes felt a little uneven. BUT, as a whole? It’s pretty good. It has opened my eyes to a number of authors whom I had never heard of and am going to pursue and read more from. For people who like horror, dark fantasy, and/or thrillers, there will almost certainly be something to enjoy in this collection. And I will always promote and showcase stories by Indigenous authors, especially in genres that have been pretty damn white and European in terms of what gets the focus and what gets promoted. What better time than right now to check this out?

“Never Whistle At Night” is another successful anthology experience for me, and it’s a horror and thriller collection that should be sought after by fans of the genres. It has variety and unique perspectives, and I urge people to check it out!

Rating 8: A whole slew of dark tales from so many talented authors, “Never Whistle At Night” is a must read not only for the variety, but the Indigenous voices it showcases.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Never Whistle At Night” is included on the Goodreads list “All Indigenous Peoples 4”.

Kate’s Review: “VenCo”

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Book: “VenCo” by Cherie Dimaline

Publishing Info: William Morrow, February 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

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

Book Description: Lucky St. James, a Métis millennial living with her cantankerous but loving grandmother Stella, is barely hanging on when she discovers she will be evicted from their tiny Toronto apartment. Then, one night, something strange and irresistible calls out to Lucky. Burrowing through a wall, she finds a silver spoon etched with a crooked-nosed witch and the word SALEM, humming with otherworldly energy.

Hundreds of miles away in Salem, Myrna Good has been looking for Lucky. Myrna works for VenCo, a front company fueled by vast resources of dark money.

Lucky is familiar with the magic of her indigenous ancestors, but she has no idea that the spoon links her to VenCo’s network of witches throughout North America. Generations of witches have been waiting for centuries for the seven spoons to come together, igniting a new era, and restoring women to their rightful power.

But as reckoning approaches, a very powerful adversary is stalking their every move. He’s Jay Christos, a roguish and deadly witch-hunter as old as witchcraft itself.

To find the last spoon, Lucky and Stella embark on a rollicking and dangerous road trip to the darkly magical city of New Orleans, where the final showdown will determine whether VenCo will usher in a new beginning…or remain underground forever.

Review: Fall is winding down, with American Thanksgiving later this week and temperatures getting colder and colder here in Minnesota. But I still like clinging to the Autumnal feelings as long as I can, and that means I’m also reading books that just feel like Autumn. That was part of the reason I was drawn to “VenCo” by Cherie Dimaline, a witch story about women drawn together from all parts of North America in hopes of coming to their full strength to help change the world for the better. Witch tales always feel like Fall to me, and I liked the whispers of a feminist edge to this book. Seems like Autumnal reading to me!

I enjoyed the witch lore and world building of this story. Dimaline makes clear rules and mythos about how witches are called, what functions they serve, and how they interact with the world and with each other. I also liked the way that the coven/VenCo itself was structured, with seven witches working below three top witches that are called The Maiden, The Mother, and The Crone (a clear reference to the Neopagan Triple Goddess). I also liked the way that while there have always been witches, there have also always been witch hunters, and I liked the origins of the SALEM spoons that all of the witches in the coven find to serve as totems that bring them all together. While we don’t get to see a lot of overt magical moments outside of scrying, I did like the implications that these women come together and through their companionship they will bring out their powers while also finding the power of themselves, whether it’s a woman leaving an abusive relationship, or a trans girl becoming comfortable in her own identity and truth. What can I say, I like magical stories that place emphasis on women bringing their strength out through companionship with other women.

All that said, I did think that we could have used a bit more exploration into the characters themselves. While all the members of the coven get some back stories, once their back stories are told they are pretty shallow. I also would have killed to have more backstory for The Maiden, The Mother, and The Crone, as there were a LOT of questions about them that I had once the book was finished (there was a particular revelation that happened in the last two pages that I really would have loved to have more details about!). And going back to the note above about the moments of magic, I do wish that we had seen more of that instead of just the promise that once the witches come together as seven they will be able to solve the world’s problems. It was a lot of telling without a lot of showing, and I really wanted more by the time the book was finished.

“VenCo” is an entertaining witchy read. I had higher hopes than what was delivered, but it’s a cozy read for Autumn.

Rating 6: A fun and witchy tale brimming with sisterhood, “VenCo” is an entertaining fantasy, though it could have used a little more exploration of the characters and their depths.

Reader’s Advisory:

“VenCo” is included on the Goodereads lists “Coven Book Club”, and “Scary Mommy Book Club”.

Kate’s Review: “Lore Olympus: Volume 5”

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

Book: “Lore Olympus: Volume 5” by Rachel Smythe

Publishing Info: Inklore, October 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it.

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

Book Description: Scandalous gossip, wild parties, and forbidden love–the Greek tale of Hades and Persephone gets a romantic modern update in the gorgeously illustrated, Eisner Award-winning Lore Olympus, including behind-the-scenes content!

“You want to know about The Bringer of Death.”
 
It is Persephone’s birthday, and she receives the ultimate gift: Hades confesses his desire for her, leading to their first kiss. But that doesn’t necessarily make things easier for the goddess of spring, who is still in over her head in gossip-driven Olympus. Persephone feels intense guilt over the official breakup between Hades and Minthe, she is struggling to find her footing in her fast-paced job, and—worst of all—the shades of her past are slowly coming to light.
 
After an unexpected encounter with Apollo, Persephone flees into the depths of the Underworld. Concerned for her safety and determined to find her, Hades must team up with Artemis, Eros, and Hera, but they’re working against a ticking clock. Zeus knows about the bloody secret in Persephone’s past, and now the furious king of the gods will stop at nothing to bring her to justice.

Review: “Lore Olympus: Volume 5” has actually been out since October, but with my Horrorapalooza theme for that month leading up to Halloween it meant that I had to delay reviewing Rachel Smythe’s newest volume of the reimagined Greek Mytho until long after it had come out. Which was difficult, because given that this is one of my favorite series at the moment (and possibly all time) I am always ready and willing to sing it’s praises as soon as I can. But that doesn’t matter, because here we are and I am fully, fully ready to jump into this next part of the story for Hades, Persephone, and all my favorite (and most loathed) Greek Gods and Goddesses and everything in between.

One of the things I really like about this series is that Smythe is doing a slow burn in terms of getting Hades and Persephone together, but is doing it in a way that feels, I suppose, ‘responsible’ on Hades’s part. There is something of a power imbalance between the two in this series (though obviously not in the same way as the original story, thank goodness), but instead of having Hades and Persephone throw that to the wayside, we do see Hades struggling with that dynamic and trying to hold boundaries. Partially because Persephone has requested that they do in spite of their attraction, and partially because as the story progresses he starts to realize that he doesn’t really KNOW Persephone outside of his perceptions of her as an ideal. But not to worry, there is still a lot of sexual tension, it just feels like it is a bit more on the same level between the two characters. We also see Hades genuinely worry about her even though he knows that she is hiding something on some level, and that first and foremost he wants her safe (especially after she feels a need to try and hide away after another awful encounter with Apollo; him trying to piece together where she could be and looking for her is a great arc for him at this point in time).

There is also finally some payoff for the hints that have been dropping about Persephone as the ‘Bringer of Death’ in this volume, and without spoiling anything, man does it pay off. Persephone has, up until this point, been portrayed as a bit naive and seemingly innocent to the ways of the world, though we have started to realize that she has been a bit stunted because of her mother Demeter’s overprotectiveness and that has very much contributed to this portrayal. Persephone isn’t this way because OBVIOUSLY that’s how Persephone as a goddess should be, but more because she has been isolated and hidden away and that has had an effect on her emotional growth, and when she was in the mortal realm she had started to realized as such. This conflict with her mother, this conflict within herself, and these constraints on her person all combine to create a very huge moment that would surely send ripples through the world of the Gods, and the reveal is both shocking, but also perhaps a little… unreliable, given who provides us with the context. That said, it REALLY gives us some insight not only into Persephone, but also Demeter, and ALSO how the Gods are, in fact, not infallible, even when they are generally kind and gentle, as Persephone is. I loved finally getting some answers about what Persephone (and other Gods and Goddesses) have been hiding, and it explains a lot of her actions up until now.

But what of the other characters? Oh, don’t you worry, there are PLENTY of awesome character moments and character developments in this one. I was especially keen on some of the things that Hera gets to do in this volume, but to be honest Hera is always killing it and I so love that Smythe has given her so many things to do and has given her so much depth. We get some more hints towards her own past traumas and the things she has given up to be Zeus’s queen, and how she could be SO MUCH MORE and how this has beaten her down. But we also get to see her wield these powers in other protective ways that make for very satisfying beats and scenes (God I love Hera in this). But the character who is really getting her layers peeled back in Minthe, who is still reeling over her ugly confrontation with Hades and how she can’t seem to stop sabotaging herself and her happiness. Smythe gives so much grace to Minthe , who definitely has self regulation and impulse control issues as well as a very poor self image. All these things lead to her lashing out over and over. But she does this without letting her off the hook for her nastiness towards others, particularly Hades and Thanatos, and I love how complex she gets to be. She still has a ways to go (get AWAY from Thetis, Minthe, she’s AWFUL!), but you can see glimmers of hope that she’s going to figure it out.

“Lore Olympus: Volume 5” continues a fantastic reimagining of my favorite Greek Myth. Now we just have to wait until May for the next Volume, and I know I already have it on pre-order.

Rating 9: We’re finally getting some insight into Persephone’s secret backstory, and Hera is getting some amazing moments of her own. Throw in some humanizing moments for Minthe and we have another fantastic entry into this Greek Mythology reimagining.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Lore Olympus: Volume 5” is included on the Goodreads list “October 2023 Most Anticipated Romance Releases”.

Previously Reviewed:

Kate’s Review: “The Professor”

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

Book: “The Professor” by Lauren Nossett

Publishing Info: Flatiron Books, November 2023

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

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

Book Description: On a spring afternoon in Athens, Georgia, Ethan Haddock is discovered in his apartment, dead, apparently by his own hand. His fatality immediately garners media not because his death reflects the troubling increase of depression and mental health issues among college students, but because the media has caught the whiff of a scandal. His professor, Dr. Verena Sobek, has been taken in for questioning, and there are rumors his death is the result of a bad romance. A Title IX investigation is opened, the professor is suspended, and social media crusaders and trolls alike are out for blood.

Marlitt Kaplan never investigated love affairs. A former detective turned research assistant, she misses the excitement of her old job, but most of all the friendship of her partner, Teddy. When her mother, a professor at the university and colleague of the accused professor, asks for her help, she finds herself in the impossible position of proving something didn’t happen. Without the credentials to interview suspects or access phone records, she will have to get closer to a victim’s life than ever before. And she quickly finds herself in his apartment, having dinner with his roommates, even sleeping in his bed. But is she too close to see the truth?

In her relentless pursuit to uncover the mystery behind Ethan’s death, Marlitt will be forced to confront the power structures ingrained in the classroom against the backdrop of a historic campus and an institution that sometimes fails its most vulnerable members.

Review: Thank you to Flatiron Books for sending me an eARC of this novel via NetGalley!

Now that we are out of October I’m trying to catch up on my other genres outside of horror. I feel like even outside of Horrorpalooza I’ve been neglecting my thriller tastes, and am actively trying to turn that around. So after “The Intern”, we now turn to another thriller with a professional label in the title: “The Professor” by Lauren Nossett. I do love a juicy scandalous read, and on paper it seemed like this book would deliver on that. Disgraced former detective? An academic scandal? A potential affair? Well all of that sounds pretty sudsy to me! But “The Professor” didn’t really go in that direction. Which was mostly a good thing.

As a thriller, “The Professor” checks a lot of boxes I’ve come to expect and it generally does them pretty well. As our protagonist Marlitt investigates a potential affair in the aftermath of a college student’s suicide, we learn about her disgraced departure as a detective and how she feels a need to prove herself as well as feels a need to do a favor for her mother, who is a colleague of a professor who is under investigation in the aftermath of the student’s death. As she tries to learn more about Verena, the professor who is surrounded by rumors, and tries to learn about Ethan, the student who ended up dead, she treads closer and closer to obsession. Marlitt has a lot of the features of a damaged female protagonist of the genre, but I liked that we don’t dwell on it too much within the narrative, nor did we get a lot of repetitive moments of how she’s damaged and why she’s damaged and OH LOOK HOW DAMAGED SHE IS. Her actions can be reckless, but they speak for themselves and never feel overwrought. I also found myself surprised by a number of reveals within the mystery of what happened to Ethan, be it from Marlitt’s investigation or the perspective chapters we would get from both Ethan and Verena in flashback form. Nossett lays out the clues and knows when to reveal them or piece them together. I will say, however, that sometimes the pace was a little slow and the story could drag, getting bogged down in these different investigations. But that said, things do speed up the closer we get to the big climax.

But the theme that really resonated with me in this book is how we slowly get to see just what was going on with Verena, and how due to who she was and the prejudices that come with that made her the perfect target for gossip and hostility in the wake of her student’s death. Through flashbacks we get to know Verena as a new German professor, and how her heritage of being Turkish and German and as an immigrant to America Other her not only with her students, but also with the public when rumors start to swirl. Marlitt’s investigation is being done at her mother’s behest, and as she learns more and as we learn more about Verena through her own experiences and flashbacks one starts to wonder if the hostility towards her is possibly due to misogyny and xenophobia and the way that academia hasn’t quite reckoned with the ways that it enforces these things. It’s an interesting angle that I don’t always expect from thrillers of this nature, and I found that refreshing.

“The Professor” is a solid thriller that goes outside the box in unexpected ways. It’s a bit slow at times, but I did think that the payoff was ultimately worth it.

Rating 7: Some pretty good reveals, a complicated protagonist, and a look at the toxicity thrown due to rumors and prejudices make for an enjoyable thriller (albeit at times a slow one).

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Professor” is included on the Goodreads list “2023 Dark Academia Releases”.

Kate’s Review: “Midnight Is The Darkest Hour”


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

Book: “Midnight is the Darkest Hour” by Ashley Winstead

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks, October 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 the critically acclaimed author of In My Dreams I Hold A Knife and The Last Housewife comes a gothic Southern thriller about a killer haunting a small Louisiana town, where two outcasts—the preacher’s daughter and the boy from the wrong side of the tracks—hold the key to uncovering the truth.

For fans of Verity and A Flicker in the Dark, this is a twisted tale of murder, obsessive love, and the beastly urges that lie dormant within us all…even the God-fearing folk of Bottom Springs, Louisiana. In her small hometown, librarian Ruth Cornier has always felt like an outsider, even as her beloved father rains fire-and-brimstone warnings from the pulpit at Holy Fire Baptist.

Unfortunately for Ruth, the only things the townspeople fear more than the God and the Devil are the myths that haunt the area, like the story of the Low Man, a vampiric figure said to steal into sinners’ bedrooms and kill them on moonless nights. When a skull is found deep in the swamp next to mysterious carved symbols, Bottom Springs is thrown into uproar—and Ruth realizes only she and Everett, an old friend with a dark past, have the power to comb the town’s secret underbelly in search of true evil.

A dark and powerful novel like fans have come to expect from Ashley Winstead, Midnight is the Darkest Hour is an examination of the ways we’ve come to expect love, religion, and stories to save us, the lengths we have to go to in order to take back power, and the monstrous work of being a girl in this world.

Review: Thank you to Sourcebooks for sending me an ARC of this novel!

Halloween is over but there is still a bit of Autumn left before things go full Winter over here (I mean, kind of…. it’s been VERY cold here, lately, so it feels more like Winter), and that means I’m still reveling in stories that just feel like the season. When “Midnight is the Darkest Hour” by Ashley Winstead ended up in my mailbox, the description made me think of dark nights and leaves and autumnal creepiness. It also caught my attention when the description made comparisons to “Thelma and Louise” and “Twilight”, because THAT is a combination that hadn’t crossed my mind before. So with my interest piqued and the seasonal aesthetic being perfect, I jumped in with high expectations, and I’m happy to say that they were pretty well met!

I was never on the “Twilight” train but I’m tickled that we are now at the place where it’s being referenced as a cultural touchstone in an adult thriller. (source)

With the “Twilight” references, not only in the description but also in the book itself, I went into “Midnight is the Darkest Hour” with certain expectations about how the story was going to go, but Winstead kept me on my toes and subverted them in many ways. I think that the biggest surprise for me was how much I really loved the relationship between our protagonist Ruth and her best friend Everett, and how that relationship defined not only themselves, but also in a way how the community saw them. While our story is from Ruth’s perspective, told through what’s happening in the present and also what happened in the past, I felt like I not only got a good sense of who she was, I also got a good sense of who Everett was, and how complicated they both are due to their various traumas and experiences of growing up in a hyper-zealous small town that sees them as threats (though their various social standings, her being the powerful preacher’s daughter and him being the son of a notorious criminal, makes the town approach them in very different ways). I really enjoyed how Winstead, instead of merely making them star crossed lovers, made Ruth and Everett have a connection that started as trauma bonding in a way as they try to hide a terrible secret, and then turns into a relationship that transcends both romantic and platonic into something that just feels correct. You know that a bond between characters really gets me in the feels when I don’t even need them to be together romantically, I just need them to be together in whatever way is going to work for them, relationship definitions be damned (Buffy and Spike are another of these, looping back to more vampire lore). True, there are some shades of “Twilight” here, whether it’s parallels or straight up references, but they are done in a way that I really liked even if I have no nostalgia for that story.

And as for the mystery, Winstead creates a sense of place and a slow burn urgency in Bottom Springs that puts both Ruth and Everett in danger and makes the stakes high from the jump. What starts as a skull found in the swamp, and an introduction to two characters who may know how it got there, soon turns into a mystery involving small town secrets, religious zealotry that infects and rots a community, corruption, and the superstitions of an urban legend known as the Low Man, and how they all tie together. Winstead throws a out there, but it never feels overwhelming or that she loses control over all of the threads that go into making a dark and eerie tapestry. She reveals pertinent details when she wants to and keeps the secrets close, and while I figured out some things, it was rarely too much earlier than she was intending. And I am always going to be a fan of thrillers and mysteries that take on the dangers of fundamentalism and the hypocrisies of many who pretend to be righteous within systems of oppressive power, and there were many a moment that my blood was somehow both boiling AND running cold as Ruth and Everett cross those at Holy Fire Baptist. Especially since Ruth is the daughter of the man who influences all of it. So many things in this book just click for me on a personal level.

“Midnight is the Darkest Hour” is an eerie and propulsive thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat, and made me swoon over its two main characters. I definitely recommend it for the fleeting Autumn season.

Rating 9: An addictive and otherworldly thriller about small town secrets, religious trauma, and unbreakable bonds between misfits.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Midnight is the Darkest Hour” is included on the Goodreads lists “R.I.P. Book Challenge”, and “Reads for Fall/Autumn”.

Kate’s Review: “Where He Can’t Find You”

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

Book: “Where He Can’t Find You” by Darcy Coates

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Fire, November 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher at ALAAC23.

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

Book Description: DON’T WALK ALONE, OR THE STITCHER WILL FIND YOU.

Abby Ward lives in a town haunted by disappearances. People vanish, and when they’re found, their bodies have been dismembered and sewn back together in unnatural ways. But is it the work of a human killer…or something far darker?

DON’T STAY OUT LATE, OR THE STITCHER WILL TAKE YOU.

She and her younger sister live by a strict set of rules designed to keep them safe―which is why it’s such a shock when Hope is taken. Desperate to get her back, Abby tells the police everything she knows, but they claim their hands are tied.

DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES, OR THE STITCHER WILL REMAKE YOU.

With every hour precious, Abby and her friends are caught in a desperate game of cat and mouse. They have to get Hope back. Quickly. Before too much of her is cut away. And before everything they care about is swallowed up by the darkness waiting in the tunnels beneath the home they thought they knew.

Review: Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for giving me an ARC of this novel at ALAAC23, and thank you to Darcy Coates for signing it!

One of my highlights of the now months ago ALAAC23 was meeting Darcy Coates, a horror author that I have enjoyed for about a year and a half now. It was a real joy meeting her at the convention and getting a signed copy of her newest novel, “Where He Can’t Find You”, which is also her first horror novel for Young Adults. While I think that some of her stories definitely have crossover potential (“The Gravekeeper” series is probably the most obvious choice in my mind), it was cool hearing that she was officially making the leap. I waited for the Halloween season before starting it, as I wanted the right ambiance, and it ended up being a good choice. Darcy Coates has done it again, and this time she casts a net over a whole new audience.

I would say that Coates has successfully jumped into the YA genre with “Where He Can’t Find You”. I greatly enjoyed our core cast of characters, a group of teenagers living in a small town that has been plagued with disappearances, followed by brutal murders and dismemberments, all perpetrated by a being known as The Stitcher. While it reads like an urban legend, the residents of Doubtful know that he is real, and group of friends Abby, Rhys, Riya, and Connor all have their reasons for wanting to stop him (or it). I liked getting to know all of these teens and their motivations, and I also liked how Coates loops in new girl Jen into the fold, as she not only serves as a character who is having to adapt to this strange and dangerous small town, but also serves as an effective audience surrogate who learns as the audience does. I really loved Jen and her outsider perspective, as well as her interactions with her policeman father who is thrust into a MASSIVE shitshow right as he starts his new position. It also gave me some horror nostalgia feelings for “It”, as the idea of a group of teens trying to stop a malevolent force that has been destroying a town and causing a rot throughout its history is very much in line with that classic Stephen King tale, while also feeling unique to this world building on its own.

What I liked most about “Where He Can’t Find You” is that Coates doesn’t seem like she feels a need to tone down the horror aspects for a teen audience. This is definitely a YA book, as it follows a group of teens determined to stop someone (or something) from wreaking havoc on their home, and the teenage relationships are at the forefront, but there are still a lot of Coates-esque horror elements that read like one of her adult novels. I wasn’t sure if we would get some of the bloody gore and out there horror things that she is known for in her adult books, but don’t worry; we do. I loved the creativity of the lore of The Stitcher and the way she has crafted a Derry-esque town that is haunted by its violence, and I found myself squirming at some of the descriptions of the sewn back together wrong remains that we encounter in the story. She also brings some of her well known scary imagery to this book, with unease building into terror as suspense tightens and breaks, all of this happening even without some of the more gore heavy moments (though those moments also never go overboard; she really knows how to hit the mark in both the explicitly gross as well as the general sense of creepiness). Coates trusts her audience, and horror loving teens and adults alike will probably find enjoyment in this novel.

“Where He Can’t Find You” is another fun horror novel from Darcy Coates, and it proves that she can jump audiences with ease while continuing her crossover appeal across many ages. If you are still aching for some Halloween reads post Spooky Season, this is one that will do you just fine.

Rating 8: A scary tale with body horror, small town fears, and harkenings to “It”, “Where He Can’t Find You” is a successful foray into the YA horror genre by Darcy Coates!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Where He Can’t Find You” isn’t included on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “YA Missing Persons”, and would be a good companion to “It” by Stephen King.

Kate’s Review: “The Intern”


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

Book: “The Intern” by Michele Campbell

Publishing Info: St. Martin’s Press, October 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher at ALAAC23.

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

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?

Review: Thank you to St.Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC of this novel at ALAAC23!

Back in October I had the pleasure of interviewing Michele Campbell. I had been approached to do a Q and A and to write a review for her newest book “The Intern”, but the timing, review wise, was tricky, as it was right at the start of Horrorpalooza. But I committed to reviewing the book as soon as Horrorpalooza was over, and when I did sit down with it I tore through this book in probably two days because it ensnared me so thoroughly. There are so many things about “The Intern” that work. This is absolutely my favorite book I’ve read by Michele Campbell, and it’s one of the best thrillers I’ve read in 2023.

I’m not beating around the bush, this was great. (source)

“The Intern” is told through the perspectives of two women. The first is Madison Rivera, an ambitious law student at Harvard Law who is desperate to rise above her difficult childhood and to make something of herself. The other is high powered judge Kathryn Conroy, who is respected in law circles and is Madison’s most liked professor turned boss once Madison becomes her intern. They have alternating sections in the book, with Madison being in the present and Kathryn being mostly in the past, and I liked getting one bit of information from Madison’s experience, and then getting more context and more information from seeing Kathryn’s past experiences. I felt that both women were pretty well rounded and complex, and once it was revealed that we were going to see what was going on in Kathryn’s mind, I knew that this was going to be a bit more than a run of the mill cat and mouse game thriller. Campbell really brought out her layers in particular, as while I anticipated her being a conniving antagonist, she ended up being quite a bit more than a potentially corrupt judge. Madison also had some well explored complications, and I really enjoyed watching her piece things together while also still feeling a certain loyalty to her boss, even when it could put her at odds with doing the right thing. Her ambition and her reasons for that ambition were wholly believable. It made for an interesting dual character study at the heart of the thrills (though Kathryn’s was the one that really drew me in).

And as a thriller this really clicked with me. The mystery has multiple mysteries within in, and as some questions were answered others would arise, all at breakneck speeds that kept me reading this book long into the night or any time I had ANY kind of down time. Campbell places clues in the past and present for the reader and Madison to parse through, while being skillful at misdirection and plot twists that completely caught me off guard. I don’t read that many legal thrillers, but this one has all the makings of a legal conspiracy story along with the elements of sudsier whodunnits, and Campbell balanced the tones of those sub genres with ease and combined them into a story that really grabbed hold. This is top notch stuff, it’s well thought out and well executed and was incredibly satisfying. Even though we get one big issue cleared up right away, there are plenty of other questions at hand to make for a fun and twisty read.

“The Intern” is an enjoyable thrill ride with some fascinating characters. If you are looking for a rollercoaster of a thriller, this is one to put on your list!

Rating 9: A suspenseful story with great twists and great characters, “The Intern” is Michele Campbell’s best novel yet!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Intern” is included on the Goodreads lists “Legal Thrillers”, and “Chick Noir Novels”.

Kate’s Review: “A Haunting on the Hill”

Book: “A Haunting on the Hill” by Elizabeth Hand

Publishing Info: Mulholland Books, October 2023

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

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

Book Description: From three-time Shirley Jackson, World Fantasy, and Nebula Award-winning author Elizabeth Hand comes the first-ever authorized novel to return to the world of Shirley Jackson’s  The Haunting of Hill House:  a suspenseful, contemporary, and terrifying story of longing and isolation all its own.
 
Holly Sherwin has been a struggling playwright for years, but now, after receiving a grant to develop her play, The Witch of Edmonton, she may finally be close to her big break. All she needs is time and space to bring her vision to life. When she stumbles across Hill House on a weekend getaway upstate, she is immediately taken in by the ornate, if crumbling, gothic mansion, nearly hidden outside a remote village. It’s enormous, old, and ever-so eerie—the perfect place to develop and rehearse her play.
 
Despite her own hesitations, Holly’s girlfriend, Nisa, agrees to join Holly in renting the house out for a month, and soon a troupe of actors, each with ghosts of their own, arrive. Yet as they settle in, the house’s peculiarities are made known: strange creatures stalk the grounds,  disturbing sounds echo throughout the halls, and time itself seems to shift.  All too soon, Holly and her friends find themselves at odds not just with one another, but with the house itself. It seems something has been waiting in Hill House all these years, and it no longer intends to walk alone . . . 

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

Happy Halloween, everyone!! This is one of my favorite days of the year, and while I am always sad that the spooky season inevitably comes to an end on this wonderful day, I still look forward to it. Between taking my kid trick or treating and watching the original “Halloween” film, I like making this day special, and this year I have a special final review for Horrorpalooza 2023: “A Haunting on the Hill” by Elizabeth Hand is not only a new haunted house story, it is also an official continuation of Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House”, the formative and influential Gothic horror story about four paranormal investigators in the sinister Hill House. When I heard that there was an authorized sequel that takes place decades after the original, I was very, VERY interested to see what exactly the author was going to do with it. We’ve had some really good interpretations of the Hill House lore in the past few years, and an actual novel sounded ambitious and daunting. But I was very, very satisfied with how it all shook out.

“A Haunting on the Hill” brings new inhabitants to Hill House, set in the modern times. Holly, a playwright who is trying to re-craft an old play about a witch, discovers the empty (but still cared for) mansion while on a drive during a vacation with her girlfriend and creative partner Nisa, and is almost immediately drawn to it. After convincing other members of the play, Stevie (an actor and a close friend) and Amanda (the lead), to join, what begins as a creative endeavor slowly turns into a nightmare. So once again we have four people in Hill House who don’t know just how dangerous it is, with locals and caretakers trying to warn them as their warnings fall unto closed ears, and a house that starts to draw them in. I liked watching the slow spin out as Holly, Nisa, Stevie, and Amanda deal with little things (like things being in one place and ending up in another, or lights being on when they were sure they were off), which then turn into big things (black hares falling down chimneys, or seeing cars barreling towards trees only to have them disappear). Hand takes her time in building up the tension, and adds more tension between the actors who are already on edge for other reasons none of them really want to talk about. She makes it so that the dread is fully taut, and then will let it snap to create genuinely scary moments that feel right out of Shirley Jackson’s playbook.

In terms of how well it blends in with the source material, I think that Hand does a really good job of making this story seem original and unique while still holding some of the tone and themes of “The Haunting of Hill House”. Given that through the original and at least two adaptations (NOT the 1999 adaptation, mind you), one of the main points Jackson was making was that yes, Hill House is haunted, but the people who inhabit it are ALSO haunted by things outside of the mansion. And we get that with our characters in this story, whether it’s Holly aching for success, or singer Nisa, who is rife with her own insecurities while trying to put on a show of great confidence and allure, or actress Amanda who is trying to remake her career after an accident in a previous show that she felt blamed for, or actor Stevie who is still feeling the repercussions of horrific abuse he endured as a tween, vulnerable people come to Hill House and have a slowly building dread as strange thing start to happen. Hand never goes outside of the levels of the original book, slowly upping the ante of suspense with general unease to moments of rapt terror, and it just feels like Jackson’s Hill House is bringing in more victims to keep inside so it doesn’t walk alone. She also manages to pay homage and fit in references to the original text, without feeling like she’s leaning upon it too heavily, or just retelling the tale in a new coating. Hell, she even can explore the less obvious themes of queerness that were hinted at in the original, and bringing in the spirit of Nell and Theo and their complicated relationship through Holly and Nisa. It’s believable as a sequel and it’s worthy of it as well.

“A Haunting on the Hill” is an eerie and unsettling follow up to a beloved horror classic. I felt like it hit the right beats, caught the right tone, and ended up fitting in with the story many know and love.

And with that, on this lovely All Hallow’s Eve, Horrorpalooza 2023 has come to an end! I hope that you have all had a fun and deeply spooky Season of the Witch, and I hope that everyone out there has a fun, safe, and creepy crawly Halloween!!!

Rating 8: An eerie and suspenseful revisit to a classic haunted house story, “A Haunting on the Hill” is a worthy follow up to “The Haunting of Hill House”.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Haunting on the Hill” is included on the Goodreads lists “Horror of Halloween 2023”, and “Queer Releases October 2023”.

Kate’s Review: “Green Fuse Burning”

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

Book: “Green Fuse Burning” by Tiffany Morris

Publishing Info: Stelliform Press, October 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received a copy from the publisher.

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

Book Description: The debut novella from the Elgin Award winning author of Elegies of Rotting Stars. After the death of her estranged father, artist Rita struggles with grief and regret. There was so much she wanted to ask him-about his childhood, their family, and the Mi’kmaq language and culture from which Rita feels disconnected. But when Rita’s girlfriend Molly forges an artist’s residency application on her behalf, winning Rita a week to paint at an isolated cabin, Rita is both furious and intrigued. The residency is located where her father grew up. On the first night at the cabin, Rita wakes to strange sounds. Was that a body being dragged through the woods?

When she questions the locals about the cabin’s history, they are suspicious and unhelpful. Ignoring her unease, Rita gives in to dark visions that emanate from the forest’s lake and the surrounding swamp. She feels its pull, channelling that energy into art like she’s never painted before. But the uncanny visions become more insistent, more intrusive, and Rita discovers that in the swamp’s decay the end of one life is sometimes the beginning of another.

Review: Thank you to Stelliform Press and Beverly Bambury for sending me a print copy of this book!

The first thing about “Green Fuse Burning” by Tiffany Morris that caught my eye was the cover. When this showed up in my inbox with the cover attached to the email, I saw the cover and was just under its spell. The vivid colors, the creepy image, it just grabbed me. I also haven’t read much eco-horror, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a go with this novella. I went in expecting one thing, but once I was done I realized that it completely upended all my expectations.

Horror wise, I thought that “Green Fuse Burning” had a lot of really well done imagery, and a lot of unique prose choices that make the macabre at times quite beautiful. This is a horror tale that anchors itself in nature and eco-horror, with references to climate change and an eerie and foreboding swamp that draws protagonist Rita into its spell while she tries to work on her art inside an isolated cabin on a lake that has ties to her now deceased Mi’kmaw father. From strange noises at night to standoffish people in town to images of a woman who seems to be made if fiery vegetation, the scares are both deeply unsettling as well as beautifully written (which isn’t TOO shocking as Morris is an award winning poet). The descriptions of the vegetation, the landscape, the gore, it is absolutely what I expect from horror while also being unexpectedly gorgeous. I also really enjoyed how each chapter opened with a description of the various art pieces that Rita creates while in the cabin, that gives the reader and idea of the escalating horror situations that are to come on her journey in the swamp.

But what I liked most about this book is the way that Morris examines grief and loss, and how that not only applies to losing loved ones, but also losing your connection to your heritage through that initial loss. Rita is an Indigenous woman who has a tenuous relationship with her Mi’kmaw heritage and culture, and when her main link, her estranged father, dies, she now feels adrift and as though a part of herself she never really knew has been taken from her with his death. Rita’s journey in the woods on the lake where he grew up has the expected ‘cabin the woods’ beats, but it goes deeper than that and dives into the horrors of this kind of grief. And I also liked how instead of grief being seen as something to be fought or overcome, as some horror stories have done, you get the sense that Rita’s grief isn’t something to be conquered, but something to be accepted and something to sit with. That, too, ties into the colonized nature of Rita’s grief, as within the Western lens (as seen through her white girlfriend Molly), Rita is sent away to process her grief and to come out more artistic and whole, to hide it away until she is done processing it. But as Rita is isolated in the woods and goes through her journey in the swamps and with the Lichen Woman, grief isn’t seen as something to hide, but to, in some ways, embrace.

“Green Fuse Burning” is a meditative and gorgeously written horror story that has moments of intensity, as well as moments of reflection. It’s one of the more unique horror stories I’ve read this year, and I quite enjoyed it.

Rating 8: An unsettling environmental horror that takes on grief and loss, “Green Fuse Burning” is both intense, but also meditative.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Green Fuse Burning” is included on the Goodreads lists “Queer Releases October 2023”, and “Horror To Look Forward To in 2023”.