Book Description: It’s multi-level murder in this darkly funny mystery novel about the glamorous world of MLM “huns”—and the dangerous secrets at the top of the pyramid.
Drew thought she was destined to rise above her small New Jersey hometown and make it as a serious journalist in New York City. But now she’s back in Clearfield, pushing thirty, newly single, and living with her father.
After a chance encounter at the grocery store, she reconnects with her former best friend, Steph, who married young and never left their hometown. But Steph looks . . . good. She’s tanned, clear skinned, and glowing. She drives an expensive car and wears only name brands. What’s her secret? A multi-level marketing scheme called LuminUS that’s taken the ladies of Clearfield by storm. With nothing left to lose, Drew gets sucked into this glamorous world of downlines, sales parties, and girls’ trips.
But when a LuminUS distributor dies under mysterious circumstances, can Drew uncover the dark secret at the heart of the organization—and save her best friend—before it’s too late?
Laugh-out-loud funny and a pitch-perfect skewering of pyramid schemes, Death in the Downline is a page-turner that will have readers nodding in recognition and cheering for Drew until the cathartic conclusion.
Review: Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this novel!
While I myself haven’t been sucked into an MLM/multilevel marketing/pyramid scheme, I know some people who have. One of whom was my grandmother! I have memories when I was a girl and we would visit my grandparents in Iowa and she would have all these Aloe Vera based skin products, be it lotion, bug spray, or analgesic heat cream for muscle aches. And confession, the heat cream was fantastic, as I used it a lot when I was playing softball and it really did the job. But it didn’t really make her any money, with her main customers being her close friends and kids. I’ve been obsessed with the scammy and manipulative nature of MLMs for awhile, and the way they suck people in and drain them for all they are worth. Because of this I was really, really excited to read “Death in the Downline” by Maria Abrams. Not only is it a murder mystery, which I am into, but a satire on MLMs?! Yes! I want it!
As a mystery I really enjoyed “Death in the Downline”. It starts with Drew, a down on her luck journalist who had to leave New York City with her tail between her legs and move back in with her father in her small hometown. She reconnects with her former best friend Steph, who seems to have a picture perfect life of wealth and luxury, seemingly all due to her ‘business’ LuminUS, a wellness brand that sells creams, supplements, and other ‘healthy’ things. Steph convinces Drew to join her ‘team’, and Drew, needing money and feeling desperate, agrees. But soon she realizes that some things about LumiUS aren’t adding up, and then a member of the team is murdered while they’re all on a conference. I love a journalist trying to break a story, and Drew is a really fun protagonist because she’s scrappy, a little sour, and gets sucked into figuring out what happened to her acquaintance and how much Steph, and LuminUS, is hiding. The mystery is well done with some good curves, but it always feels a little cozy and fizzy as we see these MLM huns going to really forced parties, sniping at each other, and scrambling to make sales even as their friend is dead. But Abrams even expands it to feel not only a little “Real Housewives”, but also to feel a little corporate conspiracy, as not only is there a murderer at hand, but also the very real potential of a shady company trying to cover its own ass in regards to its pyramid scheme. I loved the two mysteries and thought that Abrams blended them well with some fun and bitchy characters to round it all out.
But what I loved even more is how Abrams tackles the very upsetting reality that MLMs are predatory scams that target (predominantly) women of varying circumstances (be it a wish to provide for their families while feeling unable to work outside the home, or a need for money, or other circumstances of desperation or drive) and suck them dry while walking away with their money. I think about my grandmother who had all this product and not much to show for it, and the horror stories you hear about places like LulaRoe or Monat or what have you. In this book it’s LuminUS, which has taken a small town and surrounding suburbs by storm as the local economies shake and the need for money is dire for some. While Drew is more within it because she smells a story, we see other women like bestie Steph and the women on her ‘team’ who have their own reasons to join, betting their life and their investments on this sketchy product. The LuminUS lore draws from a lot of MLM inspirations and brings in not only the way that it manipulates and scams people and drives them to debt while promising riches, but also some serious questions about the lack of regulations on ‘wellness’ products that we hear about time and time again when it comes to MLMs. I loved this angle because it gave it a little more bite and could perhaps open up some reflection from potential readers who would otherwise be tricked.
I really liked “Death in the Downline”! It was cozy but also a little snide, but in a way that wasn’t off putting. I will definitely be checking out more books by Maria Abrams in the future!
Rating 8: Fun, funny, twisty, and just an all around good time, “Death in the Downline” is a witty mystery that takes on predatory MLMs and the unachievable promises they make with a dash of murder on the side.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Death in the Downline” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “#Girlboss Mysteries”.
Book Description: Across the mortal and immortal realms, celestial dancers known as apsaras are revered for their beauty, allure, and enchanting magic. But Meneka knows that is not all they are. Trained as a weapon—a warrior—Meneka despises leaving each of her marks in thrall to her potent illusions. With every seduction Lord Indra, king of heaven, demands of her for his political gain, she craves her freedom more and more.
When a mortal sage’s growing powers threaten Indra’s supremacy in his own realm, Meneka seizes a rare opportunity. She strikes a deal—if she can seduce this dangerous man, Indra will allow her to forgo future missions. But upon meeting the sage, Kaushika, Meneka finds herself captivated by his energy, ignited by his empathy and passion, even though he threatens everything she’s ever known. Can she overthrow the man who is—little by little—stealing her heart, or is Kaushika seducing her instead? As war looms in the skies, Meneka must choose between her duty to protect her home, and the sage who is showing her what true love can mean.
Review: I feel like I’ve scheduled several Asian folklore fantasy stories all for review within a few weeks. It’s so funny how some of these trends work where certain types of stories all seem to come out around the same time, and then you won’t see hide nor hair of them again for months and months. (Obviously “Asian” fantasy is a bit of a nonsequitur since there are so many very different cultures, histories, and peoples that make up a huge swath of land.) This will be three out of four of my last reviews in this “category!” I’ve had a lot of positive experiences however with many of these stories in past, all the more exciting for the fact that I often know very little about the original fables and characters the story is drawing from. So, too, with this book. I went in with just the basic summary and was excited to see what we got!
Unfortunately, I’m 0-3 for really clicking with any of them. They’ve all had some definite strengths, and then very different stumbling blocks. But let’s start with the positive. Right when I picked up this book, I knew that barring anything egregious, I was going to at the very least enjoy the process of reading this book. Even within the first few pages, the author’s style of writing is made clear: lyrical, whimsical, and perfectly fitting the type of fairytale-like fantasy story that she was developing here. The pacing could get slow at times, but even during these lulls, the writing itself was still a joy to experience. It perfectly matched the emphasis on beauty that is so central to many of the themes of this book.
However, as I’ve already alluded to, the pacing of this book was a major drawback. It started off well enough, but then it quickly stalled. While the writing excelled at drawing out picturesque scenes and turns of phrase, it struggled to convey any sense of action or movement on the page. Instead, I felt several places removed from the story. This can’t all be laid at the foot of the pacing, however. There was also a tendency to slide into a “telling” rather than “showing” style. As Meneka’s powers grow, the reader was simply informed of these changes, rather than organically witnessing how these changes affected her or manifested in meaningful ways.
I also struggled to enjoy Meneka herself. Conceptually, she works as a character and it makes sense for her to be stuck in a rather depressed, negative headspace. However, as the book continued, it became more and more frustrating to retread this ground, with much of her inner thoughts turning into what felt like a constant buzzing of whining. Beyond that, for all the focus on weaponized beauty and manipulated love, the actual romance at the heart of this story landed with a thud. I didn’t feel any true connection between these two and simply couldn’t become invested in their story.
Overall, this was a bit of a let down for me. However, given the strength of the writing style in general, I’ll definitely check out some of the author’s other books. (Without knowing it, I already had one of her former titles on my TBR list, so I’ll probably start there). If you’re a fan of this author, this is probably one to check out. However, if you’re needing to get picky and are a reader who prioritizes characterization in your books, this might not be the best one for you.
Rating 7: Whimsical and lyrical writing carries this book a long way, but not quite far enough to overcome some of the short-comings in the characterization.
Book Description: To find a missing young woman, the new tribal marshal must also find herself. At rock bottom following her daughter’s murder, ex-Chicago detective Carrie Starr has nowhere to go but back to her roots. Starr’s father never talked much about the reservation that raised him, but they need a new tribal marshal as much as Starr needs a place to call home. In the last decade, too many young women have disappeared from the rez. Some dead, others just… gone.
Now, local college student Chenoa Cloud is missing, and Starr falls into an investigation that leaves her drowning in memories of her daughter—the girl she failed to save. Starr feels lost in this place she thought would welcome her. And when she catches a glimpse of a figure from her father’s stories, with the body of a woman and the antlers of a deer, Starr can’t shake the feeling that the fearsome spirit is watching her, following her. What she doesn’t know is whether Deer Woman is here to guide her or to seek vengeance for the lost daughters that Starr can never bring home.
Review: Thank you to Berkley for sending me an eARC via NetGalley!
I’m always on the lookout for more procedural mysteries. It’s a sub-genre I have enjoyed for a long time, ever since I’d watch “Law and Order” with my father in middle and high school. So when a new one comes across my radar, I am usually all in to give it a try, and “Mask of the Deer Woman” by Laurie L. Dove was no exception. I was already sold on a story about a woman law enforcement officer looking for a missing woman, but when I saw that it had an Indigenous main character and a setting on a reservation I was even more sold. Expanding the possibilities in a sub-genre is always a plus for me.
As a procedural mystery, “Mask of the Deer Woman” had a lot of moving parts that worked really well for me as a reader. Our protagonist is Carrie Starr, a former Chicago detective who has taken a job as a tribal marshal on the reservation where her father grew up. Carrie is a deeply flawed and damaged protagonist, who is still reeling from the death of her daughter Quinn and has slid into depression and substance abuse. When she has to start investigating a missing woman on the reservation, she at first thinks that it’s just another person who ran off, but the more she digs the more she starts to see patterns of many missing and murdered women, and starts connecting dots to a higher and more complicated mystery. As a main character she is at times hard to like, but I didn’t need to like her to want her to succeed, and I found her grief and trauma realistic and made her all the more complex. I also enjoyed the dissonance that she has having returned to a culture that she has so little connection to, and her return starts to bring out memories, connections to locals when they are sure how much they can trust her, and a vision of Deer Woman, a story from her culture that speaks to the violence towards women and a vengeance because of that. And that’s the big mystery here: the missing girls, with Chenoa Cloud the grad student in the present and more missing women in the past. Many people want to write them off as runaways or addicts, but it’s clear to many that that isn’t the case. Carrie starts to look into many missing women and uncovers some dark truths that have long gone ignored. It is a strong and very pertinent plot point (more on that in a bit), and I enjoyed how Dove slowly revealed her cards, and how there were intricate and more powerful pieces in play than I expected. I found it to be well plotted and very, very sad as well, given how MMIWG2S is an epidemic of violence that is too often ignored.
My favorite aspect of this book is a reflection of this point, which was the way that Dove wove in very timely and important to talk about issues that many Indigenous communities face in America today, usually due to our country’s history with colonialism and genocide and the trickle down consequences of that. Carrie has returned to her father’s community on a reservation in Oklahoma to work as a tribal marshal, and the realities the rez faces play huge parts in this book. Whether it’s the poverty the community faces, the drug and alcohol addiction that is rampant, the large number of missing and murdered women and girls in the community, and the way that local governments try to take advantage of the Indigenous people for their land and money making opportunities, specifically with oil companies trying to grab up their land. The systemic racism that the Government still holds towards Indigenous communities is a huge undercurrent in this story, and Dove finds a lot of inroads to address these themes and to connect them to the violence and mystery at the heart of the story.
I enjoyed “Mask of the Deer Woman”. I hope that Laurie L. Dove keeps writing Carrie Starr stories, because I will absolutely continue reading them.
Rating 8: Tense, well plotted, and heartbreaking. “Mask of the Deer Woman” is a solid procedural mystery that also centers very real struggles that Indigenous people in America face due to colonialism and systemic racism.
There are always so many books to look forward to each year. So in this post, we tackle the impossible task of choosing some favorites that we’re most excited about in the next twelve months!
Serena’s Picks
Another year absolutely packed with great books! Now that we’ve finally started doing these “year of” lists, I’m not almost thinking that we need to do one every six months. As you’ll see, this list is heavily loaded towards the first half of the year, mostly because those are the ones that we have firm dates for at this point. I’m sure there will be tons more this coming fall that I haven’t even discovered yet. This year seems to be the year of sequels and returning authors, however, as after I made these lists, I only then noticed they were all picks from authors I’ve enjoyed in the past. To start, here are a few honorable mentions that didn’t make the list: “Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales” by Heather Fawcett, “Hemlock & Silver” by T. Kingfisher, “Queen Demon” by Martha Wells, “Upon a Starlit Tide” by Kell Woods (this is an author I read before but didn’t love, so there you go, almost like a new pick!), and “The Witch Roads” by Kate Elliott.
Book: “The Amber Owl” by Juliet Marillier
Publication Date: February 25, 2025
Book Summary: Stasya lives in an isolated farming village on the edge of the mysterious Heartwood Forest with her unusual dog for company. Thought odd by the locals, she is tolerated for her rare gift with animals. Engaging with her fellow humans is difficult, with one goatherd Lukas, who shares her love of storytelling.
The peace of Heartwood is shattered when a group of soldiers descends, under orders from the Ruler of the Northlands. Their to hack a path through the forest and find the fabled treasure said to lie deep within. Under the grueling decree, Stasya’s village falls into chaos. The task is clearly impossible. The forest is alive with bears and wolves, and the old tales speak of evil spirits, monsters and uncanny beings. Nobody has ever gone deep into Heartwood Forest and returned safe and well.
When Stasya raises her voice in protest she is removed from her beloved home and transported to court – a different world. Word of her special skills has reached the Ruler’s ears, and Lady Elisabeta has a job for her. But Stasya will not break her vow to protect the forest, even under the most appalling threat. Help comes from an unlikely quarter.
Secrets abound; dangers lie everywhere; and it is hard to tell friend from foe. As Stasya and her band of unlikely allies embark on a perilous mission, it becomes apparent that uncanny forces may indeed be involved. Maybe the old tales of the Hermit are true.
Book: “The Floating Word” by Axie Oh
Publication Date: May 13, 2025
Book Summary: Sunho lives in the Under World, a land of perpetual darkness. An ex-soldier, he can remember little of his life from before two years ago, when he woke up alone with only his name and his sword. Now he does odd-jobs to scrape by, until he comes across the score of a lifetime—a chest of coins for any mercenary who can hunt down a girl who wields silver light.
Meanwhile, far to the east, Ren is a cheerful and spirited acrobat traveling with her adoptive family and performing at villages. But everything changes during one of their festival performances when the village is attacked by a horrific humanlike demon. In a moment of fear and rage, Ren releases a blast of silver light—a power she has kept hidden since childhood—and kills the monster. But her efforts are not in time to prevent her adoptive family from suffering a devastating loss, or to save her beloved uncle from being grievously wounded.
Determined to save him from succumbing to the poisoned wound, Ren sets off over the mountains, where the creature came from—and from where Ren herself fled ten years ago. Her path sets her on a collision course with Sunho, but he doesn’t realize she’s the girl that he—and a hundred other swords-for-hire—is looking for. As the two grow closer through their travels, they come to realize that their pasts—and destinies—are far more entwined than either of them could have imagined…
Book: “The Listeners” by Maggie Stiefvater
Publication Date: June 3, 2025
Book Summary: JANUARY 1942. THE AVALLON HOTEL AND SPA offers elegance and sophistication in an increasingly ugly world. Run with precision by June Hudson, the hotel’s West Virginia born-and-bred general manager, the Avallon is where high society goes to see and be seen, and where the mountain sweetwater in the fountains and spas can wash away all your troubles.
June was trained by the Gilfoyles, the hotel’s aristocratic owners, and she has guided the Avallon skillfully through the first pangs of war. Now, though, the Gilfoyle family heir has made a secret deal with the State Department to fill the hotel with captured Axis diplomats. June must convince her staff—many of whom have sons and husbands heading to the frontlines—to offer luxury to Nazis. With a smile.
She also must reckon with Tucker Minnick, the FBI agent whose coal tattoo hints at their shared past in the mountains, and whose search for the diplomats’ secrets disrupts the peace June is fighting so hard to maintain. Hers is a balancing act with dangerous consequences; the sweetwater beneath the hotel can threaten as well as heal, and only June can manage the springs.
As dark alliances and an elusive spy crack the polished veneer of the Avallon, June must calculate the true cost of luxury.
Book: “Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil” by V. E. Schwab
Publication Date: June 10, 2025
Book Summary: Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 1532. London, 1837. Boston, 2019.
Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots.One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild.And all of them grow teeth.
Book: “Katabis” by R. F. Kuang
Publication Date: August 28, 2025
Book Summary: Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek:The story of a hero’s descent to the underworld.
Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality: her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world.
That is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault.
Grimes is now in Hell, and she’s going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams….
Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the very same conclusion.
With nothing but the tales of Orpheus and Dante to guide them, enough chalk to draw the Pentagrams necessary for their spells, and the burning desire to make all the academic trauma mean anything, they set off across Hell to save a man they don’t even like.
But Hell is not like the storybooks say, Magick isn’t always the answer, and there’s something in Alice and Peter’s past that could forge them into the perfect allies…or lead to their doom.
Kate’s Picks
At the beginning of the year I always love to scour through the titles that are gong to be coming out, and this year we have some GOODIES. So many authors I have adored in the past have books coming out this year, including Joe Hill, though his new book is a little mysterious at this point. After 2024 where I suffered some serious mental health burn out which affected my reading habits, I hope that this year will have more reading in it, no matter what it brings, though this is only the tip of the ice berg when it comes to titles. I’m sure I’ll have more by the time I leave ALAAC in June. But here are the ones that are sticking out right now! Some honorable mentions that didn’t make the final list definitely need a shout out though. So other books I’m looking forward to include “This Book Will Bury Me” by Ashley Winstead, “The Bewitching” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, “Atmosphere” by Taylor Jenkins-Reid, “Vanishing Daughters” by Cynthia Pelayo, and “Lucky Day” by Chuck Tingle.
Book: “The Haunting of Room 904” by Erika Wurth
Publication Date: March 18, 2025
Book Description: From the author of White Horse (“Twisty and electric.” —The New York Times Book Review) comes a terrifying and resonant novel about a woman who uses her unique gift to learn the truth about her sister’s death.
Olivia Becente was never supposed to have the gift. The ability to commune with the dead was the specialty of her sister, Naiche. But when Naiche dies unexpectedly and under strange circumstances, somehow Olivia suddenly can’t stop seeing and hearing from spirits.
A few years later, she’s the most in-demand paranormal investigator in Denver. She’s good at her job, but the loss of Naiche haunts her. That’s when she hears from the Brown Palace, a landmark Denver hotel. The owner can’t explain it, but every few years, a girl is found dead in room 904, no matter what room she checked into the night before. As Olivia tries to understand these disturbing deaths, the past and the present collide as Olivia’s investigation forces her to confront a mysterious and possibly dangerous cult, a vindictive journalist, betrayal by her friends, and shocking revelations about her sister’s secret life.
The Haunting of Room 904is a paranormal thriller that is as edgy as it is heartfelt and simmers with intensity and longing. Erika T. Wurth lives up to her reputation as “a gritty new punkish outsider voice in American horror.”
Book: “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones
Publication Date: March 25, 2025
Book Description: A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.
A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.
Book: “The Staircase in the Woods” by Chuck Wendig
Publication Date: April 29, 2025
Book Description: A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods in this mesmerizing horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Accidents.
Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what. Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something a mysterious staircase to nowhere. One friend walks up—and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.
Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods. . . .
Book: “Not Quite Dead Yet” by Holly Jackson
Publication Date: July 22, 2025
Book Description: In seven days Jet Mason will be dead.
Jet is the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Woodstock, Vermont. Twenty-seven years old, she’s still waiting for her life to begin. She’ll do it later, she always says. She has time. Until, on the night of Halloween, Jet is violently attacked by an unseen intruder. She suffers a catastrophic brain injury. The doctor is certain that within a week, she’ll suffer a deadly aneurysm.
Jet never thought of herself as having enemies. But now she looks at everyone in a new her family, her ex-best friend turned sister-in-law, her former boyfriend.
She only has seven days, and as her condition deteriorates she has only her childhood friend Billy for help. But nevertheless, she’s absolutely determined to finally finish. Jet is going to solve her own murder.
Book: “The Possession of Alba Díaz” by Isabel Cañas
Publication Date: August 19, 2025
Book Description: When a demonic presence awakens deep in a Mexican silver mine, the young woman it seizes must turn to the one man she shouldn’t trust… from bestselling author Isabel Cañas.
In 1765, plague sweeps through Zacatecas. Alba flees with her wealthy merchant parents and fiancé, Carlos, to his family’s isolated mine for refuge. But safety proves fleeting as other dangers soon bare their teeth: Alba begins suffering from strange hallucinations, sleepwalking, and violent convulsions. She senses something cold lurking beneath her skin. Something angry. Something wrong.
Elías, haunted by a troubled past, came to the New World to make his fortune and escape his family’s legacy of greed. Alba, as his cousin’s betrothed, is none of his business. Which is of course why he can’t help but notice her every time she enters a room or the growing tension between them… and why he notices her deteriorate when the demon’s thirst for blood grows stronger.
What books are you all looking forward to this year? Let us know in the comments!
Book Description:The King’s Courier Tycho has made a treacherous bargain. Now beholden to the magical scraver who saved King Gray’s life, one false move could end everything.
Jax escaped his life in Briarlock and traveled with Tycho to Emberfall. But life outside his small village brings unexpected challenges–and unlikely adversaries.
After years of hating the royal family and their magic, Callyn never expected to be at the Queen’s side, with magic on her fingertips. But at the royal court, she can’t trust anyone–including the man she thought she loved.
Cast apart, Tycho, Jax, and Callyn must learn to wield the magic that is dividing their kingdom. As the magical scravers attack from the north and the king’s rivals gain strength, time is running out.
War is looming. Love is tested. And magic could be the only answer. . .
Review: We’re back with another one of those strange cases where I end up reviewing a book in a series that I’ve read but not reviewed before on the blog. Like the other instances, this often happens when I receive a physical ARC of the book and want to give it the full treatment of a complete review rather than just an Instagram cover reveal or what have you. So, here we are, taking on the second book in the “Forging Silver Into Stars” series!
I won’t give a full review of the first book, obviously, but as a brief summary: I liked it for the most part! I’ve had a very hit-and-miss experience reading Kemmerer’s books. They always sound right up my alley, but then sometimes fail to deliver on the character front. The first book in this series did a lot of things right, especially with the introduction of a banger of a cast. That being the case, I was excited to jump into this second book and see where the story went from there!
Unfortunately, this one didn’t quite live up to the first one (I would have rated that one around 8). But let’s start with some of the good things. I was excited to return to this world and explore where the story went. And I did like some of the turns the story introduced. However, they were also few and far between. The first book had a fast, zippy feel to the pacing, allowing me to whip through it in only a few reading sessions. This one, while I could objectively point to things happening on the page, often felt much more bogged down, seeming to stall out at random points throughout, making the book all too easy to be set down.
As for the characters, in the first book I enjoyed them all fairly equally (a rare and praise-worthy thing, especially for a reader like me who often struggles with ensemble casts!). Here, however, I definitely found myself gravitating towards Callyn’s story. Oddly, this wasn’t necessarily because her character had any incredible growth or huge plot beats. Instead, of the characters, she was the only one who seemed to retain the level of competence and characterization that we saw in the first book. Tycho, in particular, felt like such a lesser version of the character we met in the first book. It was really odd! When before he had been incredibly compelling, here, he just seemed to…fade. Further, other characters became downright unlikable, like Grey.
As for the romance, it, too, felt greatly reduced from the first book. There were crumbs to be found if you really squinted, but if you’re going into this sequel looking for a lot of movement in this area, I think you’ll probably be disappointed.
Overall, this one feels like a classic example of second book syndrome. There simply wasn’t enough plot to flesh out the entire book. So instead, the characters are done dirty to simply get words on the page. This is definitely something I’ve seen before from Kemmerer (struggles with sustained characterization across a series). But she’s also really come through in the past, so I’ll likely still check out the next in the series. If you’re a fan of her books, you’ll probably want to read this one just to stay up-to-date with the series. But at this point, it’s definitely the weakest so far.
Rating 7: A bit too slow on every front and missing some of the spark from the first book. Or, perhaps, I’m simply growing out of Kemmerer’s style of YA.
Book Description: As the heir to Tianxia, Liyen knows she must ascend the throne and renew her kingdom’s pledge to serve the immortals who once protected them from a vicious enemy. But when she is poisoned, Liyen’s grandfather steals an enchanted lotus to save her life. Enraged at his betrayal, the immortal queen commands the powerful God of War to attack Tianxia.
Upon her grandfather’s death, Liyen ascends a precarious throne, vowing to end her kingdom’s obligation to the immortals. When she is summoned to the Immortal Realm, she seizes the opportunity to learn their secrets and to form a tenuous alliance to safeguard her people, all with the one she should fear and mistrust the most: the ruthless God of War. As they are drawn together, a treacherous attraction ignites between them—one she has to resist, to not endanger all she is fighting for.
But with darker forces closing in around them, and her kingdom plunged into peril, Liyen must risk everything to save her people from an unspeakable fate, even if it means forging a dangerous bond with the immortal… even if it means losing her heart.
Review: While I haven’t read “Daughter of the Moon Goddess” yet, it’s been on my TBR pile for a while due to the fairly universal acclaim it was met with. That being the case, I was excited to see a stand-alone book coming out by this author this winter that I could use as a dip into this world without committing to the original duology. This can be a bit of a hit or miss plan, however, as there are only a few authors I can name who seem to produce books at the same quality level every time. Others (the normal people, one might say) will often have stronger and weaker entries in their output.
You may have guessed, from this hedging right out of the gate that I didn’t love this one as much as I had hoped. But, per above hedging, I’m still hoping to give the original duology a shot, as the author has some clear strengths that maybe just didn’t come together for this particular book. So let’s start with those positives! For one thing, I think the writing was fairly strong throughout. There was a blessed refrain from modern lingo or overly “quippy” dialogue between characters. The world was described using lush language, so much so that I think it was these descriptive moments that were the true high points of the book. However, even here, as the story continued, I felt as if I was wanting more, with some of these world-building elements and larger plot points seeming to subside beneath the weak romance at the stories heart.
As readers of this blog know, I’m a character reader. You write a great character, and I’m willing to ignore numerous other potential flaws in a book. However, the inverse is also true, where it doesn’t matter how great your world is, how high the stakes of the plot may be…if your main characters don’t hit, I’m probably going to end up not enjoying the book. And that was the biggest problem here. The book starts with a scene that is clearly meant to establish much about Liyen’s character, giving the reader the starting point to become invested in her and her travails. However, I don’t think this event really hit as hard as it needed to (I had just met most of these characters and this world, so I didn’t really care too much about any of these players.) And then Liyen was written in such a way that even if this event had worked, it would have needed to be much more powerful to combat the sheer annoyance and frustration I felt reading from Liyen’s perspective. The best I can say is that this is a very familiar character: plucky heroine who learns she’s all powerful! And, given how often I run across this protagonist, I guess there are a decent number of readers for whom that may be enough. But readers who do enjoy this character type deserve more. More of an effort to create some original and less “paint by numbers.”
The love interest was the same. Yet again, we get a dark and brooding hero who (surprise!) turns out to be misunderstood and who harbors a heart of gold. Worse, he and Liyen seem to fall almost immediately in love (seriously, I think it was around the 1/3 mark of the book that their feelings began to really take hold). And, while the book wasn’t overly quippy, there were enough cheesy proclamations of devotion (especially the ones that came early) to have me rolling my eyes. I enjoy romance, so I can get behind speeches of passion. But I have to buy it! And I didn’t here. And then, as I continued reading, the author threw in a twist towards the end that seemingly retroactively explains their instant connection. But honestly, this was the insult that really broke the experience for me. All this twist told me was that the author understood how ridiculous the characters’ love story was and that she plopped in this explanation towards the end to somehow make the entire thing plausible. Which just feels lazy. Again, romantasy readers deserve better than this.
So, I know that this got rant-y towards the end. But I think part of the problem was how much potential I saw in the general quality of the prose writing and the interesting world-building. To have all of that going for the book, and to then people it with these generic lead characters whom we’ve all read before and who fall in love immediately for no good reason (other than an obviously contrived reason given towards the end), was very frustrating. All of this said, I do still plan on giving the original duology a chance. For one thing, the fact that it is a duology and not a stand-alone book gives me hope that the romance plays out in a more extended manner. Fans of the original duology might want to check this one out, and if you’re unbothered by instalove, then definitely give it a go! But if you’re looking for something that feels fresh or pushes the boundaries at all, this probably isn’t it.
Rating 7: An interesting world and some lush prose was undone by the same lead characters we’ve read a million times before in romantasy fiction.
Book Description: She gets people to confess their crimes for a living. He knows she’s hiding a terrible secret. It’s time for the truth to come out…
Poe Webb, host of a popular true crime podcast, invites people to anonymously confess crimes they’ve committed to her audience. She can’t guarantee the police won’t come after her “guests,” but her show grants simultaneous anonymity and instant fame—a potent combination that’s proven difficult to resist. After an episode recording, Poe usually erases both criminal and crime from her mind.
But when a strange and oddly familiar man appears on her show, Poe is forced to take a second look. Not only because he claims to be her mother’s murderer from years ago, but because Poe knows something no one else does. Her mother’s murderer is dead.
Poe killed him.
From the USA Today bestselling author of The Dead Girl in 2A and The New Neighbor comes a chilling new thriller that forces the question: are murderers always the bad guys?
Review: Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for sending me an eARC of this novel via NetGalley!
I am someone who really enjoys her true crime and weird tales podcasts, and I really enjoy seeing podcasts being incorporated into horror and thriller fiction. A podcast that I discovered last year was one called “Radio Rental”, where people write in their strange experiences and then record the stories themselves so that they are the ones to tell the story to the audience as opposed to a static host. I fell off it a little bit, but its really fun and I should probably go back and revisit it. I couldn’t help but think about that podcast when I read the premise for Carter Wilson’s “Tell Me What You Did”, but instead of real life scary or strange stories it was a story about a podcast that lets people anonymously confess crimes to the host Poe, who has some secrets of her own. But then an unhinged guest calling himself Ian calls in and claims that he killed her mother when Poe was a teenager. Which doesn’t make sense, because Poe is convinced that she already killed her mother’s killer. All of this sounded great, and Carter Wilson was a new name to me, so I thought why not take a chance on it? And I’m so happy I did, because “Tell Me What You Did” was loads of fun.
While it’s true that I was able to predict a few of the reveals in this book, that didn’t stop me from feeling the suspense as it built up in pacing and intensity. There were also a couple red herrings that did make me question my predictions, and a few things did catch me by surprise. I think that one of the biggest strengths of this was that it was an effective cat and mouse game as Poe realizes she is being stalked by a very dangerous lunatic, but also as we learn about her own past with stalking and cat and mouse shenanigans as she hunted down the man she believe brutally murdered her mother. I found myself tearing through in the last third of the book, really itching to see how it was all going to shake out, and man, were the twists and turns effective. To add some icing on this cake we also have some REALLY scary moments involving Ian and the lengths he will go to torment Poe. He’s the kind of villain that would translate SO WELL to a screen, and he was well realized in this.
But I also liked the ambiguity about Poe herself and her characterization. We know that she’s deeply traumatized due to witnessing her mother’s murder, and we slowly learn about how she herself committed a murder against who she thought was her mother’s killer. Her circumstances definitely make you sympathize, but we also have to ask some hard questions about revenge and vengeance and whether her actions against this person were justified. Especially when there is a sudden possibility that maybe the man she was so convinced was the murderer was actually an innocent man. I liked seeing Poe have to reckon with this possibility, and have to reflect on her certainty and perhaps need to come to terms with not REALLY being able to know. I feel like sometimes these ‘messy female protagonist’ tropes fall into obvious and well worn categories, but Poe’s horrific backstory AND her murderous past elevated this trope to new heights.
All in all, what a fun thriller! I’m happy that I took a chance on “Tell Me What You Did”, because it was very entertaining and a suspenseful read. If you have a winter getaway planned, consider bringing it along!
Rating 8: Twisty, turny, fast paced and at times genuinely scary, “Tell Me What You Did” is a fun and breakneck thriller.
Book Description: On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.
Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it.
Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds.
But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.
Review: This is one of those cases where a simple concept, if interesting enough, is all it takes to hook readers in. And here, the idea of a pawnshop that deal’s in one’s regrets is just such a hook! I mean, c’mon, who wouldn’t want to read a book about that? Beyond the philosophical angles of regret and how that interacts with life’s ultimate path, there are some fairly basic points of interest. Namely, why does this pawnshop want to purchase regrets? And what do they do with these regrets after they have them?
I’ll say right from the start, while the book does engage with these topics in small ways, there was less of this than I had hoped for. Instead, the book was much more centered around the whimsical nature of this fantasy world that borders our own. Now, we all know that I enjoy whimsical, fairy-tale like fantasy, so, on the whole, I did like a lot of what we got in this area, as we followed the main characters as they travelled from one location to another. The comparisons to Studio Ghibli are well-earned. Be it tattoos that prescribe one’s fate or travelling through puddles, there were so many quirky, yet lovely, pieces of fantasy imagery.
At the same time, however, the book never seem to fully take hold of any of these concepts and really do anything with it. Bear with the analogy, but the book reminded me a bit of travelling through a cloudscape. The clouds were gorgeous to look at and every turn produced a new visually wonderous scene to behold. However, if you ever stop and try to touch one, or stand on one, or interact in any way, you’d find yourself left with a fistful of nothing. Similarly, whenever I stepped back from the sheer creativity of magical elements being described, I’d find myself wanting for more. The plot would begin to feel shaky, the world-building even more so. Yes, this world is made up of amazing ideas, but how do any of these things truly build a society or culture or have history? It just began to feel a bit thin, when one really tried to find a sense of place or a firm footing in the book.
Similarly, the characters were also endearing when I first met them. Hana’s life has been one of fated choices and a known result. Her life has been tattooed on her body for years and how she feels about becoming the next proprietor of the pawnshop is of little regard. This set up, the exploration of fate and choice, was rich with possibility. For his part, Keishin felt like a weaker character from the start. He simply accepts everything around him with an almost laughable ease and the insta-love came in hard from this side as well.
But even with Hana, the character I enjoyed more, as the story dove more into the action (if it can really be called “action” as it felt most of the time as if the story was simply leap-frogging from one whimsy set piece to another as quickly as possible in an attempt to squeeze in all of the author’s ideas), I felt more and more disconnected from the story. In a similar way to the plot and world-building, as the story progressed, I felt like, in reality, there was simply very little “there” there for these characters. They are introduced, and then, for the most part, they remain that way throughout the book, as they quickly fall in love based on…nothing much…almost instantly.
This book left me in a bit of quandary when trying to write this review and rate it. On one hand, in the beginning of the book, I really loved the concept, the world-building, and the characters we were following. I haven’t mentioned it yet, but I also really liked the non-traditional way the story played out, especially in the beginning, with many jumps between various side characters and time periods. However, as the story continued, I increasingly felt myself disconnected from the characters and plot. Things were ostensibly happening on the page, but I found myself becoming bored and inclined towards skimming. It was an odd sensation. I also think the characters were fairly one dimensional, a trait that wasn’t helped by the fast-developing love story. All of this said, if you enjoyed whimsical fantasy stories or Studio Ghibli in particular, this is still probably one to check out!
Rating 7: Solid writing and creative world-building carry a lot of weight, however the book flounders a bit on its weaker characters and plotting.
Book Description: They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.
Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.
Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.
In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master” (NPR).
Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!
I am always so excited when Grady Hendrix has a new horror book coming out. I have enjoyed basically all of the books he has written and the way that he can create narratives with some humor, some heart, and some genuine horror moments. He always feels so genuine in his books, and I always feel like I’m on pins and needles waiting for a new one. And now it’s finally time for him to take on witches and witchcraft!!
I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. (Source)
Clearly my expectations were high, and I will say from the jump that they were a bit upended, but not in a bad way at all. This is perhaps Hendrix’s least obviously scary story, as the witchcraft is definitely present and it does have moments to shine. But at its heart “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls” is less about actual witches and covens and spellcasting, and more about finding power within when powerless, and the injustices of violent misogyny towards vulnerable women.
First let’s talk about the witchcraft themes, as we all know how much I LOVE a witch story. And I mostly liked it in this one! I love the idea of a witch posing as a librarian in hopes of finding more women to empower and bring into a Coven, and I really liked the way that it shows Fern, Zinnia, Holly, and Rose find a crumb of power in their powerless situations as pregnant teenagers in an oppressive unwed mother’s home in Florida. The magical systems are interesting and the spells cast are engrossing and at times nasty, and I found the Coven led by librarian Miss Parcae to be equal parts compelling and in some ways sinister. Mostly due to Miss Parcae herself, who really felt like Agatha Harkness in the way she is grey as hell in her characterization. And of course there are themes of being careful what you wish for as four teenage girls who are desperate start to use magic they don’t really understand or comprehend. I do kind of wish that Hendrix had been a little more willing to lean more into the idea of the witchcraft even at its most destructive being a necessary wickedness in the face of the oppression and violence and harm that the teenage girls were suffering at Wellwood. I definitely understand making things less black and white and I always appreciate messy answers or difficult answers in stories, don’t get me wrong. But I think that the absolute horrors that these girls, many of them children, were enduring, as many were in real life during the times before Roe vs Wade was implemented, could have had some more vengeance thrown at them. Especially since in real life this kind of vengeance wasn’t doled out to those who deserved it nearly as much as it was in this book. And still isn’t being doled out at times.
And that brings me to the aspect of this book that I think worked the best for me, and that is the very realistic portrayal of the way unwed pregnant women and girls were treated by society during the time period, and the realistic portrayals of pregnancy and birth. And all of the horrors that come from those things. Fern, Rose, Zinnia, Holly, and all the girls at Wellwood home are dehumanized, insulted, shunned, and shamed by most of the people who work there, being implied to be whores, or stupid, or bad, with no actual reflection on their circumstances and the various steps it took to get them there (and for many of them they were victimized in various ways leading up to their pregnancies by other people, and very much so the men who impregnated them). The absolute rage I felt for all of these girls and the way they were treated was incendiary, and the horrific circumstances so many of them dealt with was just heartbreaking and horrifying. And with continued attacks on reproductive rights in this country with an uncertain future about how far that is going to go really just hits that point home in this book. On top of that we have two very different but very graphic depictions of childbirth in this book that felt very real, and didn’t hold back in the portrayals of both the clinical and unnecessary things that were done in a hospital birth, as well as the way things can go wrong in a home birth setting. If you have triggers associated with birth, and pregnancy loss, I would definitely say proceed with caution. I know some people think that birth scenes shouldn’t need trigger warnings because they are ‘natural’, but I don’t subscribe to that as it can be VERY traumatic, and this book doesn’t shy from that.
All in all, I really enjoyed “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls”. It has anger, it has magic, it has hope, and it has heart.
Rating 9: Filled with magic, friendship, and raging against sexism and misogyny that continues to seep far beyond the setting, “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls” is a witchy and unrelenting story that reads like a refusal to go back to the past.
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. Re-visiting some of our past themes, we’re once again reading books that have had film/TV adaptations and then comparing the two mediums.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: “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” by Stephen King
Book Description: Suspenseful, mysterious, and heart-wrenching, Stephen King’s extraordinary novella, populated by a cast of unforgettable characters, tells a powerful tale of crushing despair and liberating hope through the eyes of Ellis “Red” Redding. Red’s a guy who can get you whatever you want here in Maine’s corrupt and hard-edged Shawshank State Penitentiary (for a price, of course), but the one thing he doesn’t count on is an unexpected friendship forged with fellow inmate Andy Dufresne—an inscrutable one-time banker perhaps falsely convicted of brutal, calculated murder who will go on to transform everyone’s lives within these prison walls.
When we opted to revisit our “Adaptations” theme for our Book Club, I knew that it was finally time to subject my lady pals to some Stephen King. I didn’t want to throw them into the deep end of King’s horror landscape, as I am one of the few people who really loves straight up horror in the group, but I did want to showcase his writing style. So “Rita Hayworth and Shawkshank Redemption” made the most sense to me. One, the movie is a classic, one that I’ve seen many times as it’s one of my husband’s favorites (I really love it as well). And two, it’s a great taste of King is a small package that can be easily taken on even by those who don’t particularly like horror. It was my second time reading it, and I loved it just as much this time around. I think I loved it even more than my first read.
Oh how I love this story. It’s so simple, so straightforward and matter of fact. King has such a way with creating characters who just speak to the reader, and I really adore Red’s voice and the way that the story really brings to life Shawshank, the prisoners, the horrific circumstances and systems at play, and the importance of hope in the face of hopelessness and finding your community you can find solace within. What I really love about this book is that King creates an objectively thrilling story with high stakes and lots of potential for drama and tragedy, but it flows so well and is so compelling as we learn about Andy and Red and their friendship in a quiet and calm kind of way. Yes, there are moments of terribleness, where people are lost, where people die, where lives are basically over and suffering within the walls of this terrible prison and the sociopaths who run it. But there are also moments of humor, of light, of camaraderie and joy. King finds the complexities in Red and Andy (while Andy still remains a bit of a mystery, which just adds to the compelling aspects of this novella), and really makes it so as a reader you connect with them both and hope that they make it to Zihuatanejo and away from Shawshank Prison. I think that on my first read I considered myself more a fan of the movie while still loving both. But this time around the theme of hope, and the grittiness and ambiguity of hope, really resonated with me. I now think I like book and film the same.
“Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” is a fantastic story. A masterpiece from Stephen King.
Serena’s Thoughts
I’m probably the stereotypical reader of this book, in that I had watched the movie years ago but never got around to reading the actual novella until now. That said, I’ve really enjoyed all the Stephen King books I’ve read (I leave his true horror books to Kate and just skim along through the more thriller/fantasy stuff) so I had high hopes going in. And I wasn’t wrong! I absolutely loved this book!
For being such a short book, it’s impressive just how much is fit into this small number of pages. Not only do we have the actual prison break itself, but the story also thoroughly explores the horrors of the prison system, its inner workings and societies, and how, even over decades and decades, much of this remains unchanged. On top of that, the story follows two incredible characters. First, the narrator, Red. And then, through his eyes, we meet Andy. It obviously all comes down to Red’s voice, as had that not connected with readers, the entire book wouldn’t have worked. Through him, we get a window into the lives of these inmates. He’s both empathetic of the horrors, but also incredibly straight-forward and frank about the realities of simply going on in the face of it all. We also come to understand the biggest challenge of prison life: maintaining any sense of hope in a hopeless place.
What stood out for me between the book and the movie (though there were many things, and I can’t get to them all here) was the depiction of Andy. I think the character worked incredibly well in the movie, but after reading the book, I can also see how Andy was given the “Hollywood treatment.” The book version is actually even more compelling, giving us a glimpse of an incredibly smart, complex, and unique man. While the Andy of the movie had some of your typical “movie magic” hero moments, the Andy of the book shone more in his steadfast unknowability. Even Red, his best friend, admits to feeling as if he only ever scratched the surface of what’s going on in Andy’s head. And by the end of the book, the reader feels the same way.
This was an excellent book! If you’ve watched and enjoyed the movie, I definitely recommend giving this one a go! It’s a short read that you can finish up in one sit-down and is well worth the time its given.
Kate’s Rating 9 : Even better the second time around. This book is filled with heart, tragedy, and hope, and it really shines, showing off King’s skills as a writer across multiple genres.
Serena’s Rating 9: A whopper of a punch packed in such a small book, exploring the horrors of prison life and the perseverance of the human spirit.
Book Club Questions:
What were your thoughts about the book being about Andy, but being from Red’s perspective? How do you think it would have been different had it been from Andy’s?
We find out from the first pages that a lot of these characters (outside of Andy) are very much guilty of the crimes they committed. Did that affect the narrative and how you felt about them as characters?
What did you think King was saying about atonement and imprisonment within the walls of Shawshank? About isolation and community? Grudging acceptance of abuse and resistance?
Zihuatanejo is the end goal for Andy after he leaves Shawshankl and becomes a place that Andy and Red hope to meet up in someday. What do you think Zihuatanejo symbolizes for these two men?
The movie and the book have some clear differences. What were some that really stood out to you? Did you find any preferable over the other?
In the book our narrator Red is a white man of Irish descent, but in the film he is played by Morgan Freeman, a Black man. How do you think changing his race changes the context of the character of Red?
In the movie it’s clear that Red made it to Zihuatanejo and was reunited with Andy, but in the book King opts to leave it open ended whether he makes it to the beach to see his friend. Why do you think King wanted to make it more ambiguous?
The Library Ladies 