Serena’s Review: “The Thirteenth Child”

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Book: “The Thirteenth Child” by Erin A. Craig

Publishing Info: Delacorte Press, September 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: from the library!

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

Book Description: Hazel Trépas has always known she wasn’t like the rest of her siblings. A thirteenth child, promised away to one of the gods, she spends her childhood waiting for her godfather—Merrick, the Dreaded End—to arrive.

When he does, he lays out exactly how he’s planned Hazel’s future. She will become a great healer, known throughout the kingdom for her precision and skill. To aid her endeavors, Merrick blesses Hazel with a gift, the ability to instantly deduce the exact cure needed to treat the sick.

But all gifts come with a price. Hazel can see when Death has claimed a patient—when all hope is gone—and is tasked to end their suffering, permanently. Haunted by the ghosts of those she’s killed, Hazel longs to run. But destiny brings her to the royal court, where she meets Leo, a rakish prince with a disdain for everything and everyone. And it’s where Hazel faces her biggest dilemma yet—to save the life of a king marked to die. Hazel knows what she is meant to do and knows what her heart is urging her toward, but what will happen if she goes against the will of Death?

Review: It may be January of 2025, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still doing the handwork of December. That is, working my way through the back catalog of Fall 2024 titles that I didn’t get around to reading and reviewing in a timely manner! Even though I didn’t get to it until months later, I’d been looking forward to this one quite a lot. Not only did it sound like a great, unique fairytale fantasy story, but I’d heard a lot of good things about the author. So, without any more preamble, on to the review!

I love fairytale fantasies. And while I always enjoy fairytale re-tellings, there’s always something special about an original tale, especially if the author nails the sometimes indecipherable qualities that truly make a story feel like a fairytale. And that was definitely the case here! One thing that I always think of as distinct to fairytales is the blending of dark and light elements, and we had that in spades here. There’s the more straight-forward coming-of-age story for Hazel and a sweet slow burn romance towards the end, but on the other hand, this book verges on horror with some of its more grim elements.

And here, in particular, is where the story shines. Not only are some of these aspects truly creepy, but the book doesn’t shy away from grappling with some very tough moral questions. It’s essentially one long “trolley problem” of a plotline, with Hazel coming down on different sides of the equation at different points. Sometimes this inconsistency on her part could be frustrating, especially when she’s fully in the know with regards to the intricacies of these decisions. But at the same time, no amount of understanding would take the horror out of being the one to make these choices.

Another hallmark of fairytales is that the lead character often has a truly awful home life, and such is the case with Hazel. This story unfolds in a unique way, following Hazel through her life from a small child up through adulthood, with each time period being given fairly significant chunks of the book. That being the case, we get a decent amount of time with child Hazel during which we see how she grows to be the young woman and adult she becomes. There are various familial roles explored, from the neglect and abuse from her parents, to the closest brother she has who is taken away only to be a stranger when she meets him again later, to the complex relationship she has with the god of Death who is her godfather. This last one was particularly well done, as it could have easily fallen into a few trope holes. Instead, we get a relationship that is as conflicted and challenging as families can be, mixing both love, frustration, disappointment, and even rage altogether. Through this lens, the book explores the expectations of parents, and the ways in which love can turn into a burden.

I also enjoyed the romance, but this definitely didn’t come into play until the last half of the story. Given the time jumps, it avoids instalove, but just barely. It’s by no means the focal point of the story, but what we do get is sweet and I enjoyed the way the story swerved at key moments to avoid becoming mired in some of the current romantasy tropes.

Towards the end of the book, some of the reveals and plot turns were a bit predictable, perhaps, which is the only thing holding this back from a 10 for me! And the reader’s tolerance for some of Hazel’s continual struggles in the face of a decision that she already knows the consequences of will also vary. However, for me, I thought this was an excellent original fairytale, and now I can’t wait to go back and read the author’s other books!

Rating 9: A wholly original fairytale fantasy, chock full of all of my favorite things!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Thirteenth Child” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Gothic Fairytale Fantasy and Epic High Fantasy/Romance/Mythology in 2024.

Serena’s Review: “Lies on the Serpent’s Tongue”

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Book: “Lies on the Serpent’s Tongue” by Kate Pearsall

Publishing Info: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, January 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: from the publisher!

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

Book Description: As Caball Hollow slowly recovers after a tumultuous summer, the James family must also come to terms with their own newly revealed secrets.        18-year-old Rowan James has spent her whole life harboring unpleasant truths—that’s what happens when you can smell people’s lies—and building walls around herself to block them out. Like her younger sister, Linden, who can taste the feelings of others, Rowan has long resented her gift, which has taught her that everyone lies and no one is who they seem to be. So when her old nemesis, Hadrian Fitch, the biggest liar of them all, shows up on her front porch—bloodied, broken, and asking for help only she can give—her first instinct is distrust. But something new is stalking the Forest that surrounds Caball Hollow.       Now things are disappearing. At first, it’s small stuff—like letters, photos, and keys. But then, Rowan notices people around her are losing their memories. And when the body of a neighbor is found in the middle of town, Rowan knows there’s a link between this death and all the events disturbing the Hollow. Can she find what—or who—the link is before it takes another life?

Previously Reviewed: “Bittersweet in the Hollow”

Review: While “Bittersweet in the Hollow” wasn’t a perfect read for me, it got a lot of things right, particularly with regards to the atmosphere of mystery and creepiness that surrounds Caball Hollow. I also always enjoy stories about a bunch of sister with magical powers, so there’s that. Rowan didn’t play a huge role in that story, but I was definitely intrigued by her character and excited to see where her story would go in this sequel!

So, to get it out of the way, this one probably came in at around or a bit below the same level as “Bittersweet:” in that, I definitely see parts that I appreciate, but it also failed to capitalize on its strengths in a way that would have elevated it to a higher level for me. But let’s start with the good, as always. Like “Bittersweet,” one of the biggest strengths of this book is its overall tone and the vibe of this small town and the dark woods that surrounds it. It worked out in a strange way that I was reading two books back-to-back with this general setting (Adrienne Young’s “A Sea of Unspoken Things” was the other), and I found that I appreciated the use of this setting just as much here as I did there.

Beyond the mysteriousness of the woods and the dangers it contains, I also liked the exploration of small-town life. Particularly, the challenge of living in a town with such a limited population where you know everyone, for better or worse. Forgive and forget becomes a necessity to functioning in an environment like this, sometimes for very practical, economic reasons, as we see here with the family’s café that depends on the town folk for business even if some of them have behaved in truly terrible ways.

However, as I read, I found myself really struggling with the pacing and some of the plotting of this book. It’s just a very slow read, taking a long time to really get started, with what feels like numerous “false starts” to the plot. Further, as I continued to read, I was dismayed to see so much time spent on events and characters from the first book. In some ways, Lindon was allowed to overshadow Rowan in Rowan’s own book, which is always disappointing. I’m not sure whether the author simply didn’t have a robust enough storyline for Rowan herself or what. But I do think this book may have been more successful as a novella or shorter companion piece. As it stands, it feels as if Rowan was short-shifted as a main character.

In a similar way, the romance was very lackluster. It wasn’t bad, and I did enjoy moments with the romantic lead. But at the same time, I failed to really feel any chemistry between these two characters. I felt as if I was being told they were developing feelings for one another, but I wasn’t getting any of that on the page. For a character like Rowan with her particular ability with lying, there should have been plenty of material to build a complex romantic relationship, so it was disappointing to see the book flounder in this way.

Overall, this was an ok read. If you enjoyed the first book and Lindon as a character, this one is probably worth reading simply for the large emphasis on the events of that book and that character. If you were hoping for a truly fresh-feeling story and a clear development of Rowan as her own character, however, you may find yourself as disappointed as I was.

Rating 7: The story shines with regards to its atmosphere and mysterious vibes, however, weaker characters brought it down a bit in the end.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Lies on the Serpent’s Tongue” can be found on this Goodreads list: YA Novels of 2025.

Kate’s Review: “Missing Mom”

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Book: “Missing Mom” by Lynn Slaughter

Publishing Info: Fire and Ice Young Adult Books, January 2025

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publicist.

Where You Can Get This Book: Amazon

Book Description: Devastated by her mom’s sudden disappearance and the evidence pointing to suicide, seventeen-year-old Noelle, an aspiring ballet dancer, doesn’t believe her mom would ever have taken her own life. She undertakes her own investigation to find out what really happened to her mother.

Meanwhile, Noelle is dealing with growing romantic feelings for Ravi, her best friend and fellow dancer. And she’s worried about her little sister, Whitney, who won’t talk about why she doesn’t want to visit their dad.

Threaded throughout the novel is also the story of Savannah, a young woman whose escape from an abusive marriage nearly two decades earlier turns out to be connected to Noelle’s investigation.

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

We all know that I’m a huge sucker for stories about missing people, especially when their loved ones take on the mantle of figuring out what happened. So it’s probably not super shocking that when Lynn Slaughter’s new YA mystery “Missing Mom” ended up in my inbox, I was pretty on board to give it a whirl. I’ve enjoyed Slaughter’s mysteries in the past, and when you take a trope I love and offer it up to me I’m almost always going to be game.

Our main narrative is that of Noelle, a teenager whose mother has disappeared unexpectedly, leaving Noelle with her younger sister Whitney and her stepfather Carl reeling and worried. To make matters worse, Noelle has other stresses in her life, like her strained relationship with her father (who Whitney is unwilling to be around), and her growing romantic feelings for best friend/dance partner Ravi. Noelle’s storyline was a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, I did enjoy seeing her try and do her own investigating about her missing mother when the authorities seem to be dropping the ball, as that kind of mystery is always tantalizing to me. On the other hand, I thought that sometimes her voice didn’t feel as authentic and read abrupt or immature. I also thought that her nerves about Ravi and their relationship and the conflicts there felt a bit out of place given all the other traumatic things that were coming out in her life, not only with her mother, but revelations about Whitney (side note/spoiler alert: content warnings are definitely needed in this book for pedophilia and CSAM, so be warned in that regard). But the mystery at hand, especially the one I’m about to talk about, mostly made up for it.

I think that the stronger narrative in this book was that of Savannah, the woman whose story we are following from almost two decades prior as Noelle is trying to find out what happened to her mother. Savannah is a young wife who is starting to realize that her marriage to her new husband Mack is an abusive one. I thought that these chapters were incredibly suspenseful as we see her find herself as a frog in a pot of slowly boiling water, and thought that these were pretty straight forward portrayals of escalating abuse. And while it was a bit simplistic in presentation like the Noelle parts, I was still really hoping that Savannah would find her way out (and honestly I knew she would, but still, I was very eager to see her journey to freedom from Mack and his violence).

So while I think that some of the characters of this book were a bit stilted, I was interested enough in the mystery to find out how it all came together at the end.

Rating 7: A suspenseful mystery with some compelling flashbacks makes for an entertaining read!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Missing Mom” isn’t on any Goodreads lists but it would fit in on “Missing People Books”.

Serena’s Review: “A Sea of Unspoken Things”

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Book: “A Sea of Unspoken Things” by Adrienne Young

Publishing Info: Delacorte Press, January 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

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

Book Description: The only thing James and Johnny Golden have ever had is each other. For as long as she can remember, James’s deep connection with her twin brother, Johnny, has gone beyond intuition—she can feel what he feels. So, when Johnny is killed in a tragic accident, James knows before her phone even rings that her brother is gone and that she’s alone—truly alone—for the first time in her life. 

When James arrives in the rural town of Hawthorne, California to settle her brother’s affairs, she’s forced to rehash the ominous past she and Johnny shared and finally face Micah, the only person who knows about it. He’s also the only man she’s ever loved. 

But James soon discovers that the strange connection she had with Johnny isn’t quite gone, and the more she immerses herself into his world, the more questions she has about the brother she thought she knew. Johnny was keeping secrets, and he’s not the only one. What she uncovers will push her to unravel what happened in the days before Johnny’s death, but in the end, she’ll have to decide which truths should come to light, and which should stay buried forever.

Review: Adrienne Young has been reliably a “one book a year” author for a while now, and I feel like I’m getting quite spoiled. I look ahead to the fall and the winter and mentally assume that I’ll be getting to enjoy her most recent release somewhere in there! It also helps that I’ve been enjoying this turn towards adult novels with a closer feel towards magical realism than straight fantasy. So, like clockwork, I’m back with another review for her latest entry!

While this one didn’t quite hit as hard as some of her other books, there was still a lot to like about this one! First of all, I think the cover on this book, while beautiful, is a missed opportunity. So much of the book is taken up with the oppressive, claustrophobic, wild nature of the forest that surrounds the small town of Hawthorne, that a cover picture of a wide open seascape seems very misplaced. Especially since this unique atmosphere and nature of the woods is so omnipresent throughout the book. While reading it, you can almost feel the trees pressing in.

I grew up in the mountains and the woods, so I love forests. But Young also deftly captured the unique experience of feeling closed in, even while outside, that can come from thick woodlands. Here, she cashes in on the tension that comes from reduced sight lines, not being able to see the shifts in the landscape or what they can hide. This sense of the unknown is then woven through the various mysteries of not only Johnny’s death, but also James’ past that drove her to flee her hometown many years ago.

I also enjoyed the complicated nature of the sibling relationship between Johnny and James. We never see Johnny alive on page except for flashbacks, but again, Young masterfully captures the lingering feeling of presence after someone as close as a sibling passes away. Of course, this is fantasy realism, so this ghost-like presence is explored in more mystical senses as well. But even small things, like coming into a place that was suddenly abandoned by an unexpected death and then trying to piece together that person’s last days or moments…it was all quite well done. Even more so due to the complicated relationship between Johnny and James, one that was both as close as it could be, but also full of tension and whips of darkness. The flashbacks were incredibly effective at building up James’ feelings towards this mercurial brother and the ways in which he directed so many of her life choices.

On the other hand, while the romance was sweet, this was the relationship that felt a bit short-shifted. In many ways, it felt very similar to the romance we saw in another of Young’s books, “Spells for Forgetting,” focusing again on small towns and second-chance romances. Instead, I found the dynamic between Johnny, James, and Micah together as a trio to be of more interest. Micah wasn’t really given enough on the page to fully flesh him out as a character. Instead, he felt more like a sounding board character for Johnny and James. Not saying I’d rather there have not been a romance, as I did enjoy the love story. Just that if you’re going in looking for romance, then you might be a bit underwhelmed.

The mystery was also fairly good. There were a number of reveals and connections that I thought were done quite well, red herrings that would go back and forth between being red herrings at all. On the other hand, at least one of these reveals felt like it came a bit out of nowhere and didn’t have much to truly back it up. A person did a thing because of…reasons. Ultimately, as I was mostly invested in the mysteries surrounding the past and on the dynamics between the Micah, Johnny, and James, I was mostly ok with this. But it did feel a bit weaker than some of Young’s past entries in this regards.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book! It didn’t quite live up to some of the highs of past books by Young, but it was also a solidly enjoyable mystery/romance/fantasy realism book on its own! If you’ve enjoyed her books in the past, odds are good that you’ll like this one as well!

Rating 8: The true triumph is Young’s ability to capture the beautiful yet oppressive nature of a deep, dark woods.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Sea of Unspoken Things” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Book titles with all the vowels in it. A E I O U

Kate’s Review: “Wake Up and Open Your Eyes”

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

Book: “Wake Up and Open Your Eyes” by Clay McLeod Chapman

Publishing Info: Quirk Books, January 2025

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

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

Book Description: From Vulture’s “master of horror” Clay McLeod Chapman, a relentless and emotionally charged social horror novel about a family on the run from a demonic possession epidemic that spreads through media, for fans of The Last of Us and When Evil Lurks

Noah Fairchild has been losing his formerly polite Southern parents to far-right cable news for years, so when his mother leaves him a voicemail warning him that the “Great Reawakening” is here, he assumes it’s related to one of the many conspiracy theories she believes in. But when his own phone calls go unanswered, Noah makes the long drive from Brooklyn to Richmond, Virginia. There, he discovers his childhood home in shambles, a fridge full of spoiled food, and his parents locked in a terrifying trance-like state in front of the TV. Panicked, Noah attempts to snap them out of it and get medical help.

Then Noah’s mother brutally attacks him.

But Noah isn’t the only person to be attacked by a loved one. Families across the country are tearing each other apart-–literally-–as people succumb to a form of possession that gets worse the more time they spend watching particular channels, using certain apps, or visiting certain websites. In Noah’s Richmond-based family, only he and his young nephew Marcus are unaffected. Together, they must race back to the safe haven of Brooklyn–-but can they make it before they fall prey to the violent hordes?

This ambitious, searing novel from “one of horror’s modern masters” holds a mirror to our divided nation, and will shake readers to the core.

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

I’m going to preface this review with the following statement: I’ve had a few interactions with Clay McLeod Chapman and he has always been INCREDIBLY kind. He’s always been very genial in the times we’ve chatted, be it at conferences or on social media or in messages exchanged in regards to his books and my reviews. I’ve always found him to be a super kind human being and I’ve enjoyed all the times we’ve spoken/written each other. That being said, he is also one of the authors that I feel PERSONALLY VICTIMIZED BY WHENEVER I READ ONE OF HIS HORROR NOVELS.

Just superimpose his face on Rachel McAdams, I say! (source)

This is in jest, obviously. But Chapman’s books always hit a nerve with me, and always get under my skin, and his newest book “Wake Up and Open Your Eyes” is his scariest one yet. And this is because of a couple reasons. The first being that Chapman is a master of suspense and horror imagery, being more than willing to push the envelope when it comes to the lengths he will take his reader within his stories. He’s usually pretty unflinching and brutal, and unapologetic about it, and that is definitely the case in this book. But the other, and more effective, reason is pretty straightforward this time around: “Wake Up and Open Your Eyes” is a satirical and incredibly gory spin on the way that far right propaganda has seeped into the collective consciousness of a huge percentage of the American public, and in this book it turns them into literal rage possessed zombies that want to destroy everyone and everything with their hate and need for violence. Jesus. Fucking. Christ. This is basically a book that is a manifestation of my mental health crises I had last summer and then again after the Election. So that’s great.

First, though, I want to talk about the straight up horror elements of this book. The basic premise is that a man named Noah, a liberal man living in Brooklyn, as noticed that his parents in Virginia have been becoming more and more obsessed with the right wing cable network Fax News (it’s blatant, and I’ll talk about why I’m fine with that later in the review), parroting talking points and becoming more and more paranoid and hateful. When he goes down to check on them after not being able to get in contact with them, or his brother and his family, he finds his folks basically wasting away watching Fax…. until something switches and the catatonic turn into violent, rage filled zombies. The zombies start attacking all non zombies while shouting ‘WAKE UP AND OPEN YOUR EYES!’ and ‘JUST THE FAX!’. He eventually finds his seven year old nephew and hopes they can make it back to Brooklyn. As far as the zombie-esque horrors go, it’s nasty, it’s violent, and it’s unrelenting. Once we are in an action moment, the pedal is to the metal and it’s VERY violent and gross. He also knows how to build up the tension as we see various characters start to succumb to the indoctrination/possession, with SO MANY nasty body horror moments and gory bits, things that even made me feel a little nauseated as I read (trigger warnings abound here too: animal death, sexual assault, school violence, it’s all here). It’s effective and disturbing, which is the exact right tone for this book.

Chapman doesn’t just limit himself to the low hanging fruit of Fox News and far right cable news (correct as this indictment may be), though, which makes this even more sinister and astute. He also takes on the all too real pipelines of wellness influencers and the Pastel QAnon movement with it’s anti-science/anti-medicine/anti-vax bent (with Noah’s sister in law), as well as the incel and red/black pill movements (with his older nephew). Both of these are mostly centralized online and on social media, and show up in algorithms like snakes in the grass. I think that the Fox News angle is pretty obvious (not that it’s incorrect!), but I know that I’ve had to explain to people about trad wives and the wellness to alt-right pipeline as well as incel bullshit, and how it is radicalizing completely different demographics into far right wing ideology, so to see him have THESE THINGS in this book made the satire that much more powerful. And scary. GOD this book is scary. Because while no, people like my grandfather was when he was alive aren’t mindless violence craving ghouls with no impulse control and a need to murder everyone in their vicinity, there are people who feel like they have lost their loved ones to a sickness of hate, fear, and bigotry, which can be violent and traumatizing in their own ways. Chapman really, really gets that, even if he has it under guise of blood soaked automatons that are killing machines and splattergore moments. And he doesn’t just have grievances for the brainwashed and hate filled, but he also indicts Noah himself (and other go along to get along liberals) as someone who just sat back and let it happen, like so many have done in the face of not wanting to rock the boat or to just be pleasant, until it’s too goddamn late.

Are the horror elements in this book over the top? Maybe. Is it absolutely NOT subtle? Completely. But I think that the time for subtlety has passed us. Chapman has his finger on the pulse of America right now. And I’m writing this as the new president elect is gearing up to take back his power, partly in thanks to these kinds of manipulations, propaganda, and indoctrination that this book has amped up to levels that may be fictional, but are rooted in a very bleak reality. And I’m honestly terrified.

(source)

“Wake Up and Open Your Eyes” is another top notch horror tale from one of the kindest authors I’ve met who still manages to personally victimize me Regina George style with his books (I mean that in the best way). It’s a must read.

Rating 9: Easily one of the scariest books I’ve read in a long time, if only because when you peel back the supernatural and satirical bits you find something that feels very, very real.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Wake Up and Open Your Eyes” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror to Look Forward To In 2025”.

Highlights: January 2025

Welcome to 2025, for better or for worse! We never know what we’re going to get with a new year, but one things is always guaranteed: there are sure to be great books in the year ahead! We’ll be posting our regular monthly picks here, but look forward to our list of top picks for the entire year of 2025 coming in a few weeks!

Serena’s Picks

Book: “A Sea of Unspoken Things” by Adrienne Young

Publication Date: Jan. 7, 2025

Why I’m Interested: Adrienne Young is one of those awesome writers who not only produces incredible books, but also manages to pump that out practically on a yearly basis! Between her and Silvia Morena-Garcia, I’m always guaranteed a few great reads a year! This one sounds like another entry into her recent foray into contemporary romantic fantasy stories. Again, we follow a young woman with a mysterious past as she returns to a home town she fled from years before. Of course, there’s a second chance romance in there as well!

Book: “Water Moon” by Samantha Sotto Yambao

Publication Date: Jan. 14, 2025

Why I’m Interested: While I’m not a big fan girl of Studio Ghibli, I was also intrigued by the description of a highly whimsical contemporary fantasy story that follows the owner of a pawn shop that deals in regrets. The cover itself is also pretty great! Plus, it promises a nice romance at its heart, so there’s a lot of potential here! Can’t wait to check it out soon!

Book: “A Crown So Silver” by Lyra Selene

Publication Date: Jan. 21, 2025

Why I’m Interested: I really enjoyed “A Feather So Black” when I read it last year. Not only was it a unique version of “Swan Lake,” but it managed to tack in a love triangle that I didn’t end up hating. It didn’t end on a cliffhanger per se, but there was definitely a lot left to be handled in the sequels. As the middle book in a trilogy, this one faces an uphill battle, but I’m excited to see how this one manages it! Mostly, I hope that the main couple doesn’t fall into the trap of pointless drama in the pursuit of “tension.” We shall see!

Kate’s Picks

Book: “Wake Up and Open Your Eyes” by Clay McLeod Chapman

Publication Date: January 7, 2025

Why I’m Interested: Clay McLeod Chapman is one of my favorite horror authors writing today, and I am always excited and apprehensive to pick up one of his novels because I know that he doesn’t hold back. Enter “Wake Up and Open Your Eyes”, his newest horror novel where he satirizes far Right wing media and the way that it seems like it brainwashes its consumers, and poisons the rest of American society. In this case, Right Wing cable news viewers (as well as other Right Wing media consumers) turn into violent possessed automatons who attack anyone who doesn’t think like them. A bit on the nose for 2025, but that’s the point. Buckle up. It’s gonna be rough.

Book: “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls” by Grady Hendrix

Publication Date: January 14, 2025

Why I’m Interested: I also really enjoy Grady Hendrix and the quirky horror stories that he comes up with, usually with a bit of a tongue in cheek flair. But this time around he’s not only taking on witchcraft, but also the tragedies and injustices of young unwed mother homes and the traumas that came with such circumstances for many, many teenage girls in the years before Roe v Wade. As someone who is deeply disturbed by the way we’re movie backwards on reproductive rights in America AND who loves witchcraft stories, this is a book that has been on my radar for AWHILE. I’m sure it will be heartwrenching as well as quirky. Which it absolutely should be.

Book: “Mask of the Deer Woman” by Laurie L. Dove

Publication Date: January 21, 2025

Why I’m Interested: Procedurals continue to be a guilty pleasure of mine, and I’m always thrilled to see procedurals written from more diverse perspectives. Berkley was kind enough to send me access to “Mask of the Deer Woman” by Laurie L. Dove, which is not only a police procedural dealing with missing women themes, it is also starring an Indigenous female former cop now working on a reservation who want to look into the disappearances of multiple Indigenous women. Throw in some mythology involving Deer Woman and I am even more excited. I hope that this is a start to a new series I can follow!

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

Kate’s Review: “Mr. Jones’s Smoking Bones”

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

Book: “Mr. Jones’s Smoking Bones” by Iqbal Ali & Priscilla Grippa (Ill.)

Publishing Info: Iqbal A. Comics, March 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received digital copies from the publicist.

Where You Can Get This Book: Amazon | Shopify

Book Description: Barzakh, an Indian man with a grudge against the British Empire, travels to London seeking drugs to alleviate the pain of losing his friend Elisa and to fulfill a personal quest. However, he becomes embroiled in a mystery surrounding the death of a notable gentleman, supposedly caused by a smoking skeleton.

Review: Thank you to Iqbal Ali for sending me digital copies of this comic series!

I’m always really eager to read books and stories about the obsessive way that the Victorians focused on occultism and the mystic sides of death and ghosts. It’s just a topic that has fascinated me for a long time, and the Victorians were so hardcore and weird about it that it adds a whole new layer to the already spookiness of death, ghosts, and hauntings. But it’s rare that I am presented with a tale that turns that on its head and makes it even more compelling, so when I was offered to read Iqbal Ali’s comic series “Mr. Jones’s Smoking Bones” and it did, indeed, have a more interesting hook beyond the usual ‘Victorian Brits love a good séance!’, I was very, very interested to check it out. While Volume One is the most accessible volume of the series, they were kind enough to send much of the storyline as it stands now, and oh wow. It was really, really fun and as unique as I had hoped it would be.

The main setting is Victorian London, where occultism is incredibly popular, the British Empire in India is thriving even as the East India Company is falling away, and India native Barzahk has resentfully arrived in London in the shadow of a personal matter involving his friend Elisa. Elisa, who has recently been murdered and had been a member of a powerful secret society that experimented with traveling to other planes known as The Aether. It’s a mouthful, and it’s only the beginning. I love the occult and mysticism angle, as this stuff was SUPER popular during this time period in England, and Ali uses it really well to craft a creepy horror mystery with wandering ghosts, secret societies, and a mysterious smoking skeleton who has a deadly connection to Elisa and her death. As Barzahk is reluctantly pulled into investigating the deaths of powerful British men connected to Elisa, the Crown, and secret societies, we find lots of classic occult horror moments with a compelling narrative and mystery at its heart. I also really loved that it turns this kind of story on its head, with an Indian man as the protagonist when so many other Victorian occult stories are very western centric. I also loved the flashbacks to Barzahk’s work with Elisa back in India, as we get to see moments involving the horrors of the Raj and the English rule in India and how it affects Barzahk and his community.

And jumping off of that, what I liked the most about this series is the underlying theme on the British Empire in India and the way that the horrors of colonialism rained terrors onto India and its people. Barzahk is our protagonist whose resentment towards England is wholly understandable, and Ali isn’t shy about showing the violence and corruption perpetuated by the Crown as well as The East India Company. I also LOVED the fact that at the end of every issue we get a really comprehensive but easy to digest historical note about Imperial Britain and its relationship with India during the Victorian Era (as well as other pertinent facts like the occult and other facets of British society). I have a vague knowledge of some of the finer details of these things, as I’ve read a fair number of books that tackle themes like this, but I really loved the way that Ali would pull out the historical details as related to the story and highlight them. I felt like I learned a lot about the history and the context, and was able to see how this history informed the story in both broad ways as well as minute ones. As someone who used to work in a history setting with a specific focus on the Victorian Era (mostly in the U.S., but we did address the influence of England on American society as well), I live for these kinds of tidbits and lessons from the past and how it still resonates today.

And finally I quite enjoyed the artwork by Priscilla Grippa. It’s fairly realistic in design, but also has some really creepy depictions of the aether and the ghostly beings that haunt Barzahk as the story goes on.

(Souce: Iqbal A Comics)

Overall I enjoyed “Mr. Jones’s Smoking Bones”. It’s resonant of classic throwback historical comics with an occult twist, but takes it a few steps further to make it all the more unique and all the more unsettling. If you can get it, I highly recommend you do!

Rating 8: A creepy and rich historical horror story that tackles ghosts, trauma, and the evils of colonialism.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Mr. Jones’s Smoking Bones” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but if you enjoy historical dark fiction/fantasy by by Alan Moore like “From Hell” or “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” this would be a good fit.

Serena’s Review: “The Starlight Heir”

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Book: “The Starlight Heir” by Amalie Howard

Publishing Info: Avon, January 2025

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

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

Book Description: When the gold-dusted court invitation arrives at Suraya Saab’s forge, she believes it’s a joke. Nobles might seek her skills as a bladesmith—one of few who can imbue her work with precious jadu, the last source of magic in the realm—but she has no qualifications as a potential bride for the crown prince. Still, the invitation is the chance at adventure, and the means to finally visit the capital city her late mother loved.

But what awaits her in Kaldari is nothing she could have imagined—and fraught with danger. It’s not the crown prince, but his impossibly handsome, illegitimate half-brother, Roshan, who draws her interest…and her ire. The invitation isn’t a quest to find a suitable bride, but a veiled hunt for the starbringer—a girl rumored to hold the magic of the stars in her blood. And across the city, unrest is brewing between the noble houses and the rebel militia.

When the rebels carry out a brutal strike, Suraya and Roshan find themselves on the run, trying to deny their simmering attraction and the knowledge that Suraya herself might be the starbringer. But Roshan is hiding secrets of his own. And with no control of the power that seems to be stirring within her, Suraya has drawn the attention of the old gods themselves…and the interest of one dark god in particular might be the biggest threat of all.

Review: Not going to lie, a major appeal point for this book was the beautiful cover! So all props to the artist who put this together! I was also excited by the general premise of the story, especially a story focusing on a female blacksmith and all of the potentially badass moments that could exist for a character like that. On top of all of that, I was simply excited to see this marketed as an adult fantasy novel, as I’ve struggled more and more to find books that fit within this category, with most fantasy falling in either YA or romantasy subgenres. So, let’s dive into what the book actually had to offer!

Unfortunately, this book didn’t quite work for me, all the more frustrating because I think the author had the bones of a good story here. First and foremost, the world-building was interesting, especially everything that drew from Persian culture and history. I particularly enjoyed all portions of the story when we really got a chance to dig into some of these aspects of the world; unfortunately, these bits were few and far between. There were even some glaring missed opportunities to explore this further, particularly with some of the fashion choices at the ball scenes early in the book.

This ball scene also lead into one of my primary points of struggle with the story: it felt like the author couldn’t fully commit to what sort of story she was trying to write. The first thirty percent or so of the book is taken up with this rather silly bride competition (not sure how an author can make that concept NOT silly, especially in an adult book, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong if someone can provide an example!). But then, as the story progresses, we quickly learn that the entire premise of this competition was completely pointless and the story switches gears into a much more action-packed adventure story. The bride competition would likely have always been a bit of struggle point for me, but it was all the worse when it was immediately undercut in this way. Further, the overall pacing of the book felt very strange, with the first bit so fully committing to a much slower “Bridgerton”-esque style plot and then, with whiplash inducing speed, changing pace completely into a high stakes adventure.

As for the characters, I will say that I appreciated that the romantic lead was not of the brooding sort, and instead a much more light-hearted character. I swear, if I read one more romantasy title where the hero is a shadow daddy with black hair and grey eyes, I’m going to swear off the subgenre for many moons. That said, I did feel that this character’s attachment to our heroine walked right up to the line of instalove, coming on very quickly and with very little real foundation to it.

I was much more frustrated with Suraya, however. Part of this comes down to the unfortunate dialogue often given to the character, her speeches chock full of modern lingo that grated on my nerves every time I came across it. At best, this style of dialogue gives me secondhand embarrassment for the author, and at worst, I’m actively cringing. Luckily, by the second half of the book, the story has picked up its pace to the point that the dialogue needed to be devoted to actual plot points, thus reducing these lingo bits. However, throughout it all, I also found myself just wanting…more from Suraya. Her entire concept is one of power and potential, and yet, again and again, she comes across as unable to think for herself or make a decision on her own without reference to those around her. She also spends way too much of her internal musing focused on Roshan’s looks, to the point that it began to be distracting from the rest of the story.

Overall, I didn’t love this book. I feel like the pacing was disjointed and the heroine was let down by poor dialogue. That said, it was also quite readable and I whipped through it fairly quickly. It also reminds me of a lot of other popular romantasy titles that are currently fairly beloved, so I think there are definitely readers out there! I’ll say, it you, too, are tired of brooding heroes, this one might be worth checking out just for the change of pace in the romantic lead!

Rating 7: While there was potential in the world-building and certain plot twists, I struggled with the modern dialogue and the weaker characterization of the heroine.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Starlight Heir” can be found on this Goodreads list: Romantasy 2025

Ripley’s Reviews: “Ripley Under Water”

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“Ripley’s Reviews” is an ongoing series where I will review every book in Patricia Highsmith’s “Ripley” Series, as well as multiple screen adaptations of the novels. I will post my reviews on the first Thursday of the month, and delve into the twisted mind of one Tom Ripley and all the various interpretations that he has come to life within. Up next is the final book in the series, “Ripley Under Water”.

Book: “Ripley Under Water” by Patricia Highsmith

Publishing Info: Alfred A Knopf, October 1991

Where Did I Get This Book: The library!

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

Book Description: Tom Ripley passes his leisured days at his French country estate tending the dahlias, practicing the harpsichord, and enjoying the company of his lovely wife, Heloise. Never mind the bloodstains on the basement floor.

But some new neighbors have moved to Villeperce: the Pritchards, just arrived from America. they are a ghastly pair, with vulgar manners and even more vulgar taste. Most inconvenient, though, is their curiosity. Ripley does, after all, have a few things to hide. When menacing coincidences begin to occur, a spiraling contest of sinister hints and mutual terrorism ensues, resulting in one of Patricia Highsmith’s most elegantly harrowing novels to date.

Review: Happy 2025! I guess? New Year, new me, etcetera, and while I’m feeling pretty nervous about what this year has in store, I feel like we have the perfect transition here about to begin with my “Ripley’s Reviews” series. For you see, in the spirit of out with the old and in with the new, we are ending the first phase of this ongoing blog romp, as we have reached the end of the Tom Ripley books with “Ripley Under Water”! Patricia Highsmith published this book in 1991 and then passed away four years later, and therefore we are at a crossroads for how we follow Ripley as my series continues. I was hoping we’d get a pretty slamdunk ending to Ripley’s adventures after some shaky twists and turns. Unfortunately, that isn’t really what we got here.

Me in the final pages of this novel (source).

I found this to be more of the same from this series. Tom Ripley is still living at Belle Ombre with Heloise (oh Heloise. I enjoy her, she’s so daffy), just trying to tend to his garden and live life in relative comfort and opulence. And once again someone enters his life potentially threatening his comfort and stature, this time in the form of a boorish American couple called The Pritchards, who know a lot about his past and plan to make him suffer for it because… reasons? I did like the idea of Tom being on the receiving end of a little bit of torment for once, though the Pritchards were pretty two dimensional as villains, and I felt like we sleep walked through the story as Ripley attempts to outmaneuver them and keep his secrets hidden, even as they escalate and a literal body end up on Ripley’s literal doorstep. It’s entertaining, but nothing really stood out as unique or original. At least in “The Boy Who Followed Ripley” we had some really campy moments to even out the drudgery of Tom playing cat and mouse again. Here it’s just the same old song and dance, and while I enjoy Ripley very much and find him to be quite a character, I’ve realized that he needs supporting characters to play off of for his stories to really be successful. But I feel like as the series has gone on we’ve just gotten roadblocks and warm bodies that we know aren’t going to succeed in outwitting him.

And the saddest part of this book is that while it’s the final book in the series, it just kind of ends. I don’t know if this was because Highsmith had more plans for Tom but then died before she could bring them to life, or if it was because she knew that it would be a payday for her should she keep writing Ripley books and this one was merely a vessel to get said payday. I hope it wasn’t anything as cynical as that. But man, this just kind of ended without much fanfare. Maybe it’s a statement about how people like Tom Ripley just get to keep getting away with things. But as a narrative ending for Tom Ripley as a character, it just wasn’t very satisfying. I don’t know if I wanted him to get caught. It’s something I’m struggling with as the Joe Goldberg series goes on as well. But I wanted more than this.

Sorry to say that with “Ripley Under Water” we have come to a less than satisfying ending to Patricia Highsmith’s “Ripliad”. I don’t think this was a failed experiment on my part, as now having his full trajectory was interesting to be sure. But I had higher hopes than were warranted.

Well we are officially done with the book series. But we aren’t done yet! We still have a few films and TV adaptations to take on! And my first review of a “Ripley” adaptation is the film “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, which I will review next month! AKA the first movie where I was made aware that Jude Law is a person who exists. Can’t wait to revisit this one.

Rating 5: I’m a bit sad this is how we end the literary adventures of Tom Ripley, as it was more of the same and a weak ending to the series about one of the thriller genre’s MVPs.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Ripley Under Water” is included on the Goodreads list “The Vilest Man in Fiction”.

Serena’s Review: “Six Scorched Roses”

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Book: “Six Scorched Roses” by Carissa Broadbent

Publishing Info: Bramble, September 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

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

Book Description: Six roses. Six vials of blood. Six visits to a vampire who could be her salvation… or her damnation.

Lilith has been dying since the day she was born. But while she long ago came to terms with her own imminent death, the deaths of everyone she loves is an entirely different matter. As her town slowly withers in the clutches of a mysterious god-cursed illness, she takes matters into her own hands.

Desperate to find a cure, Lilith strikes a bargain with the only thing the gods hate even more than her village: a vampire, Vale. She offers him six roses in exchange for six vials of vampire blood–the one hope for her town’s salvation.

But when what begins as a simple transaction gradually becomes something more, Lilith is faced with a terrifying realization: It’s dangerous to wander into the clutches of a vampire… and in a place already suffering a god’s wrath, more dangerous still to fall in love with one.

Review: This novella was independently published before it was picked up by Bramble, so it’s been a choice to not read it until now. Mostly, I’ve been trying to draw out the process of making my way through Broadbent’s back catalog, as I’ve loved everything I’ve read from her so far. But it did make for an interesting reading experience here, as I had briefly met the main couple of this book in another book already! While I only got a snippet of them there, I was excited to read their origin story in full!

Sometimes I think the ability to write a compelling and rich shorter book is more proof a writer’s talent than whipping together a massive tome. There are fewer pages to get across the themes, character arcs, and hit any plot points that are needed for the story. I’m not surprised that Broadbent was up to the task, as, first and foremost, she’s always had a steady hand on the sorts of characters she writes. And here, that was on even greater display, particularly with the heroine who seems to be mildly autistic, struggling to put words to emotions and often hyper-fixating on her scientific endeavors. As the story is casually pulling in “Beauty and the Beast” references, Vale, as the romantic hero, is a bit more of a straight-forward character. That said, I did like the brief looks we get into the long history of the vampires and the toll that these long-lasting wars and feuds would have on the soldiers and leaders who waged them.

As I said, this book was definitely hitting some “Beauty and the Beast” vibes, and, as such, was a much more romantic tale than Broadbent’s other works. The others that I’ve read from her, while also heavily featuring romance and spice, also involved classic fantasy plots with lots of fighting and exploration. Here, as the story is much smaller in scope, the focus of the book is honed in on the two characters at its heart and the growing love story between them. And it was as lovely as I could have wished for, with a nice slow-burn and a proper balance of romance to spicy scenes.

That said, I was also impressed with some of the side relationships, particularly between Lilith and her sister who is slowly dying of a wasting disease. As its a short book and the primary focus is obviously on the romantic duo, not much time is really devoted to this relationship. But, at the same time, what we do get really packs a punch, with almost all of Lilith’s inner motivation and focus revolving around this relationship, rather than the love story. We also got another confirmation that all the gods of this world are world-class a-holes.

Overall, this was an excellent novella. While I love the full novels, I almost think that, purely with regards to the love story, this is one of the stronger entries. If you’re favorite parts of this author’s other books was the romance, than this is definitely a must read!

Rating 9: Full of romance and sisterly bonds, this book was right up my alley!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Six Scorched Roses” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on Fantasy, Horror, and Sci-Fi Novellas.