Kate’s Review: “Forgotten Sisters”

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Book: “Forgotten Sisters: A Novel” by Cynthia Pelayo

Publishing Info: Thomas & Mercer, March 2024

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

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

Book Description: A city’s haunted history and fairy-tale horrors converge for two women in an addictive novel of psychological suspense by a multiple Bram Stoker Award–nominated author.

Sisters Anna and Jennie live in a historic bungalow on the Chicago River. They’re tethered to a disquieting past, and with nowhere else to go, nothing can part them from their family home. Not the maddening creaks and disembodied voices that rattle the old walls. Not the inexplicable drownings in the area, or the increasing number of bodies that float by Anna’s window.

To stave off loneliness, Anna has a podcast, spinning ghostly tales of Chicago’s tragic history. But when Anna captures the attention of an ardent male listener, she awakens to the possibilities of a world outside.

As their relationship grows, so do Jennie’s fears. More and more people are going missing in the river. And then two detectives come calling.

They’re looking for a link between the mysteries of the river and what’s housed on the bank. Even Anna and Jennie don’t understand how dreadful it is—and still can be—when the truth about their unsettled lives begins to surface.

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

I’ve been following Cynthia Pelayo on social media for a few years now, and that was where I first caught wind of her newest novel “Forgotten Sisters”. I had hopes that there would perhaps be very early ARCs of it at ALA last year, and while that didn’t come to fruition (hey, a girl can dream and I DID get “Loteria” and “The Shoemaker’s Magician”), I waited patiently for this “Little Mermaid” inspired dark fantasy horror novel. I was pumped when I saw that it was available on NetGalley, and when my request went through I was very eager to start. Pelayo is one of the more unique horror authors out there right now, a multi- Bram Stoker Award winner, and this one was REALLY tantalizing.

While I thought that “Children of Chicago” was more full on malevolent horror, “Forgotten Sisters” leans more into dark fantasy, with references to “The Little Mermaid” being crafted into a melancholy tale about sisters Anna and Jennie. Through Anna’s perspective we learn about the terrible loss that they have endured, the way that they have clung to each other, and the river side house that they have been living in since their childhood, which may be housing a number of ghosts as well as grief and haunting memories. Anna has been running a podcast about the haunted history of Chicago, and while she loves her sister and can’t see herself leaving their troubled home, she does seem to long for more, in spite of Jennie clinging all the more at any hint of Anna pulling away (which becomes all the more complicated when Anna meets a man named Peter through her podcast). When we start we know that Anna isn’t necessarily reliable due to the unknown unresolved trauma she has endured, but Pelayo does a good job of easing into the peeling back of the tragedies that these women have had to live with, and what cost their enmeshment has taken and how that warps Anna’s perceptions. It’s dreamy and weird and uneasy, and it was both mesmerizing and unsettling at once, and while I pieced together bits and pieces just based on hints laid out and a knowledge of the history of Chicago, I thought that it was a well done dark fairy tale at heart. That said, sometimes I got lost in the flowery and dreamlike elements of this part of the story, which could take me out of it once in awhile.

I did like the police procedural parts quite a bit as well. I am a huge sucker for a procedural, and Pelayo succeeds at writing gritty and cynical dialogue and setting up interesting and tense crime beats. In this book we have Detectives Kowalski and Rodriguez, a seasoned long timer and an idealistic rookie, who are investigating the mysterious deaths of young men who are found drowned in the Chicago River under strange circumstances. It has hints of the Happy Face Killer theory, and with the criminal history of Chicago always lurking (after all this is the city of John Wayne Gacy and H.H. Holmes, amongst others) you get a more sinister vibe and a sense of dread as these two detectives try to piece things together. I liked their dynamic, and I liked seeing them slowly circle in on a potential serial killer, and the connection to Anna and Jennie and the River itself. It comes together really well and makes for a satisfying combination of dark fantasy and cop thriller, balancing each other out in ways that caught me by surprise.

One of the things that always strikes me when I read a Pelayo book is that she so clearly loves the city of Chicago, and that love comes through her tales even if they are about the darker histories of this city. As a Midwesterner I’ve been to Chicago multiple times, and it’s always a joy seeing the references to various locations and historical footnotes, as she so effortlessly sprinkles them in as well as making her book just so grounded in the city itself. This really comes through in both the hard boiled cop procedural aspects, as well as through the pieces we see of Anna’s podcast. Pelayo has such a strong knack for writing and developing a sense of time and place, and it makes the city shine, even if it’s the darker sides of the history.

“Forgotten Sisters” is another well done dark fantasy horror tale from Cynthia Pelayo. I’m always intrigued by what she writes, and this haunting story is sure to please her fans.

Rating 8: An eerie and melancholy dark fairy tale meets a gritty no nonsense procedural, “Forgotten Sisters” is another tribute to Chicago from Cynthia Pelayo!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Forgotten Sisters” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror to Look Forward To in 2024”.

Serena’s Review: “A Feather So Black”

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Book: “A Feather So Black” by Lyra Selene

Publishing Info: Orbit, March 2024

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

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

Book Description: In a kingdom where magic has been lost, Fia is a rare changeling, left behind by the wicked Fair Folk when they stole the High Queen’s daughter and retreated behind the locked gates of Tír na nÓg.

Most despise Fia’s fae blood. But the queen raises her as a daughter and trains her to be a spy. Meanwhile, the real princess Eala is bound to Tír na nÓg, cursed to become a swan by day and only returning to her true form at night.

When a hidden gate to the realm is discovered, Fia is tasked by the queen to retrieve the princess and break her curse. But she doesn’t go with her is prince Rogan, Fia’s dearest childhood friend—and Eala’s betrothed.

As they journey through the forests of the Folk, where magic winds through the roots of the trees and beauty can be a deadly illusion, Fia’s mission is complicated by her feelings for the prince…and her unexpected attraction to the dark-hearted fae lord holding Eala captive. Irian might be more monster than man, but he seems to understand Fia in a way no one ever has.

Soon, Fia begins to question the truth of her mission. But time is running out to break her sister’s curse. And unraveling the secrets of the past might destroy everything she has come to love.

Review: While Disney reigns supreme as far as fairytale movies go, for my sister and I, the collection of favorites wasn’t complete without including “Anastasia” and “The Swan Princess.” And, as far as the latter goes, the original fairytale itself has flown under the radar as far as fiction re-tellings go. I’m not sure I can even think of one off the top of my head? I feel like Mercedes Lackey might have done one at one point, but it’s definitely a lesser told story. All of that to say, I was incredibly excited when I discovered this book coming out this spring. Now, did it live up to admittedly high expectations?

Short answer, yes, yes it did! I loved almost everything about this book in fact! From the main character and her fierce, broken story, to the whimsical but dangerous Fae world that she explores, to the manner in which the story unfolds over an entire year, to the exemplary manner in which the author deals with the love triangle (proof that it’s possible!). On top of this all, the writing was confident and sure throughout, nicely balancing the vicious but beautiful nature of fairytales alongside the intricacies of depicting the complicated familial dynamics at play in Fia’s life. Telling a story that takes place over an entire year, with month-long breaks between trips to the Fae world is a complicated technique. It would be easy for the pace to languish between these trips or to feel as if time is not passing in a natural way. Instead, I was very impressed with the way the author balanced her more obviously exciting trips to the other world alongside the much greater period of time that Fia spends waiting back in the “real world.”

But this decision to draw out the story in this way over an entire year worked in more ways than just form. By giving the story this amount of time to breathe, Fia’s slow understanding about the truths regarding the people around her played out in a believable way. It’s always frustrating when main characters have grown up being told certain things their entire lives, trusting close family members or whomever, and then are told some alternate story by a relatively new source and easily throw off everything they knew before and all other feelings of loyalty or love that would be challenged. It’s just not believable. Instead, here, Fia’s journey is one of excruciating realizations about how she has been used by those around her and how her views of herself have been poisoned from the start.

On top of this, the use of this year-long approach to the story also allowed for the love triangle to play out in a believable way. Again, she didn’t just “get over” her feelings for the prince when she met some dark Fae guy in the other world. I feel like I’ve read that story a million times. No, instead a good chunk of the story is devoted to exploring the relationship between Fia and the prince, thoroughly exploring their complicated history, their wishes for the future, and the realities of their situation. On top of that, the reader can always look forward to the incredibly compelling and increasingly romantic scenes in the Fae world with the Fae lord. Here, too, Fia’s trust and understanding of this character grows naturally. No insta-love here! I will say, my one critique comes towards the end where Fia makes a few fairly questionable decisions and put her relationships with those around her at risk. But, while I was partly frustrated by this, it also was believable that Fia, with her complicated history of trust and deception, would be make some of these decisions. And even here, I really enjoyed the way this particular arc was resolved.

I also really liked the overall plot of the story. Yes, there are definite bits from the original “Swan Princess”/”Swan Lake” story. But this is also a wholly unique story. It was appropriately grim and dark, like all good fairytales are, had confusing curses at its heart all driven by a ticking clock by which they needed to be solved, and explored a complicated world and history between the humans and the Fae world. I was also incredibly surprised by some of the turns it took towards the end. I had a few ideas about a certain things that did play out the way I expected, but others were a complete shock! I can’t wait to read the next book in this series (though this one also concludes in a way that feels satisfying). Readers who enjoy fairytale fantasies should definitely check this one out!

Rating 9: A breath of fresh air in a crowded room of Fae fantasy stories! Dark, whimsical, and romantic, this book has it all!

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Feather So Black” isn’t on any relevant Goodreads lists yet, but it should be on Swan Lake Retellings.

Kate’s Review: “Peril in Pink”

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Book: “Peril in Pink” by Sydney Leigh

Publishing Info: Crooked Lane Books, March 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I was sent an eARC by the author via NetGalley.

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

Book Description: Everything is coming up rosé for innkeeper Jess Byrne until a murder on opening weekend gives her B&B’s killer vibe a whole new meaning. Schitt’s Creek meets Only Murders in the Building in this sparkling debut mystery.

It’s the grand opening of The Pearl B&B in Hudson Valley, and owner Jess Byrne has prepared the ultimate, Insta-worthy welcome, complete with her ex-boyfriend—reality singing sensation Lars Armstrong—performing live. As guests check in and mimosas are poured, Lars arrives with his stepdad-turned-manager Bob in tow. But things go south when Bob is found dead, and Lars is the prime suspect.

After a desperate plea from Lars, and knowing the reputation of her B&B is at stake, Jess agrees to help clear Lars’ name, but the more she digs, the less sure she is that he’s innocent. Especially when he’s found at the scene of another murder.

With the guests under lockdown, the B&B in the press for all the wrong reasons, and a killer on the loose, Jess is in over her head. With the help of her best friend and business partner Kat, Jess is determined to uncover the truth before Lars is put behind bars and The Pearl is permanently cancelled.

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

It may seem kind of funny that the blogger whose focus tends to trend towards horror, thriller, and the darker things in literature, is the one who has some consistent cozy mystery reviews going through her posts. It seems kind of funny to me, even! But I realize that I do like to cast a wide net in my genres, and if a book works for me, it works, even if it’s not as expected. So when Sydney Leigh reached out with her novel that was being compared to both “Schitt’s Creek” and “Only Murders in the Building” (both comfy and cozy shows I really enjoy) I felt like I had to read it! Thus I was sent a copy of “Peril in Pink”, a book about a cute bed and breakfast, an eccentric small town, a charming set of heroines, and a scandalous murder at the opening of their new business venture.

The mystery itself is fairly straightforward with familiar beats for a whodunnit. Jess Byrne and business partner/best friend Kat have opened up The Pearl, a bed and breakfast in their small town of Hudson Valley. When Jess manages to book her ex boyfriend Lars to perform, whose star is on the rise due to being on a popular musical reality show, she hopes it will serve as a fantastic opening weekend, but when Lars’s manager/stepfather George is found dead on the property, it sets off a murder investigation where her new business is a crime scene and her ex boyfriend is the main suspect. Leigh has a huge cast of characters, many of whom are suspects, and knows how to throw in clues and red herrings and multiple twists to create a mystery that kept me guessing. I always love an amateur sleuth who can be a BIT in over their head, and Jess and Kat fit that trope to a T. I also loved the descriptions of The Pearl and their business model, as hey, a cozy mystery needs a hook and this one has a really bubbly one in this adorable Bed and Breakfast.

But it’s the characters that really sell this story for me, as any cast of players in a cozy mystery should. I really enjoyed Jess as our main character, with her hopes and ambitions being lifted up in the story and her investment in this first murder making her easy to root for and become invested in as readers. I really loved her relationship with business partner and best friend Kat, who is a fun sarcastic foil to her earnest nature as they team up to try and save their business as well as Jess’s ex boyfriend from a murder charge. Leigh is very much paying tribute to true crime bestie dynamics here, even referencing “My Favorite Murder” as inspiration for Jess and Kat in their amateur detective ways (as a kind of dormant Murderino myself it made me nostalgic for the show and I may pick it back up!). But even the supporting characters have a certain charm about them, whether it’s Jess’s pragmatic brother Nate and his zen-minded yoga instructor wife Sarah, or Jess’s hippy aunt, or some of Jess and Kat’s high school rivals, and may more. One of the things that I do like about cozy mysteries is that if you have a sparkling cast of familiar characters, it makes for an all the more engaging story.

All in all, I found “Peril in Pink” to be charming and fizzy, an entertaining mystery that sets the stage for the potential for more bed and breakfast adventures with two fun heroines. I hope we see more of Jess and Kat and whatever crime befalls Hudson Valley!

Rating 8: A fun and cheeky cozy mystery with some Murderino flair, “Peril in Pink” is an entertaining series debut that I intend to follow forward for more charming capers.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Peril in Pink” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of yet, but it would fit in on the list “Hotels, Motels, Inns, B’nBs and Guesthouses”.

Diving Into Sub-Genres: Vampire Fantasy

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We each have our own preferred genres of choice. Kate loves horrors and thrillers, really anything that will keep her up at night! And Serena enjoys escaping through hidden doors into realms of magic and adventure. We also read mysteries, historical fiction, graphic novels, etc. etc. And that’s not even counting the multitude of sub-genres contained within each greater genre. In this series, one of us will present a list of our favorites from within a given sub-genre of one of our greater preferred genres.

The canny reader might do a double-take when seeing this post. “Wait, didn’t these guys already do a ‘Sub-Genres’ post focused on vampires?” Well, tricky tricky, yes and no! Kate featured Vampire Horror as one of her picks a few years ago, but vampires are such a popular supernatural being that they make their way across all sorts of genres, including tons of fantasy, so here we are!

When attempting to differentiate between horror and fantasy vampires, I think its important to consider the overall tone and objective of the story. Is it meant to inspire fear as its primary goal, create and build tension and dread? Or are the vampires more incidental to story more focused on its fantasy or romance elements? What themes is the book exploring and how well do they align with the themes generally found in fantasy vs. horror? Beyond this, how exactly are the vampires themselves presented and what roles are they playing in the story?

While the horrific side of vampires is obvious, the fantasy side often takes on a few different dimensions. Yes, they are “fantasy creatures” like werewolves or ghosts, both of which show up in horror, the latter all the time! But sometimes these creatures stray outside the realm of serving as points of fear, horror, dread, and overt warning to society about various ills or tendencies. Instead, they become the heroes themselves, or, in the case of vampires, more often than not, love interests! It’s pretty easy to see why this latter is the case. The act of drinking another’s blood is clearly intimate, wrapping two beings up in one another about as closely as one can be. And, obviously, it’s one, albeit big and rather horrific, step away from kissing.

But vampires also pop up as the leading characters themselves, often exploring themes regarding isolation, estrangement, and the act of violence for survival. There is also an entire subgenre of paranormal fantasy fiction and urban fantasy that always seems to include societies made up of various supernatural communities all co-existing, and vampires (and often werewolves as their natural enemies) are almost always an included group. They have tons of lore and are an easy group of characters to slot into a story who can serve as both menaces as well as powerful allies.

Recently, we’ve seen a resurgence of vampires popping up in all sorts of fantasy stories. Romantasy, of course, is an easy place to spot this, but vampires have also been showing up more and more in adult and YA fantasies. A few examples include a “Tempest of Tea,” “A Multitude of Dreams,” and “Masters of Death.” Obviously, there are tons of books out there, and I’d argue that “Interview with a Vampire” and the other books in that series which Kate included in her list could also be included here. But I tried to cover a variety of examples in this list of how vampires have been used in fantasy fiction.

Book: “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer

Let’s just get this one out of the way, as it’s probably one of the first books to come to most people’s minds when they think of vampires in fantasy stories. And it also likely holds the strange position of being both one of the most massively popular vampire stories out there and the reason that we’re only now, around fifteen years later, finally seeing vampires show up again in YA fiction. It was beloved, and then it became such a joke that I think YA publisher were immediately binning any pitches that even hinted at vampires. But it still deserves its spot on this for the massive popularity at the time! Meyer definitely brought her own version of vampires to the world, and if it’s one that is largely laughed out now, there’s no denying the success of this series. We also see in this series both vampires as a romantic interest as well as Bella’s own experiences as a vampire herself. Would I recommend this series nowadays to readers looking for vampire stories? No. But, again, you can’t honestly create a list like this and not include this book, so there ya go!

Book: “Certain Dark Things” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of those authors who perfectly straddles the line between fantasy and horror, with many of her books teetering right on the edge where they could fall easily into either category. But “Certain Dark Things,” while definitely creepy at times, very much also reads like an urban fantasy at its finest. One of the main characters, Atl, is a vampire who is on-the-run from a rival vampire gang, and over the course of the book she befriends a street kid named Domingo. This book has some of the more creative and interesting versions (yes, plural!) of vampires that I can ever remember reading! And Moreno-Garcia does an excellent job of weaving this lore throughout the story while also exploring the history of Mexico and telling a fast-paced, dangerous story of an unlikely friendship. It’s definitely one to check out if you’re looking for a fresh take on vampires.

Book: “A Discovery of Witches” by Deborah Harness

While I personally didn’t love this story (I struggled with a few of the early aspects of the romance), it’s a massively popular series and a nice example of a fantasy story that includes a world peopled by a variety of supernatural beings. The main character is a descendent from a long line of witches (shocker, I know, given the title!) and during her research at Oxford, she strays across an ancient manuscript that opens up an whole can of worms with many different groups all fighting for access, including a mysterious vampire. This trilogy is several years old at this point, but I think it’s probably due for a resurgence of interest given the popularity of “dark academia” currently, a sub-genre that this would definitely fall in as well.

Book: “Bride” by Ali Hazelwood

This is a very recent addition to the subgenre, but I think it’s important to include for one very unique reason: it’s a romance, but the woman is the vampire instead of the male love interest! There are four books on this list that include prominent romances, and in three out of the four, it’s the man who is the vampire. And even there, I think this 75% mark is probably low for the average of male vs. female as vampires in romance. So yes, “Bride” stands out in that it is told from the POV of Misery, a vampire, who finds herself in an arranged marriage with the leader of her people’s mortal enemies, the werewolves. This is another staple of urban fantasies in general, the vampires vs. werewolves mythology. This book follows that typical script fairly closely, but the romance at its heart is clearly the priority of the book, and it was fun reading a story like this from the perspective of a female vampire, rather than the other way around.

Book: “The Historian” by Elizabeth Kostova

I would say that the primary genre for this one would be historical fiction, with either “horror” or “fantasy” coming second, as the vampires are very much in the background of much of the book. Instead, most of the story follows characters as they travel across Europe trying to piece together the mystery of Vlad the Impaler (the real-world ruler who is said to be the inspiration for Dracula). I absolutely love this book. It’s one that I read years and years ago now, but that always comes to mind when people are looking for recommendations. It’s the kind of story that I feel like almost any kind of reader will enjoy in some way!

Book: “The Serpent and the Wings of Night” by Carissa Broadbent

Most of the books on this list exist in our real world (with some obvious magical additions!), but this book serves as a great example of a secondary world vampire story! The society that makes up this world is comprised of two different sects of vampires with the relatively powerless human species caught between them. It’s a romantasy story, however, that follows one such human woman’s attempts to gain some power in a world set against her. And, of course, the vampire she falls in love with along the way! This one really took me by surprise with how much I enjoyed it! It’s a great example of a romantasy book that doesn’t skimp on the world-building and fantasy elements of the story, while still have a great love story at its heart.

What are some of your favorite historical thrillers? Let us know in the comments!

Blog Tour and Book Excerpt: “Six Moons Seven Gods”

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Occasionally we are approached with the opportunity to promote books that may be of interest to our readers. And occasionally in lieu of a full review of the book, we will let it speak for itself by posting an excerpt from it. Enjoy!

Book: “Six Moons Seven Gods” by Robert A. Walker

Publishing Info: Fairytale Publishing, October 2023

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

Book Description: “One must be careful practicing deception. The easiest to deceive will always be one’s self.” The skilled thieves of the Takers Guild plot to overthrow the kingdoms of Baelon, but when their plans are thwarted by a prescient woman and her brooding daughter, they must turn to the League of Assassins for assistance. Meanwhile, retired royal guard Rolft Aerns returns to the palace of King Axil with an old score to settle. When they all cross paths–and swords–in the dark shadows of Fostead’s south end, nothing is as it seems and the murder count rises quickly. The long fingers of the Guild reach everywhere, and one overly ambitious thief is all it takes to spark a chain of events that will haunt the world of Baelon for many years to come.

Excerpt:

Sibil sat on a bed in a servant’s quarters, her head spinning. Had it not been for previous visits to the palace with Princess Lewen, she would not have known where she was. The steward had escorted her briskly to the room some time ago, leaving her to entertain herself. There seemed no end to the mystery surrounding her mother. Supposed premonitions of death had been unnerving enough, but now… an audience with the king? At his request! It was surreal, and Sibil’s wildest conjectures did not begin to explain it. Her attempt to seize control of her own life seemed waylaid once again. She was imagining herself a bit of flotsam from a shipwreck, at the mercy of the ocean’s currents, when the steward returned, shutting the door angrily behind himself.

“Where is my mother?” she asked as he approached.

“With the king.”

Without warning, the steward sat so close to her their thighs touched.

“I should like to see her.” Sibil started to rise.

“In due time.”

The steward caught her arm and pulled her back to the bed.

“What are you doing?”

“If your mother were more forthcoming, you would not be so inconvenienced.”

“How do you mean?” Sibil’s eyes darted toward the door.

“The woman’s hiding something. Perhaps you’d like to tell me what that is.”

“My mother has nothing to hide from the king!”

“I could be convinced of that, I suppose.” The steward loosened his hold and placed a palm against Sibil’s cheek.

“There are many ways for you to prove your loyalty to the throne.” His hand brushed her breast as he withdrew it. “Are you prepared to do so?”

Before Sibil could respond, he leaned in, his lips seeking hers. Sibil pushed him away, struggling to stand. “How dare you!”

“Need I remind you where you are?”

The steward rose, positioning himself between her and the door.

“Or who you’re talking to?”

“I mean no disrespect, m’lord, but if you—“

“Take off your blouse.”

“What?!”“Like mother, like daughter. Take off your blouse and let us see what you are hiding there.”

“I’ll do no such thing,” said Sibil breathlessly. “And if you lay another hand on me—“

The steward grasped her sleeve. Sibil twisted violently away, her blouse ripping at the shoulder seam. The steward grinned.

“You see? One way or the other!” He started to laugh, sobering quickly at the sight of the dagger Sibil produced. “Put that away before you hurt yourself.”

“Take me to my mother!” Sibil waved the dagger at him.

“Did I not warn you about making demands?”

The steward lashed out, recoiling as Sibil’s blade pricked his arm. He swore loudly as he inspected the spot of crimson staining his white blouse.

“You’ll not soon forget what I’m going to do to you.”

“Touch me and I’ll kill you!” Sibil lurched past the steward and onto the bed, clambering quickly over it, but he intercepted her before she could reach the door. He kicked a stool separating them toward her. Sibil grabbed it and flung it back at him. The stool sailed past the steward’s head and crashed against the door.

“Make all the noise you want,” the steward said. “No one cares!”

Kate’s Review: “Thirst”

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Book: “Thirst” by Marina Yuszczuk and Heather Cleary (Translation)

Publishing Info: Dutton, March 2024

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

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

Book Description: Across two different time periods, two women confront fear, loneliness, mortality, and a haunting yearning that will not let them rest. A breakout, genre-blurring novel from one of the most exciting new voices of Latin America’s feminist Gothic.

It is the twilight of Europe’s bloody bacchanals, of murder and feasting without end. In the nineteenth century, a vampire arrives from Europe to the coast of Buenos Aires and, for the second time in her life, watches as villages transform into a cosmopolitan city, one that will soon be ravaged by yellow fever. She must adapt, intermingle with humans, and be discreet.

In present-day Buenos Aires, a woman finds herself at an impasse as she grapples with her mother’s terminal illness and her own relationship with motherhood. When she first encounters the vampire in a cemetery, something ignites within the two women—and they cross a threshold from which there’s no turning back.

With echoes of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and written in the vein of feminist Gothic writers like Shirley Jackson, Daphne du Maurier, and Carmen Maria Machado, Thirst plays with the boundaries of genre while exploring the limits of female agency, the consuming power of desire, and the fragile vitality of even the most immortal of creatures.

Review: Thank you to Dutton for sending me this eARC via NetGalley!

As many people know, I love vampire horror, but along with that loves comes a pretty picky set of standards. I would love to frame it as ‘passionate’ but I’m sure part of it is being a bit of an elitist/a bit bratty when it comes to vampiric tales. But I couldn’t help but have my attention snagged when access to an eARC of Marina Yuszczuk’s “Thirst” arrived in my inbox. The cover is already eye catching, for one. For another, a horror novel about a female vampire that has a historical element, as well as Sapphic themes, just sounds INCREDIBLY tantalizing. I kept thinking about “The Hunger” and the characters of Darla and Drusilla from “Buffy”. I was hopeful going in.

Honestly just give me an entire prequel book series about these two with Spike and Angellus all being very sexually fluid together. (source)

The first half of this book was amazing. I loved the way that we follow our nameless Vampire from her transformation, to her liberation from her sire, to her need to escape once people in Europe start hunting her and her kind down, to her arrival and time in Buenos Aires. It is such a compelling arc and background for her, examining how she became a vampire and how she slowly accepts it and turns into a predator with a shade of seductive longing. The time and place is so well formed and presented, and the eeriness and horror moments are very well done. I LOVE predatory vampires in vampire fiction, and ones that have a little bit of dangerous eroticism is always a great harkening back to the way vampire lore has always had shades of longing and desire within it. And the explorations of feminine longing and feminine power and agency in this section is so interesting as we see her prey on her victims while also feeling a need for connection as she moves through her existence as times change. I also really enjoyed the setting of Buenos Aires during the Yellow Fever plague and how mass death and illness could make for both a good place to fade into the background, but also a dangerous place as hysteria ramps up and her cover could be blown. I found Part One to be so, so interesting and enthralling.

Which made it even more disappointing when Part Two was a bit lackluster. In this part we have Alma, a modern day woman living in Buenos Aires who is grappling with a divorce, her sensitive son Santiago, and now the impending death of her mother. She soon finds out that the family has had a key to a mausoleum passed down for generations, and now she has to figure out if she’s going to sell the mausoleum or what. I’m sure you can guess who is living in that tomb, which is ABSOLUTELY a great set up. But my problem with Alma’s story was that, while it’s a pretty standard examination of an unhappy woman at a crossroads, I didn’t feel like it tied in SUPER well with the Vampire’s story, as when it goes come together there isn’t much exploration of it before the book was done. I appreciated trying to draw a dichotomy between the feminine struggles that the vampire faced, even as a vampire but also before, as well as the struggles that Alma was experiencing as a woman in the modern times. But there wasn’t enough time with the Vampire and Alma actually connecting and interacting, and because of this certain choices made and plot points that shook out didn’t really work for me because not enough time was spent building up to them. I think that had there been a third part from both Alma’s and the Vampire’s perspectives to see a full picture, as well as more interaction and relationship building, would have really fixed this. But as it was it just felt a bit abrupt.

Overall, “Thirst” is fantastic in the first half and ultimately evens out to a still entertaining read, even if I wanted more from it. I will absolutely be checking out more from Marina Yuszczuk in the future if we get more translations of ehr works.

Rating 7: A fabulous first half followed by a not as fleshed out second half made for a meet in the middle read. But I REALLY loved the historical moments and the concept itself.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Thirst” is included on the Goodreads lists “Girly Pop But Make It Insane”, and “Weird Woman Book Club”.

Serena’s Review: “Sunbringer”

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

Book: “Sunbringer” by Hannah Kaner

Publishing Info: HarperVoyager, February 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

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

Book Description: Return to the world of Godkiller in this thrilling sequel to the #1 internationally bestselling fantasy debut, where Kissen and her companions must navigate lands of gods and demons to unravel a dark truth at the heart of their world.

Professional godkiller Kissen and her companions—young noble Inara and knight Elogast—return in a winding adventure in a world overflowing with magic, beauty, and danger.

Previously Reviewed: “Godkiller”

Review: This was definitely one of my most highly anticipated reads for the spring 2024 season. “Godkiller” was one of those great books where I went in with very little knowledge or expectation when I started it and then was blown away by just how much I loved it! It also ended not on a cliffhanger, per se, but on a fairly big action sequences with our characters stumbling to find new ways forward after their initial goals and their plans that were, sometimes quite literally, blown out of the water. So how does this one stand up? Let’s dive in!

I’ll say right from the start that I don’t think this book was quite the high that was “Godkiller.” However, I think that would have been a very high bar to reach, and the goals that needed to be met in this story to lead to the ultimate conclusion in the third book (didn’t know there was going to be a third book until very recently!) also necessitated some of these stumbling blocks. There are a lot of moving pieces, most especially the characters themselves who have to quite literally move from one place to another over a large chunk of space. And, of course, there were some important character beats that had to be hit properly to continue them all along their series-long arcs.

As far as the characters go, Inara largely takes center stage in this book (a bit to my disappointment, as Kissen remains by favorite of the three by far). Her story is very interesting in that she’s a child character, and the book doesn’t shy away from presenting her this way. She can be stubborn, irrational, and sometimes thoughtless about the repercussions of her choices. But she’s also endearing and a girl on the verge of womanhood who finds herself in a disrupted world with very few people on whom she can rely. I also appreciated the fact that the book acknowledged the more tenuous relationship between Inara and Elo. Kissen was the glue that held this group together, and without her, we quickly see these two’s bonds begin to stretch when presented with their differing goals.

Elo’s story was fairly straight-forward, and of the three, felt a bit wayward. He has a clear plot line, but even though action is happening on the page, I felt like the reader was left spinning their wheels during much of his page time. Through him, we also spent a lot of time getting to know various other side characters who, frankly, I just didn’t care about. Worse, the book didn’t really give me reason to care about them; their stories were very must restricted to the minor events of this book, only to, by the end, feel fairly meaningless with regards to the greater story of the trilogy as a whole.

Kissen, of course, was wonderful. She’s simply a more charismatic lead character than Elo or Inara, someone who is fun to read about, pure and simple. Again, however, much of her story felt a bit aimless, especially in the first half. It’s not until the last thirty percent of the book that it becomes clear where her storyline is even going. Once it does, I liked the challenges that Kissen faced when having to re-evaluate her worldview and her role in the future conflict.

As you may have pieced together from these three character explanations, my biggest disappointment for this book was the simple fact that our main three characters spend practically no time together. I’m not sure if Kissen even exchanges any words with Elo?? It’s fairly extreme as far as character separations go, especially for a sequel of a book that had such a strong team dynamic at the center of its story.

That said, while many of my quibbles came down to what felt like “second book syndrome,” I still ended the book on an extremely high note. The story took a few switches that I truly didn’t expect, and the grand scale conflict ahead seems turbulent and morally complicated, the best kind! We had a few important reveals, and I enjoyed the important challenges that our three main characters faced with regards to their views of this world and what the future would look like. They all started in one place, but by the end, each has been significantly challenged to broaden their understanding of what is going on and who they are.

Overall, I think this was a solid sequel. I was disappointed by the lack of time the characters spent together, but I also see the important character beats that they all hit through these more separate adventures. There’s also a great conflict set up at the end that promises a very dynamic and exciting conclusion to the trilogy. Fans of the first book will likely enjoy this one, and I think it’s well worth it just to see where it all goes from here!

Rating 8: A bit of a stumble from the near-perfection of the first book, but still a solid sequel that promises great things to come!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Sunbringer” is on this Goodreads list: Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2024

Kate’s Review: “Murder Road”

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

Book: “Murder Road” by Simone St. James

Publishing Info: Berkley, March 2024

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

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

Book Description: A young couple find themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road in this terrifying new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Cold Cases .

July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.

When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all.

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

I’ve been reading and reviewing thrillers from Simone St. James since this blog was founded eight years ago, and my track record with her has been pretty stellar. I really enjoyed “The Sundown Motel”, “The Book of Cold Cases”, and “The Broken Girls”, and when I saw that she had a new book called “Murder Road” coming out I KNEW that I had to read it. The description was tantalizing, as a married couple stumbling upon murders and urban legends on a stretch of lonely road is SO up my alley, and my expectations were pretty high given my enjoyment of her past stories. So imagine my shock when “Murder Road”, after being so promising, was a bit of a disappointment.

But first the good stuff. Character wise, “Murder Road” had some standouts. The first and most obvious is our protagonist April, who is on the way to her honeymoon with new husband Eddie when they run into trouble in a small Michigan town when a injured hitchhiker they try to help ends up dying, and the local police set their eyes on them as suspects. April and Eddie soon learn that many people have died on that same stretch of road, and take it upon themselves to clear their names and solve the mystery of The Lost Girl, an urban legend of a ghostly hitchhiker who may have malevolent intent. April is telling this story through a first person perspective, and we know from the jump that she is trying to start over and leave a dark and mysterious past behind her. I liked slowly getting to know her and seeing her try to solve this, if only so she and Eddie can try and go back to the anonymity she needs to survive and let go. There were also some people in the town that I greatly enjoyed, whether it’s the no nonsense Rose, who takes April and Eddie in and has a combative and complicated history with the police that are hounding her boarders, or the Snell sisters, two teenage amateur sleuths that are plucky and weird Nancy Drew wannabes.

But I think that what hindered it for me, ultimately, was that the supernatural aspects and the suspense never really took off. I love the premise of a cursed stretch of road that has numerous strange deaths associated with it, and I really love the urban legend of a vengeful ghost picking off hitchhikers that are unlucky enough to spot her. But I feel like we didn’t REALLY get a good expanded deep dive into what was going on with this ghost for a LONG time, and by the time we did it started to feel kind of rushed, with lots of twists and reveals stuffed in and very few of which made me go ‘ah, yes, I can see how we got from point A to point B with these reveals’. I’m being vague because I don’t want to spoil it, but I definitely felt like I needed more explanation as to what was going on, and I needed there to be more build up to the solution to the mystery because when we got there it fell flat. Even incongruous at times. And as I said, it felt rushed at the end, but at the same time there was a good chunk of the story where I felt like it was spinning its wheels a bit. And while St. James is usually really good about holding cards to her vest, one of the big surprises was telegraphed SUPER early, and took the wind out of those sails almost immediately.

I was sad that this newest Simone St. James novel didn’t connect for me. “Murder Road” had a strong main character and some fun supporting ones, but the thrills and chills fell flat.

Rating 5: This was a surprising miss from an author I usually really enjoy.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Murder Road” is included in the Goodreads article “Reader’s Most Anticipated Mysteries & Thrillers 2024”.

Highlights: March 2024

While it feels a bit rich to say we ever really had a “winter” here, spring definitely feels like it’s in the air with a few sunny, warmer days. Of course, you never can know with these things and we can be wallowing back in the teens or in the middle of a blizzard at any moment…at least books are always constant! Here are a few we’re looking forward to this month!

Serena’s Picks

Book: “A Feather So Black” by Lyra Selene

Publication: March 12, 2024

Why I’m Interested: I’m so excited about this one! My sister and I both really loved “The Swan Princess” movie when we were little, and when I realized that this was re-telling of that tale, I immediately placed a request. Plus, this is one of the lesser re-told fairytales, where popular stories like “Cinderella” and “Beauty and the Beast” have seen a million re-imaginings. I’m a bit nervous about the hints of a love triangle, but then again, I’ve found exceptions to even this preference in the past! I’m also a bit wary that it’s being marketed as the first in a series, as I feel like the original fairytale is pretty compact. But who knows, this could be a “more of a good thing” situation!

Book: “The Encanto’s Daughter” by Melissa de la Cruz

Publication Date: March 5, 2024

Why I’m Interested: Well, this one might be a bit of a surprise, as the last book I read by this author was…not a favorite. And I’ll be honest, if I hadn’t been confusing her with another author, I may have had second thoughts with this one. But, on the other hand, there have been authors I’ve initially written off in the past who have come out with books that I absolutely loved (“Bonesmith” comes to mind!). Plus, this one just sounded fun with lost royal heirs, boarding school drama, and the promise of a story pulling from Phillipino mythology. Fingers-crossed that this little experiment turns out well!

Book: “The Last Bloodcarver” by Vanessa Le

Publication Date: March 19, 2024

Why I’m Interested: This is another fantasy title that is pulling from a rich mythology of which I know very little currently, this time Vietnam. The story follows a young woman with the power to manipulate the bodies and life forces of others. However, her kind are feared and hunted and she has been forced to live her life in the shadows. Until, one day, she is discovered and drawn into a complicated murder mystery that she must solve. Beyond that super intriguing book description, the cover on this one is also fantastic! Can’t wait to see what’s in store here!

Kate’s Picks

Book: “The Angel of Indian Lake” by Stephen Graham Jones

Publication Date: March 26, 2024

Why I’m Interested: The saga of Final Girl Jade Daniels is coming to an end, and that both excites and saddens me. I love Stephen Graham Jones as we all know, and “The Angel of Indian Lake” is sure to be an emotional read, even if it is decked out in slasher movie tropes and references. Jade is back in Proofrock, having a new job as a teacher at the school and trying to keep her head down. But, unsurprisingly, she finds herself once again in a slasher movie-esque situation, and as citizens start to die, she has to come through to save the day. Again. And perhaps for the last time. I’ve been loving this series and this one has been highly, highly anticipated for a long time.

Book: “Forgotten Sisters” by Cynthia Pelayo

Publication Date: March 19, 2024

Why I’m Interested: I really enjoy Cynthia Pelayo’s unique voice in the horror genre, and seeing her speak at ALAAC23 got me very excited for this dark fantasy novel that takes inspiration from “The Little Mermaid” and the darker histories of Chicago. Sisters Anna and Jennie are living together in the family home on the banks of the Chicago River, enmeshed in a codependent relationship and possibly living in a haunted house as Anna grasps for the outside world through creating a podcast about Chicago. Meanwhile two detectives are on the case of multiple men drowning in the river under strange circumstances, their investigation about to lead them to the sister’s door. Pelayo is always a treat and this one sounds strange and dreamy along with the creepy.

Book: “Thirst” by Marina Yuszczuk

Publication Date: March 5, 2024

Why I’m Interested: Vampire stories are always going to be a high priority for me, and when “Thirst” by Marina Yuszczuk ended up in my inbox I was very interested to say the least. An unnamed woman vampire, after living for centuries, lands in 19th century Buenos Aires in a hope of finding a new place to lay low, just in time to see the city fall victim to Yellow Fever. In modern day Buenos Aires, a recently divorced woman inherits a mysterious crypt that has passed down through her family as he mother lays dying. Two paths converge. I love Sapphic stories, and this one sounds a bit like “The Hunger”, which absolutely excites me.

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

Serena’s Review: “A Flame in the North”

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

Book: “A Flame in the North” by Lilith Saintcrow

Publishing Info: Orbit, February 2024

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

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

Book Description: An elemental witch and her shieldmaiden journey into a world of ancient myth and unexpected destiny in this sweeping Norse-inspired epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Lilith Saintcrow.

The Black Land is spent myth. Centuries have passed since the Great Enemy was slain. Yet old fears linger, and on the longest night of the year, every village still lights a ritual fire to banish the dark.

That is Solveig’s duty. Favored by the gods with powerful magic, Sol calls forth flame to keep her home safe. But when her brother accidentally kills a northern lord’s son, she is sent away as weregild—part hostage, part guest—for a year and a day.

The further north Sol travels, the clearer it becomes the Black Land is no myth. The forests teem with foul beasts. Her travel companions are not what they seem, and their plans for her and her magic are shrouded in secrecy.

With only her loyal shieldmaid and her own wits to reply upon, Sol must master power beyond her imagination to wrest control of her fate. For the Black Land’s army stirs, ready to cover the world in darkness—unless Sol can find the courage to stop it.

They thought the old ways were dead. But now, the Enemy awakens…

Review: This is the second Norse-inspired fantasy I’ve read this month! It’s funny how these trends come and go; even as I go through what I though was a fairly randomly-ordered TBR list, I often find myself reading books with strong similarities to one another. I’ve read a decent amount of fantasy fiction that draws from Norse mythology, and have typically enjoyed them quite a bit, so this was an obvious pick for me. On top of that, I love the idea of taking a typical fantasy duo (the hero and his shield) and switching it to a female heroine/witch and her shieldmaiden. I still enjoy the former as well, of course, but it’s nice to see such variety popping up throughout SFF.

This book is a bit tough to review, simply because some of my struggles with the book came down more to my needing to properly categorize the type of book I was reading. Starting out, it was clear that this book was aiming for a specific sort of high fantasy, the kind that uses dense language, both in the vocabulary chosen and in the longer sentences structures used, and also is playing a long game as far as pacing and plotting go. The story takes its time laying out its world, its characters, and even getting to what seems to be the true action of the story.

As I continued to read, at some point it occurred to me to compare this read to “Lord of the Rings,” and frankly, that kind of saved the experience for me. Both books have a similar dense sort of feeling, the kind that can be overwhelming to begin with, and the sort that then pays off later. Similarly, there were a few world-building aspects that were simply dropped in with very little explanation. For example, at one point they refer to the “All Mother” which, of course, seems like a similar character as Odin the “All Father.” Changes like this are, of course, fine, but then I was left a bit unsure as to where I was supposed to be placing this world. Are we in some sort of alternate world where there is an All Mother instead of an All Father? Or is this our world with magic and this is just changed? Things like this aren’t necessarily a big deal or bad, but it does add to the initial challenge with the point of entry to the story. The reader really has to work for it get dive in.

But this slow pacing did pick up towards the end, and this is where the LOTR comparisons worked even better. If read as the rather slow-paced entry to a grand spectacle, a sprawling series, the dense nature of this book is easier to digest. I also really liked Solveig and her shieldmaiden as characters. The author did a fantastic job with these two, balancing their fierceness with the sort of sly reserve that they would need to employ in the world in which they are living.

This is the kind of book that I would definitely recommend for a specific sort of fantasy reader, those who like epic fantasy and are willing to put in the time with denser language and a slow plot. Readers who want to be immediately drawn in to an action-packed story will likely struggle this one. But, like I’ve said earlier, if you like “Lord of the Rings” and can remember some of the slower parts, especially in “Fellowship,” this book does seem to promise an intriguing series overall!

Rating 7: Tough to get into but well worth it in the end, I think.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Flame in the North” isn’t on any relevant Goodreads lists currently, but it should be on Vikings and Viking-Inspired Fantasy.