Tag: 7 Rating

Kate’s Review: “The Pecan Children”

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Book: “The Pecan Children” by Quinn Connor

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Landmark, June 2024

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

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

Book Description: For fans of The Midnight Library and Demon Copperhead comes a breathtaking story of magical realism about two sisters, deeply tied to their small Southern town, fighting to break free of the darkness swallowing the land—and its endless cycle of pecan harvests—whole.

How long will you hold on when your world is gone?

In a small southern pecan town, the annual harvest is a time of both celebration and heartbreak. Even as families are forced to sell their orchards and move away, Lil Clearwater, keeper of a secret covenant with her land, swears she never will. When her twin Sasha returns to the dwindling town in hopes of reconnecting with the girl her heart never forgot, the sisters struggle to bridge their differences and share the immense burden of protecting their home from hungry forces intent on uprooting everything they love.

But there is rot hiding deep beneath the surface. Ghostly fires light up the night, and troubling local folklore is revealed to be all too true. Confronted with the phantoms of their pasts and the devastating threat to their future, the sisters come to the stark realization that in the kudzu-choked South, nothing is ever as it appears.

A story of the love between sisters, and an allegory of decay in small-town America, The Pecan Children walks the line between beauty and horror.

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

We are about half way through Pride Month, and I’m happy to be able to say that today I have a horror-esque novel that will be a great choice if you are wanting to read LGBTQIA+ books through the end of June. Sourcebooks Landmark reached out to me with “The Pecan Children” by Quinn Connor (the pen name of writing duo Robyn Barrow and Alex Cronin), and touted it as a Southern Gothic story that has a lovely sapphic romance at the center of it. All of this caught my eye, and I was eager to jump into it leading up to Pride. And I think that it did make good on the majority of the promises it made in the description.

In terms of a genre I would PROBABLY classify this as more of a dark fantasy than a horror novel (which was what I thought I was getting into), but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be scary at times or definitely have horror elements that shine through. There are so many moments of dread, even if it’s just through the description of invasive kudzu, or strange children encountered in the wilderness, or strange fires that flicker to life only to abruptly disappear like they never started in the first place. We are mostly following twin sisters Lil and Sasha, who have grown up in a small town in Arkansas that has relied on pecan harvests and local community to survive, only for land to suddenly stop producing and predatory land grabs snatching up and threatening the town. But this is not the case on Lil and Sasha’s farm, the one that Lil has tended to ever since her other passed, and the one Sasha has returned to after being away. The slow building suspense of what is happening around them as they reconnect with old loves, the first being Lil’s ex boyfriend Jason who has also returned and the second being Autumn, an old friend of Sasha, makes for an eerie and creepy read as things just seem off. And by the time we find out just what IS going on (and I’m not going to spoil anything), the tension snaps back and reverberates as the story hurtles towards its end. I think that I was hoping for more straight up horror beats, but when I started approaching it as a dark fantasy it worked really well for me.

But like so many tales, “The Pecan Children” is rife with real world obstacles and societal commentary. The first is that Lil and Sasha’s hometown is in stasis and slowly succumbing to a rot and decay of an outside force that is sucking it dry. It works well for the horror elements and reveals that are in place (no spoilers here, again), but it’s also a pretty poignant way to talk about the way that many small towns in poorer rural areas are really struggling for many reasons, and how in turn many of the people who do stay cling to aspects of the past. But along with that is the fact that I also loved the dichotomy of the twin sisters, as Lil has stayed to continue the pecan farm as her mother had put that mantle on her, and Sasha left for a time, only to return and to reconnect with her sister, in spite of the resentment between both of them for different reasons. It’s a heartfelt thread that crosses throughout the dark fantasy elements and eerie scares of the greater story, and it has siblings that clearly loves each other while having to overcome bitterness and familial heartaches. It was the very human and realistic moments that worked best for me in this novel, whether it’s the love between the twins, or the romance between Sasha and Autumn, or the reconnection between Lil and Jason. I REALLY liked the relationship between Sasha and Autumn, as I love seeing two old friends reconnect and realizing that there was always something more there, and finally being willing to explore it more than they had in the past.

With a strange and dreamy aura about it and some easy to root for relationships, romantic and sisterly, “The Pecan Children” is a dark fantasy read that would be a great choice for Pride month, and a solid read for dark fantasy readers who like a Southern Gothic twist.

Rating 7: A creepy and dreamy dark fantasy tale that is also about sisters, lost loves, and decaying small town identity, “The Pecan Children” is an eerie read for summer.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Pecan Children” is included on the Goodreads list “Queer Books Set in Arkansas”.

Serena’s Review: “Daughter of the Merciful Deep”

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Book: “Daughter of the Merciful Deep” by Leslye Penelope

Publishing Info: Redhook, June 2024

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

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

Book Description: “Our home began, as all things do, with a wish.”

Jane Edwards hasn’t spoken since she was eleven years old, when armed riders expelled her family from their hometown along with every other Black resident. Now, twelve years later, she’s found a haven in the all-Black town of Awenasa. But the construction of a dam promises to wash her home under the waters of the new lake.

Jane will do anything to save the community that sheltered her. So, when a man with uncanny abilities arrives in town asking strange questions, she wonders if he’s might be the key. But as the stranger hints at gods and ancestral magic, Jane is captivated by a bigger mystery. She knows this man. Only the last time she saw him, he was dead. His body laid to rest in a rushing river.

Who is the stranger and what is he really doing in Awenasa? To find those answers, Jane will journey into a sunken world, a land of capricious gods and unsung myths, of salvation and dreams made real. But the flood waters are rising. To gain the miracle she desires, Jane will have to find her voice again and finally face the trauma of the past.

Review: I’ve read several books by this author in the past. I started out with her original world, high fantasy trilogy, and very much liked that. But I have also enjoyed the swerve towards historical fiction that she’s now taken, incorporating fantasy and magical elements alongside stories that very much tackle the cultures and issues of specific points in history. Her last one, “The Monsters We Defy,” was set in the 1920s, and while the story was made up of many elements (including a heist!) the jazz movement and its place in Black history was very central to the story. All of this to say, that I was very excited when I saw that in this book she was going to tackle an even lesser known point in history: that of the drowned towns of the South.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book. It manages to fit a lot of excellent historical information into a narrative that is still very character-focused, all told through the eyes of our leading lady. For her part, Jane is a sympathetic character, a young woman who has suffered greatly, but throughout the course of this book, rediscovers her own power and sets a course not only for herself but for her entire community. There’s also a very sweet romance included, something that this author often incorporates in her stories, much to my appreciation!

I will say that the book did struggle a bit with pacing, however. The start to this story is fairly slow, with very little actually happening for much of the first half of the book. For readers of historical fiction, however, this may be less of an issue. The story is definitely following more genre conventions for historical fiction in this half, with its detailed focus on the details of this time and place. Readers who were more intrigued by the fantasy elements, however, have a while to wait for these to truly show up. And then when they did, I feel like a little more could have been done to blend these fantasy elements into the previously established historical setting. The reader is left to take much of them magical stuff at face value and just go with it.

I also appreciated the author’s note that was included at the end. For whatever reason, I’ve gotten into the habit of flipping to the back of books to read the author’s note before I even start, and yet again, I feel like this method has paid off. I had vague knowledge of the sunken towns, already. I grew up in a town next to a large, dammed reservoir; though no towns were destroyed in its making, the concept of drowned towns was always a morbid point of curiosity to a population that went about its day in the shadow of a huge dam like this. But I appreciated the greater detail I received in this author’s note, which went on to further enrich my reading experience as the characters confront this looming danger. Perhaps some of the plotting was a bit predictable, here, but at the same time, the characters were compelling enough that this wasn’t a problem for me. Readers who enjoy historical fiction with a lighter focus on fantasy should definitely give this one a go!

Rating 7: A bit disjointed in its balancing of genre conventions between fantasy and historical fiction, but the strength of the historical topic and the compelling characters still made it a worth while read!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Daughter of the Merciful Deep” can be found on this Goodreads list: 2024 Adult Fantasy/Sci-fi/Speculative Releases by BIPOC Authors

Kate’s Review: “What Fire Brings”

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Book: “What Fire Brings” by Rachel Howzell Hall

Publishing Info: Thomas & Mercer, June 2024

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

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

Book Description: A writer’s search for her missing friend becomes a real-life thriller in a twisting novel of suspense by the New York Times bestselling author of These Toxic Things.

Bailey Meadows has just moved into the remote Topanga Canyon home of thriller author Jack Beckham. As his writer-in-residence, she’s supposed to help him once again reach the bestseller list. But she’s not there to write a thriller—she’s there to find Sam Morris, a community leader dedicated to finding missing people, who has disappeared in the canyon surrounding Beckham’s property.

The missing woman was last seen in the drought-stricken forest known for wildfires and mountain lions. Each new day, Bailey learns just how dangerous these canyons are—for the other women who have also gone missing here…and for her. Could these missing women be linked to strange events that occurred decades ago at the Beckham estate?

As fire season in the canyons approaches, Bailey must race to unravel the truth from fiction before she becomes the next woman lost in the forest.

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

We’ve actually had a pretty wet Spring going into Summer here in Minnesota, which means that in my part of the state we have no drought conditions and no threats of fires spreading dangerously (for now. We’ll see what Summer brings). Wildfire season hasn’t been a big thing for my state outside of the fact smoke has been making its way here for the past few years, but I know that it’s a huge problem out west. “What Fire Brings” by Rachel Howzell Hall takes that very real threat and throws a mystery of a missing woman, an intrepid detective, and a charming author in for good measure, and that kind of combination is super intriguing to someone like me. I was pretty hopeful going in, and my hopes were pretty well met, I’d say.

The mystery here is pretty unique and has a lot of interesting layers. We have Bailey, an aspiring private detective from L.A. who has taken on a case involving a missing woman Sam, who disappeared in the Topanga Canyon wilderness near the sprawling estate of famed author Jack Beckham. Bailey has snagged an undercover position as Jack’s writer in residence, and is using that to investigate, and while investigating starts to realize that Sam isn’t the only woman who has gone missing in the area over the years. It’s a great hook, and it has a built in suspense factor of whether or not Bailey will be discovered by Jack and his staff on top of the weird things she’s finding during her investigation. It makes for all of her moves to have added weight and potential consequence, as she is playing a part, being deceptive, and starts to realize that there may be bigger problems at hand for her outside of the investigation at hand. Bailey herself is a bit unreliable, as it slowly comes out that she has been having some problems and instabilities of her own, whether it’s a mysterious wound we aren’t privy to the origin of from the get go, an implied problem with fugue states here and there, and weird phone calls that are rattling her. It really added some dread to the ongoing investigation, which has its own twists and turns that I found surprising and enjoyable.

One thing that dinged it a bit was the pacing feeling pretty lackadaisical for a lot of the story, in spite of the fact the dread was built pretty well otherwise. It didn’t exactly meander or feel like it was stalling, but I remember there was a moment in my reading that I thought to myself ‘hm, there’s a lot of book left here’. I wasn’t bored or anything like that, but when I’m reading a thriller, even thrillers that ultimately don’t work for me (this one doesn’t fall into that category, I want to emphasize), I can at least give credit for a fast paced read that feels like it flies by. This one didn’t really have that, and by the time we did eventually get to the start of the climax it felt like it had been a long wait to get there. Once it got going it was breakneck, however. I think it’s sometimes a hard balance to get a solid slow burn for suspense while also doing a good job of keeping things moving smoothly. It’s certainly not a dealbreaker.

“What Fire Brings” is a sizzling thriller perfect for the summer months. Rachel Howzell Hall is making a name in the genre to be sure.

Rating 7: I enjoyed the mystery and the way there is already built in suspense with the private eye angle, though the pacing was sometimes a little slower than I would have liked.

Reader’s Advisory:

“What Fire Brings” is included on the Goodreads list “2024 Books by Black Authors”.

Kate’s Review: “Follow Her Down”

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Book: “Follow Her Down” by Victoria Helen Stone

Publishing Info: Lake Union Publishing, June 2024

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

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

Book Description: Decades of doubt, fear, and suspicion won’t let a woman overcome her trauma in a riveting novel of suspense by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Jane Doe and The Hook.

The murder of Elise Rockwood’s sister shattered her family. Their mother’s anxiety kept her housebound. Elise’s paranoid brother, Kyle, saw conspiracies everywhere. Elise numbed her grief in an aimless lifestyle that left her emotionally broken. All of them victims. A local boy eventually confessed, but the damage was already done.

Years later, Elise is reinventing herself. She’s bought a mountain lodge to be close to home again and to find stability. Not even an email from her ex tempts her into revisiting the past. But Kyle won’t let it go. He still believes there’s more to their sister’s murder—and the confession—than meets the eye. When Elise’s ex is found dead in the same forest where her sister went missing decades before, Elise is finally willing to listen.

The traumas of the past are reemerging. So is the truth. Elise’s greatest fear now is who will survive it.

Review: Thank you to Lake Union Press and Kaye Publicity for sending me an print copy of this novel!

I feel like after having a fair amount of focus on horror for awhile I’m finally getting back into throwing in thrillers to balance it out. And there have been some pretty good ones that have come my way without me seeking them out. One of which is “Follow Her Down” by Victoria Helen Stone. I hadn’t read anything by Stone before, but the premise of a woman still reeling from her sister’s unsolved murder years before caught my attention pretty handily. I had no idea what to expect, but I was very pleased with this one.

The mystery is solid and entertaining. We follow our protagonist Elise, a standoffish woman who owns a campground whose older sister Robin disappeared decades ago, and whose death basically destroyed her family. When her ex-lover Christian reaches out after radio silence, and Elise rejects seeing him again, his body is found in the wilderness near her campground, which also happens to be in the same area Robin disappeared years earlier. It’s a good set up, and it was interesting seeing how Christian’s murder may or may nto be connected to Robin’s, especially as Elise’s obsessive brother Kyle starts to hyper-focus on the possibility. I liked Elise as a protagonist as she tries to steer focus away from herself by law enforcement, while also trying to convince herself that Kyle is just doing his usual conspiracy theory nonsense, even as more and more strange clues pop up that could be convincing. Elise is flawed and damaged, which always has the potential to be a little cloying in the genre, but Stone does her justice, mostly because she herself is the skeptic as opposed to the loose cannon.

But what I liked the most about this book was that there was such a focus on the way that the trauma of a missing person can have shattering effects on the people in their lives. For Elise it’s the way that she has shut herself off from most people in her life, focusing on her campground and trying to not think about what happened to Robin all those years ago, unable to connect with many people. For Kyle, he dives into conspiracies and dodgy theories of cover ups, hyperfixating on improbable things because at least with the improbable things there is some kind of explanation. For their mother, she rarely leaves the house, her anxiety too much to bear. While there are plenty of thrillers with the theme of a lost family member that touch on the fallout, I thought that this one really nailed the way that a family can be torn apart due to unresolved trauma, resentment, and survivor guilt. The relationship between Elise and Kyle in particular could turn on a dime, so much so that it would be deeply uncomfortable and at times completely heart wrenching. I do wish that the book had kept this theme the focal point more, and hadn’t succumbed to more well worn tropes to the genre.

At the end of the day, “Follow Her Down” is a suspenseful and at times deeply upsetting thriller that doesn’t hold back in a lot of ways. I had hoped it stuck more to the more unique aspects to the story, but it was an enjoyable read overall.

Rating 7: An emotional mystery that examines unresolved trauma and the havoc it can cause, “Follow Her Down” is raw and at times devastating.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Follow Her Down” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on the Goodreads Shelf “Missing Women Books”.

Kate’s Review: “youthjuice”

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

Book: “youthjuice” by E.K. Sathue

Publishing Info: Soho Press, June 2024

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

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

Book Description: American Psycho meets The Devil Wears Prada: outrageous body horror for the goop generation.

A 29-year-old copywriter realizes that beauty is possible—at a terrible cost—in this surreal, satirical send-up of NYC It-girl culture.

From Sophia Bannion’s first day on the Storytelling team at HEBE, a luxury skincare/wellness company based in New York’s trendy SoHo neighborhood, it’s clear something is deeply amiss. But Sophia, pushing thirty, has plenty of skeletons in her closet next to the designer knockoffs and doesn’t care. Though she leads an outwardly charmed life, she aches for a deeper meaning to her flat existence—and a cure for her brutal nail-biting habit. She finds it all and more at HEBE, and with Tree Whitestone, HEBE’s charismatic founder and CEO.

Soon, Sophia is addicted to her HEBE lifestyle—especially youthjuice, the fatty, soothing moisturizer Tree has asked Sophia to test. But when cracks in HEBE’s infrastructure start to worsen—and Sophia learns the gruesome secret ingredient at the heart of youthjuice—she has to decide how far she’s willing to go to stay beautiful forever.

Glittering with ominous flashes of Sophia’s coming-of-rage story, former beauty editor E.K. Sathue’s horror debut is as incisive as it is stomach-churning in its portrayal of all-consuming female friendship and the beauty industry’s short attention span. youthjuice does to skincare influencers what Bret Easton Ellis did to yuppies. You’ll never moisturize the same way again.

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

I am someone who has very little knowledge about skin care and beauty routines outside of knowing that I need to hide my pale pale body from the sun at all times. It probably doesn’t help that I absolutely cannot abide the feeling of any kinds of lotion on my skin, which makes skin care a little trickier. But even though I know very little about the beauty industry and anti-aging fads and techniques, I was still interested in giving “youthjuice” by E.K. Sathue a whirl. The cover itself is eye catching, with a pale pink background and a simple beauty jar with a bit of blood dripping from it. What’s not to love, really? After all, in a time when skincare and anti-aging beauty products have delved into the likes of bloodletting strategies like vampire facials (with some sometimes horrendous results), this kind of thing seems ripe for the picking in body horror, and Sathue rises to the occasion.

(source)

First let’s talk horror elements, because “youthjuice” has them in spades. Firstly, we have the obvious body horror stuff, as we follow Sophia Bannion as she begins a new job at the beauty company HEBE, and finds out that the new product she is testing ‘youthjuice’, may have some pretty macabre origins and ingredients. It’s a bit of a spoiler, but I’m sure that one can guess based on the book cover alone, that this new product contains some human derived ingredients, with some horrifying means to procure them. It’s still a pretty jarring trope, though it has a long and storied run not only in fiction (vampires living off of blood in their immortality), but also world history (Elizabeth Báthory, anyone?), and Sathue revives it here for a new generation, with a bit of an influencer and capitalistic twist. And it makes for some pretty gory and downright disgusting beats, with descriptions of blood of all types and conditions being thrown on the page. There were some bits that could have been expanded upon more in terms of cause and effect, though perhaps the ambiguity will work better for others reading it. The other horror aspect that I mostly enjoyed was Sophia herself, and how we come to find out she is an unreliable narrator of sorts, and why that is. We blend the modern day with a flashback to a time during her youth where she is learning about desire, power, and attraction, and how she comes to value these things in a way that turns her into the ambitious young woman in a new job that has some pretty dark secrets. It didn’t reinvent the wheel per se, but it worked for the story and I found it believable to the character and her arc.

And there are, of course, the satirical elements of this book that lampoon not only the beauty industry as a whole, but also the framing of a ‘mysterious girl boss’ leader who has captured the imaginations of her acolytes, her fans, and the industry as a whole. The CEO of HEBE is Tree Whitestone, an almost ethereal being of a woman whose is poised, articulate, charismatic, and ageless, who promises beauty and youth to her followers and consumers while exuding power and grace. Sathue paints the perfect picture of a dynamic engaging leader of a brand that feeds on a cult like devotion as well as a social media induced sense of FOMO, and how devotees with do just about anything, including getting into bathtubs full of actual blood, to have a chance to experience the newest miracle product that will surely solve their problems by restoring their youth. I couldn’t help but think about more recent online discourses about aging and beauty products/surgical options being used by younger and younger people because of this fear. Bathing in blood is pretty farfetched, but remember the vampire facials thing I mentioned above? It’s in the same general vicinity, I’d say.

“youthjuice” is an intriguing horror tale that parodies the beauty industry with some gross bits of body horror. It will be a fun pool read for the summer I would say.

Rating 7: An entertaining satire with some gnarly body horror moments, “youthjuice” is as enjoyable as it is, at times, disgusting.

Reader’s Advisory:

“youthjuice” is included in the Goodreads article/book list “From Time Travel to Tech Startups: Five Cross Genre Trends We’re Noticing”.

Serena’s Review: “Everything We Never Said”

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

Book: “Everything We Never Said” by Sloan Harrow

Publishing Info: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, may 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: from the publisher!

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

Book Description: It’s been months since the accident that killed Ella’s best friend, Hayley, and Ella can’t stop blaming herself. Now Ella is back at school, and everywhere she looks are reminders of her best friend—including Sawyer, Hayley’s boyfriend. Little by little, they grow closer, until Ella realizes something horrifying . . .

She’s in love with her dead best friend’s boyfriend.

Racked with guilt, Ella turns to Hayley’s journal, hoping she’ll find something in the pages that will make her feel better about what’s happening. Instead, she discovers that Sawyer has secrets of his own and that his relationship with Hayley wasn’t as picture-perfect as it seemed.

Ella knows she should stay away but finds herself inextricably drawn to him—and scared of everything she never knew about him. Perhaps it’s his grief. Or maybe his desires, cut short by tragedy. Or could it be something twisted only Hayley knew about?

Review: Every once in a while I do try to stray outside of my preferred genres to see how the rest of y’all are living. So when the publisher reached out about coverage for this YA thriller, I thought “why the heck not!” I was also drawn in by the promise of an interesting romance between two characters who both lost their close friend/girlfriend. So, let’s dive right in!

The challenging thing about reading outside of my typical genres it that I’m less familiar with the conventions and tropes of this type of book, and thus a bit more unsure when trying to distinguish between my own preferences and opinions and what is simply true to the genre, but not something that I’m as familiar with. That said, there were several things that worked for me unequivocally. The first thing is the sheer “readability” of this book. Even when I was coming across things that left questions in my mind, I still felt a draw to continue reading, swept up in the fast-moving plot and approachable style of storytelling.

On top of that, both Ella and Sawyer were very sympathetic characters, and I enjoyed spending time in both of their heads. Of course, much of the story revolves around their complicated feelings for their deceased friend and their own budding romance, but there were a lot of smaller looks at the different relationships they each have with their parents. Both their experiences with their families and with the various social groups at school were of the sort that I think will greatly appeal to many YA readers.

And, of course, the love story was very sweet. Now, it also walked right up to the line of “instalove,” so that’s something to keep in mind. But, again, the readability of the book carried me through this aspect of the storytelling pretty effectively. Stepping back, I think this love story will appeal to many readers, especially teenagers themselves. As an adult, I will say that I did struggle to believe that a teenage boy was quite as, um, romantically adept as Sawyer was presented, but this is one of those cases where no one really wants a true-to-life portrayal of the awkwardness of the teenage years.

As for the mystery of Haley’s death and the thriller aspects of the book, I did struggle a bit more. There were several “believability” issues that began to pile up as the story continued. For one thing, right off the bat, we are told that Haley died in a car crash when Ella was driving, after being seen drinking at a party. It strains every plausible explanation that Ella walked away from this situation with no consequences. Beyond that, she has many people reassuring her that Haley’s death wasn’t her fault. But…wasn’t it kind of, with this version of events?

I also found some of the late game reveals to be a bit predictable, but this is definitely a “mileage will vary” situation from reader to reader. There were several red herrings presented and their success as such will depend on readers’ familiarity with conventions, likely. There were also chapters from Haley’s old diary interspersed throughout the story, and I really struggled with these. They were written in a way that belied belief, with Haley seeming to be able to recount entire scenes verbatim in these entries. I get the purpose these entries were serving, but the style of writing was so removed from anything that resembled an actual diary entry that I found myself often skimming through these sections.

All of that said, I still had a mostly fun time with this book! It was a fast read, and my interest in Ella and Sawyer’s stories was enough to carry me through some of the other aspects that I struggled with. YA readers who enjoy thrillers and romances will likely enjoy this one!

Rating 7: Some parts of the the mystery were a bit predictable, but I enjoyed the fast-paced storytelling and the sweet romance at its heart.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Everything We Never Said” is on this Goodreads list: YA Novels of 2024

Kate’s Review: “Under the Palms”

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

Book: “Under the Palms” by Kaira Rouda

Publishing Info: Thomas & Mercer, May 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from Sparkpoint Studio.

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

Book Description: During a weekend retreat, a powerful family plays a dangerous game of dark secrets and cold-blooded ambition in a novel by Kaira Rouda, USA Today bestselling author of Beneath the Surface.

Under the direction of the Kingsleys’ new president, Paige, the family has gathered for a weekend retreat at a luxurious Laguna Beach resort. Still clinging to the hope of succession are the sons of Richard Kingsley, the family patriarch and John, the oldest, who’s clawed his way back from a dark tragedy, and Paige’s estranged husband, Ted, the golden boy. When Richard’s ex and his wayward daughter join the fray, Paige finds herself with two fast allies. They know a secret that could shatter the family legacy. Call it leverage, call it revenge, the Kingsley women believe they have the upper hand.

But as the power games begin, greater threats than the howling Santa Ana winds are coming. Because this weekend, amid so much greed and betrayal, no Kingsley is safe. It’s family. Watch your back.

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

Well “Succession” has been gone a long while, and now that I’ve finished it up fully (and hooray, the person I was predicting to come out on top did so!) I can better see the overall arc of the tragic tale of a terrible family fighting for control of their dynasty. Ultimately it was a tragic show filled with garbage people, but who all had a lot of interesting depth and nuance even through their terribleness. I think that The Kingsley Family in “Under the Palms”, the next book in the series after “Beneath the Surface” haven’t QUITE risen to the levels of wretchedness or complexity as the Roys, but hey, there’s still backstabbing, infighting, and heirs fighting for power. But at least in Kaira Rouda’s new story is also another murder. That just adds to the salaciousness, and I oh so enjoy that.

I do love a guilty pleasure read, and the Kingsley Family’s shenanigans are so nasty, catty, and over the top that this I found “Under the Palms” to be a lot of fun. Much like “Beneath the Surface”, it is split into different perspective chapters involving some of our main players, some familiar, others new. The Kingsleys are still mostly miserable and totally unlikable, but if you like a story about terrible rich people doing terrible things and having terrible things happen to them you have come to the right place. We do have a new salacious mystery at hand, as well as a new out of their control weather threat (this time instead of a stormy sea we have a fast burning wildfire, and given that I’m writing this as I can smell Canadian fires at my home I’m finding that a bit situationally appropriate), and we have basically the same set of suspects. I kind of figured out the solution to the mystery pretty early, but I was having a fun enough time with the backstabbing and snideness that it didn’t really matter. Soapiness is always a plus.

In my review for the previous book, I did note that I wasn’t as impressed with most of the characters, as they mostly seemed like two dimensional tropes and archetypes, and that doesn’t really change here. But I think that this time around I was more expecting it, and therefore it didn’t really turn me off as much as I anticipated it would. Though I will say that one of our new characters, John’s new lady friend Krystle, was a bit of a fun addition because she does have some layers, as she is trying to present herself in a certain way to get into the good graces of the total dud John, as she has ambitions that only connections to the Kingsley fortune can provide. And I still like Paige, who is now in charge of the company but finding her place in question as she hasn’t been performing to the levels that patriarch Richard expects of her. Which leads back to questions of succession in the company. It’s a little more of the same, but again, it’s so soapy I can’t even be mad about it. OLD SCHOOL SOAP, PEOPLE.

Alexis Carrington Colby would be proud (source).

If you can embrace that this series has gone less in the direction of
“Succession” and more in the direction of 80s prime time soap operas, “Under the Palms” will surely be an entertaining little treat in our ongoing story of the wretched Kingsley Family. I will be curious to see where things go from here.

Rating 7: Another soapy and over the top family drama with a twist of murder, “Under the Palms” continues the most unfortunate vacation streak for the Kingsley Family.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Under the Palms” isn’t included on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on the Goodreads Shelf “If You Liked Succession”.

Previously Reviewed:

Serena’s Review: “The Honey Witch”

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Book: “The Honey Witch” by Sydney J. Shields

Publishing Info: Redhook, May 2024

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

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

Book Description: The Honey Witch of Innisfree can never find true love. That is her curse to bear. But when a young woman who doesn’t believe in magic arrives on her island, sparks fly in this deliciously sweet debut novel of magic, hope, and love overcoming all.
 
Twenty-one-year-old Marigold Claude has always preferred the company of the spirits of the meadow to any of the suitors who’ve tried to woo her. So when her grandmother whisks her away to the family cottage on the tiny Isle of Innisfree with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts immediately. But her newfound magic and independence come with a No one can fall in love with the Honey Witch.
 
When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn’t believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, Marigold can’t resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. But soon, Marigold begins to care for Lottie in ways she never expected. And when darker magic awakens and threatens to destroy her home, she must fight for much more than her new home—at the risk of losing her magic and her heart.

Review: This book has been popping up all over the place on people’s “most anticipated” lists for the spring. And it’s not hard to see why! Cozy fantasy is definitely seeing a surge in popularity, and the vibes of this book are right up the alley of those of us desperately hoping for warm weather after a long, dark winter. I also enjoy grumpy/sunshine romances, and it seemed like that might be the sort on offer, as well. Unfortunately, this one didn’t quite live up to what I was wanting, but I still think it will be a hit for a lot of cozy fantasy readers. Let’s get into the details!

First, let’s start with the positives! And those are mostly the writing style and, again, the vibes. This book is really checking all of the marks that readers looking for a “cozy” read will be expecting. The writing is lovely, the scene descriptions are lush, and it’s the sort of book that creates a sense of place where one wants to sink into the world and just be. The style of writing was also approachable and engaging, with a few lyrical turns of phrase here and there that were truly lovely.

Unfortunately, for me, the story fell apart with the characters themselves, and for a book like this, the characters kind of make or break the entire experience. Right from the start, things began to go downhill when I realized that I was learning traits and features about these characters primarily through info-dumping from other characters. There was a very “telling” approach to character development, and it put me on the back foot immediately. This is the exact sort of character-focused book where I really wanted to be shown who these characters are, to see them make choices and to learn and grow as the story progressed. Instead, we were simply told who they were and were left to do with that what we would.

I also was underwhelmed by the romance. The story has a very slow start, and I feel like I was already a third of the way in before the romantic interest even showed up in any real way. Not that I needed nonstop character interactions, but combined with the slower pacing of the little plot there is to be found, it left me struggling to maintain my interest in the book well into the page count. In the end, this struggle continued throughout, and I really had to push myself to continue to read.

All of that said, I do think this book will be a hit for a lot of cozy fantasy readers, especially those who are not as invested in plot and are ok for a very slow-development on the romance front. But I do think there are better cozy fantasy options out there. So this is definitely one where I’d recommend waiting to get it from the library before purchasing, just to make sure it works for you before spending any money on it.

Rating 7: The vibes are there, but that wasn’t quite enough to really draw me in, especially when the characters themselves were a bit lacking.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Honey Witch” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Queer Romantasy 2024 and Novels about bees and beekeepers

Serena’s Review: “The Fireborne Blade”

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

Book: “The Fireborne Blade” by Charlotte Bond

Publishing Info: Tor, May 2024

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

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

Book Description: Slay the dragon, find the blade. True love can’t be far behind…

Maddileh is a knight. There aren’t many women in her line of work, and it often feels like the sneering and contempt from her peers is harder to stomach than the actual dragon slaying. But she’s a knight, and made of sterner stuff.

A minor infraction forces her to redeem her honor in the most dramatic way possible, she must retrieve the fabled Fireborne Blade from its keeper, legendary dragon the White Lady, or die trying. If history tells us anything, it’s that “die trying” is where to wager your coin.

Will Maddileh prove her mettle? Or will she end up like countless knights before her―as a puddle of gore and molten armor?

Review: This was an obvious request for me just based on the cover alone! I’m always on the lookout for the next great dragon book, and, of course, the heroine front and center also places it firmly in my wheel house for reading preferences! The plot synopsis also promised a lot of classic fantasy fun: knights, dragon-hunting, and dangerous adventures full of redemption and possibly romance! So, how did it all turn out?

Well, for the most part, well enough. I know that’s not a killer start to a review, but it also sums up my reading experience fairly well. There was nothing objectively wrong with this book, and, frankly, there was a lot to like during much of it. But while we’ve seen other books shine with a reduced page count (see “When Among Crows”), this one shows the other side of the equation, one where the overall impact and pacing of the book was hampered by its short length. But let’s start with the good stuff!

First of all, I really enjoyed the structure of this book and the way it introduced the dragons of this world. In between chapters, we had inserts from past knights’ experiences with dragons, dutifully recorded by the scribes of this world. These brief tales were often the most fun parts of the book, being hilarious and terrifying in their own right and neatly delivering a ton of world-building and lore regarding the dragons and their magic.

And as for the dragons, I appreciated the mix of the “classic” dragon archetype alongside some creative new takes on their magic. For the most part, these dragons are the sort readers are most familiar with: live in caves with hordes of treasure, come out every once in a while to terrorize the land, and, of course, the best foes for a knight looking to prove their worth! But, alongside these familiar elements, the inclusion of the magical dangers that occur when a dragon dies added the dash of something new that I needed.

I also liked our main character and the cast of side characters that surrounded her. But here is where things began to fall apart a bit for me. While I liked what we were given, I also was left wishing we had gotten a bit more of a character arch. I liked the broad sweeps that we had, but the story had to rush through so many things, especially towards the end, that I never felt like the emotional stakes were as high as I was wanting. And, as for the pacing, the last fourth of the book felt incredibly rushed. I thought the way everything was resolved was clever, but it almost happened so quickly that it was over before I had fully realized what was even happening!

Overall, this was a fun, fast read, but it never quite rose to the highs that I was hoping for! The incredible potential almost ended up working against it, as I was increasingly aware of the few numbers of pages I had left as I made my way through the book. That said, if you’re looking for a high fantasy novella that delivers all of the classic fantasy goods, this is one to check out!

Rating 7: Checks all of the right boxes, but a rushed conclusion dropped my reading experience down a bit.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Fireborne Blade” can be found on this Goodreads list: Sapphic Fiction 2024

Kate’s Review: “A Friend Indeed”

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Book: “A Friend Indeed” by Elka Ray

Publishing Info: Blackstone Publishing Inc, May 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received a finished copy from Roger Charlie.

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

Book Description: When single mom Jo Dykstra was at her lowest—jobless and penniless—her childhood friend Dana McFarlane helped her out bigtime by securing her a teaching job and thus an opportunity for a new life in the affluent Pacific Northwest town of Glebes Bay. So, when Jo gets a frantic late-night call from Dana, sobbing and desperate for help, it feels like a chance to help her friend in return.

The last thing Jo expects to see when she arrives at Dana’s oceanfront mansion? Her friend’s handsome and wealthy husband, Stan, dead, sprawled face down on the floor. Dana admits to killing her husband following years of secret abuse and begs Jo not to call the police. For nearly two decades, Dana’s marriage and family had looked picture perfect. Who’d ever believe that pillar-of-the-community Stan was a monster? Determined to cover up her husband’s killing and shield her kids from scandal, Dana convinces Jo to help her dispose of the body.

But the cover-up starts to crumble when a blackmailer threatens to expose their crime. Hounded by gossipy neighbors, ill-fated lovers, and zealous cops, truth and lies are laid bare between Jo and Dana, putting their families in danger and threatening to shatter a thirty-year friendship. Shocking and fast-paced, A Friend Indeed is a riveting tale about the power of friendship and the deadly weight of lies.

Review: Thank you to Roger Charlie for sending me a finished copy of this novel!

Summer is so close I can almost taste it, and while it’s not my favorite season (uh, it’s actually probably my LEAST favorite season?), I do like having pool time while the weather is hot. Because at the pool I like to bring easy to read and entertaining books. And when I think of a good poolside read, I think of the kind of book like “A Friend Indeed” by Elka Ray. A tantalizing thriller, with some shady and desperate characters, and some far hidden secrets between friends who find themselves in over their heads when a body lands at their feet. PERFECT POOL READING!

(source)

As someone who has always enjoyed the tongue in cheek ‘a real friend will help you dispose of the body’ meme because of its gallows humor, it’s no surprise that the plot of “A Friend Indeed” is a huge plus in my eyes. When Jo gets a panicked phone call from her long time best friend Dana to come to her house in the middle of the night, she drops everything to help her. When she finds Dana standing over the body of her now dead husband Stan, she is horrified. but decides to help her dispose of the corpse. It’s a great set up on its own, and then you throw in a potential blackmail storyline as well as the rampant gossip of suburbia and it has all the ingredients for an addictive thriller. And I was pretty sucked in. The pacing is fast, the dual perspectives between Dana and Jo are well done, and I loved the examination of a close friendship that is REALLY being tested because of the crazy circumstances… And how perhaps Dana isn’t being fully open with Jo. I really enjoyed seeing both of these women trying to keep it together, and I really liked the examination of their friendship through the years and how, perhaps, it’s not as give and take as it seems. I had a hard time putting this one down because I was so taken with the breakneck pacing and the interesting perspectives of both women.

But I think that where this one stumbled a bit for me was with the amount of reveals, twists, and shocking developments that it throws at the reader. I’m a bit of the belief that less is more when it comes to thrillers and mysteries when doling out twisty moments, and that if you oversaturate the narrative with surprises and shocks it becomes less effective, bordering on tedious. And I felt like that happened a bit with “A Friend Indeed”. I don’t want to delve too deeply into it because I don’t want to spoil anything, but it felt like I was being bombarded with so many reveals, so many shocking moments, and so many twists and turns that it was too much. What could have been a tight thriller with some serious punch got bogged down in the need to be unpredictable, and that derailed my experience a bit. And of course we got another last minute twist. And we all know how I feel about those.

“A Friend Indeed” is going to be a good choice for a pool or beach read with the upcoming summer, as it’s entertaining and addictive. I just wish that it hadn’t relied on too many gotcha moments.

Rating 7: It has a really addictive mystery and it kept me interested until the end, but there are a few too many twists and reveals for my liking.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Friend Indeed” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but if you liked the Netflix show “Dead To Me” you will probably like this.