Book Description: Seventeen-year-old Mina is always focused on what comes next: exams, school dances, opportunities for a picnic by the lake. Filling up the future keeps her from lingering over how little she knows about her history or where she comes from. Anytime she asks her father questions about Egypt–or about her mother’s mysterious death–he struggles to open up.
When Mina receives an invitation from an aunt she’s never met to visit the Haikal mansion, her mother’s childhood home in El Agamy, Mina accepts. She can’t resist the chance to learn more about her roots or what happened to her mother, even if it means lying to her loves ones for the first time in her life.
But when Mina returns from El Agamy, she doesn’t come back alone.
A sinister entity follows Mina from the Haikal mansion to her tiny California town. Mina is forced to abandon her friends, her father, and everything she loves in order to prevent the entity from violently possessing them. Isolated and fighting for her life, Mina must seek help from an unlikely ally: Jesse Talbot, the mortician’s hostile son and the only person who proves immune to possession. Jesse would rather floss with barbed wire than team up with social butterfly Mina, but he doesn’t exactly have a choice—after all, he’s running from family secrets of his own.
As Mina and Jesse dig deeper into Mina’s family lore, they uncover a bloody debt that must be satisfied if Mina wants to finish senior year alive.
Review: I have once again stolen a book from Kate’s genres, but Hashem wrote one of my favorite fantasy romance duologies of the last several years, so….yeah, I don’t care! I’m going to read whatever she writes at this point!
So, while I don’t typically read horror, this was the kind that I can get behind. Probably because it’s also YA, so the truly horrific stuff that Kate wades into is largely absent here. That said, Hashem does a great job of blending historical fiction and horror together in ways that are both intriguing and disturbing. The tension was perfectly wound tighter and tighter, only to release unexpectedly before starting it all up again.
I really liked the mystery at the heart of this story and learning more about Mina’s family and history. And on top of this central mystery behind what is making up this curse and how it can be defeated, Jesse also had mysteries of his own that were slowly revealed as the story continued.
Hashem also reconfirmed that she excels at writing compelling, swoon-worthy romances. I was a bit unsure how her talents would translate being removed from all of the fantasy trappings, but she definitely proved me wrong. Jesse and Mina’s relationship was so lovely, a slow-burning, tension-filled affair that drew me in right from the start.
I don’t want to go into spoilers with regards to the ending, but it was truly heart-wrenching. I guess I don’t know this for a fact, but I’ve always assumed that horror, as a genre, has a greater tendency to end in tragedy or, at best, an unclear future. And such is the case here. It all played out so well for the story that was being developed, but tissues were definitely needed.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one! Sara Hashem is just an excellent author, all things considered, and I’m happy to genre hop alongside her! If you’re a fan of YA horror stories, I definitely recommend this one!
Rating 8: Tension-filled in every way, both the romantic and the horrific!
Reader’s Advisory:
“Where No Shadow Stays” can be found on this Goodreads list: YA Novels of 2026.
It’s been eighteen years since Suzanne Collins wrote “The Hunger Games”, the smash hit literary sensation that continues to feel relevant and capture the attention of readers. This ongoing series will be a review series of both the Suzanne Collins books, as well as the film adaptations of the novels. I will post my review on the last Thursday of the month as we revisit the totalitarian world of Panem and the hope of the Mockingjay.
Book Description: My name is Katniss Everdeen. Why am I not dead? I should be dead.
Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss’s family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.
It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans—except Katniss.
The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss’s willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels’ Mockingjay—no matter what the personal cost.
Review: We are now coming to the end of the initial “Hunger Games” Trilogy, and I finally took on the final book in the series “Mockingjay”. Much like “Catching Fire”, I skipped this book in my initial read because I was told that it wasn’t very good. Nay, I was told that it was boring. BORING. After finishing “Catching Fire” and really liking it, I knew that I would probably have a similar experience with this one. Little did I know that I would actually end up ranking it almost as high as the first book. Yeah, I loved “Mockingjay”. It destroyed me (probably thanks in part to listening to Tatiana Maslaney read it, God she was good). As we follow Katniss into her final arc of this saga, I was moved and on edge, even though I knew what was coming thanks to the movies. Suzanne Collins always has something to say. And this time, as we rejoin Katniss, newly whisked away from the wreckage and chaos of the destroyed arena, she is already so damaged and alone, with Peeta captured and Haymitch revealed as hiding the rebellion he helped force her into. Collins’s message this time: War is Hell, and no one comes out unchanged.
We get some new insight to some previous characters, and also meet new characters who become power players for the last book in the series. The biggest stand out for previous characters for me is Plutarch Heavensbee, the game maker for the Quarter Quell who was actually part of the rebellion the entire time. I love Plutarch, not because he’s a good guy (he’s not, really), but because I appreciate his goal of trying to overthrow Snow and the Capitol and think he’s very interesting because he is ruthless and willing to do a lot of bad to achieve his goals. We are also introduced to Alma Coin, the President of District 13, a long forgotten District that has been biding its time underground waiting for a spark of revolution so she can swoop in and help overthrow the Capitol. As Katniss worries about Peeta, who has been captured by the Capitol and is now being used in propaganda as the uprising turns into all out war, she is thrown into the role of being the Mockingjay leading a rebellion when she doesn’t know how to be a leader. It’s just a new situation where a teenage girl is being used by ambitious and power hungry adults for their own ends, and her mental health and PTSD is tossed aside as she is constantly pushed to the brink. Is she a bit more of a passive player in this one? Sure. But while that was used as a criticism by those around me, I actually think it makes complete sense. Katniss never wanted this and is still a child. Her struggles may seem repetitive but she is riddled with trauma. To portray it as anything other than messy and complicated would be unrealistic and, frankly, irresponsible.
I was also struck by how Collins makes it pretty clear from the jump that the Rebellion’s alliance with District 13 is a complicated, possibly even dangerous, one. Katniss is thrown into the depths of District 13’s underground bunker with its highly authoritarian society, finding out that it has been there the entire time living off the grid after striking a deal with the Capitol to be able to walk away in exchange for not using nuclear weapons against Snow’s regime (the absolute gall). We will talk more about the portrayal of 13 in the movies when we get to the film reviews, but in the book? I was immediately put off by President Coin and her government and its brutal ways, both towards its supporters and towards the people who have been pulled in from the rebellion as allies. Hell, EVERYTHING about 13 feels like its own nightmare, with no dissent allowed, dehumanization of anyone seen as collaborators (one instance with Katniss’s Prep Team, who feel like fish a barrel being shot for funsies, really disturbed me), and a very officious and scary power structure that Katniss is suspicious of while her closest friend Gale becomes more and more indoctrinated and into the totalitarian ethos that Coin is feeding him.
And I love that Collins was more than willing to portray that way that a war being fought can have horrific tactics from both sides, even the side that is ultimately more ‘in the right’, and this book really hits it home in the most devastating ways as Katniss has to be the face of a rebellion and to try and keep herself safe from Coin, who clearly wants her gone so she can take over and become the person with the power going forward. She is used as a tool by Coin and Heavensbee (I love the guy and his moral grey character, but man he’s a dick), only a means to an end because they know that Coin won’t cut it, and she is repeatedly victimized in hopes that she can just keep Peeta and Prim safe…and we all know what happens to Prim. Prim and the children of the Capitol, who all become targets of the ‘righteous’ side and are slaughtered to finally put down Snow’s regime in one final bombing… and it is sickening. Collins isn’t going to let the ‘correct’ side off, not only having Katniss’s side commit war crimes that are similar to her enemies, but also murder the person that she sacrificed everything for, almost making all of her suffering and purpose moot. GOD it’s so, so sad. It’s such a harsh truth that people forget all the time, that war, as a whole, is BAD, and ANYONE participating can do MONSTROUS things (even if they are on the side that is OBJECTIVELY more moral) because that is war at its heart. “Mockingjay” tells this truth by spilling more child blood, done by the side that the reader wants to succeed. Fuck Coin. But fuck Gale more. And Katniss is left to pick up the pieces. Again, war. Is. Hell.
The way I sobbed as this book was coming to a close. (source)
But then there is the rebirth. Because Katniss has to keep going. And Peeta has to keep going. The book ends with Panem starting a new path, and it feels hopeful, but tenuous. But for Katniss and Peeta, they have to keep moving forward, and rebuild, and the gentle aftermath of them slowly starting to do so is bittersweet to say the least. But it felt correct and satisfying. Collins doesn’t pretty it up. They are forever changed. They are forever haunted. Katniss and Peeta don’t get better just because they are free and their goals are achieved. But they keep going and find hope and happiness with each other. I know that there are people who hate that Katniss has kids in the future, thinking that it betrays her character because of her refusal to have kids in the first book. But to that I say, her and Peeta having kids is actually the best way to end it, because it shows that Katniss finally, FINALLY, can feel safe enough to live her life because the oppressive society she grew up in and helped overthrow is truly gone. It’s lovely.
I loved “Mockingjay”. It wasn’t flashy and it wasn’t cheerful. But it feels realistic to me in how it portrays trauma, war, and trying to start over after having experienced so much grief, and finding love and peace in spite of it. Next up I will review the first prequel, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”, where we go back to one of the first Hunger Games, and see the origins of President Coriolanus Snow.
Rating 9: A heavy and bittersweet conclusion to a series that still feels resonant, “Mockingjay” focuses on the hell that is war, the lingering affects of trauma, and picking up the pieces even in the wake of victory that may not feel wholly victorious.
We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing book club running for the last several years. Each “season” (we’re nerds) we pick a theme and each of us chooses a book within that theme for us all to read. Re-visiting some of our past themes, we’re once again pulling random words from and finding a book that matches the prompts.For this blog, we will post a joint review of each book we read for book club. We’ll also post the next book coming up in book club. So feel free to read along with us or use our book selections and questions in your own book club!
Book: “Girls Made of Snow and Glass” by Melissa Bashardoust
Book Description: Sixteen-year-old Mina is motherless, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone—has never beat at all, in fact, but she’d always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king’s heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she’ll have to become a stepmother.
Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen’s image, at her father’s order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do—and who to be—to win back the only mother she’s ever known…or else defeat her once and for all.
Entwining the stories of both Lynet and Mina in the past and present, “Girls Made of Snow and Glass” traces the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start. Only one can win all, while the other must lose everything—unless both can find a way to reshape themselves and their story.
Kate’s Thoughts
I remember this book crossing my path back when it came out, and while the idea of a “Snow White” reimagining definitely piqued my interest I ultimately never picked it up. Because of this I cackled a bit when it was picked for book club because apparently it was my fate to eventually read this book. I have enjoyed a fair amount of “Snow White” retellings if done well, and I liked the sound of this one because it sounded like it was going to have a bit more insight into the Queen’s motivations. Unfortunately it didn’t quite live up to the expectations I had for it.
I did enjoy the way that Bashardoust approached the relationship between Lynet (our Snow White) and Mina (our evil queen/stepmother). It’s not so often that a reimagining of this story actually tries to create a somewhat positive relationship, or at least the potential for one, between these two characters, and by doing so and making Lynet and Mina more victims of their circumstances (put in place by their fathers) and less mortal enemies, though there is certainly conflict there. It was a unique way to tackle a reimagining, and this was the strongest aspect of the book for me.
But on the other hand, there was a lot of not so complex and somewhat fraught storytelling as we saw Lynet and Mina go on their paths in the narrative. I felt like we didn’t really get a good sense of their relationships with the other characters, even those that would be pretty important, and I felt like the magical systems and their magical afflictions (Mina being made of glass and Lynet being made of snow) were very surface level without much substance. Are they metaphors that could be interesting, sure, but when they are just there to be obvious metaphors it isn’t as compelling as it could be.
So there was a lot of potential and some solid character beats, but overall “Girls Made of Snow and Glass” was pretty middle of the road.
Serena’s Thoughts
On paper, this book should have been right up my alley. And it did work in some ways, just not in all the ways that I wanted. Its biggest positive is the creative take it offers on the “Snow White” tale. This included an elaborate (if a bit confused and badly defined) magic system, a dual perspective shared between the Queen and the Snow White character, and a refocus of the primary relationship away from the romances and more fully on this mother/daughter relationship.
This last part, especially, was particularly well done. It’s rare that you see the major emotional stakes of a YA fantasy story focused on the relationship between two women, especially when one is in a mother/stepmother role. On the other hand, this left the romances feeling very underwhelming. It also felt weighted toward Mina’s relationship, leaving the sapphic love story between Lynet and her love interest feeling fairly weak.
My major problem came down to the writing. It wasn’t bad, by any means. But it was also incredibly dry and simple. There wasn’t much of a voice given to either character, and the author was quick to fall into the trap of telling the readers exactly how they should interpret any given scene. While the themes of beauty, independence, and feminine rage were interesting, none of them were presented or surfaced in anything resembling a subtle way.
So, ultimately, I didn’t dislike this book, but I also had hoped to enjoy it much more than I did. I really love fairytale retellings, but this felt very much “of its time,” a time when YA fantasy especially was given to underestimating its readers and relying on overly simplistic storytelling techniques.
Kate’s Rating 6 : I definitely appreciated the deconstruction of the Snow White and Evil Queen relationship in this book, but I felt like the storytelling wasn’t as focused as I would have liked it to be.
Serena’s Rating 7: While I appreciated the focus on the relationship between Mina and Lynet, the storytelling itself left much to be desired.
Book Club Questions
This is a Snow White retelling that jumps through timelines and through perspectives of both the Snow White character and the Evil Queen character. Were you able to follow it as it jumped between times and perspectives?
What did you think of the father/daughter relationships in this story?
What were your thoughts on the relationship between Lynet and Mina? Was it surprising you to you that Bashardoust went in this direction?
What were your thoughts on Felix? How did he compare to other Huntsmen portrayals?
What did you think of the way the concepts of snow and glass were used as metaphors in this novel? Did it work for you? Why or why not?
Did you have any opinions on the magical systems in this book? Did they seem consistent, and did they make sense?
How did you feel about the ending? Was it satisfying?
Book Description: Penny’s abusive father is dead…but she still hears his voice in her head, encouraging her to hurt those around her. She can’t go to school or be around her friends or even draw with a sharp pencil without her intrusive thoughts urging her toward violence. Desperate to get a handle on her OCD, she agrees to spend the summer at Camp Whitewood—an exclusive therapy retreat in the woods.
She feels optimistic when she arrives. The other girls all have their reasons for being there, which makes Penny feel a little less alone. But then she starts seeing things that can’t possibly be there: the gold watch her father was buried with, his favorite whiskey spilled on her cabin floor…a terrifying figure she calls the Shadow Man looming at the foot of her bed. Penny thinks she is losing her mind, but when a girl goes missing, and is later found dead, it’s clear that whatever is happening at Camp Whitewood isn’t all in her head.
As the hallucinations become increasingly intense and more girls wind up dead, Penny must work with whoever is left standing to figure out what is real before the Shadow Man uses their traumas against them and claims their lives.
Review: Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an ARC of this novel!
I had a LOT of emotional issues when I was a teenager. I had three separate therapists addressing different parts of my mental health, was on medication for a couple of years, and have been in therapy throughout most of my life (and I am incredibly grateful to have had all that access to these things over the years). I never got to the point where I was in need of intensive in patient therapy, and I certainly never found myself shipped off to a wilderness therapy camp that has secrets and perhaps a roving monster in the woods. So while THAT aspect of “The Darkness Greeted Her” by Christina Ferko wasn’t super relatable, the mental health aspects were (at least to some degree, it was NEVER as all encompassing for me as it was for main character Penny).
The biggest theme of his horror novel, as so many horror tales have done in recent years (and I’m not mad about it!), is how people who have gone through traumatizing childhoods are shaped and haunted by said trauma. For Penny and her camp mates, they all come to Camp Whitewood with the hopes of finding peace and psychological help, but instead are being tormented and in some cases eaten by a monstrous entity in the woods that takes the shape of their fears and pain. Old hat? Sure. But for me it’s still effective, and I think that it’s always something to be talked about for YA readers and a message I probably could have used as a depressed teenager back in the day. But not only did we get insight into our first person protagonist’s trauma, I also liked getting some chapters that would lay out the formative moments that brought that other girls to this therapy camp. So we do have a shadow creature living in the woods that is a threat, but at the same time we have a number of teenagers who have dealt with all too real horrors, like abusive alcoholic fathers, guilt over horrible mistakes that have become internalized to a dangerous degree, and other traumas that have festered and caused these girls to be susceptible to the monster’s appetites.
In terms of the suspense and dread, I will say that some of the pacing felt a bit off, and perhaps at times a bit too drawn out. It wasn’t a particularly scary story to me, but that is almost assuredly a ‘your mileage may vary’ situation because there are definitely some creepy and suspenseful aspects, especially with the worries about whether or not Penny was going to be overcome by her Harm OCD tendencies and hurt someone else or herself. The monster was interesting in that it shifts its form to reflect the different campers fears, mixing in folk horror with “Nightmare on Elm Street” to a degree (it also got a little close to Wendigo mythology, but didn’t use the term or the specific background so I feel like it wasn’t fully treading into appropriative territory, correct me if I’m wrong though!). The metaphors of trauma and mental illness bolstered it up quite a bit.
So all in all, “The Darkness Greeted Her” is another solid horror story that makes monsters out of real life horror stories. I think that teenage horror fans will probably enjoy it.
Rating 7: A creepy story about trauma and monsters, of the supernatural and all too human kind, though it felt a bit laggy at times.
It’s been eighteen years since Suzanne Collins wrote “The Hunger Games”, the smash hit literary sensation that continues to feel relevant and capture the attention of readers. This ongoing series will be a review series of both the Suzanne Collins books, as well as the film adaptations of the novels. I will post my review on the last Thursday of the month as we revisit the totalitarian world of Panem and the hope of the Mockingjay.
Book Description: Sparks are igniting. Flames are spreading. And the Capitol wants revenge.
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol—a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.
Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest that she’s afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she’s not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol’s cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can’t prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.
In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before . . . and surprising readers at every turn.
Review: I mentioned before that this is a part re-read/re-watch, part initial read, as while I read “The Hunger Games” proper (as well as “Songbirds” and “Reaping”) and have seen all of the movies, I didn’t read “Catching Fire” or “Mockingjay” because I was told that they weren’t as good as the first book. I don’t know who told me that, thinking back. It wasn’t my husband, who has read ALL of the books (and dove into the series the moment we got back from the first movie), but whoever it was is on notice because while I was reading “Catching Fire” I muttered to myself ‘okay, this is really good, who lied to me?!’
Mystery person, whoever you are, welcome to my shit list. I WILL NOT FORGIVE THIS DISCREPANCY! (source)
I think that what I really liked about this book (and I liked it about the movie version too so why oh WHY couldn’t I have used my brain to realize the book was probably also good!?) is that we get to not only get some expanded lore about Panem and the aftermath of ‘winning’ The Hunger Games, we also see the folly of trying to appease a fascist, and the way that revolutions can slowly gain momentum because of fates aligning in just the right way (I will undoubtedly talk more about this when I eventually review “Sunrise on the Reaping”). Katniss and her Night Lock rebellion at the end of hers and Peeta’s games has enamored her with the citizens of the Capitol, but President Snow sees this moment not as two lovers willing to die for each other, but a direct threat to his power because of how it showed that, in fact, he cannot control the district citizens, and therein cannot control Panem. Since this is a first person perspective and it’s all through Katniss’s eyes we don’t REALLY get to see the way that the uprisings are starting, outside of hints here and there, but as she goes on her Victory Tour and more people connect with her, she becomes more desperate to appease Snow to keep her loved ones safe. She is not in control any more than he is, and it made for such a fascinating trajectory for her.
I also liked spending more time in District Twelve and getting more insight into what her mother and sister Prim have been doing (healers!), and seeing how Katniss and Peeta are heroes but nothing really changes for their community outside of having bragging rights (and honestly, how it just gets worse as Snow gets more desperate and more brutal Peacekeepers are sent into the District and wreak more havoc). And while I don’t like Gale, I do like seeing a bit more of him and his perspective as a non Victor who has to play his own part by nature of being Katniss’s friend (and the first glimmers of radicalization that are being set in motion even more so). By the time things are starting to get out of control and Snow and Katniss both realize she can’t stop it, her death is going to be the only recourse, and therefore the Quarter Quell happens and Victors from all over are pulled into it as a huge ruse to take her out. And probably send a message that none of them better get any ideas. You cannot appease fascists, and that is a clear theme in this novel (as all of Collins’s novels have themes).
And the Games this time around are brutal. I mean, they are always brutal, but we add in a layer of the absolute unfairness of all of these victors being brought back to fight again in spite of the trauma they have already endured and the promise that they could be left alone after their initial win. Katniss doesn’t know who she can trust in the arena, knowing that she has made SOME alliances, or has been thrown into others, and the suspense of having to be in another fight to the death while thinking maybe she CAN trust some of the players (but maybe not?) just adds to the suspense, especially since we are seeing it all through her eyes. This also is the book that we meet one of my other absolute favorite “Hunger Games” characters, Johanna Mason, and having only seen her on screen until this point it was VERY gratifying seeing her on the page. Because she manages to be even MORE bitchy here, and seeing her be a terror was a lot of fun. At the same time, however, I feel like it was almost more interesting leading up to the games, as while this is still pulse pounding and a great dystopian thriller, I don’t think that it could top those initial games because it was so novel in the initial book, even with the added suspense about the other tributes and their motivations.
And the cliffhanger packs a wallop too. Poor Katniss. She tried to hard to keep her loved ones safe and then her whole community gets blown off the map in retaliation. Snow being on the page more this time made it all the more cruel, I think, because she tried her best but it was never going to be good enough. That’s one of the ultimate tragedies of this series that I will probably keep harping on as my reading and viewing goes on: she never wanted this. And even when she grudgingly accepts it, and even if it is for the greater good of Panem, she’s just a kid, and it’s such a weight to carry.
“Catching Fire” was another great read in this series. I’m kicking myself for having left it by the wayside all those years ago. Up next is “Mockingjay”, the one I was told by many was the most boring. But after reading this one and finding it better than I was told, I’m thinking that I will probably be taken aback by how deceived I was with that one too. I guess we’ll see!
Rating 8: We get more into the intrigue of a fomenting revolution seen through the eyes of someone who never meant to start it, as well as more insight into a totalitarian society. Throw in another brutal games and “Catching Fire” is another harrowing read, and I’m glad I finally picked it up!
Book Description: Wispy Falls’ town motto is: “You’ll be safe here!” But that doesn’t seem to be true. Because in Wispy Falls, monsters live in the woods, and children go missing, and the bodies are beginning to stack up.
A seventeen-year-old vlogger known as Storymancer is determined to get to the bottom of what’s wrong in Wispy Falls. A few years ago his six-year-old brother went missing in the woods and no one in town seemed to care enough to find him.
So now he’s investigating why every household participates in something called the Bloodmoon Ritual, why cryptid sightings are so common, and why everyone who goes into the woods goes missing. If he can’t fix what’s wrong with the town, he just might be the next body in the woods.
Told primarily through video transcripts, message boards, and radio shows, this Welcome to Nightvale-inspired horror will chill you to your core.
Review: Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an ARC of this novel!
It’s been awhile since I read a Rin Chupeco book, not necessarily because I was avoiding it (on the contrary, I’ve enjoyed basically all of the Chupeco books I’ve read!), but just because I lose track of authors sometimes. So when “We’re Not Safe Here” ended up in my mailbox I was excited to say the least. And reading the description of the book made me all the more interested. I love a found footage/media story format, I like the idea of weird dangerous cryptids lurking outside a strange town, and if you’re going to reference “Welcome to Night Vale” I’m going to be all the more intrigued. Quirky and weird podcast reference from awhile back in my personal lore? Yes please! I went in with pretty optimistic expectations. But I’m sorry to say that “We’re Not Safe Here” didn’t live up to the expectations I had.
But first the good. The description does reference the podcast “Welcome to Night Vale”, which was a huge incentive for me to read it because I was REALLY into “Night Vale” for a few years back in the day (I kind of lost interest after the StrexCorp storyline wrapped up). And as I was reading it I definitely got the “Night Vale” vibes, with the found media transcripts of broadcasts and the generally casual speak of cryptids and monsters stalking to woods really harkening to the charm of that podcast that really pulled me in. I also loved some of the gnarly descriptions of the various cryptids, especially The Backwards Lady. Because man, do I LOVE a weirdly misshapen and creepy and menacing lady whose face you cannot see. Chupeco has always done a really good job of taking on these kinds of unsettling horror tropes, and the concept of all of these cryptids and the found footage transcriptions really was incredibly interesting and promising for a horror novel. Top tier concept for sure.
Unfortunately, it never really quite came together. I feel like we were getting hints throughout our transcripts and video descriptions and chat logs and message boards, but it felt like it kept going on and on and there wasn’t really much steady build up. It was more of a continual stall out. I also found a lot of aspects of it to be pretty confusing. I had to keep paging back earlier to double check my facts, and I don’t know if it was because of the format of so much transcription and video footage or if it was something else. And by the time we did get to the end I felt like there were a lot of questions that remained unanswered, as well as a really abrupt end which felt unsatisfying. It was such a shame because I generally have enjoyed the books that Chupeco has put out in the past, and this one felt like such a miss it was kind of shocking.
“We’re Not Safe Here” had a great concept and premise but didn’t execute it super well. I’d sadly have to say skip it.
Rating 5: A great concept with some nice callbacks to “Welcome To Night Vale”, but it dragged a bit by the end and felt rushed and muddled.
Reader’s Advisory:
“We’re Not Safe Here” is included on the Goodreads list “Midnight Reads”.
It’s been eighteen years since Suzanne Collins wrote “The Hunger Games”, the smash hit literary sensation that continues to feel relevant and capture the attention of readers. This ongoing series will be a review series of both the Suzanne Collins books, as well as the film adaptations of the novels. I will post my review on the last Thursday of the month as we revisit the totalitarian world of Panem and the hope of the Mockingjay.
Book Description: Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
Review: I got back from a week long cruise with friends this past Monday, having to sink back into the real world like one always does after a vacation. As I was taking my kid to school on Tuesday and I was pulling into the drop off lane, I noticed something that hadn’t been there before I left: there were now people in green vests standing on the corners by the various drop off and pick up entrances to her elementary school, keeping an eye on the drivers who were coming and going. I immediately clocked that they were there to watch out for ICE. Coming back to reality after a fun trip with dear friends is already hard; it’s even harder when you come back to an occupied metro area that has an ever present anxiety of our neighbors being harassed and kidnapped and murdered, especially when those being targeted include children.
Welcome to “Fire Catching”, my series where I revisit “The Hunger Games”, the dystopia phenomenon written by Suzanne Collins. It had been some time since I read the first book in the series, almost fifteen years probably by my count, though my husband and I have watched the movies many times. When I read it originally it was a fun dystopia with complicated world building, nuanced characters, and a lot of action that fit well together and created a book that I read in about one afternoon. I really loved it then. I still really love it on this revisit, though it feels a bit closer to home these days. This will be a review for the most part! That’s what you are here for. But I’m sure I’ll also be reflective a bit. I feel like I have to be.
What strikes me about “The Hunger Games” this time around is just how much Collins trusts her readers to be able to handle dark and complicated themes, while also being able to break them down for the audience in ways that aren’t condescending but are easy to understand. Katniss Everdeen is our first person protagonist, a sixteen year old girl living in a poverty stricken community known as District 12, one part of multiple districts that have to answer for a rebellion against The Capitol years earlier. The districts answer by sending two kids, one boy and one girl, drawn by a lottery, to a battle to the death. Katniss isn’t selected, she volunteers so that her gentle younger sister Prim doesn’t have to go. It’s most likely that you know the story. But I never get sick of it, and re-reading it this time I was pleased with how harrowing her story of training, preparing, fighting, and having to perform for her oppressors as entertainment remains. Katniss is prickly, she’s had to grow up far too fast (not just because of life in the Districts but also because of her father’s death leaving her mother catatonic for a spell), and now she has been chosen to be a prop for an oppressive government’s bloodsport. She’s complex and hard headed, but Collins is also great and bringing her vulnerability out, more than happy to remind the reader that she is a child who has been put into a horrifying situation. We see everything through her eyes, and while sometimes it’s a bit on the nose as to how she is misinterpreting things (girl, of COURSE Peeta adores you and has adored you this whole time), but at the same time I fully believe that she has EVERY reason to be paranoid and to think the worst of people, whether it’s her drunk mentor Haymitch, or even the sweet and quiet Peeta.
And we are just starting to scratch the surface of the world building for Panem and its history here, and Collins gives us enough information to make a compelling story while also holding enough back to give us much more to work with as the series goes on. The idea of children’s peril and death being used as punishment and control isn’t new by any means (from The Minotaur to “The Long Walk” to “Battle Royale” it has been seen in so many stories throughout history), but the way that Collins builds this world makes it feel freshly horrifying. With Katniss giving tidbits about how the Hunger Games work, the various ins and outs of how the system can be rigged and gamed based on social standing (because even in the oppressed districts there are still class differences within themselves and between themselves), hints of how The Capitol crushes dissent with a veneer of beauty and wealth, and showing how death has been turned into eagerly eaten up entertainment due to years of propaganda, the world building is rich and incredibly well done. The games themselves are horrifying, more horrifying than I remembered from the first time I read it. I’m sure that’s in part due to the fact I now have a child of my own that I can’t help but project into the horrors, as well as the other stuff going on in my community that seems downright dystopian at the moment. Still so relevant, unfortunately.
This is going to be a gratifying and intense re-read, I can tell. “The Hunger Games” is still such a great start to the series. Next up I will tackle “Catching Fire”. Which I haven’t actually read! So that will be interesting!
And please take a look at this link for Stand With Minnesota, a resource hub for mutual aid, donation drives, and other resources to help communities all over my home state right now. We need help.
Rating 9: Still as harrowing and relevant as when it first came out, which is both a positive (for timelessness purposes) and negative (for the too real feels of it all).
Book Description: At her lowest point, a teen girl finds solace and a potential crush in her local theater’s mascot’s DMs, sparking a quest to uncover the true identity of this mysterious figure. From the bestselling author of The Magic Fish comes a new fairy tale romance with a twist.
What do you do when you’re the girl who can do it all, and suddenly you can’t?
After burning out last year, Angelica is ready to get her life back together. Thankfully she has amazing friends to support her…including Peri the Bear, the mascot of her town’s local theater. At her lowest moments, Angelica found comfort in private messaging Peri’s social media account, and well, she might have a bit of a crush. Now, Angelica is interning at the local theater in the hopes of finding the person beind the account and thanking them. Who was this mysterious stranger and why did they help her out? Was it just caring for a stranger…or did they feel the same connection that Angelica felt?
Review: I’ll level with people a bit here, I’ve been having an exhausting and draining week with everything going on in the Twin Cities. And whenever I am facing burnout and mental stress, I find it very difficult to concentrate on reading for very long. When I was at a local bookstore gathering information and resources for my community, I saw “Angelica and the Bear Prince” by Trung Le Nguyen. We are reading his previous graphic novel “The Magic Fish” for book club this month (keep an eye out for that in the near future), and one of our members said that she had read this newest book and really liked it. So on a whim I tossed it onto my stack of things and bought it. I figured that maybe my attention span could focus a bit better on another graphic novel. And I was right. Not only because I find graphic novels easier to process during these kinds of times, but also because “Angelica and the Bear Prince” to be delightful and sweet and exactly what I needed.
Much like “The Magic Fish” before it, “Angelica and the Bear Prince” has a gentle feel and a lot of heart. We follow Angelica, or “Jelly” to her loved ones, as she starts an internship at a local theater after having a suffered a severe case of overextension and burnout that left her drained for months. It just so happens that she has struck up a friendship with a fan account of Peri the Bear, the theater’s mascot, and she wonders if working at the theater will help her find out who her new friend is. But a simple rom-comesque premise is actually teeming with a lot of emotion, not just for Jelly but for those around her. The story discusses grief, pushing down emotions, and the downside of trying to persevere, and it isn’t just Jelly who is struggling. We have a rich cast of supporting characters, from Jelly’s mother who is still grieving the death of her own mother (and who has pressed it all down within herself), to Gable, Jelly’s mysterious pen pal who was once Jelly’s friend but is now shy to reveal that they are the person Jelly has been talking with, to Christine, Jelly’s best friend whose relationship is on thin ice. I liked how Nguyen shows all of the different ways that grief and loneliness can affect a person, and how it can apply to so many different situations, be it actual death, or a simple changing of a relationship. But it’s also a story about connection and reconnection, be it renewing old friendships, or a child and a parent finding unexpected commonalities, or finding a new sense of self. It’s just lovely and sweet.
I also liked how it was all backdropped against the fairy tale “East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon”, another fairy tale retelling from Nguyen with similar deconstructions of the themes from the source material. I am not as familiar with “East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon”, but I liked how the bear was Gable’s bear costume for the theater production, and how Jelly was the princess who was trying to find out the secrets of the bear vis a vis figuring out who her mysterious pen pal is. And without going into the story itself as that would require me to talk about spoilers a bit, Nguyen is very creative in taking certain beats of the original story and transferring them to this one, which is more a coming of age contemporary tale as opposed to an actual fairy tale. It just works really well.
And I really like Nguyen’s art style still. He is so good at capturing a contemporary aesthetic as well as a fantastical one, and I really liked how it combined for both kinds of vibes within the story.
“Angelica and the Bear Prince” is a charming romance and coming of age tale that felt like a calming balm as I was reading it.
Rating 8: A sweet and gentle romance that talks about grief, love, growing up, and finding connection in many ways. It was a quiet read I needed in this tense and exhausting moment.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Angelica and the Bear Prince” is included on the Goodreads list “YA Novels of 2025”.
Also….
If anyone is wondering how you can help immigrant communities in Minnesota while ICE continues to occupy our streets and cities, HERE is an article that has a lot of mutual aid links of all kinds.
Book Description: In the mists of the Scottish Highlands is a university where vampire students study alongside humans.
Rebecca Charity is a vampire hunter undercover at the university, searching for the mysterious Book of Blood and Roses, a lost compendium of ways to kill vampires. If she finds it, she’ll be one step closer to avenging her parents, who were slain by those creatures of the night.
But when Rebecca arrives, she finds something unexpected: a coffin. Her new roommate is Aliz Astra, scion of one of the most powerful vampire families… and the most beautiful woman Rebecca has ever met.
The maddeningly gorgeous Aliz is everything that Rebecca has always hated, but also everything she ever wanted, and now Rebecca doesn’t know if she wants to kiss or kill her.
When Aliz rescues her from a vampire attack one moonlit night, she accidentally makes Rebecca her familiar. Now, they must work together to break the curse, but as they get closer to solving the mystery, Rebecca and Aliz get closer, too.
But can a vampire hunter ever fall in love with a vampire?
Review: A reader’s reception of this book will largely, I believe, have to do with their feelings toward vampires. If you’re happy with the general boundaries laid out in other stories like Buffy and True Blood, then you might enjoy this. But if you’re looking for anything deeper to be added to vampire lore, or for any of your expectations for a vampire romance novel to be subverted, well…you’ll probably be a bit underwhelmed, like I was.
That’s not to say that this was a bad book. It sets out with a goal: to tell a sapphic “enemies to lovers” (hold the “enemies”) vampire story that takes place in a school setting. And it proceeds to do just that, but never much more than that. At times it felt like the author was on a personal mission to include every single piece of vampire lore in the book, with not a change made to any of them in sight. I kept waiting for what would make these vampires different from the rest, and there just wasn’t anything. Plus, if you think about it, most vampire stories only include a few of the common vampire tropes. Because, like you see when you step back and evaluate this book’s version of monsters, when you include them all (garlic, silver, sleeping in coffins, etc.), it all starts to feel a bit silly.
The romance itself was fine, though it definitely fell closer to the “instalove” side of the spectrum than not. I also think the whole “enemies” thing was fairly overblown. Not all romances need this element; indeed, the vast majority would be better to avoid it altogether unless the actual story calls for it. And even here, with the concept of a vampire and vampire hunter put together as roommates and falling in love, the “enemies” portion felt rather silly right from the start.
This wasn’t helped by the fact that I didn’t enjoy the main character. For an individual with a covert mission, she was wildly obvious at every moment in both her thoughts and actions. She was also incredibly judgmental of everyone around her. While this could have led to an interesting arc of growth and understanding, I don’t feel like this was ever accomplished. The writing was also incredibly simplistic, often relying on telling the reader exactly how our main character or those around her are feeling, rather than showing any development.
All of this comes across as rather harsh, but I think my strongest feeling when closing the book was apathy. Like I said, it’s not a bad book by any means. The story, while simple, was paced well, and I think many readers will connect with the romance more than I did. Unfortunately for me, I just wanted a bit more from a vampire romantasy.
Rating 7: Inoffensive but also not inspiring, this book included pretty much every vampire trope you can imagine while changing none of them.
Reader’s Advisory:
“The Book of Blood and Roses” can be found on these Goodreads lists: 2026 Debuts and 2026 Queer SFF.
Book Description: A gripping, genre-bending novel about a mysterious new drug plaguing a small town and one girl who must uncover the terrifying truth behind the haunting side effects—or she will be next.
At sixteen Kyra is still haunted by the horrors she saw as little girl living with her mother’s drug addiction. Years later, Kyra doesn’t always feel like she belongs—and disturbing dreams come to her at night.
When a new party drug makes its way to her high school, Kyra’s life becomes an actual nightmare. A challenge spreads among the students thanks to a few videos circulating—and Kyra is unable to escape the inexplicably strange side effects.
Everyone around her seems to be mysteriously changing, including the people she loves the most. Her brother has a new personality overnight. Her best friend suddenly feels like a stranger. The only other person who seems to be noticing the eeriness around them is Logan, the new boy at school. Like Kyra, he has steered clear of the party scene.
But as strange occurrences begin to turn sinister, Kyra can’t shake the feeling that something unnatural is at play . . . as if something deadly spreading is in their veins. With Logan’s help, she decides to find out exactly what is behind the mysterious drug—before they’re next. As they begin to get closer to the truth, the line between Kyra’s past and her present blurs . . . and she will need to face the terrors inside herself to save everyone.
Review: Thank you to Delacorte Press for giving me an ARC at ALAAC25!
When I heard that Clay McLeod Chapman was writing a YA horror novel in 2025, my knee jerk reaction was ‘wait what?’. In part because when I think of hi as a horror author, I think of really graphic, no holds barred, visceral horror. Like VISCERAL HORROR. So the thought was a little out there to me at first. But shortly after my initial ‘um’ reaction, I thought ‘well, I bet he could do it. Probably.’ Because I do find Chapman to be such a great horror writer, even if his books have disgusted, horrified, and sometimes traumatized (kidding… kinda) me. When I read about “Shiny Happy People” I thought that it sounded pretty promising, and I was VERY interested to see how it would compare to the books he writes for an adult audience. I never should have doubted, because this book translates well for a new kind of audience while still being pretty creepy and unnerving.
This is very much an homage to “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” stories, with a fair amount of emphasis on the 1978 Version starring Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams (just look for the easter eggs!), but Chapman does a stellar job of making it feel more in tune with modern YA sensibilities. We have Kyra, a girl who had a rough start at childhood due to her mother’s drug abuse and neglect, who is now living with an adoptive family in a small town trying to just have a normal life. Until a new party drug called “Spore” starts making the rounds at her high school, and videos of her classmates taking it go viral, and seemingly improves their lives even if they seem… off. Kyra is a great choice of protagonist for a body snatchers story, as she has a traumatic past with drugs and will not be easily swayed to try anything even before it’s clear that something is up, and I enjoyed seeing her slowly piece things together as more and more people start changing. The tension as she and new kid Logan try to solve the mystery all as time is running out was well paced and taut, and even though I’m familiar with the general beats that this kind of story takes (and therefore could pinpoint what was going to most likely happen next), I still found it to be engaging and suspenseful.
But I also liked how Chapman still takes the idea of a metaphor of the pod people as insert whatever it may be here (as so many stories have had so many kinds of symbolism) and update it for a modern YA audience. Here there are some pretty clear themes about conformity, peer pressure and the need to feel included (viral video challenges on social media always seem to come from this), and drug use, as well as fears of Big Pharma and some interesting takes on gentrification. It can feel a LITTLE scattered at times, but it didn’t really bother me too much because so many of these kinds of pod person stories can speak to so many different kinds of fears, and lots of that can overlap. It’s also really fun seeing Chapman easily jump from writing some really gonzo and grotesque adult horror to a more toned down but still horrifying/in his wheelhouse brand of horror for a younger audience. It’s a testament to how talented that he is as an author.
“Shiny Happy People” is a very fun YA horror tale from one of my favorite horror authors! If you like any kind of pod person/”Invasion of the Body Snatchers” tale, this is a new one to add to the genre you should check out!
Rating 8: A fun homage to “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” packaged for a modern teen audience, “Shiny Happy People” is a departure for Clay McLeod Chapman that shows his appeal across audiences.
Just on a personal note as a lifelong Minnesotan who has lived in Minneapolis, who has friends who live in the Powderhorn neighborhood, who has people I love in South Minneapolis, I just want to say please keep Minneapolis, and Minnesota, in your thoughts. This community, this state, has been through so much pain the past few years. Please keep the loved ones of Renee Nicole Good in your thoughts, as well as the people being targeted by ICE in our neighborhoods. And if you can, please donate to the GoFundMe that is going to support Good’s child and wife.
The Library Ladies 