C. J. Daley
A huge thanks to Scholastic/Chicken House for sending over a physical ARC. I said yes for the cover alone, look at its glory! Luckily the writing doesn’t disappoint either.
Faye Fitzgerald did something awful. She knows it, but she can’t seem to remember it. A dark and stormy night, the hole in the garden wall, and an incident that damaged an incredibly old yew tree, and her aunt! Faye was always a bit of an outsider, never wanting to stay in school, preferring to sit in the trees and read. So why would she have caused one damage? Her father can hardly stand to look at her, her aunt is bedridden, and this was the last straw. Sent away to a boarding school for troubled children on a remote island, Faye must struggle through mistreatment, misremembering, and more, all while the call of the forest is within nightly reach.
I really enjoyed the setting for this. The island is almost a character itself, the author allowing you to explore and map it out at the same time Faye does. Its placement in the 1930s allowed for some style in the writing, including some terms that have become dated otherwise, that actually raised this somewhat outside of the realm of middle grade or young adult. If possible, it lands somewhere as an elevated version of the two in a gothic mystery with elegant prose. I was hooked, the pages flowing, and I simply had to continue reading.
Faye is a great character. Referred to as “wicked” by the school’s owners, she constantly battles with that assessment, bearing her innocence, kindness, and love for others and nature to the world. She’s not some wicked thing, just a girl, a child, nothing more or less. Or, is she? The hints at magical realism, at the fantastical or supernatural, were plot points that had me so eager to read more to gain answers. Faye’s father, the botanist, the believer in faeries, the lover of trees and their eternal roots. That same love borne to Faye, that ache in her belly to be with nature. She is both intriguing as something possibly other, and as just a sweet girl in need of the right attention and love. To be nurtured within nature. You really can easily find yourself caring for her. Rooting for her.
Her friends on the island, which are made in secret or in shared trauma, Boudicca and Prince Filiberto, are both a great level of comic relief. I’m not certain the story itself needed levity, or that I expected it, but I was surely glad for it when it happened. Both bodacious, one is loud and proud, the other protective and dramatic. I thoroughly enjoyed them both. One of them refuses to submit, to bow down, the other, a survivor, manages to persist like something (less creepy though) from The Boy. Most importantly, they both accept, believe, and help Faye.
For me, the way the author manages to wrap everything up is what solidified it as a 5/5 read. The mystery is intriguing, but I had a few things pegged from the start—though this made it no less enjoyable. It was in how she took readers through to the end that sold it all for me. The emotional pull, the gut-punch of everything that’s been building, is very deftly handled. I got teary for sure. I felt for Faye, believed in her and her journey, so the ending was a grand slam. The relationships are so important to this story, and each of them were wrapped in a way that felt like a cozy blanket (albeit slightly emotionally barbed at first).
I think this would be the perfect read for kids that are fans of mystery or thriller, but also perhaps for those big-time young readers that want something with a tad more skill and weight to it. I will definitely be on the lookout for this author now!
A huge thanks to Scholastic/Chicken House for sending over a physical ARC. I said yes for the cover alone, look at its glory! Luckily the writing doesn’t disappoint either.
Faye Fitzgerald did something awful. She knows it, but she can’t seem to remember it. A dark and stormy night, the hole in the garden wall, and an incident that damaged an incredibly old yew tree, and her aunt! Faye was always a bit of an outsider, never wanting to stay in school, preferring to sit in the trees and read. So why would she have caused one damage? Her father can hardly stand to look at her, her aunt is bedridden, and this was the last straw. Sent away to a boarding school for troubled children on a remote island, Faye must struggle through mistreatment, misremembering, and more, all while the call of the forest is within nightly reach.
I really enjoyed the setting for this. The island is almost a character itself, the author allowing you to explore and map it out at the same time Faye does. Its placement in the 1930s allowed for some style in the writing, including some terms that have become dated otherwise, that actually raised this somewhat outside of the realm of middle grade or young adult. If possible, it lands somewhere as an elevated version of the two in a gothic mystery with elegant prose. I was hooked, the pages flowing, and I simply had to continue reading.
Faye is a great character. Referred to as “wicked” by the school’s owners, she constantly battles with that assessment, bearing her innocence, kindness, and love for others and nature to the world. She’s not some wicked thing, just a girl, a child, nothing more or less. Or, is she? The hints at magical realism, at the fantastical or supernatural, were plot points that had me so eager to read more to gain answers. Faye’s father, the botanist, the believer in faeries, the lover of trees and their eternal roots. That same love borne to Faye, that ache in her belly to be with nature. She is both intriguing as something possibly other, and as just a sweet girl in need of the right attention and love. To be nurtured within nature. You really can easily find yourself caring for her. Rooting for her.
Her friends on the island, which are made in secret or in shared trauma, Boudicca and Prince Filiberto, are both a great level of comic relief. I’m not certain the story itself needed levity, or that I expected it, but I was surely glad for it when it happened. Both bodacious, one is loud and proud, the other protective and dramatic. I thoroughly enjoyed them both. One of them refuses to submit, to bow down, the other, a survivor, manages to persist like something (less creepy though) from The Boy. Most importantly, they both accept, believe, and help Faye.
For me, the way the author manages to wrap everything up is what solidified it as a 5/5 read. The mystery is intriguing, but I had a few things pegged from the start—though this made it no less enjoyable. It was in how she took readers through to the end that sold it all for me. The emotional pull, the gut-punch of everything that’s been building, is very deftly handled. I got teary for sure. I felt for Faye, believed in her and her journey, so the ending was a grand slam. The relationships are so important to this story, and each of them were wrapped in a way that felt like a cozy blanket (albeit slightly emotionally barbed at first).
I think this would be the perfect read for kids that are fans of mystery or thriller, but also perhaps for those big-time young readers that want something with a tad more skill and weight to it. I will definitely be on the lookout for this author now!
I love the cover for this one, and I’m all for the found footage vibes, so I’ve been meaning to get to this one for far too long. I’ve read Hide by the author, which I did enjoy, but it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. MM on the other hand, was right up my alley. The narration by Rebecca Lowman was fantastic, perfectly embodying the hidden strength beneath Val’s memory losses.
Mister Magic, the beloved adult lead on the now impossible to find children’s show, has been missing since the 90s. The show met an abrupt end, and just like that, it was all gone. While many of the world’s children remember, even still scouring forums and late night chats hoping for info, Val knows nothing of it. She may remember nursery rhymes and little idioms, but for the most part her childhood is a veil. Living out the better part of the last 30 years working on a ranch, the death of her father closes one door in her life, but opens others in a multitude of ways. Cast members from the show make an appearance at the funeral, bringing up memories of their past, and even a proposition. A new podcast, aiming to bring the cast back together, is the first glimmer of hope people have found in all the years since the show’s ending … but what’s the catch?
Wow. I mean, this had me hooked from like the first sentence. Partly due to the narrator performance, but also the way it was structured. The opening hints something at least semi-sinister, then you jump right into Val at her day job, then Val losing her father. I particularly loved how chapters would end with a switch in focus, giving the reader more of the lore of Mister Magic through email threads, reddit forums, and online articles. The author’s use of the in-world peoples’ lack of knowledge really helped to hammer in the mystery. The show just disappeared. Even the cast is super shady on its ending.
Mister Magic, a cloak-toting shadowy figure, brings to mind something a little different for almost everyone. For me, the show and character made me think of the film Mr. Crocket, with its invitation to keep kids “safe,” the film I Saw the TV Glow, both for the TVs faint glow at night as well as the show feeling more like real life than television, and then for some reason I was thinking of these two as if they were hosted by Jack the Donkey from the movie Hokum. While the world seems to revere him, and the cast remembers life as much better with him, the looming mystery overhead had me thinking this guy was fishy from the jump. And it was super creepy, the fans’ near-cultish behavior surrounding it.
I thought Val worked well as a lead. She’s clearly strong, but her memory loss or suppression makes it so that nothing is a surprise for the reader. Well, in terms of her decision making! (The novel has plenty of twists and turns). Whenever something is revealed, you’re forced to wonder if she’s remembering it or experiencing it for the first time, and even if the memory is buried, that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t impactful in some way that’s formative for her. She was the cast’s leader, a protector, a guide, and there are traits of this on display throughout the novel long before the story makes this known.
I really enjoyed this cast of characters. I love how the “circle of friends” members each signified a form of regret, neglect, and nostalgia. Because that’s really what this is about right, nostalgia? Who doesn’t look back on their childhood years with a fond, teary eye? Who doesn’t remember turning the TV on at all hours and finding their favorite reruns on cable? For my part, various notes of this reminded me of Barney, Power Rangers, even Spongebob—that trusty sidekick of a show that was always on for us. Now I’m not sure I ever wanted those memories to bear the slight tilt of creepiness that they will now due to this novel, but I’m sure these characters never wanted to return to things just to realize the facade was pitted and scarred either. Alcoholism, drug addiction, work addiction, staying closeted, even being an overbearing parent, are all things that make their way to the surface as these people wish for “the way that it was,” but the thing that makes nostalgia such a bitch is that those things can’t be replicated. When we try, when we truly remember them even, they aren’t always worth that effort.
This is a horror, thriller, and mystery for fans of taking nostalgia and turning the creepiness up. For fans of stories twinged with the supernatural, the culty, the unsolved and unresolved. I even really enjoyed how the author tied being raised mormon into the story itself—certainly worth reading the acknowledgements to fully understand, too. This one worked wonders for me.
I love the cover for this one, and I’m all for the found footage vibes, so I’ve been meaning to get to this one for far too long. I’ve read Hide by the author, which I did enjoy, but it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. MM on the other hand, was right up my alley. The narration by Rebecca Lowman was fantastic, perfectly embodying the hidden strength beneath Val’s memory losses.
Mister Magic, the beloved adult lead on the now impossible to find children’s show, has been missing since the 90s. The show met an abrupt end, and just like that, it was all gone. While many of the world’s children remember, even still scouring forums and late night chats hoping for info, Val knows nothing of it. She may remember nursery rhymes and little idioms, but for the most part her childhood is a veil. Living out the better part of the last 30 years working on a ranch, the death of her father closes one door in her life, but opens others in a multitude of ways. Cast members from the show make an appearance at the funeral, bringing up memories of their past, and even a proposition. A new podcast, aiming to bring the cast back together, is the first glimmer of hope people have found in all the years since the show’s ending … but what’s the catch?
Wow. I mean, this had me hooked from like the first sentence. Partly due to the narrator performance, but also the way it was structured. The opening hints something at least semi-sinister, then you jump right into Val at her day job, then Val losing her father. I particularly loved how chapters would end with a switch in focus, giving the reader more of the lore of Mister Magic through email threads, reddit forums, and online articles. The author’s use of the in-world peoples’ lack of knowledge really helped to hammer in the mystery. The show just disappeared. Even the cast is super shady on its ending.
Mister Magic, a cloak-toting shadowy figure, brings to mind something a little different for almost everyone. For me, the show and character made me think of the film Mr. Crocket, with its invitation to keep kids “safe,” the film I Saw the TV Glow, both for the TVs faint glow at night as well as the show feeling more like real life than television, and then for some reason I was thinking of these two as if they were hosted by Jack the Donkey from the movie Hokum. While the world seems to revere him, and the cast remembers life as much better with him, the looming mystery overhead had me thinking this guy was fishy from the jump. And it was super creepy, the fans’ near-cultish behavior surrounding it.
I thought Val worked well as a lead. She’s clearly strong, but her memory loss or suppression makes it so that nothing is a surprise for the reader. Well, in terms of her decision making! (The novel has plenty of twists and turns). Whenever something is revealed, you’re forced to wonder if she’s remembering it or experiencing it for the first time, and even if the memory is buried, that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t impactful in some way that’s formative for her. She was the cast’s leader, a protector, a guide, and there are traits of this on display throughout the novel long before the story makes this known.
I really enjoyed this cast of characters. I love how the “circle of friends” members each signified a form of regret, neglect, and nostalgia. Because that’s really what this is about right, nostalgia? Who doesn’t look back on their childhood years with a fond, teary eye? Who doesn’t remember turning the TV on at all hours and finding their favorite reruns on cable? For my part, various notes of this reminded me of Barney, Power Rangers, even Spongebob—that trusty sidekick of a show that was always on for us. Now I’m not sure I ever wanted those memories to bear the slight tilt of creepiness that they will now due to this novel, but I’m sure these characters never wanted to return to things just to realize the facade was pitted and scarred either. Alcoholism, drug addiction, work addiction, staying closeted, even being an overbearing parent, are all things that make their way to the surface as these people wish for “the way that it was,” but the thing that makes nostalgia such a bitch is that those things can’t be replicated. When we try, when we truly remember them even, they aren’t always worth that effort.
This is a horror, thriller, and mystery for fans of taking nostalgia and turning the creepiness up. For fans of stories twinged with the supernatural, the culty, the unsolved and unresolved. I even really enjoyed how the author tied being raised mormon into the story itself—certainly worth reading the acknowledgements to fully understand, too. This one worked wonders for me.
Grabbed this on audible in the late stages of my crusade to read all my fellow authors in FanFiAddict’s The Book of Spores Anthology. While I reference the author’s The Frozen Crown in my story, as it was so perfectly fitting for my short story featuring Ice Elves, QoDs spoke to me and the narration clicked so I went with it instead. I was not disappointed.
Balthazar is the leader of a group of thieves, but it wasn’t always this way. Once, his father was in charge of the entire island, but the governorship was stolen from him, and the family fell from grace. Now, they manage some pretty high stakes robberies. The latest of which, pits them against the very governor that killed his father and offers him a chance at revenge as well as a chance to make so much coin he can get his crew out of the game for good. Or at least, that’s always the hook. Instead, they barely escape a desperate attempt to keep a god from entering their plane of existence. Too bad the god’s only kind of gone but certainly not forgotten, and still clinging on for a second attempt.
Bal’s team is richly developed and seriously dysfunctional. Made up from the remnants of his family, he takes charge of his cousin and cousin-in-law, his illegitimate brother, his ex-bride to be, and his younger sister. The book says they are known for pulling off some crazy jobs, but woof, if the author didn’t say so I wouldn’t have believed it for all the bickering. This is a perfectly crafted display of a family torn apart but still grasping onto the threads. They all variably want out, can’t seem to agree on anything, and can’t seem to keep it together enough to get anything done. Even planning! So naturally, they come together either way by the end, just like family does.
The Queen of Days is one hell of a cool character. A mask wearing being, known for pulling off impossible feats, and all she asks for is the buyer’s time. I thought it was creepy and clever at the same time, not to mention the storing and powering up of this time reminded me of something you’d seen in like a Wolfenstein game or something. It’s definitely not something I’ve ever read in a fantasy. Orphaned through betrayal and deceit, and desiring to belong (although maybe not realizing that), she functions as a really important piece of the team. As a half-god, this is a nice addition, as it bridges the gap between their worlds, showing a possible coexistence, and her closeness with the team’s youngest member will pull at your heartstrings regardless of where she’s from. She is, of course, also a complete badass. Strong, mysteriously talented and efficient, and willing to sacrifice for the team.
The novel itself, which I saw tagged as ‘high fantasy’ on goodreads, is (at least to my mind) definitely more epic fantasy than anything. Bal’s crew utilizes guns, which gives the story a bit of a gas-lamp or flintlock flavor. They also reference the crew owning and operating an airship multiple times, which feels like almost a nod toward scifi. The most interesting thing to me though, is while this does sprinkle in notes that feel like Bardugo’s Six of Crows, Peloquin’s Queen of Thieves, and Kuhn’s Among Thieves, this still managed to feel like it’s own little pocket(dimension) of fantasy—carving out its own corner on the fantasy bookshelf. I hope you’ll pick this one up!
Grabbed this on audible in the late stages of my crusade to read all my fellow authors in FanFiAddict’s The Book of Spores Anthology. While I reference the author’s The Frozen Crown in my story, as it was so perfectly fitting for my short story featuring Ice Elves, QoDs spoke to me and the narration clicked so I went with it instead. I was not disappointed.
Balthazar is the leader of a group of thieves, but it wasn’t always this way. Once, his father was in charge of the entire island, but the governorship was stolen from him, and the family fell from grace. Now, they manage some pretty high stakes robberies. The latest of which, pits them against the very governor that killed his father and offers him a chance at revenge as well as a chance to make so much coin he can get his crew out of the game for good. Or at least, that’s always the hook. Instead, they barely escape a desperate attempt to keep a god from entering their plane of existence. Too bad the god’s only kind of gone but certainly not forgotten, and still clinging on for a second attempt.
Bal’s team is richly developed and seriously dysfunctional. Made up from the remnants of his family, he takes charge of his cousin and cousin-in-law, his illegitimate brother, his ex-bride to be, and his younger sister. The book says they are known for pulling off some crazy jobs, but woof, if the author didn’t say so I wouldn’t have believed it for all the bickering. This is a perfectly crafted display of a family torn apart but still grasping onto the threads. They all variably want out, can’t seem to agree on anything, and can’t seem to keep it together enough to get anything done. Even planning! So naturally, they come together either way by the end, just like family does.
The Queen of Days is one hell of a cool character. A mask wearing being, known for pulling off impossible feats, and all she asks for is the buyer’s time. I thought it was creepy and clever at the same time, not to mention the storing and powering up of this time reminded me of something you’d seen in like a Wolfenstein game or something. It’s definitely not something I’ve ever read in a fantasy. Orphaned through betrayal and deceit, and desiring to belong (although maybe not realizing that), she functions as a really important piece of the team. As a half-god, this is a nice addition, as it bridges the gap between their worlds, showing a possible coexistence, and her closeness with the team’s youngest member will pull at your heartstrings regardless of where she’s from. She is, of course, also a complete badass. Strong, mysteriously talented and efficient, and willing to sacrifice for the team.
The novel itself, which I saw tagged as ‘high fantasy’ on goodreads, is (at least to my mind) definitely more epic fantasy than anything. Bal’s crew utilizes guns, which gives the story a bit of a gas-lamp or flintlock flavor. They also reference the crew owning and operating an airship multiple times, which feels like almost a nod toward scifi. The most interesting thing to me though, is while this does sprinkle in notes that feel like Bardugo’s Six of Crows, Peloquin’s Queen of Thieves, and Kuhn’s Among Thieves, this still managed to feel like it’s own little pocket(dimension) of fantasy—carving out its own corner on the fantasy bookshelf. I hope you’ll pick this one up!
Thanks to Scholastic for the physical ARC! This is my first outing with the Graphix line outside of the Goosebumps ones. I love this cover.
The opening starts with a snowy road, a bus full of kids, and no cell service. After a crash, they are stuck in the freezing storm with little hope of getting help. A cabin in the distance seems like the best option for getting out of the elements. Too bad the knee deep snow is in their way, and too bad they’re not alone. Then, internet sibling sensations, Jen and Dante arrive, determined to get their daily stunt video shot in full. After racing down the mountain, and finding their helicopter empty, what seems like a prank gone wrong just might turn out to be more than they bargained for.
The opening chapter is a fantastic start. The snow storm, the lack of service, then the blown tire. The someone or something under the snow is so super creepy. I did find myself wondering, like with swimming underwater where it’s displaced, wouldn’t the movement beneath the deep snow move or even collapse what’s stacked above, but I don’t need all the answers. It’s a great hook. It really establishes that something’s wrong in record time.
I thought the art itself was fantastic. It meshes black and white with splashes of blue and grey hues to give more of a sense of depth and lighting. I particularly enjoyed the blood still being bright red though, it reminded me of The Walking Dead, especially the spinoff TWD: The Alien, which really goes all out on the red blood (and I read that one most recently). I also thought the swirling of the snow, which did in fact end of looking almost like a whirlpool, was a neat way to show off all the movement too.
The ending was equal parts silly, surprising, and absolutely rad. I mean, snow vampires? Frost vampires that are locked in a specific region that they can’t escape from? A region that just so happens to have the cabin built right on it? And Jen, Dante, and their team just so happen to end up there when it’s getting awfully dark. Their only way to survive is to make it through the night. Even with unexpected help, the vampires have been trying to infiltrate the cabin for hours … and they are getting bolder.
Put your believability aside, the author is telling you the frost vampires are there, are real. The longer you take to believe, the more of a chance they have to get inside. Sit back and enjoy this intense little YA winter thriller that brought to mind The Thing and 30 Days of Night if the casts were teenagers.
Thanks to Scholastic for the physical ARC! This is my first outing with the Graphix line outside of the Goosebumps ones. I love this cover.
The opening starts with a snowy road, a bus full of kids, and no cell service. After a crash, they are stuck in the freezing storm with little hope of getting help. A cabin in the distance seems like the best option for getting out of the elements. Too bad the knee deep snow is in their way, and too bad they’re not alone. Then, internet sibling sensations, Jen and Dante arrive, determined to get their daily stunt video shot in full. After racing down the mountain, and finding their helicopter empty, what seems like a prank gone wrong just might turn out to be more than they bargained for.
The opening chapter is a fantastic start. The snow storm, the lack of service, then the blown tire. The someone or something under the snow is so super creepy. I did find myself wondering, like with swimming underwater where it’s displaced, wouldn’t the movement beneath the deep snow move or even collapse what’s stacked above, but I don’t need all the answers. It’s a great hook. It really establishes that something’s wrong in record time.
I thought the art itself was fantastic. It meshes black and white with splashes of blue and grey hues to give more of a sense of depth and lighting. I particularly enjoyed the blood still being bright red though, it reminded me of The Walking Dead, especially the spinoff TWD: The Alien, which really goes all out on the red blood (and I read that one most recently). I also thought the swirling of the snow, which did in fact end of looking almost like a whirlpool, was a neat way to show off all the movement too.
The ending was equal parts silly, surprising, and absolutely rad. I mean, snow vampires? Frost vampires that are locked in a specific region that they can’t escape from? A region that just so happens to have the cabin built right on it? And Jen, Dante, and their team just so happen to end up there when it’s getting awfully dark. Their only way to survive is to make it through the night. Even with unexpected help, the vampires have been trying to infiltrate the cabin for hours … and they are getting bolder.
Put your believability aside, the author is telling you the frost vampires are there, are real. The longer you take to believe, the more of a chance they have to get inside. Sit back and enjoy this intense little YA winter thriller that brought to mind The Thing and 30 Days of Night if the casts were teenagers.
This one has been on my TBR for a minute and when I had the chance to bump it up for the Indie Ink Awards, I didn’t hesitate!
The erstwhile Tyler Kyle has received a video that looks to be proof of his missing mother having been on a remote island. But when his best friend, and YouTube channel counterpart, doesn’t receive permission to visit and Tyler does, he goes ahead without him. Even though they’ve received emails from some super stalker, he goes anyway … because that’s what you do when you’re Tyler Kyle. But as things begin to unravel, both on the island, as well as in Tyler’s life (and mind), he will struggle to find answers even at the cost of his own safety.
First and foremost, since I first saw this cover when the book was announced I honestly have thought the title was The Erstwhile Tyler Kelly, even going so far as to refer to it as such when thinking about it. So feel free to take anything I say with a pinch of salt, because apparently I can’t even read. Don’t judge a book by its cover? Don’t … read a book by its cover. I don’t know.
Anyway, I’ve been wanting to read this for a good while now. The main character of Tyler is one half of a cryptid hunting show that, even if unsuccessful in finding proof, has gone on to find some decent popularity. It made me think of my two best friends in BestGhost, and the author and I have even spoken about some parallels. After getting into this, I can see that the best friends in this certainly have a different dynamic to mine, often flirting with each other to the point of fans launching their own fan-fictions. The book features a rift between them, and a drunken mistake one night is actually why Tyler was so willing to go off alone all willy nilly. Well, that and the fact that there’s a chance for news of his mother.
Tyler is a complicated main character, often propelling himself into situational self-sabotage and unnecessary danger. However, with this being a novel and all, I can forgive him quite a lot, and I do find that I like him overall. As a man that has struggled with his own sense of self and purpose (and attractions), I can even see pieces of myself in Tyler as well, just not the manwhoring. I’ve never been huge on the use of smut or spice scenes in books, however this does do well with showing off how they seem to come at Tyler from all angles. More often than not, these things kind of happen to him, not directly because of him, but most definitely because of how unsure he is. I like that it’s an approach I would not have taken if it were my own writing, personally, and yet it’s an incredibly honest and spot on way to showcase his struggles with self worth. I try hard not to insert my own style onto other’s stories, however when doing so brings to light something that I think is particularly deftly handled, I’m all for it. Westenra has a distinct voice.
If being in love with your best friend and coworker isn’t enough. If your mom going missing and allegedly having stayed on an island with a mock-cowboy that’s definitely the head of a cult isn’t enough either, the author paints the island as its own separate entity. From a bunker in the woods that felt a la Lost (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) that requires swimming through what is essentially a moat, to strange elk-ish monster noises, large “bear traps”, an “art display” of old skeletons nailed to trees, and an insane stray dog population, this place just seems to be one big ball of secrets and deception. This part really brought me enjoyment, I had zero idea where this was going and where it went to eventually my mind hadn’t even considered. I also love the tough conversation around being in any way LGBTQ, as the town’s initial purpose was to be a conversion camp, pushing the limits beyond what is socially, and even legally, acceptable. And I think it was really well developed and delivered in how the people in the town free themselves from one oppressor just to be trapped in a different cage.
Perhaps not the happy ending you’d imagine, but there is a sense of resolution. Between Tyler and Josh, between Tyler and Conrad, Conrad and his people, between the island and its stagnant and bigoted past. People might still be on a leash of sorts, but the taste of freedom is just the beginning for those willing to reach for it. Great for fans of mystery and thriller, with horror and supernatural elements, and a taste of romance—it’s even, in many ways, inherently, darkly humorous. This is unique in a way that I feel has some mass appeal, especially in the current market with CJ Leede, Brian McAuley, and Chuck Tingle’s works being on the rise. I think this would successful share self space with them. I hope you’ll check it out.
This one has been on my TBR for a minute and when I had the chance to bump it up for the Indie Ink Awards, I didn’t hesitate!
The erstwhile Tyler Kyle has received a video that looks to be proof of his missing mother having been on a remote island. But when his best friend, and YouTube channel counterpart, doesn’t receive permission to visit and Tyler does, he goes ahead without him. Even though they’ve received emails from some super stalker, he goes anyway … because that’s what you do when you’re Tyler Kyle. But as things begin to unravel, both on the island, as well as in Tyler’s life (and mind), he will struggle to find answers even at the cost of his own safety.
First and foremost, since I first saw this cover when the book was announced I honestly have thought the title was The Erstwhile Tyler Kelly, even going so far as to refer to it as such when thinking about it. So feel free to take anything I say with a pinch of salt, because apparently I can’t even read. Don’t judge a book by its cover? Don’t … read a book by its cover. I don’t know.
Anyway, I’ve been wanting to read this for a good while now. The main character of Tyler is one half of a cryptid hunting show that, even if unsuccessful in finding proof, has gone on to find some decent popularity. It made me think of my two best friends in BestGhost, and the author and I have even spoken about some parallels. After getting into this, I can see that the best friends in this certainly have a different dynamic to mine, often flirting with each other to the point of fans launching their own fan-fictions. The book features a rift between them, and a drunken mistake one night is actually why Tyler was so willing to go off alone all willy nilly. Well, that and the fact that there’s a chance for news of his mother.
Tyler is a complicated main character, often propelling himself into situational self-sabotage and unnecessary danger. However, with this being a novel and all, I can forgive him quite a lot, and I do find that I like him overall. As a man that has struggled with his own sense of self and purpose (and attractions), I can even see pieces of myself in Tyler as well, just not the manwhoring. I’ve never been huge on the use of smut or spice scenes in books, however this does do well with showing off how they seem to come at Tyler from all angles. More often than not, these things kind of happen to him, not directly because of him, but most definitely because of how unsure he is. I like that it’s an approach I would not have taken if it were my own writing, personally, and yet it’s an incredibly honest and spot on way to showcase his struggles with self worth. I try hard not to insert my own style onto other’s stories, however when doing so brings to light something that I think is particularly deftly handled, I’m all for it. Westenra has a distinct voice.
If being in love with your best friend and coworker isn’t enough. If your mom going missing and allegedly having stayed on an island with a mock-cowboy that’s definitely the head of a cult isn’t enough either, the author paints the island as its own separate entity. From a bunker in the woods that felt a la Lost (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) that requires swimming through what is essentially a moat, to strange elk-ish monster noises, large “bear traps”, an “art display” of old skeletons nailed to trees, and an insane stray dog population, this place just seems to be one big ball of secrets and deception. This part really brought me enjoyment, I had zero idea where this was going and where it went to eventually my mind hadn’t even considered. I also love the tough conversation around being in any way LGBTQ, as the town’s initial purpose was to be a conversion camp, pushing the limits beyond what is socially, and even legally, acceptable. And I think it was really well developed and delivered in how the people in the town free themselves from one oppressor just to be trapped in a different cage.
Perhaps not the happy ending you’d imagine, but there is a sense of resolution. Between Tyler and Josh, between Tyler and Conrad, Conrad and his people, between the island and its stagnant and bigoted past. People might still be on a leash of sorts, but the taste of freedom is just the beginning for those willing to reach for it. Great for fans of mystery and thriller, with horror and supernatural elements, and a taste of romance—it’s even, in many ways, inherently, darkly humorous. This is unique in a way that I feel has some mass appeal, especially in the current market with CJ Leede, Brian McAuley, and Chuck Tingle’s works being on the rise. I think this would successful share self space with them. I hope you’ll check it out.
Huge thanks to Scholastic for the physical ARC. I thought the cover had the potential for a super creepy middle grade read.
Carter John has a problem with getting in trouble. His school teacher doesn’t seem to want to understand that his growing body is just foreign to him. He’s too tall, legs too long for the short school desks, his voice is newly deep and uncontrollable. And even though his best friend, Gianna, defends him and his actions, his teacher just doesn’t seem to care. But then they receive a partner project, and Carter John realizes the chance at an A could be what stands between him dragging Gianna down with him, and proving to his teacher and parents that he’s not a problem. After some brainstorming, the two friends settle on a historical figure that leads them down a path of racial discomfort that even links directly to something similar in their own town and library history.
Right off the bat I was really interested in how the author decided to weave history and historical figures into the narrative itself. What the middle grade reader will receive is this blend of mystery and suspense with a healthy dose of educational history and racial commentary. There is the history of the second black astronaut to go to space, Dr. Ron McNair, which I found incredibly wholesome that Gianna backs her friend’s interest in wholeheartedly, and McNair’s mistreatment at a recently desegregated library in his hometown as a kid. The author ties these factors back into the current narrative by the inclusion of the girl from the ashes. A ghostly girl that shows up only when Carter John is alone and she does nothing but stir up mischief. She’s angry, and that anger has festered until its burning so brightly and hotly that it’s nearly inextinguishable.
While the mystery itself for me was a little on the undeveloped side, I really enjoyed how the author handled this novel. How someone’s desire and will to read led to their almost eternal haunting of a library with a sordid past. How their mistreatment led to deep rooted anger, but also despair. And I thought it was well crafted that the author ties this all back into Carter John’s journey and possible mistreatment. Because it’s okay to say it, he’s the nearly six foot tall black kid—the one that too quickly started to look and sound like a man—and while he may be too gentle to outright see as a threat or “thug,” the implication is certainly there with words like “delinquent” and his teacher only singling him out. At best he’s viewed as the disruptive, loud, joke-cracking wise guy, but it’s so clearly tied to his race as well.
Ultimately, this novel features a deep through line on redemption. Shining a new light on Ron McNair and the tragedy of the Challenger disaster, giving peace and eternal rest to the girl from the ashes, who was wrongfully burned alive in a library fire, and Carter John with his pure heart and super eagerness to learn and explore. The story features strong friendship and understanding, teaches the concept of learning the whole picture before you judge, and displays deep love from concerned parents. It’s highlighting the issue with race in our country, but it’s not condemning us, it’s sharing hope for a road forward, and I think that is a very special message to share with young minds. Empathy and a willingness to learn with always trump anger, bigotry, and hate.
Huge thanks to Scholastic for the physical ARC. I thought the cover had the potential for a super creepy middle grade read.
Carter John has a problem with getting in trouble. His school teacher doesn’t seem to want to understand that his growing body is just foreign to him. He’s too tall, legs too long for the short school desks, his voice is newly deep and uncontrollable. And even though his best friend, Gianna, defends him and his actions, his teacher just doesn’t seem to care. But then they receive a partner project, and Carter John realizes the chance at an A could be what stands between him dragging Gianna down with him, and proving to his teacher and parents that he’s not a problem. After some brainstorming, the two friends settle on a historical figure that leads them down a path of racial discomfort that even links directly to something similar in their own town and library history.
Right off the bat I was really interested in how the author decided to weave history and historical figures into the narrative itself. What the middle grade reader will receive is this blend of mystery and suspense with a healthy dose of educational history and racial commentary. There is the history of the second black astronaut to go to space, Dr. Ron McNair, which I found incredibly wholesome that Gianna backs her friend’s interest in wholeheartedly, and McNair’s mistreatment at a recently desegregated library in his hometown as a kid. The author ties these factors back into the current narrative by the inclusion of the girl from the ashes. A ghostly girl that shows up only when Carter John is alone and she does nothing but stir up mischief. She’s angry, and that anger has festered until its burning so brightly and hotly that it’s nearly inextinguishable.
While the mystery itself for me was a little on the undeveloped side, I really enjoyed how the author handled this novel. How someone’s desire and will to read led to their almost eternal haunting of a library with a sordid past. How their mistreatment led to deep rooted anger, but also despair. And I thought it was well crafted that the author ties this all back into Carter John’s journey and possible mistreatment. Because it’s okay to say it, he’s the nearly six foot tall black kid—the one that too quickly started to look and sound like a man—and while he may be too gentle to outright see as a threat or “thug,” the implication is certainly there with words like “delinquent” and his teacher only singling him out. At best he’s viewed as the disruptive, loud, joke-cracking wise guy, but it’s so clearly tied to his race as well.
Ultimately, this novel features a deep through line on redemption. Shining a new light on Ron McNair and the tragedy of the Challenger disaster, giving peace and eternal rest to the girl from the ashes, who was wrongfully burned alive in a library fire, and Carter John with his pure heart and super eagerness to learn and explore. The story features strong friendship and understanding, teaches the concept of learning the whole picture before you judge, and displays deep love from concerned parents. It’s highlighting the issue with race in our country, but it’s not condemning us, it’s sharing hope for a road forward, and I think that is a very special message to share with young minds. Empathy and a willingness to learn with always trump anger, bigotry, and hate.
Bought this on audio as another in my quest to read all my fellow authors in The Book of Spores Anthology. Veronica Rotar did a good job with the narration, I enjoyed the main characters and the various accents used for the side characters.
A world that has mostly ended. A town stands alone. Surrounded by a malignant mist that is only held back by the teamwork of who’s left. Justine, a farming apprentice, and her sister, Anna, an engineering apprentice, must stick together through thick and thin. After the death of the ill farmer, the responsibility falls on Justine to reorganize and notify the townsfolk that rationing will be needed in order to make it through the winter. Discomfort often leads to anger. Starvation often leads to desperation. Mix the two together, and you’ve got the makings of a rebellion.
Now I don’t know much about the folklore, or if this was just accents chosen by the narrator, but this seemed to be at least, in part, some kind of Slavic inspired. I was unsure of why the kids wouldn’t have similar accents to those that raised them, but it may have been a stylistic choice to differentiate between the generations? Either way I really enjoyed the slight differences between the main sisters the most.
This reminded me of Ryan’s The Feeding with its walled off bastions of civilization, of Sansbury Smith’s Hell Divers with its unknown creatures in the mist feel, of Glukhovsky’s Metro 2033 with its showcasing of vestiges of civilization holding on through farming, community, and history. But unlike the three of those, this feels much more so in the world of fantasy. Even with its dystopian, post apocalyptic themes, it felt somewhat otherworldly to me. Probably because of the talk of mages, the mist, and the supposed creatures within it, but I suppose this could be an urban fantasy leaning scifi story as well. I think those possibilities are one of its strengths, not just in wider appeal, but its ability to deliver on an intriguing level of mystery.
My favorite part of this was the siblings. The sisters and their stepbrother, although all different and from differing educations/backgrounds, they stick together like a true family unit when things get bad. Even through all the doubt, they remain tight knit. Even when the worry pushing them to arguing, they are still 100% there for each other. I think it was really well thought out too that each has something different to offer. One an engineer, who created the device that pushes back the mist, another a town guard, fighter, and protector, the last a leader and wholly devoted to keeping the others alive. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a story like this where the cast is actually all siblings, but I certainly enjoyed it. I mean … even with some comps offered above, I’ve never read a story like this in any sense actually.
Not only is this unique, but it’s also a short enough story that you can enjoy it without bogging down your TBR too much. I’m a fan of chonky books as much as the next person, but sometimes a well written, well paced shorter story to fit in between just feels right. This will hit for fans of genre blends, dystopian or post apocalypse stories that still feature hope, and fantasy and scifi readers alike.
Bought this on audio as another in my quest to read all my fellow authors in The Book of Spores Anthology. Veronica Rotar did a good job with the narration, I enjoyed the main characters and the various accents used for the side characters.
A world that has mostly ended. A town stands alone. Surrounded by a malignant mist that is only held back by the teamwork of who’s left. Justine, a farming apprentice, and her sister, Anna, an engineering apprentice, must stick together through thick and thin. After the death of the ill farmer, the responsibility falls on Justine to reorganize and notify the townsfolk that rationing will be needed in order to make it through the winter. Discomfort often leads to anger. Starvation often leads to desperation. Mix the two together, and you’ve got the makings of a rebellion.
Now I don’t know much about the folklore, or if this was just accents chosen by the narrator, but this seemed to be at least, in part, some kind of Slavic inspired. I was unsure of why the kids wouldn’t have similar accents to those that raised them, but it may have been a stylistic choice to differentiate between the generations? Either way I really enjoyed the slight differences between the main sisters the most.
This reminded me of Ryan’s The Feeding with its walled off bastions of civilization, of Sansbury Smith’s Hell Divers with its unknown creatures in the mist feel, of Glukhovsky’s Metro 2033 with its showcasing of vestiges of civilization holding on through farming, community, and history. But unlike the three of those, this feels much more so in the world of fantasy. Even with its dystopian, post apocalyptic themes, it felt somewhat otherworldly to me. Probably because of the talk of mages, the mist, and the supposed creatures within it, but I suppose this could be an urban fantasy leaning scifi story as well. I think those possibilities are one of its strengths, not just in wider appeal, but its ability to deliver on an intriguing level of mystery.
My favorite part of this was the siblings. The sisters and their stepbrother, although all different and from differing educations/backgrounds, they stick together like a true family unit when things get bad. Even through all the doubt, they remain tight knit. Even when the worry pushing them to arguing, they are still 100% there for each other. I think it was really well thought out too that each has something different to offer. One an engineer, who created the device that pushes back the mist, another a town guard, fighter, and protector, the last a leader and wholly devoted to keeping the others alive. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a story like this where the cast is actually all siblings, but I certainly enjoyed it. I mean … even with some comps offered above, I’ve never read a story like this in any sense actually.
Not only is this unique, but it’s also a short enough story that you can enjoy it without bogging down your TBR too much. I’m a fan of chonky books as much as the next person, but sometimes a well written, well paced shorter story to fit in between just feels right. This will hit for fans of genre blends, dystopian or post apocalypse stories that still feature hope, and fantasy and scifi readers alike.
Huge thanks to the publisher for inviting me to give this audio arc a listen! I really enjoyed Bury Your Gays, so I jumped at the chance to give this one a listen. A simpler cover than my previous read by the author, but I love the colors. Mara Wilson(!) does the narration for this. She does a great job of bringing the main character, Poppy, to life.
Poppy is a social media influencer on the rise. The only thing about being on the rise, though, is that it’s not currently paying the bills. The problem with that is that an influencer has to be up on trends, fashion, lifestyle, all things that are evolving constantly. Things that are expensive. Let’s not forget that Poppy also has a daughter to take care of. Her solution? Stealing and selling corpses to the highest bidder. As you can imagine, that’s a night job that brings her into pretty close proximity with some shady folks … something awfully different from the glamorous life she portrays on her phone. But on the day her musical idols dies in a freak accident, she receives a call that changes absolutely everything, someone wants to hire her, for an unbelievable sum, and what they want is her recently deceased idol, Eddie’s, corpse.
One thing I’m picking up here, that I am also carrying over from my time with Bury Your Gays, is that the author will never hand us something that’s not actually a blend of somethings. While BYG was horror slasher and scifi, this one feels more horror slashery and supernatural. Yet it’s also more—body horror that plays in undead and even zombie tropes before stomping its way into otherworldly entity. It smacks readers with the eerie and uncanny, as Eddie Michaels is both genuinely dead and also not. It makes me wonder what exactly the flesh of a body counts for if the person, the being, is truly within.
This one felt particularly heavy. While there are things surrounding content creating, social media, and clout chasing in general, the undertone of what’s left unsaid hit me the most. In the age of indie writers, authors, blogs, and all-things reviewers, it can be daunting to progress in a world where social media is designed by an algorithm that mostly seems to award those that funnel funds into it. While this novel features an adult doing the chasing, there are warning signs for the younger ages that feel like these things are what really matters in this world. We teach children, and allow ourselves to be fooled too, that things like interactions, like counts, shares, and saves are the sum of our self worth, and that’s a mighty dangerous foe. And that’s before accounting for the literal murderous reanimated corpse!
I really enjoyed the dynamic that blossoms between Poppy and her daughter. From their first on-page appearance, where Poppy is more busy with content than parenting, to that burgeoning, growing, burning maternal need to get back to her baby. If love is real then Poppy spent too long being blind to it, taking for granted all the things that truly matter most. But the author hit a home run for me in their ability to tie this into the theme in the paragraph above. Poppy realizes slowly throughout the novel how blinded she’s been, how nothing whatsoever could ever be more important than her daughter. Spending real quality time with her. It works beautifully as a driving force in the novel, and is a powerful message for readers. There’s even the darkly humorous note that Poppy’s neglectful, downright nonexistent, father is to blame for her own parental awakening.
The action, which does happen quite often in this one, is really gruesome and gory. Eddie’s ability to remove people’s impulse control, to force them to do whatever he says, reminded me of the One Wish Willow in Obsession. However, instead of a one-time deal with the ability to erase all autonomy and self, Eddie can do so at will, over and over again. And he uses this ability with gleeful abandon. The amount of blood soaked people and locations left over from this one is astounding. And shockingly unique, too. By the end of this novel, Poppy has to be one of, if not THE most, injured character I’ve ever seen in any story. While a few people thought my Detective Williams faced too many injuries in Welcome to Cemetery, this one truly elevates that to infinity. While this does play into the supernatural, which affords more extended disbelief, I still wondered how in the hell she was alive, let alone standing too. Good for her! I’d guess it’s more of that maternal adrenaline-fueled need to get to her daughter again.
If you are not used to Tingle’s work, but are willing to give stories that are kind of out there a go, this one is perfect for you. The horror is on par with Leede’s new Headlights and does share a sort of otherworldly vibe if you need a comp. Vividly unique, wildly gory, and heinously deadly.
Huge thanks to the publisher for inviting me to give this audio arc a listen! I really enjoyed Bury Your Gays, so I jumped at the chance to give this one a listen. A simpler cover than my previous read by the author, but I love the colors. Mara Wilson(!) does the narration for this. She does a great job of bringing the main character, Poppy, to life.
Poppy is a social media influencer on the rise. The only thing about being on the rise, though, is that it’s not currently paying the bills. The problem with that is that an influencer has to be up on trends, fashion, lifestyle, all things that are evolving constantly. Things that are expensive. Let’s not forget that Poppy also has a daughter to take care of. Her solution? Stealing and selling corpses to the highest bidder. As you can imagine, that’s a night job that brings her into pretty close proximity with some shady folks … something awfully different from the glamorous life she portrays on her phone. But on the day her musical idols dies in a freak accident, she receives a call that changes absolutely everything, someone wants to hire her, for an unbelievable sum, and what they want is her recently deceased idol, Eddie’s, corpse.
One thing I’m picking up here, that I am also carrying over from my time with Bury Your Gays, is that the author will never hand us something that’s not actually a blend of somethings. While BYG was horror slasher and scifi, this one feels more horror slashery and supernatural. Yet it’s also more—body horror that plays in undead and even zombie tropes before stomping its way into otherworldly entity. It smacks readers with the eerie and uncanny, as Eddie Michaels is both genuinely dead and also not. It makes me wonder what exactly the flesh of a body counts for if the person, the being, is truly within.
This one felt particularly heavy. While there are things surrounding content creating, social media, and clout chasing in general, the undertone of what’s left unsaid hit me the most. In the age of indie writers, authors, blogs, and all-things reviewers, it can be daunting to progress in a world where social media is designed by an algorithm that mostly seems to award those that funnel funds into it. While this novel features an adult doing the chasing, there are warning signs for the younger ages that feel like these things are what really matters in this world. We teach children, and allow ourselves to be fooled too, that things like interactions, like counts, shares, and saves are the sum of our self worth, and that’s a mighty dangerous foe. And that’s before accounting for the literal murderous reanimated corpse!
I really enjoyed the dynamic that blossoms between Poppy and her daughter. From their first on-page appearance, where Poppy is more busy with content than parenting, to that burgeoning, growing, burning maternal need to get back to her baby. If love is real then Poppy spent too long being blind to it, taking for granted all the things that truly matter most. But the author hit a home run for me in their ability to tie this into the theme in the paragraph above. Poppy realizes slowly throughout the novel how blinded she’s been, how nothing whatsoever could ever be more important than her daughter. Spending real quality time with her. It works beautifully as a driving force in the novel, and is a powerful message for readers. There’s even the darkly humorous note that Poppy’s neglectful, downright nonexistent, father is to blame for her own parental awakening.
The action, which does happen quite often in this one, is really gruesome and gory. Eddie’s ability to remove people’s impulse control, to force them to do whatever he says, reminded me of the One Wish Willow in Obsession. However, instead of a one-time deal with the ability to erase all autonomy and self, Eddie can do so at will, over and over again. And he uses this ability with gleeful abandon. The amount of blood soaked people and locations left over from this one is astounding. And shockingly unique, too. By the end of this novel, Poppy has to be one of, if not THE most, injured character I’ve ever seen in any story. While a few people thought my Detective Williams faced too many injuries in Welcome to Cemetery, this one truly elevates that to infinity. While this does play into the supernatural, which affords more extended disbelief, I still wondered how in the hell she was alive, let alone standing too. Good for her! I’d guess it’s more of that maternal adrenaline-fueled need to get to her daughter again.
If you are not used to Tingle’s work, but are willing to give stories that are kind of out there a go, this one is perfect for you. The horror is on par with Leede’s new Headlights and does share a sort of otherworldly vibe if you need a comp. Vividly unique, wildly gory, and heinously deadly.
As you know; I grabbed the 1-3 box set on audio, so I decided to roll right on through them all. The narration is fantastic, I really feel like it embodies the character and the first person POV so well, so if you’re into audiobooks, my suggestion is to go this route for sure.
Book 3 brings back Ivy, her devilishly handsome Mage Lord, and a slew of side characters that readers both know and love at this point, and some that we may not too. This one sees Ivy recalled to the faerie in the woods, drawn back by the favor she promised to fulfill in book one. The author layers this over a murder mystery, where multiple shifters are being found dead. Both in, and outside of, their own territory. And how is it that every time tensions are on the rise, just when everything was tenuously held together, that it’s Ivy found right there in the mix of things? She’s charged with hunting down a fae talisman. The failure of which will surely kill her. Yet again, she’s also faced with juggling the possibility of war breaking out and the collapsing of the realms.
I will say in this one Ivy began to really grate on me. She’s brusque, sarcastic, plucky, and sometimes downright aggressive. It often lends nothing to the situation she’s in, too. That’s the name of the game with her, as I learned from two previous books, but wow she makes every professional situation way harder than it should be! And I get that it would be hard as hell to be calm and centered while almost everyone is at least against you (or actively trying to harm you), but I did question her hireability a bit in this one … although clearly it works its magic on the Mage Lord.
Fans will be pleased—read: screaming and raving from the stands and rafters—that Ivy and the Mage Lord do finally step fully into the realm of romance … just as I predicted at the end of my review for book 2. They are navigating the whole boss/subordinate thing, the constant battles and danger around them, and then of course the fact that Ivy refuses to listen, always throwing herself into impossibly mad situations with no regards for her own life, but hey, all that seems to be what mage-man is into. There is a hint there of Ivy being attracted to the mysterious, brooding, seemingly dangerous guy, but I think it’s going WAY far in the opposite direction here.
While unconventional, after three novels I think it’s safe to say that this is actually a sleeper “chosen one” story. Ivy is human. She never showed any signs of being a witch or mage or shifter, and she certainly isn’t faerie. I mean, sure, go grab the family tree or whatever (and this may get further addressed in a later book), but so far the stance has been that she is just human or “normal”. Yet through all of her trials and tribulations, she’s continually proven to be worthy, to not be found wanting, to surmount and surpass the odds and expectations. She may not be the classic farm boy, but this isn’t a straightforward fantasy either. I think that this works, especially in the ever changing landscape the author has set out to create.
I don’t know if this was originally set up to be a trilogy, but this one follows a sort of similar arc as one. Book 2 had a lull in stakes, but this one pulls it all back into what feels like a story-arc showdown. Bigger and badder enemies, including a possibly longtime buried dragon god (?!), and more injuries than you can count. And this has been what—a few days or weeks? I know with magic there are healing spells, but woof, they still feel it all! These folks must be capital-T Tired. And who knows as there are series that feature multiple sets, cycles, or even actual trilogies, maybe that is the set up here, as there are 4 more books to tackle currently and also a prequel short. If you’re looking for solid action and characters surrounded by an urban fantasy setting that’s magically charged, this is a series that can last you. You’ve got my stamp of approval to check it out.
As you know; I grabbed the 1-3 box set on audio, so I decided to roll right on through them all. The narration is fantastic, I really feel like it embodies the character and the first person POV so well, so if you’re into audiobooks, my suggestion is to go this route for sure.
Book 3 brings back Ivy, her devilishly handsome Mage Lord, and a slew of side characters that readers both know and love at this point, and some that we may not too. This one sees Ivy recalled to the faerie in the woods, drawn back by the favor she promised to fulfill in book one. The author layers this over a murder mystery, where multiple shifters are being found dead. Both in, and outside of, their own territory. And how is it that every time tensions are on the rise, just when everything was tenuously held together, that it’s Ivy found right there in the mix of things? She’s charged with hunting down a fae talisman. The failure of which will surely kill her. Yet again, she’s also faced with juggling the possibility of war breaking out and the collapsing of the realms.
I will say in this one Ivy began to really grate on me. She’s brusque, sarcastic, plucky, and sometimes downright aggressive. It often lends nothing to the situation she’s in, too. That’s the name of the game with her, as I learned from two previous books, but wow she makes every professional situation way harder than it should be! And I get that it would be hard as hell to be calm and centered while almost everyone is at least against you (or actively trying to harm you), but I did question her hireability a bit in this one … although clearly it works its magic on the Mage Lord.
Fans will be pleased—read: screaming and raving from the stands and rafters—that Ivy and the Mage Lord do finally step fully into the realm of romance … just as I predicted at the end of my review for book 2. They are navigating the whole boss/subordinate thing, the constant battles and danger around them, and then of course the fact that Ivy refuses to listen, always throwing herself into impossibly mad situations with no regards for her own life, but hey, all that seems to be what mage-man is into. There is a hint there of Ivy being attracted to the mysterious, brooding, seemingly dangerous guy, but I think it’s going WAY far in the opposite direction here.
While unconventional, after three novels I think it’s safe to say that this is actually a sleeper “chosen one” story. Ivy is human. She never showed any signs of being a witch or mage or shifter, and she certainly isn’t faerie. I mean, sure, go grab the family tree or whatever (and this may get further addressed in a later book), but so far the stance has been that she is just human or “normal”. Yet through all of her trials and tribulations, she’s continually proven to be worthy, to not be found wanting, to surmount and surpass the odds and expectations. She may not be the classic farm boy, but this isn’t a straightforward fantasy either. I think that this works, especially in the ever changing landscape the author has set out to create.
I don’t know if this was originally set up to be a trilogy, but this one follows a sort of similar arc as one. Book 2 had a lull in stakes, but this one pulls it all back into what feels like a story-arc showdown. Bigger and badder enemies, including a possibly longtime buried dragon god (?!), and more injuries than you can count. And this has been what—a few days or weeks? I know with magic there are healing spells, but woof, they still feel it all! These folks must be capital-T Tired. And who knows as there are series that feature multiple sets, cycles, or even actual trilogies, maybe that is the set up here, as there are 4 more books to tackle currently and also a prequel short. If you’re looking for solid action and characters surrounded by an urban fantasy setting that’s magically charged, this is a series that can last you. You’ve got my stamp of approval to check it out.
A huge shoutout to Tor Nightfire for the physical ARC! While i did start this one a tad later than I originally intended, it did end up working out as I coincidentally just rewatched The Shining, Doctor Sleep, and Longlegs…look at that luck. The cover is another home run too, close to rivaling my love for American Rapture’s … I happened to love the insides too.
And just a friendly warning on this one, as it really hides a lot in its back blurb, there may be things I spoil here, even unintentionally.
Daniel has had enough. From a failed investigation, a failed marriage, the death of loved ones, it’s safe to say he’s a level or two past burnt out, defeated. But just as he’s about to take off, running once and for all, he’s pulled right back in. His old boss from the FBI, Jack, has appeared in the eleventh hour to tell him it’s happening again. There’s been another murder. Amnesiac kidnappers, skinned victims, a single hair tied around every tongue, and a few clues that lead back to people that just never connect enough to convict. This time, Danny is faced with tackling his trauma and the crimes, and time is dangerously close to running out.
So, like I touch upon above, this one has notes of The Shining, Longlegs, Silence of the Lambs, and even Weapons. Some of which are interwoven with the narrative itself, as DANNY’s mother says he shines, he’s just connected to things differently than others. And while The Shining is more on the nose, this does feel like a supernatural amalgamation of all of these things. Yet, the author does take it all and carve out something all her own. I was first drawn in by these things being mentioned, or things that seemed like nods, but then I was gripped by what’s woven on the page and good god it does not let up.
While this book is deeply imbedded with the supernatural, at its core, it’s still a family drama. And even if you’d argue that, it’s certainly about family trauma. Daniel’s past is blood splattered and speckled, he ran away before he could discuss his divorce, and he lost his adoptive parents too. And this is the kind of person that’s still processing the childhood stuff … memories abound, the past and present often sharing the page with little to differentiate what is and isn’t real. The author toys with readers that way.
And because of the way it all ends up tying together, I particularly liked how in the dark Daniel was. How often he’d question everything on the page. In that way he reminded me of my main detective, Williams, from Welcome to Cemetery. I feel like mysteries on the page sometimes have a way of falling into place … as us writers are literally plotting them out. But this one pauses for those beats to remind us that Daniel is more often than not bewildered but what’s happening.
The ending had notes that reminded me of Doctor Sleep mixed with wendigo-y vibes. I can see the finale working really well for others or rubbing them the wrong way. Personally, I would have liked to see more in the end of how the crime was wrapped up, especially legally, but I do understand that when it comes to the supernatural, “facts” rarely line up. I don’t think it’s so much as to be polarizing in people’s enjoyment, just that there is a hint of design here where not everything is perfect.
This is great for fans of King and The X-Files, fans of supernatural horrors, and readers looking for distinct author voices. Three novels in and Leede is letting fans know she’s writing exactly what she wants to.
A huge shoutout to Tor Nightfire for the physical ARC! While i did start this one a tad later than I originally intended, it did end up working out as I coincidentally just rewatched The Shining, Doctor Sleep, and Longlegs…look at that luck. The cover is another home run too, close to rivaling my love for American Rapture’s … I happened to love the insides too.
And just a friendly warning on this one, as it really hides a lot in its back blurb, there may be things I spoil here, even unintentionally.
Daniel has had enough. From a failed investigation, a failed marriage, the death of loved ones, it’s safe to say he’s a level or two past burnt out, defeated. But just as he’s about to take off, running once and for all, he’s pulled right back in. His old boss from the FBI, Jack, has appeared in the eleventh hour to tell him it’s happening again. There’s been another murder. Amnesiac kidnappers, skinned victims, a single hair tied around every tongue, and a few clues that lead back to people that just never connect enough to convict. This time, Danny is faced with tackling his trauma and the crimes, and time is dangerously close to running out.
So, like I touch upon above, this one has notes of The Shining, Longlegs, Silence of the Lambs, and even Weapons. Some of which are interwoven with the narrative itself, as DANNY’s mother says he shines, he’s just connected to things differently than others. And while The Shining is more on the nose, this does feel like a supernatural amalgamation of all of these things. Yet, the author does take it all and carve out something all her own. I was first drawn in by these things being mentioned, or things that seemed like nods, but then I was gripped by what’s woven on the page and good god it does not let up.
While this book is deeply imbedded with the supernatural, at its core, it’s still a family drama. And even if you’d argue that, it’s certainly about family trauma. Daniel’s past is blood splattered and speckled, he ran away before he could discuss his divorce, and he lost his adoptive parents too. And this is the kind of person that’s still processing the childhood stuff … memories abound, the past and present often sharing the page with little to differentiate what is and isn’t real. The author toys with readers that way.
And because of the way it all ends up tying together, I particularly liked how in the dark Daniel was. How often he’d question everything on the page. In that way he reminded me of my main detective, Williams, from Welcome to Cemetery. I feel like mysteries on the page sometimes have a way of falling into place … as us writers are literally plotting them out. But this one pauses for those beats to remind us that Daniel is more often than not bewildered but what’s happening.
The ending had notes that reminded me of Doctor Sleep mixed with wendigo-y vibes. I can see the finale working really well for others or rubbing them the wrong way. Personally, I would have liked to see more in the end of how the crime was wrapped up, especially legally, but I do understand that when it comes to the supernatural, “facts” rarely line up. I don’t think it’s so much as to be polarizing in people’s enjoyment, just that there is a hint of design here where not everything is perfect.
This is great for fans of King and The X-Files, fans of supernatural horrors, and readers looking for distinct author voices. Three novels in and Leede is letting fans know she’s writing exactly what she wants to.