Amity
Some truly beautiful artwork in this collection of issues, but I do wish I would have read these before I was burnt out on multiverse stories. Regardless, still creepy and compelling. 3.5 grinning zombies out of 5, rounded up.
Maeve, a thirtysomething book editor in New York City, had a traumatic childhood. She escaped a cult when she was very young, leaving everything she knew - including her best friend and beloved cousin, Andrea - behind. She now lives a relatively peaceful but lonely life, always holding everyone at a distance until she gets a match on a DNA testing site one day. Andrea has been found after searching on and off for years, and although Maeve is wary, she is excited to have her one true friend back.
As her old life begins to crumble, Maeve seeks refuge in Andrea's new home: a remote, partially refinished mansion in the Catskills. There, she becomes friends with Andrea's friends, who try to impart the importance of motherhood as every woman's privilege and right. And although Andrea doesn't want to speak of the past, Maeve's new life brings more and more memories to the surface, and her past may be catching up with her.
This novel was a pulpy thrill ride with some horrific imagery. The reveals are orchestrated relatively early in the story, but it still had some “aha!” moments. The first-person narrative makes you feel connected with Maeve, even if you sometimes want to shake her and tell her to pay attention (as you do with most horror protagonists). My overall main problem was the epilogue, which I felt diminished the story a bit and seemed tacked on—still, a solid psychological thriller with a good gothic setting. For some of the spookier moments, the use of technology was an effective contrast to the dusty old mansion. Overall, 3.5 creepy doll heads out of 5 bumped up because that cover is too good.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a digital ARC to review!
A modern retelling of The Cask of Amontillado (with some other Poe references thrown in there for good measure), The Initial Insult centers around former best friends Tress and Felicity. Now on opposite ends of the social circle spectrum - Tress lives with her one-eyed, alcoholic grandfather in what is known as the “White Trash Zoo”, whereas Felicity is wealthy and popular - the two find themselves at the same wild party one night. It's no coincidence, though: Felicity wants to buy drugs from Tress, and Tress has her own plans for Felicity, as Felicity was the last person to see Tress's parents before they disappeared several years ago. And if Felicity doesn't confess what she knows, Tress will slowly seal her into an old coal chute, brick by brick.
Although I love the weirdness of this book, and appreciated that the dual narrative allowed you to feel sympathy for both characters and their situations, I didn't really connect with this book the way I did with the author's other works. I thought that the third POV narrative was unnecessary, and took me out of the story every time it popped up. That being said, it was compelling enough that I breezed through it, and I will certainly be reading the next one. This will be an easy recommend for fans of YA thrillers. 3.5 bricks sealing up your former best friend in a coal chute out of 5
—
Welp, that was bananas.
As always: a delightful, gentle read that doesn't shy away from heavier topics. 4 university road trips out of 5.
I just ADORED basically everything about this - the characters, the world-building, the magic system, the beautiful prose, the ~yearning~ between the two idiots, and the lovely cover! HOWEVER, I am disheartened to find out that the rest of the series does not follow Edwin and Robin, as I thought their particular relationships with the Big Bads, plus their individual character journeys, would have been fascinating to explore further. And for me, it's difficult to find a better pairing than sunshine himbo/grumpy librarian. HOWEVER AGAIN, I really love Maud and I'm intrigued to see how things progress, so I will be finishing the series at some point.
One final note: normally, someone saying that a book is ~spicy~ means very little to me, since the absurd amount of fanfic I've consumed in my life has warped my brain, but....yeah, this is spicy! Definitely don't read if you prefer fade-to-black, closed door romance.
Overall, 4.5 magic cradles out of 5, rounded up.
This was another fine entry...kind of seems like a series of diminishing returns at this point? I still like it, but after really liking / loving the first four volumes, it's a little disappointing. I do like Regan quite a bit, and I LOVED Gristle, but it kind of felt like...meh? I dunno! 3 doofy unicorns out of 5.
A solid collection of bite-sized horror! It starts off with a bang with Meg Ellison's Guess, which had a nice little haunting refrain in it. Honestly, the ones that will stick with me the most had their roots in reality, like Jane Death Theory #13, Lone, and even Carbon Footprint, but I also really liked the creepy whimsy of The Marriage Variations and the amazing visual of Pincer and Tongue.
A satisfying start to spooky season! 4 dancing skeletons out of 5.
Meet Cute Diary follows 16-year-old Noah, who runs a popular blog about trans love stories that all start with a “meet cute” of some kind. The stories are all made up, but his followers don't need to know that, right? Noah is okay with this deception. He feels it's more important to give trans people hope for a happily ever after, and things go smoothly until a commenter starts pointing out all the inconsistencies. The only solution? Fake dating a boy named Drew, who Noah meets while visiting his brother for the summer. Drew knows the secret to the Diary and is all too willing to help. Add in a strained long-distance friendship with Noah's BFF Becca and a new friendship with sweet co-worker Devin (that starts as anything but a meet cute), and you have plenty of drama to add flavor to this summer rom-com.
This novel is set against some favorite romantic comedy tropes and features a lot of great representation. I felt that Noah was a pretty realistic teen: caught up in big, dramatic emotions, equal turns self-absorbed and insecure, ultimately a good kid but making plenty of mistakes along the way. The ultimate problem for me was that he didn't see to grow beyond a fundamental surface level; that is, he said he understood how he let himself get caught up in things and behaved poorly, but his actions toward the end of the novel seem to indicate that he hasn't completely broken these habits. Which is fine! It's realistic! It is still a bit frustrating to read, though.
Ultimately, a cute read that I will recommend to teens. 3/5
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
What would appear to be a pretty standard domestic suspense novel is elevated by Fern, who is a compelling main character with a clear, distinct voice. Or maybe I'm just biased because she's a librarian. 3.5 Kombi vans out of 5.
This is such a strong start to a series and I am in love with Erica! I also want to wrap James in a blanket and give him some hot chocolate. 4 octopus plushies out of 5.
“A mother's heart breaks a million ways in her lifetime.”
Determined to be a better mother than her own and give her husband the picture-perfect life he longs for, Blythe tries to dote upon her daughter Violet. Violet doesn't make it easy, though: she is a difficult baby and a mystifying toddler with a mean streak, who seems set on making Blythe miserable. Motherhood finally clicks for Blythe with the arrival of their second child, a son named Sam, with whom Blythe bonds and feels the unwavering love she never felt for Violet. After a shocking tragedy changes their family forever, Blythe wonders: is she overreacting, or is there something genuinely wrong with her daughter?
I found this book incredibly hard to put down. The short chapters sucked me in, and the oftentimes disturbing look at motherhood coupled with the tension between Blythe and Violet was compelling. The stylistic choice behind the narration took a few chapters for me to get used to, but I felt that it worked overall.
It reminded me a bit of We Need to Talk About Kevin in some surface-level ways (the epistolary-esque narration, the father's unwillingness to believe the mother, the bonding with the second child) but was still its own unique story. The depiction of the grieving process is definitely one that will stay with me a long time.
There is disturbing content in this one, though, and I haven't seen a lot in the way of content warnings (though it's possible I've missed them). I'll put some in spoiler tags, in case they are needed:
CW: miscarriage, sexual assault, child abuse, infant death, self-harm, suicide, mental health issues (including postpartum depression); mentions of abortion, racism
All in all, a haunting family drama that I'll be thinking about for quite some time. 4 mother lions out of 5.
This was a cute but uneven read. I would definitely recommend it to teens who like fandom, superheroes, and cute romance, but I had some issues with it. 3 fanfiction tropes out of 5.
Cemetery Boys was a really refreshing read. An engaging protagonist, well crafted world-building, and just the most charming ghostly love interest. Also, I adore Maritza with all of my heart.
This is a promising debut for Aiden Thomas and I look forward to reading more from them. Looks like they have a Peter Pan retelling coming out next and I am 100% for that! Anyway, 4 Julian malaprops out of 5.
Short and powerful, this novel told in dialogue weaves fact and fiction together seamlessly as it relates the story of the largest slave auction to ever take place on American soil. Lester tells this story not only from the perspective of the enslaved people who had their families and lives torn apart, but their owners as well. This was a brutal read, but an important one, as this part of history seems to get overlooked quite a bit. 5/5 stars.
Satirical novels aren't really my thing, as they tend to be too on-the-nose, but I did like the exploration of female friendships and insight into the difficulties of the music industry, especially when you aren't straight and white. The social media aspect was interesting enough, but overall it was just okay to me. Absolutely lovely cover, though. 3 tweets out of 5.
Liked this one just as well, if not even a little more, than the first volume. Erica continues to be the light of my life and I love a mysterious, shadowy organization. Cannot wait to read more! 4 hungry monsters out of 5.
Pretty much any book featuring capybaras is an automatic five stars. I mean, the capybara wore a bow tie! How could you get better than that?
A cute little book with lovely b&w illustrations. I was hoping for a bit more cohesive story/bonus content rather than just a collection of one-shot, slice of life comics, but it was still fun. Also, Jimmy is a babe. 3 cute monsters out of 5.
This was a fun page-turner that you can't think too much about in the end, because then the plot stops making sense. I appreciate the undermining of normal haunted house tropes, and liked the alternating chapters of Maggie's POV and applicable chapters of her dad's book. The writing was a little stilted at times (though that definitely works for chapters from the dad's book, as it is repeatedly said that it's supposed to be kind of shoddily written) but it was a perfect spooky summer read. 3.5 snakes out of 5.
Hmm, I was surprisingly on board with this book for the first half, or maybe even the first 2/3, but the last part just...dragged...on....
Really, my main complaint is that it's just too dang long and then suddenly the last like, chapter or so goes by so fast? There was also way too much singing, to the point where I expected Tom Bombadil to show up and start laying down some sick beats about Goldberry.
Complaints aside, I went into this with somewhat middling expectations, so I ended up liking it more than expected. Seeing the early stages of the Games, and how they ended up the way there were in the original trilogy, and just more of the Capitol in general was all interesting to me. AND I liked that Snow wasn't given some tragic background that would act as an excuse for why he became a villain. Dude was basically just evil, turns out! Several options for redemption in his life, and he picked the road that led to the Dark Side every time. Overall, 3.5 delicious baked goods from Ma out of 5, rounded up.
I just couldn't get through this. I felt like all the twists were way too foreshadowed and, while knowing the “aha!” parts of a story don't always mean that the story is bad, I didn't find the writing compelling enough to continue. Just not the right book for this particular reader.
What is a person, if not the marks they leave behind?
Addie LaRue, against the advice of her friend and neighbor Estelle, made the mistake of praying to an Old God after dark. As a result, she escaped the fate of marrying someone she didn't love. The cost? Her soul. Addie thought she was clever by bargaining that the dark God could only have her soul once she was done with it, but the devil's in the details - she can live forever, but she is instantly forgotten by everyone as soon as she is out of sight. Still, she is stubborn, and she finds ways to make it through each day: stealing, having affairs that never seem like more than one night stands to her partners, and of course, living vicariously through art such as movies and books:
She pauses at MEMOIR, studying the titles on the spines, so many I's and Me's and My's, possessive words for possessive lives. What a luxury, to tell one's story. To be read, remembered.
300 years after living this half-life, Addie meets someone who does the impossible: he remembers her.
This is a book that many are going to love, but ultimately it was not for me. The writing was beautiful and moving at times, but I felt it sorely needed some editing, as the middle portion drags a bit. Also, a big pet peeve of mine when reading historical fiction is the "and that man turned out to be William Shakespeare" trope, where the main character somehow meets every famous historical figure; while it makes a slight bit more sense when immortality is involved, it still makes me roll my eyes. That said, I will not hesitate to recommend it to fans of historical fiction and fantasy, as I feel it's still worth reading.
Following her father's death, Jane finds herself moving across the country to live in the house where her mother grew up. Used to warm, sunny California, Jane must now spend her senior year in a dilapidated mansion in Maine. However, her mother's small hometown holds many secrets, and they all seem to revolve around Jane's strange new home with its roses that grow even in winter...
This was an atmospheric book that I wish I would have read around Halloween, but January's dreary gray wasn't a bad choice, either. Not a lot happens plot-wise, but instead, it builds on the mystery of what happened to make everyone so wary of Jane's new home and her family, as well as Jane's grief over the death of her father and the constant anger she feels. However, a lot of this feels very surface level, and I would have liked more either in the plot or the characters. Still, a very fast-paced read that kept me engaged, so a solid 3.5 rose petals out of 5.
Gosh I love dachshunds. The story could have flowed better, but the pups were cute and I liked the outside backgrounds. 3 doggo duos out of 5.