Amity
Took me a little while to get into this one, but once I did, I was hooked. I can see why Chizmar and Stephen King work so well together - both capture that small-town nostalgic feel very well. Gripping, with a satisfying conclusion. I especially liked the details of how the cold case was solved, and I found the interview between Chizmar and Gallagher was realistically chilling.
Overall, I'd give this 3.5 Cemetery Dances out of 5, rounded up for the uniqueness of the metafiction narrative.
I struggled with this one a little, but once I switched to the audiobook I enjoyed it more. I felt the random stage directions would take me out of the story when reading it, but listening to it made it more palatable for me.
There's a lot to like about it, and it made me laugh out loud a few times, but often I found myself saying “yeah, okay, spooky Lovecraft stuff, cool, but when are Kerri and Andy going to kiss??” Anyway, 3 Scooby-Doo references out of 5.
Lynette is part of a special group of women, but it's not a club you'd want to join. The Final Girls Support Group has been meeting for years after all its members have survived the nigh-unstoppable, knife- and machete- and whatever-else-wielding monsters of legend. But public interest has dwindled, movie franchises have moved on, and the rest of the group is considering the same. After all, why keep living in the past? Lynette doesn't support this decision, and when other Final Girls start dying, it's up to her to figure out who's hunting them and keep the rest of the group safe. Of course, Lynette has secrets of her own, and they might be her downfall.
A good old-fashioned slasher with plenty of references to classics of the film genre. A quick read with enough emotional hook to keep the reader invested and, like every good slasher story, plenty of moments where you'll yell “Don't go in there!” to the page. 3 stab wounds out of 5.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
“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 book offers a look into the heavily manufactured world of boy bands through the lens of Saturday, a rising pop sensation that consists of four members. There's Angel, who is made out to be the sweet boy next door to his fans but is actually a party-boy sadclown; Jon, the unofficial leader, and son of Saturday's manager, who is uncomfortable with his sexyboy image; Ruben, raised on Broadway and hiding a show-stopping singing voice in catchy choruses, while also resenting the fact that he can't publicly come out; and quiet Zach, Ruben's best friend who somehow got roped into being the token bad boy when all he wants to do is write songs.
Saturday deals with all of this during their rise to fame as they embark on their first European tour. Zach and Ruben's relationship grows closer than ever, though not without some bumps along the way. Will the band - and their relationship - survive the increasingly high demands from management?
I thought this book was pretty sweet and had enough of an edge to keep me engrossed. I sometimes felt the POVs between Zach and Ruben were a little hard to distinguish. Still, I found it a fun - and occasionally dark - look at fame and the various hoops one has to jump through to achieve it. The cute relationship and incredibly supportive group of friends made it all the more enjoyable. A 3.5 rounded up. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!
I love the premise of this book! It has so many of my favorite tropes: enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, forced proximity, but there's only one bed oh no what do we do, all that good stuff. And it's about nerdy stuff like conventions and gaming and while I'm not into that particular realm of Nerdom, I can still appreciate it. With all of those factors, it seems like an easy sell, but I really wasn't a fan of this at all.
I think my big issue was the first-person dual perspectives. Conrad and Alden's inner voices sounded pretty darn identical to me, including both of them using the word “darn” somewhat frequently. If it had been limited to one perspective, or was told in third-person, maybe it would have worked better for me.
Also, they never really seemed like enemies or rivals? More like they were part of the same friendship circle and just sort of...were mildly annoyed by the other sometimes? I don't know. The writing was very tell-not-show. I have no doubt that others will appreciate it more than I did. I will give it this: it's extremely readable and addictive.
Anyway, 2 darn stars out of 5.
Casey McQuiston does it again! This book has everything. Casual queerness! The most perfect love interest of all time! True love! Light sci-fi elements that are sort of hand-waved away because who cares, there's kissing! Discussions of the hairy horror Wolverine frog!
All in all, another slam dunk. 4 strawberry milkshake pop-tarts 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!
This contemporary retelling of Peter Pan focuses on college-bound Wendy, who is still putting the pieces of her life back together after she and her brothers went missing five years prior. She returned from the woods, but her brothers did not, and though she has been questioned thoroughly by her parents, friends, and the police, she cannot remember anything. More kids have gone missing recently, and Wendy is thinking about her brothers more than ever when Peter Pan - previously, someone she thought only existed in the stories told by her family - enters her life. He remembers Wendy and their trip to Neverland, but she doesn't remember him or how she once sewed his shadow back on; this is unfortunate because Peter's shadow is missing again, and it may have something to do with those missing kids.
This book didn't click for me. I'm not sure if it's because Cemetery Boys was such a breath of fresh air, and this feels like a standard retelling, or if it's because I don't particularly care for Peter Pan, but I struggled to get through the first 60% of it. Peter is a compelling character, and he and Wendy have some charming scenes together, but I didn't feel connected to the story. I will certainly read more Aiden Thomas in the future as they are clearly talented, and I think this book will have its audience in younger teen readers, but unfortunately, it didn't work for me. 3 bits of pixie dust out of 5.
I also have a question that I can't find answers to, and I'm guessing it's just something I missed, but: if Neverland is a place where dead children go before Peter helps them move on, then why did Peter tell Wendy that he had brought her mom there when her mom was a child? Was he lying? Is Wendy's mom dead...somehow? Did Peter initially fall in love with her like he did with Wendy, and brought her to Neverland despite knowing it was against the rules? If so, did it mess things up like bringing Wendy there did? That said, this is an uncorrected proof from Netgalley, so if I didn't miss something, it's possible this could be answered in the final version.
Former pageant-queen Gertie Wilde moved her family to Long Island for a fresh start and thought she had found that on idyllic Maple Street. Her family may not fit in perfectly (her husband is a former rockstar and has been to rehab; her kids are Brooklyn tough and socially awkward), but things are looking up when she befriends Rhea, the Queen Bee of the block. However, after a misunderstanding, Rhea drops Gertie from her life and the rest of the neighborhood follows suit. And when Rhea's daughter falls victim to an unfortunate sinkhole accident, Rhea will stop at nothing to lay blame on the entire Wilde family.
This novel about the everyday horrors of suburbia and how rumors can quickly spiral out of control is tense and compulsively readable. The flawed, complex characters who make up the main cast are not always sympathetic, and their actions are often uncomfortable to read. Still, the framing narrative of interviews and news articles that refer to the “Maple Street Murders” will surely keep readers hooked until the dramatic conclusion; it certainly had me intrigued enough to keep the pages turning even when I was cringing at what I was reading. Not everything worked for me: the “Next Sunday, A.D.” of the plot setting felt unnecessary, and if I never see the word “bitumen” again it will be too soon, but the rest of it was strong enough for me to ignore those issues. 3.5 sinkholes out of 5, bumped up because the Rat Pack exploring the sinkhole for Shelly's body was so creepy and so, so good .
12-year-old Lora Xi has a vivid imagination and loves to live in her own fantasy world. As her friends grow out of playing make-believe, she struggles to keep up and finds herself alone on her birthday. Lora's interest in all things paranormal leads her to conduct a séance in the attic of her home, where she meets Alexa, the ghost of a 14-year-old girl who died 50 years prior. The two become fast friends, and Alexa helps Lora examine why she's so afraid to grow up while also confronting what happened to her all those years ago.
This bittersweet graphic novel features charming, vibrant art and explores friendship, self-discovery, and the anxiety of growing up. This is a gentle, emotional read for any child (or adult) going through a transitional period in their life. 4.5 sweet ghost girl friends out of 5.
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.
Seemed to switch back and forth between being a quiet meditation on grief and an indictment on factory farming/animal cruelty; as such, I felt it didn't really excel at either. Still, there was some good atmosphere and an eerie final line that will stick with me, so it was not a total flop for me. 2 government conspiracies to whittle down/control the population out of 5.
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.
This is definitely one of those YA books that reminds me I'm actually an old woman. Not for me, but I would recommend it to teen library patrons, who will appreciate the fast-paced plot and can overlook the one-dimensional characters. It wouldn't be my go-to recommendation, though, especially since the depiction of mental illness is pretty toxic.
A big plot hole: TJ constantly says that Meg's comebacks are witty and hilarious “gold” when, in fact, they are not any of those things. Massive oversight. I did kind of laugh when she called the killer out for saying something was a pun when it wasn't, though.
1.5 Agatha Christie references/5.
Milly's, Aubrey's, and Jonah's parents were disinherited from their wealthy and aloof mother almost twenty years ago; now, she wants to get to know her grandchildren. Spending the summer working on their grandmother's island resort wasn't any of their ideal summer vacations, but the three of them soon start to unravel the intricate mysteries that have been surrounding their family for decades.
Fast-paced and full of twists and turns, this novel definitely relied too much on suspension of disbelief for this jaded old gal, but I will have no reservations about recommending it to teens and other fans of mystery thrillers.
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.
Blood Moon follows the story of Frankie, a sixteen-year-old girl who has a close-knit set of friends, supportive parents, and an appreciation with space and physics. Her best friend, Harriet, is outgoing and loves flirting with boys; Frankie, however, doesn't find many of them that interesting, until she starts hanging out with Benjamin more often. After getting to know one another a little, Frankie and Benjamin hook up and Frankie ends up getting her period. Although a little awkward at first, Frankie and Benjamin both agree it's just blood, and there's no need to be embarrassed. Then, a rumor about their experience turns into a viral meme of Frankie, and her life begins to spiral. Frankie wonders if she's as dirty and disgusting as the online comments say she is, and if she can truly trust anyone she cares about.
Cuthew's first novel is told in verse and it is a harrowing tale of bullying (both online and real-life), friendship, feminism, and sexuality. One thing I truly appreciated was that all of the characters were flawed: Harriet is mean and makes mistakes, but she also makes valid points; Frankie is right to call Harriet out on certain behaviors, but she also contributes to some slut-shaming, etc. Their friendship, with all its ups and downs, is a very central part of this story, and it struck me as a bond between two teenagers who are adjusting to looming adulthood and all that entails.
I felt that the ending was a little too tidy and optimistic to strike me as completely real, but that's okay: we need stories of positivity concerning these subjects. Definitely will keep an eye on books from her in the future! 4/5 #NoShames
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.
I really liked this the first time I read it, but I think this is one of those books that benefits from a second read. I am just so impressed with the craft involved in writing this absolute mindscrew of a book. Ugh, I just love this world and these characters so much. 5 skeletons out of 5.Onto [b:Nona the Ninth 58662507 Nona the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #3) Tamsyn Muir https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1643298298l/58662507.SY75.jpg 92285474]!