Syndrie

I already had some knowledge of QAnon and their beliefs before picking this book up, but only enough to know I wasn't going to be buying what they were selling before mostly tuning them out. So this book was both equally enlightening and horrifying to see just how deep their ideas ran (run?) and how much they've disseminated into the general public media.

The book itself is very well written—easily approachable with a seamless blend of both narrative and info-dumping. Cook has done a great job of mixing actual scientific information and facts with the very real stories detailing the lives of five different families who have been directly affected by QAnon. This is my ideal kind of nonfiction book where there's just enough of a storytelling aspect to make it easy to digest, while also clearly being a factual account full of reliable information.

If you're someone who's curious about how American politics have devolved into what you're seeing today, then this book probably has a lot of the answers. I'd highly recommend it to anybody looking to fill in some gaps in their understanding of current political climate.

This is one of the times when I think the book blurb really nailed exactly what the novel is—this is really a story about relationships (both platonic and romantic), life changes, and just growing up in general. And even though this is most definitely a queer novel, I think it's the kind of story that even non-queer readers will be able to easily relate to. From intense crushes to worrying about employment to wondering if your closest friends are drifting away, many readers are sure to have experienced at least one of the situations that show up in this novel.

I really liked how this was set up so each chapter is a new year in our main character's life. The reader really gets to see Susan at all her most important milestones—both the good and the ugly. Although at times I wanted to knock some sense into her, Susan felt like a real person that you could meet in real life and that was nice to see. I enjoyed reading her story and I really wanted to see her manage to succeed.

I would definitely recommend this novel to people who enjoy reading coming of age stories—especially if you're looking to get a little early aughts nostalgia in as well!

(Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing an advance review copy via NetGalley! I am leaving this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.)

This is one of the times when I think the book blurb really nailed exactly what the novel is—this is really a story about relationships (both platonic and romantic), life changes, and just growing up in general. And even though this is most definitely a queer novel, I think it's the kind of story that even non-queer readers will be able to easily relate to. From intense crushes to worrying about employment to wondering if your closest friends are drifting away, many readers are sure to have experienced at least one of the situations that show up in this novel.

I really liked how this was set up so each chapter is a new year in our main character's life. The reader really gets to see Susan at all her most important milestones—both the good and the ugly. Although at times I wanted to knock some sense into her, Susan felt like a real person that you could meet in real life and that was nice to see. I enjoyed reading her story and I really wanted to see her manage to succeed.

I would definitely recommend this novel to people who enjoy reading coming of age stories—especially if you're looking to get a little early aughts nostalgia in as well!

(Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing an advance review copy via NetGalley! I am leaving this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.)

This was beautifully written and such a unique take on the story of Cinderella—I've definitely read versions where Cinderella ends up dying, but I've never read one that started with her death! Keeping just enough of the main story points to be recognizable as a Cinderella retelling, "Cinder House" manages to stand out as almost a brand new story.

Marske did a great job with world-building even with such a low page count—not only were the limitations behind Ella's ghostly form well explained, but there were also little tidbits about the general political standing of the land as well as their connections with neighboring lands as well. I also really enjoyed how well incorporated the ideas of magic were with the addition of faeries, nymphs, and sorcerers. It was definitely entertaining to see a story where a girl turning into a ghost is simply regarded as something that just happens sometimes!

I would definitely recommend this to anybody interested in fairy tale retellings, and would even suggest it to people who weren't big fans of the original Cinderella story because this might just be the twist you need to enjoy it.

Fast-paced, gory, and surprisingly a bit relatable, "Morsel" is a nice little novella perfect for readers looking to get a quick horror fix.

With this being a short read it's mainly all plot driven, but our main character, Lou, does have some very well-defined motivations behind her actions. Basically she's willing to make a lot of sacrifices, and some very questionable choices that are not in the interest of self-preservation, in order to seek financial success to provide a better life for her mother who did her best to raise Lou as a single mother living in near poverty.

At its core, this is a fairly straightforward horror story—although not without a few twists and turns—about a girl that's just doing her best to not get murdered in the middle of the woods. But sprinkled through the novella are little critiques about society and corporate greed that provide a little extra food for thought. You can really feel Lou's desperation in how she's just doing her best to take all the right steps in life, but is still finding herself struggling to achieve success.

As far at the writing goes, the prose was smooth and flowed well making for an easy read—Keane definitely did a good job with the imagery here, although those who are weak to gore might not agree with me there! I also enjoyed how we had little aside sections between some of the chapters that provided extra context via text conversations between the characters and transcription snippets from a podcast about a missing hiker in the woods. They might have just been very short additions, but I think they were timed very well and give the reader a good point to pause and reflect over what they just finished reading in the previous chapters.

Overall I would recommend this one to any horror readers who are looking for a quick story they can get through in one or two sittings!

(Thank you to Tor Publishing Group for providing an advance review copy via NetGalley! I am leaving this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.)

Fast-paced, gory, and surprisingly a bit relatable, "Morsel" is a nice little novella perfect for readers looking to get a quick horror fix.

With this being a short read it's mainly all plot driven, but our main character, Lou, does have some very well-defined motivations behind her actions. Basically she's willing to make a lot of sacrifices, and some very questionable choices that are not in the interest of self-preservation, in order to seek financial success to provide a better life for her mother who did her best to raise Lou as a single mother living in near poverty.

At its core, this is a fairly straightforward horror story—although not without a few twists and turns—about a girl that's just doing her best to not get murdered in the middle of the woods. But sprinkled through the novella are little critiques about society and corporate greed that provide a little extra food for thought. You can really feel Lou's desperation in how she's just doing her best to take all the right steps in life, but is still finding herself struggling to achieve success.

As far at the writing goes, the prose was smooth and flowed well making for an easy read—Keane definitely did a good job with the imagery here, although those who are weak to gore might not agree with me there! I also enjoyed how we had little aside sections between some of the chapters that provided extra context via text conversations between the characters and transcription snippets from a podcast about a missing hiker in the woods. They might have just been very short additions, but I think they were timed very well and give the reader a good point to pause and reflect over what they just finished reading in the previous chapters.

Overall I would recommend this one to any horror readers who are looking for a quick story they can get through in one or two sittings!

(Thank you to Tor Publishing Group for providing an advance review copy via NetGalley! I am leaving this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.)

In this novel we follow a girl named Raven starting on the day of her mother's funeral. Raven's mom — also known as the Wind Witch and a member of the Hill People community — was involuntarily institutionalized after being accused of killing two boys when Raven was only six years old. Now eighteen, with almost no memory of her mother or the first six years of her life, Raven is looking for answers as to who her mother truly was and what actually happened on that tragic day thirteen years ago. Was her mother actually killer, or just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Was she a member of a cult, or just a community that wanted to live off the grid in peace?

This novel is labeled as adult fiction, but I personally felt that it read a bit closer to YA — especially with the love at first sight romance plot that suddenly drops in out of nowhere. But I'm not trying to imply this is a bad thing by any means, I just think it might make it harder for the appropriate audience to find this novel and felt it worth noting.

Now as far as the actual plot goes, I did find the novel pretty interesting. The mystery aspect kept my attention and the story unraveled in a way that was easy to follow and made sense. The prose itself was smooth, easy to read, and had some really nice imagery throughout. I also really liked the incorporation of the healing magic and thought it gave the story a little bit of whimsy that helped balance out the darker parts of the story.

Regarding things I didn't like as much, I'd say we really didn't need the romance plot here at all because Sam's character could've worked just fine as a friend. But I wouldn't have minded if he and Raven actually had time to develop a proper relationship instead of just suddenly jumping head first into acting on their sudden feelings. I also wish the ending had been drawn out a bit more because it does snowball pretty fast during that last 15-20%. But I will say all the loose ends seemed to be tied up and I can't really complain about that!

Overall I would recommend this novel to YA readers looking to dip their toes into more of the adult fiction side, or to the adult readers looking to give YA a chance, because this really feels like the kind of book that toes the line in between the two sides.

(Thank you to Severn House for offering an advance review copy for free via NetGalley! I am leaving this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.)

A realistic novel that will likely resonate with fans of female friendship stories, "Strange Girls" is a detailed look behind the rise and decline of the relationship between two girls named Ava and Aliya. I'd say this is not just a story about friendship, but also a story about jealousy as well as the importance of communication and learning how to be honest with both yourself and with others.

The prose was smooth and insightful and I really enjoyed how down-to-earth the plot here is because it really helped the story feel more relatable. I also liked the way the split timeline was set up with Ava's chapters being our present day setting, while Aliya's chapters started in the past when the two first met and continued up through their initial falling out. I think this was a good way to offer the reader a more pragmatic understanding of the girls' relationship, whereas a chronological story would've likely not provided quite the same insights throughout.

Overall I think this was a very well-written novel — although I did find some parts of the story to drag a bit — and would absolutely recommend it to readers who enjoy more realistic, character-driven novels.

(Thank you to the publisher, Dutton, for providing me with an advance review copy for free via NetGalley! I am leaving this review voluntarily and all opinions are my own.)