Bloodmoon Ritual by Kate Rivenhall

 

I thought this sequel to THE ECLIPSE RITUAL was going to take place in the same compound so color me surprised when BLOODMOON actually took place with a different sect of the cult, with a different leader. Temperance, our heroine, is the twin sister of one of this rival sect's enforcer's, Rhyder, and he's been obsessed with her since they were both children. But during a raid, she was rescued from the cult and rehomed with a foster family. Now she lives in the city, where she has a boyfriend and a job. So when the cult comes through looking for hos to bring back for fun and she sees her brother, all hell breaks loose... because boy, does he remember her.

I loved Ronan and Bee so much that I knew any following act would have a difficult time matching my expectations, but I did really enjoy this book. Temperance is a quieter, bookish heroine, but she still has these unexpected moments of bravery that made me appreciate her a lot as a character. Rhyder had to win me-- and the FMC-- over, after he BURNED HER LIBRARY (excuse me), but his devotion to her and willingness to put himself on the block for her every time, made it hard to stay *too* mad at him for long.

Also, we love a virgin hero. It was great to see a dark romance where the hero was a virgin and the heroine had actually had multiple partners, and besties, HE DOES NOT SLUT SHAME HER FOR IT.*

*he just gouges out her ex-boyfriend's eyes :')

I was a little confused about the world-building because this sequel made the series seem almost dystopian(?) whereas when I was reading THE ECLIPSE RITUAL I just figured it took place in our present day, but on an isolated compound, like the ones the FLDS had in Utah. The Bloodmoon Ritual itself also kind of confused me, because I wasn't sure what the point of it was, and considering that it was the title of this book, I felt like it could have been foreshadowed more and maybe played more of a significant element between the development of the couple and the furthering of their relationship.

But overall, this was such a treat to read. I think I might have scandalized the old lady who was reading over my shoulder on the cruise ship when I was just chilling with my incest smut in the cafe. WHOOPS.

Thanks to the author/publisher for providing me with a copy!

3.5 out of 5 stars

The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft

 

I picked this up from a lending library because I really liked the cover and it had a mixed media mystery format that kind of reminded me of Marisha Pessl's NIGHT FILM, which is one of my favorite books of all time.

THE EXTINCTION OF IRENA REY is a pretty bizarre book. This literary phenom of an author (compared to authors like Borges, Ishiguro, and Murakami) is in the middle of the Polish wilderness, surrounded by a summit of her translators who at first self-identify and identify each other by the languages they work on. Our narrator is Spanish, but there's also Swedish, Serbian, English, etc.

Irena Rey is about to release a new book, which is why they're all there, but instead she's acting super weird. Her husband is nowhere in sight, now she's claiming that there isn't a book, she's feeding them weird mushrooms and shit, and ceremonially dispenses these weird and creepy goodie bags that none of them can figure out.

And then she goes missing.

I liked the premise of this book a lot but it didn't feel like it knew what it wanted to be. So it ended up being one of those really strange and bizarre books where I couldn't tell if it got lost in its own mythos or if I genuinely was too stupid to figure out what was going on. I often feel this way after reading some of Mona Awad's work, so if you're a fan of that author, you may well enjoy this. I almost DNFed but I wanted to pull through just in case the ending was worth the pay-off (it was not, imo).

2.5 out of 5 stars

Given to the Ghoul by Desirée M. Niccoli

 

GIVEN TO THE GHOUL was a free download during the Monster SYKD event and I was excited for this one because even though I don't read a ton of monster romance, I was familiar with this author's work and knew I really enjoyed her writing style.

GIVEN TO THE GHOUL is a very short novella about a woman living in a desert town that kind of has a sort of death cult lottery system: to appease the ghouls that live in the desert, they occasionally sacrifice one of their own. This year, because she rejected his advances, the sheriff has decided to rig the system and make sure that Mina's name is the one that is called. Not before he offers her a Judge Claude Frollo "choose me or the fire" moment first, though.

Mina is dumped in the dessert with a single bottle of sunscreen and a canteen of water. The days are hot and the nights are freezing, and when she meets the ghoul she's exhausted-- but he isn't what she's expecting: he brings her a sandwich and promises he isn't going to eat her. Well... not in that way, anyway. Hehehe.

I really liked this story, for what it was. Like other reviewers, I wish it was longer. I think she could have gotten a whole book out of this premise and raised it to R. Lee Smith survivalist horror heights. Not that I'm telling the author how to write-- I just wanted more, because their society was so twisted, and it was such a "maybe humans are the real monsters" moment that I was curious about how they functioned. The pacing is super fast burn but I thought the relationship between Garyth and Mina was cute. Get you a man who gets you the skulls of your book-burning enemies for your garden.

Read this book and then get yourself FOLLOW ME TO THE YEW TREE as a little treat afterwards.

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars

Such A Good Guy: A Brother's Best Friend Dark Romance by Kate Raven

 

SUCH A GOOD GUY was a surprisingly humorous read: it's about a sociopath who's obsessed with the younger sister of his so-called best friend. He's also a pop star with a bubbly golden retriever personality that the heroine describes as a "psychotic surfer" and who self-describes as having a "reptilian" personality with a "brain full of a forest of knives." So yeah, he's a fun, rabid little golden retriever man.

Luna, the object of his affections, is an introvert who owns a crystal shop. She bemoans the lack of good men out there, and sees Luke, Mr. Psychopop, as one of the last morally decent guys out there. We know better of course, but part of the fun is waiting for her to realize that he's been busy hoarding her hair and teeth and impregnating her in her sleep, when he's not murdering people in Plant Daddy t-shirts.

I don't know how Kate comes up with these stories but I hope she never stops. Luke is up there now with Viscount St. Erth and Je Sweet as one of my favorite psychos.

Thanks to the author/publisher for providing me with a copy!

3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars 

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

 

If you're a dark romance author or content creator and you have a video go the tiniest bit viral on Instagram or TikTok, you will have no shortage of comments telling you to go to therapy. Ironically, I'm in therapy, and both therapists I've had have been fully supportive of my writing career, which kind of makes me suspect that these helpful armchair diagnosticians might not have my interests at heart (ikr?!).

When I first heard about this book, I was a little skeptical because it felt like it could be another gimmicky pseudo self-help book like EAT, PRAY, LOVE (which I struggled with-- especially in the PRAY and LOVE portions). But to my surprise, MAYBE YOU SHOULD TALK TO SOMEONE hooked me right in from the get-go: it's about an LA therapist talking about some of her more difficult and emotionally draining clients, but also about what led her to get into therapy in the first place... and what eventually made her seek out a therapist of her own.

This book made me laugh and it also made me cry multiple times. I just lost my dad to cancer, and we sometimes had a difficult relationship, so a lot of passages in this book really hit hard. But it also provided a lot of consolation, too, knowing that a lot of other people are in the exact same boat, and that life goes on... until it doesn't. MAYBE YOU SHOULD TALK TO SOMEONE is like reading a book from a comforting friend who doesn't pull back any punches when it comes to the hard truths. And it turns out, I really needed that.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk

 

There's something very old-fashioned about THIRST. It has the vibes of one of those older vampire novels from the 90s and before that go heavy on the old skool goth vibes (mausoleums, family tragedies, creepy statues, Europe), but it feels fresh even as it feels familiar because of the unique Argentinian setting: this book is set entirely in Buenos Aires.

There are two parts in this book. Part I is about the vampire herself and the shenanigans she gets up to, making people into her helpless thralls who are only too happy to give up their blood (eventually), her doomed attempt at making companions, and the solitude that comes from having a thirst that spells out doom for anyone mortal.

Part II is about the human, a single mom newly separated with a mother who has MS (I think?). She's trying to navigate her newly single status even as she attempts to come to terms with her mother's looming death. The way that the two stories intertwine is unsurprising, but what makes this read interesting is the listlessness of the narrative, and the dimensionality given to both protagonists.

If you read a lot of vampire books, I don't think you'll be surprised by anything in THIRST. It's sapphic and Argentinian so even though it's an old story, the portrayal of the characters and the setting are what make it novel and different. It's a pretty depressing read so if you've recently had a loved one pass of a degenerative disease, this book could be triggering because it dives into full detail about the psychological effects of seeing that and as someone who just lost her father to brain cancer, that was really hard for me.

Overall, though, this book was great and I really enjoyed it.

3.5 out of 5 stars

The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates

 

Darcy Coates is one of my autobuy authors but some of her books can be a little hit or miss. That said, I think THE HAUNTING OF ASHBURN HOUSE might actually be her best one yet. It has everything I love about books by authors like T. Kingfisher-- scrappy heroine who feels a little neurodivergent coded, animal sidekicks that don't die, emphasis on female relationships-- with some genuinely scary moments of horror that actually gave me nightmares.

Adrienne is surprised when she inherits Ashburn from her distant aunt Edith. She only has one memory of ever going there as a child, and it involved her and her mother fleeing in a car and the scent of blood. When she gets to the house, something is immediately off. Only the downstairs is wired for electricity, there are strange notes and instructions carved into every surface, and paintings of the family that seem to shift and turn to watch her as she goes down the hall.

The townsfolk remember her grandmother as a cold and distant woman who occasionally demonstrated moments of goodness, but that seems at odds with the portrait the house paints of her: a twisted and increasingly unstable woman who might have done terrible things whose marks remain in the very walls. Adrienne must find out what kind of woman her aunt really was-- her life may depend on it.

I thought Adrienne was a fantastic and resourceful heroine and I adored her cat, Wolfgang. I also thought that in addition to the focal horror element, this book is primarily focused on relationships between women (Adrienne meets a group of would-be friends that end up playing a significant role in the story) and connections between family matriarchs (in this case, her aunt Edith). It felt empowering and surprisingly touching, and even though I generally prefer my gothic horror with a generous side of romance, there's nothing I would have changed about this book. I read it in about three hours.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh

 

BLESSINGS is a fascinating coming-of-age story about Obiefuna, a queer Nigerian man who navigates his sexuality amidst the changing landscape of the country, starting from its post-militarization and ending with the criminalization of homosexual marriage in Nigeria.

If you love boarding school settings, I think you'll really enjoy this book. Obiefuna's school is draconian, and filled with hypocrisy (similar to the books I've read about the British school system, older boys take advantage of younger boys, sometimes sexually, and some of the teachers and admins are predatory). In boarding school, he meets his first love, a boy named Sparrow, who makes him feel things that he's never felt about anyone, which makes him feel valid and whole.

The story about his mother, Uzoamaka, was less interesting and also very sad. She ends up sort of being the catalyst that ultimately ends up leading to the conversation that Obiefuna never had with his father, but this also makes her kind of feel like a literary sacrifice. But many parents sacrifice for their children, so this narrative device didn't bother me as much here as it might have in another story. Especially when all of the characters were so poignant, and they all felt very realistically flawed and troubled.

Picked this up on a whim and was, once again, not at all disappointed. An excellent work of African lit.

3.5 out of 5 stars

The Dead Don't Need Reminding: In Search of Fugitives, Mississippi, and Black TV Nerd Shit by Julian Randall

 

THE DEAD DON'T NEED REMINDING is a collection of essays by a queer biracial man (Latinx and Black) about everything from growing up in the South under the looming legacy of slavery to how he associates with various mediums of pop-culture. I grabbed this randomly in the cruise ship library and enjoyed it a lot. In some ways, this kind of reminded me of Brian Broome's PUNCH ME UP TO THE GODS, although I didn't like this collection quite as much.

That said, Randall's poetry background really comes through in how he can spin a phrase, and I actually really loved his essays on Bojack Horseman and Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. Seeing how much he related to Miles, and the portrayal of his Afro-Latinx roots, was truly heartwarming. And as someone who suffers depression, I really liked how Bojack made him feel seen (because it did for me, too).

I had never heard of this book before but I'm so glad I picked it up on a whim because I ended up liking it quite a bit.

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars

If You Can't Take the Heat: Tales of Food, Feminism, and Fury by Geraldine DeRuiter

 

IF YOU CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT is a fantastic collection of essays about food and the author's own life, on a myriad of topics such as the problematic ways women are portrayed eating (or not eating) in media, the "eat... but not so much that you get fat" sentiment that is predominant in so many cultures revolving around food (but of course, this only really applies to women), the sexism of male chefs and male celebrities in the food industry, and of course, what it means to be a woman online.

I don't think there is anything particularly new or ground-breaking in this book but I still loved it. DeRuiter is charming, funny, and likable, and I honestly feel like her essay condemning women with food intolerances as being high maintenance healed something in me (indeed, this was why I chose to make one of my own romance heroines have a food allergy, which was validated by the hero). It SUCKS being treated like a pain for something you can't help, but honestly, even if it was just a preference, it feels weird shaming people for having a preference.

After finishing IF YOU CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT, I kind of want to be DeRuiter's friend. Especially after her scintillatingly hilarious essay in what has to be the Italian frat boy equivalent of Ralph Fiennes's The Menu dining experience at the Michelin-starred molecular gastronomy dining experience: Bros'. I would suffer through an entire over-priced five course meal if she were there with me, making me laugh my ass off through the whole event.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

 

RIPE is probably one of the most bizarre books I've read in a while. When I put it down, I actually had to think about how I felt about it-- did I like it? The writing style is very clean and spare, but the story itself is a downer: a depressed woman experiencing existential angst is working a tech job that she hates, and her CEO is asking her to do increasingly immoral things to keep her job.

Based on the back blurb, I was a little confused about what this book was actually about. I thought this would explore the relationship between the heroine and her boss more, but he was more of a secondary character. The blurb also makes it sound like they have a sexual relationship because it's so vague, but she's involved with a chef whose name we never learn, but who is in an "open" relationship.

Overall, this was a decent read. I wouldn't read it again but I would read more by this author.

3 out of 5 stars

A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon

 

DNF @ 42%

Absolutely gorgeous cover and very creative and potentially humorous premise, but this wasn't what I was expecting at all. I thought it would be a comedic book about an older magical girl having an existential crisis and it was sort of that, but it wasn't very funny. It reminded me a lot of I WANT TO DIE BUT I WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI in the sense that the focal element is more about Asian women struggling to manage their depression and how it makes them feel selfish and unpleasant at people in a culture that not only values togetherness and putting other people first, but also doesn't really talk about mental illness publicly out of shame and stigma.

I found it to be really boring and a little too weird for me personally, and even halfway through this novella, it still didn't feel like it had all its shit together. It might be funny to others and maybe it just wasn't my personal sense of humor, so if you enjoyed Baek Se-hee and also enjoy anime, you might be the target audience for this book.

2 out of 5 stars

Prohibited by Madeline Thorne

 

I feel like the fact that people are so hard on FMCs has caused a lot of authors to be afraid to take risks with their female characters. Male protagonists can get away with virtually anything but if an FMC even squints at someone the wrong way, suddenly she's unlikable or a bitch. That's why it was so refreshing to read about Evie. There's an idea that strong women aren't allowed to be vulnerable or feel weak, but I am constantly reiterating that sometimes survival can be enough: and that's what Evie is. Caught between two powerful and abusive men, she is doing everything that she can do to survive, given her father's own brand of oppression and her traumatic experiences in the war.

When her lover, Walter Stanley, uses her as a set-up to assassinate someone in his way, she ends up out of the frying pan and into the fire because that someone has two angry half-brothers and a cousin who decide to kidnap Evie and use her to get back at Walter. Those people are the Lockwoods: Alex, Ryan, and Lindsay. And just in case that weren't drama enough, Ryan was her lover when she was young, back when he was the gardener for her childhood estate. Now he hates her, but he still kind of wants her, too. Uh-oh.

PROHIBITED has the vibes of one of those old skool bodice rippers I love, specifically Christine Monson or Natasha Peters: both of them had spirited heroines who went through hell and back, and never stopped surviving. I'm not usually a fan of Why Choose but I liked this book because I liked how distinct every male character felt, and because they all had relationships with each other, it felt like a natural progression for their circle to open to involve Evie. (And by the way, there's no incest: Alex and Ryan are stepbrothers, and Lindsay is Ryan's cousin, who has no blood relation to Alex. So you know, in case you were worried.)

I would have liked more suffering to happen to the two bad guys, especially considering what they did. It kind of felt like they got off easy. Like another review said, I also felt like there were too many Roberts POVs. The one with Walters and Saoirse was chilling and really well done in a way that added to the suspense and stakes (I actually said "holy shit" out loud), but some of them dragged the pacing a bit. BUT overall this was just really well done, dark without feeling like it was trying to shock. Everything felt like it unrolled exactly as it needed to for the sake of the characters and their development arcs and I can't say that about every dark romance I read. This is the second book I've read by Thorne and after this book, I kind of feel like I might have to read every single book they write.

Thanks to the author/publisher for providing me with a copy!

4 to 4.5 out of 5 stars

Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite by Suki Kim

 

WITHOUT YOU, THERE IS NO US has been sitting on my Kindle for a while but it took me a while to finish because it is so heavy. I read every nonfiction book about N. Korea that I can get my hands on because I find it so fascinating but most of the books I've read are memoirs from defectors. I've read a couple memoirs from people who traveled there for one reason or another, but usually it was to get a story or travel somewhere really unusual. Suki Kim is different from those: she is a journalist who traveled there incognito with a bunch of Christian missionaries to learn more about N. Korea through one of its universities, teaching English to some of their elite youth.

I thought this memoir was interesting because Kim is South Korean and so she did at times feel an almost cultural kinship with the N. Korean students she was teaching because of their shared history. But at the same time, the way they have been isolated from the rest of the world and raised to believe in the complete superiority of their nation with a fairytale fervor that feels almost religious made it hard for her to relate to them because she literally came from a different world.

I think this memoir shows her frustration at teaching without really being able to teach, and wanting to shed light and inform without getting anyone into trouble. Her whole situation felt very precarious and dangerous and it felt like she constantly had to walk on eggshells. Not just with the N. Koreans either, but with the very missionaries she arrived there with, with whom she does not share her faith.

Anyway, I liked this book a lot, although with books like these when there's no real sense of closure at the end, it makes me realize how life doesn't come to a neat full stop like fiction and how unsatisfying that can be (which is maybe why we shape fictional narratives the way we do). Highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in learning about N. Korea from a gentle, sympathetic, but grounded Western perspective.

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars

Twelve Rolls of Tit Torture by Matt Nicholson

 

I found this while randomly looking for extreme BDSM books and the premise sounded wild enough that I had to read it. Abbey is a college student taking a photography class and for some reason, she thinks it would be a great idea to submit a bunch of photos where she's clawing and biting her own boobs. She takes the rolls to a professional photographer who specializes in this sort of kink and he offers to take even better photos that will guarantee her an A in class.

Ostensibly it's consensual but the line sure thins out between the dub and the non side of con. The writing is not the best although the story was compelling enough that I had to see what nonsense these two were going to get up to after he kidnaps her and takes her to the desert. The author lost me when he leaves lubes up her whole body with sunscreen, except for her vajazzle and her tittays, and leaves her to get sunburned all day under the hot sun. That's how you get melanoma, friend. What are you doing? What ARE you doing?

Absolutely insane BUT I do appreciate the author's note at the end that's like, "Hey, maybe don't do this specifically, and if you do want to try kink, maybe don't start with this. There are books that actually instruct you on that sort of thing."

2.5 out of 5 stars

Their Heart A Hive by Fox N. Locke

 

THEIR HEART A HIVE was a purely impulsive read because I saw that Cat Hellisen had given it a high rating and I really respect their writing (and their taste). And they weren't wrong! This is a vastly underrated queer fantasy with Celtic and cottagecore undertones that at times almost feels like a sweeping gothic with a fantasy backdrop.

One of the critiques of fantasy is that they often include homophobia as part of the default world-building but in this book queerness is completely accepted. The hero, Lowen, is gay. When he kills a magical bee that belongs to the local lord, he is summoned to the lord's domain where he finds out that the "lord" is actually genderqueer and is also sometimes "the lady" or even "themself" or "lord and lady."

The Lord and Lady of Honeymoore has a mysterious relationship to bees and their household staff, one of whom, Brem, Lowen ends up in a sexual relationship with. The plot is very slow and this is mostly just a book of vibes. I liked the vibes but the drop-off in pacing did make this a little harder to finish in the second act, although the ending was fantastic and left me a little misty-eyed.

Highly recommend this to people who wanted something like ACOTAR, but gay, or something that has an almost Miyazaki feel to it. I'm honestly shocked more people haven't read this.

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim

 

I was a little hesitant to read this book because I am a HUGE WUSS when it comes to horror and I don't care who knows. Body horror and spatterpunk are really hard for me to read and the cover makes it look like this book is going to be really gory. But it's not. It's kind of like if you crossed MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER with YELLOWFACE: you have the literary female serial killer pulp juxtaposed against some very powerful discussions of Asian racism.

Most of the horror doesn't happen until the last 40%. The first 60% is an intense character portrait about Ji-won, whose mother has just started dating a white man named George. George is That Creep(TM) who has a fetish for Asian women-- and even worse, he ogles and objectifies Ji-won's younger sister. She needs him gone, stat. But he has the prettiest big blue eyes... and she thinks they look tasty.

The imagery of literally eating the white male gaze is quite powerful and I think this book does a great job of showing the anger that a lot of Asian women (rightfully) have when they exist in a culture that fetishizes and objectifies them, denying them the right to exist as autonomous, flawed human beings, as well as the expression of their identity on their own terms.

I had a few issues with the ending and there were one or two things that felt a little over the top, but on the whole this feels like a smart and campy horror movie and I was actually pretty into it.

3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars

Homecoming by Madeline Thorne

 

Between Kate Rivenhall and now Madeline Thorne, I have been suckered into enjoying incest erotica by authors with names that sound like they ought to be cavorting around on a sprawling British estate tending to prize-winning orchids or breeding horses. Instead, they're out here converting the unwary into shipping blood siblings in extremely toxic but hot relationships. WHAT A SCAM. (I'm in.)

I was interested in this book because the author kept teasing the most tantalizing quotes on her Instagram. When she offered me an ARC, I was so excited. And oh my gosh, it did not disappoint. After reading Meg Smittherman's THRUM, I was really wanting another semi-gothic smut in space book, and this book really delivered. I feel like it also had DUNE space-punk vibes (only as window dressing, though, this is not hard scifi), with a generous dash of FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC family gothic incest drama.

And if you're looking at this book, you're probably very much in it for the family gothic incest drama. And maybe also the tentacle non-con. Man, when you see tentacle non-con in the list of TWs, you know you're in for a rollicking good time.

Soren was hot and Abra was such a strong character. Stabbing a dude in the dick with a nail file? COLD-BLOODED. I also really admired how resourceful she was, and how she gave as good as she got when it came to Soren and his forcefulness. She really reminded me of some of the classic bodice-ripper heroines, like Catherine from STORMFIRE and Ginny from SWEET SAVAGE LOVE. It ends on a cliffhanger with a promise of more, so there isn't an HEA at the end, but there is a ton of smut and forbidden desire and passion, so woo.

The only thing I couldn't fully get on board with was the "nectar" business. But it wasn't cream, so hey, if that's what they call come in this scifi universe, I'm willing to allow it for the sake of good smut.

Thanks to the author for providing me with a copy

4.5 out of 5 stars

Breathless by Cat Wynn

 

BREATHLESS was an impulse read since it was on Kindle Unlimited and I liked it quite a bit. There's a lot of humor in this book, and the reclusive heroine-- a burned out ex-fashion model who is incredibly neurotic-- was crazy in a very sympathetic and relatable way, and I liked her zany obsession with aquariums, which is how she meets the hero in the first place: through a forum for people who are obsessed with fish and aquariums. In the forum she meets a guy named Mack, who she has a crush on, but when he sends her a selfie after she pressures him for a pic, she notices a strange reflection in the picture...

I liked the first half a little more than I did the second half, but this was a very fun and amusing ride. Villains were a little cardboard cut-out-y but I got the impression that this was a loving parody of things like The Shape of Water and Splash, with a hefty dash of monster-fucking thrown in to keep things extra spicy.

Very cute.

3 out of 5 stars

Thrum by Meg Smitherman

 

THRUM is a lot of things and it does all of them pretty well. It felt like it could have been an episode of the show Love Death + Robots. Part gothic space opera, part alien romance, part survival story, THRUM is about a woman who wakes up in the middle of her spaceship from stasis and finds out that all of her fellow shipmates are dead and that someone-- or something-- has sabotaged her ship from the outside. When she puts out a distress call, someone answers, but that someone may be even more dangerous than being alone in space.

I don't want to say too much else because wherever you think this is going, it's probably not what you think. I am 99% sure that this was probably inspired by Bluebeard though (and that's not a spoiler, because again, not what you think), and maybe also a little bit of Crimson Peak with its hot and possibly villainous love interest. This is more creepy than scary which is perfect for a wuss like me, so if you want something with chilling vibes and a wild ending, this.

5 out of 5 stars

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

 

ON WRITING is one of my favorite writing memoirs/guides and for the moment, it's aged pretty well over the years (except for his adulation for J.K. Rowling and his seeming disdain for romance novels). I love how despite his incredible success, Mr. King seems very humble and approachable and even a little bemused that his books are as popular as they are, and it was fun getting a glimpse into the 1950s childhood that clearly inspired IT, his clear passion for writing at a very young age, and how long and arduous his path to success was (I had no idea that three of his "Bachman" books had actually been written prior to Carrie).

I think King does fall into the trap of making excuses for his favorites but condemning those exact same qualities in the things he doesn't like. His love and fond remembrance for trash films and Z movies, and the entertainment they bring because of their camp, when paired with compelling stories and charismatic and attractive leads gets him so close to understanding why romance novels are so popular-- and yet he can't seem to get over his disdain of them, mocking the adverb-heavy bodice-ripper writing style, and romance phrases like "arrogant cheekbones." Sometimes when you pick up a book, you don't want it to be literary, you want it to be fun.

Anyway, apart from that one niggling issue, I did enjoy ON WRITING a lot. I've had the same copy since I was about fourteen years old and for the longest time, this was my writing bible. It is still treasured and holds pride of place with some of my other favorites, but I no longer believe his word is law.

4 to 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead

 

I wonder what it's like to wake up in the morning and be Ashley Winstead, knowing that you can write the most beautiful, fucked-up shit and have it be so damn good. It must be amazing. Because I powered through THE LAST HOUSEWIFE in under 24 hours, going through a big rollercoaster of emotions until I reached the finish line.

HOLY SHIT.

Shay is a damaged woman who married a rich man and settled into a comfortable life of luxury, but she's haunted by things that happened to her when she was in college. Then one day she hears a podcast episode from her childhood friend, Jamie. He's looking into what happened to her friends and begs for her to reach out to him again.

What results is a sort of investigative drama, told in mixed media format, about a dangerously charismatic man, an evil cult, depraved sex, and a society that truly despises women just for existing. It's emotionally devastating and I can see why people were so ambivalent about it given some of the triggers, but I personally think it was masterfully handled and the ending was so satisfying.

5 stars

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

 

THE WOMAN IN ME basically sailed up the best-seller charts when it came out and I'm not surprised. Her conservatorship was big news, and so was her eventual release for it. After all the drama about her family and relationships-- some baldly revealed, some hinted at-- a lot of people were curious about what the Queen of Pop's life was really like. And as it turns out... pretty fucking awful.

I don't want to spoil this memoir for anyone who hasn't read it yet (I'm suuuuuuper late to the party), but it's not a particularly happy one. Her relationship with Justin Timberlake was awful (when she had an at-home abortion at his suggestion that left her feeling like she might die, his solution was to LIE ON THE FLOOR and play his guitar instead of taking her to the hospital). Her relationship with K-Fed was awful (surprise! he comes across as a super manipulative user of a person who used her kids against her to get what he wanted). And her family and the way they allegedly abused her conservatorship to give themselves big salaries and use all of her money at their leisure, while sending her to mental institutions when she fought back? WOW.  

I'm glad she seems to be having a happier life now, but man, this was a brutal read. It was nice to hear that Paris Hilton was actually a genuinely good friend to her, and that she found a man who cared about her beyond what she could bring to the table fiscally. But overall, the message in this book seems to be that fame can be a gilded prison where no one can hear you screaming behind the bars.

4 out of 5 stars

Across State Lines by Lauren Biel

 

This book is one of the most depraved dark romances I've ever read, and I would advise you to read the TWs very carefully. There are some scenes in here that could definitely trigger someone who went in unprepared. That said, it also has a really unique premise and ends up being a really fascinating psychological portrait into two deeply traumatized individuals, while also providing some brilliant dialogue on consent, and I ended up liking it a LOT more than I thought I would!

The two main characters are Aurora, a college dropout working as a truck stop prostitute, and Tobin/Kane/Jax, a trucker with a dark past who has some side deals with some shady people. When he sees Aurora, he wants her... but he's not what he seems. This is basically a Why Choose but all the men are actually the same person, because the leading man has DID (dissociative identity disorder).

Dissociative identity disorder is one of the most interesting and controversial psychological disorders, even amongst professionals. My Forensic Psychology professor didn't believe there was sufficient evidence for it to be real (I remember her arguing with a student about it during one of her lectures), but my Abnormal Psychology professor found it credible, at least following an episode of extreme trauma. It's also been called multiple personality disorder or split personality (and people often confuse it with schizophrenia), but now it's categorized under the dissociative disorder umbrella.

I thought Lauren Biel did a really great job with the research she clearly did for this book. I also like how even though this book had some pretty gnarly scenes of sadistic sex and degradation (he penetrates her with the business end of a knife and has her suck on a public toilet handle, for example), Aurora had agency. It was limited agency and she did what she did because she felt like she didn't have a choice, but it was different enough that she didn't categorize it with the trauma she had from another incident in her life. I thought the choice to make both Aurora and Kane's trauma happen off-page was very sensitive, and I also felt like it made sense why the characters did the things that they did. This relationship is by no means aspirational or desirable, but it worked for them. I'll admit, I wasn't sure how she could possibly write an HEA for these two, but she found a way.

Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt

 

I think this might have been Victoria Holt's first gothic romance novel, and you can kind of see it. She hasn't nailed down her formula yet, and the meandering storyline comes to a head all at once at the end, most of the closure happening in the epilogue, presented after the fact.

Despite that, MISTRESS OF MELLYN is such a fun, atmospheric read. I have nostalgic memories of checking out Victoria Holt hardcovers from the public library and devouring them, one after the other, along with some of Mary Stewart's books. If you're into the cozy mystery aesthetic and like closed-door historical romance novels, Victoria Holt is going to be your jam. Especially if you're into the spooky or horrorcore atmosphere but can't actually stomach gore.

I loved the Cornish setting and the brooding womanizer hero and dour and grumpy heroine were great. I'm a sucker for a good governess romance and I thought BOTH child characters in this book felt quite realistically bratty and amusing. I actually liked all of the characters in this book, including the bad ones. She absolutely nailed the claustrophobic gothic forced-proximity.

3.5 out of 5 stars

It's Not a Cult by Lauren Danhof

 

If it's about a cult, I will read it. IT'S NOT A CULT roped me right in with the fun cover and tongue-in-cheek title and when I read the blurb, I really liked the heroine's narrative voice despite what some of the other reviews seemed to think about Glinda Glass. I stan a fuck-up heroine, okay? Especially if she's entertaining.

Glinda's mother hasn't been the same since the death of her husband (Glinda's dad). And Glinda's sisters are all kind of aloof and embarrassed of her because of her fuck-up status (one of them won't talk to her at all after almost breaking up her relationship). But now things have gotten worse: she's involved in a "community lifestyle group" that is actually a cult and is engaged to the cult leader, Arlon.

The ratings for this book are pretty low but it definitely falls into a very specific niche. It's too funny to be a serious book, it's too serious to be a funny book, and it kind of is written like a rom-com except I would say it's target audience skews more towards readers of women's fiction looking for their next book club pick.

Overall, I did enjoy this quite a bit although I think it loses some much-needed steam in the second half. Still, it was original, inventive, and fun, and I'm not sorry I read it at all.

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars

Gallows Pole by Eris Adderly

 

GALLOWS POLE was a fun, quick read that felt like it was inspired pretty heavily by 80s and 90s bodice-rippers. The heroine, Emmat, is a highwaywoman. Her brother is also a criminal and one day, her parents send her out to prevent his execution, telling her that if she can't come back with him, she shouldn't come back at all. Desperate, with a hangman unwilling to take her bribes, Emmat offers herself in her brother's stead.

There is dub-con, obviously, but this is not a dark romance where the heroine feels like a victim (for those of you who don't like that). It also has a surprising amount of genuinely funny moments. She is spirited and full of fire, and gives back as good as she gets. Vane, the hero, is a morally complex man with a tragic backstory who comes to her in darkness when he isn't wearing his hangman's hood (so I guess you could say there's a Masked Man element to this book, too).

Some of my favorite moments were when the heroine lies about having his period to avoid sleeping with him and he tells her that her hand isn't on its period (lol). The fact that he shame-facedly trotted out to wash at the well as SOON as the heroine told him he smelled was also great. We stan a man who wants to look and smell good for his lady. I also lol'd when he stormed out to find a chaplain to marry them in his weirdly dark depressed-person house. A+

I've never read anything by Eris Adderly before but I will now definitely be reading more Eris Adderly.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

 

JUST LIKE HOME is one of the weirdest horror novels I've ever read, but I really liked it. Vera is an emotionally stunted young woman who grew up in pretty terrible circumstances: her mother was abusive and distant and her father was loving but also a serial killer. Now her childhood home, Crowder House, is a place of spectacle and speculation. When Vera's mother asks her to return home, an avalanche of old memories is released, tying Vera to her traumatic past and the dark secrets that still lurk in the house's even darker shadows.

I loved the writing style of this book. It was so evocative and visceral and gritty and gross. Body horror is something I have a hard time with usually, but the way Gailey couched it in all this metaphorical, poetic language made it feel almost like fairytale violence. I also liked how this book straddles several genres of horror-- serial killer, haunted house, family secrets, moral corruption, splatterpunk, monsters. Go in expecting fluids and trauma for sure, but prepare yourself for an ending that is probably more touching than you'd suspect.

4 out of 5 stars

Before We Were Strangers by Brenda Novak

 

This is the third book I've read by Brenda Novak and it was so good. Like, seriously, could this woman please spare some talent for the rest of us? It is very rude of her to hoard it all to herself, please and thank you. That said, if she keeps writing gothics and historical romances and dark small town romantic suspense novels, maybe she can keep at least a little all to herself, because holy shit, this was good.

BEFORE WE WERE STRANGERS is a second chance romance set in a toxic Texas town called Millcreek. Sloane is a famous model who has taken a break ever since her father figure/agent got sick. Plagued by questions of something disturbing she saw as a child, she goes home to find out whether her father really did murder her mother, as she's suspected all along.

Her father is the mayor of Millcreek and doesn't take kindly to the prospect of being implicated in old crimes, especially from the estranged black sheep daughter who ditched her boyfriend when she left, causing him to turn to her ex-best friend. Now he's a cop and a father and an ex-husband, who's more than still half in love with Sloane. Enough that he'll probably help her with an investigation if she asked, which is a big NO as far as her dad is concerned.

This was just so deliciously messy and the suspense was really well done and blended nicely with the romance. Honestly, this was perfectly paced, with some great twists, and as always, I appreciated how realistic and fleshed out all of the side characters were. Paige, Sloane's ex-BFF, did some terrible things but she was never a cartoonish villain. You could see why she did what she did even if you kind of hated her for it. I also literally never read cop romances, so the fact that this won me over to a trope I normally avoid speaks so much in its favor. Like, job well done, Ms. Novak. Seriously.

I'm so glad that I could buddy read this with my friend, Sarah. She joined me on my other two Novak adventures and we're three for three in solidly good books at this point. 

4 to 4.5 out of 5 stars

Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde

 

It's 1995. A teenage girl named Kerry goes to the 24 Hour Laundromat to get her younger brother's stuffed koala bear, only to find herself in the middle of a dangerous situation: a group of adults are holding a teenage boy hostage, claiming that he's a vampire. The plan seems to be to kill him-- right in front of her. After she ends up getting held hostage, too, Kerry takes advantage of a moment's lull to free the boy.

She thinks that he's innocent, like her. But she's wrong.

The result is a road trip of the night, where she's forced to play Scheherazade to a vampire's twisted plans for revenge... or die.

COMPANIONS OF THE NIGHT is one of my favorite vampire books of all time. The writing style reminds me of L.J. Smith's, and even though it takes place over only a couple of days and is a very short book (a novella, really), it feels cinematic. You read it, thinking that it would make a great, campy 80s style movie with a rock soundtrack.

I know it's YA but it's good YA, with complex themes about mortality, morality, and some of the best banter I've ever seen. Everyone who loves vampires should read this.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Winterscape by Anastasia Cleaver

 

Screaming, crying, throwing up. WINTERSCAPE is a gothic romance written by one of my favorite authors, Natasha Peters (although Anastasia Cleaver is her gothic-specific pseudonym). I don't think I've given a single one of her books less than five stars. Whether she's writing first person or third person, she is a TALENT. Her literary references and attention to detail are just fantastic, and nobody does cruel, flawed, and seductive heroes the way she does. Like, no one.

Helena is the daughter of a piano musician who has spent most of her life poor, traveling from gig to gig with her father. Her father was two steps removed from Chopin, but the two of them are the literal definition of starving artists. When she sees an ad for a piano teacher after her father's untimely death, she answers it. But the family she's working for is strange. They are the Vallelongas family, and the patriarch, Andreas Vallelonga is a manic trickster cast in the mold of Edward Rochester whose once-beautiful wife is now haggard and dying, and he himself was once a piano master who destroyed his hands while drunk by cutting them on broken glass.

Her job is to tutor Andreas's son, Michele, who has a hump and a limp, and has been treated like shit by both his parents. She was actually hired by his uncle Daniele, and has quite the nasty surprise when Andreas intrudes on one of their lessons and says, "If I can't play piano, NO ONE CAN!" But Helena is unfazed and dresses him down, which he finds intriguing and amusing enough to let her stay. What results is a family drama of the finest order, with drunken aunts, crazy religious aunts, player uncles, scheming uncles, and an evil patriarch and matriarch who are used to having everyone dance to their own tune. Everyone is playing along because the family inheritance is on the line, but when someone dies unexpectedly and poison is suspected, suddenly, Helena finds herself in the line of fire...

The writing in this book was amazing. There's a great line where Andreas is described as a Lucifer encased in his own frozen tears. And Helena does feel very Jane Eyre-sque, especially with her no-nonsense demeanor and the fact that she feels a little too good for the manbaby love interest who throws tantrums when he doesn't get his way and parades one of his old flames in front of her to make her jealous. Interestingly, there's a bit of a taboo element as well because

***SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER***

Andreas's wife was Helena's mother, so when they get together at the end, she's kind of getting together with her stepfather. Very demure, very mindful, very cutesy. I just read another gothic romance recently where the girl ended up with her stepbrother, so who knew that the 70s gothics lines liked to get so down and dirty? Dark romance is quaking in its boots.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Lucas by Kevin Brooks

 

I still remember the first time I read LUCAS, and how fucking betrayed I felt by that ending. When I was a teenager, LUCAS was one of my favorite books of all time, because I related to the heroine so much-- she's passive, bitter, and depressed, dreaming of the future while also fearing it, and I think that chaotic and malleable state is going to resonate with a lot of teens. It certainly did for me. And the writing! The descriptions of small town life and complex interpersonal dynamics! Oh my god!

At its heart, this is a dark small town story about the suspicion and animosity that can bubble up like rot as intolerant people close ranks against people they see as different and a threat to their continued way of life. The eponymous Lucas is a drifter who comes to a British island town, and the heroine, Cait, sort of ends up becoming fascinated with him because of how mature and different he is from other boys.

I don't want to say too much else, but this book is HEAVY. It deals with violence, an attempted SA, xenophobia, suicide, alcoholism, and police corruption. Reading it as an adult in 2024, I also noticed some things that flew over my head when I read it back in 2000-whatever. For example, one of the plotlines involves a girl lying about her rape to punish an innocent boy. The heroine is very much on the innocent boy's side, and says all this stuff about how the girl involved is a slut and should be examined more thoroughly. It just felt very odd, because lying about being raped is so rare and to have this girl just nlog her way through her crush's innocence felt icky.

In fact, on my second readthrough, most of the other girls in this book are portrayed very badly, and kind of obviously inferior to Cait. There aren't really any positively portrayed female characters in this book except for her dad's sort-of girlfriend, who isn't really in the picture much at all. It feels like a spot-on portrait of slut-shaming 2000s party culture, and how that might look in a small town in the UK. Which makes this book feel quite dated, but not in a way that feels comfortably removed from today. I felt a lot of things while reading it, and while I still really liked it, I do wonder how much of that is nostalgia because I don't love it anymore.

Also, the quasi-paranormal stuff is just... bizarre. Why does he need to know the future? WHY?

4 out of 5 stars

One of Us Is Dead by Jeneva Rose

 

ONE OF US IS DEAD has big May Cob energy. Someone asked me what this was about and I said it was like Real Housewives of Atlanta crossed with one of those cheesy murder shows. Our cast of bitchy character is as follows: Shannon, the ex-queen bee, now cringing in shame at being ousted from society and her marriage; Olivia, the new queen bee and possible sociopath, who will stop at nothing to get to the top; Keisha and Jenny, the employees of the poshest salon in town; Karen, a realtor with a failing marriage; and Crystal, the trophy wife who ousted Shannon from her own marriage (accidentally, ofc).

This is one of those books where everyone is horrible and hard to root for but that makes it extra fun. "What are these awful women going to do next?" I asked myself, as I turned the pages gleefully, supporting women's wrongs. Jeneva Rose is very good at writing flawed and compelling female characters and twist endings. Every time I think I've got it all figured out, she ends up surprising me.

One of the criticisms I've seen for this book is that the writing is repetitive and not "good," and yeah, if you're picking this up expecting Donna Tartt's Little Friend or even Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects, you're going to be disappointed. Honestly, this is like a beach read with a little bit of glitter trash influence, courtesy of Jackie Collins. The focus isn't on telling a beautiful story so much as a compelling one that keeps you turning pages. I didn't like this one as much as her other book, YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COME HERE, because the middle was a bit of a repetitive slog, but apart from that, I thought this book was both amusing and memorable. The perfect quick read.

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars

Keep Your Friends Close by Leah Konen

 

I have literally never read anything by Leah Konen before but now I think I might have to read more. Her style reminds me a lot of Greer Hendricks's and Sarah Pekkanen's, so if that's your vibe, I think you'll enjoy this one a lot. I found this in a little free library and stealth-read it, and it was a breezy read I finished in about two days.

Mary and Willa are friends, but we know from the dual timeline that something went wrong. They aren't friends anymore, and Mary has suffered some kind of betrayal. Willa, the pretty younger friend, was responsible for said betrayal and then she disappeared. Or did she? Because one day, Mary sees her again but she won't respond to her name.

This was a wild rollercoaster of a read with several twists and turns that I didn't see coming. Some of that was because the twists and turns in question didn't always fully make sense. But I was entertained. And, also, I really liked the feminine empowerment/girlpower themes of the book. All of the female characters were way more than they first seemed at face value, and I really liked that.

So it was a little silly, yes, but I was entertained.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Cracked by Eliza Crewe

 

CRACKED was published in 2013 and it shows, but not in a bad way. The tough as nails, sentient-Hot-Topic-tee, soul-devouring, ball-busting heroine is perfectly cast in the mold of Anita Blake-inspired, "strong female protagonists" that were popular in the day. She comes across as a little one-dimensional now, but I did enjoy her arrogance and sarcasm, and how she's an obvious reactionary response to the more Bella Swan-y heroines that were also popular at this time. If you enjoy Wednesday Addams-coded heroines, you'll love this.

The book literally opens with the heroine inside a mental asylum, pretending to be an inpatient so she can attack a predatory male nurse who preys on his female patients. His end is gory, and attracts the attention of some demons on the scene, who also planned to take the man's soul. Instead, they try to come for her and Meda, the heroine, is saved by some well-meaning but inept teen demon slayers called "Templars," including a doofy golden boy himbo named Chi.

Meda plays up the damsel in distress act while hiding her half-demon identity, determined to learn more about her heritage and this new, potentially dangerous enemy. The results are honestly pretty funny, and the book is fast-paced and filled with action, in a way that would honestly make it equally appealing to readers of all genders. I would have liked this more if I'd read it when it first came out, because I was in my early twenties then. Now, it's a little too YA for me, and Meda's one note sarcasm shtick got a little old after a while. I appreciate what this book represents, and it's a testament to its quality that it's aged as well as it has, but Harley Laroux has basically spoiled me for all other demon books.

That said, if you love the TV show, Wednesday, and are looking for something with similar vibes for Halloween, this would be a great pick. And the ebooks for the entire series are very affordably priced.

2.5 out of 5 stars

Where Ivy Dares to Grow by Marielle Thompson

 

WHERE IVY DARES TO GROW is a really interesting gothic romance about a woman named Saoirse who is engaged to a man named Jack, who comes from the Page family: a titled family that own a massive estate called Langdon, which has a rich and stately history. They are the most pretentious group of fucks that you could ever hope not to meet, and have even developed a cute little phrase for the things that they deem worthy of their time and notice: "Page important."

When Jack brings her home to tend to his dying mother, Saoirse realizes how "Page unimportant" she is, as she watches her husband-to-be fall out of love with her and treat her like a burden, not speaking a word in her defense when his parents castigate her for her worthless history PhD, for being too high maintenance and neurotic, and basically just treating her like so much dust on their damask curtains.

Pretty soon, though, strange things start happening. Saoirse starts to see shadows and strange things that shouldn't be there. She starts losing track of time. And then she meets a man named Theo, who is Jack's ancestor. But she likes him so much more than she ever did Jack. Which begs the question: is it really cheating to sleep with your fiance's ancestor's ghost? WHAT A PREMISE. Marielle Thompson, I love you.

This book got panned pretty heavily on Goodreads but I actually liked most of it. The writing is beautiful. Some people didn't like the prose but Thompson is trying to emulate the quintessential gothic novel. Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, they all wrote like this. And the references to Jane Eyre-- this was intentional. Even though this book is set in 1994, it feels timeless, kind of straddling the various timelines like Langdon in this book. So in that sense, I think this book was actually quite successful in what it set out to do.

The love story was eh. I thought it was inoffensive, but I didn't feel much chemistry between the leads. It was still very beautifully written, but the middle really dragged because that's when she really starts to set up things between Saoirse and Theo. The beginning was the best and the ending was surprising and satisfying. I also liked the afterword where the author talked about her own mental illness, and how she never saw good representation of herself in media, so writing Saoirse with depersonalization-derealization disorder was actually quite cathartic for her.

3 out of 5 stars

Streams and Schemes by Rebecca Kinkade

 

Five stars is not enough. Rom-coms are hard for me to get into, because so many of them kind of feel sweet and empty: the romance equivalent of those dry Safeway sugar cookies with the cheap frosting and dollar store sprinkles. Like, I'm not denying that they are comfort eating for some people or that they taste sweet, but I personally don't like them and they make me feel empty and kind of sick. NOT THIS BOOK, THOUGH. Seriously, STREAMS AND SCHEMES was everything that I do like in a romance novel. The romance equivalent of eating a molecular gastronomy cookie made with cloudberry mousse and yak butter, or something like that. AMAZING.

The heroine of this book, Valeria, is my absolute favorite. She's a camgirl and she loves her profession, and she is totally sex positive without being cringe. I also loved that she was Mexican and how the author portrayed both the positive and negative sides of what it can mean to grow up in that culture. Also, she SIGNS MEN UP for romance authors' newsletters when they piss her off. Genius.

The hero, Lander, is my new book boyfriend. An intimidating lawyer built like a tree who's a consent king in the streets and a "take it you little slut" in the sheets? We stan. He did the absolute sweetest gestures for the heroine and every time I didn't think I could swoon anymore, I did. He might be one of my favorite rom-com heroes of all time after Callum from MORBIDLY YOURS. I loved him.

These two are neighbors and are aware of each other-- possibly more so than either would suspect. When they get a text message saying that a ballistic missile is coming to DC in less than twenty minutes, Valeria goes to his door and they end up tearing each others' clothes off. And then they find out that the missile was a false alarm, so that last-fuck-on-earth is just hanging between them like a glittery dildo on a string, daring them to make eye contact with their unwanted sexual attraction. This book is so funny and has a lot of heart, and I will absolutely be diving into this author's backlist.

5 out of 5 stars

The Two Kinds of Decay: A Memoir by Sarah Manguso

 

THE TWO KINDS OF DECAY is about the author's experience with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP), which was first misdiagnosed as Guillane-Barre syndrome. She was first hospitalized in 1994, and had her last flare-up in 1999, although until 2004, she was still suffering from emotional and psychological complications (depression) from the drugs she'd been on.

Medical gore is a trigger of mine so I was a little hesitant to read this, but the sample was fascinating and I felt like the blurb did a pretty good job setting the stage for the idea that this would be a graphic book. And indeed, much of this is lengthy descriptions of Manguso's medical treatments (some of which were experimental for the time), what it was like to go from being able-bodied to chronically ill, and the toll her illness took on her emotionally, socially, and physically.

The writing style was very beautiful and poetic (which is fitting because I think she is a poet). I didn't always understand the medical jargon and the end did start to feel a little repetitive after a while, but this was still a very interesting and fascinating read on a subject I knew nothing about. This also definitely feels like one of those memoirs that was written more for the benefit of the author than the reader, which I think helps knowing going in. Maybe this book could even save someone's life, if they recognize the symptoms in themselves.

Do NOT read this if medical descriptions or chronic illness are triggers for you. I could see this being a traumatizing read for someone who has experienced a recent loss or is in the process of/just finished receiving treatment. Some of the descriptions were a bit much for me, especially the needle insertion passages. (Blood and needles make me faint, sometimes even just reading about it is enough.)

3.5 out of 5 stars

Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

 

I honestly can't believe this was written by the same author who did ACE OF SPADES, which is one of my favorite YA dark academia books. I kept waiting for this one to suck me in but that never happened. The pacing is slow and there are a lot of tonal inconsistencies (quirky hijinks a la Disney channel shows like hamster escapes juxtaposed against very dark and serious issues, like SA and institutional discrimination). It just didn't work for me.

2 out of 5 stars

Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah

 

WHERE DARKNESS BLOOMS snagged my eye immediately with that haunting cover art. With god as my witness, I will never pass up creepygirl lit. Ever. In fact, that's how you'll know that I've been made into a pod person. You'll be like, "Hey, Nenia, want to read some creepygirl lit?" And Pod Nenia will be like, "Ew, no."

Set in the small Kansas town of Bishop, our story has three primary narrators: Whitney, Bo, and Delilah. They're all friends, united by their tragedy: two years ago, on the night of a bonfire, all three of their mothers went missing. In a town filled with sunflowers, and shaded by dark legacies, they're all three certain that something is rotten in Bishop. Something dangerous.

Something that might spell out death.

I powered through this in a day. It's a marvelous small town horror novel with culty vibes and feminist themes. However, it is a flawed read. All three girls sound pretty similar to each other and the story takes forEVER to pick up steam. It starts to become a really strong story in the middle/towards the end, although the ending was dragged out more than necessary. It honestly feels more like a debut than the work of a seasoned author, though according to the author's note, it sounded like this might be her first book after a long break, so in that case, it kind of is like a debut, I guess. Getting back into writing again after a long hiatus can be hard.

Honestly, I would recommend this to people who loved STARLINGS by Amanda Linsmeier and WHAT WE HARVEST by Ann Fraistat. Same vibes. In fact, do yourself a favor and just binge all three, back to back. Have yourself a creepygirl summer. You deserve it, babe.

I will never look at sunflowers the same way.

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars

Three Hearts Hideaway by Luna Day

 

I grabbed this for SYKD and thought it looked super cute. The girl on the cover kind of reminded me of Dua Lipa. THREE HEARTS HIDEAWAY is not what I was expecting at all, though, and I mean that in a good way. It's not just a small town romance, it's a smutty small town romance, about a woman who leaves her narcissistic and abusive ex after he humiliates her, somehow finding her way to what I can only imagine must be the Disneyland of Canada (Little Greenfield), picking up two hot B&B owners and entering into a poly relationship with them where they explore all her fantasies that she was shamed for having with her ex.

Man, I can't even find one dude who will treat me right and she found TWO? A real man could never compete with a fictional man, I swear.

Of the two I think I liked Logan more than Roman just because he gave off almost dark romance vibes. But I thought the dynamic was well done, and the enthusiastic consent and constant conversations and checking in were great. I've seen criticisms that some poly romances don't really handle this aspect well and I think it was done quite well here. Also, when they're not railing her six ways from Sunday, they treat her like a queen. Gin tasting? Gourmet chocolate? SIGN ME UP.

My only issue with the book was that it was a little too insta-lusty for me. Like some of the other readers, I wish there had been more build-up and tension to the relationship. But I understand that that wasn't necessarily what the author wanted to do with this book. It's just why it didn't work for me quite as well as it could have. I do highly recommend THREE HEARTS HIDEAWAY to anyone who really likes Eve Dangerfield, however, as I feel like they have very similar styles. It's the girly girl with the kinky heart that did it for me.

Also, seeing her horrible ex get punched in the face was solid gold.

3 out of 5 stars

Hide by Kiersten White

 

Once again, I'm shocked that the reviews for this are as negative as they are. HIDE is not a perfect book but it's a really interesting one, with some of my favorite tropes. At first, it kind of starts out feeling very dystopian, a sort of Hunger Games-esque quest for survival with fourteen contestants starring in a reality TV show about eluding capture in an amusement park. But the truth is creepier than that.

I don't want to say too much else because I actually think the twist is really great. There's a lot about breaking cycles of abuse and the legacies of violence, which I thought was really interesting. I'm guessing the low ratings are because of the unlikable characters, the supernatural elements, and the somewhat unsatisfying and abrupt ending, but none of those things really bothered me all that much. I do feel like the story is a little unpolished and it feels more like a debut than a seasoned author's work, but it's also a really fun, short horror novel and I appreciated that she held back on the violence and splatter.

There's something very Stephen King-like about this book. It kind of felt like a threeway cross between IT, JOYLAND, and THE LONG WALK.

3 out of 5 stars

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

 

This was great, kind of a cross between Knives Out and THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO. There's three narrators: Ruby, the infamous patriarch of the McTavish fortune, who survived four unlucky husbands, and kidnapped as a child; Camden, her heir by means of adoption, hated by all of the by-blood McTavishes; and Jules, Camden's wife, a calm and ruthless woman who is determined to see to it that her husband gets everything that he deserves.

I could not put this down and was utterly obsessed with it. When I wasn't reading this book, I was thinking about it, and wondering what would happen next. It's similar to the stories that I like to write, and even references a folktale I've used in one of my own works because it's such a sinister favorite (The Scorpion and the Frog! It's so good), which felt like kismet. I feel like one of the biggest compliments that you can give another author is saying that you wish that you'd written the story-- except that's not true, because with the historical elements, mixed media format, and three distinct and vicious voices of the narrator, I could not have done this book justice the way she did.

I've read and loved THE WIFE UPSTAIRS, because it was a Jane Eyre retelling (another one of my favorite books), but this one was even better. There's more of a romance angle, which I loved, and Camden was hot. It had the same doomed family legacy vibes as Roanoke Girls and Fall of the House of Usher, so if that's your vibe, you'll eat this up. I hope they make it into a Netflix series.

5 out of 5 stars

The Opposite of Hallelujah by Anna Jarzab

 

I've read a lot of YA titles about religious abuse and religious trauma but THE OPPOSITE OF HALLELUJAH is the first book I've read that discusses teens using religion as a crutch for their other problems. The heroine of this book is a girl named Caro, who is a typical bratty teen girl with the usual litany of bratty teen girl problems, except for one: her older sister has returned from the convent that she joined at age eighteen and is acting super weird. Everyone in the family is tiptoeing around her and she's eleven years older than Caro, so the age-gap and the weirdness is totally not the vibe.

When Caro gets stressed out, she panics and lies. When she was younger, this earned her the nickname "Caroliar," and old habits die hard. She starts dating a cute Polish guy but when he starts asking questions about her homelife, she panics and starts lying to him, too, as well as her friends. Tensions sky rocket in her family and her friends start to get angry about her pushing them away, and the reader is left with the glaring question: what happened to send Hannah away to the convent for all those years and why is she back now?

There were some charming dated references, like iPods and K'nex and Facebook being the ultimate college networking site (lol), which I thought were really fun. I also liked the "unlikable" and difficult heroine. She felt super realistic. A lot of YA writers won't let their teens be teens but Caro really felt like one. I do think this was too long and maybe a little too ambitious. I think it tried to tackle too many subjects at once which detracted from having a central plot to follow and gave this a convoluted vibe. But the writing was great and it reminded me a lot of Sarah Dessen's angsty teen girl books. Also, I liked the religious angle. I think a lot of people will probably find it very relatable.

3 out of 5 stars

Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

 

TEETH is such an immersive, interesting story. Reading it kind of felt like watching one of Hayao Miyazaki's darker, more adult movies, like Princess Mononoke, where human nature is put under the microscope and nothing is resolved with easy answers. It's set on an island with magical fish. Eating them cures any disease and prolongs life. Rudy is there with his family because his younger brother has cystic fibrosis, and if he doesn't eat the fish, his lungs don't work.

One day, while on the shore, Rudy meets a being named Teeth. Teeth is a mermaid-- sort of-- but not the kind that they make dolls of. He's hideously ugly and every night, he opens the fish traps and frees the fish, depleting the supply that all of the islanders desperately need. He also hates humans, but for whatever reason, he lets Rudy get close. And as the story progresses and the two boys grow closer, Rudy learns more about the mysterious Teeth and the secrets the island harbors.

This was not a perfect story by any means-- I do feel the ending lacked closure and some of that was intentional and some of it felt like an omission-- but it was transportive, lyrical, and beautiful, with a truly well done cast of "unlikable" and flawed characters, and a setting that was practically a character itself. I'm shocked that this book has fallen into obscurity instead of becoming a classic, because it is SO good. Thank god I have more Hannah Moskowitz books on my Kindle. I think I might have to read everything she ever wrote because this was just... amazing.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Clever Creatures of the Night by Samantha Mabry

 

CLEVER CREATURES OF THE NIGHT is such an interesting book, part gothic, part survivalist horror. There's a very isolated and desolate vibe to the book, almost dystopic, and I would describe the vibe as "assemble style gothic": the heroine ends up in a remote area, trapped with a somewhat large cast, all of whom have something to hide, when she goes to first seek out answers about why her friend invited her to a rural Texas house out in the middle of nowhere-- and then, later, why she appears to have gone missing.

The 2.77 rating shocked me because the writing style is fantastic and Mabry did a great job writing an unlikable but relatable heroine. Apart from the somewhat surreal atmosphere and, I guess, slightly anticlimactic ending, the unlikability is the only thing I saw that would even slightly warrant a rating like this. And even so, I feel like I can think of similar titles that didn't elicit a reaction like this.

Personally, I fell in love with this author's writing after reading TIGERS, NOT DAUGHTERS, and knew I would have to read everything else she ever wrote. The MEXICAN GOTHIC comp is honestly fairly on-point, maybe with a dash of SADIE by Courtney Summers. If you're into raw and visceral young adult books, with fierce girls and a hint of tragedy, you'll probably love this book.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Her Soul to Take by Harley Laroux

 

I'm feeling some major Halloween vibes right now so all I want to read are gothic romances and vampires, and HER SOUL TO TAKE was, like, exactly what I needed in this moment to scratch the itch. Not only is it a deliciously smutty story about a demon with a degradation kink, it's also darkly atmospheric, with cults, demons, eldritch horrors, sacrifices, creepy small towns, and cannibalism. Wooooo.

I actually don't have too much to say about this one, to be honest, mostly because I think it's best to go in cold (unless you need to review the trigger warnings). For a horror romance, it's pretty lite on the actual horrors; I think the biggest triggers are probably the degradation scenes and the nipple piercing. The romance itself is actually pretty sweet once it gets rolling and the banter is top-tier, even as it shifts from enemies to lovers. Loved Rae's alt girl blogger vibe and the shenanigans Leon got up to with his fork tongue. The cemetery "dining" scene will be living rent-free in my head for a while. Also, there's a chubby kitty named Cheesecake that lives.

Can't wait to read more of their work.

4.5 out of 5 stars