I was SO psyched to get my hands on a copy of DARK SURRENDER by Laurel Collins because I love gothic novels, especially the smutty ones, and this clinch cover promised shenanigans of the naughty variety, maybe even outside, in the waning light of the moon-dark moors. BUT NO.
First of all, thank you to usedbookin for buddy reading this book with me on Instagram. No shade to her because I had so much fun comparing notes and dothing the goth with her over DM. But DARK SURRENDER actually kind of ended up being a watery, middling read for me. I think it's comparable to some of Victoria Holt's less memorable work, and I would suspect that Holt was probably an inspiration for this author.
The vibes were on point and there were a couple genuinely creepy scenes, like the weird dead mom and the mysterious carousel music box, but apart from that, I wasn't actually all that into this book. That was surprising to me because BMI (which I believe is an imprint of Dorchester) is usually a bit more salacious and fun.
Would recommend only to die-hard Victoria Holt fans. Or to people who just want it for the cover (i.e. me).
My mom got me a copy of this and I'm already obsessed with the title and the cover. The spine on my edition is wretchedly beaten up, but the cover is My mom got me a copy of this and I'm already obsessed with the title and the cover. The spine on my edition is wretchedly beaten up, but the cover is ~glorious~...more
Disclaimer: I was the beta reader for this work and Heather is a good friend of mine, but I paid real live monies for this book and was not in any way biased (HAHA... no, really) in the writing of this review.
So when I was reading this book in the raw, I was originally conflicted because Dante, the hero, normally isn't the type of hero I like in fiction. The author really brings him down to a level of vulnerability that most heroes in romance never face. But I ended up really liking that, and liking the book also, which ended up being the atmospheric haunted-house-maybe-but-not-really story that I didn't realize I needed.
This is another one of those books where the less you know going in is better, but it examines rape culture, bullying, and obsessive love through a very fine lens, with two flawed and realistic leads. It took me a while to read it, though, because it was so high stakes and high stress, and I found myself needing to take frequent breaks because of the subject matter. It is just so well done, and ended up being possibly my new favorite work from this author, and I am honestly just so blessed to have the privilege of being friends with someone who has such talent (I mean, OMG).
Seriously, people in Peach Creek suck. I don't think I've ever had such a long list of People Who Need to Be Punched in the Face while reading since, like, IDK. Game of Thrones, maybe. Maybe Peach Creek is the Texas version of King's Landing. (And we all know what happened to King's Landing.)
Also, June is officially my new favorite heroine and I will attack anyone who comes for her or her sexuality (because girl, you get some-- just ease back on the wine, please, ILY).
I decided to take advantage of being stuck in bed post-COVID vaccine booster by finishing up some of the half-finished books that have been languishing on my Kindle. Romance and thrillers are my happy places when I'm not feeling well, and THE EDUCATION OF IVY LEAVOLD is extra fun because of the gothic vibes and because Sierra Simone can really write a beautiful turn of phrase.
This book takes off exactly where the last one ended. Ivy and Mr. Markham are continuing their whirlwind romance and are now engaged, but the secrets of his dark past are still festering between them. He might have been responsible for the death of his two past wives and even though he's good at turning her crank, she's terrified that he might just snap her neck-- or worse.
In some ways this was a really frustrating read because we're told, rather than shown, how strong and wild Ivy is. She's actually rather, um, spineless, and while part of that can be chalked up to her naivete, it is a bit annoying that she's a gold-star virgin who takes to kink like a fish to water. Anal without lube? Piece of cake for Ivy. *eye roll*
The first book worked better for me because it was more about sexual tension, which I LOVE. And the Jane Eyre elements? Pure catnip. This was just nonstop banging. And the banging in question wasn't always sexy. Sometimes it was just lurid or gross. There's a bit of teacher kink in here and that is so not my thing (maybe it's because I used to tutor, and I'm just like EW), so every time he called her his pupil or referred to himself as her teacher, I kind of vommed in the back of my throat a little.
This is not a bad book-- and in some ways, it is actually a good book-- and I am curious where it goes from here. But it's also not a keeper, imo.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that three-star reviews are the absolute worst to write, which is why I typically use bullet points now, because it makes it so much easier (and more entertaining) to organize my thoughts. Sierra Simone is a beloved erotica author by many, but after reading and hating one of her books, I never picked up anything else by her for many years. Which maybe was not quite fair of me, as it seems like her books are actually quite different from one another in terms of content and tone. So when her books went cheap or free, I picked them up and told myself I'd give Ms. Simone the ol' college try.
ALL THE STARS AND TEETH was overly written and felt like the work of an author who was trying to prove herself. BELLADONNA, on the other hand, feels like the work of an author who knows that she doesn't have to. That she is, in fact, it. I can't think of many authors where I gave one of their books a one star review only to come back and give one of their later ones a five, but Adalyn Grace is that rare case and she pried all five of those stars from my stingy little fingers with BELLADONNA.
This is everything I never knew I wanted in YA fantasy and I honestly don'tthink the reviews do it justice. I mean, with YA fantasy being a dime a dozen these days, and everyone off to the races to write The Next Big Thing, what makes this one stand out? What is it like? Well, BELLADONNA is beautifully written and features an awkward, sort of Tim Burton-y heroine, like a female counterpart to Victor Van Dort from Corpse Bride. The writing is beautiful and ornate without being overdone and it has a wonderfully Gothic pseudo-Victorian setting replete with ghosts, poison, and murder. There's a very cinematic feel to both the writing and the story-telling and it's darkly whimsical and utterly addicting, because even though it doesn't really do anything different, the characters and the setting are all so vivid that they seem to come alive.
Signa has changed hands multiple times every since her mother was Red Wedding'd at a baby shower. Signa was the only survivor but Death left his mark on her and now she can consume poison without succumbing to it and people around her have the disconcerting habit of dropping dead. When her aunt dies, Signa taken in by her uncle as ward, where she will live with her cousins, Blythe and Percy. Just one problem, their mother was recently Red Wedding'd herself and Blythe, with her mysterious illness, appears close to death herself. And instead of living out the days to her inheritance peacefully in the countryside, Signa ends up involved in a dastardly murder plot where she, and everyone she holds dear, may be in danger. Also, the family is in-fighting over petty and non-petty dramas, and the uncle, mad with grief (or guilt?) is hosting elaborate parties like he thinks he's Jay Gatsby, or something.
So let's talk about why this book was great. The writing was good. The setting was wonderful-- creepy and atmospheric, with body horror and real stakes. Honestly, there were some moments in this book that made me glad I wasn't reading it at night. The heroine was delightfully awkward and it wasn't portrayed as too quirky or twee. I could sense her inability to fit in and her loneliness, and the author showed us instead of telling us. Part of the book is watching Signa grow and blossom, like a dark orchid, in a hothouse full of society people who don't quite know how to deal with her.
There's also a love triangle, of sorts, and some genuinely sensual scenes. Sometimes sex in YA can be yuck, but the heroine is older (19) and the author did such a good job making things romantic and vague, rather than explicit. I think the last YA book I read that managed this balance so well was Holly Black's CRUEL PRINCE. I just love me a really good romance, okay? Especially if it makes me swoon and the hero is just the tiny bit dangerous. Which is maybe why this just kind of feels like a love ode to goth girl media. There's elements of Labyrinth, Tim Burton, Secret Garden, classic fairytales... basically everything I loved as a kid but grown up and wearing a fancy dress and falling in love for the first time.
Someone needs to make this a movie. And also give me the sequel. Not necessarily in that order.
HOUSE OF HOLLOW is one of the best horror stories I've ever read. I don't even normally like horror because I am a soft and jellied wimp, but I do like fairytales, and this is like the darkest of the lot: a story of three girls who went missing at the stroke of midnight while their parents fretted and worried, only for them to return, not quite the same, with matching scars on their throats and discolored hair and eyes. Ten years later, Vivi, Grey, and Iris Hollow are beautiful and exceptional girls, but beneath all of the gloss is the dark shadow of their shared pasts and the truth of why they really went missing.
Part of what made this such a win for me is the beautiful prose. It's like biting into a truffle, only to find it filled with rot. The exquisite writing masks the horrors until it's too late to run and by that point, you're so invested, you probably won't even want to. And don't be fooled by the dreamy teen narrator and the flowers on the cover: this book has triggers of all kinds, with many scenes of body horror, and some pretty emotionally devastating blows. There's one scene towards the end that really wrecked me and nearly made me cry.
I would recommend this to people who like really dark stories that explore deep topics and horror that goes beyond splatterpunk and gore. The whole time I was reading this book, I kept picturing it as a movie, with the same visuals as movies like Velvet Buzzsaw, Paradise Hills, and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. I think if you enjoy those things, you'll probably like this book, too.
I think most of my inner monologue while reading MRS. ROCHESTER'S GHOST fluctuated between "I like it, I love it, I like it, I love it, I like it, I love it." The book vacillated between good and REALLY fucking good, to the point where my ultimate rating hinged on the ending and resolution. This is actually the second Jane Eyre mystery I've read recently. The first was THE WIFE UPSTAIRS, which I liked, but deviated a lot from the original retelling.
I wasn't sure how MRS. ROCHESTER'S GHOST would go. I only found out about it because it was on one of the Daily Deals that Kindle does. Some of the Amazon reviews seemed to be from angry purists who didn't like that the book was set in California/the United States. To which I say, "UM, IT'S A RETELLING? You can retell the story however you want?!" But whatever, I'm not here to argue about how you are and are allowed to write a retelling (spoiler: I'm right and everyone else is wrong). I actually don't want to say too much about how well this follows the original because that would be a spoiler, and I want everyone reading this book to be surprised.
The plot in a nutshell: Jane is a TV writer whose project has ended and now she's got no money and no job. Her childhood friend, Otis, has a governess gig for her out in California. The daughter of a rich tech magnate needs a live-in tutor, and they'd be practically next-door BFFs as fellow staff. She agrees, with reservations, and is promptly almost run over by her would-be employer on his motorcycle. Surprise, surprise, he's a dick. She takes the job anyway, and he continues to be a dick, but she also finds him attractive and funny because he's juuuuust self-aware enough to know he's a dick, which, as everyone knows, is the difference between finding a dick insufferable and finding a dick hot.
Sophia, the problematic daughter, has a lot of issues. Her birth mom died in a tragic accident and Beatrice, the late-Mrs. Rochester, was a total hot mess. Ex-model with severe bipolar who was subject to acts of violence and hallucinations because she kept going off her meds. MRS. ROCHESTER'S GHOST is told in dual timeline/dual POV style, so we hear mostly from Jane, but also Beatrice herself, so we're privy to her delusions, her faltering mental state, and what really happened when she disappeared. I loved Jane's more straightforward narration and how it contrasted with Mrs. Rochester, who was sort of an unreliable narrator because her reality could be very different from reality-reality. I thought it added a lot of suspense and tension, and kept the pacing driving forward.
MRS. ROCHESTER'S GHOST has everything I love in a book. Beautiful scenic descriptions, a likable narrator with real flaws, Gothic elements, shocking twists and disturbing secrets, and a central mystery that kept me turning pages: in this case: what really happened to Mrs. Rochester? ALSO, even though I liked THE WIFE UPSTAIRS, the romance in that kind of failed me. I'm a huge fan of Jane Eyre because it was one of the first classics I read and also, one of the first where I found myself really relating to the main character (as someone who saw herself plain and bookish), and the idea of her finding passionate love was just such a game-changer in classic lit-- for me, it's a must, so I was glad that Marcott at least kept that Gothic, churning maelstrom of emotions in this book and modernizing Jane's struggle with conventions so it doesn't feel quite so Victorianly prudish.
Overall, this was just fantastic and I definitely would read more from this author.
Okay, so I really tried with this one because when I first heard about this book, I was SO EXCITED. Okay? SO. EXCITED. JANE EYRE is one of my favorite works of classic literature and when I found out that it was going to have Ethiopian elements, I may have screamed. I campaigned so hard for an ARC and DID NOT GET ONE, so I waited like the good book peasant I am for the chance to get a copy with coin.
FINALLY that day came and I tore into this book... only to be, uh, disappointed? The world-building felt really flat for me, like this could have been interchangeable with half a dozen other YAs. I liked that the heroine was plain and really passionate about her job, but those are the only really notable things about her. Our girl has NO HOBBIES and one of her favorite activities is pooping (I am not kidding). What in Galahad is going on here? (And don't even get me started on her "creative" method of ersatz tampon substitution.)
I'm afraid I am going to have to call it quitsies on WITHIN THESE WICKED WALLS. The writing was fine and some of the scenes of the evil spirits haunting the house genuinely gave me chills, but the bland protagonist and even blander romance really turned me off of this book. A lot of really popular reviewers swear by it, so maybe you'll like it too, but I definitely recommend checking out the sample first to make sure that the writing style-- and the narrator-- are to your taste.
THE HACIENDA has been on my to-read list ever since I learned of its existence. As someone who is a huge fan of old skool gothic novels, this sounded like it was going to be everything I loved about the genre, infused with Mexican history and culture.
Beatriz's father was killed as a traitor during the overthrowing of the Mexican government. After that, she and her mother were left at the mercy of distant relatives, who resented their presence and treated Beatriz cruelly for being too dark. When she meets Rodolfo and he proposes marriage, it seems like a dream come true: he has the fair good looks of the upper-class and runs an agave plantation that is used to make pulque. San Isidro is so massive that there is plenty of room to send for her mother and have the two of them live happily ever after.
But pretty soon it becomes obvious that a traditional ending is not in the cards. Beatriz sees and hears what appear to be apparitions and there is a darkness, a coldness, that runs through the house. Her new sister in law, Juana, does not appear to care for her, and there are terrible rumors about her husband, Rodolfo. The only one who can help her is a priest named Andres, but he has secrets as well. If Beatriz is unable to fix what is wrong with the hacienda, her life might be in terrible danger. But so might be everyone else's, too.
So this was really good. The writing was beautiful and spare and I thought the atmosphere was amazing. Cañas did a great job staying true to the classic gothic formula, and there were scenes in it that scared the shit out of me. I liked all the characters I was supposed to like and hated all the characters I was supposed to hate. The ending was fantastic, too. My only qualm was that the characterization was a little bland. I guess I was hoping for more nuance from some of the characters. Beatriz and Andres felt pretty interchangeable as narrators. It sure was great for a debut, though, and I honestly thought it was a lot better than MEXICAN GOTHIC (it's weird that they're being compared so much because they have totally different writing styles and HACIENDA runs circles around MG, in my opinion).
I absolutely adore anything Gothic so when I found out about this story, I was all over it like white on rice. Beauty and the beast retellings have kind of been done to death, but Ann Aguirre actually sort of managed to put a fresh take on it, so props.
Amarrah lives in the town of Bitterburn which is next to a castle by the same name. The town believes the castle is cursed and leaves offerings for it, but on a particularly lean year, Amarrah herself is sent as sacrifice to the castle. Once there, she finds an abundance of food and supplies and prepares to settle in for what she expects will be death when she encounters Njal, the tenant of Bitterburn.
Njal has been cursed but unlike other iterations of Beauty and the Beast where a prince was cursed for arrogance and selfishness, Njal's story is much more tragic and empathetic. As Amarrah settles into her new home, she becomes utterly obsessed with Njal's past and determined to set his present to rights.
BITTERBURN is a pretty good story. The writing kind of feels like it's a YA story but there is a lot of sex. That said, I think older teens would probably like this book. It's also a very feminist spin on what is traditionally a pretty sexist tale. Aguirre tweaked a lot of the things that made Beauty and the Beast a Stockholm syndrome fantasy: Njal isn't an asshole and Namarrah has tons of agency. On the con side, the sex scenes weren't the best and there was SO MUCH TALKING. Like, I'm all for consent IRL but there's a point where too much talking makes things unsexy for me, and this book crossed over that line dozens of times. Like, respectfully, shut up and bang. It almost felt like a playbook for sex ed at times. Very clinical and preachy. I was not into that at all. There's only so much "is this okay? is that okay? are you liking this? are you SURE you're liking this?" I can take.
Apart from a couple nitpicky qualms I had with this book, though, I'd say it's pretty good. It's filled with magic and heroines rescuing the heroes and I think fans of Jill Myles and Naomi Novik will like this.
This was like being lost in a feverish nightmare: a bleak swirl of the dark underside of Victorian England, and how predators can easily hunt girls in the night. I remember reading THE PLEASURES OF MEN years ago and loving it, and also being shocked by the low rating. I didn't like it quite as much this go-round but I'm still kind of shocked at how low the average rating for this book is. It feels undeserved considering how lush the writing is, how tortured the character is, and how elaborate the Gothic scenery is.
Catherine is a girl haunted by tragedy. She lives with her morbid uncle and is fascinated with the Jack the Ripper-esque killer stalking the streets, who goes by the name "the man of crows." Catherine keeps a journal, imagining what their deaths must have been like, although the POV swaps kind of give this book a magic realism bent. Are we really reading the POVs of the murdered girls, or just how Catherine herself imagines what their last moments must have been like?
THE PLEASURES OF MEN is another book that basically has all the triggers. I feel like there's a lot of uncertainty-- and also a lot of typos, considering this is a traditionally published work-- but I did like the twist, and I felt like Catherine herself was pretty relatable. Who doesn't love a morbidly depressed Wednesday Addams type character? Also, that COVER is so Instagrammable, I can't. Why don't more people like this book? I don't know.
Anyone who loves Gothic vibez and spooky Victorian thrillers will probably love this book.
Welcome to my Cleaning Out the Kindlethon! I recently came to the attention that I had over 1,000 books on my Kindle. I'm trying to wade my way through the mess and sort the wheat from the chaff.
I bought this book while it was on sale because it kind of had REBECCA vibes. A young and pregnant woman goes to the home of her departed husband to give birth and finds everyone to be standoffish and unfriendly. It alternates between the past and the present, where the heroine is now an old woman in an institution.
There's nothing wrong with the book objectively. The writing is decent and it has good atmosphere. It's just too slow-paced for me to get into, so it seems like a matter of stylistic differences. If you enjoy really slow-paced books, in the vein of Margaret Atwood or Stacey Halls, you may enjoy this. I like both those authors so I thought this would work for me but for whatever reason, I couldn't get into it.
Sometimes when I'm reading a book, I imagine the characters with real people, but this was a book I pictured in animation because it has the sort of phantasmagorical surrealism that can only really be achieved in the abstract. WHAT BIG TEETH has mixed reviews because it is a densely stylistic book that copies the moody, brooding atmosphere of 1970s Gothic melodramas and exploitation horror films, and the two books I can really think of that are like this book that have been published (somewhat) recently are Tanith Lee's DARK DANCE and Annette Curtis Klause's BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE.
The less you know about this book going in, the better. All you know from the beginning is that Eleanor is a teenage girl who is coming home from Catholic boarding school under troubling circumstances. Her family is an Addams family-esque cast of horrors, only considerably less lovable, and tying them all together is a backstory of tragedy and ruin and cyclical violence that is about to repeat...
Unless Eleanor can do something.
For like 95% of this story, I waffled between a 4 and a 5 because the prose is wonderful, the style is evocative, and it just really, really captures the mood of a Gothic-- claustrophobic, darkly enchanting, and even a little bit romantic-- which not all authors can do. This is my first book by Rose Szabo and I can guarantee you it won't be the last; I will read anything they put out there with a sophisticated debut like this. The reason I ultimately settled on a 4 was because it just got a little *too weird* and I had a lot of questions about Eleanor's family's origins that weren't really resolved to my satisfaction. I guess after sitting with a book for almost 400 pages, I wanted concrete answers and closure, and I didn't really get that here, even if the journey was still worth it because getting there was so fun.
That said, this is one of those YA that I think is best for older teens. I would compare it to Elana K. Arnold's DAMSEL in terms of the mature themes and upsetting content. In some ways, I almost feel like this would have been better if it were marketed towards adults, as I feel like the sophistication of the writing and the convoluted story might be lost on some younger readers. But for adults who love YA and Gothics, or enjoy the feeling of getting sucked into a dark story, I think this will be a hit.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
A while ago, I found out that a bunch of old school gothic romances had been released to Kindle, so I snapped a couple of the more interesting ones up. Right now, I'm not feeling super well, and one of my go-to reads when I'm feeling poorly is the gothic romance. I'm not sure why, but something about crumbling castles, terrified governesses, creepy children, cursed families, and mist-tossed moors always make me feel better.
THE LOST DUCHESS OF GREYDEN CASTLE is a pretty crazy little book. Basically, Vanessa is the younger sister to a beautiful blonde woman named Caroline. She sort of falls in love with this duke named Richard when he comes to their house to take Caroline away. Five years later, her sister dies, and Richard comes back and is like, "Hey, your sister's dead and I need a mother for my child, marry me." And Vanessa is like HE'S IN LOVE WITH ME! I DO! Because she is dumb.
Right away, it's clear that things at Greyden castle aren't right. Richard has an identical twin named Roland and they seem to hate each other. Richard's sister, Rosamund, has gone mad because she thinks their father paid someone to kill her impoverished fiance. Pregnant out of wedlock, she also has a sinister emo boy son named Penrose who idolizes Lord Byron (as one does). And Caroline and Richard have a child as well, a little girl named Sarah, who will do anything to make Vanessa love her. Oh, and let's not forget the creepy old disapproving dowager, whose sole purpose in life now seems to be to stir the pot.
I'm sure you thinking, THIS FAMILY IS CRAY-CRAY. And you would not be wrong. And of course, it isn't long before the death attempts start. Screams in the night, beaches full of quicksand, and old mementoes of her sister's popping up like a bad dream. It's a recipe for disaster, and Vanessa, being rather not-so-smart in this equation, hurdles towards doom with the eagerness of a kid being told he can pick out "two toys" from the store.
So I thought this book was fine. Vanessa is very much Not Like Other Girls and even though her sister really did sound evil, it was kind of gross that she kept being slut-shamed. Especially when Vanessa did some questionable things herself (frenching her new brother-in-law on the first day, for example, and then spending hours obsessing over it-- or being surprised that her marriage with Richard is a marriage of convenience-- GIRL, you didn't even KNOW him). I found myself skimming and rolling my eyes a lot, but there were enough creepy shenanigans that I wanted to know what happened next.
A while ago, I found out that a bunch of old Zebra gothic romances had been released on Kindle, and I bought a couple that looked the most interesting. Zebra publishing is one of my favorite umbrella imprints, and their gothic line was somewhat new to me. LOST ROSES OF GANYMEDE HOUSE has an amazing title and an amazing old skool cover, but the execution, for me, wasn't all that impressive.
There are three schools of gothic premises: heroine coming into an inheritance, heroine entering a marriage, and heroine taking on a new job. This is the latter category, where the heroine, Sara, is to take on the governing of two young children. The love interest is their widower father, Mr. Grayson, who is the most uptight dude I've encountered in a while as a hero of romantic fiction. He didn't really have much chemistry with the heroine at all, which is disappointing in a romance.
Virgil and Antonia are the two children and they were fine. There's also the adult cousin, Mr. Moore, and the dead wife, Rosamunda, whose presence still haunts the property in the form of roses and a Greek maze.
The set-up was interesting but it was honestly really dull to read about. I didn't really feel like Sara had much personality and it was painfully obvious who the bad guy (or girl) was. I ended up skimming pretty heavily until I got to the end, just to see if my suspicions were right. They were.
Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨
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