3 stars! (started the last weekend in May, set it down for over a month, and picked it back up to finish) Full review for my Patreon on Monday but here 3 stars! (started the last weekend in May, set it down for over a month, and picked it back up to finish) Full review for my Patreon on Monday but here are some reading notes: Themes: Female friendships that evolve over time Opposites attract/female friendship highlights women who chose very different paths in life Infidelity/Staying in a loveless marriage/settling (kind of the main thrust of the book, hence the title) Traveling/Retreat w/ a bestie Toxic relationships Vampires Paranormal Romance Identity Consequences .. Summing this one up in my own words, based on my reading experience, I would say that So Thirsty is in line with Harrison's other friendship-centered books like Cackle and The Return. The main character/narrator Sloane is unhappy with her marriage/life choices and goes on this retreat with her lifelong best friend, Naomi, who lives her life more independently and unhinged. The two women struggle to make sense of each other as they navigate traveling and making decisions--it seems like the gap between them is wider than it has been before so it's causing tension. To complicate things further, Naomi insists on going to a house party with some strangers--eager to step out of her comfort zone, Sloane acquiesces. This leads to a pretty significant, life-altering event.
(view spoiler)[Personally, these two women did not feel real to me, they seemed like caricatures/stereotypes. The vampires were underdeveloped and introduced a paranormal insta-romance that felt rushed. I don't think there was anything fresh or new added to either the whole "girl retreat" trope or vampire lore. We've all read books or watched movies where one friend is the wild child and plays everything fast and loose much to the annoyance of the more conservative, "play-it-safe" friend who is slightly jealous or resentful of the wild child. And long to be more independent and carefree but feel trapped in the life they have settled into. Reminded me a lot of the friend dynamic between Rayanne and Angela on My So-Called Life. In fact, the vampire Sloane hooks up with is kind of a Jordan Catalano/Lestat hybrid. (hide spoiler)]
I was entertained, that's why I finished. And I'm thankful for the Epilogue, but I honestly wanted more from this one. Recommending to Rachel Harrison fans, fans of horror centered around the female experience, and paranormal romance/Twilight fans (this one will satisfy)...more
Woodworm is one of my favorite books I've read this year. It is the story of cursed women living in a cursed house that keeps them locked away togetheWoodworm is one of my favorite books I've read this year. It is the story of cursed women living in a cursed house that keeps them locked away together for generations. I loved the way it reads like a dark fairytale but hits the guts with social commentary and universal truths. My Patreon members will get this full review on Monday...more
What You Need to Know: NetGalley ARC on my Kindle Scribe. I almost tapped out at 30% because I was a little bored, but things eventually picked up, and then I became extremely invested.
My Reading Experience: “More lives are derailed by men who did whatever they wanted. The same story over and over again.” An eccentric millionaire summons Anna Fort’s husband to his private estate on a remote island. Things are mysterious the moment they arrive. The driver that picks them up is odd. They must quarantine for a few weeks in a little cabin next door to another couple in the same situation. As time passes, things get more and more alarming. Anna befriends the wife of the couple next door, Stella, and they begin exploring the island. So many unsettling things happen, I don’t want to spoil any reading discoveries! I loved that every, single character seemed unreliable to me and that the early 1900s vibe was very pervasive throughout the novel. Even thought I would never really want to be trapped on a remote island with suspicious strangers, I did very much enjoy reading about it. A few creepy jump scares too! Some unexpected developments that made for some eerie scenes. Loved the classic Gothic tropes at play too with the madness and hysteria, and all the ways men are so dismissive and possessive of women. Anna has an interesting past that involves a toy…very interesting. Maybe my favorite thread throughout this whole thing.
Final Recommendation: Perfect for horror fans looking for those experimental science research vibes, historical fiction setting, and a cast of strange characters. Mysterious, unique, and eerie. Perfect rainy day + cup of tea reading vibes.
Comps: Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Eyre, Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, The Whistling by Rebecca Netley...more
Just like, Mimi's Tales of Terror, Hirokatsu Kihara and Junji Ito team up again for a collection of several stories that fall flat. If you're die-hardJust like, Mimi's Tales of Terror, Hirokatsu Kihara and Junji Ito team up again for a collection of several stories that fall flat. If you're die-hard fan of Ito's illustrations, you might want these two for your library but if you're showing up for the stories too, both of these latest collections miss the mark. The stories are so short and underdeveloped. Just unsatisfying and basically all eye-candy and no real substance....more
General Genre: Thrillers, Suspense, Psychological, Murder Mystery/Crime
Sub-Genre/Themes: Small town, teenage boys, marriage, infidelity, memories, ailing parents, neighbors, mental illness, motherhood, high school, buried secrets
Writing Style: Dual timelines and multiple POVs, character-driven, intricately plotted, short chapters, clever/stylish/compelling
What You Need to Know: The author saw me recommending AN UNTHINKABLE THING on social media and offered me a NetGalley widget for this book.
My Reading Experience: Much like my introduction to Lundrigan’s work (An Unthinkable Thing), I was immediately caught up in the intricate web the author so expertly weaves. A quality psychological thriller eases the reader into the lives of the protagonists slowly, allowing time to get to know everything we need to before the suspense changes the mood/tone and before our minds start developing theories.
Dual timelines and multiple POVs can be tricky. If one of the narratives is more compelling than the others, it’s difficult to transition out of the one that is holding your attention just to meander through something that doesn’t feel as interesting. But that is not the case with this book. There are essentially three main POVs and all of them had me glued to the page. This author is particularly skilled in dropping breadcrumbs–just little pieces of information that seem innocuous all on their own but triggering enough to alert the reader to hang on to the little crumb for later.
The characters are colorful and vivid. Not all of them are likable, and every single one of them is flawed. This works in the reader’s favor, trust me. In fact, I hate when a thriller tries to win me over with morally wholesome characters, it’s too unrealistic. The story unravels like a movie in my mind. I had this one perfectly cast. All the major players are clearly defined with unique, easily distinguishable, fully developed personalities. The female protagonists are especially complex and unpredictable. A perfect cast of suspicious people against the backdrop of an idyllic small-town setting where everyone knows everything about everyone and there is too much history. Loved every minute of this.
Final Recommendation: Perfect for readers who enjoy complex, psychological murder mysteries set in a small town and featuring a main character who must return to their childhood home (the scene of a crime) to take care of an ailing parent or an inherited estate. The traumatic past of being involved in a small-town murder investigation catches up to them forcing the MC to wrestle with details of the crime they have ignored for so long.
Comps: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, In the Woods by Tana French, Mare of Eastown (2021) TV show ...more
THIS SKIN WAS ONCE MINE And Other Disturbances by Eric LaRocca Other Books I Enjoyed by This Author: Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And OTHIS SKIN WAS ONCE MINE And Other Disturbances by Eric LaRocca Other Books I Enjoyed by This Author: Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes, You’ve Lost A Lot of Blood, The Trees Grew Because I Bled There
What You Need to Know: A collection of four stories, similar to LaRocca’s first collection. One titular tale stands out as the clear favorite with a few other tales to anchor it as a “collection”
My Reading Experience: THE SKIN WAS ONCE MINE- a woman tortured by her self-image as a ‘monster’ returns to her childhood home after the unexpected death of her father. Her emotionally unavailable mother is being cared for by a mysterious man who seems like more than just a caretaker. This story is insidiously dark and disturbing. So much going on in the sub-text–that readers are left wondering about what truly happened. Triggers for child abuse SEEDLING- A young man’s father calls to tell his son that his mother has passed away and to come and pay respects. When he gets to his parents’ home, he realizes that his mother’s dead body is still in the house. This story, clearly, was symbolic of shared trauma and grief between father and son expressed through these strange wounds that opened up on their bodies. But then it takes a dark turn and I’m not entirely sure what to make of the ending–pretty gruesome!
ALL THE PARTS OF YOU THAT WON’T EASILY BURN-I don’t know exactly what it is about the writing style of this story but it reads almost like a long parable? It has this whole, “One day there was a man named Enoch and he goes to a shop to buy an expensive knife for his husband. The shopkeeper was a strange man who convinces Enoch to pay for the expensive knife with an expereince instead of money. He wants to cut Enoch and put a tiny piece of glass in the wound.” Do you know what I mean? And this one trigged my trypophobia, BAD. So be aware of that…(holes!)
PRICKLE- I honestly didn’t finish this one.
Final Recommendation: Horror readers who enjoy sampling a variety of speculative, grotesque, gruesome, body horror/emotional trauma, short stories you can finish in one sitting will enjoy this book. The first story is worth the price of admission–not every story will stick the landing for every reader.
Comps: Nineteen Claws and A Blackbird by Augustina Bazterrica, Full Throttle by Joe Hill, Spin a Black Yarn by Josh Malerman ...more
Sub-Genre/Themes: Supernatural, folklore & legend, social commentary, historical fiction, sci-fi & fantasy, magical realism, straight-up horror, creature-feature, and lots of genre-bending, speculative fiction.
Writing Style: Eclectic mix of voices working together as a curated representation of what modern horror storytelling has to offer
What You Need to Know: Don’t skip the foreword by editor, Jordan Peele (not that anyone would. Or I should say, I can’t imagine anyone would…but it’s profoundly important in understanding the vision for the anthology as a whole)
My Reading Experience: “A place where you were stripped of all agency and left alone with your struggle. Where you could see life going on around you, but you were essentially a bystander–forgotten.”
“I view horror as catharsis through entertainment.”
“In this collection, nineteen brilliant Black authors give us their ‘Sunken Places’, their oubliettes”
After Peele’s introduction to these stories, I read each one of them with the context of the personal oubliette. I have starred the ones that stood out to me the most
RECKLESS EYEBALLING | N. K. Jemisin [A cop sees eyes on cars He’s a real asshole People he pulls over films him He’s abusive]
*EYE & TOOTH Rebecca Roanhorse (I loved her story in the Never Whistle at Night anthology) [Cornfield Creepy kid-hungry Old blood Monster hunters]
WANDERING DEVIL | Cadwell Turnbull [This was about men who are devils on earth. "You know, wanderers like us could fall right through the Earth and no one would know where to look. Or even bother.”]
INVASION OF THE BABY SNATCHERS | Lesley Nneka Arimah [Alien invasion. Pregnancy Tried to be humane to the aliens Now it “how about we just shoot them policy” People/cults/join the alien race]
THE OTHER ONE | Violet Allen [I don’t really understand this one. Oglethorpe. The photo of the human heart. ]
*LASIRÈN | Erin E. Adams (Jackal/Read, One of You-coming 2024) [Haitian Creole A lady in the water. Steals you if you listen Their sister turned into a siren]
*THE RIDER| Tananarive Due (The Between, The Good House, Ghost Summer, The Wishing Pool) [Freedom Rides On a bus Detour RECLAMATION SWAMP-reminded me of a couple of stories from Ghost Summer & The Wishing Pool with sundown town vibes. They always scare/disturb me]
THE AESTHETE | Justin C. Key [The collector and the creator Pieces of Art Spectators/sex acts]
PRESSURE | Ezra Claytan Daniels
*DARK HOME Nnedi Okorafor (Remote Control/Read) [-funeral -dead father -a ring -a secret society -father’s restaurant -an entity to get the ring back]
FLICKER | L. D. Lewis [-global phenomenon -darkness -home invasion -no faces -bleak -no escape]
*THE MOST STRONGEST OBEAH WOMAN OF THE WORLD | Nalo Hopkinson (Falling in Love with Hominids- 101 Horror Books to Read Before You’re Murdered) [-hunting a beast -MC: Yenderil -the devil fish changes her -raw chicken -tried to kill the fish devil but it grew stronger -battle of wits & will -folklore -like the fish devil, her strongest nature was to get what she wanted, even if that meant pulling others out of their natural stations -body horror]
THE NORWOOD TROUBLE | Maurice Broaddus ( I saw Maurice speak at the Merrimack Valley Book Festival and he impressed me so much) [I loved the world building of Norwood and could read a whole book in this universe. “Everything we needed was in Norwood. Family, friends, food. If there was anything anyone needed but didn’t have, someone in the community provided it. Everyone shared without thinking twice.”]
A GRIEF OF THE DEAD | Rion Amilcar Scott [I skipped this one. The suicidal ideation, intrusive thoughts, and planning a mass shooting were too much for my mental headspace at the time]
*A BIRD SINGS BY THE ETCHING TREE | Nicole D. Sconiers [This one was super entertaining/compelling. Roadside killers playing a murderous game -etching kills -dead man’s curve -masks]
AN AMERICAN FABLE | Chesya Burke [-January 1918 -war - “ White people’s moods dictated Black people’s lives.” -racial violence, very disturbing - “Mama de Agua, The Mother of Water” - a man protecting a little girl, or her protecting him
YOUR HAPPY PLACE | Terence Taylor [ - prisoners The Process (radical prison reform) slavery/ “brings jobs back to America” Sort of “Matrix” vibe
*HIDE & SEEK | P. Djèlí Clark (one of my favorite books ever is, Ring Shout) [ “This is Hide & Seek and it is not a game.” Young kids with an addict mother Weird people coming around “Yeah, magic can be cool. But most times it’s not.” Heartbreaking (reminds me of On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel) the child neglect Terrifying ending]
ORIGIN STORY | Tochi Onyebuchi [wrtten like a screenplay-almost too cringe to read “Oppression is cool. Being oppressed. You get to claim a marginalization…” Ugh, this was a tough read
Final Recommendation: I thoroughly enjoyed my journey through this anthology. I’m thankful for the explosion of diversity we’re seeing in modern horror. It’s a wonderful time to be a horror fiction fan. A must-have for any and all horror libraries. I loved reading new stories from my favorite authors here and my introduction to some new-to-me authors.
Comps: The Black Girl Survives in This One: Horror Stories edited by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell, Never Whistle At Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Rena Mason...more
-Wilderness/Survival Horror -Supernatural elements -Multiple timelines/POVs -Short chapters -Fast pace -Horror scenes & gore are LEGIT scary -Comps: The E-Wilderness/Survival Horror -Supernatural elements -Multiple timelines/POVs -Short chapters -Fast pace -Horror scenes & gore are LEGIT scary -Comps: The Endless (2017), Event Horizon (1997) & The Ruins by Scott Smith .. Of course, my full book review will unpack the comps and why I chose them, plus detailed notes on my reading experience and as always, spoiler-free. I’ll post it to Goodreads soon. Great book!...more
The Babysitter Lives is the story of a young, studious woman named Charlotte, who babysits on the weekends to make money while she does her homework. The Babysitter Lives is the story of a young, studious woman named Charlotte, who babysits on the weekends to make money while she does her homework. It's her first time babysitting the Wilbanks twins so the parents give her a grand tour. After they leave, some unsettling things begin to happen. Thankfully, Charlotte's girlfriend, Murphy shows up to help her get the twins in order but after being in the house for a while, Murphy has a startling revelation that explains some of the strange things that have been happening. This might be my favorite Stephen Graham Jones book. And I love all the Stephen Graham Jones books! The narrator did an amazing job giving each character their own personality without going hard on the voice alterations which can sometimes be a distraction or unappealing.
This is true horror. Several scenes absolutely terrified me and I'm not sure if it's because I experienced this in audiobook format, but it was just so damn visual. Charlotte is a new favorite character. She reminded me of young Jamie Lee Curtis's character in Halloween (which I just watched last year) because she's a damn good babysitter first and foremost. She really looks out for the kids in her care. She's intelligent, responsible, and playful. When bad things start happening-it's the safety of the children she's thinking about first. Not like other teenage babysitters in movies who only want the kids to get out of their way so they can talk on the phone or have their friends over. This is not surprising. Stephen Graham Jones is a slasher-junkie and I imagine parts of this book pay homage to many of his favorite horror films. Readers can expect The Babysitter Lives to be infused with social commentary as well since Charlotte is Native American and in a gay relationship, something I love and appreciate about SGJ's storytelling.
There's plenty to love in this paranormal, supernatural, creepy babysitter horror story. Would make an excellent choice for a Halloween night! ...more
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