Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell's Reviews > Starlings

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Starlings
by

Amanda Linsmeier (Goodreads Author)

Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell's review

Mar 01, 2024

really liked it

bookshelves: pretty-cover-sparklies, horror, doth-the-goth, ya-ya-land, pnr-uf, lgbtqia-library

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Rosemont is an idealistic little town that looks like it could have come out of a Norman Rockwell painting, and is famous for its "eternal roses." But when Kit goes there with her mother to visit the paternal grandmother her father never told her existed, a pall hangs over the town. Everyone stares at her, whispering her name. She hears a strange man's voice in the middle of the night. And what's this about a festival?

STARLINGS is a pretty solid YA gothic novel with some genuinely creepy scenes and an empowered bisexual heroine and, of course, the hawt and sinister villain. I honestly wasn't expecting this to be as sensual as it was, and there were some excellent body horror scenes and implied grotesqueness that made me squirm.

Points off because it got a little weird in the third act and there wasn't as much build-up with the love interests (who weren't really love interests) as I would have liked. But if you're into vibes and atmosphere, and love folk horror, this is your jam. I recommend this particularly to fans of Ann Fraistat's WHAT WE HARVEST.

3.5 stars

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Reading Progress

September 11, 2023 – Shelved as: fantasy-wishlist

September 11, 2023 – Shelved

February 27, 2024 – Started Reading

February 27, 2024 – Shelved as: pretty-cover-sparklies

February 27, 2024 –

8.0% "Oh no not the creepy festival in the small creepy town"

February 27, 2024 –

10.0% "The more they talk about the festival, the more anxious I get"

February 27, 2024 –

17.0% "“The yarrow is for everlasting love. Peonies for prosperity, cornflowers for good fortune. The hyssop and poppy for sacrifice and remembrance."

Sacrifice? SACRIFICE? OH SHIT"

February 27, 2024 –

22.0% "Definite red flag: when the cute small town you're in doesn't have any churches but you see a lady get on her knees and start praying to the roses"

February 28, 2024 –

26.0% "The shadows creep toward me, a man’s deep whisper in my ear, his cruel laugh echoing its way into my subconscious, hurting me.

Hurting me happily.

What the fuck :o"

February 28, 2024 –

34.0% "Is it even gothic horror if there isn't a gaslighting sheriff telling you that your puny woman-brain made up all that horrifying shit you just saw in the woods?"

February 28, 2024 –

40.0% "Amanda Linsmeier woke up one day and was like hehehehe people are gonna be fucking terrified of roses when I'm done with this book"

March 1, 2024 –

43.0% "“You’re the last Starling, the only hope I have left.”

RUN BITCH RUN"

March 1, 2024 –

52.0% "A few, though, they look at me with disgust, because I lie with him, because I do so willingly. A few look at me with fear. They know I could hurt them, could punish them for what they have done, the bad ones. That I could make him.

Oh shiiiiiiiit"

March 1, 2024 –

55.0% "I KNEW IT. NEVER TRUST A FESTIVAL IN CREEPYTOWN, USA."

March 1, 2024 –

59.0% "He’s bare-footed, too, with loose, dark trousers—and dangerously beautiful, his long hair blowing back in the wind, crown of rose thorns on his head. All sleek muscle, he’s lean and powerful. I don’t want to think of what he could do to me."

March 1, 2024 –

62.0% "Omg why are you asking HER for help??? She is like the literal last person you should be asking"

March 1, 2024 –

64.0% "You will never leave Rosemont, and I’ll never bring her there. I have killed off all my past, and I will keep her safe from you all."

March 1, 2024 –

67.0% "“I saw things that would curdle your blood.”"

March 1, 2024 –

86.0% "He takes my hand, lifts it, and I only now feel how numb my fingers are. He brings the one with the black ring to his mouth, slips it inside the wet cavern between his lips, and gently bites at the ring, tugging it off, sucking it from my finger."

March 1, 2024 –

87.0% ""Look pretty for me, won’t you? Wear your flowers like you’re supposed to.”"

March 1, 2024 –

92.0% "Rosemont is a mouth and it’s going to swallow me whole."

March 1, 2024 –

96.0% "My mouth is closed. It’s the river that is screaming."

March 1, 2024 – Shelved as: horror

March 1, 2024 – Shelved as: doth-the-goth

March 1, 2024 – Shelved as: ya-ya-land

March 1, 2024 – Shelved as: pnr-uf

March 1, 2024 – Finished Reading

March 5, 2024 – Shelved as: lgbtqia-library