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Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare – Review

Quinn Maybrook just wants to make it until graduation. She might not make it to morning.

Quinn and her father moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs to find a fresh start. But ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, Kettle Springs has cracked in half. On one side are the adults, who are desperate to make Kettle Springs great again, and on the other are the kids, who want to have fun, make prank videos, and get out of Kettle Springs as quick as they can.

Kettle Springs is caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress. It’s a fight that looks like it will destroy the town. Until Frendo, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown in a pork-pie hat, goes homicidal and decides that the only way for Kettle Springs to grow back is to cull the rotten crop of kids who live there now.

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Thank you so much to Edelweiss and HarperTeen for the eARC of this horror masterpiece! Growing up, I was a huge fan of R.L. Stine’s Fear Street novels. My grandmother would take me to the bookstore every weekend to pick up a new one, and from there I watched every scary movie my mom could get her hands on, read every Stephen King book I could, and wrote scary stories with my friends. Horror has always been my favorite genre, and I am always on the lookout for good content, because sometimes it seems like we’ve run out of oomf for the specific type of horror that I enjoy. When I ran across Adam’s novel, the mention of a clown was enough to make my blood run cold, but it wasn’t until I started it that I realized it was right up my alley. There is a constant creepy factor, but even beyond that, we are treated to some of the best gore I’ve read in my 28 years. This novel takes your imagination by the hand and runs wild with it into the towering corn, and when you come out on the other side, you are forever changed.

Most horror media has a cold open; usually the inciting incident for whatever tragedy is going to take place within the rest of the pages. Adam knocks it out of the park with a live-streamed death– and making us care about the kids involved in such a short amount of time. After we’re hit with this devastating loss, we change perspectives and meet Quinn, a year after the tragedy. She is new in town and dealing with her own baggage, so it takes her a little bit to realize something is off about the town her father was so hurriedly called to. She falls in with ‘the wrong crowd’ who seem to be too bold and brash for this sleepy town. All of the adults seem on edge in their presence, and after the kids create a bit of a spectacle at Kettle Springs’ Founder’s Day celebration, tensions have never been higher. In an attempt to fit in, Quinn accepts an invitation to a party in an abandoned cornfield, not knowing the hell that would follow. What starts out as a fun romp in an otherwise dull town quickly turns to bloodshed. It’s up to Quinn and her new friends to connect the dots before Frendo, the town’s mascot clown, brings them all to their knees.

I thought that the pacing in this novel was spectacular. There was just enough time to be introduced to all of our players here in the small town of Kettle Springs, to get to know our surroundings, to learn the backstory of its slow decline– before things start to go south in a major way. There is no awkward beats between plot points or a slow build with no release; once the action starts happening it is nonstop and brilliantly done. Not only is the imagery with the clown peppered in long before the visage is used to slay, but it is an inherently creepy figure that will resonate with some fear or another in anyone who reads this book, so you’ve already got that knot of anxiety in your stomach when you start. It will only tighten from there as Adam painstakingly describes each and every kill; not to a gratuitous degree, but just macabre enough to make you shudder as the visions flicker in your mind’s eye. If you’re a horror buff, this one is going to whet your appetite. You’ve got great horror tropes like the homicidal maniac, the final girl, the rowdy teenager being picked off– but they are used in such a unique way and the narrative itself is full of twists and turns that will leave you breathless.

Adam uses his platform here to also point out a lot of things wrong in today’s day and age. We are given these smart, resourceful high school kids who are constantly pushed aside by the older generation for not being or thinking the way they were raised to decades ago, and blaming all their problems on them; not realizing that the world is changing. It is very reminiscent of the discourse now in the current political climate. He has also included a blessed diversity in this tiny town that is not unlike the one I grew up with, not only in race but with a LGBTQ+ couple that warmed my heart, even in all the utter chaos. I thrilled at the strong women we were given, and none so much as Quinn. I feel like she grew up a lot between these covers, and really rose to the occasion without anyone’s help but her own cunning and might. The end of the novel was horror excellence; proving the No Body, No Death rule and giving an easy in to a possible sequel, which I would definitely not be opposed to! I think we could be on the precipice of a horror resurgence, and Adam Cesare is out here, doing the Lord’s work, spearheading the expedition. I can’t wait to see what comes next!

5/5 stars

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Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters – Review

Sawkill Girls meets Beautiful Creatures in this lush and eerie debut, where the boundary between reality and nightmares is as thin as the veil between the living and the dead.

If I could have a fiddle made of Daddy’s bones, I’d play it. I’d learn all the secrets he kept.

Shady Grove inherited her father’s ability to call ghosts from the grave with his fiddle, but she also knows the fiddle’s tunes bring nothing but trouble and darkness.

But when her brother is accused of murder, she can’t let the dead keep their secrets.

In order to clear his name, she’s going to have to make those ghosts sing.

Family secrets, a gorgeously resonant LGBTQ love triangle, and just the right amount of creepiness make this young adult debut a haunting and hopeful story about facing everything that haunts us in the dark.

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Thank you so much to Edelweiss and HarperTeen for the ARC of this novel! I’ll admit, this is one case of where I judged a book by its cover, but in the best of ways. I saw the looping wooden script, the intermittent wasps sprinkled throughout, and the rattler at the bottom of the art and knew it was the book for me before I even read the synopsis. Little did I know that the front of this book gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect within the pages while still leaving mysteries to be discovered, not unlike the plot itself. There is so much here for every music lover, every grieving heart, and every soul searching for something more. Its description explains it is a ‘haunting and hopeful story’ and no two words could fit better. The ghost of the narrative will follow you long after you finish, but so will the lessons learned throughout.

We begin our journey with Shady Grove, a fiddle player in a small band with her friends. She has been born into music; not only is she named after a very old bluegrass song, but her father played his own fiddle night and day. As wholesome as all of that sounds, Shady’s family is harboring many secrets– one of those being that her father’s fiddle could raise the ghosts of the dead, and he was planning on teaching her the secret before his untimely death. Since then, trouble has followed Shady and her loved ones like a plague. Her father’s lost fiddle calls out to her from the woods, and as her step-father is murdered in cold blood, she faces the decision of digging it up to get the truth from his ghost or to distance herself from the instrument that brought her innumerable nightmares as a child and letting her brother go to jail for the crime. She ultimately uncovers decades old wounds that she will need to close in order to bring her family and the ghosts that follow them to rest.

Although there is a heavy supernatural theme to this novel, it is still highly relatable in a variety of ways. I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves music, as the story is centered around bluegrass: its dark and grief-stricken power gives the novel its haunting air as the lonely tunes are used not only to bring forth ghosts, but to also tie fragile lives together in the here and now. It is the glue that bonds the characters of the story, and it elicits joy, hope, fear, sadness, and everything in between. I actually learned a lot about the genre from reading this book, and will continue to listen to these songs as I have found a comfort within the stories they tell. There is not only a beautiful look at broken families and how such trauma makes you even stronger, but also a compelling love triangle that takes what a person wants and what they need into an emotional battle that is ended with a gentleness I’ve never seen before. We get LGBTQ+ rep, it is incredibly diverse in its cast of characters, and it is an unflinching look at how suffering and sorrow can tear someone down if they let it.

However, the book ends on a positive note. I won’t spoil it for anyone, but just know that just like life, once you get through the wind and the rain there is a rainbow waiting on the other side. There’s a reference made to the song ‘I’ll Fly Away’ which is usually meant to signify the end of an existence, but here Shady says there is something deeper to the lyrics. She looks at it as people leaving their pain and darkness behind to fly away into living. So many times we resign ourselves to the lot we’re given. We fall into a routine and harden over the years. Our wings atrophy from disuse, and we are stuck on earth. There is hope within these pages that will awaken muscles you have not noticed in years. Those vestiges of flight will return, urging you to lean on those around you and soar like you were meant to. There is just so much meaning in this debut novel, and I can’t wait to see what Erica creates next.

5/5 stars

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The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix – Review

Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula in this Southern-flavored supernatural thriller set in the ’90s about a women’s book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a blood-sucking fiend.

Patricia Campbell had always planned for a big life, but after giving up her career as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia’s life has never felt smaller. The days are long, her kids are ungrateful, her husband is distant, and her to-do list is never really done. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers united only by their love for true-crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, they’re more likely to discuss the FBI’s recent siege of Waco as much as the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club’s meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he’s a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she–and her book club–are the only people standing between the monster they’ve invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.

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Thank you so much to Edelweiss for the opportunity to read this ARC! I first saw the cover on Instagram, and before I even knew who wrote it, I knew I had to read it. The title alone drew me in; I grew up obsessing over vampires, so much so that I was one for Halloween six years in a row. I’m also from Alabama, which is a quintessential fictional southern state, a la Fried Green Tomatoes. Then I noticed the art. Something about the imagery of fang marks on a ripe peach hyped me up, but the greatest discovery came when I looked beneath it all and saw the name Grady Hendrix. I’ve spent the last year reading his works, of which my favorite has always been Horrorstor, but after finishing Southern Book Club, I can say it has been replaced. Hendrix has created a vampire story unlike any I’ve ever read, but beyond that, he has immortalized the iron will and lion’s heart of southern women.

I mention this in many of my reviews, but I am a sucker (pun INTENDED!) for novels with unique and interesting lore. Hendrix took vampires of old and handpicked enough telltale signs for our heroines to see their mysterious neighbor for what he was, but gave him some new and traumatizing additions. One of these is a proboscis-like appendage that he feeds with instead of the romanticized fangs of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame. James Harris is a compelling villain, and I found myself attempting to resist his charm as much as the ladies in the Old Village did. That being said, I loved the fact that the women were eventually able to see through his veneer, whereas the men in the story fell for this man hook, line, and sinker. It speaks to the innate greed and hunger for power these characters felt, while their female counterparts struggle with self respect, individuality, and regret. This book is set in the 90s, my birth decade. A good bit of time has passed since then, but women are still working their way out from under the shadow of men. I thought this story did a beautiful job of showing this constant battle, and Hendrix did right by the women in his life.

I can’t express how lovely the relationships between these characters were. The women are all a pack of stone cold weirdos, and I felt right at home with them. I could see myself in Grace’s living room, eating a cheese plate while discussing the Manson murders. I could feel Slick staring at me, trying to decide whether or not she wanted to ask me to go to church with her on Sunday. I could hear Kitty’s laugh, could smell Maryellen’s perfume. But most of all, I could feel Patricia’s discontent. Her life was nothing like she thought it would be, but she found solace within her circle. In the end, they truly may have saved each other from a supernatural monster, but underneath it all, they also saved each other from the caged lives they had been living. There is so much character growth that happens within these pages. These women are so diverse and each have something in their lives that they wish they could change, and their weekly book club gives them a chance to escape it all. Even between spooky parts, this novel held my attention because I genuinely cared for these women.

Speaking of spooky parts, Hendrix delivers yet another tale that will keep me up at night. Whether it’s vermin, corpses, stalking, or having your ear gnawed on by an old lady; this book has a fear for everyone. My jaw was on the floor multiple times, and just as soon as I’d pick it up, my skin would prickle in gooseflesh at something else. I was literally on the edge of my seat as I waited to see if the women would get caught, namely Patricia, as they snuck around doing detective work. I cringed at the body horror and reveled in the mastery Hendrix shows in his craft. I know it’s early in the year, but this may well be my favorite of the genre for 2020. It is a compelling horror story and does not rely on any gimmick or cheap thrill to get its scares. It is a perfect addition to Hendrix’s glowing repertoire, and I would recommend this to any of my friends who are as obsessed with horror as I am, but even those who aren’t. At the end of the day, this is about a group of nice southern ladies, but as Slick says– there ain’t nothin’ nice about southern ladies.

5/5 stars

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All The Pretty Things by Emily Arsenault – Review

For fans of Sadie and The Cheerleaders comes an all new thriller about a boy who turns up dead under suspicious circumstances and the one girl who may be the key to solving the mystery of his untimely death.

For Ivy, summer means roller-coaster season, spinning cotton candy at the Fabuland amusement park, and hanging out with her best friend, Morgan. But this summer is different.

One morning, Morgan finds a dead body. It’s their former classmate and coworker Ethan. To make matters worse, Morgan is taken to a hospital psych ward only days later, and she’s not saying much–not even to Ivy.

The police claim that Ethan simply took a bad fall, but Ivy isn’t convinced and realizes it’s up to her to get answers. What she finds is unsettling–it’s clear that some people aren’t being honest about Ethan’s last night at Fabuland. Including Morgan. And the more secrets Ivy uncovers, the closer she gets to unraveling dark truths that will change her life forever.

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Thank you so much to NetGalley for this ARC; it was one of the most thrilling mysteries I have read in a long time. I had the hardest time putting it down once I had started it– all of the chapters ended in a question being answered but like a sapling, the intrigue just grew and grew until there were so many branches. Some branches might be questions that hit a dead end. Others bore fruit and continued the life of the story. The majority of them had this in common: even if one mystery seemed solved, a million more concerns kept coming up. It kept me guessing until the end, but still a spectacular job of sowing seeds so that the ending didn’t blindside the reader. Emily played her cards exactly right, and this devastating look into how trauma can bring a town (and its inhabitants) to its knees was exactly what I needed to break my reading slump.

Now, at first glance, you can see what this book is about. The synopsis will tell you of Ethan, a young man who fell to his death not far from the amusement park where he worked. You hear of the girl who found him, Morgan, and her best friend Ivy, whose father runs the amusement park. Ivy was gone to another state to visit her grandparents, and so was not there to witness the chaos of the immediate time frame after the boy’s body was found. All she knows upon returning home is that Morgan is missing, and when she finds her, she is inconsolable. Ivy chalks it up to grief and mental stress from discovering Ethan, but after talking with Morgan as she recovers in the hospital, she senses something more is amiss. So, she begins to ask around her small town, trying to see what she can uncover. She’s hoping to help Morgan get better, but what she begins to piece together threatens to tear her own life apart. There is more to this plot than meets the eye, and you can feel the tension of it in between every line.

These characters are so expertly crafted. I fell in love with Ivy, which I think is extremely important for a protagonist who is going to be kicking up a lot of dust. If you’re not with her, while she’s asking personal questions to these heartbroken acquaintances you would not be able to root for her. However, you can tell it comes out of a place of love, because she is trying to get to the bottom of it for her best friend, and this colors the way that she looks at everything and everyone. She is oblivious to most of the dangers, and even if she wasn’t, I think she would still press on. She is strong, capable, and smart. We see her split her time between sleuthing and pleasing her overeager doughnut dynasty father, who she loves but is also a frightening kind of oblivious as well, or so it comes across. He makes comments throughout the book that made me extremely uncomfortable, and it was very interesting to watch Ivy see him (as well as her mother) for the first time. The tragedy makes her take a magnifying glass to her own life, and as she’s discovering the truth about Ethan, she is also finding her way out of her father’s shadow.

At the book’s conclusion, my jaw was on the floor. I even had to take a few minutes after finishing to just breathe– the finale happens a bit like life and roller coasters, once it drops you’re in for a few minutes of breathless screaming before it’s all over. When the dust settles, it’s not only a thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, it’s also a story about how well you know the people around you. This goes for family, best friends, coworkers, and even that person you see around but never get a chance to interact with. You have no idea the battles these people are fighting. You can’t ever tell who has malice pulsing through their veins. Most days, you’re not even sure who you can really trust. In the end, though, these things will out for better or for worse. And what better setting than a fairground for this coming-of-age revelation. It looks so beautiful in the dark of the night. But are you ready for what it looks like when the lights go up?

5/5 stars

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When You Were Everything by Ashley Woodfolk – Review

You can’t rewrite the past, but you can always choose to start again.

It’s been twenty-seven days since Cleo and Layla’s friendship imploded.

Nearly a month since Cleo realized they’ll never be besties again.

Now, Cleo wants to erase every memory, good or bad, that tethers her to her ex–best friend. But pretending Layla doesn’t exist isn’t as easy as Cleo hoped, especially after she’s assigned to be Layla’s tutor. Despite budding new friendships with other classmates—and a raging crush on a gorgeous boy named Dom—Cleo’s turbulent past with Layla comes back to haunt them both.

Alternating between time lines of Then and Now, When You Were Everything blends past and present into an emotional story about the beauty of self-forgiveness, the promise of new beginnings, and the courage it takes to remain open to love.

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Thank you so much to Netgalley for the ARC of this emotional yet uplifting tale of a girl attempting to piece her world back together after a best friend break-up. This isn’t a topic that I see explored very often, and if it is, it isn’t ever in this kind of unrelenting detail. I think people are inclined to be incredibly understanding about romantic relationships falling apart, but the loss of a platonic love can be just as devastating. We meet a plethora of people as we grow, and some are destined to stay while others are put in our lives for a season; to help us in some way before moving on. These transitions are never easy but are, unfortunately, a fact of life.

We learn this and more from our protagonist Cleo, who we see in two timelines: one where she and Layla were still friends, and the present. I so enjoyed the slow reveal of what went wrong between the two friends through this storytelling device, and the gut punches waiting in each. We watch a relationship die but have hope woven into each downswing as Cleo starts to make new memories and new friends. When her favorite teacher pushes Layla back into her life, things get messy again and ends up begging the question– how much can you forgive? Ashley does an impeccable job of not placing blame too heavily on one side or the other; there is bad blood spilled that reminds us actions have consequences and all people are fallible in their own way. This is not only limited to the friendship but also Cleo’s mom and dad as they separate, the new boy Dom who seems interested in Cleo, and a new friend named Sydney who has the potential to hurt her just as much as Layla did.

This is a story of loss, but of rebirth and self-discovery too. A running theme through it all is change. We change, our loved ones change, and sometimes after this change people no longer fit. I think Ashley wants us to see that the shedding of our skin as we age is normal, and although you do eventually find people who will follow you to the end of the line, you have to let some connections go. I believe all of us have a long lost friend that we think about often and want to reach out to, memories that might bring us to tears, and new relationships that scare us to our core. When you make a bond like that, having it sever will leave a scar on your heart, but it’s okay to carry it with you. Deal with it however you need to, but know you’re never alone, and that there’s hope. Just never stop letting people in, and be yourself through it all. That’s what this book relayed to me.

5/5 stars

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Wildfire by Carrie Mac – Review

Annie and Pete have been best friends since they were little. They know each other better than anyone, and they’ve been on more adventures than they can count–they even have a notebook filled with all the times they’ve almost died. But they always survive, because together, they’re invincible.

And they’ve always been just friends. But lately, Annie has been thinking that maybe friendship is just the beginning, and she’s been mentally replaying all the times they were almost something more.

Now they’re heading out on their next great quest: a ten-day backpacking trip through the mountains of Washington State, ending at Fire Camp, where they’ll learn to fight the area’s growing wildfire problem. The woods spark with the promise of adventure, but a freak climbing accident interrupts their progress, and as the wildfires close in and smoke envelops them, Annie and Pete wander farther from the trail. Carrie Mac’s gripping story of the power of unrequited love and the danger of the elements is harrowing, beautiful, and unforgettable.

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Thank you so much to Netgalley for this ARC! I have a huge soft spot for the untamed bits of the world, and always have. I feel more at home in the woods than anywhere else, but despite this longing to be away from the city and the people in it, I don’t really do much hiking or camping or anything of the like. I’d like to say it’s because I don’t have opportunities to, but mostly it is out of sheer laziness and lack of training than anything else. So, I love to immerse myself in stories like these, especially ones with such an emotional through-line. This story gives you the breath of the wild but also a constant ache throughout of grief and hurt, and finding your way through the wilderness that is YOU.

We meet Annie and Pete as the novel kicks off; two best friends who have formed a bond through shared trauma. The two are the sole members of the Dead Moms Club, and have also started a notebook full of times when they have almost died together. These things have stitched them together and solidified their roles as soulmates to the other, but anything besides a platonic relationship has mostly been left unexplored. When tragedy erupts once more for Annie, Pete makes plans for them both to hike to Fire Camp: an educational summer program dedicated to fighting wildfires, which are raging in spades in this timeline. He hopes this will get her mind off of her grief and remind her how to live. Things go well, at first, until a seemingly small wound causes irrevocable damage to Pete. Thus Annie is forced to make incredibly hard decisions, and confronts all of the feelings she has been pushing down all of her life. Feelings about her family, about Pete, and about herself.

There is a lot of heart to this novel, and it really speaks to the profound ache of loss that never really goes away. Pete and Annie are both broken in their own way, but they bring out the best in each other and keep the other standing upright at their most vulnerable. What the book ends up teaching you though, is that the strength to persevere is inside of you, and though having a support system is incredibly important, sometimes the only way to find your way out of the darkness that has encompassed your mind is by wading through it on your own. Everyone deals with sorrow in their own way, and I think Carrie does a lovely job of exploring that through all of these characters, and not just Pete and Annie. We see their fathers coping with the loss of their wives, a grandmother coming to terms with her own mortality, a girlfriend saying goodbye the only way she knows how, and other tertiary characters wading through life as best they can.

I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of survival, and the message it clings to: don’t give up. Bad things happen to good people every day with no rhyme or reason, and I know that I myself struggle with wanting to fix things in others. We want our loved ones to be happy, but sometimes all we can do is just stand strong with them as they make their own journey through the woods. I think Pete is a wonderful example of that, and Annie is the epitome of inner power. Perhaps the wildfire is our own misery; sometimes we can feel it closing in, hot on our trail, and with smoke so thick we can’t breathe. There is a way out, though, and you’re strong enough to find it. Reading a novel like this will remind you of that fact, so if you need a little boost, I recommend picking this one up.

5/5 stars

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Ashlords by Scott Reintgen – Review

Red Rising meets The Scorpio Races in this epic fantasy following three phoenix horse riders–skilled at alchemy–who must compete at The Races–the modern spectacle that has replaced warfare within their empire.

Every year since the Ashlords were gifted phoenix horses by their gods, they’ve raced them. First into battle, then on great hunts, and finally for the pure sport of seeing who rode the fastest. Centuries of blood and fire carved their competition into a more modern spectacle: The Races.

Over the course of a multi-day event, elite riders from clashing cultures vie to be crowned champion. But the modern version of the sport requires more than good riding. Competitors must be skilled at creating and controlling phoenix horses made of ash and alchemy, which are summoned back to life each sunrise with uniquely crafted powers to cover impossible distances and challenges before bursting into flames at sunset. But good alchemy only matters if a rider knows how to defend their phoenix horse at night. Murder is outlawed, but breaking bones and poisoning ashes? That’s all legal and encouraged.

In this year’s Races, eleven riders will compete, but three of them have more to lose than the rest–a champion’s daughter, a scholarship entrant, and a revolutionary’s son. Who will attain their own dream of glory? Or will they all flame out in defeat?

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Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC! I am a huge fan of The Scorpio Races, and when I saw this book’s description mention that it was that meets Red Rising, I was immediately interested. I’ve went most of my adult life trying to dispute the fact that I might be a horse girl, but y’all, I think I always have been. From collecting horse figurines to getting a dapple grey stallion as my patronus on Pottermore– the signs have always been there. There is just something about these giant, strong, and majestic animals that instill both love and fear in me, and these phoenix ponies in the world of Ashlords are no exception. The outside of this novel will reel you in with the promise of fierce, burning beasts and the lore inside DELIVERS. This is a good time to judge a book by its cover!

I am a sucker for a story with a good and unique mythos. Ashlords throws you into a dystopian universe where the land has been divided, and the only time they converge is for The Races. Riders from all over the country vie for the opportunity to participate, but only the craftiest and most compelling make it in. Most years, it is just a collection of Ashlords (the current group in power, rich and cunning) and one Dividian representative, who comes from an outlying city on a ‘scholarship’ of sorts with equipment and a horse provided to them to show the goodwill of the Ashlords to their lessers. However, this year is special as they have allowed a Longhand into the mix, who are known for a failed revolution and have not been trusted ever since. What these eleven riders have in common is a shared proficiency in alchemy. Why alchemy, you ask? Well, with these Races, normal horses would never make it, and it would make for boring viewing for all the watchers at home. No, the equines in this race are phoenixes.

Hands down the coolest part of this story is learning about how the phoenix horses work. The animals are brought to life each morning by sunlight; their ashes are expertly crafted with magical components that enhance their abilities. For instance, there is one called Latchlock that will make the horse grow spikes that are invaluable when in close quarters with other riders. There are offensive moves as well as defensive ones like that, and in addition, there are poisons that can ruin a horse’s chances to survive until sundown, which is when the creature must be ended to start all over again the next day. A rider can use any of these things at their disposal and are even equipped with a weapon that can be used to shatter an opponent’s bones so they are rendered unable to ride– but the only unforgivable thing is murder. Riders are even often approached by Ashlord gods such as Madness or Dread, promising help in return for a favor. These races are ugly and unfair, but god do they make for good entertainment.

Speaking of entertainment, the characters we follow are all so diverse in their motivations and even how they are written; for example Pippa, a daughter of two previous champions, is a celebrity of sorts, and her chapters are told in second person and makes the feel of her POV that much more personal and hard-hitting, because such a character might be hard to sympathize with (as so many of the other Riders have a tough time discerning her true goals and feelings) without an inner dialogue. Imelda, otherwise known as the Alchemist, is a strong first person that you follow breathlessly, almost looking at her through her brother’s eyes as he watches her rise to infamy. Although the novel is told in different perspectives in this way, it is very easy to keep up with and to know who’s talking as they are all so radically different. It builds tension as you leave one Rider in a tough spot to catch back up with another who may be finding their way with ease.

All in all, this fantastical roller coaster ride is thrilling and once the Races begin it’s impossible to put down. The lore is deep and wonderful, and I could easily see sequels or even prequels being made because there is just so much going on in this story. Whether it’s the gods or ghosts or just human nature, you will be on edge from the lengths that these Riders will go through to WIN. I find it interesting as well that this book was born because of ANOTHER novel where this world made a small appearance, and readers loved the phoenix horses so much that the other idea was scraped as Scott delved into this goldmine he had found. I want more books like this! It was a joy to read and I’m excited to be posting this review on its bookday!

5/5 stars

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Almost, Maine by John Cariani – Review

Based on a popular play by the same name, John Cariani’s Almost, Maine is a charming and romantic collection of stories that will have you thinking about love in an entirely new way.

Welcome to Almost, Maine, a town that’s so far north, it’s almost not in the United States—it’s almost in Canada. And it almost doesn’t exist, because its residents never got around to getting organized. So it’s just . . . Almost.

One cold, clear Friday night in the middle of winter, while the northern lights hover in the sky above, Almost’s residents find themselves falling in and out of love in the strangest ways. Knees are bruised. Hearts are broken. Love is lost and found. And life for the people of Almost, Maine will never be the same.

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Thank you so much to Edelweiss for the ARC of this sweet little novel! I was actually in a production of Almost, Maine the play, so when I saw this up for grabs I knew I wanted to read it. It was just as poignant as its theatrical counterpart, with some really beautiful additions thrown in. I wasn’t sure how well the story would lend itself to novel form, but I think John did a really great job of keeping the heart of the play intact while bringing it to new life here in 2020. The dialogue was largely the same, but the thing we really gain is the motivation of these characters and what these lines mean. In a show, the actors have to figure it out for themselves; we spend weeks dissecting scenes and bits of dialogue to get to the meat of the characters, but here, John has space to make Almost come to life himself, and he knocked it out of the park.

In the play, none of the characters in these small vignettes interact with one another. It flits from scene to scene to scene with little effort, showing snapshots of life in this small Maine town. However, here in the book, we see how all of their lives are interwoven as we follow Ginette as she walks home from confessing her love to her best friend. Magical things begin to happen all around her as relationships begin, end, and everything in between. Every place that she passes in Almost is lit up with life, and we enter those spots for a moment to see what that life is like and then return to Ginette’s journey. The book literally comes full circle as Ginette makes it to her house on the far side of Maine and realizes she needs to return to the start to be with the boy she loves. The hope of a fledgling love is the buoy of the story as we hit highs and lows throughout. Something I love about this story in both versions is that it doesn’t just tell about the Disney kind of love and life. It cuts open the truth in love; that it can end, that it can be ugly, that it can be crazy and unexpected.

It also does such a wonderful job of representation. All of these characters and their separate scenes are taken directly from the play; save for one. There is a new edition of a tale of a non-binary person as they try to figure out their life when their uncle dies, bringing their best friend back into town who has some news of her own. There is a very sweet scene of two guys in the beginning as well who literally ‘fall’ in love with each other. I believe this book is labeled as YA, and even though there are a lot of young adult characters, this book (and the show as well) explores the love between older characters and really shows that it’s never too late for love. The personalities of all the characters differ so greatly and it is ridiculously easy to relate to at least one. There are also so many lessons to be learned from it like you don’t have to be stuck in a toxic relationship. Love can hurt, but you shouldn’t be afraid of it. Love changes you. Love can be found in the most unlikely of places. Things that you grow up hearing all your life but that you never really listen to, because you feel like you know it all, especially when you’re young.

This book accomplishes exactly what the show sets out to do in that it opens your eyes to love through some really beautiful, funny, and at times, sad cliches. I mentioned ‘falling’ in love earlier, but you’re also met with someone ‘waiting on the other shoe to drop’, a man who became a shell of himself because he ‘lost Hope’, and a woman whose heart literally broke into pieces. I loved the use of the Northern Lights throughout, and how it ended on such a positive note, because even in the midst of all the sadness that rumbled through Almost, Maine, there’s still a light at the end of the tunnel. I’m so glad that I got to read this, and even more so because it brought some nostalgia and happiness to my days as I remembered working on this show, and what an amazing time it was. I recommend picking this book up for sure, and if you ever get a chance to see the play, take it. It’ll leave you with the same weightless feeling that John describes here within these pages. The feeling of love.

5/5 stars

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Every Other Weekend by Abigail Johnson – Review

Can life begin again…every other weekend?

Adam Moynihan’s life used to be awesome. Straight As, close friends and a home life so perfect that it could have been a TV show straight out of the 50s. Then his oldest brother died. Now his fun-loving mom cries constantly, he and his remaining brother can’t talk without fighting, and the father he always admired proved himself a coward by moving out when they needed him most.

Jolene Timber’s life is nothing like the movies she loves—not the happy ones anyway. As an aspiring director, she should know, because she’s been reimagining her life as a film ever since she was a kid. With her divorced parents at each other’s throats and using her as a pawn, no amount of mental reediting will give her the love she’s starving for.

Forced to spend every other weekend in the same apartment building, the boy who thinks forgiveness makes him weak and the girl who thinks love is for fools begin an unlikely friendship. The weekends he dreaded and she endured soon become the best part of their lives. But when one’s life begins to mend while the other’s spirals out of control, they realize that falling in love while surrounded by its demise means nothing is ever guaranteed.

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Thank you so much to Netgalley for this ARC! It was a heartwarming YA romance that swept me off of my feet. I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump lately, and I panicked when I saw how soon this release date was, so I made up my mind to buckle down and read it whether I felt like it or not. It wasn’t long before I had been swallowed whole by the triumphs and struggles of Jolene and Adam, and I was unable to put it down. I haven’t read a book that gave me this many warm fuzzies in months, and it was exactly what I needed in this cold, dark season. It was beautifully written in both characters’ perspectives, and each gave not only a piece of their soul with each chapter, but also an outside view of the other. It was an enemies to friends to lovers story that had me cheering by the time they had their first kiss, and the happy ending was a much needed reprieve from the more depressing reads I’ve taken in this year.

We meet Adam and Jolene in the midst of the lowest points of both of their lives. Adam and his brother Jeremy come to spend time at their dad’s apartment as he and their mother are separated for a time. The two adults are floundering in the grief of losing their eldest son, and it has left both boys with a lot of unresolved anger at the situation. Jeremy is able to put his aside to spend time with his dad, but Adam blames his father for the split and therefore takes any chance he can to get away from him. In waltzes Jolene, who has been used as a pawn in her parents’ divorce for longer than she’d care to remember. She too, stays at her dad’s apartment every other weekend, but she is forced to share a living space with her step-mom, Shelly. Her dad is always away working, and though Adam gets relief in going home to his mother, Jolene isn’t that lucky. Either place she goes is hell, and she is desperately awaiting going off to film school to pursue her dreams and get away from the life she was born into. When the two meet, they have an instant electricity, but Jolene’s fierce sense of humor and blunt manner turn Adam off at first, but the two are drawn together by their similar circumstances.

What starts off as a casual friendship swiftly veers into romance as they continue to grow closer; they spend more time together in their shared weekends than they do with their families, and they begin to trust the other with hopes, secrets, and pain. It is such a joy to watch them fall for each other, and I love how strong their personalities are. They shine through in this whole book, but especially in how they relate to each other. Adam is the more soft-spoken one of the two, and he loves through empathy. He has an uncanny knack for reading people, and while his wit is matched by only Jolene’s own, he is a very serious person with a huge heart. He gives all he has to the people he loves without asking for anything in return, and that makes it easier for him to block out all the trauma from losing his brother and the collapse of his family. Jolene helps him to see himself and it breaks his world open. Jolene has a boisterous exterior that hides her broken heart. She uses humor and deflection to keep everyone at a distance because she has spent her whole life believing that she is unlovable. She uses her talents in film-making to benefit her friends; whether it’s a music video for her best friend’s brother’s band or a short film to showcase her friendship with Adam. She is filled with hurt and self-loathing and fear but drops it all when Adam is near. He helps her believe in herself, and she feels wanted for the first time in a long time.

I also love how we see two sides of a family falling apart. As a child of a single parent, I took both of their individual hardships to heart, and I think it’s important for kids to know that adults have a tough time sometimes. Love isn’t something that’s easy, like Disney would want you to believe. It takes work, and some people are willing to put the work in and others aren’t, and that it sucks but you can find that equilibrium as you grow up. Having a split family is hard, and I think Abigail does an amazing job of capturing that. Adam faces hate towards his father and loyalty towards his mother because he blames him for leaving. It’s only when he spends more time with him that he sees the whole picture and realizes his father deserves a break, and he gets to watch as his parents reconcile. Jolene is being pulled from both sides in a battle of ‘who’s the better parent’ when they’re both losing. She knows there is no hope of them ever getting back together, but she craves their time and attention, which are lost in their constant back and forth and absentee tendencies. It forces her to learn you can’t choose who your blood is, but found family is just as important.

I could go on and on about this novel, but it’s something that needs to be experienced. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone needing a little pick-me-up. Yes, it deals with very hard topics: grief, divorce, and assault to name a few, but these things are handled with care and grace and the amount of love and attention put into each page feels like the warmest of hugs and you are left with that feeling as the book ends. It’s a very raw snapshot of real life, captured within the lines of a fictional tale. I will be thinking about Adam and Jolene’s love story for such a long time, and using their strength to fuel my own as the new year approaches.

5/5 stars

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Upon the Flight of the Queen by Howard Andrew Jones – Review

“A fast-paced adventure combined with an engrossing mystery, all set in a unique and original fantasy world. I can’t wait to find out what happens next!” –Martha Wells, Hugo Award-winning author on For the Killing of Kings

In this sequel to For the Killing of Kings, Howard Andrew Jones returns to the ring-sworn champions of the Altenerai in Upon the Flight of the Queen to continue this thrilling, imaginative and immersive epic fantasy trilogy.

While the savage Naor clans prepare to march on the heart of the Allied Realms, Rylin infiltrates the highest of the enemy ranks to learn their secrets and free hundreds of doomed prisoners. His ailing mentor Varama leads the ever-dwindling Altenerai corps in a series of desperate strikes to cripple the Naor occupiers, hoping for a relief force that may not come in time to save what’s left of the city and her charges.

Elenai, Kyrkenall, and the kobalin Ortok ride through the storm-wracked Shifting Lands to rekindle an alliance with the ko’aye, the only possible counter to the terrible Naor dragons. Even if they survive the hazardous trek deep through kobalin territory to find the winged lizards, though, the three are unlikely to get a warm reception, for the queen of the five realms refused to aid the ko’aye when their homelands were attacked, and the creatures have long memories.

While the Altenerai fight impossible odds to save the realms, their queen delves further and deeper into the magic of the mysterious hearthstones in a frantic attempt to unlock secrets that might just destroy them all.

Praised for his skills in drafting modern epic fantasy that engrosses and entertains, Howard Andrew Jones delivers a sequel that expands the amazing world, relationships, and adventure introduced in the first book of this series.

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Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press for sending me an ARC of this sequel! I so thoroughly enjoyed the first novel and devoured it, but I took my time with this one as I knew the wait for the third in the trilogy might be a lengthy one… and I wasn’t sure if I would make it! However, if it packs as big of a punch as this one did, I know it will be worth it. This novel picks you up and places you gently back into the world that Howard Andrew Jones has so lovingly and painstakingly created. He takes his time getting the reader back up to speed while also driving the action forward. I loved that there wasn’t any sort of time jump; it was like time itself had paused between novels and began again once I was ready to join.

For the Killing of Kings had its fair share of conflict, but this novel was nonstop action for the most part. We are presented with the many sides to these current battles, as well as receiving history on the battles that have shaped this land that we have come to know. Something that strikes me as wonderful and very indicative to the human experience is that in these battles, we are not given clear ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’. These combatants are driven by their own sense of right and wrong, so therefore there is bad blood on each side, and it’s up to the reader to decide on what side they want to throw their heart and mind to. I was also so excited to see more magic used in these battles as well as out of them! Jones has a spectacular mind for lore, and the new magic system introduced for the Naor was stunning. Blood magic and bewitching dragons? SIGN. ME. UP.

I was also happy to see that the representation that Jones works to include in his novels did not let up in this sequel. Most notably, this novel includes LGBT+ characters (we are introduced to Vannek, who was born a woman but has transitioned into a man) and also continues its women-led government system. We get so many POVs in this book, which are all integral to figuring out this vast fantastical land, but the one we focus on the most is still Elenai, who is forced to find out who she is as an Alten much quicker than she anticipated. She is so incredibly strong, fierce, and compelling, and yet she is not without fault. She is so easy to relate to and has to be my favorite character. Her struggle with the hearthstones is also a painfully human one. Who among us doesn’t want to be more powerful and more useful to those around us?

All in all, it was a pitch perfect continuation of the fantasy series that has so captured my attention. I can’t believe there hasn’t been an announcement for the last one yet! I will be waiting with baited breath, even though this book ends on a softer note that the first one did. I feel very honored to have gotten to read these, knowing that without St. Martin’s Press I may not have even heard of them because fantasy is not my usual genre. I will have to peruse the rest of Jones’ works while I wait– he has such a talent with spinning gorgeous tales and a masterful eye for world building that will leave you questioning what reality is by the time you emerge from the words he has wrapped you in. Sequels can be tricky business, but he really handled this one with the ease of well sharpened blade!

5/5 stars