NetGalley ARC | This Wretched Valley

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

First, let's admire that cover. Absolutely perfect and I love when a cover truly matches the contents inside. I admit, I am a cover snob and have been sorely disappointed in the past. Not so here. AT ALL.

I love nature survival horror because it's something that would never happen to me. I don't like being in nature, I don't like nature to touch me, I am firmly an 'indoor girl', unless we are at the pool. It also helps that I am forever obsessed with the Dyatlov Pass deaths and this was billed as being inspired by that very incident.

So, this book was creepy as fuuuuuuck and I loved it.

Dylan is determined to cement her place as a skilled rock-climber among professionals and has found the perfect way to do so. Her friend Clay is a geology student and in his research stumbled upon a seemingly untouched cliff somewhere in the depths of the Kentucky wilderness. Dylan will be the first to do so, and see her career really take off. So the two of them, plus Dylan's boyfriend Luke and Clay's research assistant Sylvia, prepare to trek into the forest surrounding the cliff to document Dylan's journey.

But things do not go as planned. OF COURSE.

Seven months pass before three bodies are discovered not far from the highway that took the group to their destination. And the bodies are not what anyone would expect, each in its own state of decomposition - all that's left of one is a perfectly white skeleton, another has had all its organs removed, and the last has had its eyes, ears, and tongue removed and fingers cut off.

None of these remains belong to Dylan. She is missing.

The plan had been to document her climb on Instagram, and some of Dylan's followers report having seen disturbing livestreams in the months since the team vanished. Others in the area swear they've seen her moving through the woods before disappearing into the trees. Despite searches, no trace of Dylan has ever been found.

The fact that this is a debut novel amazes me. The author was able to not only bring the four human characters to life and give each of them depth and really individualize them, but the setting as well. The valley and cliff became their own characters early on and it is such a testament to an author's talent when they can pull this off. It felt almost suffocating, because there is no escaping the setting, whereas the characters could take time apart from one another if needed. But the valley, the wilderness, the cliff? They were always there, always watching. That only adds to the foreboding, because all those little red flags that the group ignored on their hike-in stick in your mind as the story unfolds. Superbly done.

Despite my love of horror, I don't like gore. Yet I did not find this to be over-the-top or too much. While descriptions were graphic, it all made sense in the context of what was happening, so I didn't feel the need to vomit every five seconds, which is also a win. I guess I would say it is not gore for the sake of gore. It was necessary to show what was happening to move the story along.

Even knowing the fate of Clay, Sylvia, and Luke, I was compelled to keep reading because I had to know what was really going on in this place where nothing really made sense, though at times it was hard to know what was real and what was not. It kept me off-balance in the best way because there were times I had no idea what was coming next. The author leaves some of those questions unanswered, something I say I hate but secretly like, because sometimes not knowing is worse - your mind comes up with all kinds of horrifying options all on its own.

Highly, highly recommended.

Book Review | Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

If you only read one book about California's 2018 Camp Fire, it must be this one. It is the most accurate account I've read, compared to others that were merely cash-grabs with incorrect information. This one also addresses head-on one of the main causes of a lengthening fire season, with bigger, hotter, more destructive fires coming now year after year: CLIMATE CHANGE.

This story is a deeply personal one to me. A friend of mine is from Paradise. I texted her in a panic, saying to just please let me know she was okay. She did, so I could at least be sure she was safe. Over the next few days the videos, photos, and graphics she sent were horrifying. When we finally spoke by phone, she relayed the whole story - how she arrived at school for the day, the students coming not long after. It wouldn't be long before they started evacuating though, and the last bus pulled away as the fire reached school grounds. The video she sent of her own evacuation looked like something from a disaster movie - literally fire everywhere, both sides of the road engulfed in flames. Had she sent that to me in the moment, I would have lost my ever-loving mind. I would not have believed they could escape, but thankfully her entire family was able to get to safety. She was the only family member to not lose her house. She sent me a fire map showing her entire neighborhood, her house the lone green X. The rest of the homes were either totally or partially destroyed.

As Paradise woke on the morning of November 8th, 2018, the sky looked funny, a weird gray-ish orange-ish mix, accompanied by massive windgusts. The fire sparked at 6:30 that morning and within ninety minutes would reach the outskirts of the town. Another two hours and the blaze was devouring everything in sight at the rate of an acre PER SECOND. At that point it was too late for some; residents were trapped in the flames - whether in the homes or cars, trying to escape.

Within a matter of hours, the town of Paradise was all but gone. That's 95% of the buildings incinerated, about 18,000 structures altogether - 11,000 of which were homes. The biggest cost though, was the 85 lives lost in the flames. That is the official total, though the author disagrees; according to her count there were at least fifty more wrongful-death lawsuits filed by families against the culprit, PG&E.

At the time, Lizzie Johnson was a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and had spent several years reporting on the many fires that have destroyed California's landscape. She reports from the ground, in the midst of the fire, and for long after. She gathered stories from survivors, making them the focal point of this terrible and traumatic event. Johnson meets them where they are - shelters, hotels, makeshift camps, giving as many as possible a chance to share their experiences and she is able to deliver those experiences with care and empathy. We follow a handful of survivors and Johnson allows us to get to know them as they were before the fire, their history in relation to Paradise, and giving each person a voice to tell their story their way. Even knowing ahead of time they survived, obviously, it did not make the stories any less harrowing. Fear was palpable throughout the entire book and at times it felt like I was there, though this in no way compares to the actual experiences of people who actually were.

She is also able to access public records that include the panicked 911 calls of citizens in need of help, and court records from the grand jury investigation. All of that allows Johnson to show minute-by-minute what happened to Paradise as it burned.

Johnson also does a fantastic job with exploring the root causes of the Camp Fire, which ultimately burned for seventeen days. First and foremost, PG&E's stunning neglect of critical infrastructure. The tower that started the fire had last been inspected in 2001 - despite PG&E's claim that towers are inspected every five years. It all comes down to the little c-hook, about the size of a human hand, made of steel a century ago when the original power line was built. This hook's job was to hold the electrical insulators connected to the tower. But years of friction wore down the metal and the hook snapped. The live power line fell, hitting the tower and sending down a spray of molten metal to the brush below, brittle and dry from severe lack of rain. Unfortunately this is not surprising. A quick internet search will give you a plethora of information about various lawsuits filed against the company for years.

There were other contributing factors to this immense tragedy. There's the aforementioned lack of rain - over seven months without a drop, to be exact. Climate Change is real, can people stop pretending it isn't? The emergency warning system only reached about half the residents because of an undetected flaw. A private warning system was also available, at a cost to subscribe, of course. And what would a massive disaster be without lack of communication between emergency response teams? We saw this seventeen years earlier, on September 11th, with police and fire unable to coordinate because they used different comms systems. Yet somehow, we've still not managed to fix this issue. It also didn't help that a few years earlier, the town council had voted to shrink the four-lane Skyway (main road in and out of town) down to two. They were warned that this could be an issue in the future should the town need to evacuate quickly, but the project went ahead anyway.

This is a tense, traumatic, hopeful read, Highly recommended.

Book Review | If I Disappear

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

To help you understand the protagonist right off the bat, she is as obsessed with Rachel/Rachel's True Crime podcast as I am with Dan Jones and Buffy. Her name is Sera, so do with that what you will.

Sera loves true crime podcasts and when Rachel, her favorite host, goes missing, Sera decides it is time to do something. She's been more or less adrift the last few years, and Rachel's disappearance suddenly gives her purpose. These podcasts have given her some hope, showing her that she can do something productive in a world where women like her disappear daily and no one bothers to look too hard for them.

Sera takes the clues she's uncovered from Rachel's podcast episodes and this leads her to Rachel's family's ranch outside Rachel's hometown. Sera secures a job as a ranch hand, something that she has no experiences in being, but she knows she has to do whatever it takes to find out what happened to Rachel. She is so focused on making Rachel proud, doing an investigation of her own, that she doesn't at first notice how off the isolated ranch feels. And finally Sera discovers that Rachel is not the first woman to go missing at the ranch. Yet her family, people from town, other employees? They don't seem terribly concerned. Sera has to figure out what's going, before anyone else disappears.

So, I LOVED this one. Loved it. Absolutely crazy to me that this was a DEBUT, when it was so masterfully told. The character development was top-notch and getting to know all of these people made me feel like I was in the story with Sera - who, by the way, totally unreliable and those are MY FAVORITES!

Sera doubts herself so much at times, that it's hard to see if this really is all a ruse on her part or not. She's extremely reliably unreliable and it really helped build the tension and suspense. Not to mention one never was quite sure which direction her investigation would go next as she started putting things together.

The atmosphere at the ranch is suffocating at times. And with so many suspicious characters to choose from, there really was no getting away from the mystery for even a moment. The reader does not get much of a chance to regroup with revelation on revelation and I could not put the book down because I was as invested as Sera.

This book first came out when the craze to include podcasts as a device was taking off and I think besides Sadie by Courtney Summers (this book WRECKED me. Sadie is etched so deeply in my bones, I STILL think about this book constantly), this is the best I've read that does so. Some choose to use podcasts because they don't know how else to deliver needed information, but that's not the case here. The podcast is Sera's guide and she refers back to episodes as she looks for Rachel, picking apart the clues she believes she's found.

The book is fast-paced, propelling the reader forward to its stunning conclusion and the story wraps up in a satisfying, if unexpected way.

Highly recommended.

NetGalley ARC | Portrait of Haunting

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchnage for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I. Am. Ob. Sessed.

I did not want this book to end and may reread it. That's how much I loved it - I NEVER reread.

Tatum and her mother have the Sight - the ability to see and communicate with spirits. While Tatum's mom has always embraced it - and attempted to get her daughter to do the same - Tatum resists. She hides from the spirits as best she can and wants to pretend they don't exist.

When Tatum was young, her mother Amarina murdered her boyfriend, used his blood to create her final painting, promptly admitted guilt but not motive, and has been in prison ever since. Tatum has lived her entire life since then wondering why. With the help of her best friend Mischa and their circle of friends (two of whom belong to the largest covern in Manhattan), Tatum gets through her daily life trying to ignore the spirits all around her.

Then Mischa is murdered and they can't ignore how similar it is to the murder Tatum's mother committed twenty years ago. And they definitely can't ignore the fact that the same symbol found on Amarina's victim all those years ago was found on Mischa as well.

Tatum has to accept who she is and what she can do. She has to figure out who killed Mischa, figure out the cryptic messages her mother has been giving her over the years, and figure out how to keep her loved ones safe - especially Jonas, the one she's loved since they were teenagers, who loves her back just as fiercely.

After Mischa's death, the spirit activity around Tatum changes drastically, kicking into over drive. Something is coming for her and won't stop until she's dead. The price has to be paid, whatever her mother did all those years ago. Tatum has to to save her friends and herself, and more will die before that happens.

See? OB. SESSED.

I could not put this book down and I can't stop thinking about it. There's so much more I want to know about everyone and part of me wants this to become a series. But the other part of me wants it to stay a stand alone, because it is so, so powerful just as it is. 

There were definitely times I wanted to shake Tatum and slap her around a little, to get her to see what was right in front of her. But she had so much she was dealing with, that you can excuse her for the most part, on account of all the trauma.

I loved the group of friends. Each character had their unique voice and stood out when it was their turn - even the twins, Ziggy and Leo. Sometimes twins can blend together, especially in a case like this where both are part of the coven, headed by their grandmother. But I found each compelling on their own, just as I did each character introduced.

And Jonas. Oi. I would love him too. Tatum needed to seriously get her shit together about him.

The story blends so many emotions together at once, but nothing feels forced or out of place. Ultimately it is a story about forgiveness (of self and others), grief, acceptance, loss, hope, and the bonds of family and friends.

I can't really say a whole lot more without getting into spoilers. I loved the eerie atmosphere created by the author and the world we are immersed in. It's a modern day gothic novel that lands every punch and doesn't shy away from the hard things in life. Plus, ghosts. But everything fits. Nothing was campy or too much or silly. I can't stop thinking about this book.

Highly, highly recommended.

NetGalley ARC | Arthur, Prince of Wales: Henry VIII’s Lost Brother

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the Tudor dynasty.

For far too long, Arthur has been an afterthought - his name bandied about only in regards to whether or not he and his wife, the indomitable Catherina of Aragon (my favorite), consummated their marriage before he died unexpectedly a few months after the ceremony.

Here, the author uses his meticulous research to bring Arthur to life, to show us there is so much to the young man who died before he could reach his full potential.

And believe me, this loss is so much more devastating than it appears.

We do not know for sure what kind of king Arthur would have been (being raised by Henry VII, it is not outside the bounds of reality to suspect he could have become as paranoid and frugal. Nor should we completely doubt he might have been any less of a tyrant than Henry VIII). However, in Catherine of Aragon, Arthur would have had a suitable match that possibly could have curbed some of the negative impulses. Both had been raised from birth to prepare for their ascent to a throne, and given responsibilities and the education to ensure they were ready. Arthur's little brother Henry was given no such duties and was outmatched and outwitted by Catherine at every turn once he sought a divorce. He was still a highly-educated prince, but Henry's destination before Arthur's death was likely the Church. It's no wonder as to why Anne Boleyn told him to stop going head-to-head with her - Catherine bested him in any exchange.

Even though his life was short, Arthur lived through one of England's most turbulent periods. Henry VII's reign was never truly secure, nor was his claim to the throne any stronger than anyone else's (and honestly, his was a lot weaker). But Arthur's birth represented just the security Henry VII sought.

Surviving documents from Arthur's life show just how well he'd been prepared to wear the crown when his time came. By the age of three he'd been sent to the Welsh border as the Prince of Wales. Though he did not rule on his own given his age, these court documents show a well-run government moving briskly and competently along. As he grew, Arthur took on more of a role within this government, seeing courtiers and petitioners, continuing his education, making decisions, determined to do his duty as the future king.

Learning more about Arthur in relation to those around him was the most intriguing part of this book for me - especially in regards to Catherine. We know that after Arthur's death, Catherine was left in limbo for years. We also know that Prince Henry was determined to marry her even as his father dragged his feet, and that Prince Henry married her as soon he became King Henry. Despite what would come two decades later, Catherina and Henry seem much more of some kind of a love match than Catherine and Arthur had been, though both marriages would obviously have served their countries well. The reason I say so is only because I discovered through this text that neither Catherine nor Arthur made any effort to learn one another's primary language, in all the years they were betrothed. It was not until Catherine married Henry that she began to fully immerse herself in the English language. Arthur made no effort to learn Spanish, so the couple communicated in French and Latin.

The author also does a fantastic job dispelling the myths over Arthur's supposed sickly health. There's this perception, because of his early death, that Henry VII constantly worried for his son because of poor health. Surviving evidence shows quite the opposite - that he was a lively, active boy. He was not frail, but actually a strong young man gifted at both dance and archery.

While there is still so much we will never know for certain. the author's thorough research and use of surviving sources serves the text well. He fleshes out someone who has been confined to the shadowy edges of history for far too long, and brings the boy-who-would've-been-king to life.

Highly recommended.

NetGalley ARC | The Society for Soulless Girls

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

So boarding schools and murder are always a sure-fire way to get me to read a book.

But to top it off, this book is highly inclusive in ways that don't feel forced. The characters don't all come out and say, "I am this-and-this-and-this", but they way they are written with such care, and fit seemlessly into the story and within their spaces in relation to other characters is beautiful. Sometimes I feel like authors write a character to fit certain requirements, then try to force that character into the plot in a way that is not organic, and ends up coming off as inauthentic. Not so here, at all.

This book is an lgbt+/POC friendly dark academia feminist retelling of Jekyll and Hyde that follows a pair of roommates who are set on solving an infamous cold case involving several murders on their campus a decade earlier.

Lottie and Alice are assigned as roommates at the Carvell Academy of the Arts. A decade earlier, four students died in the North Tower and the school closed. Lottie insists on finding out what really happened ten years earlier, while Alice discovers a ritual meant to stay hidden in a book in the school library.

Surely nothing can go wrong.

Unfortunately for one unlucky student, another death quickly follows the re-opening of the school, in the same location as the previous deaths.

It's so difficult to describe the plot any further, without giving away major spoilers. However, I will say that the moment the title of the book makes sense and everything clicks into place? PURE MAGIC. Chef's kiss. No notes.

On top of the inclusivity of characters, the thing I loved most was how the author represents rage in young women and girls. Our rage, our fury, is a thing of beauty in a society that wants us to be sweet and kind and docile. Society is frightened of our power, as it should be.

This is a book meant to be devoured in a single sitting. It is stunning, truly brilliant, and I loved every moment.

Highly recommended.

Publicist Gift via NetGalley | A Few Days Full of Trouble: Revelations on the Journey to Justice for My Cousin and Best Friend, Emmett Till

I received a free digital ARC as a gift from the publicist via NetGalley

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

If you only ever read one book about the murder of Emmett Till, it must be this one.

Reverand Wheeler Parker Jr, at 87 years old, is the last surviving witness to everything that happened that horrible summer of 1955, and specifically to the kidnapping of his beloved cousin and best friend, Emmett Till. Wheeler shares his memories, insights, and suggestions as to what justic looks like at this point. Any hope of holding Carolyn Bryant accountable for her actions that lead to Till's horrific lynching died with her in 2023.

Here are the facts that we know: Till, Parker, and their siblings/cousins had an interaction with Carolyn Bryant in her family's store. Not long after, a bunch of racist redneck white supremacists protected by their whiteness stormed into the home Till was staying at, dragged him away, and his family never saw him alive again. We know a sham trial was put on, the white defendents were found not guilty despite all evidence pointing to their guilt, and that after the trial they confessed in detail their crime to a magazine, which they could not be charged again for. Till's family will never see justice for what those monsters did to this child.

I can't imagine reliving the worst times of one's life over and over again, but Parker does, repeatedly. Since the ay they encountered Carolyn Bryant in the store, the lies she told about their interaction fed these monsters, spurring them on to get revenge. She claimed Till grabbed her wrist and waist, and made sexual remarks - then whistled at her as he was leaving. Are we really supposed to believe that, considering all the preparation his mother gave him about what he would be exposed to in the deep south, compared to what he was used to at home in Chicago? Not only that, but Till had a pretty severe stutter, making it highly unlikely he could have said even half the things she accused him of. But really, even if he had said and done all those things, none of it justified his brutal torture and murder

Though I've read nurmerous books on this subject, this one has what no other book does - the perspective of someone who lived this with Till, right until he was taken away in the night. I can't begin to imagine the pain and guilt that Parker has carried with him for decades. Yet he willingly shares all of it for us, to make us understand what Till's death meant then, and still means now. He shares information from the investigation never shared before, clarifies errors reported over the years, and once more becomes that scared teenager on that August night in 1955, knowing there is nothing he can do to save his cousin and best friend. When Parker shares specific memories of the night those men forced their way into the home, his fear is viceral. Even knowing that the others are safe, that Parker will not be taken as well, the fear is palpable, leaping from the pages as you relive that night alongside him.

Something both this book and Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime that Changed America by Emmett's mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, do well is bring Emmett to life in a way no other authors can. Those who knew him best, loved him more than anything, show us the real Emmett Till - not the caricature the defendents' lawyers presented that already lived in the minds of the all-white male jury, but the joyful, sweet, funny young man who had his whole life ahead of him. The boy who wanted to spend time with his cousins and family, despite his mother's misgivings about him going. It will surprise no one that Parker blames himself for Till visiting in the first place.

Parker also give details regarding the continued fight to get justice for his cousin, such as FBI interviews in the early 2000s and the work another author did  for his own book, where some of his research included interviewing Carolyn Bryant. In 2022 an old arrest warrant was found from 1955 that originally charged Carolyn with kidnapping in addition to her husband and brother-in-law. At the time she had not been arrested with the two men, because of course she wasn't. Unfortunately a Mississippi grand jury declined to indict her after its discovery, citing no new evidence to move forward. The Department of Justice had formally closed their investigation in December, 2021 and it is unlikely to be reopened again.

This is the history our government is currently trying to gloss over and erase. We must never let that happen and we must never let Emmett Till be forgotten.

Highly Highly recommended (along with Till-Mobley's book mentioned above).

NetGalley ARC | You Did Nothing Wrong

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher viw NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sweet baby Jesus.

I don't even know how to properly explain why being gaslit for a few hundred pages was totally okay because this book is phenomenal.

Elodie's life is perfect. After having a baby at sixteen, she later meets Bren. There's a whirlwind relationship that culminates in their marriage and relocation to Bren's old family home that is in dire need of serious help. Bren insists on doing all the work himself as Elodie cares for her autistic son Jude and is pregnant with her second child.

But ever so slowly, things start to go wrong. Jude's behaviors explode and Elodie does her best to control him, to keep him from destroying their new life. She won't accept help, all but denies he has autism, and tries to hold everything together. But he continues to escalate, claiming the house doesn't want the renovations, that all the fixing up is hurting the house, the voices in the walls are telling him this.

Drews weaves the story slowly at first, taking care to show how this new little family functions together in this new setting. This is supposed to be the beginning of their perfect life and Elodie wants to hold it together. It's easy to have loads of sympathy for Elodie, a very young mother to a a six-year-old who she so desperately just wants to love. Bren seems oblivious at first to Jude's behavior, so focused on making the house livable for them and the new baby on its way. But there's something more to Bren and the all-consuming love he and Elodie have for one another.

This book is genuinely suffocating, but I could not put it down. The whole time I was reading, it felt like the walls were closing in. I'm not normally claustrophobic, but this made me so uncomfortable I had to walk around while reading for a while, no joke. Yet I read it in nearly on sitting because I had to know what was happening. Is the house really talking to Jude? Is Bren the true cause of all the strange happenings? Is Elodie my favorite kind of narrator: unreliable?

Outwardly Elodie constantly strives to be the very best she can be within her new life. She will be a good wife to Bren and a good mother to Jude. Everyone will see her be the best version of herself, despite the fact that on the inside she is completely falling apart. She's so determined to deny that anything is "wrong" with Jude and tries everything she can think of to calm her often inconsolable child, that it's easy to scream at her to open her fucking eyes and stop with the charade.

I admit it took a while for me to figure out what was really going on. And not because this is one of those books that just throws a random curveball to throw readers off. No, everything I needed to know was right in front of me. But I would get so caught up in Elodie and Jude's immediate episode that I would forget everything I already learned. Once I realized what was coming though, it was like a light came on and the answer was barrelling toward me at 100 mph.

Obviously I did not get out of the way. I couldn't. I was far too invested.

I spent a lot of the novel incredibly angry after my epiphany, but also helpless because there was nothing I could do to stop what I felt sure was coming.

The title is ironic then, because in the end Elodie did literally every possible thing wrong.

Highly, highly recommended.

NetGalley ARC | Party of Liars

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I freaking loved this one!

Sophie's dad Ethan has spared no expense for her sweet sixteen birthday party. It will be a night that no one will ever forget - not least of all because of the body that falls from the balconey to the dance floor just as Sophie is about to blow out the candles on her cake.

Do not be fooled by the cover or the fact that this takes place at a teen's birthday party, it is not YA - which I thought it was at first. This is not a knock on YA, I love the genre, but this book turned out to be so much deeper than I thought it would be, with a cast of characters who are flawed, intriguing, enigmatic, and so much more.

Over a decade ago Ethan and his first wife, Kim, purchased the dilapitated Victorian mansion deep in the Hill Country of Texas. With over one hundred years of history, it's no surprise that there are rumors of the house being haunted, and most locals have avoided the place for as long as they've lived there.

Fast forward to Sophie's birthday, which is hosted in the gorgeously renovated mansion by Ethan and her step-mother, Dani. Sophie's mom Kim is also attending the party. Then there is the ever-present nanny, Orlaith, hired to care for Ethan and Dani's new baby, Charlotte. Sophie's best friend Mikayla, her ex-boyfriend Mason, and a variety of other characters fill out the cast. All will have varying degrees of importance at different times in the story, as it is split into three parts.

The 'Before the Party' introduces us to our four narrators: Dani, Orlaith, Kim, and Mikayla. We get to know each of these women very well as we observe events through their eyes and are privy to their thoughts and secrets.

Dani is Sophie's step-mom and recently gave birth to Charlotte. She feels like she's failing at everything and sees a psychiatrist - who happens to be her husband's best friend. No conflict of interest AT ALL there. Dani is convinced someone is stalking her and wants Charlotte for themselves. Rumors of the house being haunted by 'the mother' do not help at all as odd things keep happening in their home. It's incredibly easy to have so much empathy for a woman who is clearly drowning but trying her best to not let it show. She's put her dream of opening a bakery on hold and settles for social media to showcase her talent for now.

Kim is Sophie's mom, Ethan's ex-wife. She's got a bit of a drinking problem and a habit of holding onto grudges forever - as she should, perhaps. She's definitely angry at Ethan, this was once her home after all, too. But she's going to try her best (maybe) to hold it all together for Sophie's big night - if she can control her rage and her alcohol intake. At times it is harder to have empathy for Kim, you want to shake her and just tell her to stop drinking for ONE NIGHT. But she deserves that empathy as much as Dani.

Mikayla is Sophie's best friend, though perhaps she's not been quite as good of a friend as Sophie thought. There's a side to her that none of her friends have seen before and it's possible her secrets will come out at the party. 

Last but certainly not least is my favorite, Orlaith. She's the Irish nanny who perceives danger around every corner. Rumors about the house have circulated for decades, and there has to be a reason. She knows something is not right in the home and will protect Charlotte, and anyone else who needs her, at all costs.

Sometimes an author runs the risk of characters sounding alike with multiple narrators, but that was not the case here at all. Each lead was her own fully fleshed out person. It's been a while since I've read a multi-POV book and have not had to go back and see who is narrating at least once or twice. But here, each female has such a unique voice and situation, though they're so closely entwined, that there is no trouble telling them apart.

The majority of the action takes place in part two. We see events unfold in real time and as we move from character to character, slowly each layer of the mystery is peeled back as the pieces quickly or slowly move into place.

The third part takes place after the party, where we get other points of view from more minor characters, which adds to some of the confusion for those who don't know what's really happened. There was so much I did not see coming.

I feel like the pacing was fantastic, especially for a book where most of the story takes place in a span of a few hours. Things were constantly happening and bummer for you if you weren't paying attention. The tension is constantly building, because between Dani and Orlaith, there is clearly something not right about the house. Whether it's a paranormal cause, or another human toying with them, it's impossible to tell.

It was so hard to tell who to trust, which is what made it so difficult to determine who the killer was. Each narrator was complex and had things they were hiding, so it felt like with each chapter I was constantly changing my mind about who was capable of murder. At that same time, all of the woman had motive, and would have been well within their right to do something drastic.

I can happily say I was wrong a lot. I'd keep changing my mind, sure that I had it figured out THIS TIME, and then boom! New information.

This was a fantastically written novel, don't let the sparkly cover fool you. It's not a cheap thriller that you'll forget about when it's over. You get to know the characters so well, and there are several themes that weave their way throughout the story - focuses on mental health, the dark side of motherhood we don't talk about enough, the deep feelings of regret and rage. 

You won't necessarily like all the characters, but you'll definitely feel empathy and respect.

Highly, highly recommended.

NetGalley ARC | Suddenly a Murder

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A locked room mystery (okay, a locked room island) with a 1920s flair is pretty much my favorite thing and this one did not disappoint.

To celebrate graduating from high school, best friends Izzy and Kassidy are joined by five friends on an island getaway. Their destination is Ashwood Manor, where they will dress up in glamorous 20s digs and party like it's (still the rich months of) 1929. Anything not available in the 1920s is out of bounds, meaning of course, no cell phones.

We have Izzy, whose family is not wealthy. She's a scholarship kid who attends their wealthy private school at reduced cost since her mom is a teacher there.

Kassidy planned the entire event, a week-long celebration where she may or may not have intended to murder someone.

Blaine, the victim and Kassidy's boyfriend, not so great since he can't stop cheating on her - and perhaps one or two guests are those he cheated with.

The group is rounded out with Chloe, Ellison, Fergus and Marlowe. Each have various degrees of connection to Kassidy, but to say much else would spoil some important plot points.

It's all fun and games - except it's not. There are little spots of tension building up between various characters, that finally boil over when Blaine is murdered and we quickly find there are plenty of reasons that any of the guests would have wanted him dead. Everyone is a suspect and as the detectives arrive, their number one is Izzy - because she's the one who brought the knife.

When a storm rolls through there's no way to leave the island, so the six suspects are interrogated and the detectives can see that everyone is lying. The story then proceeds over several days as they are trapped with a murderer and have to figure out who the culprit is.

I always try to be a little more lenient when it comes to YA thrillers, because teenagers are dumb. It's not meant to be an insult, they just are. Their brains are not fully developed yet. But the one thing that did bug me is that you have six incredibly wealthy kids, plus Izzy. Not a single one asked for their lawyer, and just agreed to be interviewed? There's just no way.

One of the strong points of the novel is the mini-conflicts between various characters. It really helped sell the fact that this group is actually a lot closer than it would appear on the surface. Most of the teens have known each other nearly all their lives - so there's plenty of secrets, anger, betrayals, and more to parse through. But in turn, that just complicates everything for the detectives because everyone had a motive and opportunity.

While the novel is not perfect, it is a fantastic debut. I still went with five stars just because it was so much fun, and contained so many elements that I love about YA mysteries and thrillers.

Highly, highly recommended.

Book Review | Heartbreak is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This surprisingly slim volume packs in a ton of information for Swifties and music fans in general. Rob Sheffield is one of the great music journalists of our time and is 100% a Swiftie. Those who love Taylor will enjoy the many Easter Eggs and jokes he drops along the way, as well as the whole catalog of knowledge he possesses, and music fans will enjoy his professionalism for this deep-dive into one of the greatest pop icons of all time.

Sheffield has been there from the very beginning, back when Taylor was just another young girl with her guitar and a dream, landing her first record deal in Nashville. He is Taylor's preferred journalist and he's had much more contact with her throughout her career than any other music journalist, period. He knows her work inside and out, and that knowledge is on full display here. With his unique perspective, he is able to chronicle Taylor's career and connect with fans in ways other journalists only dream of.

Taylor is at once both one of the most loved icons of all time, as well as the most heavily criticized. For the most die-hard fo fans, she can do no wrong. For the biggest haters, she can do no right. It's a battle that I don't think anyone is particularly intersted in winning, and that's fine. Like it or not, what Taylor has done for pop music, and music in general, will echo for generations to come.

One of my most favorite things Sheffield does is rank every single Taylor song, currently sitting at 274 entries. He updates the list with each new album and I highly recommend Swifties check it out if you haven't already. While I wildly disagree with some of his rankings, I love seeing what songs other Swifties love and hate. It's crazy how ten randon fans could come up with ten wildly different lists, but that's due in part to the many genres of music Taylor dabbles in - from country, to pop country, to pure synth pop, indie, back to pop, and more. She does it all.

While Swifties will catch many inside jokes and Easter Eggs, that should not dissuade a casual fan from picking this one up. It is a fantastic look at everything that makes Taylor, Taylor. He gets to the heart of the albums and eras, writes of specific songs and what they've meant to him at various stages of his life, and so much more.

Taylor has inspired two generations of young girls now (Gen Z and Gen Alpha) to pick up their pens (glitter gel, quill, and/or fountain - the three ways Taylor has categorized her own music) and guitars and write their own songs. When Eleanor had to stop dancing in the fall of 2023, she had been messing around with a hand-me-down accoustic from one of our cousins. Within a couple weeks, she was at a music school for guitar lessons, determined to learn every single Taylor song ("Our Song" was the first one and she nailed it within just a couple lessons). She's since expanded to take vocal lessons and a performance class, as well as recently adding drum lessons. I am so, so thankful to Taylor for inspiring this in her. Even as Eleanor discovers new artists that she loves even more, Taylor is where it all started.

Though it is obvious that Sheffield loves Taylor, he does not shy away from the times where she has made some serious errors in judgment, nor does he overlook her flaws. But, she's human just like the rest of us. Those issues along the way make her even more relatable, just as her songs do.

This book was not written simply to make a buck off of Taylor's name. In the end, this volume is a love letter - to Taylor, to Swifties, and to music.

Highly, highly recommended.

Book Review | Into the Taylor-Verse: Taylor Swift's Song-Writing Eras

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This would be a great gift for the Swiftie in your life, or the new listener who wants to know more about one of the greatest music icons of all time.

The book gives an overview of both her life and her work, accompanied by illustrations from each era.

Time and again, those who are not fans are dismissive of her song-writing, claiming all Taylor writes about are her exes. This could not be further from the truth, and that's what makes her so universally appealing. Are there numerous break-up songs? Of course. But what artist doesn't use their personal life to make music? Taylor touches on so many more topics than that though, and this book showcases her talent beautifully. From Debut through Midnights, Taylor captures the feelings of growing up, young adulthood, and the real world - and all the highs and lows that come with each stage of life she's experienced thus far.

Beyond a detailed dive into Taylor's skills as a songwriter, the author looks at her discography as a whole (except for Tortured Poets, which must have come out after the book went through final editing or went to print?), the showmanship and creativity she pours into her tours and live performances, and so much more.

I'm not sure I can truly describe how much Taylor's music has impacted me. Prior to the Eras Tour, I only owned Fearless, which came out in 2008. But Eleanor was a massive fan and begged me to really listen to Taylor. I resisted for months, but finally gave in, and nothing has been the same since then. The emotion that Taylor puts into all her work is absolutely captivating. She can have me in tears as I scream-sing a song that has not been applicable to my life in twenty years. But that is her gift. She taps into these deep wells of emotion and truly heals, long after the cuts have scabbed over but never gone away.

Through her music, we see Taylor's personal growth as well and her development as a songwriter and performer. Her stories are universal, and that's why her music evokes such powerful responses from fans; she is just like us.

In addition to looking at the music, the author also drops in other content that I enjoyed. There's a playlist of songs that are not about exes, mini-bios of her beloved cats, and why the number thirteen matters so much in the Taylor-verse.

This was a thorough journey through Taylor's career, calling attention to the themes that flow from song to song, album to album. Each era is given its time to shine, from her beginnings as the darling of country music (she won her first Grammy awards for only her second album, Fearless - Best Female Country Vocal Performance, Best Country Album, Best Country Song [White Horse], and Album of the Year), through her complete genre shift and the dizzying heights she achieved with 1989 (one of the greatest pop albums of all time - and what's crazy is that it isn't even her best album), to her "comback" after disappearing in the aftermath and of Kim and Kanye's bullshit and lies, to her surprise Covid albums, to where she is now, the undisputed icon she is today.

Highly, highly recommended.

NetGalley ARC | A Place for Vanishing

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Libby and her sister Vivi return with their mother to her childhood home seeking a fresh start. Libby was recently diagnosed with Bipolar III, brought about by a tragic, shocking event. The family will have to navigate this new normal while settling into their new home that is not what it seems - or maybe it is EXACTLY what it seems.

Look, I hate bugs. Absolutely hate them and they are yucky. So the fact that various insects play a huge role in the book in numerous ways was not a lot of fun for me. But I stuck with it and I am SO glad I did because this book is fucking fiiiiire.

Libby's mom is content to live in blissful ignorance about the strange goings-on, even as Libby uncovers more and more information that makes it clear this is not the easy fresh start they need. Rumors abound regarding the house, mainly about the many disappearances that have occurred in its 100-year history, and the masked seances the original owners supposedly held on the grounds, surrounded by beautiful, impossibly blue roses.

I loved how the author developed the house practically as its own character. This created such a sense of foreboding and tension throughout the novel because there is no escape from it, this is their home now. The atmosphere created is suffocating at times, and I couldn't stop reading because I had to know what was coming next. The eeriness of the atmosphere made Libby's discoveries about the house's history all the more sinister.

Given Libby's bipolar diagnosis, mental health can't help but play a role in the story. I feel like this was well-done and we see the impact of the disorder on decisions Libby makes throughout the story, going through the cycles of hypomanic and depressive episodes. This does make Libby and unreliable narrator at times, but I don't think this is done in a malicious way; it was honest. While I was frustrated with Libby's mom at times, in the end it is clear why she made the decisions she did.

The cast of characters is small, which enabled fantastic character devlopment and we really got to know each individual. In addition to Libby, her mom, and sister, we meet Finn - the boy next door, so to speak, who has his own reasons for wanting to uncover the truth about The House of Masks.

The story progressed quickly, the atmosphere intense, the house threatening to consume everyone. I could not put this book down and it was a well-crafted story from start to finish.

Highly recommended.

NetGalley ARC | The Merciless King of Moore High

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Okay, so I really insanely, absurdly love the Teen Killers Club trilogy. Like, so much that I will ask for more, even when we do not yet have the rest of the story for Merciless King.

Lily Sparks is one of my fave authors and I will read everything she ever writes. She is massively creative and a fantastic writer. TKC was realistic enough that, especially given the climate of our country right now, you could absolutely believe that the government would use something like the Wylie-Stanton to find the psychopaths and put them in this joke of a White House "aministration".

Merciless King, on the other hand, is straight-up dystopian. That's not my usual genre, but I love this one so freaking much.

Nearly a year ago all of the adults morphed into ginormous bloodthirsty monster dragon-y things. Our main character, Kay, has spent the last nine months barricaded inside her high school with fellow students. Life is really difficult at Jefferson; they're scared, they're starving and miserable, and the Student Council collectively makes decisions together on ideas presented at assemblies.

When Kay, a memeber of the SC, finds out a secret that would greatly disrupt life in the walls of their school, she is exiled. Straight-up just taken outside in the middle of the night and left basically as a snack for whatever these hell-creatures are that the adults have turned into.

Kay is surprised and grateful to be rescued by a raiding party of cheerleaders from Jefferson's crosstown rival, Moore High. No one at Jefferson ever thought about there being any other survivors.  Not only are the kids holed up inside Moore surviving though, they are thriving. No one is starving, and they are legit living as though they're back in the middle ages, complete with a king's court, rival factions, and serious shadowy intrigue. Life is still hard and violent, but they've made it this far and don't intend to change any time soon.

King Max does not trust Kay and she has to prove that's she's not there for nefarious purposes on behalf of Jefferson. Max rules with an iron fist and his word is final. There is no talking things out, no assemblies or joint decision-making. Kay has to learn to navigate this new world, which involves expeditions to slay the monsters, minding her own business, and not getting involved in the political intrigues.

Without giving anything away, I can say that she fails miserably at most of those things.

Something Sparks excels at is jumping into the action right away. The book literally begins basically as described in the summary. It can be jarring because you have no idea what is going on when you're dropped in the middle of the action, but the way she crafts her stories, everything comes together and you find out piece by piece what you need to know, when you need to know it. It is crucial that you do not get too attached to any characters, because Sparks has no qualms about killing off someone if it serves a purpose and furthers the story. There was one death in particular that was really hard for me and I never want to talk about it again or I will cry.

Sparks also excels at creating a massively diverse cast of characters. There are a lot of people to remember here, but she gives them life and they are unique. I never felt like someone was a cardboard cutout or a caricature, just there to be a body and fill the space.

Much like in TKC, it is sometimes hard to know who to trust. This is for a variety of reasons - the factions at Max's court, the reality of their situation now that all the adults are gone, and the things characters are willing to do to survive. There is not always a clear-cut good guy or bad guy. It's all shades of gray here and that's okay. You don't know how you will react in a given situation until you're forced to, and Kay has to learn how to deal with that.

It took me a matter of hours to read this one. It's brutal and violent and traumatic and even so, these kids keep surviving and moving forward and doing what they think is right, for the good of the group. The book is simply impossible to put down as characters shift their loyalty and we find out secrets that were meant to stay hidden.

Though the story concludes as well as can be expected, there's room for so much more. I would love to see these characters again and I hope that Sparks decides on the best way to get future stories of Moore and Jefferson to her eagerly waiting fans.

Highly, highly recommended.