Quinn Connor: "Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves"

Title: Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Quinn Connor [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2023

Age: 16+ (I shelved it as Adult because of the characters' age, and it's indeed marketed to that demographic, but it can be read by mature teens. There are far more graphic YA books out there)

Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Atmospheric, spellbinding, inventive, full of heart. Centers on a set of unique, diverse characters.
Cons: Tendentially slow (if you prefer stories with more than a modicum of action). Leaves some questions unanswered.
WARNING! Violence, body horror (though in one case it's actually more poetic than disturbing), blood, drowning/near drowning. Bullying/toxic friendship, panic attacks/disorders, grief, racism, classism.
Will appeal to: Those who like stories with their roots in a troubled/tragic past. Those who enjoy a mixture of cozy and unsettling, beauty and horror. Those who have a thing for characters both haunted and haunting.

Blurb: Prosper, Arkansas had not always been this way. Years ago, at the height of the summer swelter, in the wake of an unexpected storm, the local dam failed and the valley flooded - drowning the town and everyone trapped inside. The secrets of old Prosper drowned with them. Now, decades later, when a mysterious locked box is pulled from the depths of the lake, three descendants of that long-ago tragedy are hurled into another feverish summer. Cassie: the reclusive sole witness to an impossible horror no one believes. Lark: a wide-eyed dreamer haunted by bizarre visions. June: caught between longing for a fresh start and bearing witness to the ghosts of the past. Bound together, all three must contend with their home's complex history - and with the ruins of the town lost far beneath the troubled water. (Amazon)

Review: In 2024, I got the chance to read an ARC of Connor's second novel The Pecan Children, and I fell in love. That experience compelled me to seek their first one (I say "their" because Quinn Connor is actually the pen name for a writing duo, Robyn Barrow and Alex Cronin), which cemented them in my favourite-author pantheon. So here I go again, gushing about their debut book that doesn't read like a debut at all...

PAST IS PROLOGUE

If The Pecan Children was a (mind-bending) "allegory of decay in small-town America" (to quote the editorial notes), CSOSG deals with a dark page of the country's history, and sacrifices the big twist(s) for a slow but steady crescendo of reveals, a trickle of often uncanny details painting the picture of a small lakeside community and the way a tragic event that occurred many years prior continues to shape its present. The fictional town of Prosper is inspired by a real Arkansas one (Buckville) that was intentionally flooded in the 1950s, causing the displacement of many struggling farmers, a number of them Black and Native Americans. Cicadas gives an even more appalling spin to that story - and many others of the same kind - whose extent will only be apparent towards the end of the novel. On the backdrop of that tragedy, the authors entwine the lives of three young women (and the teen brother of one of them), each haunted in a different way, and craft a story of generational trauma, family ties, sense of belonging/legacy, human connection, ghosts of the past (both literal and figurative) and hope for the future. The protagonists are from diverse ethnicities (which ties in with the story), sexual orientations and ways of life, marked by different familial histories or survivors of different traumas, but the narrative manages to bring them together organically and effortlessly, and each one of them gets her chance to steal the scene - though I must admit having a soft spot for June and her intensity, that manifests itself in an impossible, ultimately poetical guise. [...]

Nova Ren Suma: "Wake the Wild Creatures"

Title: Wake the Wild Creatures [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Nova Ren Suma [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist
Year: 2025
Age: 14+
Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Unique twist on the all-female-commune trope. Relatable, compelling protagonist. Atmospheric, gorgeous writing. 
Cons: The now-and-then structure may confuse some readers. Some details aren't addressed or explained.
WARNING! Sexual assault (mostly off-page; one instance on page, but not overly graphic). Death of a minor and an adult (off-page/not graphic). Arson. A prison scene.
Will appeal to: Those who like a poetical yet fierce, dreamlike yet visceral approach to feminism.

Blurb: Three years ago, Talia lived happily in the ruins of the Neves, a once-grand hotel in the wilds of the Catskill Mountains, with her mother Pola and their community of like-minded women. Some came to the Neves to escape cruel men, others to hide from the law, but all found safety and connection in their haven high above civilization, cloaked by a mysterious mist that kept intruders away. But as their numbers grew, complications followed, and everything came crashing down the night electric lights pierced the forest. Uniformed men arrested Pola, calling her a murderer and a fugitive, and Talia was taken away. Now sixteen, Talia has been forced to live with family she barely knows and fit into a world scarred by misogyny, capitalism, disconnection from nature...everything the women of the Neves stood against. She has one goal: to return to the Neves. But as Talia awaits a signal from her mother, questions arise. Who betrayed her community, and what is she avoiding about her own role in its collapse? Is it truly magic that keeps the hotel so hidden? And what does it mean to embrace being her mother’s daughter? With the help of an unexpected ally, Talia must find her way to answers, face a mother who’s often kept her at arm’s length, and try to reach the refuge she lost - if the mist hasn’t swallowed her path home. (Amazon)

Review: Nova Ren Suma is back! Her previous book came out in 2018, go figure - seven years is an eternity in book industry. Suma shared her writing and publishing journey for Wake the Wild Creatures in a series of interviews and newsletters, and for a number of reasons, that journey was a hard, yet ultimately exhilarating experience for her. One thing I can testify, though: she hasn't lost her touch. 

IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE

Nova Ren Suma could never produce a bad book - or even an average one. And regardless of the content (I'll get to that in a minute), I mean it on a sentence and atmosphere level. All her stories are a masterclass in writing, though they remain accessible and avoid purple spikes (also, she knows how to write a first chapter that makes you want to read what comes next...WTWC and The Walls Around Us are a hard testament to that). All her stories drip with ambiance to the point that you can not only see, but almost taste and smell the places she describes - which is all the more true with a narrative where nature is front and center, and almost a character in itself, like this one. And she never fails to use her writing gift to create vibrant protagonists - all young women - and give them a voice that feels natural and a perspective that feels both believable and something you can get behind (or at least understand), even when you and those characters don't exactly see eye to eye. So, what I mean is, on the writing front this book is impeccable, and a thing to be savoured and revered in equal measure, and main character Talia's voice - as a kid, at 13, at 16 - is spot-on, conveying the innocence of someone who's grown up in an isolated, all-women enclave while at the same time (and for that very reason) allowing her to make insightful remarks about "civilization"'s flaws and all the ways it can fail (or more like vilify) the female gender. [...]

Quinn Connor: "The Pecan Children" (ARC Review)

Title: The Pecan Children [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Quinn Connor [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist, Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2024

Age: 16+ (I shelved it as Adult because of the characters' age, and it's indeed marketed to that demographic, but it can be read by mature teens. There are far more graphic YA books out there)

Stars: 5/5
Pros: Atmospheric, engrossing, spellbinding, inventive, ultimately hopeful.
Cons: Slow first half (if you prefer stories with more than a modicum of action). While the scope of the main twist (and its implications) will take readers completely by surprise, the authors dropped enough clues to have them figure out the basic truth early on. Some questions remain unanswered. The ending may be too open for certain readers.
WARNING! Fires/burns, wounds, near-drownings, some gore. Death of a parent (off-page). A couple of (tame) sex scenes.
Will appeal to: Those who like sibling narratives. Those who enjoy a mixture of cozy and unsettling, beauty and horror. Those who are in for a unique kind of haunting.

Blurb: In a small southern pecan town, the annual harvest is a time of both celebration and heartbreak. Even as families are forced to sell their orchards and move away, Lil Clearwater, keeper of a secret covenant with her land, swears she never will. When her twin Sasha returns to the dwindling town in hopes of reconnecting with the girl her heart never forgot, the sisters struggle to bridge their differences and share the immense burden of protecting their home from hungry forces intent on uprooting everything they love. But there is rot hiding deep beneath the surface. Ghostly fires light up the night, and troubling local folklore is revealed to be all too true. Confronted with the phantoms of their pasts and the devastating threat to their future, the sisters come to the stark realization that in the kudzu-choked South, nothing is ever as it appears. (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: this title was up for grabs on NetGalley (in the Read Now section). Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

SURPRISE MOVE

The Pecan Children ended up going in a different direction than I had anticipated, and I mean it in the best possible sense. Based on the synopsis (which has all the reasons to be vague, since with books like this one, spoilers are just around the corner), I expected a contemporary story with a strong supernatural core - a troubled sibling relationship on the backdrop of a dilapidated town rife with secrets and malevolent forces. Now that I know what I know, I realise that the synopsis isn't meant to be misleading, and truth be told, it encapsulates the book fairly well...on a level. The fact is, The Pecan Children is SO. MUCH. MORE than its blurb lets on, and even if the authors start dropping a certain set of clues early in the story, I wasn't prepared for the scope and manner of the big reveal - and its implications. In hindsight, the twist is not only jaw-dropping and exciting, but it perfectly fits the claustrophobic, lethargic setting, and it's an equally perfect vehicle for the "allegory of decay in small-town America" the editorial notes promise. Also, in lieu of a supernatural mystery, this book turned out to be a strong specimen of the magical realism genre, though with elements that straddle the line between the two. Another pleasant surprise, since through the magical realism lens, the social commentary and sibling dynamic get to shine in a way that a mere supernatural context wouldn't have allowed. [...]

Scott Alexander Howard: "The Other Valley" (ARC Review)

Title: The Other Valley [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Scott Alexander Howard [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist (with a prominent time-travel angle, but not of the Sci-Fi kind)
Year: 2024
Age: 18+ (there are two versions of the protagonist, teen and adult, and on the whole I would categorise the book as "adult" - also because we spend more time with the lead's adult version - but it's accessible to younger readers)
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Imaginative, heartfelt, thought-provoking twist on the time-travel trope.
Cons: Quiet, sometimes sad, sometimes harsh and gloomy. Also, please note: for unknown reasons (though according to someone on Goodreads, it may be due to a new trend???!!!) the ARC lacks any quotation marks or indications of direct speech (no idea about the finished copy). I was able to follow the characters' exchanges without any problem, but if that's something that bothers you, you've been warned. Not that I liked it, but it didn't impact my judgement or enjoyment of the story.
WARNING! Drowning, bullying, sexism, misogyny, abuse, corporal punishments.
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy narratives that play with time and what-ifs. Those who like to speculate about the relationship between cause and effect.

Blurb: Sixteen-year-old Odile is an awkward, quiet girl vying for a coveted seat on the Conseil. If she earns the position, she’ll decide who may cross her town’s heavily guarded borders. On the other side, it’s the same valley, the same town. Except to the east, the town is twenty years ahead in time. To the west, it’s twenty years behind. When Odile recognizes two visitors she wasn’t supposed to see, she realizes that the parents of her friend Edme have been escorted across the border from the future, on a mourning tour, to view their son while he’s still alive in Odile’s present. Sworn to secrecy in order to preserve the timeline, Odile now becomes the Conseil’s top candidate. Yet she finds herself drawing closer to the doomed boy, imperiling her entire future. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to  for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

A DIFFERENT DRUMMER

In the modern publishing landscape, The Other Valley is one of a kind. You might call it a time-travel book, except there's no actual time travel involved, nor it is a sci-fi novel: as a matter of fact, it would be more accurate to call it a speculative book with a multi-temporal perspective, since the actual interaction of characters from different time planes is kept to a minimum (by the way, if you're wondering about the consequences, the worldbuilding in that regard allows for a clever and inventive solution). Also, Howard created a world that feels dated, yet he made sure not to suggest a particular time frame for the events he depicted (nor he hinted at a specific - if fictional - setting, though some of the characters' names and the title of "gendarme" would fit with the French-speaking areas of Canada, the author's country). Last but not least, there's no explanation whatsoever of the three-valley setup, and no reference to its connection - or lack thereof - with the world outside, and it's just as well. The events unfold inside of a closed system, a (not-so-magical) bubble that helps you suspend your disbelief and adds a sense of doom, caused not only by the lengths the valleys' authorities go in order to prevent the residents' future selves from changing their past, but also by the stagnant, melancholic feeling that pervades the valleys themselves, where there hardly seems to be a chance for the status quo to get altered even in the present. [...]

Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovic: "You're Breaking My Heart" (ARC Review)

Title: You're Breaking My Heart [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovic [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist, Urban Fantasy/Portal Fantasy, Multiverse
Year: 2024
Age: 12+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Wild, imaginative, at times poetical journey into a teen's grief and sense of guilt. Ode to family and friendship.
Cons: A little confusing at times. Might pose some problems to readers who need all the answers.
WARNING! Death by gun/school shooting (off-page). Near-drowning.
Will appeal to: Those who like a snarky, yet vulnerable lead. Those who enjoy coming-of-age stories with grief as a catalyst set on a fantastic backdrop.

Blurb: Harriet Adu knows that her brother's death is her fault. I mean, it's not actually her fault, but it still kinda is, isn't it? She would do anything to live in a world where she could take back what she said that morning. Then a strange girl shows up at Harriet's high school – a girl who loves the same weird books Harriet does, who doesn't vibe with anyone at school the same way Harriet does – and that different world suddenly seems possible. The girl speaks of a place underneath the subways of New York, where people like them can go and find a home. A place away from the world of high school, grief, cool people, and depression. A place where one may be able to bend the lines of reality and get a second chance at being a better person. Will Harriet open the door? (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to Levine Querido (Chronicle Books) for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

MAKING WEAVES

First off - I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. Not only it successfully merges different genres (coming of age, magical realism, portal fantasy, multiverse) by way of regular narrative and experimental devices (see the late chapter that reads like a sitcom, not to mention the switch from 3rd person to 1st person in Ch.11), but it manages to tell a heartfelt, insightful story about grief and regret and facing your demons.

Harriet is a self-deprecating, acerbic Black teen living in New York, who's gradually distanced herself from her older brother Tunde, their cousin Nikka and their friend Luke, until Tunde dies in a school shooting on the very day she ended one of their arguments with "I wish you were dead". Nine months after, now enrolled in the same school Nikka attends and suffering from serious Tragic New Girl syndrome, almost-15 Harriet still blames herself for her brother's death, and would do anything to take those words back. Rhuday-Perkovic looks compassionately (yet humorously) at family and school conflicts, as well as internal ones, only to move the latter on the backdrop of a fever-dream scenario (think Alice in Wonderland, but with a deeper, more cohesive and more straightforward meaning) that promises confort if you're willing to pay a price, and that ultimately forces Harriet to make a choice. [...]

Clara Kumagai: "Catfish Rolling"

Title: Catfish Rolling [on Amazon | on Amazon UK | on Goodreads] (Note: this isn't technically an ARC review, since I got my copy from the US-based publisher Amulet Books/Abrams, but Zephyr/Head of Zeus/Bloomsbury issued the UK version back in March; the US version is coming out this month. Also, I decided to use the UK-version blurb because it's less spoilery)
Series: None
Author: Clara Kumagai [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist
Year: 2023
Age: 14+
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Original, poetical, thought-provoking. Rich in Japanese mythology and culture without being overwhelming.
Cons: If you're the kind of reader who needs all the answers, you might get frustrated.
WARNING! The main character experiences the loss of a parent during an earthquake, and has to deal with her other parent's deteriorating memory. There's the (tame) prelude to a sex scene that happens offscreen.
Will appeal to: Those who can appreciate a quirky and quiet (yet engrossing) story about grief, memory and the relative quality of time.

Blurb: There's a catfish under the islands of Japan and when it rolls the land rises and falls. Sora hates the catfish whose rolling caused an earthquake so powerful it cracked time itself. It destroyed her home and took her mother. Now Sora and her scientist father live close to the zones - the wild and abandoned places where time runs faster or slower than normal. Sora is sensitive to the shifts, and her father recruits her help in exploring these liminal spaces. But it's dangerous there - and as she strays further inside in search of her mother, she finds that time distorts, memories fracture and shadows, a glimmer of things not entirely human, linger. After Sora's father goes missing, she has no choice but to venture into uncharted spaces within the time zones to find him, her mother and perhaps even the catfish itself... (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to Amulet Books (Abrams) for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

LESS IS MORE

Books that deal with time paradoxes are my kryptonite (among other things, that is), and magical realism is one of my favourite genres, so I was looking forward to reading a story where the two things intertwined for a change - since most time paradoxes are usually encapsulated in a sci-fi narrative. I found the premise of this novel fascinating - an earthquake capable of breaking time and creating a series of  "fast zones" and "slow zones" with different rules, in one of which the protagonist's mother could perhaps still be trapped years after vanishing in the quake itself. The funny thing is, the story ended up going in a different direction that I had envisioned - until the last section, the effects of the fractured time were subtler than I expected, and the magical realism more subdued - and yet there was never a moment when I wished I was reading the kind of story that my imagination had conjured (the blurb has a certain ominous quality that the "zones" don't match, not in the way it leads you to believe. But the story doesn't need to venture into supernatural or horror territory to hold the reader's interest). [...]

Sara Flannery Murphy: "The Wonder State" (ARC Review)

Title: The Wonder State [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Sara Flannery Murphy [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2023
Age: 14+ (I shelved it as Adult because of the characters' age in the present, but it can be read by teens; also, the protagonists are teens in the flashbacks)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Engrossing, unique twist on the "estranged-friends-with-a-dark-secret-are-back-in-town-to-face-their-past" trope. Mostly fleshed-out characters with complex relationships.
Cons: Not much diversity. The one Black (and gay) character feels less developed than the others.
WARNING! Blood, gore, violence and some disturbing imagery. Adult abuse on kids (not of the sexual kind).
Will appeal to: Those who love a dark, yet poetical story steeped in magic. Those who enjoy adult-vs.-teen timelines.

Blurb: Five friends arrive back in Eternal Springs, the small town they all fled after high-school graduation. Each of them is drawn home by a cryptic, scrawled two-word letter: You promised. It has been fifteen years since that life-changing summer, and they're anxious to find out why Brandi called them back, especially when they vowed never to return. But Brandi is missing. She'd been acting erratically for months, in and out of rehab, railing at whoever might listen about magic all around them. About a power they can't see. And strange houses that appear only when you need them... (Amazon)

Review:  First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

WONDERFUL RAINBOW

When I first read the synopsis of this book, it called to me...but after I placed my NG request, I realised that it was unclear if Brandi's mental health was damaged and she was hallucinating the houses, so by the time my acceptance email came, I was praying that TWS wasn't one of THOSE novels - you know, the ones where mental health issues are treated like plot devices. I'm pleased to say this wasn't the case, and actually, this book delivered even more than I expected it to. Also, if you've read Stephen King's It or Dan Hanks' Swashbucklers (which I enjoyed and reviewed last year), and you're wondering how much novelty a story about a group of estranged friends reuniting in the wake of a tragedy can hold, the answer is: a great deal. TWS is part mystery, part adult drama, part coming-of-age story (thanks to the dual timeline), flirting with portal fantasy by way of magical realism and a touch of horror. I know it sounds a bit too much, but the way Murphy weaves it all together, it works like a charm.

Ryan La Sala: "The Honeys" (ARC Review)

Title: The Honeys [on Amazon | on Goodreads | special book page]
Series: None
Author: Ryan La Sala [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist, Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2022
Age: 14+
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Original, immersive, twisty. Debunks gender divide and socially assigned roles.
Cons: There's a lot of build-up, that, though never boring, might discourage those who'd rather have their stories more straightforward.
WARNING! Contains a number of gruesome/violent scenes and the (tame) prelude to an unconsummated sexual encounter.
Will appeal to: Lovers of magical-realism-meets-isolation-thriller-meets-gender-issues. Patient readers who can let a story tick and finally go BOOM.

Blurb: Mars has always been the shadow to his sister Caroline's radiance. But when Caroline dies under horrific circumstances, Mars is propelled to learn all he can about his once-inseparable sister who'd grown tragically distant. Mars's genderfluidity means he's often excluded from the traditions - and expectations - of his politically-connected family. This includes attendance at the prestigious Aspen Conservancy Summer Academy where his sister poured so much of her time. But with his grief still fresh, he insists on attending in her place. What Mars finds is a bucolic fairytale not meant for him. Folksy charm and sun-drenched festivities camouflage old-fashioned gender roles and a toxic preparatory rigor. Mars seeks out his sister's old friends: a group of girls dubbed the Honeys, named for the beehives they maintain behind their cabin. They are beautiful and terrifying - and Mars is certain they're connected to Caroline's death...(Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to Scholastic for providing an ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

POWER UNIT

After loving La Sala's debut Reverie (and skipping his sophomore novel Be Dazzled only because contemporary + romance isn't my thing), I was looking forward to reading more from him - but for a while I was on the fence about The Honeys, because a few Goodreads reviewers had marked it as "dark academia" and I was afraid I'd be catapulted in the middle of a clique of competitive, catty girls or something. So, if you have the same concern, let's get it out of the way: though I understand, on a level, why some readers have used (or are still using) the "dark academia" label for this book, I think that it's not accurate, and more than a little misleading. The Honeys is a story about grief, siblinghood, self-actualisation, survival in a (most of the times subtly) toxic environment, pursuit of truth, and ultimately a tribute to the inner (sometimes terrifying) power of the female species. And the fact is, I thought Reverie's spectacular villain - drag queen sorceress Poesy - had prepared me for the Honeys, but La Sala pulled the rug from under my feet so well. Their only common denominator? Women - or folks who identify as female - are a force to be reckoned with, especially when they have one another's back. I wish I could say much more on this subject, but I can't very well spoil the story for you, can I? 🙂 Only, forget (your average) dark academia. [...]

Kate A. Boorman: "What We Buried"

Title: What We Buried [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Kate A. Boorman [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Thriller/Mystery, Contemporary with a Twist
Year: 2019
Age: 14+
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Wild, unpredictable, spellbinding. Tackles human darkness, juvenile trauma and a damaged sibling relationship with honesty and depth.
Cons: Its non-linear timeline and complex (and partially open) ending may bug those who prefer a straightforward narrative.
WARNING! Violence, psychological abuse, ableism (countered), moderate gore, death by fire (offscreen).
Will appeal to: Those who can appreciate a book that messes with their heads. Those who aren't afraid to stare into the abyss.

Blurb: Siblings Liv and Jory Brewer have grown up resenting each another. Liv - former pageant queen and reality TV star - was groomed for a life in the spotlight, while her older brother, Jory, born with a partial facial paralysis, was left in the shadows. The only thing they have in common is contempt for their parents. Now Liv is suing her mom and dad for emancipation, and Jory views the whole thing as yet another attention-getting spectacle. But on the day of the hearing, their parents mysteriously vanish, and the siblings are forced to work together. Liv feels certain she knows where they are and suspects that Jory knows more than he’s telling…which is true. What starts as a simple overnight road trip soon takes a turn for the dangerous and surreal. And as the duo speeds through the deserts of Nevada, brother and sister will unearth deep family secrets that force them to relive their pasts as they try to retain a grip on the present. (Amazon)

Review: Christopher Pike meets Nova Ren Suma in what some reviewers have described as a "psychological thriller" - except I think we need a new label specifically for this book, because that one doesn't begin to convey what's at its core.

THE LONG AND WARPING ROAD

Honestly, kudos to whoever wrote the synopsis for this book, because it manages to give you an appetite for it (well, if you like twilight-zone narratives and damaged-sibling dynamics, that is 😅) without revealing its secrets. And both the actual plot and the writing deliver its promise.

I originally buddy-read this one with my friend Carrie (I reread it before writing this review), and oh, the amount of theories and speculations and nitpicking (in the best sense) we came up with. Liv and Jory's road trip in search of their parents (and of themselves, even if they don't realise that until much later) is spooky, unsettling, painfully real and yet warped in a way that makes them (and us) question everything just so. (Well, maybe we're questioning everything much harder/readily accepting that reality is broken, because we ARE here for the twilight-zone content, while they're trying to maintain a grip on their sanity 😂). All the things they experience could have a (semi)logical explanation, until they don't. Is there a supernatural force at work? Are the siblings' minds playing tricks on them? Are they even (still) alive...or real? What about their memory loops? Did those things happen the way they think they did...or when they think they did?

To tell the truth, Boorman is quite honest in her deliver - the supposed false flags she plants end up being relevant, only not in the way we though they would be. And once we (and the siblings) figure out what's going (went? will go?) on, the payoff is absolutely satisfying. Though the ending will throw you for a loop (no pun intended...maybe 😉) and leave you with...questions (thanks to Carrie above for helping me get my bearings with it, but...I still have at least one...). [...]

Sean McGinty: "Rainbow in the Dark" (ARC Review)

Title: Rainbow in the Dark [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Sean McGinty [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist, Dark Comedy
Year: 2021
Age: 14+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Unique story that balances dark humour and teen angst and delivers a powerful message.
Cons: The surrealistic style might not work for everyone.
WARNING! Themes of depression and suicide (the latter more on the page, though filtered through an absurdist lens). Some gore. A pet's death.
Will appeal to: Those who like a book that colours outside the lines.

Blurb: High school senior Rainbow is trapped with three other teens in a game-like world that may or may not be real. Together, they must complete quests and gain experience in order to access their own forgotten memories, decode what has happened to them, and find a portal home. As Rainbow’s memories slowly return, the story of a lonely teen facing senior year as the new kid in a small town emerges. Surreal, absurdist humor balances sensitively handled themes of suicide, depression, and the search for identity. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

COME TOGETHER

Rainbow in the Dark is the epitome of a double-souled book: (mostly) set in a game-like world but contemporary in nature, alternating 1st person to 2nd person narrative (not to mention, there are a few chapters in 3rd person, whose protagonist is a character Rainbow dreamed up and wrote stories about), humorous and absurdist but tackling serious themes as depression and suicide. In short: dark comedy meets teen angst. However, you needn't be afraid to pick this book up, because the opposites converge quite successfully, and give birth to one of the most unique stories you'll ever read. Their connection is made even stronger by the fact that lots of details or incidents in the game-like world, no matter how preposterous, mirror/are connected to other details or incidents from Rainbow's real life, and the protagonist's fantastic journey is, for all purposes, a quest that will (maybe) result in her putting her life back together. [...]

Colleen Nelson: "The Life and Deaths of Frankie D." (ARC Review)

Title: The Life and Deaths of Frankie D. [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Colleen Nelson [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist, Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2021
Age: 14+
Stars: 2.5/5
Pros: Goes in a different direction than one would expect. Balances the magical adventure at its core with themes of self-acceptation, (found) family and friendship.
Cons: Tries to do too many things at once and doesn't dwell on any of them enough. A few incidents are too convenient to ring true.
WARNING! Sexual assault (off page). Almost-death by fire.
Will appeal to: Fans of circus narratives/sideshow acts and goth girls.

Blurb: Seventeen-year-old Frankie doesn’t trust easily. Not others and not even herself. Found in an alley when she was a child, she has no memory of who she is or why she was left there. Recurring dreams about a hundred-year-old carnival side show, a performer known as Alligator Girl, and a man named Monsieur Duval have an eerie familiarity to them. Frankie gets drawn deeper into Alligator Girl’s world and the secrets that keep the performers bound together. But a startling encounter with Monsieur Duval when she’s awake makes Frankie wonder what’s real and what’s in her head. As Frankie’s and Alligator Girl’s stories unfold, Frankie’s life takes a sharp turn. Are the dreams her way of working through her trauma or is there a more sinister plan at work? And if there is, does she have the strength to fight it? (Amazon)

Review:  First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Dundurn Press for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

THROWING A CURVE

TLADOFD is a story told in double point of view - the one of the eponymous main character, and another one that I won't spoil for you, but that has everything to do with an old sideshow whose performers used to be regarded as "freaks". While I've never read a book (partially) set in a circus - or, well, a carnival venue - before, I'm aware of the tropes attached to this kind of narrative, and none of them were employed when it comes to the final denouement, because the truth about Frankie and her connection to the sideshow turned out to be different from anything I would have expected. On the other hand, the general atmosphere of the circus setting and its characters (with their magical turnabout) weren't particularly imaginative/fleshed out, and though the story was not about them, it would have been nice to spend a little more time with the troupe members and get the chance to see past their uncomplicated façades. There was virtually a lot to unpack, but alas, not enough time to do it. I have to admit I was taken by surprise by a certain character and their agenda, though I should probably have seen it coming; then again, since I wasn't able to foresee the connection between Frankie and the carnival in the first place, it makes sense that I didn't - so kudos to the author for being able to cover her tracks. [...]

Angela Mi Young Hur: "Folklorn" (ARC Review)

Title: Folklorn  [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Angela Mi Young Hur [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist
Year: 2021
Age: 18+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Imaginative yet honest depiction of immigrant trauma and a woman's place/struggles in Korean culture. Rich and well-written.
Cons: Mostly gloomy. The lead remains at a distance if you haven't shared her same experiences.
WARNING! Domestic abuse. A character suffers from schizophrenia.
Will appeal to: Those who love a family saga (albeit dark) and East-Asian folklore. Those who have experienced  immigration and displacement firsthand.

Blurb: Elsa Park is a particle physicist at the top of her game, stationed at a neutrino observatory in the Antarctic, confident she's put enough distance between her ambitions and the family ghosts she's run from all her life. But it isn't long before her childhood imaginary friend comes to claim her at last. Years ago, Elsa's now-catatonic mother had warned her that the women of their line were doomed to repeat the narrative lives of their ancestors from Korean myth and legend. But beyond these ghosts, Elsa also faces a more earthly fate: the mental illness and generational trauma that run in her immigrant family. When her mother breaks her decade-long silence and tragedy strikes, Elsa must return to her childhood home in California. There, among family wrestling with their own demons, she unravels the secrets hidden in the handwritten pages of her mother’s dark stories. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley and Edelweiss, and got approved for it on both sites. Thanks to Erewhon Books for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

TALE OF MANY TALENTS

I have to be honest: I expected something different when I requested this book - something where the magical realism angle was more prominent, or just incorporated in a different manner. Then again (and this is still me being honest), upon rereading the blurb after turning the last page, I realised that I hadn't been lied to or led astray, except by my own wishful thinking, since I love stories where magical realism permeates the whole narrative. I did appreciate Folklorn nevertheless, but keep in mind that I might not be the best audience for this kind of book.

Folklorn is, basically, the story of a woman (Elsa) growing up into a toxic family and experiencing different shades of racism in modern-day America, trying to establish her identity by distancing herself both from her family and her roots, and ultimately realising that the only way to become whole is to confront them both. Told in an alternation of present tense and flashbacks, peppered with mythical tales about women's sacrifice, dominated by a mother figure torn between thinking her line is doomed to repeat the tragedies of the past and hoping her daughter can break the curse, with a thread of magical realism and a dash of romance (not precisely instalove, but quite close), Folklorn is many things: a family epic with a broken center, populated by siblings who are part real, part imagined and part (maybe) lost; a bildungsroman; an immigrant saga; a testament to all the women who have been abused by their own culture; and even a physics textbook that doubles as a real-life paradigm. [...]

Lauren Karcz: "The Gallery of Unfinished Girls"

Title: The Gallery of Unfinished Girls [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Lauren Karcz [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist
Year: 2017
Age: 14+
Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Atmospheric, surprising, with a strong art commentary and a poignant coming-of-age message.
Cons: The side characters might use more depth. If you like spelled-out endings, you won't find one here.
Will appeal to: People who make art. People who don't, but want to peek into an artist's mind. People who like to read about a teen's family dynamics and personal growth. Most of all, people who crave for spellbinding books with a huge twist.

Blurb: Mercedes Moreno is an artist. At least, she thinks she could be, even though she hasn’t been able to paint anything worthwhile in the past year. Her lack of inspiration might be because her abuela is in a coma. Or the fact that Mercedes is in love with her best friend, Victoria, but is too afraid to admit her true feelings. Despite Mercedes’s creative block, art starts to show up in unexpected ways. A piano appears on her front lawn one morning, and a mysterious new neighbor invites Mercedes to paint with her at the Red Mangrove Estate. At the Estate, Mercedes can create in ways she hasn’t ever before. But Mercedes can’t take anything out of the Estate, including her new-found clarity. Mercedes can’t live both lives forever, and ultimately she must choose between this perfect world of art and truth and a much messier reality. (Amazon)

Review: This is a debut book, but you would never be able to tell. Also, this is a book with less than a thousand ratings on Goodreads, and that, my friends, is a crime. I hope that some of you will get inspired to pick it up and right a wrong after reading my review 😉.

MAGICAL LYRISM

Back when I started blogging, I didn't even know "what" magical realism was (which explains my "contemporary with a twist" label for certain books). Fast forward eight years, and it's become one of my favourite genres, second only to afterlife. What I'm trying to say is, though I wouldn't call myself a MR expert (whereas I claim the title for afterlife 😊), I've read a decent number of books in the category, and TGOUG is one of the most lyrical and exquisite I've ever encountered - plus one that pulled a huge twist on me (yep, this is a "contemporary with a twist" book after all, for more than one reason). I came for the magical mystery (which didn't disappoint - on the contrary, it was more exciting than I expected) and stayed for the art commentary and the teen experience with regard to family, love and life in general. [...]

Ilsa J. Bick: "Draw the Dark"

Title: Draw the Dark  [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Ilsa J. Bick [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Contemporary with a Twist, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2010
Age: 14+
Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Original, well-crafted mix of paranormal/supernatural, mystery and modern history. Believable main character. Incorporates painting in a fascinating manner.
Cons: Requires more suspension of disbelief for a couple of mundane events than for the supernatural ones. The open ending may not sit well with everyone.
WARNING! Death and violence/gore.
Will appeal to: Fans of books off the beaten path. Art and history lovers. Everyone who enjoys a dark but ultimately hopeful story.

Blurb: There are things the people of Winter, Wisconsin, would rather forget. The year the Nazis came to town, for one. That fire, for another. But what they'd really like to forget is Christian Cage. Seventeen-year-old Christian's parents disappeared when he was a little boy. Ever since, he's drawn obsessively: his mother's face...her eyes...and what he calls "the sideways place", where he says his parents are trapped. Christian figures if he can just see through his mother's eyes, maybe he can get there somehow and save them. But Christian also draws other things. Ugly things. Evil things. Dark things. Things like other people's fears and nightmares. Their pasts. Their destiny. There's one more thing the people of Winter would like to forget: murder. But Winter won’t be able to forget the truth, no matter how hard it tries. Not as long as Christian draws the dark... (Amazon)

Review: As I said above, this is a book that will appeal (among other people) to art and history lovers. Then again, I know very little about art, and I'm not a fan of stories set in the past (like part of this one is)...and I was hooked. I guess there's no better testament to the power of this particular narrative and its author's skills 😉.

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

Let's get it out of the way: this is NOT the story of a boy who pines for his parents (or better, his mother, since his father disappeared when he was too young to remember him) and embarks on a supernatural journey in order to find them/get them back. Though the "sideways place" where Christian's parents allegedly vanished is indeed a recurring theme, and the protagonist's obsession with finding his mother will play a surprising part in the narrative, this is NOT the story that Bick wants to tell. So, while on a level I can sympathise with those readers who felt robbed of a thrilling reading experience, I'd say that there's enough to love in this book for what it is - not to mention, for once the blurb didn't lie 😉. DTD is, at its core, the story of a boy and his demons, his uncanny ability to tune in to other people (under special circumstances, that is, and at a price for both him and them), and his loneliness despite having someone in his life who loves him (if not necessarily understands him); at the same time, it's the story of a small town with a penchant for burying its secrets, especially those rooted in a shameful and painful past. Its unique blend of supernatural/paranormal, mystery and the "ordinary" life of a damaged teen, along with strong characterisation, provides enough entertainment (if dark) and generates enough emotion without the need for it to add a metaphysical quest to the list. [...]

Neal Shusterman: "Challenger Deep"

Title: Challenger Deep  [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Neal Shusterman [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist
Year: 2015 (originally from HarperTeen, but it's been reissued on Aug. 6th 2020 by Walker Books)
Age: 14+
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Perfect blend of raw and poetical, honest and hopeful. Comprises two smartly connected narratives.
Cons: Not so much a "plot" story as a "situation" one (though at least one of the narratives is punctuated by some colourful events).
WARNING! Lots of talk about mental illnesses of course. An attempted suicide (off-screen).
Will appeal to: Those who can appreciate a quiet, yet powerful novel from the double perspective of a single character.

Blurb: Caden Bosch is on a ship that's headed for the deepest point on Earth: Challenger Deep, the southern part of the Marianas Trench.
Caden Bosch is a brilliant high school student whose friends are starting to notice his odd behavior.
Caden Bosch is designated the ship's artist in residence to document the journey with images.
Caden Bosch pretends to join the school track team but spends his days walking for miles, absorbed by the thoughts in his head.
Caden Bosch is split between his allegiance to the captain and the allure of mutiny.
Caden Bosch is torn. (Amazon)

Review: I can't vouch for the accuracy of the schizophrenic rep in this book, but I guess the next best thing to having a person diagnosed with a mental disorder narrate his own story is reading his author father's take on it (and mind you, he got his son's input). Then again, art is about creating order out of chaos, and maybe making us understand it better...

DOUBLE FANTASY

Caden is a high-schooler with friends, hobbies, talents, and a family who loves him (including a younger sister he sounds very fond of). We meet him when he starts to spiral into a condition that isn't explicitly labeled (though it's obviously some form of schizophrenia - but then again, the book makes a point about labels not being necessarily accurate or helpful, because it's different for everyone, as the medical cocktails given to each patient are), and follow him all through his hospitalisation in a mental health facility; but at the same time Caden tells his story as a member of a mysterious crew on a ship sailing to the infamous Challenger Deep, the deepest known point in the oceans - and that's where we get some action, if of the weird kind. Personally, I was captivated by the second narrative even before the connections with Caden's "ordinary" reality started to become apparent, but when they did (often in unexpected, but always smart and significant ways), I was in awe. This literary technique made me really understand Caden's plights and witness his struggle, and yet the story managed to stay entertaining (for all the right reasons). [...]

Matthew Green: "Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend"

Title: Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend  [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None (though the author used to have plans for a sequel and maybe still has)
Author: Matthew Green (pen name for UK and Australia, but elsewhere he publishes under his real name Matthew Dicks) [Site | Matthew Green on Goodreads | Matthew Dicks on Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist
Year: 2012
Age: 14+ (but it's more geared towards adults)
Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Candid, insightful, magical and heartwarming.
Cons: The simple writing style (tailored on the narrator) may not be everybody's cup of tea.
WARNING! An instance of fat-shaming and food-belittling (even if imaginary friends don't eat, it doesn't sit right). Some violence.
Will appeal to: Those who never completely outgrew their imaginary friend. Those who could still use one.

Blurb: Budo is been alive for more than five years, which is positively ancient in the world of imaginary friends. But Budo feels his age, and thinks constantly of the day when eight-year-old Max Delaney will stop believing in him. When that happens, Budo will disappear.

Max is different from other children. Some people say that he has Asperger's Syndrome, but most just say he's "on the spectrum." None of this matters to Budo, who loves Max and is charged with protecting him. But he can't protect Max from Mrs. Patterson, the woman who works with Max in the Learning Center and who believes that she alone is qualified to care for this young boy. When Mrs. Patterson does the unthinkable and kidnaps Max, it is up to Budo and a team of imaginary friends to save him - and Budo must ultimately decide which is more important: Max's happiness or Budo's very existence. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: A deceptively simple novel that tackles autism from a different perspective, along with themes such as courage, sacrifice, friendship, family and the power of imagination.

BEING HUMAN

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend is, to the best of my knowledge, a unique book in more than a way. Not only the imaginary friend himself narrates the story (and while I read an anthology based on the same concept, I've never come across another novel that does it so far), but his human maker - for lack of a better word - is a little boy on the autistic spectrum (though his condition is never explicitly named in the book). Budo is a fascinating character, who allegedly has been able to evolve through the years and his observation of people, all while maintaining a basic naïveté - which doesn't prevent him to have some spot-on insights about the world as he knows it, and the adults in it. He also muses about his own existence and is well aware that, as soon as Max stops needing him, he will disappear. This causes an internal conflict for a while (though Budo loves Max dearly and tries to protect him at all costs) that some reviewers found petty, but to me, only adds to Budo's "humanity" and paves the way for his growth. [...]