Melissa Albert: "The Bad Ones"

Title: The Bad Ones [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Melissa Albert [Instagram | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery, Contemporary
Year: 2024
Age: 14+
Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Engrossing, twisty mystery. Unexpected resolution. Fleshed-out leads whose relationship is equally well-developed.
Cons: A certain player's involvement becomes clear a bit too early. The supporting characters are little more than tools to advance the plot. The romance feels unnecessary.  
WARNING! Sexual assault/abuse (off-page), self-injury, car accident, parental death (off-page), murder by suffocation, near-drowning. Homophobia, bigotry, bullying.
Will appeal to: Those who like urban legends/supernatural mysteries/witchcraft gone wrong. Those who enjoy fierce, yet messy/toxic friendships.

Blurb: In the course of a single winter’s night, four people vanish without a trace across a small town. Nora’s estranged best friend, Becca, is one of the lost. As Nora tries to untangle the truth of Becca’s disappearance, she discovers a darkness in her town’s past, as well as a string of coded messages Becca left for her to unravel. These clues lead Nora to a piece of local lore: a legendary goddess of forgotten origins who played a role in Nora and Becca’s own childhood games... (Amazon)

Review: I'm late to the Melissa Albert party, but after loving her adult debut, I've made it my mission to read everything she writes. I have some small quibbles about The Bad Ones, but regardless, I found it to be trippy, entertaining and emotional, and I loved its curveball ending.
Just a heads-up before I start...the cover doesn't match the content. There's a weeping angel statue at some point in the story, but don't expect it to mean anything...and if the cover is supposed to represent the goddess (which of course it is), BIG FAIL.

DAZED AND AMAZED

The Bad Ones blends all-consuming (you might very well say toxic) friendship with a supernatural mystery that leaves you enough breadcrumbs to figure out its direction, yet throws you for a loop multiple times before you decipher it, and hits you with a last couple of twists you couldn't have seen coming. Told in three different voices and timelines (Nora's 1st person POV in the present, Becca's 3rd person POV in the past, another character's 3rd person POV recounting even older events), it's an addictive puzzle with minimal gore or violence, but a dark core - though it ultimately ends up in a much healthier place than one might expect. The beginning is atmospheric, intriguing, creepy - unexpected, too. Albert doesn't waste time setting up the mystery, but she doesn't start, as one would anticipate, by introducing her main characters - yet the hook is impossible to resist: three people, apparently unrelated, are accosted by a mysterious female being and vanish into thin air. From there, the wheels in the reader's head keep turning and the theories about what happened to those three (and to Becca herself, later reported missing as well) multiply. I buddy-read this one with my friend Carrie, and we traded a few wild hypotheses along the way, but most of them turned out to be wrong...though at least one of the answers had stared us in the face the whole time 😅. And, considering we're both seasoned supernatural-thriller readers, that's saying something. The final twist had me in awe, especially since it took one of my core assumptions about the plot and flipped it on its head, giving the story a far more original - and tragic - angle (Carrie was a bit less enthused by that turn of events, but I'll let her review speak for itself). [...]

Hanna Alkaf: "The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette's"

Title: The Hysterical Girls Of St. Bernadette's [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Hanna Alkaf [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Contemporary
Year: 2024
Age: 14+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Fleshed-out, believable (and diverse) protagonists (Muslim, Malaysian). Strong social commentary. Atmospheric writing. 
Cons: The ending feels rushed and doesn't provide enough closure, especially for some characters.
WARNING! Sexual assault/molestation (not graphic, mentioned), trauma, psychosis, victim dismissal, toxic parent, corporal punishment (mentioned).
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy stories about female empowerment and solidarity - better if in a supernatural context.

Blurb: For over a hundred years, girls have fought to attend St. Bernadette’s, with its reputation for shaping only the best and brightest young women. Unfortunately, there is also the screaming. When a student begins to scream in the middle of class, a chain reaction starts that impacts the entire school. By the end of the day, seventeen girls are affected - along with St. Bernadette’s stellar reputation. Khadijah’s got her own scars to tend to, and watching her friends succumb to hysteria only rips apart wounds she’d rather keep closed. But when her sister falls to the screams, Khad knows she’s the only one who can save her. Rachel has always been far too occupied trying to reconcile her overbearing mother’s expectations with her own secret ambitions to pay attention to school antics. But just as Rachel finds her voice, it turns into screams. Together, the two girls find themselves digging deeper into the school’s dark history, hunting for the truth. Little do they know that a specter lurks in the darkness, watching, waiting, and hungry for its next victim... (Amazon)

Review: Why don't more people talk about this book? It's one of those hidden gems that keep getting overlooked in favour of more hyped novels, and I'm going to do my part to rectify this wrong...

SISTERS IN ARMS

In the vein of Flawless Girls, but with more flesh to its plot and characters, THGOSB is an unapologetically Malaysian, yet in a way universal tale with many facets: an enthralling supernatural mystery woven with a strong contemporary/coming-of-age thread; the story of a haunting, yet not a conventional ghost story; but more than anything, a call to togetherness in the face of women's vilification and dismissal. Despite the publisher's notes, however, it definitely doesn't fall under the dark-academia umbrella, unless you think that a single character being strong-armed by her mother into excellence qualifies - I'm telling you this just so you don't build up expectations that won't be met (I mean...everything's labeled "dark academia" these days, but a "school with secrets" setting isn't enough for a book to earn it). Mainly told in a dual narrative, but with the interpolation of a third point of view, THGOSB explores themes of trauma, agency (or lack thereof) and the silencing of female voices, along with sisterhood (real or forged) and the most abhorrent crime: women themselves perpetuating the cycle of abuse because they think it's inescapable, and that the only way girls can protect themselves is by becoming higher-priced commodities. [...]

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. [...]

Melissa Caruso: "The Last Soul Among Wolves" (ARC Review)

Title: The Last Soul Among Wolves [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: The Echo Archives (2nd of 3 books)
Author: Melissa Caruso [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Multiverse, Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2025
Age: 16+ (the characters are all adults, and the book is indeed marketed to adults, but it can be read by mature teens)
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Fresh take on the multiverse trope with strong world-building. Engaging characters. Lots of intriguing action and a few well-placed twists  The story leaves plenty of room for a new installment, but doesn't end on a cliffhanger.
Cons: The murder mystery isn't near as exciting as the magical quest. The main character comes across as more vulnerable and less resourceful than she did in Book 1.
WARNING! Blood, body horror, torture.
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy modern fantasy, vintage detective stories, (deadly) alternate realities, former-enemies romances that don't swallow the plot, and new moms being badass.

Blurb: All Kembral Thorne wants is to finish her maternity leave in peace. But when her best friend asks for help, she can’t say no, even if it means a visit to a run-down mansion on an isolated island for a will reading. She arrives to find an unexpected reunion of her childhood friends - plus her once-rival, now-girlfriend Rika Nonesuch, there on a mysterious job. Then the will is read, and everything goes sideways. Eight potential heirs, half of them Kem’s oldest friends. Three cursed relics. The rules: one by one, the heirs will die. The prize for the lone survivor: A wish. And wishes are always bad business. To save their friends, Kem and Rika must race against the clock and descend into other realities once more. But the mansion is full of old secrets and new schemes, and soon the game becomes far more dangerous - and more personal - than they could have imagined. (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

KEEPING MOMENTUM

I read the first installment in The Echo Archives series last year - drawn by its alternate-realities premise - and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed a story that ended up involving a few aspects I'm usually less keen on. For those who are new to this universe, a brief introduction (I'm quoting from my review for Book 1):

[...] the setting is a world similar to our own - albeit steeped in magic and giving off an early-20th-century vibe - except in this world twelve layers of reality exist: the root universe, or Prime, and its eleven Echoes, getting more and more grotesque and dangerous the farther you stray from their paradigm.

Our protagonist Kembral belongs to a guild tasked with retrieving people (or things) that get abducted/swallowed by the Echoes. She and her old nemesis (now girlfriend) Rika have barely recovered after saving their hometown from a cursed Echo relic, when they get dragged into a new mess involving not one, but three artifacts this time, in which the lives of eight people (half of them old friends of Kembral's) are at stake. I'm happy to report that TLSAW doesn't suffer from second-book syndrome - not at all. Weaving multiverse madness with a cozy (so to speak) old-style whodunnit and a still tentative, at times rocky romance, plus drawing on a huge twist from the first installment, Caruso produces an effortlessly entertaining sequel with action, character development and surprises to spare. There are scenes that will have you hold your breath (Kem's power is incredibly fascinating, but comes with very real consequences), and the Echo world and its creatures are vividly depicted. Also, did I say surprises? Because, while some were a tad too easy to see coming in the first installment, the author covered her tracks well this time, and there's a twist in particular - involving one of the new characters - that will elicit horror and compassion at the same time... [...]

B.C. Johnson: "Djinn & Tonic" (ARC Review)

Title: Djinn & Tonic [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: B.C. Johnson [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Thriller or Mystery, Supernatural
Year: 2025
Age: 18+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Original, funny, twisty, cinematic.
Cons: A tad chaotic and a bit heavy on the snarkiness. The sex scenes (see below) may not sit well with everyone.
WARNING! Blood and gore, violence (not of the sexual kind), torture, guns, burns, drowning. Contains two graphic sex scenes (F/M and F/F).
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy a mixture of thriller and urban fantasy with plenty of action. Those who can get behind a kickass but dysfunctional heroine.

Blurb: Welcome to Remmy's life: crap work for ungrateful wishers. Her only reward? More wishes, more work. She and her djinn friends have been stuck in 20-something human bodies since Biblical times and - other than a few neat parlor tricks - they can't snap their fingers and make your wish come true. What they do have is a few thousand years of experience making the impossible possible. When Remmy's newest lamp-rubber turns out to be the loathsome owner of a Fortune 500 company with dirty dealings, Remmy finds herself unwillingly descending into a murder mystery that crosses borders, oceans, and every line of human decency. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I received this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review. I've been a fan of Mr. Johnson since I started his Deadgirl series in 2013, and I've proof/beta-read some of his books. I swear, though, that I'm going to be as honest about this book as I usually strive to be in my reviews. I wouldn't be of any service neither to the author nor to you potential readers if I didn't. Here goes....

DJINN-IUS IDEA

After bringing the wonderful and epic Deadgirl series to completion, B.C. Johnson swings towards adult lit, but doesn't betray his signature penchant for supernatural mayhem and snarkiness. First thing first - Djinn & Tonic is one of the most original stories I've ever read. Think hard-boiled detective novel without the actual detective and with a band of used-up genies instead. They only retain a small fraction of their original power (that they have to conserve as best as they can, because in human form, they don't have access to its source anymore), but are bound to make their summoners' wishes happen, so they have to resort to unconventional methods (well, unconventional for a bunch of genies, that is...though, now that I think of it...unconventional at any rate). There's also a backstory - albeit small - of how they found themselves in this predicament, and it left me wanting more. D&T is a treasure trove of comic moments and funny banter/inner monologue, plus it has an eldritch, unhinged heroine full of very human flaws and with a more tender core than you might expect, all things considered (but shh, don't tell her 😉). "What would you do if you were an ancient being shoved into a human body since before Christian era and your powers were dwindling, but you were forced to act as if you still had them, or pay a steep price" wasn't on my bingo card for sure, but that's B.C. Johnson for you - and as usual, the result is a rich, engaging story you haven't read the like before. [...]

Mira Grant: "Overgrowth" (ARC Review)

Title: Overgrowth [on Amazon | on Amazon UK | on Goodreads] (Note: I got my copy from the UK-based publisher Daphne Press, so I'm using the UK cover and I'm linking to Amazon UK along with Amazon.com)
Series: None
Author: Mira Grant [Site* | Goodreads]
   *[Note: as I'm writing this review, the Mira Grant site hasn't been updated for a few years]
Genres: Sci-Fi
Year: 2025
Age: 18+ (but it can be read by mature teens)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Fascinating, thought-provoking, refreshingly diverse (trans rep, Mexican-American rep).
Cons: The main conflict and the ending may feel problematic to some, depending on how one reads them. 
WARNING! Toddler death (on page), transphobia, death/violence/guns, blood and gore/vampirism, imprisonment, bug horror.
Will appeal to: Those who like first-contact narratives with a twist. Those who enjoy stories of outsiders and found families. Those who are fascinated by alt-biology scenarios.

Blurb: Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she's an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has believed her. Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it's already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia's biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child. What happens when you know what's coming, and just refuse to listen? (Amazon)

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

PLANTED

In the vein of classics like Little Shop of Horrors, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Day of the Triffids, but with a huge twist (the point of view here is the alien's), Mira Grant's return to full-length fiction is a first-contact-meets-coming-of-age story packed with thought-provoking questions and social/cultural commentary. Set in a very near future (2031) over the span of a month, it chronicles the days preceding a plantlike alien armada's invasion of our planet, and the invasion itself, through the eyes of a hybrid character - alien in nature, human in appearance and by nurture - who both knows (and states) she's an alien and at times doubts she's deeply deluded...but mostly, simply, KNOWS. Then again, she has a lot of questions about herself and her origins, especially because more than thirty years have passed since when she allegedly fell on Earth and claimed the body of three-years-old Anastasia, and her people - who equipped her with a compulsion to announce their invasion plans - are taking their sweet time coming back for her. [...]

Philip Fracassi: "The Third Rule of Time Travel" (ARC Review)

Title: The Third Rule of Time Travel [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Philip Fracassi [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi, Thriller/Mystery, SPOILER - click on the Spoiler button below if you want to know, since revealing the other genre would ruin your reading experience...If you want to go into the book without knowing anything vital about it, I recommend not reading the Labels at the end of my review either. No need to worry though - the review itself will be spoiler-free...
Year: 2025
Age: 18+ (but it can be read by mature teens)
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Engaging variation on the time-travel trope, with a strong human angle and a transcendental core.
Cons: The side characters are slightly underdeveloped. The metaphysical interlude can feel disorienting.
WARNING! Plane crash, car crash, guns, blood and gore, loss of parents and a sibling, loss of a spouse, stillbirth, trauma, grief, implied misogyny.
Will appeal to: Those who prefer their time travel to be emotion-driven and not necessarily physical (or literal). Those who enjoy a philosophical twist to it.

Blurb: Scientist Beth Darlow has built a machine that allows human consciousness to travel through time - to any point in the traveler's lifetime - and relive moments of their life. An impossible breakthrough, but it's not perfect: the traveler has no way to interact with the past. After Beth's husband, Colson, the co-creator of the machine, dies in a tragic car accident, Beth is left to raise Isabella - their only daughter - and continue the work they started. Mired in grief and threatened by her ruthless CEO, Beth pushes herself to the limit to prove the value of her technology. Then the impossible happens. Simply viewing personal history should not alter the present, but with each new observation she makes, her own timeline begins to warp. As her reality constantly shifts, Beth must solve the puzzles of her past, even if it means forsaking her future. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK/Orbit for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

EMOTIONAL VOYAGE

Time-travel stories are always entertaining and thought-provoking no matter what, but I was pleasantly surprised by the spin Fracassi put on the trope. As it turns out, you can produce an exciting specimen of time-travel narrative even by having your characters remain fixed in place and only be able to revisit moments of their past...at least if you up the ante by throwing a couple more ingredients into the mix (one of which shall remain unnamed, to avoid spoiling your fun), and ultimately allowing said characters a different kind of agency than the reader would expect. As much as the adventures of a person displaced in a different era or physically reliving the same day can be fun, there's something to be said for a more psychological - and in this case, even philosophical - approach to being untethered from your present. I know, I know...I'm being cryptic, but spoilers are just around the corner. Suffice to say, while Beth is a stationary character, the trips her consciousness makes (and the ones her late husband made before her) spin a twisty (and emotional) web while apparently warping her present - first in subtle ways, then with catastrophic consequences - and won't make you miss the thrill of "real" time travel. [...]

Kyrie McCauley: "Bad Graces"

Title: Bad Graces [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Kyrie McCauley [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural
Year: 2024
Age: 14+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Atmospheric, adventurous, harsh yet tender, with characters who manage to avoid stereotypes and a fresh take on magic.
Cons: Not all characters are equally developed. You need to suspend disbelief for some of the mundane parts.
WARNING! (TW list provided by the author): body horror (reviewer's note: also involving bugs), drowning, suicide, bodily injury, bodily trauma, blood, child neglect, history of abuse; referenced but not on page: homophobia, statutory rape, eating disorders. This book may be uncomfortable for those with emetophobia. (More): alcohol abuse, arson, burns, suffocation, drowning, attempted suicide, animal death.
Will appeal to: Those who are in for an all-female survival (in more than one sense) narrative, with themes of found family, queer love, overcoming trauma and having each other's back.

Blurb: Using her sister’s grades and clean record, Liv starts to rewrite her story, winning a prestigious internship on a movie set filming in Alaska. Instead of a commercial flight, Liv finds herself on a luxury yacht alongside pop star Paris Grace, actress sisters Effie and Miri Knight, Olympic gymnast Rosalind Torres, and social media influencer Celia Jones. Just as the group starts to bond, a violent storm wrecks their vessel, stranding them on a slip of an island in the North Pacific Ocean. Among the threats of starvation and exposure, they learn there is a predator lurking in the forest, unlike anything they’ve seen before - until they begin to see it in themselves. Every injury they suffer on the island causes inexplicable changes in their bodies, transforming them bit by inhuman bit. With little hope for rescue and only each other as their final tether to humanity, can the girls endure the ominous forces at work on the island? Or will they lose themselves to their darker natures? (Amazon excerpt)

Review: In the vein of Wilder Girls (that I haven't read, but has a similar premise - though, based on the reviews I've read, a different backdrop and outcome), McCauley penned a Shakespeare-imbued, Tempest-inspired story - or more like, a nod to the play - that grows on you at every turn.

GIRLS UNITED

Upon starting this novel, I was just a tiny bit worried that I wouldn't click with the main cast (except for the protagonist), because the girls had the potential to present as vapid, entitled or catty at first, what with them being all high-profile (again, except for aspiring writer Liv). I decided to take the risk on account of the premise sounding so exciting, and I'm happy to report McCauley went for a different, refreshing angle right from the start. Turns out, none of the high-profile girls is vapid, entitled or catty, even if they're flawed somehow (then again, so is ordinary Liv). Female solidarity in the face of a male predator extends its tiny tendrils ever since they meet, and ultimately forges a strong web, not only because the girls end up stranded on an off-the-map island and have to look out for each other (speaking of which, Paris, Celia, Rosalind, Effie and Miri not only are rich and famous, but all go back a long way...and yet, they bond with Liv - one of them a bit more effectively than the others 😉). Last but not least. they all seem to value their craft over the popularity and money it entails (which is maybe a tad unbelievable, coming from a bunch of teens, but as I said, so refreshing that I was happy to buy into it). [...]

Mallory Pearson: "Voice Like a Hyacinth" (ARC Review)

Title: Voice Like a Hyacinth [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Mallory Pearson [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Contemporary
Year: 2025
Age: 14+ (technically a NA book, but it can be read by mature teens. See the WARNING! section though)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Immersive, visceral, gorgeously written.
Cons: Quite dark, if ultimately hopeful.
WARNING! Blood and gore, sexual harassment, self-cutting (during a ritual), alcohol and drug abuse, vomiting, near-drowning, fire, death/animal death. On a psychological level: codependency, high-stakes competition, familial pressure.
Will appeal to: Those who feel a pull towards visual arts (especially painting). Those who love a story that crosses the space between all-consuming friendship and queer love.

Blurb: Art student Jo Kozak and her fellow classmates and best friends, Caroline, Finch, Amrita, and Saz, are one another’s muses - so close they have their own language and so devoted to the craft that they’ll do anything to keep their inspiration alive. Even if it means naively resorting to the occult to unlock their creativity and to curse their esteemed, if notoriously creepy, professor. They soon learn the horrible price to be paid for such a transgressive ritual. In its violent aftermath, things are changing. Jo is feeling unnervingly haunted by something inexplicable. Their paintings, once prodigious and full of life, are growing dark and unhealthy. And their journey together - as women, students, and artists - is starting to crumble. To right the wrong they’ve done, these five desperate friends will take their obsession a step too far. When that happens, there may be no turning back. (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: this title was up for grabs on NetGalley (in the Read Now section). Thanks to 47North for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

LEVEL UP

Eight months ago, I reviewed Pearson's debut novel We Ate the Dark. Despite the abundance of purple prose, I liked it quite a bit, noting that there was "a robust dose of lyrical writing peeking from under the sometimes intimidating similes" and that "Pearson has the makings of a good writer, if only she can rein those similes in a bit. Then again, this is a debut book, so maybe she still has to hone her craft" (the second quote comes from my reply to a fellow blogger's comment). It turns out I was right on both counts - and the Goodreads average rating agrees with me this time. On a content level, Pearson's sophomore novel draws on the same main theme of her debut ("female friendship and queer love and the liminal space between the two"), but ups the ante by setting her story in a small, yet competitive art college, and steeping it in codependency and obsession, both with the art and the friendship. In the same guise, though somehow in reverse - by way of subtracting instead of adding - the author sticks to the poetical, luscious writing she employed for her first novel, but prunes it of all the (often overdone) metaphors and craft her prose into a thing of beauty. The result is a terrific book (in more than one sense) that only goes to show how much Pearson has grown as a writer, while staying true to her signature style. [...]

Ryan La Sala: "Beholder"

Title: Beholder [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Ryan La Sala [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2023
Age: 14+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Imaginative, ambitious, pull-no-punches. The writing flows effortlessly and draws you in.
Cons: Relies on two distinct supernatural threads that never really come together. The rom-com moments don't always fit the rest of the narrative.
WARNING! Death/parent death, murder/massacre, fire/fire injury, body horror/eye horror, impalement, strangulation, self harm/intrusive thoughts/suicidal ideation. And of course, giant spider-like creatures...
Will appeal to: Those who like creative eldritch horror with a healthy dose of gore. Those who don't mind a (queer) romance subplot in it.

Blurb: Athanasios “Athan” Bakirtzis has a secret: a hereditary power that allows him to rewind the reflection in any mirror, peering into its recent past. Superstitious Yiayia calls the family ability a curse, and has long warned him never to use it. After being invited to a penthouse soiree for New York’s art elite, Athan breaks his grandmother’s rule during a trip to the bathroom, turning back his reflection for just a moment. Then he hears a slam against the bathroom door, followed by a scream. Athan peers outside, only to be pushed back in by a boy his age. The boy gravely tells him not to open the door, then closes Athan in. Before Athan can process what’s happening, more screams follow, and the party descends into chaos. When he finally emerges, he discovers a massacre - and Athan's mysterious savior is nowhere to be found. Something evil is compelling people to destructive acts, a presence that’s been hiding behind Athan’s reflection his whole life, watching and biding its time. Soon, he’s swept up in a supernatural conspiracy that spans New York, of occult high societies and deadly eldritch designs. If beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, what can it do to us once it’s inside? (Goodreads excerpt)

Review: As of today, I've read all La Sala's books except Be Dazzled, because contemporary romance is not my thing. I really enjoyed his debut novel Reverie, and I flat-out loved The Honeys, so I was very excited to immerse myself in the world of Beholder, and I didn't expect anything short of brilliance from it. Which, on a level, I got...but I didn't love this book as much as the author's previous offerings. With that out of the way, let's get to the review proper...

QUITE A SIGHT

There's no denying it: Ryan La Sala knows how to write - and has quite the imagination, not to mention, a real flair for horror. He endows the protagonist of Beholder with a unique power (rewinding reflections in mirrors) that, while making for an exciting premise and a series of chilling scenes, at the same time ties in with themes of appearance vs. true self and perception vs. perspective. He amps up the nightmare by adding a second supernatural threat that you won't see coming - and a brilliant one at that - plus he draws on the Greek Evil Eye myth, though it's largely reimagined for the occasion. The story moves at a good pace, despite the romantic/comedic interludes - it even manages to incorporate a coming-of-age arc to no detriment of the horror, mystery, magic, conspiracy and action mix that makes up the bulk of the narrative. Oh, and of course, as always with La Sala, it's unapologetically queer, with a protagonist that identifies as pansexual and a gay (I suppose) love interest. Last but not least, the author employs an intriguing writing device: he alternates Athan's 1st-person-POV chapters with a series of mysterious 2nd-person-POV ones (though to be honest, they don't stay mysterious for long...it's easy to fathom whose perspective they're from, once a certain "incident" occurs). [...]

Melissa Caruso: "The Last Hour Between Worlds" (ARC Review)

Title: The Last Hour Between Worlds [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: The Echo Archives (1st of 3 books)
Author: Melissa Caruso [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Multiverse, Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2024
Age: 16+ (the characters are all adults, and the book is indeed marketed to adults, but it can be read by mature teens)
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Fresh take on the multiverse trope with strong world-building. Engaging characters. Honest motherhood-vs.-job perspective that still encourages women not to be reduced to the mother role.  The story leaves plenty of room for a new installment, but doesn't end on a cliffhanger.
Cons:  Things only start to get exciting when the characters plunge deeper into the layers of reality. A couple of twists are easy to figure out in advance.
WARNING! Blood, body horror, stabbing, fire, bugs.
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy modern fantasy, (deadly) alternate realities/time loops, enemies-to-lovers romances that don't swallow the plot, and new moms being badass.

Blurb: Star investigator Kembral Thorne has a few hours away from her newborn, and she just wants to relax and enjoy the year-turning party. But when people start dropping dead, she’s got to get to work. Especially when she finds that mysterious forces are plunging the whole party down through layers of reality and into nightmare. Most people who fall this far never return. Luckily, Kem isn’t most people. But as cosmic powers align and the hour grows late, she’ll have to work with her awfully compelling nemesis, notorious cat burglar Rika Nonesuch, for a chance to save her city - though not her night off. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

STEPPING UP

I have to preface this review by saying I'm a huge fan of alternate realities and time loops, but I tend to like them more when they're encapsulated in a sci-fi or magical-realism context. I do read fantasy from time to time (low/contemporary/urban), but I have to be completely sold on the book's premise...which was the case with Caruso's take on multiverse, so I took a chance on it - and I'm so glad I did. Basically, the setting is a world similar to our own - albeit steeped in magic and giving off an early-20th-century vibe - except in this world twelve layers of reality exist: the root universe, or Prime, and its eleven Echoes, getting more and more grotesque and dangerous the farther you stray from their paradigm. While it took a bit for the story to get going (I understand that the world-building had to be established, and it makes sense that the main character would look for answers at the party before she faced the outdoors and their mind-bending horrors, but the first couple of Echoes were a tad lackluster), it ultimately found its footing and became exciting and addictive, piling up layers (ha!) of horror, mystery, action, romance, plus character development and more world-building. [...]

B.C. Johnson: "Deadgirl: Gravedust" (ARC Review)

Title: Deadgirl: Gravedust [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Deadgirl (5th of 5 books, but there's also a novella about a side character that is chronologically book 2.5 in the series - though best read after book 3 if you want to avoid a spoiler about its ending)
Author: B.C. Johnson [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Afterlife, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy
Year: 2024
Age: 14+
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Imaginative plot. Excellent pacing. Emotional kaleidoscope. Flawed yet lovable characters who manage to feel realistic in the middle of mayhem.
Cons: Darker than the previous installments. A certain twist brings some issues with it.
WARNING! Horror, gore and heartbreak (both for the characters and the readers). Guns, knifes/swords, rats, fires/burns, vampirism (on people and animals, the latter off-page), eye and leg injury, near-drowning, suicide (off-page). Lots of language.
Will appeal to: Those who love peculiar undead protagonists. Those who enjoy a mix of cinematic action and strong feelings. Those who like brave, resourceful teens who don't pose as heroes, but are set on saving the world whatever the price (and manage to love a lot in the process).

Blurb: For Lucy and her friends, the end is here. The deals they've made have fallen apart, and their enemies prepare a final attack on everything Team Deadgirl holds dear. An army of monsters out of a nightmare arrives on their doorstep, but Lucy, Morgan, Zack, and Daphne are scattered, unprepared, and alone. When an old villain turns out not to be as dead as they appeared - which is sort of Lucy's thing - the team again faces the one girl they were never able to defeat. And she isn't just seeking revenge against Lucy. She's after something far worse. (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I received this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review. And the author being B.C. Johnson, you all know I've been campaigning for his first Deadgirl book with all my might since 2013, when I read the original version. Also, B.C. Johnson and me have stayed in touch, if sporadically, for the whole time. I'm not what you would call a friend of his though, only a fan of his work. And an unbiased one. As usual, this review is the love child of my penchant for quirky, uniquely worded books and B.C. Johnson's ability to deliver them.

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

How do you review the last book in a saga you've been invested in for almost twelve years? How do you find the words to say goodbye to a world and a cast that you aren't, will never be ready to let go, and yet (you agree, you see the point) went out with a spectacular, incredibly satisfying bang? First thing first - Deadgirl: Gravedust is what every series ending should be: high-octane, twist-serving, and emotionally destroying, but in a good way. (Wait, is there a good way? You bet there is). In this last installment, Johnson puts every idea, mood, plot thread, side character (alive and dead) that have ever been incorporated into the story to fruition, which is an impressive feat in itself, and shows how he's been playing the long game all along, though the first Deadgirl was just a standalone novel with sequel(s) potential when it was published (well, the author had ideas for those sequels, but I don't know how structured at the time - what I know is, he changed a bunch of them during his writing journey. And yet...). Gravedust is a colossal showdown (not only because it could be a legit superhero blockbuster, only with teens), and it's a chorus line's last bow after a terrific performance, because all of this has been as much about Lucy - the girl who stubbornly refused to die on her first date - as it has been about all her friends and family and allies, in more ways than one. Whether a character in this book is alive or dead, just bruised or badly injured in the end - and regardless of their lives still being a work in progress, because of course they are, and clear-cut endings are a lie - we get closure about them, or as much closure as we can. And it's funny, and it's sad, and it's beautiful. [...]

Isabel Strychacz: "House of Thorns" (ARC Review)

Title: House of Thorns [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Isabel Strychacz [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2024
Age: 14+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Fresh, atmospheric take on the haunted/magical/evil house trope. Engaging (if sometimes flawed) characters.
Cons: The first section is a bit lackluster. There's some confusion about the protagonist's age. The addiction theme is ultimately brushed aside.
WARNING! Grief, panic attacks, anxiety/PTSD, drug and alcohol abuse (offscreen), near-drowning, death of a parent who no longer lives with the family.
Will appeal to: Those who like creepy, but not downright gruesome stories. Those who enjoy sisterly dynamics and a pinch of childhood-friends romance. Most of all, those who are fond of mysterious houses and shifting realities.

Blurb: Five years ago, the Peartrees fled their home - the infamous ancestral Brier Hall - and never looked back. But her oldest sister went missing that night, and there’s been no sign of her since. In the aftermath, the Peartrees are traumatized and get by however they can. Lia’s remaining sister Ali says yes to any bad idea, and Lia tries so desperately to be the perfect daughter that it’s tearing her apart. But as the five year anniversary of the night they left nears, Lia begins seeing her missing sister everywhere. When Ali disappears with no warning except a cryptic phone call, Lia is sure she’s gone back to Brier Hall. Lia must go home one final time and face what haunts her in an effort to find her sisters and uncover the truth of her past. (Amazon excerpt)

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

ON THE HOUSE

I've been reading so many supernatural (or in one case, multiverse) books with houses at their center lately, and yet each and every one of them has managed to bring something different (and creative) to the table. I can happily report that House of Thorns is no exception. I'll be honest...it's a bit of a slow burn, and at first I thought it was a fairly run-of-the-mill modern gothic story, but when the mystery about the house started to get unraveled, I was hooked. Told from teen and kid Lia's perspectives, with the interpolation of some chapters from Brier Hall's point of view (which is not a gimmick, but a narrative device that does add a pivotal angle to the story, plus it's really cool), House of Thorns is a novel that blurs the lines between the past and the present, the haunter and the haunted - and even the ultimately familiar trope at its core feels fresh and exciting (OK, a bit heartbreaking too) in this context. While on the surface a tale of (strained) sisterly relationships and childhood trauma, on a deeper level HOT is about the need to belong and to find someone who will fill our empty spaces, a need embodied by the emotional entanglement between a young woman and a house who loves her back - if in a twisted way. Which makes for a melancholic and creepy narrative that works very well with the supernatural, time-bending quality of the story and the sisterhood theme. [...]

Sarah Hollowell: "What Stalks Among Us"

Title: What Stalks Among Us [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Sarah Hollowell [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Contemporary
Year: 2023
Age: 14+
Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Spectacular premise that delivers all along. Lots of (often literal) twists and turns. Powerful friendship dynamic. Fat rep. Addresses lots of important topics (see the WARNING! section).
Cons: A couple of plot points ended up being red herrings of sorts or getting no explanations.
WARNING! (TW list provided by the author): Physical, emotional, and psychological abuse; aspects of abuse including victim blaming, isolation, manipulation, and gaslighting; mental illness (depression, anxiety, PTSD), self-harm (cutting), death, violence (gunshots, stabbing, strangulation), gore and body horror.
Will appeal to: Those who are in for a time-looping supernatural mystery with a strong contemporary core.

Blurb: Best friends and high school seniors Sadie and Logan ditch their end-of-year field trip to the amusement park in favor of exploring some old, forgotten backroads. The last thing they expect to come across is a giant, abandoned corn maze. When they stumble on the corpses in the maze, identical to them in every way (if you can ignore the stab and gunshot wounds) they quickly realize they’ve not only entered this maze before, they’ve died in it too. A lot. And no matter what they try, they can’t figure out what - or who - is hunting them. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: I requested this book on NetGalley last year to no avail. It turns out that (regardless of my small following, that might very well have been the reason for the rejection) I was a potential champion for it all along, because I kept it on my radar, I ultimately read it all the same and I loved it! (It doesn't hurt that it matches my blog aesthetic so well LOL).

A-MAZE ME

You know that feeling when a book has got an exciting premise, except the story doesn't make it justice? Well, nothing of the sort happened here. What Stalks Among Us (genius title, BTW) delivered on all counts, keeping me on my toes with all the twist and turns of the plot and the setting alike. I was invested in the mystery and the outcome (plus other aspects that I'll talk about later), but regardless, navigating the maze was a ton of fun in itself, a never-ending source of surprises and exhilarating moments. Also, the maze had a timey-wimey quality that I dug a lot, with intersecting temporal planes and even a number of loops - not to mention, it sometimes reacted to its visitors' (or better, prisoners') presence in very specific ways. I have to admit that not every one of the labyrinth's peculiarities made complete sense (neither did its genesis - knowing what I know now, I would have expected something different than a corn maze at the very least): e. g., I'm not sure how two instances of the same character could coexist, since it seemed at odds with the premise, and Sadie's connection to the maze and the significance of the sheep skeleton were never explained (though I have a theory about the former...but then again, it's contradicted by what happened with another character). But on the whole, the worldbuilding was well-executed and full of interesting angles (and paths...and more angles...see what I did here? 😉). [...]

Brandon Jones: "Whirly World"

Title: Whirly World [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Brandon Jones [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Afterlife, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2023
Age: 14+ (I shelved it as Adult because of the characters' age, and it's indeed marketed to that demographic, but it can be read by teens)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Inventive, entertaining, humorous and emotional.
Cons: Due to the large number of characters, not all of them feel fully realised. The ending doesn't give all the answers.
WARNING! Drowning, fires, claustrophobic settings. We see a character collapse to death in a flashback.
Will appeal to: Those who love creative afterlife settings, carnival rides and accidental heroes.

Blurb: Theme-park blogger Jason Green is dead and his spirit is stuck inside Whirly World, his favorite place to be. What should be a dream come true turns into an abstract nightmare as Jason confronts malevolent forces trapping him there. Desperate to escape, he has to befriend the other ten ghosts inhabiting this afterlife, from a disgruntled hostess crushed under a revolving stage, to a bereft security guard that still thinks it's 1983, and combine their strange powers to dig up the park's mysterious past. (Amazon)

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

FUN FAIR

Afterlife meets theme park with a side of superpowers and time loops, all wrapped in a mystery: a recipe for fun, though peppered with some emotional moments (what with the characters being, you know, dead). For one, the premise is creative and intriguing: eleven employees or patrons of a famous amusement park who died on its grounds find themselves trapped in a ghostly version of the same park. Among them is Jason, a theme-park blogger who in life was probably the biggest Whirly World fan, but isn't necessarily thrilled not to be able to leave the place for mysterious reasons - not to mention, he can't even remember how he died. He sets on exploring the surroundings (which leads to a series of frustrating discoveries - frustrating for him, but again, making for lots of fun on the reader's part), and one by one he runs into his fellow resident ghosts, which creates some amusing dynamics (since Jason has written about their deaths in his blog, and coming face to face with some of them brings out the fanboy in him, if for a moment. [...]

Nadi Reed Perez: "The Afterlife of Mal Caldera" (ARC Review)

Title: The Afterlife of Mal Caldera [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Nadi Reed Perez [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Afterlife
Year: 2024
Age: 18+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Creative, riotous yet soulful spin on a series of classic afterlife/rock lifestyle tropes. A love letter to hope and life from the other side of the veil.
Cons: Too focused on the ghostly sex and partying (though it comes with the worldbuilding, to an extent).
WARNING! Suicide/attempted suicide, drug use, alcoholism. Familial abuse, depression, hospital internment, infidelity/promiscuity, grief.
Will appeal to: Those who like life-affirming stories, coming-of-age narratives (even after death) and found families.

Blurb: Mal Caldera - former rockstar, retired wild-child and excommunicated black sheep of her Catholic family - is dead. Not that she cares. She only feels bad that her younger sister, Cris, has been left to pick up the pieces Mal left behind. While her fellow ghosts party their afterlives away at an abandoned mansion they call the Haunt, Mal is determined to make contact with Cris from beyond the grave. She enlists the help of a reluctant local medium, Ren, and together, they concoct a plan to pass on a message to Cris. But the more time they spend together, the more they begin to wonder what might have been if they'd met before Mal died. Mal knows it’s wrong to hold on so tightly to her old life. Bad things happen to ghosts who interfere with the living, and Mal can't help wondering if she’s hurting the people she loves by hanging around, haunting their lives. But Mal has always been selfish, and letting go might just be the hardest thing she's ever had to do. (Amazon)

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

NEW DIRECTIONS

I have to be honest: the synopsis set my expectations for a different story than the one I got, up to an extent. I figured Mal's attempt to communicate with her sister (and maybe her success in doing so) would be the main focus, along with Mal and Ren's (the medium) doomed love story. It turns out that I was right about the second thing (again, up to an extent) and wrong about the first, because this book encompasses so many more themes and situations - though it mostly boils down to coming to terms with one's own death, forgiving oneself and becoming part of a found family, plus helping the living to change their existence for the better. This could have resulted in a sappy (and fairly typical) tale, except the author made some interesting choices that gave enough of a spin to a series of familiar tropes and managed to keep the narrative sharper and rawer than it could have been. For one, Mal Caldera hadn't reached stardom status yet before she met her untimely death, and she was as flawed and selfish as they come (still is, at the start of her afterlife - though the good thing is, she's self-aware about it). Likewise, if the rest of the cast projects a cliché appearance at first, this soon enough makes room for surprises and unexpected twists (for all purposes, so does the story). The setting and worldbuilding (I'm talking about the afterlife-dimension-on-Earth here) are imaginative and well thought-out, and the ghosts' mythology is the right blend of familiar and fresh. [...]