Horror, Psychological

Little Eve by Catriona Ward

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Description

From Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street, comes the Shirley Jackson Award-winning novel Little Eve, a heart-pounding tale of faith and family, with a devastating twist.

“A great day is upon us. He is coming. The world will be washed away.”

On the wind-battered isle of Altnaharra, off the wildest coast of Scotland, a clan prepares to bring about the end of the world and its imminent rebirth.

The Adder is coming and one of their number will inherit its powers. They all want the honor, but young Eve is willing to do anything for the distinction.

A reckoning beyond Eve’s imagination begins when Chief Inspector Black arrives to investigate a brutal murder and their sacred ceremony goes terribly wrong.

And soon all the secrets of Altnaharra will be uncovered.

My Thoughts

Atmospheric, cunning, and with surprises all along the way, this early novel by Catriona Ward is wild. She writes in her forward that this was her second novel and it challenged her considerably. Now that she has published other novels and established her residency among the best horror writers of her generation, Little Eve has made a reappearance.

This is not the first book I’ve read recently where an established author has gone back and re-worked earlier stories. To a book, these re-workings have been some of the best work I’ve read, and Ward continues the trend with this masterful and haunting story.

Ward’s work often examines horror emanating from a human source. There are no mysterious monsters here – the monsters are all carried within the hearts of the characters. What will people do when driven to a point of madness? While there have been a few excellent tales told in recent years that feature remote villages and what can happen when even just one person becomes unstable and evil, Ward takes that trope and builds a fleshy, gruesome story that will haunt you.

Put simply, this is a goddamn great story. Read it on a cold, gray weekend and I bet you won’t sleep for a couple of days.

Fairytales, Fantasy, Folktales, Magical, Romance

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

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Description

A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love in the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series.

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party—or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones—the most elusive of all faeries—lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all—her own heart.

My Thoughts

This was exactly the book I needed in place of the negativity out in the real world right now. Heather Fawcett has given us a fabulous heroine who inhabits a world many of us fantasy fans only dream of – scholarly study of faeries. I mean, who wouldn’t love that job??? There’s no suspension of disbelief here. These things are REAL!

Fawcett’s writing is peppered with high-level vocabulary that incredibly flows through the text without bogging down the narrative. She tosses out words like “inchoate” like candy left as offerings for the fae. Main character Emily Wilde is delightful. She knows who she is and she definitely knows her value, even if she’s socially awkward. It’s refreshing and comforting to find a character who isn’t perfect and who lives in her skin no matter how odd that feels sometimes.

The only thing that keeps this from being a 5 star read for me is the goofy and IMHO unnecessary romantic entanglement that happens in the last half. However, I expect that will appeal to fans of romance/fantasy of which I am not one.

UPDATE: I’m re-reading this for a book club and I have to admit that my previous statement was off the mark. The relationship between Em and Wendell is, indeed, the very heart of the story. They seem to understand each other in ways others cannot, and I have begun to suspect that Emily may indeed be more than she seems.

Otherwise, this is a supremely fun read. I look forward to more of Fawcett’s stories.

Publication Date: January 10, 2023
Published By: Random House Publishing Group; Ballantine, Del Rey
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

General, Mythology, Witches

Macbeth’s Spinners by Justine Johnson Hemmestad

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Description

Macbeth’s Spinners begins in 11th century Scotland with the supernatural transformation of the three Greek fates, but witchcraft only serves as a cover for their true mission. To thwart their ancient nemesis, the Greek god Apollo, they consolidate their power to help the warlord Macbeth, though Apollo is aware and tries to crush Macbeth in favor of the Northern invaders. But the purpose of the Fates and Macbeth are intertwined, and in the depths of secrecy and devotion the dominant Fate, Clotho, takes Macbeth into realms beyond himself to set him on his true path.

At its heart, Macbeth’s Spinners is a story about love that withstands place and time. Redemption seeps through the corners of the story and shows innermost vision to be a trustworthy guide. Haunting and sublime, the story follows the shift of mythic personalities at the most important points of their lives.

My Thoughts

This is definitely a niche book for those who enjoy highly unusual and imaginative re-tellings of well-known stories. Here, the story of Macbeth is merged with an unusual backstory for the three Fates involving Greek mythology and Apollo.

The writing is lush and evocative, full of beautiful words and language, which made me read passages aloud just to feel the words roll off my tongue. It is not, however, easy reading. This takes commitment and attention, but in the end is worth it.

This can’t be pigeonholed into any single genre because it is so original. That will likely limit its appeal to a small audience, who will likely read it again and again.

About the Author

Justine Johnston Hemmestad is an editor, the author of three novels, and is included in several anthologies, including Chicken Soup for the Soul: Recovering from Traumatic Brain Injuries. She is a graduate of The University of Iowa and has also graduated from the English Literature Master’s Degree program at Northern Arizona University. Learn more about her at https://know-your-craft.webnode.page/.

Antimony and Elder Lace Press is donating part of the profits of Macbeth’s Spinners to Laughing at my Nightmare, a charitable organization that helps people with disabilities make the world more accessible.

Ghosties, Horror

Gallows Hill by Darcy Coates

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Description

The Hull family has owned the Gallows Hill Winery for generations. Their wine wins awards. Their business prospers. Their family thrives. People whisper that the curse has awakened once more.

The sprawling old house has long been perched on top of a hill overlooking the nearby town, jealously guarding the estate’s secrets.

It’s been more than a decade since Margot Hull last saw her childhood home. She was young enough when she was sent away that she barely remembers its dark passageways and secret corners. But now she’s returned to bury her parents and reconnect with the winery that is her family’s legacy―and the bloody truth of exactly what lies buried beneath the crumbling estate. Alone in the sprawling, dilapidated building, Margot is forced to come face to face with the horrors of the past―and realize that she may be the next victim of a house that never rests…

Darcy Coates brings you a brand-new horror novel that’ll take your breath away… Gallows Hill is perfect for fans of Jennifer McMahon, Simone St. James, lovers of ghost stories and anyone mesmerized by the twisted secrets of the past.

My Thoughts

You can always depend on Darcy Coates to deliver a terrifying story full of curses, ghosts, and flawed characters. She surpasses her best with Gallows Hill, which is one of the best horror/ghost stories I read in 2022.

There are familiar tropes here – the long-lost child returned to the family home, the faithful servants bound to the land, the terrible family secret, and the ghosts who won’t be forgotten. In Coates’ hands, these things blend into one of the more horrifying stories I’ve read. It’s definitely making me rethink drinking wine!

Recommended.

Action Adventure, Mystery, Suspense, Women

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

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Description

Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon.

They’ve spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they’re sixty years old, four women friends can’t just retire – it’s kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller by New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they’ve been marked for death.

Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They’re about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman—and a killer—of a certain age.

My Thoughts

Red meets Kill Bill in this delicious romp featuring four of the most entertaining but deadly female characters ever put to page. This is such a different type of story from Raybourn and proves she’s one of her generation’s most accomplished writers.

Fans of her 19th century series may not appreciate the departure, but I sincerely hope they give this a chance. Every character is drawn tautly but with warmth and wit, and the story is flawless.

If you’re looking for a purely entertaining, action-packed adventure, this is your book. I will be astonished if this doesn’t get adapted to film.

General, Magical, Women

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

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Description

From the acclaimed author of Garden Spells comes an enchanting tale of lost souls, lonely strangers, secrets that shape us, and how the right flock can guide you home.

Down a narrow alley in the small coastal town of Mallow Island, South Carolina, lies a stunning cobblestone building comprised of five apartments. It’s called The Dellawisp and it is named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy.

When Zoey Hennessey comes to claim her deceased mother’s apartment at The Dellawisp, she meets her quirky, enigmatic neighbors including a girl on the run, a grieving chef whose comfort food does not comfort him, two estranged middle-aged sisters, and three ghosts. Each with their own story. Each with their own longings. Each whose ending isn’t yet written.

When one of her new neighbors dies under odd circumstances the night Zoey arrives, she is thrust into the mystery of The Dellawisp, which involves missing pages from a legendary writer whose work might be hidden there. She soon discovers that many unfinished stories permeate the place, and the people around her are in as much need of healing from wrongs of the past as she is. To find their way they have to learn how to trust each other, confront their deepest fears, and let go of what haunts them.

Delightful and atmospheric, Other Birds is filled with magical realism and moments of pure love that won’t let you go. Sarah Addison Allen shows us that between the real and the imaginary, there are stories that take flight in the most extraordinary ways.

My Thoughts

I rarely re-read books in ARC form (I wait until I have the final copy in hand), but I re-read this one. I’ve been waiting for a new story from Sarah Addison Allen for a long time. I found her earlier books beautiful, evocative, and soothing. Other Birds is all that and more.

The thread of mothers and daughters that winds through this tale is what hooked me, I think. Allen gives us a flawed protagonist striking out on her own for the first time and trying to learn more about the mother she doesn’t remember. She begins her new life in a place her mother loved, where she encounters other sorts of mothers and daughters and sons, all with complicated maternal relationships.

Allen weaves a rich and gentle story about ordinary people living seemingly ordinary lives, who are touched by magic for just a little while. The stories and their many pathways circle around, duck under, and weave back in to create a bubble of a world that is full of love, regret, and hope.

One of the best of the year.

General, Reading

On Book Clubs & Reading

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I used to be a huge fan of book clubs, and loved running them when I was a practicing librarian. Over the years, my reading habits had become much more solitary and personal, where I’d read exactly what I wanted and that, my friends, is dangerous reading.

I found my reading so limited, generic, and easy that it wasn’t interesting anymore. I was reading in one lane and it was not only unchallenging but also insulating me from things happening around me. I know many people were in emotional overload and cocooned themselves after the Annus Horribilus of 2020. That’s where I was when 2021 began.

At the beginning of 2021, I decided to change my reading habits to include more challenging and unusual books. That continued through 2022, and was boosted considerably when I joined the Fantastic Strangelings Book Club, run by author and bookstore owner Jenny Lawson. You might know Lawson as The Bloggess or through her bestselling books like Furiously Happy. She also owns and operates the Nowhere Bookshop in San Antonio TX.

The Strangelings Book Club is entirely virtual and you can choose when and how to participate. Lawson selects and sends out one book a month, then will usually post her thoughts on social media, which results in lots of commentary and discussion from other Strangelings. Lawson’s selections are unusual and diverse; reading them has been uplifting, uncomfortable, and irresistible. Here are the selections I read in 2022 – all of them are recommended!

There are many other ways I could have connected to these books, but the Strangelings Book Club worked for me. I found the selection eclectic, thoughtful, very emotionally evocative, and a little bit strange. I learned about countries and cultures I knew nothing about and read genres I’d avoided. What I also rediscovered is that there are threads of living that are the same no matter who you are and where you live. Family relationships – parent and child, siblings, extended family, spouses and partners – are the common threads that bind us all together.

If you’re looking for a book club experience in 2023 and you live in the Rochester NY region, there are plenty of opportunities through the Monroe County Library System. There are also book discussions and plenty of author readings offered in Rochester’s indie bookshops. You should make a point to check out two of my favorites: Akimbo Books at 318b East Avenue in downtown Rochester, and Hipocampo Childrens Books at 638 South Avenue.

If you’re looking for something virtual, the Strangelings club is great, but there is a monthly fee for the book. I do also recommend the Litsy app, where you’ll find lots of virtual book clubs, challenges, and other fun reading activities.

Whatever process you use to select your next book to read, make a point to dip your toes in uncharted waters. Learn about other people and cultures and traditions. Revel in the glorious diversity of stories out there. And make sure to get and use a library card!

Detective, Mystery, Non Fiction

The Life of Crime by Martin Edwards

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Description

In the first major history of crime fiction in fifty years, The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and their Creators traces the evolution of the genre from the eighteenth century to the present, offering brand-new perspective on the world’s most popular form of fiction.

The Life of Crime is the result of a lifetime of reading and enjoying all types of crime fiction, old and new, from around the world. In what will surely be regarded as his magnum opus, Martin Edwards has thrown himself undaunted into the breadth and complexity of the genre to write an authoritative – and readable – study of its development and evolution. With crime fiction being read more widely than ever around the world, and with individual authors increasingly the subject of extensive academic study, his expert distillation of more than two centuries of extraordinary books and authors – from the tales of E.T.A. Hoffmann to the novels of Patricia Cornwell – into one coherent history is an extraordinary feat and makes for compelling reading.

My Thoughts

This is a crime-lover’s dream – a comprehensive treatment of crime fiction by a master of the genre, presented in a readable and fascinating way. It took me awhile to finish this as this is the kind of book I dip in and out of, reading a chapter here and there. And reading a chapter isn’t as easy as it sounds, because I found I had to keep a notebook handy to write down all the authors and books I haven’t read, but which Edwards presents in various forms.

This will appeal to readers of crime fiction and probably not many others, so it’s a niche buy. I’d recommend for large library collections.

Cozy, Mystery

Murder Up to Bat by Elizabeth McKenna

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Description

After falling in love with the quiet lake life and a certain police detective, former Chicago Tribune reporter Emma Moore trades interviewing jocks for chasing champion cows at the county fair. As a small-town newspaper reporter, she covers local topics both big and small, but when her friend Luke is arrested for the murder of the head coach of his club softball team, she’ll need to hone her investigative skills to clear his name. Emma calls up best friend Grace for help, and together the women go up against cutthroat parents willing to kill for a chance to get their daughters onto a premier college sports team.

The game is tied with bases loaded, and murder is up to bat. Can Emma and her friends bring the heat and win the game?

My Thoughts

This second in a fun series featuring Emma Moore and her chic friend Grace is another winner. Back in 2019, I wrote about McKenna’s first Emma Moore novel – The Great Jewel Robbery – and described it as “Nancy Drew for the 21st century.” Murder Up to Bat further solidifies that statement.

Emma and Grace are two very likable, intelligent, and clever heroines matching wits with a couple of affable, good-looking men as they all chase down the clues to solve a murder. All very improbable compared to real-life murder investigations, meaning there’s very little mess here and a lot of human interaction.

There are tons of cozy mysteries on the market right now. Some of them work, some don’t. What works here is McKenna’s writing, which is colorful, informal, and very, very relatable. The reader is meant to connect with Emma – she could be us! – and McKenna does an excellent job of making that connection.

Recommended for fans of cozy mysteries.

Author Bio

Elizabeth McKenna’s love of books reaches back to her childhood, where her tastes ranged from Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys to Stephen King’s horror stories. She had never read a romance novel until her sister gave her the latest bestseller by Nora Roberts. She was hooked from page one (actually, she admits it was the first love scene).

Her novels reflect her mercurial temperament and include historical romances, contemporary romances, cozy mysteries, and dark mysteries. With some being “clean” and some being “naughty,” she has a book for your every mood.

Elizabeth lives in Wisconsin with her understanding husband and Sidney, the rescue dog from Tennessee. When she isn’t writing, reading, editing, or walking the dog that never tires, she’s sleeping.

Find her on

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Cozy, Magical

Dead and Gondola by Ann Claire

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Description

In this series debut, a mysterious bookshop visitor dies under murderous circumstances, compelling the Christie sisters and their cat, Agatha, to call on all they’ve learned about solving mysteries from their favorite novelist.

Ellie Christie is thrilled to begin a new chapter. She’s recently returned to her tiny Colorado hometown to run her family’s historic bookshop with her elder sister, Meg, and their beloved cat, Agatha. Perched in a Swiss-style hamlet accessible by ski gondola and a twisty mountain road, the Book Chalet is a famed bibliophile destination known for its maze of shelves and relaxing reading lounge. At least, until trouble blows in with a wintry whiteout. A man is found dead on the gondola, and a rockslide throws the town into lockdown—no one in, no one out.

The victim was a mysterious stranger who’d visited the bookshop. At the time, his only blunders had been disrupting a book club and leaving behind a first-edition Agatha Christie novel, written under a pseudonym. However, once revealed, the man’s identity shocks the town. Motives and secrets swirl like the snow, but when the police narrow in on the sisters’ close friends, the Christies have to act.

Although the only Agatha in their family tree is their cat, Ellie and Meg know a lot about mysteries and realize they must summon their inner Miss Marple to trek through a blizzard of clues before the killer turns the page to their final chapter.

My Thoughts

This is a fun, light mystery centered around a bookshop in Colorado, with a general theme of vintage crime novels. There are the usual quirky villagers, the plucky heroine and her sidekicks, and the requisite kitty cat.

All the cozy boxes are ticked, but what gets a recommendation from me are the capable writing, decent plotting, generally witty dialog (I especially loved Gram!) and the first round of character development in this series debut. This is one to watch.

Publication Date: November 1, 2022
Published By: Random House Publishing: Bantam & Ballantine
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy