Happy Pub Day to these authors!
Thank you Wednesday Books, Penguin Teen Canada, and Penguin Random House Canada for providing copies of these books!
What books are you most excited for this week?
Title: Starling House
Author: Alix E. Harrow
Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary, Gothic, Horror
Publisher: Tor Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: October 3, 2023
Rating: ★★★★
A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can’t stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.
Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland–and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.
Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.
As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.
If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.
In Eden, Kentucky, there is a strange house that belonged to Eleanor Starling, the author of The Underland who disappeared. Everyone in the town avoids the house, and it’s occupant, Arthur Starling, at all costs. Opal has lived in Eden for most of her life. She lives in a motel with her younger brother, who she wants to give the best life. Opal has always been drawn to Starling House, seeing it in her dreams and nightmares, so when Arthur offers her a job with a huge paycheck, she accepts. However, Starling House is more haunted than Opal expected. Opal and Arthur must battle the beasts in the house before their nightmares take over.
Eleanor Starling’s book The Underland was based on her life at Starling House. Since Opal loved that book, she got to live in her favourite story when she went to the house, which is a reader’s dream. I think the story would have had more tension if it was a little shorter. There were some long descriptions and drawn out scenes that could have been condensed. At the beginning of the story, there were footnotes that expanded on what was written in a funny way. I wished those footnotes continued to the end of the story because they were entertaining.
Starling House is a spooky, gothic novel.
Thank you Tor Books and Raincoast Books for providing a copy of this book!
Content warnings: death of parent, drowning, car accident
Have you read Starling House? What did you think of it?
Happy Pub Day to these authors!
Thank you Penguin Random House Canada and Algonquin Young Readers for sending me copies of these books!
What books are you most excited for this week?
Title: The Gifts That Bind Us (All Our Hidden Gifts #2)
Author: Caroline O’Donoghue
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary
Publisher: Walker Books US
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: June 7, 2022
Rating: ★★★★★
A spellbinding supernatural teen drama – and sequel to All Our Hidden Gifts.
Maeve and her friends have revealed their powers and banded together as a coven: Roe can pick locks, Lily sends sparks flying, Maeve can read minds and Fiona can heal any injury.
And even better than their newfound talents? Roe and Maeve are officially an item.
But with strange things happening at school, and old enemies appearing in new places, it soon becomes clear their powers are attracting all the wrong attention. It’s not long before Maeve’s gift start to wane, drained by someone – or something – that’s hiding even from her second sight…
The brilliant second installment in the Hidden Gifts series, with further titles to come.
The four friends in Kilbeg Ireland have magic powers that they use together to get stronger: Roe can pick locks, Fiona can heal any wound, Lily can create sparks, and Maeve can read minds. Roe and Maeve are officially dating too. However, their old enemies are still around. The Children of Brigid cult is infiltrating their school and trying to recruit girls to join. Aaron is still showing up wherever Maeve goes, and there is a new counselor in school who is eager to befriend Maeve. When their gifts begin to get weaker, the friends have to work together to figure out who or what is draining them.
This was a great second book in the series! It’s been a while since I read the first book, but the events in that one were referenced many times so I remembered what happened. The four friends came up against the extremist Christian cult Children of Brigid. Their beliefs directly attacked Roe’s queer identity. I liked how Roe was still figuring out his identity. So often teens in novels already know their identity or instantly know they’re queer, but two books into this series, Roe is still figuring it out like many kids and adults in the real world.
The Gifts That Bind Us is a great witchy novel!
Content warnings: homophobia, self-harm, parental abandonment
Have you read The Gifts That Bind Us? What did you think of it?
Title: Wrath Becomes Her
Author: Aden Polydoros
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: October 10, 2023
Rating: ★★★★★
Frankenstein meets Inglourious Basterds in this stunning Jewish historical horror novel from the award-winning author of The City Beautiful
Vera was made for vengeance.
Lithuania, 1943. A father drowns in the all-consuming grief of a daughter killed by the Nazis. He can’t bring Chaya back from the dead, but he can use kishuf — an ancient and profane magic — to create a golem in her image. A Nazi killer, to avenge her death.
When Vera awakens, she can feel her violent purpose thrumming within her. But she can also feel glimpses of a human life lived, of stolen kisses amidst the tragedy, and of a grisly death. And when she meets Akiva, she recognizes the boy with soft lips that gave warm kisses. But these memories aren’t hers, and Vera doesn’t know if she gets—or deserves —to have a life beyond what she was made for.
Vera’s strength feels limitless—until she learns that there are others who would channel kishuf for means far less noble than avenging a daughter’s death. As she confronts the very basest of humanity, Vera will need more than what her creator gave Not just a reason to fight, but a reason to live.
Lithuania, 1943: Ezra’s daughter, Chaya, was killed by Nazis. Since he couldn’t bring her back from the dead, he created a golem in her image to kill Nazis and avenge Chaya’s death. The golem, Vera, has many of Chaya’s memories, including the face of the man who killed her. Soon after Vera is created, their home is attacked and she is separated from Ezra. Vera meets Chaya’s old friend Akiva, and they go on a journey together to find Ezra and survive the war.
This story is a retelling of Frankenstein. It’s unfortunate that when this book was published, another war has just begun. There were many images in this story that reflected what has been on the news in the past couple of weeks. These may be triggering to some readers, but I felt like it was important to read, especially right now, to see a glimpse of what the people experiencing war are feeling. Though Vera was considered a “monster” because she wasn’t human, she learned humanity and realized that killing more people won’t bring back those that were lost.
Wrath Becomes Her is a powerful story.
Thank you Inkyard Press for providing a copy of this book.
Content warnings: war, death of child, death of parent, murder
Have you read Wrath Becomes Her? What did you think of it?
Title: The Little Books of the Little Brontës
Author: Sara O’Leary, Briony May Smith
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
Publisher: Tundra Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: January 10, 2023
Rating: ★★★★★
The inspiring true tale of young siblings who loved to make stories — and grew up to be among English literature’s finest writers. A picture book for fans of Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein.
Many years ago, the four motherless children of the Brontë family — Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne — lived in a windswept house by the moors with their father. Although their lives were often filled with sadness and their world was only as large as the distance they could walk, their INNER worlds were bound only by their imaginations. Hungry for stories, these children devoured novels and poetry, history and fables. And with the gift of a group of toy soldiers, they were inspired to make their own stories, and their own tiny books . . . a passion that would last them a lifetime.
A moving and atmospheric story about the power of imagination, the joy of storytelling and the love of books, The Little Books of the Little Brontës will enchant both those who love these literary sisters and those who are learning about them for the first time. Includes an author’s note, timeline of the Brontës’ lives and a fun craft with instructions on creating your own little book.
In 1820s England, Charlotte Brontë made a miniature book for her younger sister Anne. The three Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, along with their brother Branwell, love to tell stories. They had tragic childhoods, losing their mother and older sisters suddenly, but they find joy through storytelling. They grew up to become artists and storytellers.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë are two of my favourite classic novels. They’re both tragic love stories, which makes sense after hearing about the tragedy the authors experienced in their young lives. However, this picture book doesn’t delve into that too much. This story shows the Brontë siblings as playful children, making up stories with the toys and writing mini books. There were even instructions at the back for how to make your own mini book, which I would have loved doing as a kid!
The Little Book of Little Brontës is a great children’s book for kids who love to read!
Thank you Tundra Books for providing a digital copy of this book!
Have you read The Little Books of the Little Brontës? What did you think of it?
Happy Pub Day to these authors!
Thank you Tundra Books, Mad Cave Studios, Penguin Teen Canada, and Dundurn Press for providing copies of these books!
What books are you most excited for this week?
Title: House of Ash and Bone
Author: Joel A. Sutherland
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Horror
Publisher: Tundra Books
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback arc
Release Date: September 5, 2023
Rating: ★★★★★
The Haunted meets House of Salt and Sorrows in this young adult debut horror by acclaimed Canadian master of the macabre Joel A. Sutherland.
Seventeen-year-old Josephine Jagger is a talented writer with special abilities she doesn’t fully understand. Over the years she has developed methods to cope with the voices she hears in her head, but the old house her family has inherited in Vermont makes Josephine question what’s real and what’s not more than anything she’s ever encountered before. It’s filled with shadows, and whispers, and the unshakable feeling of being watched. Josephine then catches her first glimpse of a shadowy woman with long hair, pale skin, an impossibly wide smile and hollow pits for eyes. Her name is Dorcas, the ghost of a witch who died three hundred years ago. She has summoned the family to Vermont to ensnare them — then consume them — in order to rise from the grave and live again . . .
Seventeen-year-old Josephine Jagger has always had to find methods to cope with the voices she can hear in her head. She wears headphones to block out the thoughts of her parents and sisters. When her father suddenly inherits a mansion in Vermont, the family goes there for a weeklong vacation after Christmas. The house is filled with everything her family needs and loves. However, Josephine catches sight of a shadow woman with a creepy smile and hollow pits for eyes. No one else can see the woman and her family keeps forgetting the strange things that happen in the house. The woman needs to trap Josephine’s family in the house to feed herself, unless Josephine can defeat her first.
It’s been years since I read a book that was so scary I couldn’t read it before sleeping at night, but this was one of those books. It was creepy and disturbing. Sometimes a good horror book can fizzle out at the end and not have a complete ending. This story had a satisfying ending that also left the possibility for a sequel.
House of Ash and Bone is a creepy YA horror!
Thank you Tundra Books and Penguin Teen Canada for providing a copy of this book!
Content warnings: body horror, death
Have you read House of Ash and Bone? What did you think of it?
Title: Confetti Realms
Author: Nadia Shammas, Karnessa
Genre: Graphic Novel, Contemporary, Fantasy
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: October 17, 2023
Rating: ★★★★
A group of teens are transported from a graveyard to another realm where they must collect teeth— and learn about themselves— in order to return home.
On Halloween night, when the moon is full, teenagers get up to mischief. But when an encounter with a giant, sentient puppet in a graveyard sends five teens to a mysterious dimension called the Confetti Realms, they must overcome obstacles in their own friendships–and collect the debted teeth owed to the puppet–in order to make their way home. But the allure of staying in a fantasy world is a hard one to beat, and going home to their normal lives is starting to sound less and less appealing for some. Will these friends return home?
Featuring a diverse cast of characters, this Tim Burton-esque, comedic, modern, and high-energy story is written by Eisner Award-winner Nadia Shammas, with art by Karnessa and colors by Hackto Oshiro.
On Halloween night, a group of four teens decide to explore a graveyard. They come across a mausoleum which has a giant puppet inside. He comes to life and sends them to another dimension called the Confetti Realms. He gives them the task of finding him five teeth from various creatures throughout the realm. If they find them all before that night, he will send them back home. However, as the night goes on, each of the friends realize that if they stay in the confetti realm, they won’t have to face their problems at home, so they must decide if they will stay or go back.
This story had lots of queer representation. It had a spooky atmosphere which is perfect for this time of year! The creatures they encountered were fun and entertaining. I laughed a few times while reading this graphic novel. I would have liked the ending to be less open ended because I like the closure of knowing exactly what happened.
Confetti Realms is a great Halloween graphic novel!
Thank you Mad Cave Studios for providing a copy of this book!
Content warnings: seizure (mention), panic attack (mention), homophobia (mention)
Have you read Confetti Realms? What did you think of it?
Title: In Myrtle Peril (Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries #4)
Author: Elizabeth C. Bunce
Genre: Middle Grade, Mystery, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Source: Thomas Allen and Son
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: October 4, 2022
Rating: ★★★★★
Myrtle Hardcastle—twelve-year-old Victorian Amateur Detective—returns to investigate the case of a missing heiress lost at sea, an inquiry that runs aground when a murder in plain sight has no apparent victim.
When a mysterious girl attempts to stake her claim to the Snowcroft family fortune, Myrtle Hardcastle’s father, a lawyer, is asked to help prove—or disprove—the girl’s identity. Is this truly Ethel Snowcroft, believed to be lost at sea with her parents, or a con artist chasing a windfall? Mr. Hardcastle’s pursuit of the case takes a detour when he’s hospitalized for a tonsillectomy—only to witness a murder. Or does he? With no body at the scene, Myrtle and her governess, Miss Judson, fear the so-called murder was a feverish delusion—until a critical piece of evidence appears.
But where’s the victim? And who at the hospital could be harboring murderous intent? Myrtle is determined to find out before the killer comes after her father.
With stakes this high, her sleuthing has put Myrtle, her family, and the patients and staff at the Royal Swinburne Hospital In Myrtle Peril.
A mysterious girl arrives in Swinburne to try to claim she’s the heir to the Snowcroft fortune. Myrtle’s father, Mr. Hardcastle, is hired to help prove this girl’s identity. The girl, who claims to be Ethel Snowcroft, was lost at sea with her parents as a young child, but apparently she somehow survived. Meanwhile, Mr. Hardcastle is hospitalized with severe tonsillitis. While under the influence of pain medication, he claims to have seen a murder. Myrtle and her governess, Miss Judson, are the only people who believe him, so they must conduct their own investigation in the hospital, while also trying to prove Ethel’s identity.
This is another great Myrtle Hardcastle mystery! I loved the complexity of the mystery. Though the case of the girl who was claiming the fortune and the murder in the hospital seemed like two separate mysteries, they were connected. They were cleverly woven together and everything was explained in a way that made sense in the end. I really enjoyed this middle grade mystery!
In Myrtle Peril is a great mystery!
Thank you Thomas Allen and Son for providing a copy of this book!
Content warnings: murder, carbon monoxide poisoning, death of parent, hospital visits, drowning, attempted suicide
Have you read In Myrtle Peril? What did you think of it?
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