Review | Aisle Nine by Ian X. Cho

October 29, 2024October 29, 2024 DeAnneLeave a comment

“It’s Black Friday—and the apocalypse is on sale!

Ever since the world filled with portals to hell and bloodthirsty demons started popping out on the reg, Jasper’s life has gotten worse and worse. A teenage nobody with no friends or family, he is plagued by the life he can’t remember and the person he’s sure he’s supposed to be.

Jasper spends his days working as a checkout clerk at the Here For You discount mart, where a hell portal in aisle nine means danger every shift. But at least here he can be near the girl he’s crushing on—Kyle Kuan, a junior member of the monster-fighting Vanguard—who seems to hate Jasper for reasons he can’t remember or understand.

But when Jasper and Kyle learn they both share a frightening vision of the impending apocalypse, they’re forced to team up and uncover the uncomfortable truth about the hell portals and the demons that haunt the world. Because the true monsters are not always what they seem, the past is not always what we wish, and like it or not, on Black Friday, all hell will break loose in aisle nine.

Perfect for fans of Grasshopper Jungle or The Last of Us comes Aisle Nine, the debut young adult novel from rising YA star lan X. Cho.

I did really enjoy the humor woven into this story, very dark at points, but I found myself wishing for more of it. The beginning especially was packed with humor, but as the story went on it seemed to fade a little bit and I wanted it to be more consistent throughout the story. That being said I really enjoyed the near-apocalypse world that was created and the stab at apocolypse+retail and can appreciate the blend the author was going for. Some elements were predictable, but I liked the effort that went into worldbuilding and character development, those were definitely well done. I did want more from it, but it was still a fun read.

Happy reading!

Review | Desert Echoes by Abdi Nazemian

October 24, 2024 DeAnneLeave a comment

From Abdi Nazemian, the award-winning author of Like a Love Story and Only This Beautiful Moment, comes a suspenseful contemporary YA novel about loss and love.

Fifteen-year-old Kam is head over heels for Ash, the boy who swept him off his feet. But his family and best friend, Bodie, are worried. Something seems off about Ash. He also has a habit of disappearing, at times for days. When Ash asks Kam to join him on a trip to Joshua Tree, the two of them walk off into the sunset . . . but only Kam returns.

Two years later, Kam is still left with a hole in his heart and too many unanswered questions. So it feels like fate when a school trip takes him back to Joshua Tree. On the trip, Kam wants to find closure about what happened to Ash but instead finds himself in danger of facing a similar fate. In the desert, Kam must reckon with the truth of his past relationship—and the possibility of opening himself up to love once again.

Desert Echoes is a propulsive, moving story about human resilience and connection.

From the description I could tell there were going to be some heavy topics in this book, but I was not expecting it to have the depth that it did. There are so many complex themes packed into this book, from experiencing and getting over your first love to loneliness and loss. There are a lot of important conversations happening here and the dual timelines really make it more impactful as you find out just what happened in the then timeline and how it has impacted the now timeline. It was really a beautiful story that will definitely tug at your heart once things are fully revealed.

Happy reading!

Review | Ghost Camera by Darcy Coates

October 9, 2024 DeAnneLeave a comment

When Jenine finds an abandoned polaroid camera, she playfully snaps a photo without a second thought. But there’s something wrong with the image: a ghostly figure stands in the background, watching her.

Fixated on her.

Moving one step closer with every picture she takes.

Desperate, Jenine shares her secret with her best friend, Bree. Together they realize the camera captures unsettling impressions of the dead. But now the ghosts seem to be following the two friends. And with each new photo taken, a terrible danger grows ever clearer…

INCLUDES CHILLING NEW BONUS STORIES:

*A woman survives a plane crash in a remote arctic tundra, accompanied only by a stranger who seems fixated on something moving through the blinding snow.

A house stands empty. Hungry. Waiting for the children drawn to it like moths to a flame.

*A woman finds a shoebox filled with old VHS tapes. They have a note attached: “Don’t watch. You’ll regret it.”

*And more!

I’ve enjoyed other works by Darcy Coates in the past so I was excited to get the chance to pick this one up and I was not disappointed. There was a really good mix of stories in this collection, ranging from pretty short and sweet to similar to a novella length. They were not all ghost stories but had a great range of different types of supernatural events and creatures, which I found I really enjoyed. It’s a toss up what my favorite story was, between the first and last stories, but there weren’t any that I disliked. Coates’ writing is easy to consume and definitely at points of high tension does a really good job of holding the attention and keeping the pages turning. They are an auto buy author for me already and each book I read just further cements that.

Happy reading!

Blog Tour | The Midnight Club by Margot Harrison | Review

September 27, 2024 DeAnneLeave a comment

It’s been twenty-five years since The Midnight Club last convened. A tight-knit group of college friends bonded by late nights at the campus literary magazine, they’re also bonded by something darker: the death of their brilliant friend Jennet junior year. But now, decades later, a mysterious invitation has pulled them back to the pine-shrouded Vermont town where it all began.

As the estranged friends gather for a weeklong campus reunion, they soon learn that their host has an ulterior motive: she wants them to uncover the truth about the night Jennet died, and she’s provided them with an extraordinary method—a secret substance that helps them not only remember but relive the past.

But each one of the friends has something to hide. And the more they question each other, the deeper they dive into their own memories, the more they understand that nothing they thought they knew about their college years, and that fateful night, is true.

Twisty, nostalgic, and emotionally thrilling, The Midnight Club explores that innate desire to revisit our first loves, our biggest mistakes, and the gulf between who we are and who we hoped we’d be.

Buy Links | HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org

This sounded like an intriguing story from the get go, but I was still surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I found it to be a read that was easy to consume and moved along very quickly. I couldn’t help but think of concepts like Flatliners when reading this, but the concept itself was still unique in its own way. It was definitely a fun ride, and a good read for spooky season. It definitely makes you think, but was a really fun experience overall.

Happy reading!

Review | Necessary Poisons by Andrea Blythe

September 24, 2024 DeAnneLeave a comment

“The world is automatic

in the courses of its living. Time

keeps the living and the dead

in its pocket…”

A woman troubled by her place in the dark manuscript of her life rediscovers her strength and power in this collection of wicked poems. Poison, plants, bloodshed, and the supernatural collide as Blythe weaves a haunting series of horror poems not for the faint of heart.

Found poetry can be a bit hit or miss for me, it’s not always something I enjoy, but I thought the premise of this collection was good. The imagery in the poems was top notch, but at times almost a little too much. That being said, it didn’t take away from the overall journey of the poetry and the themes were consistent across the collection which made it a quick, enjoyable read.

Happy reading!

Review | A Misfortune of Lake Monsters by Nicole M. Wolverton

September 22, 2024 DeAnneLeave a comment

When legends bite back…

Lemon Ziegler wants to escape rural Devil’s Elbow, Pennsylvania to attend college―but that’s impossible now that she’s expected to impersonate the town’s lake monster for the rest of her life. Her family has been secretly keeping the tradition of Old Lucy, the famed (and very fake) monster of Lake Lokakoma, alive for generations, all to keep the tourists coming. Without Lemon, the town dies, and she can’t disappoint her grandparents . . . or tell her best friends about any of it. That includes Troy Ramirez, who has been covertly in love with Lemon for years, afraid to ruin their friendship by confessing his feelings.

When a very real, and very hungry monster is discovered in the lake, secrets must fall by the wayside. Determined to stop the monster, Lemon and her best friends are the only thing standing between Devil’s Elbow and the monster out for blood.

This book was a wild ride. On the surface it seemed like a fun lake monster story, following a trio of teenagers – Lemon, Troy and Darrin – in a town where the claim to fame (and tourism) is a lake monster akin to Nessie or Champ. I really enjoyed that we get a dual POV between Lemon (our main character who has to shoulder a lot of family responsibility) and Troy (one of her best friends who is in love with her). Just when I thought I knew where this story was going it got a lot more twisty and out there. Lemon herself deals with a lot of resentment towards the responsibilities she has to shoulder as well as pressure from her family that results in her feeling like she has to give up all of her aspirations. There are definitely characters I had instant dislike for, her grandfather for example, who had a his way or the highway kind of thinking, but even he had a lot of character growth in the story. Overall this was a thoroughly enjoyable story that had a lot more depth than I expected when it came to the characters.

Happy reading!

Blog Tour | The Ghost Cat by Alex Howard | Review

August 30, 2024 DeAnneLeave a comment

For fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and How to Stop Time, a charming novel by TikTok sensation Alex Howard that follows a cat through his nine lives in Edinburgh, moving through the ever-changing city and its inhabitants over centuries.

Early morning, 1902. In a gloomy Edinburgh tenement, Eilidh the charlady tips coal into a fire grate and sets it alight. Overhearing, a cat ambles over to curl up against the welcome heat.

This is to be the cat’s last day on earth. But he is going to return… as The Ghost Cat, a spirit-feline destined to live out his ghostly existence according to the medieval proverb of “The Cat with Nine Lives” – For Three He Plays, For Three He Strays, For Three He Stays.

Follow The Ghost Cat as he witnesses the changes of the next two centuries as he purrs, shuffles and sniffs his way through the fashion, politics and technological advances of the modern era alongside the ever-changing inhabitants of an Edinburgh tenement.

As we follow our new spirit-feline friend, this unique story unearths some startling revelations about the mystery of existence and the human condition and provides a feel-good read full of charm for any fan of history, humour and fur-ridden fun.

Buy Links | HarperCollins | Bookshop | Barnes and Noble | Amazon

I was initially drawn to this book because it’s being compared to Before the Coffee Gets Cold and while I can see why that comparison is being made, I will say that the books have completely different feelings to them. They can definitely be compared in that they feature a number of connected vignettes being Grimalkin’s 9 lives. I found this book to be utterly charming and cozy as Grimalkin makes his way through his lives while being a ghost cat. Though we could have used more detail and depth to each life, they were filled with intriguing personalities that I would have loved to see more of. It’s understandable as everything is told through Grimalkin’s eyes and voice, but the different humans he encounters could have built out with more depth.

Happy reading!

Review | Lavender Clouds by Bex Ollerton

July 29, 2024July 29, 2024 DeAnneLeave a comment

Lavender Clouds is a collection of autobiographical comics about mental health, neurodiversity and feelings!

Lavender Clouds is a collection of short comics centered on anxiety, depression, neurodivergence and more. I can honestly say it was refreshing that during a lot of this book I was feeling reassured that I’m not the only one who feels the things described in the comics, but also it was quite a shock that everything fit so well. If you deal with any of the issues listed, or anything adjacent to them then this collection will likely speak to you. The comics perfectly capture some of the struggles of anxiety and other conditions and so much of the internal dialogue or struggle. It’s great to be seen and I’m so glad to see more books coming out talking about things like anxiety and neurodivergence.

Happy reading!

Review | Asking for a Friend by Kara H.L. Chen

July 28, 2024July 28, 2024 DeAnneLeave a comment

This charming YA rom-com follows a strong-willed, ambitious teen as she teams up with her childhood frenemy to start a dating-advice column, perfect for fans of Emma Lord and Gloria Chao.

Juliana Zhao is absolutely certain of a few things:

1. She is the world’s foremost expert on love.

2. She is going to win the nationally renowned Asian Americans in Business Competition.

When Juliana is unceremoniously dropped by her partner and she’s forced to pair with her nonconformist and annoying frenemy, Garrett Tsai, everything seems less clear. Their joint dating advice column must be good enough to win and secure bragging rights within her small Taiwanese American community, where her family’s reputation has been in the pits since her older sister was disowned a few years prior. Juliana always thought prestige mattered above all else. But as she argues with Garrett over how to best solve everyone else’s love problems and faces failure for the first time, she starts to see fractures in this privileged, sheltered worldview. With the competition heating up, Juliana must reckon with the sacrifices she’s made to be a perfect daughter—and whether winning is something she even wants anymore.

I did not expect this story to go as deep as it did, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. There’s a lot of exploration not only in the enemies to lovers dynamic, but also there’s a deep dive into family dynamics and relationships and how those can shape a person. I really felt for Juliana as she went through her journey in this book, not only navigating her relationships, but also her internal struggles, grief and more. What I thought was going to be a lighter read definitely much more than that. I really enjoyed Juliana as a character and her counter in Garrett is great throughout the story. All in all it was a really great read and had far more depth and heart than I had initially thought it would.

Happy reading!

Review | Cryptids, Creatures & Critters by Rachel Quinney

July 25, 2024 DeAnneLeave a comment

From Mothman to the Mongolian Death Worm, Shellycoat to Simurgh, Nessie to even Ningyo, this charming and creative collection of cryptids will fascinate readers for years to come.

Cryptids, Creatures & A Manual of Monsters and Mythos from Around the World features 90 different creatures from around the world, each with their own researched description and full-color illustrations. The book is divided into three cryptids, folklore, and mythology. It features popular cryptid favorites, such as Mothman and the Flatwoods Monster, and some lesser-known cryptids, such as the Enfield Horror and the Montauk Monster. For folklore, there are kelpies, selkies, cat sidhes, and grimalkins, along with the dobarchu and the vampiric pumpkin! In mythology, you’ll find Medusa, sphinx, Pegasus, and the bukavac!

The book is fun for newcomers to cryptozoology, folklore, and mythology but is also fun for those who are well read about the creatures in the book. While written by Rachel Quinney and mainly illustrated by her, there are twelve guest artists featured within the book, too.

As a lover of all things folklore/mythology/legend, I was excited to see a book specifically featuring creatures like cryptids. This was a really fun collection with a lot of background information for each entity featured, plus vibrant art to illustrate how each creature is believed to look (in some cases a few different ways). I did wish that there was more because I know there were some parts of the world/cultures that were not touched on, but understand that only so much could be featured in this book. I would love to see more in a similar vein from this author as the writing style flowed well and was succinct while also full of great information.

Happy reading!