I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shea

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Bonnier Books UK in exchange for an honest review.

What would you give to accomplish your dream?

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me is the story of Laure, a black ballet dancer struggling to establish herself in Paris despite being the best dancer at her school. Tired of always having to do more, her life is changed forever when a fellow dancer brings her to a god and she decides to strike a bargain. Finally, she will get the recognition she deserves...but at what cost?

This book had so much going for it that I loved. Firstly, it's a horror story about ballet which I am obsessed with. Secondly, the protagonist really is one of the best YA protagonists I've read about in a while. Laure is painfully three-dimensional, so real she could dance off the page and demand why I am not doing more. Thirdly, the whole plot felt very unique to me. I don't read a lot of 'strike a deal' horror books but I think even if I had, this one is still incredibly unique.

Unfortunately, this book had two main flaws and they stopped me enjoying it as much as I did at the start. It is just too long in my opinion or at least, there is too much of the book where nothing is really going on. The beginning was so tight and so intriguing and then it slows to a bit of a halt, only briefly picking up speed again throughout. Related to this, I also found parts of the book to be a little confusing. I struggled a bit to keep track of where characters were or what was happening to them. Laure's parents are a good example of this. She kept on reinforcing this idea that her father had abandoned her and been a terrible parent, but then he kept cropping up and it wasn't entirely clear to me what he had done that was so awful. There are quite a few plot points like this and it didn't help when combined with the pacing.

Having said that, this book is still well worth the read. So many elements are strong and compared to other YA works, it stands out by a mile. I am very excited to see what this author does next as I believe they will only get stronger the more they write, and I hope to be seeing many more books from them in the future. This is a powerful voice and something horror desperately needs more of

Overall Rating:

.5

Suddenly a Murder by Lauren Muñoz

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Bonnier Books UK in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book a lot better when it was called Knives Out.

Perhaps that is a bit unfair but I can't help but feel the movie's influence throughout the whole of this book, and not in a good way. Young female protagonist who seems undoubtedly guilty early on? Check. Determined sleuth who teams up with said young protagonist to add stress to their situation? Check. Heck, the other detective in the audiobook even has the same accent as Daniel Craig! It was very distracting.

Despite all this, the main reason I have an issue with this book has nothing to do with Knives Out and everything to do with the fact it doesn't play fair. From the very start of the murder, we are told the main character goes into the room of the victim with a knife. We are not told what she does in that room. She then talks mysteriously about her 'secret' for the rest of the book. The clear implication is that she has killed him, and yet (despite being the POV character) she never actually says those words so it is painfully obvious that we are being misled. I don't like this and it left a sour taste in my mouth, particularly because without this subterfuge I think it becomes incredibly obvious who is the real killer.

There are some strengths of this book. I liked the characters well-enough. They were a bit more fleshed out than your typical YA thriller/mystery, and while I found the love interest to be the blandest, I liked reading about everyone else. The detective is pretty good and I feel like the book would have been stronger written from her POV, not the least bit because it would solve the POV issue from above. There is one genuine twist which was clever and surprised me, although admittedly that's because I was actually expecting the book to go for a darker option.

Overall, I would say I love the writing style of this book but the elements themselves didn't work for me. If this author releases another book, I would definitely give it a try for the aforementioned strengths mentioned. I just wish this book was a little more original and a little less unfair with its mystery

Overall Rating:

Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HQ in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good cosy mystery and this is a great example of one!

Death Comes to Marlow is the second book in the Marlow Mystery Club series, a vaguely crossword-themed cosy mystery series focused around an elderly woman named Judith and her two friends. On the day before Sir Peter's wedding, Judith is asked to come investigate and things soon take a dark turn when he is crushed by a wardrobe. The police are convinced it was an accident but Judith isn't so sure, and she's determined to find out the truth.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. I'm not a huge fan of cosy mysteries as a rule, but occasionally I do like to read one as they do a better job of capturing the tone of older murder mysteries than the modern thriller. This book is a great example of how to do the formula right. The characters are likeable and intriguing, the set pieces are lovely and picturesque and the plot is engaging enough. I particularly liked the heart this book has. The ending is very strong and it was lovely to get those periodic moments of seeing the characters just unwind or do 'cosy' things.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this book if you're a fan of the genre. It was a lot of fun and I am excited for the next one!

Overall Rating:

The Watchers by A.M. Shine

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK Audio in exchange for an honest review.

The best kind of horror is thought-provoking, and The Watchers is definitely that. One day and one wrong turn in a forest later, and Mina finds herself trapped with a few other humans, at the mercy of some mysterious creatures.

This book reminded me strongly of Bird Box, mostly in tone and themes rather than content. As I write this review it has been several months since I read this book and I can still vividly remember the characters and events, something which is quite impressive given the amount of books I read. That this book left such an impression on me is not to be ignored, and I think that it's because of the strong themes and atmospheric writing throughout.

My main criticism of this book is that it's a little long. The plot is interesting and goes places I definitely didn't expect it to, but in-between all that is a little bit too much stuff. It doesn't ruin the book by any means but I think it could have been punchier and the pace might have been stronger for it.

Overall, I definitely recommend checking this book out if you're a fan of horror centred around the human experience and survival situations. This is a book driven by themes and how characters respond to the situation they're in, and for that reason I enjoyed it immensely. The plot goes in a direction I didn't expect and it also has plenty of 'horror' moments to keep readers happy

Overall Rating:

The Launch Party by Lauren Forry

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Bonnier Books UK in exchange for an honest review.

A murder mystery set on the moon sounds like exactly my cup of tea, so I was very excited when I got approved for this book. The Launch Party is about what happens when you take a bunch of people into space, abandon them in a luxury moon hotel and then one of them is murdered. It is an interesting blend of a traditional murder mystery with a modern sci-fi twist, although I was hoping for a little more of the former than this delivers.

I'm not sure quite what it was about this book that meant I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped. I think it is partially that the murder mystery elements are not as strong as they could be. For logistic reasons, the cast are left abandoned in space as soon as they arrive but this introduces an additional 'survival' element and immediately implies there is something going on.

The interaction between characters is also a little limited, albeit only a little. I did get a strong sense of each character but mostly through second-hand observations or from the POV narratives, not through actions or interactions. It took me a while to get my head around who everyone was and get a sense of who they were, which again weakens the mystery aspect a little.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read but it definitely lost some steam for me about halfway through. Perhaps with faster pacing or more defined characters, it would have kept my attention more. Having said that, it's an enjoyable concept and worth picking up if you like murder mysteries with a conceptual twist

Overall Rating:

.5

Down with this Ship by Katie Kingman

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Flux in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this but unfortunately, I just couldn't get into the story. Down with the Ship is the story of Kole, a girl who enjoys writing romantic fanfic for a popular sci-fi TV show. Her fic wins a prize online and she is thrust into the limelight, having to deal with haters and her fellow pupils finding out she writes it.

I think this book was just a bit too...simple? I couldn't really get into the story or characters, even 50% of the way through. Kole has two love interests; the hot guy who just moved in next door who she has nothing in common with, and the snarky guy who admires her work and her mind. Whoever will she pick?

I stopped when there was a classic 'bully blackmails Kole into being his date' because, even though it was not because he likes her, I did not want to read that scene or any of the ensuing drama. I did read the last chapter and it seems everything got tied up perfectly, which just kind of confirmed my concerns. 

I think if you're on the younger side of YA, then there's probably a lot to be enjoyed here. The issue is YA has become a catch-all label so I would typically expect something a bit more involved. But I liked the idea of the premise and I don't want to fault a book too harshly for not conforming to my expectations

Overall Rating:

NR

His & Hers by Alice Feeney

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review.

His & Hers is the story of two exes and their respective involvement in a murder investigation as a reporter and a police officer. When Anna's ex-friend and Jack's current lover Rachel is found murdered in a car, it becomes the start of a murder spree focused around people from their past. As they both try to figure out what's going on, trust begins to wane on both sides and neither knows exactly who to trust.

This was an enjoyable thriller, albeit one which suffers a little from its own simplicity in plot. Due to the author and general blurb, I was expecting a twist going in and so I spent a lot of the time trying to work out what it was instead of focusing on the story being told. The story itself is a decent one but if you're used to other works by the author, you might be disappointed by the relative 'straight-forwardness' of the thriller element. It is engaging and surprising, but doesn't have a huge trick like some of the other works.

As an audiobook, this mostly worked well but there was some confusion in the voices. There are two narrators for Anna and Jack, and then additional sections narrated by the killer. Presumably to prevent it being obvious who is the killer, they are alternatively narrated by Anna and Jack's voice actors using a distortion technique, but this only serves as a distraction. I do wish they'd just gotten in a third voice actor rather than swapping between them, as again it just primes you for a twist at best and is distracting at worst. I found myself just ignoring these sections mostly as they weren't particularly insightful or interesting.

Overall, this was an enjoyable enough listen. The narrators did a great job with the material and the story is interesting enough to keep your attention. If you go in expecting a typical (well-written) thriller, then you're in for a good time

Overall Rating:

This Little Family by Ines Bayard

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher 4th Estate in exchange for an honest review.

Occasionally you read a book that will haunt you forever. This is one of those books.

This Little Family is not really the book I expected going in and I think the blurb is actually fairly misleading. This is not really a psychological thriller or horror, except in the sense of it being a real-life horror. This is the story of Marie, a poor woman who is raped by her boss and then through a series of circumstances, forced to give birth to the child. She then goes through some of the worst postpartum depression I've ever read about, all depicted and described in heart-breaking detail.

This is not the kind of book someone 'enjoys' but I absolutely could not put it down. The writing is superb and there is a kind of car-crash fascination with the constant barrage of bad luck and psychological trauma Marie goes through. I kept reading hoping something would work out better for her, knowing from the prologue that it wouldn't. At the same time, this book is incredibly honest and sensitive in the way it portrays Marie (in my opinion at least). Nothing is gratuitous or unnecessary, and it all feels like a very real portrayal of someone's pain.

If you're looking for a reading experience that might profoundly change you as a person or a deep exploration of a truly awful situation, then this is the book for you. If you want a typical thriller with twists and turns and psychological tension, then ignore the marketing. Thankfully this book ended up appealing to me anyway, far more than most thrillers can, but I do wonder how many people will be mislead and unfairly rate the book due to the poor choice of marketing. It really does deserve better

Overall Rating:

The Halloween Store by Ronald Kelly

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Crossroad Press in exchange for an honest review.

This is a really fun short story collection that is perfect to read around Halloween time! There's a lot of traditional Halloweeny stuff to be found here, although a few stories get more creative with the concept which I appreciated. I was a particular fan of the second short story Blood Suede Shoes as I wasn't fully sure where it was going to go. I also really liked Pretty Little Lanterns as, though a little outlandish, it had fantastic execution and spooky imagery.

Overall, this is a short but sweet collection that is perfect for getting into the Halloween spirit. I recommend checking it out if you want a fun seasonal read

Overall Rating:

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Titan Books in exchange for an honest review.

Did I ever think I would be reading a serious horror book by Chuck Tingle? Absolutely not! But I am so glad I did.

Camp Damascus tells the tale of Rose Darling, a 20 year old woman who is happily living a very Christian life in her very Christian community. Everything seems idyllic until one day, her male best friend tries to kiss her. Shortly after, she throws up an astonishing amount of flies and her life takes a demonic spiral from there.

This book is a little different than the kind of horror I normally read, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It has good queer rep (in my queer opinion), it has some really memorable characters and addresses an important modern issue through a horror lens (mainly, conversion camps). I was particularly impressed by how 'real' the characters felt. This book does a good job of capturing the complexity of having a shitty family whilst absolutely making no excuses for them.

My only issue with this book is it felt a little linear? Not every book has to have twists or surprises even, but it felt reasonably obvious what was going on quite early into the book and the story didn't evolve much from that point. I still enjoyed it a lot because of the characters but the horror aspect was lost to me due to the predictability, which was a bit of a shame.

Overall if you can handle the subject material, I would definitely give this book a try. It's definitely not a book that I will forget for a while, and I look forward to more serious work by this author given the standard of the character writing

Overall Rating:

.5

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK Children's in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this book.

Plain Bad Heroines is two stories in one, one set in the past and one set in the present. In the past, we learn about the tragic and spooky histories of two lesbian women as they navigate life and supernatural wasps. In the present, we follow three teenagers involved in making a movie about a tragedy which happened at the school the women in the past ran. I feel like both these stories had potential but neither one ended up being particularly interesting.

The main issue I had with this book was the pacing. It is long and more importantly, it is longer than it feels like it should be. If this was shorter and snappier then a lot of my other issues would be sorted. It is difficult to keep track of what is happening in the past because you get long segments about it and then nothing for ages, so by the time you revisit it you're no longer sure what was going on. Meanwhile, nothing is going on in the present at all and yet we still spend hundreds of pages dwelling on that nothing. It fits thematically and the three girls are interesting enough, but because we spend so much time with them, I just found myself tuning out until the book returned to the past segments.

There were parts of this book I really enjoyed. There's a spooky scene with the wasps and a bathtub and lots of good stuff, but that's one of the only spooky scenes in the whole book. I like the idea in theory of what is happening in the present (haunted set, horror movie legend of a mother, queer stuff) but it doesn't feel like it is happening. And I did like the style of narration, again with the caveat that I would have liked it a lot more if it was more concise and didn't have time to get on my nerves.

I also got an ARC of the audiobook so I listened to that, which didn't help with the pacing but did improve my enjoyment of the narrative style and helped me keep track of the characters a little better. I do recommend the audiobook, although again the length is off-putting as most people listen slower than they read.

Overall, I sadly can't recommend this book. It had such potential but it quickly became a drag, and the moments I liked weren't enough to make the whole experience worth it. A perfect case of 'needed a good edit' and it might have been perfect.

Overall Rating:

Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Penguin Random House UK Children's in exchange for an honest review.

It has been a hot minute since I fell so completely in love with a book the way I did with this one.

Their Vicious Games is the story of Adina, a young black woman who has had her future snatched away after an unfortunate incident with a fellow classmate and ex-friend. Desperate to reclaim her spot at Yale, she persuades the richest guy at her school to let her join a prestigious competition that happens yearly to help propel the winner into their ideal future. What she doesn't know is that this year is a particularly special year for the competition, and things are far more deadly and intense than she expected...

This book has a fantastic premise. It is essentially The Bachelor meets Hunger Games in all the best ways. Unlike some YA thriller/horrors, it does not shy away from the dark stuff and I adore it for that. This kind of plot deserves real stakes and horrible deaths, and this book provides buckets of both.

Many YA books have a message but this one is woven so solidly through every detail of the book that is really is executed impossibly well. Every character is deliciously complex, with even those who aren't around for very long feeling like they could be real people. This in turn provides the heart which really propels the message of the book. This is 'rich people suck' done right and, despite the fictional extremities, it reflects the real world chillingly well.

Overall, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It really is the best YA thriller I've read in a long time by quite a large amount (and might be the best one I've ever read tbh) and I genuinely could not put it down. I am so excited to see what this author does next and I hope this book gets the praise and attention it deserves

Overall Rating: