It's 1970 and Neva is 15 years old and pregnant. Her father has brought her to another state to live at Wellwood House, a home for unwed mothers. She'It's 1970 and Neva is 15 years old and pregnant. Her father has brought her to another state to live at Wellwood House, a home for unwed mothers. She's promised that after her pregnancy has ended, she can go home like nothing ever happened. The baby will be adopted by a good family and she will go back to being a teenager. At Wellwood House, each girl is given a new name to protect their reputations, so Neva becomes Fern and makes new friends in Rose, Holly, and Zinnia. But as their pregnancies progress, they begin to question what they really want, and when the librarian who works on the bookmobile that visits the home gives Fern a copy of "How to Be a Groovy Witch," they feel like they finally have some agency in their lives. Of course, nothing comes without a price, and there are no easy escapes in a world where women bear the literal burden of premarital sex and men continue to live their lives.
A pre-Rowe story that packs an especially hard punch in our post-Rowe world.
Thank you Berkley Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own....more
In alternating storylines, we meet Dom, a young woman exploring the wreckage of a mysterious ship, and Nicky, who over 100 years before was a captive In alternating storylines, we meet Dom, a young woman exploring the wreckage of a mysterious ship, and Nicky, who over 100 years before was a captive on the same ship. Nicky's trauma seems connected to tragedy associated with the people and places touched by the ship--a research group who had repurposed the ship in the 1970s disappear, a Icelandic village is abandoned. Now Dom find herself haunted by a mysterious woman and terrifying nightmares.
The arctic setting of Dom's explorations and life aboard a whaling ship at the turn of the twentieth century are fully imagined pulling the reader into the story. While the big reveals may not be earth shattering, the overall story is gripping as much for being a ghost story as for its meditation on trauma.
Thank you Berkley Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own....more
When Noemi, an Indigenous Louisianan, learns her long-time boyfriend has been killed in a mysterious accident, she struggles to figure out why. Her esWhen Noemi, an Indigenous Louisianan, learns her long-time boyfriend has been killed in a mysterious accident, she struggles to figure out why. Her estranged uncle has returned to the reservation for the annual powwow and he may have answers. Decades before, when Noemi was just a toddler, a string of mysterious deaths rocked the reservation, and her Uncle Louie seemed to be at the center of it all. Switching between Noemi's point of view in the present day, and Louie's 16-year-old voice in 1986, this novel is a creeping horror story tied to Indigenous mythology and the generational trauma of Indigenous Americans. The pacing sometimes seemed more plodding than slow-burning, and while the resolution was interesting, I struggled to keep focus throughout. Not a bad read, just not a particularly memorable one.
Thank you Berkley Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own....more
Told in two parts, this is a novel obsessed by desire and need, life and death. In the first part, we meet a vampire who has traveled from Europe to BTold in two parts, this is a novel obsessed by desire and need, life and death. In the first part, we meet a vampire who has traveled from Europe to Buenos Aires, Argentina, watching it grow from a small port city to a bustling symbol of the New World. Her story is entrancing as is her sway over her victims. In part two, we meet a young mother in present day Buenos Aires, struggling with her mother's impending death. When her mother gives her a mysterious key, her life changes forever. Sensuous and lyrical prose capture the intricacies of living in the face of death. Definitely erotic, but this one is more literary than romantic.
Thank you Penguin Group Dutton for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own....more
Abby is lonely and isolated, and when she marries David, as widowed dentist, she thinks she might have finally found something more. She's a stepmotheAbby is lonely and isolated, and when she marries David, as widowed dentist, she thinks she might have finally found something more. She's a stepmother, a wife, what else could she want? But her childhood fantasies of being a knight and rescuing the damsel don't seem to be fulfilled in her new reality. When she begins being haunted by David's dead wife, and she finds evidence that David's been lying, what lengths will she go to become the hero of her story?
Abby's boring life is presented in monotone, while her fantasies are colored in bright shades that swirl through the story, which gives the narrative a thrust as those fantasies become more and more present.
Thank you First Second Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own....more
It's Halloween 1984 on Parmenter Road and dark secrets are haunting its residents. On the surface things seem fine, typical middle-class appearances, It's Halloween 1984 on Parmenter Road and dark secrets are haunting its residents. On the surface things seem fine, typical middle-class appearances, but there's the rampant infidelity of one husband, the financial troubles of another, the mysterious background of a couple without any children of their own, and, of course, there's also some creepy children hiding from The Cunning Man. With secrets dividing neighbors and a supernatural threat looming, how many people will survive this night?
All Hallows is atmospheric and chilling, but I don't think the promise of the beginning survived as the story developed and twists were less than surprising. A fun read, but not exceptional. I also wonder why this novel didn't come out in the fall, a much more fitting time period.
The audiobook was performed well with dual narration representing the many characters in an effective manner....more
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