The nitty-gritty: A complex, fantastical coming-of-age story that explores fame, family ties and the blurred boundaries between fantasy and reality, The Children is a mesmerizing tale that will haunt readers with its sense of foreboding and wonder. “Her whole rib cage ached with understanding. There would be no going back. No earlier, softer place. Time […]
The nitty-gritty: Shocking, brutal, funny, and heartbreaking, Mongrels is my new favorite werewolf story. This is the way werewolf stories go. Never any proof. Just a story that keeps changing, like it’s twisting back on itself, biting its own stomach to chew the poison out. I’m making an attempt to catch up with some of […]
The nitty-gritty: A promising start deteriorates into some very odd plot choices and pacing issues, although I adored the author’s atmosphere-infused writing. Have you ever read a book that started out strong—I’m talking five-star strong—but later deteriorated into a much lower rating? Well unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to me with The Ancestor, I’m very […]
The nitty-gritty: A slowly drawn-out mystery, beautifully written with subtle tension, that unfortunately didn’t live up to my expectations. Having read lots of enthusiastic reviews for Tremblay’s A Head Full of Ghosts, I was eager to try his latest. Tremblay has a talent for establishing a creepy atmosphere with very little information to go on. […]
The nitty-gritty: An Alice in Wonderland re-telling that didn’t quite hit the mark, but a wonderful look at the effect of Victorian society on a handful of memorable characters. So Mama waggled her fingers in the air, Go, go, and settled her crown of hair, the color of browning roses, upon the bolster of the […]