Poe Definitely Did Not Die of Rabies. A Review of a Mystery of Mysteries.

 Edgar Allan Poe is still one of the most popular writers and has dozens of books written about him. Nevertheless, most of us know the myths about him rather than the facts. A Mystery of Mysteries is full

of things about Poe that I never knew, even though I've read several biographies about him. He had a good sense of humor. He wrote satires. His combined works take up 17 volumes. We remember his detective stories and his horror, but he wrote hundreds of reviews, comedy, hoaxes, even puzzles that were published. Oh, and he didn't grow a mustache until the last couple of years of his life. One more Oh! He went by Edgar Poe or Edgar A. Poe. not Edgar Allan Poe.

I haven't given it all away. There's plenty more where that came from, especially about the theories surrounding his death. There is so much I didn't know about his life that I'm going to buy A Mystery of Mysteries to use for research.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review A Mystery of Mysteries.

Heaven, I'm in Heaven and Robots Are Trying to Kill Me. Don't dance cheek to cheek with these robots. TJ Klune's new book.

 People really messed up the world, so robots set out to kill all humans. Yikes! But are the robots' better stewards of earth than people were? The AI can invent, but they have nothing that made humans loveable, no joy, no sense of humor

Except...

Nurse Rached and Rambo the vacuum cleaner are the two funniest robots I ever encountered. At first, I thought those two would get on my nerves. Instead, I found myself laughing out loud at the things they said and did. 

In the Lives of Puppets is a little more violent and more dystopian than TJ Klune's other books, but, like the other books, gentleness, education, and bonds amongst a created family win the day. That and a shared enjoyment of the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie Top Hat. I grew to love the little family and I'm not the sentimental kind at all, except I too really love Top Hat. As Rambo the robot would say, "Heaven, I'm in Heaven..."

Thanks to Tor and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review In the Lives of Puppets.

See all these little squares? Unsuccessful attempts at trying to load the cover. It's a nice cover, too.

These Ghosts Aren't Friendly Like the Ghosts in "Ghosts" TV Show. A Review of A Man Among Ghosts.

 Don't you just hate it when ghosts are irritating you constantly, but they won't come right out and say what they want? Poor David, the protagonist, has a Victorian house full of ghosts and all they do is bleed all over him and leave cryptic messages. When the ghosts finally spill the beans, David is all, "Why me?"

Which are the lying ghosts?  Which ghosts can he trust? Which are dangerous? Who among the spirits want to help him? And can an average guy, a computer programmer living in a haunted, run-down Victorian, change the future? Why, OH why, of all the people in the world, did they pick David?

Choose lovers carefully. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Thanks to Netgalley and Flame Tree Press for allowing me to read and review an eARC of A Man Among Ghosts.

What an Awful Awful Person...but I Like Him. A Review of Prosper's Demon

 

Okay, so it's two years old. No law says I can only review new books.

I liked this one so much I'm going to spend money on the sequel.

Quite funny while being horrific with demon extraction, gore, and a snarky priest whose job it is to yank demons out of people. The protagonist warns readers that they won't like him, but for a horrible person, he's kind of loveable.

Horror and laughs!

Thanks to myself for buying and reviewing Prosper's Demon.

Fever Dreams...Without the Fever! A Review of Kelly Link's White Cat, Black Dog

 

Disclaimer: I actually did have a fever while reading this. COVID ain't pretty.

Kelly Link's White Cat, Black Dog is like having seven fever dreams, but in a good way, without the fever. Usually, in a collection of short stories, there are always a few that don't seem as good as the others. Not in this book. I enjoyed all of them. Reading this made me yearn for a tiny live dog inside a pistachio shell. What's this all about? Well, you'll have to read it and see how tiny dogs arrive in nut shells.

In one, a science fiction tale, there are Handmaids with probing snouts, furred bellies, and sleek and whiplike limbs. Even though they were apparently not dressed, I kept picturing them in red capes and white bonnets.

Some stories were sad, some happy, but all were magical reads.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for allowing me to read and revue White Cat, Black Dog.

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall. Ooooh, there are so many.

 The Secrets of Hartwood Hall has more twists and turns than the spooky old mansion it takes place in. What's a gothic novel without twists and turns, creepy houses, ghosts real or imagined, and a romance thrown in for good measure? Add this to some strong women characters and a hunky gardener (got to have a hunky gardener) a particularly nasty villainess, plus the overthrow of the patriarchy. and you have Hartwood Hall. Did I forget anything? Oh, a sickly but sweet little boy.

Nothing is as it seems, including the kid's hair color. Oh, what tangled webs we weave. The family is isolating themselves but at what cost?

I read this in two days because it galloped along at brisk pace. So many secrets. So many dastardly deeds. (Victorian gothics have to have dastardly deeds.) So many meals of cold meat and cheese. Footprints in dust. And lots of mud. Mrs. Lennox spends a lot of time getting her boots and dress muddy. There's even a romantic encounter in mud and I don't even like to think about where that muck ends up.

Murder or not? Ghosts or not? Mistaken identity or not? Cold meat and cheese for dinner again?

I enjoyed The Secrets of Hartwood Hall even if almost every character bit their lips at some point. I had to get out my lip-bite-o-meter even though I put it away for the holidays.to make room for the tree. 

Thanks to Dutton and Netgalley for allowing me to enjoy and review The Secrets of Hartwood Hall.

Nice cover, too.

Something Wicked This Way Comes, and then comes again, and comes again later. A Review of The Wicked Unseen

 This book shows the reasons why someone should check out a town before they take a job there. An unsuspecting mom takes a job as a mortician and her teen daughter discovers that the dead are a lot more polite than the living cult members. (I learned that dead bodies could fart which I guess is not that polite. They don't say excuse me.)

Everyone in town, except the dead people, are obsessed with Hell. Audre, the teen daughter, is goth and her dad researched the occult for the books he writes. Oh boy, that sets off some alarms in the cult community A girl goes missing and Audre's dad is arresting because why not. The family is considered a bunch of weirdos so why not blame them?

Here's the thing. The occult studying dad and the mortician mom are way more loving and understanding, and smarter, than the overbearing cult members. The people who are considered weird are the most grounded people in town. 

Some blood and gore and one particularly nasty way to die. But ultimately, it's a story of a family that hangs in together due to their love for each other. I should mention that it's also a good mystery.

Thanks to Underlined Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review an eARC of The Wicked Unseen.

Unseen.

Have You Ever Been Blue? In the Pink? Green with Envy? Lost Your Mind? Yes! The Colors in This Book Can Do That! A Review of the Shamshine Blind.

 This is one of the most original stories I've read in a long time. Also, one of the most dystopian. Things are a mess after the United States loses a war to Argentina. And how does Argentina win? By making weapons that control human emotions through color. Oh boy, now everybody from criminals to police to addicts want their hands on these molecules.

All the major cities of America are destroyed, leaving Boise Idaho as the largest town in the country. (That alone is kind of scary) There are catastrophic color events that wipe out the memories of thousands of people or make thousands lose their minds.  Meanwhile, fascists are taking over the whole world. 

Sounds terrible, right? That's what dystopian books are supposed to sound like!  This one isn't all frightening all the time. The main character, Officer Kay Curtida is funny, smart, and one tough lady. There's a meddling mother, a little romance, and several really likeable characters. Some stinkers, too.

And lots of people get shot with pigmented bullets. Think paint gun games but in this one you lose your mind if you're hit. Or breathe it. Or get too near it. This stuff is everywhere. I felt like wearing a hazmat suit while reading  Shamshine.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Press for allowing me to read and review an eARC of The Shamshine Blind.

For some reason, they really don't want me to print the cover. Too bad because it is a nice cover.

It's Not as Depressing as it Sounds. A Review of The Collected Regrets of Clover.

 Okay, so this isn't a horror novel but I'm adding it because there's lots of death. Not bloody body horror, just a bunch of natural deaths. 

I'm an introvert and I really need to get out more. If any novel convinces me to do so, The Collected Regrets of Clover is that book. Clover is a Death Duala, someone who helps ease dying patients journey from life to death. She keeps three journals of her clients' last words Confessions. Advice. Regrets. At one point she realizes she works with the dying to avoid long-term commitments to living people.

You would think that with all the dying this would be a depressing read. Think again. Clover finally opens up to meeting people who plan to stick around awhile. While some are dying, Clover learns to live.

The Collected Regrets of Clover is a kick-start to get people like me out from under the covers and walking forth into the world. Now, if I only had the kind of money Clover has and live in New York City like she does...well, I guess I'll scrounge around with what I've got. 

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read and review an eARC of The Collected Regrets of Cover.

Two! Two! Two Books in One! A review of American Mermaid.

 It's almost like getting two books in one! A humorous one and a tragic one. Here's how it works. The fictional author of a novel, American Mermaid, is hired by Hollywood to write the screenplay. Hollywood wants to sex it up and put in more action. Can Penny save her story from the Hollywood machine? This is the fun part of the novel.

Intertwined with that is the dystopian story, American Mermaid, where a billionaire has the knowhow to speed up climate change and plans to use it in such a way that only billionaires survive--and they must pay him for their survival. Only one person (?) stands in his way--his adopted mermaid daughter.

Science fiction plus humor. Comedy plus tragedy. Parts of the book had me laughing out loud and parts had me feeling sad for the mutilated mermaid and her compromised doctor. Even though the two-story lines share space between the covers of American Mermaid, it's never confusing as to what's what. In fact, it's quite clever.   

Science fiction, comedy, dystopian, and the perils of being an ingenue in La La Land. What a fun ride!

Thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday for allowing me to read and review an eARC of American Mermaid.

In Spite of Everything, Head on Into The Spite House A Review.

 When I first started reading Spite House, I had a hard time getting interested in the fleeing family, Eric, Dess, and Stacy. I wondered if I'd picked the wrong story to read. As soon as they got to the mansion of the mysterious 80-year-old women, things really picked up. I got to the point where I was thinking, "I'll read one more chapter," and then going on and reading four or five more chapters. In other words, Spite House turned into a real page turner.

Horror, some magic realism, curses that follow families through generations, and a father and two daughter who really care about each other. Nothing is as it seems. It looks like the family is running from one thing, maybe a crime. Instead, they're running from something weird and miraculous into something even weirder. and possibly deadly.

Several interesting and strong women characters in addition to the Ross family.

Thanks to Tor and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review an eARC of Spite House.

What Do You Get When You Mashup Horror and a Western? You get Lone Women.

 I loved the ending of Lone Women and want to move there immediately!

There is a saying that men settled the West and then had their wives and children flown out later. In reality, thousands of women settled the West on their own, sometimes with children in tow. The protagonist of Lone Women is fleeing to Montana but unlike most fugitives, she's bringing her curse with her...in a big, heavy trunk.

This isn't only horror. It's a fantastic Western with outlaws, horse thieves, and vigilantes, that happens to have some magic and horror, too. Most of the characters are women, both the heroines and the villains. The setting itself looms large. As the characters repeatedly warn each other, "Montana wants to kill us."

Whatever you do, don't open that trunk!

Thanks to One World Publishers (a division of Penguin Random House) and to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review Lone Women.

The Weird Things We Do for Love. A review of The Crane Husband

 Rare is the book that makes me cry but The Crane Husband came close.

It's the story of a resourceful girl, her sensitive little brother and their brilliantly talented artist mother with an obsession for a crane wearing a hat and eyeglasses. It's also the story of loss and the sometimes-stupid things we do for love.

The Crane Husband is extraordinarily written, imaginative, and emotionally loaded. A reader might cry, but it's worth it.

Thank you to Tor/Forge and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review an eARC of The Crane Husband.
.
What a beautiful cover.

A Ghost, a Mother, a Witch, and an Archeologist Walk Into a House. This isn't a joke! It's a House With Good Bones.

 I know a house with good bones is a real estate term, but this book could have been called a house with mysterious bones or a house with bad bones or even Where'd This Jar of Teeth Come Froom?

Yes! All kinds of calcified things are buried around this house. There's more! A mean ghost, a distraught mother, a nice witch, and an archeologist. The protagonist is fat. Yay for chubby heroines! And there are vultures. Lots and lots of vultures. There's a disabled vulture who resembles a pancake. Let's not forget the human males, a grumpy neighbor and his hot, handyman grandson. 

With a lineup like that, this story goes places. Mainly underground, but underground is a place. A place with underground children. Hungry, hungry underground children.

There's also a cute running gag about the size of Texas.

Likeable characters (except for the mean ghost.) Even the pancake vulture is loveable. Fast paced action toward the end. Read this book or the underground children will get you.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor/Nightfire for allowing me to read and review an eARC of A House With Good Bones.

                                        T. Kingfisher is one of my favorite authors. Love this cover, too.

Hurrah for the Final Girl! Get Bloody With Don't Fear the Reaper.

 Thanks to Stephen Graham Jones I have the song, Don't Fear the Reaper, stuck in my head. And a desire for more cowbell.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. People die in all sorts of weird postures and from all kinds of pointy instruments. What's the point of all this? The killer is copying every single slasher movie that's been made and doing it in blinding snow. You have to admire a killer who doesn't get cold feet. 

But who is this stabbing and slicing killer? Only a young woman with encyclopedic knowledge of slasher films can figure out the answer. In addition to a slasher, there are underwater ghosts, a blob, and an elk with a really bad attitude. It's also a story of friendship, families, redemption, and lots of broken glass.

Readers might want to read or reread My Heart is a Chainsaw. I hadn't read it in a while, so I was occasionally wondering who or what something was.

Don't Fear the Reaper combines gore with a literary style, making it more than the average horror story. Take a stab at reading it.

Thank you to Saga Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review Don't Fear the Reaper even if I can't get that song out of my mind.

For a while I didn't realize that was a hook. I thought an electrical cord was threaded through the wall.

Don't You Just Hate It When Visiting Relative Won't Leave? A Review of Motherthing

 Mothering is a comic tragedy or a tragic comedy. Bad things and sad things happen, but all and all it is a clever, witty story. Some lines were so funny that I laughed out loud while reading. There was one big twist I never saw coming. The things we do for love....

Poor Abby had a brutal childhood, finally found love, only to be haunted by her crabby, dead mother-in-law. When I read ghost stories, I wonder if these are ghosts or mental illness. Motherthing has both going on. The way Abby breaks the haunting is not the normal way of doing things. (If there is a normal way of getting rid of a ghost.)

We have some blood, vomit, and chewed up bread getting caught in Abby's hair. The spraying bread gagged me out more than the blood, but that's the way I am.

Thanks to Netgalley and Vintage for allowing me to read, review, and gag over soggy bread in Motherthing.

What a great cover!

Don't drink that! Aw, she went and did it again. Review of Such Pretty Flowers

 I wanted to see if roses really would drink blood. Unfortunately, I passed out before the experiment was completed. No, I didn't!

We do have some blood-drinking roses in Such Pretty Flowers. Got some body horror, a dastardly villainess, things growing inside of people and a mouse, and tea and wine our protagonist would be better off not drinking. I shouted at her, "Don't drink that!" but shouting at fictional characters does no good.

Speaking of the protagonist, she isn't very interesting. I wanted her to take up a hobby beyond drinking questionable tinctures. Well, she had a fear of irregular circles, but that's a lousy conversation starter. Maybe not. I'd probably talk to somebody who is afraid of lily pad pods.

So, we have this original idea, but the characters keep doing unoriginal things. Every character managed to roll their eyeballs, smirk, bite their lips (one of them until she tasted blood which I swear is in every book I read lately.) Even a statue of a cherub had a smirk!

I have crawled on my knees to beg editors to erase all the eyeball rolling, smirking, and lip biting. I have burned out two smirk-o-meters and three eyeball-roll-o-meters. And yet, it continues.

Four stars for originality of plot, but one star for the use of the same ol' same ol' that everybody seems to be using.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bantam for allowing me to read and review an eARC of Such Pretty Flowers.

Nice cover. It was actually roses that were the trouble makers.

Adolescent Hormones Gone Amuck. And What is That Purple Stuff? Can I Have Some? Review of My Dear Henry: A Jekyll and Hyde Remix

 Most of us don't think of the word "charming" when reading a horror novel but I found My Dear Henry: A Jekyll & Hyde Remix to be that. The romance novel term "sweet" applies to this as sex is limited to handholding and a little kiss. There are monsters. How could it be a horror book without them.? The monsters here, though, were a couple of vile humans.

I liked all the nice characters and booed the nasty characters. What I really liked was that the nice characters got along. No insults, no snarking, no cursing that you usually find in YA. Friends were friends and didn't feel the need for put-down humor. There was a lot of eyeball rolling but that seems par for the course in YA anymore. Did Victorians roll their eyes like 21st century people?

The author supplies historical information at the end. As a history buff, I enjoy reading those.

Thank you to Feiwel and Friends and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review My Dear Henry.

Nice Cover. I wonder if he's available.

What Happens to Hannah is Absolutely the Worst. A Review of Tell Me I'm Worthless

 Tell Me I'm Worthless, to paraphrase Whitman, contains multitudes. I scarcely know where to begin. The novel deals with gender identity, fascism, horror, mental illness, imperialism, capitalism, sexism, racism and people who pay money to be told they're worthless. Did I leave anything out? Probably.

At first, I thought Alice was mentally ill. Her rock-star poster likes to insult her, and her bedroom walls enjoy closing in. But several people together usually don't hallucinate the same things, which is where the horror comes in. A house, not haunted but a living creature itself, consumes the minds of the three major characters. Then it does worse. 

Several times in the book there are run-on sentences that go on for pages. I understand this is an entirely different kind of novel, never-the-less, the run-on sentences become annoying. I'm knocking a star off for this. There's a reason run-on sentences are considered hard to read.

Blood, gore, brutal sex, torture, self-doubt and confusion. There is no letup. There is no moment of repose. There is no happy ending. A book for horror fans who like the blood to splatter.

Thank you to Tor/Forge and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review Tell Me I'm Worthless.

Poke Your Eye Out With a Sharp Stick. A Review of Doctor Ice Pick.

 

I read a lot of horror, but the most horrifying thing is what real people do to others. There's a reason Freeman was known as Dr. Ice Pick (though he wasn't actually a doctor.) He performed lobotomies by inserting an ice pick above his patients' (victims') tear ducts, then wiggles the ice pick around until he severed the frontal lobe. Some patients bled to death, some turned into shadows of their former selves, most became incontinent. And most, this is sad, never consented to the operation.

This is a nonfiction book. If you're interested in how awful someone can be to helpless people, check Doctor Ice Pick out.

My Annual Share-a-Skeleton Cartoon for your Halloween viewing pleasure.

 Silly Symphonies - The Skeleton Dance - YouTube

Rumble in the Jungle. A Review of Our Share of the Night

 This is a long book. I like the depth the author goes into with the characters. The descriptions of buildings, jungles, people, monster/thing/darkness are excellent. After a while, though, the novel felt like a slog to go through. Descriptions of horrific child abuse got to be too much for me.

I know this is horror, and sometimes horror is grim, but graphic, bloody, torturous child abuse just...ugh.

My other problem was that the folks doing all the torturing didn't seem to understand why they did it. They were appeasing a violent, big, dark thing without being sure it could give them what they wanted. A lot of people were lying, hurting, torturing, and being hurt themselves without a clear understanding of why. The book is commentary on the brutal Argentine military rulers, but it might have been better as a thriller instead of a horror novel.

Honestly, the story gave me nightmares. The brutal torture of small children was too horrendous to me Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for allowing me to read and review Our Share of the Night...even if it gave me nightmares.

Ah, Catrina, My Heart Begs to Live Somewhere Where People Do Cool Things Like This

 

Very Cool Movie Poster. 1931 Dracula Vampire Cinema: The First 100 Years

 

                    VFrom Christopher Frayling's new book, Vampire Cinema: The First 100 Years

Do you write historical fiction? How about historical horror fiction? A very short line of advice.

 

“If you wish to know an era,” wrote sci-fi seer William Gibson, “study its most lucid nightmares. In the mirror of our darkest fears, much will be revealed.”

From Hellbent and Hydebound - The Millions

                                                             Coming November 15, 2022

I'm lusting after a fictional character. A review of Tread of Angels.

 To begin with, Ms. Roanhorse makes the demon lord so gorgeous, kindly, intelligent and understanding, that if he wasn't a fictional character, I'd ask for his phone number. He's great. The love-of-his-life, Celeste the protagonist, is mildly interesting. What did he see in her?!

I agree with some of the other reviews that Tread of Angels needed to be fleshed out some more. The dialogue was predictable, The characters could have been more interesting had there been more detail of their lives. It's a short novel so there was room to explore. It would be a great story because it has a great premise, but there wasn't enough background to really care about the characters. Bit players instead of supporting actors. They seemed two dimensional., except for the demon lord. If it turns out that he's real, and not fictional, will someone give him my email address? Might he be on a dating app?

I greatly enjoy Ms. Roanhorse's books. I think I've read all of them. But Tread of Angels felt like it wasn't the final draft. As I said, the premise is so good that this could be a marvelous tale with a little more of the characters' lives fleshed out.

Thank you to Netgalley and Saga Press for allowing me to read and review Tread of Angels.

Put your Longjohns on to read this one because you'll shiver from the cold...and the fright. A review of The Drift.

 I'm amazed at how the plots came together. There are twists in time, mistaken identity, several who-done-it's, and lots of surprises I never saw coming. Nothing and nobody are what they appear to be. Even the timeframe comes as a surprise. I want to pick apart the book to see how the author did it. I want to talk about the twists and turns but then we'd have a spoilerfest.

I have to say that there are so many characters that at first, I thought I'd never keep them straight. That turned out to not be a problem. Between murders, questionable accidents, a virus, and more murders, characters exit the scenes rapidly. I should mention that there is violence, gore, and illness. Oh, and every character manages to roll their eyes. That's my only complaint. Everybody answers questions with a roll of the eyeballs. Please. Just stop. Every book I read lately is full to the brim with eyeball rolling. Dexter the dog was the only one not participating in the eyeball-rollathon..

Other than eyerolling, I found the story exciting. About 50 percent through, I said I was going to stop for the night. Instead, I stayed up until 4 a.m. and finished the book. The mysteries, the twists, the horror, the mistaken identities made it impossible to put down.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ballentine Books for allowing me to read and review The Drift.

With Friends Like These...You Know the Rest. A review of Things We Do to Our Friends.

 You do not want to be friends with these people. Especially Clare.

But it's delicious to read about them.

Delicious may not be the word I want to use, since the story opens with a forced feeding. It will whet your appetite for what's to come.

After the grim opening, I thought Clare was a little dull, a lonely college freshman looking for friends. About 1/3 of the way through the book, those friendships become dark and dangerous. The friendships are not boring, nor are they safe.

A lively but brutal opening, then the pace slows, then the mysteries and darkness speeds up to a point where I stayed up late to finish reading The Things We Do to Our Friends are not things you want your friends to do to you. Reading about these monstrous friends is much more enjoyable than being one of their friends.

Thank you to Bantam Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review The Things We Do to Our Friends.

The Things We Do to Our Friends did not involve a flower bouquet but did involve sexy underwear.
There's some pigs, too, but they're not in sexy underwear.

The Joys of Medieval Slaughter. Time Travel to The Last Saxon King. A Review and questions about pants.

 The Last Saxon King pulled me in right from the beginning. I liked the main characters and the secondary characters. The action and adventure were exciting. The book had elements of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. Except for the time travel, the historic events were pretty accurate. Umm, maybe time travel exists which would make the book seriously accurate. The author has a section following the story that explains the end of the Viking era and the events leading to the Battle of Hastings. As a history buff, I enjoyed this.

The Last Saxon King is set up to have a sequel. I only ask two things. More female characters. The main female character is fantastic but she's the only one!  Surely, even in medieval battles, there were camp followers. The other thing is I want to know how Dan kept the time-traveling rod in the waistband of his trousers throughout the battles. What kept it from falling out? Medieval pants didn't exactly have elastic waistbands.

I can suspend my disbelief to believe in time travel, but it's hard for me to believe the time travel device never fell out of Dan's pants while he's slaughtering Normans.

Thanks to Netgalley and Imbrifex books for allowing me to read and review an eARC of The Last Saxon King. I look forward to the sequel, The Celtic Deception.

Bad Cree Dreaming of Bad Monster. A Review of Bad Cree.

 The thing is, McKenzie isn't really a bad Cree. She does what most young people do, leaves home to find better opportunities. But she feels bad about leaving her family and thinks her bizarre dreams are due to feeling guilty. Little does she know that strange and mysterious dreams run in the family.

McKenzie goes home to the lake and her sister, cousins, mother and aunts thinking the dreams will end. Instead, she finds nightmares have begun while sleeping and awake. How does a bad Cree overcome the monster that stalks her dreams, her family and hometown? With the help of the strong ladies who share her genes.

Bad Cree certainly wins the Alison Bechdel test--that is two or more women talking together about something besides men. Lots of brave and interesting women in Bad Cree. Also, lots of gore, but it's horror so what do you expect?

Oh, and lots and lots and lots of eyeball rolling and smirking. Please, young adult writers, stop with all the smirking eyeballs. My eyeball-roll-o-meter and smirk-o-meter overheated with Bad Cree. Other than every character managing to roll their eyes at some point, Bad Cree is a dandy horror novel.

Thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday for allowing me to read and review Bad Cree

Charmed by Music and Mushrooms A Review of Ghost Music

 I was charmed by the opening few pages of Ghost Music, by the strange orange mushroom asking only to be remembered. I would call this book literary horror. It's frightening in the "why are these strange things happening to me" rather than the blood and gore horror. There is lots of philosophical thinking, lots of references to classical music and a double mystery of why the protagonist's husband keeps so many secrets and why is she compelled to keep seeking out a concert pianist who may or may not be a ghost.

Just like in real life, there are no clearcut answers to the protagonist's questions.  

Ghost Music doesn't have any monsters to slay at the end, but it does have a wonderful ghostly mood. I felt like I was also trapped in the stifling warm room full of orange glowing mushrooms.

Thanks to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for allowing to read and review an eARC of Ghost Music.

Love the cover.

Kari Already Has Too Many Problems and then a Ghost Shows Up. Can't an Urban Indian Get a Break? Review of White Horse.

 

I liked this character enough that I hope there is a sequel.

I had to think about White Horse for a few days. This isn't a bad thing. A book that makes a reader think is better than a book that's immediately forgotten. 

I like the characters very much. Kari seems like a cool person to know but I probably wouldn't hang around with her. Lots of drinking, lots of smoking, and way too much eyeball rolling. My eyeball-roll-o-meter went off the charts. When the characters aren't smoking, drinking, or rolling their eyeballs, they have interesting family dynamics going on. Lots of love and attempts at understanding between most of them. Kari's care of her father is especially touching. Some sexual and mental abuse but there is comeuppance. awaiting.

Oh, and Kari loves cats. I have to like a character who loves cats. (I have one beside me right now as I write this. A cat, not a character.)

Now for the horror parts. I want more to happen faster. We keep seeing Kari's dead mother crying or screaming or bleeding, but it happens so often that the jump scares cease to be scary. At least her ghost mom wasn't rolling her eyeballs. But hey, that would be scary seeing a ghost rolling its eyeballs. I also think the supernatural powers that be should have just given Kari the warclub instead of making her stay in an expensive hotel to find it. Do supernatural entities own stock in The Stanley Hotel? I know Kari is a fan of The Shining, but really, it would have been cheaper if the warclub came with an order of burgers and fries at McDonalds. That would be a spooky Happy Meal surprise.

White Horse is a gripping mystery as to why and how Kari's mother died.  And Auntie Squeaker is a cool name.

Thanks to Netgalley and to Flatiron Books for allowing me to read and review White Horse.