strange and random happenstance

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: May 3rd, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Beatriz lost everything with the death of her father. Branded a traitor he was executed and she and her mother moved in with relatives who treated them worse than slaves. When Beatriz catches the eye of Don Rodolfo Solórzano she jumps at the chance of a new beginning and a home of her own. He's well off and has a position of power in the new Provisional Government and is wealthy enough to support two residences, a house in the city and his family pulque plantation in the county. Her mother's dislike of him can be overcome in time, and as for the rumors of what happened to his first wife? She thinks little of it, which might be just what her new husband wants, someone desperate enough to not ask questions. His job keeps him in town while Beatriz will primarily reside at the Hacienda San Isidro, an arrangement that suits him perfectly. Of course Beatriz had pictured San Isidro as her husband romanticized it in stories of his childhood. She did not expect the rundown house with the verdant growth gone to rot. She also didn't expect to be dumped there. Surely a newly wedded man would want to spend time with his wife? But she is soon left alone in a hostile environment. Her sister-in-law Juana wants nothing to do with her or the house and the staff keep themselves apart. Beatriz got what she thought she wanted and is more alone than she's ever been. If she can restore San Isidro, bring the house and the gardens back to life, she can lure her mother to live with her and perhaps then she will feel less alone. But the house doesn't want this. She hears voices and sees things that cannot possibly be real. She looks to Juana for confirmation but gets none. Yet why does Juana only enter the house when she has to and only during daylight? Beatriz has nowhere to turn but the church. Padre Andrés is a newly ordained priest and he is the only one who will listen to Beatriz. He grew up at San Isidro and as soon as he returns he can tell that something is horribly wrong. This isn't the home he knew and Beatriz is right, there's danger here. Thankfully Andrés is willing to help the young bride, but as they battle San Isidro they have to battle their growing attraction and victory is not assured. Not in the least.

This book was lauded as Rebecca meets Mexican Gothic. Now I, for one, will admit that PR for a book has to always go for the biggest names, the one haunted house book with true name recognition to compare to the haunted house book they're trying to get you to pick up. It's all designed to grab our attention, and I totally fall for it. Every. Single. Time. You liked this? Well you'll love this, it's the same but better! No, it never is. Except once in a great while. Whenever I see a book compared to my beloved Rebecca I read the book and wonder if the author or the PR department had actually ever read Du Maurier's classic. And as for the Mexican Gothic comparison, after that book became a surprise hit every Gothic book coming out had to somehow be "like" it. Here's the thing though, Mexican Gothic wasn't that good, whereas this book is. Oh my, they really delivered on the "same but better." I should find those PR people and apologize for how I've always trashed them for their cunning deceptions. It's their job after all... I've even been known to do it! The reason The Hacienda beats Mexican Gothic hands down is Isabel Cañas didn't complicate this story with mushrooms and what have you. She went for the standard tropes of the Gothic genre, dead first wife, hostile family, lonely outsider newlywed, recalcitrant servants, haunted house, conflicted priest, forbidden romance, and wrote these tropes to the highest standard. There isn't much original here, but it is so well crafted, so well drawn out, that you will love it completely. The story of Beatriz is propulsive. How will she survive? I kept turning the pages late into the night. I could see it all before me and yet somehow it maintained my interest. The Hacienda has all the goodness of a true Gothic haunted house story paired with what it means to belong and want a home. And that's where it set itself above the tropes, that's where it was unique, in Beatriz's desire for a place of her own. Her family had been cast out and degraded and she took the first opportunity she had to break free. Yes, it was a dangerous decision in the end, but who wouldn't risk it all to find their place in the world? To finally feel safe? I know I would, wouldn't you?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Place to Call Home, Daphne Du Maurier, For the Love of Book Clubs, Ghosts, Gothic, Haunted House, Isabel Cañas, Mexican Gothic, Mexico, Priests, Pulque Plantation, Rebecca, The Hacienda, Tropes

What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: Subterranean Press
Publication Date: March 16th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 232 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Abigail Kamara should not be left to her own devices. She's not like her brother Paul who is terminally ill and needs looking after. She's just very good at getting into trouble. Just ask her cousin, DC Peter Grant. The second Peter's mom started bragging about her son doing magic Abigail demanded that he teach her. In an attempt to fob her off he said she'd need to get a GCSE A level in Latin. More fool him if he thinks she's not going to hold him to that, she's already in Latin club. She used to imagine her life out there, away from home, on some lonely road, but now she knows about magic, now she imagines seeing in the dark and running with foxes. Now she imagines finding a cure for Paul. When not being the bane of her teachers existence she's always on the lookout for the uncanny as a way to pass the time and impress Peter. There have been a recent spate of disappearances around Hampstead Heath and Abigail thinks they're rather sus. The entire nation is gripped by two white girls missing in Herefordshire and yet in London they can't be bothered with children missing on their own manor. This needs to be looked into, especially something Abigail thinks is extra sus, an old classmate of hers she hadn't seen for years invites her to a "happening" on the Heath. She's stood up but she meets Simon, who was also invited by someone he barely knew who also didn't show. At loose ends Simon and Abigail start to hang out. As Abigail comes to the realization that she's stuck with Simon she lets him help with her investigation. One that gets even stranger when it's revealed the the missing kids have all returned home with no memory of where they were. The most important piece of information is where are the kids going, thankfully Abigail has a skulk of talking foxes who have labeled her as a "person of interest" and are willing to help her with her operation; they're very big on the spy speak. And she needs each and every one of them to monitor the perimeter of the Heath. Which is how she gets her big break. The kids are all going into a house. But when Abigail enters, unlike the other kids, the house doesn't want to let her go. This conundrum is up to her to solve, without the help of the Folly, but oddly with the help of Simon's mom. Simon's mom is well connected, the foxes would be impressed.

While this is a standalone novella it is also technically a companion book to Foxglove Summer. Here we see Abigail in a similar situation to what Peter was dealing with in Herefordshire, missing children. While there are probably millions of stories about missing children what's interesting is seeing how one author handles the same subject in two very different ways. One was successful, the other was not. This book is damn near perfection. The bones of the story are a solid haunting of a house. The inside of the house is different pockets of time and it forces those whom it's lured inside to replay moments from it's past. It's not the most original of concepts, even Angel did a similar story in the season three episode "Waiting in the Wings," which I think was predominately written so that Angel and Cordelia could make out thus acting on years of pent up sexual frustration without them actually becoming an item. Yet Ben Aaronovitch writes his story so cleverly, so perfectly, that you feel like it's the first time you've head a haunted house story like it. What's more, the way that Abigail is trying to dissect the pockets of time while being forced to be a participate is fascinating. She actually appreciates these memories she is being shown while at the same time trying to find the source of the haunting. Abigail is just an amazing character with so much depth. What I personally connected to was the melancholy that is at the heart of her life, the fact that one day her brother Paul is going to die. Since the age of five his world has been getting smaller and smaller and I think that's why she pushes herself beyond her comfort zone. She wants to experience everything, even if it's the ghostly memories that a house gives her. Ben Aaronovitch understands the kind of suffering that a family with chronic illness endures. The hope that is almost worse than the bone deep pain of lifelong trauma. He wrote this book at the beginning of the pandemic and I think it influenced the story in an elegiac way. If you doubt me just read the section wherein Abigail is reading Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man to her brother. As she makes passing reference to that book's conclusion, if you know and love that book like I do, your heart will break anew.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Angel, Ben Aaronovitch, Foxen, Foxglove Summer, Grief, Hampstead Heath, Haunted House, London Calling, Missing Children, Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett, Trauma, Waiting in the Wings, What Abigail Did That Summer

What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by: Subterranean Press
Publication Date: March 16th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 232 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Abigail Kamara should not be left to her own devices. She's not like her brother Paul who is terminally ill and needs looking after. She's just very good at getting into trouble. Just ask her cousin, DC Peter Grant. The second Peter's mom started bragging about her son doing magic Abigail demanded that he teach her. In an attempt to fob her off he said she'd need to get a GCSE A level in Latin. More fool him if he thinks she's not going to hold him to that, she's already in Latin club. She used to imagine her life out there, away from home, on some lonely road, but now she knows about magic, now she imagines seeing in the dark and running with foxes. Now she imagines finding a cure for Paul. When not being the bane of her teachers existence she's always on the lookout for the uncanny as a way to pass the time and impress Peter. There have been a recent spate of disappearances around Hampstead Heath and Abigail thinks they're rather sus. The entire nation is gripped by two white girls missing in Herefordshire and yet in London they can't be bothered with children missing on their own manor. This needs to be looked into, especially something Abigail thinks is extra sus, an old classmate of hers she hadn't seen for years invites her to a "happening" on the Heath. She's stood up but she meets Simon, who was also invited by someone he barely knew who also didn't show. At loose ends Simon and Abigail start to hang out. As Abigail comes to the realization that she's stuck with Simon she lets him help with her investigation. One that gets even stranger when it's revealed the the missing kids have all returned home with no memory of where they were. The most important piece of information is where are the kids going, thankfully Abigail has a skulk of talking foxes who have labeled her as a "person of interest" and are willing to help her with her operation; they're very big on the spy speak. And she needs each and every one of them to monitor the perimeter of the Heath. Which is how she gets her big break. The kids are all going into a house. But when Abigail enters, unlike the other kids, the house doesn't want to let her go. This conundrum is up to her to solve, without the help of the Folly, but oddly with the help of Simon's mom. Simon's mom is well connected, the foxes would be impressed.

While this is a standalone novella it is also technically a companion book to Foxglove Summer. Here we see Abigail in a similar situation to what Peter was dealing with in Herefordshire, missing children. While there are probably millions of stories about missing children what's interesting is seeing how one author handles the same subject in two very different ways. One was successful, the other was not. This book is damn near perfection. The bones of the story are a solid haunting of a house. The inside of the house is different pockets of time and it forces those whom it's lured inside to replay moments from it's past. It's not the most original of concepts, even Angel did a similar story in the season three episode "Waiting in the Wings," which I think was predominately written so that Angel and Cordelia could make out thus acting on years of pent up sexual frustration without them actually becoming an item. Yet Ben Aaronovitch writes his story so cleverly, so perfectly, that you feel like it's the first time you've head a haunted house story like it. What's more, the way that Abigail is trying to dissect the pockets of time while being forced to be a participate is fascinating. She actually appreciates these memories she is being shown while at the same time trying to find the source of the haunting. Abigail is just an amazing character with so much depth. What I personally connected to was the melancholy that is at the heart of her life, the fact that one day her brother Paul is going to die. Since the age of five his world has been getting smaller and smaller and I think that's why she pushes herself beyond her comfort zone. She wants to experience everything, even if it's the ghostly memories that a house gives her. Ben Aaronovitch understands the kind of suffering that a family with chronic illness endures. The hope that is almost worse than the bone deep pain of lifelong trauma. He wrote this book at the beginning of the pandemic and I think it influenced the story in an elegiac way. If you doubt me just read the section wherein Abigail is reading Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man to her brother. As she makes passing reference to that book's conclusion, if you know and love that book like I do, your heart will break anew.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Angel, Ben Aaronovitch, Foxen, Foxglove Summer, Grief, Hampstead Heath, Haunted House, London Calling, Missing Children, Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett, Trauma, Waiting in the Wings, What Abigail Did That Summer

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud
Published by: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: August 29th, 2013
Format: Kindle, 400 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than on reviewed)

The Problem started about the middle of the last century. The dead no longer stayed dead. They roamed the street at night and were deadly to the living. Cemeteries were exhumed and the dead burned. Marissa Fittes and Tom Rotwell are credited with discovering the Problem and through their methods teaching others how to subdue paranormal phenomena by locating it's Source, the epicenter of it's haunting. Marissa set up the Fittes Agency and soon Tom set up the Rotwell Agency. And other psychic investigations agencies sprang up like mushrooms from corpses after that, one of them being Lockwood and Co. But the peculiarity of the Problem is that it is only children who can see and therefore destroy ghosts. The only adults on hand are those who were legends in their day but can no longer see ghosts and therefore have to pass on their knowledge to the younger generations now wielding psychic abilities. But not all children can see these supernatural foes. Some are blind to it, others are just slightly touched and aren't agency material, but some have special skills, from hearing, to touch, to smell. Lucy Carlyle is very talented. Any agency would kill to have her on their team. The problem is she left her last job under a bit of a cloud so she doesn't have the bona fides needed to secure a job at one of the prestige agencies, so instead she gets a job at Lockwood and Co. Before her job interview the "Lockwood" was young and dashing Anthony Lockwood and the "Co." was George Cubbins, the master of research if nothing else. They don't have uniforms, they don't have many jobs, but they have a nice headquarters at 35 Portland Row. After Lucy's job interview the "Co." increases by one. One night they are tackling what should be a simple case for their client, a Mrs. Hope, when things go pear-shaped. As in, they burn her house to the ground. With legal action being threatened they need a big case to pay off their client and keep the agency open. Which is why they accept a job at Combe Carey Hall. The estate is notorious. So many people have died there. So many investigators, even top trained Fittes investigators, have been victims to the house and the infamous Red Room. But as Lockwood says, they are desperate so they might as well go out with a bang. And if they succeed? Well, their name will be made and the agency secured.

If there's one thing I'm always looking for it's something spooky and Gothic to read. It's my comfort food. It's my jam. Ironically jam isn't my comfort food but that is a story for another time. Therefore when I was recommended the Lockwood and Co. series by someone whose opinion I trust I didn't really read anything about the series other than to get their elevator pitch of British teens dealing with paranormal phenomena. That right there was enough for me, Ghostbusters with a YA bent. But perhaps I wouldn't have had such a disconnect with the book for a long while if I had read a tad more about the series. Because everything I'd read made it sound very Dickensian. And the thing is that it is. It is very Dickensian. But set in modern day. Or a decade ago now because it was current day or near enough when it was written. I could not wrap my head around this for the longest time. They have swords and gas lights and then there was a television set, I was so confused. It almost took literally the whole book for me to make sense of this society that was trapped in a different time because all technological advances went to figuring out and fighting the Problem. But still, the start of the Problem was about the middle of the previous century, so shouldn't the tech have been more mid-century than this mishmash of what it is? Maybe what I'm trying to inarticulately say is that instead of jumping so headlong into the action I needed a little more explanation than the stumbling around in the dark until it clicked. In fact just a date would have been helpful. But on the bright side, when it clicked, it clicked. So what did it take? It took taking our three leads and dropping them in the middle of a classic haunted house story. They were just dropped in it at Combe Carey Hall. I mean, just that name sends a chill down my spine! It was just riddled with tropes from rooms filled with blood to ghostly monks to secret passageways, and of course a sinister staircase! Yet through it all Lucy, Lockwood, and George made it their own special story. It might have resembled everything from The Haunting of Hill House to The Legend of Hell House, which are personal favorites I might add, but it was it's own thing, which is a major feat given the preponderance of stories out there in the haunted house genre. More haunted houses less televisions please!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anthony Lockwood, Combe Carey Hall, George Cubbins, Ghosts, Haunted House, Jonathan Stroud, Lockwood & Co., London Calling, Lucy Carlyle, Psychic Investigations Agencies, The Problem, The Screaming Staircase

Slade House by David Mitchell
Published by: Random House
Publication Date: October 27th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 238 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

There is a door. It's small and unassuming. Most people never see it because most of the time it isn't there. But every nine years on the last Saturday of October it's there for the chosen one. Near The Fox and Hounds Pub, Slade Alley is easy to miss. If you don't look carefully you could end up going out the other side wondering how you could have missed the entrance. But through that small door is a beautiful garden leading up to a house. A house that is far too nice for the working class neighborhood the alley is a part of. But then again, you'd never find the house in that neighborhood. It's in a little bubble all it's own, an orison. In 1979 Nathan Bishop is the chosen one. His mother, a pianist, has been asked to perform at Slade House for Lady Norah Grayer. Lady Grayer asked that Nathan be brought along. He spends the day in the garden playing with a boy his age, Jonah. But as they chase each other around the house things begin to shift and change. Nathan is worried that the Valium he snuck from his mother was bad. But it's not the Valium, it's the house. It has lured him in and Norah and Jonah won't let go. Nathan Bishop and his mother are never seen again. Nine years later in 1988 Detective Inspector Gordon Edmonds is looking into the disappearance of Nathan Bishop and his mother because new evidence has surfaced. On the day they disappeared they asked directions from a Fred Pink. Immediately after stepping out of Slade Alley Fred Pink was hit by a car and has spent the intervening years in a coma. When he was catching up on the news that he missed he recognized the Bishops and immediately went to the police. Gordon Edmonds finds Slade House and the beautiful widow Chloe Chetwynd. She uses her feminine wiles to seduce Gordon Edmonds. He is never seen again. In 1997 a group of paranormal investigators made up of college students, one of whom is Fred Pink's nephew, goes missing never to be seen again. In 2006 the sister of one of the missing college student interviews Fred Pink. She to disappears. Like dominoes, each disappearance leads to another and another, stretching back and forward until someone is able to pop the bubble.

Years ago I bought Slade House giddy for a good haunted house story not knowing that it tied heavily into David Mitchell's other book, The Bone Clocks. But then again, all his books tie in. Yet I still thought I should probably do my homework and read The Bone Clocks first. So I put off reading Slade House, and I put off reading it. Then two things happened around the same time, a friend of mine said this book could easily be read as a standalone and I found a copy of The Bone Clocks on the sales table at Barnes and Noble. Thanks for sending me mixed messages universe! So I was basically back at square one. Looking for a good spooky read leading up to Halloween I said fuck it and picked up Slade House and I really wish that I had waited. Typical me would have read The Bone Clocks first. Typical me would have been right. This feels almost like it's the CliffsNotes version of the meticulous worldbuilding that Mitchell has done. There is a literal infodump in the forth chapter that while yes, it makes everything clear, feels too shoehorned in. This information about apertures and orisons and lacunas and psychovoltage feel like they belong to another story. And really, they do. And that is this book's fatal flaw. Yes, you may be given everything you need to know, but it feels shallow. The ending is a literal Deus ex machina where a character from his other books who is from the other feuding immortal faction shows up and puts an end to Norah and Jonah. How is that fair to the readers of this book? It feels not just like Mitchell is cheating the readers of a satisfying ending but is also admonishing them for not doing their homework. I should have known this wasn't likely a book for me because of the comparisons the The Turn of the Screw. My main problem with that story is there is no jeopardy. You know the governess survives. The same could be said here. There is no driving force because every narrator dies so your investment in the characters will never pay off so you quickly learn to disassociate from all of them. And this isn't even going into my issues about how Mitchell handles each decade and the derogatory language he uses. Sure, it's era appropriate, but much like everything to do with this book I could have done without.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: CliffsNotes, David Mitchell, Deus Ex Machina, Disappearances, Ghosts, Going Gothic, Haunted House, Immortality, Infodump, Orison, Slade House, Souls, The Bone Clocks, The Turn of the Screw, Worldbuilding

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: May 3rd, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Beatriz lost everything with the death of her father. Branded a traitor he was executed and she and her mother moved in with relatives who treated them worse than slaves. When Beatriz catches the eye of Don Rodolfo Solórzano she jumps at the chance of a new beginning and a home of her own. He's well off and has a position of power in the new Provisional Government and is wealthy enough to support two residences, a house in the city and his family pulque plantation in the county. Her mother's dislike of him can be overcome in time, and as for the rumors of what happened to his first wife? She thinks little of it, which might be just what her new husband wants, someone desperate enough to not ask questions. His job keeps him in town while Beatriz will primarily reside at the Hacienda San Isidro, an arrangement that suits him perfectly. Of course Beatriz had pictured San Isidro as her husband romanticized it in stories of his childhood. She did not expect the rundown house with the verdant growth gone to rot. She also didn't expect to be dumped there. Surely a newly wedded man would want to spend time with his wife? But she is soon left alone in a hostile environment. Her sister-in-law Juana wants nothing to do with her or the house and the staff keep themselves apart. Beatriz got what she thought she wanted and is more alone than she's ever been. If she can restore San Isidro, bring the house and the gardens back to life, she can lure her mother to live with her and perhaps then she will feel less alone. But the house doesn't want this. She hears voices and sees things that cannot possibly be real. She looks to Juana for confirmation but gets none. Yet why does Juana only enter the house when she has to and only during daylight? Beatriz has nowhere to turn but the church. Padre Andrés is a newly ordained priest and he is the only one who will listen to Beatriz. He grew up at San Isidro and as soon as he returns he can tell that something is horribly wrong. This isn't the home he knew and Beatriz is right, there's danger here. Thankfully Andrés is willing to help the young bride, but as they battle San Isidro they have to battle their growing attraction and victory is not assured. Not in the least.

This book was lauded as Rebecca meets Mexican Gothic. Now I, for one, will admit that PR for a book has to always go for the biggest names, the one haunted house book with true name recognition to compare to the haunted house book they're trying to get you to pick up. It's all designed to grab our attention, and I totally fall for it. Every. Single. Time. You liked this? Well you'll love this, it's the same but better! No, it never is. Except once in a great while. Whenever I see a book compared to my beloved Rebecca I read the book and wonder if the author or the PR department had actually ever read Du Maurier's classic. And as for the Mexican Gothic comparison, after that book became a surprise hit every Gothic book coming out had to somehow be "like" it. Here's the thing though, Mexican Gothic wasn't that good, whereas this book is. Oh my, they really delivered on the "same but better." I should find those PR people and apologize for how I've always trashed them for their cunning deceptions. It's their job after all... I've even been known to do it! The reason The Hacienda beats Mexican Gothic hands down is Isabel Cañas didn't complicate this story with mushrooms and what have you. She went for the standard tropes of the Gothic genre, dead first wife, hostile family, lonely outsider newlywed, recalcitrant servants, haunted house, conflicted priest, forbidden romance, and wrote these tropes to the highest standard. There isn't much original here, but it is so well crafted, so well drawn out, that you will love it completely. The story of Beatriz is propulsive. How will she survive? I kept turning the pages late into the night. I could see it all before me and yet somehow it maintained my interest. The Hacienda has all the goodness of a true Gothic haunted house story paired with what it means to belong and want a home. And that's where it set itself above the tropes, that's where it was unique, in Beatriz's desire for a place of her own. Her family had been cast out and degraded and she took the first opportunity she had to break free. Yes, it was a dangerous decision in the end, but who wouldn't risk it all to find their place in the world? To finally feel safe? I know I would, wouldn't you?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Place to Call Home, Daphne Du Maurier, Family, Forbidden Romance, Ghosts, Going Gothic, Gothic, Haunted House, Isabel Cañas, Mexican Gothic, Mexico, PR, Priests, Pulque Plantation, Rebecca, The Hacienda, Tropes

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Published by: Tor.com
Publication Date: September 9th, 2019
Format: Kindle, 479 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Gideon wants nothing to do with the Ninth. The house is nothing more than a creepy death cult guarding a locked tomb that is quickly dying out. She wants off the planet and out of the life she's begrudgingly lived. But her countless escape plans have never worked and this newest one is no different, even if it's the closest she's ever come. She is once again stopped by her nemesis, Harrowhark Nonagesimus. Harrowhark is the scion of the Ninth. A wickedly powerful necromancer who has been puppeteering her parents corpses for years in an effort to make it look like the Ninth is still a functional house and not on it's last legs. This appearance is more important than ever as the Emperor has called all nine houses to his abandoned palace, Canaan House, to compete for the honor to become Lyctors, eternals who serve at his side. The problem is that each house has to have a cavalier, a warrior, indefatigable and unbeatable, who protects the necromancer. The only real contender for Harrowhark's cavalier is Gideon. The problem is Gideon wasn't trained for this role and more importantly she'd rather see Harrowhark dead than be the one having to save her. So Harrowhark makes a deal. They go to Canaan House, they put on the show of a lifetime, Harrowhark wins and becomes a Lyctor and Gideon gets to ride off into the sunset. Gideon doesn't like this plan. Gideon doesn't think it will work. Gideon doesn't have a choice. When they arrive at Canaan House Gideon is quickly abandoned by Harrowhark who plays up the mystique of the the Ninth House by being wreathed in shrouds and totally unavailable to Gideon. Gideon sees quite quickly that the reputation of the Ninth makes all the other houses wary of her, and yet, slowly she starts to befriend them. That's when they start dying. This Lyctor test was set up in a way that makes the suspicious houses unable to win, but amply able to die. Will Gideon even live to cash in on Harrowhark's promise or will she die screaming in agony on a distant planet? At least she won't die near the benighted locked tomb...

Me and much lauded books rarely get along. My tastes are rarely the tastes of the masses. And yet again and again I feel drawn to read them. That's how I picked up Gideon the Ninth. Though I was circumspect in that I knew it might not be for me and therefore got it from my local library. I mean, lesbian necromancers in space sounds awesome, but there was that voice saying, but is it for you? Turns out it was. But not without the reservations continuing for quite awhile. After my first night of reading I actually reached out to my friends asking them "has anyone read Gideon the Ninth? I am a die hard must finish a book and have literally only given up on one in the last decade...but this isn't catching my interest at all..." Theories ranged from it being the victim of hype to it just being very polarizing. But I refused to give up and this book is literally why I don't give up on books, aside from that one a few years back which I try not to think of. Gideon the Ninth literally took a third of the way through the book to click and when it did it became magnificent. This became the Gothic space thriller of my dreams! Teams of two pitted against each other in order to find keys to literally unlock secrets in the biggest most haunted space palace you could imagine. There were elements of The Haunting of Hill House and The Hunger Games and Rose Red! I literally was dumbfounded that the book I had bemoaned became this epic read. One of my friends was shocked it went from a possible DNF to four stars in the span of a week. I was even encouraging him to keep going because he would be surprised by what it became. Therefore I use this book as a reminder, whatever you use to cull your TBR Pile, a hundred page rule, a quarter rule, whatever, it wouldn't have worked here. Never judge a book until you read that last line, it might end up one of your favorite reads.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Cavalier, Gideon Nav, Gideon the Ninth, Going Gothic, Gothic, Harrowhark, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Haunted House, Necromancer, Rose Red, Space Opera, Tamsyn Muir, TBR, The Haunting of Hill House, The Hunger Games

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
Published by: Dutton
Publication Date: June 30th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Imagine being known your entire life as the girl who survived one the the country's most notorious haunted houses. Now imagine that notoriety is all your father's fault for publishing the experience in a book that rivaled The Amityville Horror in sales and skepticism. House of Horrors has haunted Maggie her entire life. What's more galling than the endless questions about Baneberry Hall is the fact that she can't remember anything that happened. Therefore she has grown up a skeptic. Ghosts don't exist and her father obviously made everything up as a cash grab, feathering their bank account and destroying Maggie's life and his marriage to Maggie's mother in the process. But when he dies Maggie learns a surprising fact, he never sold Baneberry Hall. He could have made a killing turning it into a tourist attraction, further incensing the ire of the locals, but instead he held onto the property. Fueled by her past Maggie has grown up smart and sensible and is a home restorer, proving on a daily basis there's nothing to fear in the walls of old houses but vermin and mold. Therefore upon learning of her windfall she does the logical thing, she returns to Baneberry Hall to assess it, fix it up, and sell it. A move that her mother begs her not to do. In fact she flat out offers to buy the house from Maggie so that she won't return to that horrible place. Her mother's insistence to stay away makes Maggie even more curious. This is nothing more than a house they're talking about. Sure it's big and rambling but there are no evil forces, because there are no such things as ghosts. Or are there? Because once in the house Maggie starts to experience what could be categorized as otherworldly phenomena. She also starts to remember what her father wrote about all those years ago. But that book can't be true can it?

I don't know why but while most people read horror around Halloween for some reason nothing says horror to me like a hot summer day with the cicadas singing. The long summer evenings where the light is still present to keep the horrors contained within the pages of a book at bay. Or pulling the shades down against the setting sun and watching a horror film before the creatures can reach out of the dark corners and worm their way into your nightmares. I devoured Home Before Dark over a few hot July nights and it easily became my book of the summer. It had everything I hope for in a book, I even got the bejesus scared out of me one night because I turned out the lights and my room was filled with a luminous glow. Turns out this book was designed by some genius graphic designers who used luminous ink on the cover. I tip my hat to you whomever made me almost crap my pants. What I particularly loved about Home Before Dark was the switching of the narrative between Maggie in the "present" and chapters from her father's book. House of Horrors was perfectly written in that it stylistically captured that specific genre of "true" hauntings from the late seventies and the early eighties. I was a kid again getting scared by a story just because it said it was "based on true events!" What's more is this book pays tribute to all the great haunted house books, in particular The Haunting of Hill House and the recent Netflix adaptation that I couldn't get enough of. In fact I think this book might make the rota of spooky books I return to again and again. Let's put it this way, this book has made Riley Sager a must read author with me only having picked up one of his four volumes in print.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Baneberry Hall, Gothic, Halloween, Haunted House, Home Before Dark, Home Restoration, House of Horrors, Netflix, Riley Sager, Shirley Jackson, The Amityville Horror, The Haunting of Hill House

Kill Creek by Scott Thomas
Published by: Inkshares
Publication Date: January 21st, 2020
Format: Kindle, 432 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy

Sam McGarver's career could use a little help. He has gotten nowhere on his new novel, spending hours watching the cursor blink on his computer screen. Sam tells himself, and his agent, that he's concentrating on his teaching and healing from his separation, but really it's because he's rattled by the past and the present making it so that he just can't move forward. In desperation he agrees to a PR stunt for the streaming service WriteWire. The founder, Wainwright, is a billionaire's son who is desperate to make his own mark on the world. He's famous for "events" that he elaborately stages and streams to his millions of viewers worldwide. Yet he longs to be taken seriously and to that end his newest endeavor is a little more pared down yet artistically thematic. He has invited four of the most distinguished horror authors to partake in a roundtable interview on Halloween in the notorious haunted house on kill creek, last owned by the Finch sisters, and immortalized in the book Phantoms of the Prairie: A True Story of Supernatural Terror. Like Sam, the three other authors have their reasons for being there, Sebastian Cole is a legend past his prime and facing irrelevance, Daniel Slaughter is losing ground with his Christian fanbase who used to devour his teen tales of terror that always ended with a morality lesson, and T.C. Moore has been cut as screenwriter from her own book's adaptation, a book ironically called Cutter. They all expect Wainwright to pull some kind of stunt. Yet despite the cutting questions it's all above board and they leave the next morning. What happens next will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

H.P. Lovecraft, R.L. Stine, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Stephen King get together at a haunted house for a PR stunt. A clever conceit that if hewed to, instead of ending up a gore filled version of Burnt Offerings, would have set a new meta benchmark in haunted house horror. But the promise of the first few chapters, of Sam's lectures being the literary equivalent of Scream, are all but forgotten as you force yourself to just get the book over and done with. All the witty banter and badinage between the four authors is so delightful that every time the book strays from the quartet Thomas's editors should have told him to cut it because anything beyond that grouping is extraneous. I started to think that being run over by a bus wouldn't be that bad a fate because then my part in this story would be over. My main problem was that while the house is the epicenter of the evil Thomas lets the evil wander a little too far afield. The house almost becomes an afterthought while it should be the focal point, the fulcrum on which the whole book hinges. When they literally just left the house halfway through the book I was yelling at them that this isn't how it's supposed to happen. Yet while this is my main problem it is far from my only problem. You can tell this is the first book Thomas has written because it feels at times so amateurish and heavy-handed. Sam's dark secret? The mystery of the third floor bedroom? I knew what was going on the second they were mentioned. And as for the number of horror films and books he just straight up rips off? If he had kept the light, meta approach, this could have been humorous, instead it felt lazy. And as for a professional photographer using an HP PhotoSmart Printer, I'm not even going to go there.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Burnt Offerings, Going Gothic, Gothic, H.P. Lovecraft, Haunted House, Kansas, Laurell K Hamilton, Meta, PR Stunt, R.L. Stine, Scream, Stephen King, Supernatural

Horseman by Christina Henry 
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: September 28th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this atmospheric, terrifying novel that draws strongly from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," the author of Alice and The Girl in Red works her trademark magic, spinning an engaging and frightening new story from a classic tale.

Everyone in Sleepy Hollow knows about the Horseman, but no one really believes in him. Not even Ben Van Brunt's grandfather, Brom Bones, who was there when it was said the Horseman chased the upstart Crane out of town. Brom says that's just legend, the village gossips talking.

More than thirty years after those storied events, the village is a quiet place. Fourteen-year-old Ben loves to play "Sleepy Hollow boys," reenacting the events Brom once lived through. But then Ben and a friend stumble across the headless body of a child in the woods near the village, and the discovery makes Ben question everything the adults in Sleepy Hollow have ever said. Could the Horseman be real after all? Or does something even more sinister stalk the woods?"

The illustration of the horse on this cover is perhaps one of my favorite cover illustrations ever. 

The Last House On Needless Street by Catriona Ward
Published by: Tor Nightfire
Publication Date: September 28th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street is a shocking and immersive read perfect for fans of Gone Girl and The Haunting of Hill House.

In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three.

A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time.

A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory.

And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible.

An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all."

The reason you should ALL read this book, does the cat do exorcisms from studying the Bible?

The House of Dust by Noah Broyles
Published by: Inkshares
Publication Date: September 28th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 445 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Deep in the heat and silence of rural Tennessee, down an untraveled road, sits the forgotten town of Three Summers. Mere miles away, on an overgrown river island, stands the house that once presided over the grand plantation of Angel's Landing, moss-draped, decrepit. Waiting.

Failing crime writer Bradley Ellison and former prostitute Missy Holiday are drawn to this place, fleeing a world turned against them. For Brad, it is work - he must find a compelling story before the true-crime magazine he writes for judges him expendable. For Missy, it is recuperation - four years at the club have left her drained.

But the price of peace is high, and soon Brad and Missy discover that something hides behind the quiet. Something moves in the night. Something that manifests itself in bizarre symbols and disturbing funeral rites. Something that twists back through time and clings in the dust of the ancient house. A presence they must uncover before their own past catches up with them."

If you haven't noticed by now, I LOVE haunted house books! 

Murder at the Royal Botanic Gardens by Andrea Penrose
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: September 28th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The upcoming marriage of the Earl of Wrexford and Lady Charlotte Sloane promises to be a highlight of the season, if they can first untangle - and survive - a web of intrigue and murder involving the most brilliant scientific minds in Regency London...

A thrilling new mystery novel from the acclaimed author of Murder at Queen’s Landing, perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn and Anne Perry! The wedding of the Earl of Wrexford and Lady Charlotte Sloane is not-to-be-missed, but the murder of a brilliant London scientist threatens their plans - and their lives...

One advantage of being caught up in a whirl of dress fittings and decisions about flower arrangements and breakfast menus is that Charlotte Sloane has little time for any pre-wedding qualms. Her love for Wrexford isn’t in question. But will being a wife - and a Countess - make it difficult for her to maintain her independence - not to mention, her secret identity as famed satirical artist A.J. Quill?

Despite those concerns, there are soon even more urgent matters to attend to during Charlotte and Wrexford’s first public outing as an engaged couple. At a symposium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, a visiting botanist suffers a fatal collapse. The traces of white powder near his mouth reveal the dark truth - he was murdered. Drawn into the investigation, Charlotte and the Earl learn of the victim’s involvement in a momentous medical discovery. With fame and immense fortune at stake, there’s no shortage of suspects, including some whose ruthlessness is already known. But neither Charlotte nor her husband-to-be can realize how close the danger is about to get - or to what lengths this villain is prepared to go..."

I have been on a huge Regency kick lately!

Mistletoe Christmas by Eloisa James, Christi Caldwell, Janna MacGregor, and Erica Ridley 
Published by: Avon
Publication Date: September 28th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 480 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From four beloved writers - Eloisa James, Christi Caldwell, Janna MacGregor, and Erica Ridley - come four original stories that tell a hilarious tale of a Christmas house party that serves up love and scandal in equal measure!

The Duke of Greystoke’s Christmas Revelry is famous throughout the British Isles for its plays, dancing, magical grotto... not to mention scandals leading to the marriage licenses he hands out like confetti.

But not everyone welcomes a visit from Cupid.

Lady Cressida, the duke’s daughter, is too busy managing the entertainments - and besides, her own father has called her dowdy. Her cousin, Lady Isabelle Wilkshire, is directing Cinderella and has no interest in marriage. Lady Caroline Whitmore is already (unhappily) married; the fact that she and her estranged husband have to pretend to be together just makes her dread the party all the more. But not as much as Miss Louisa Harcourt, whose mother bluntly tells her that this is her last chance to escape the horrors of being an old maid.

A house party so large that mothers lose track of their charges leads to a delightful, seductive quartet of stories that you will savor for the Season!"

Again, have I said recently how I'm on a Regency kick? Oh, and it might be September, but it's never too soon to be thinking about Christmas! 

Chapter and Curse by Elizabeth Penney
Published by: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Publication Date: September 28th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Elizabeth Penney's Chapter and Curse is the first in a brand new cozy series introducing Molly Kimball and set in one of the oldest bookshops in Cambridge, England..."

It's set in Cambridge. In England. I'm in.

Murder Outside the Lines by Krista Davis 
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: September 28th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Includes A Front and Back Cover for You to Color!

With Halloween just around the corner, the fall colors in Georgetown are brilliant. As manager of the Color Me Read bookstore, coloring book creator Florrie Fox has arranged for psychic author Hilda Rattenhorst to read from Spooktacular Ghost Stories. But the celebrity medium arrives for the event in hysterics, insisting she just saw a bare foot sticking out of a rolled-up carpet in a nearby alley. Is someone trying to sweep murder under the rug? Florrie calls in her policeman beau, Sergeant Eric Jonquille, but the carpet corpse has disappeared without a trace.

Then in the middle of her reading, Hilda chillingly declares that she feels the killer's presence in the store. Is this a publicity stunt or a genuine psychic episode? It seems there's no happy medium. When a local bibliophile is soon discovered missing, a strange mystery begins to unroll. Now it's up to Florrie and Jonquille to expose a killer's true colors..."

I just LOVE that this is taking the adult coloring book craze to the next level! 

The Ice Coven by Max Seeck 
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: September 28th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Investigator Jessica Niemi is in a race against time to find the link between a body with strange markings that has washed up on a frigid shore in Finland and two baffling disappearances in this terrifying new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch Hunter.

Six months have passed since Jessica's encounter with the mysterious serial-killing coven of witches and the death of her mentor. Her nightmares about her mother and the witchcraft that undid her have only gotten worse, but she's doing what she can to stay focused. Her homicide squad, now under new leadership, has been given a murder case and a new series of disappearances to investigate. A young woman's corpse has washed up on an icy beach, and two famous Instagram influencers have gone missing at the same time.

The missing influencers and the murdered woman all have ties to a sinister cult. Jessica finds an eerie painting - of a lighthouse on a remote island - as she investigates, and under the picture is a gruesome poem detailing a murder. The nightmares about her mother suddenly seem all too real, making Jessica wonder if the dead woman might be trying to tell her something about the killings. And as Jessica works frantically to solve her latest case, her horrific past comes roaring back and threatens to destroy her."

Scandi witches!!!

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik
Published by: Del Rey
Publication Date: September 28th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The specter of graduation looms large as Naomi Novik’s groundbreaking, New York Times bestselling trilogy continues in the stunning sequel to A Deadly Education.

In Wisdom, Shelter. That’s the official motto of the Scholomance. I suppose you could even argue that it’s true - only the wisdom is hard to come by, so the shelter’s rather scant.

Our beloved school does its best to devour all its students - but now that I’ve reached my senior year and have actually won myself a handful of allies, it’s suddenly developed a very particular craving for me. And even if I somehow make it through the endless waves of maleficaria that it keeps throwing at me in between grueling homework assignments, I haven’t any idea how my allies and I are going to make it through the graduation hall alive.

Unless, of course, I finally accept my foretold destiny of dark sorcery and destruction. That would certainly let me sail straight out of here. The course of wisdom, surely.

But I’m not giving in - not to the mals, not to fate, and especially not to the Scholomance. I’m going to get myself and my friends out of this hideous place for good - even if it’s the last thing I do.

With keen insight and mordant humor, Novik reminds us that sometimes it is not enough to rewrite the rules - sometimes, you need to toss out the entire rulebook.

The magic of the Scholomance trilogy will continue in 2022."

The trilogy will continue in 2022? I like series with a definitive release date. 

Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson
Published by: HarperTeen
Publication Date: September 28th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 512 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection!

It’s a new star-crossed romance about the magic of first love from the acclaimed author of We Are the Ants and Brave Face, Shaun David Hutchinson.

Jack Nevin’s clever trickery and moral flexibility make him the perfect assistant to the Enchantress, one of the most well-known stage magicians in turn-of-the-nineteenth-century Europe. Without Jack’s steady supply of stolen tricks, the Enchantress’s fame would have burned out long ago.

But when Jack’s thievery catches up to them, they’re forced to flee to America to find their fortune. Luckily, the Enchantress is able to arrange a set of sold-out shows at Seattle’s Alaska–Yukon–Pacific World’s Fair Exposition. She’s convinced they’re going to rich and famous until a new magician arrives on the scene. Performing tricks that defy the imagination, Laszlo’s show overshadows the Enchantress, leaving Jack no choice but to hunt for the secrets to his otherworldly illusions. But what Jack uncovers isn’t at all what he expected.

Behind Laszlo’s tricks is Wilhelm - a boy that can seemingly perform real magic. Jack and Wilhelm have an instant connection, and as the rivalry between the Enchantress and Laszlo grows, so too does Jack and Wilhelm’s affection. But can Jack choose between the woman who gave him a life and the boy who is offering him everything?

It’s a stirring tale about the magic of love from award-winning author Shaun David Hutchinson."

Seeing as people I know and trust have been demanding I put down everything I'm doing and read this book I thought I should pass on this advice to you. 

Celebrate with Kim-Joy by Kim-Joy
Published by: Quadrille Publishing
Publication Date: September 28th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 192 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Let Kim-Joy and her signature cuteness brighten your celebrations. From birthday cakes to year-round events, all occasions are covered!

The 60 sweet recipes are bursting with color, imagination and fun and there's something for everyone, no matter what their baking skills.

Big occasions include birthdays, Valentine's Day, Halloween, Christmas, weddings; and there are plenty of other celebrations too - Graduation Day, New Year's, new baby, Pride, Thanksgiving, Day of the Dead, Pancake Day and many more.

Vegan and gluten-free alternatives are provided so that no one needs to miss out!

This joyful collection of recipes includes all the step-by-step photography, clear instructions and words of positivity you need to learn to bake and decorate just like Kim-Joy."

I TOTALLY want to celebrate with Kim-Joy!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Andrea Penrose, Catriona Ward, Christina Henry, Elizabeth Penney, Eloisa James, GBBO, Haunted House, Kim-Joy, Krista Davis, Max Seeck, Naomi Novik, Noah Broyles, Regency, Shaun David Hutchinson, Sleepy Hollow

When Sorrows Come by Seanan McGuire
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: September 14th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Toby's getting married! Now in hardcover, the fifteenth novel of the Hugo-nominated, New York Times-bestselling October Daye urban fantasy series.

It's hard to be a hero. There's always something needing October "Toby" Daye's attention, and her own desires tend to fall by the wayside in favor of solving the Kingdom's problems. That includes the desire to marry her long-time suitor and current fiancé, Tybalt, San Francisco's King of Cats. She doesn't mean to keep delaying the wedding, it just sort of... happens. And that's why her closest friends have taken the choice out of her hands, ambushing her with a court wedding at the High Court in Toronto. Once the High King gets involved, there's not much even Toby can do to delay things...

...except for getting involved in stopping a plot to overthrow the High Throne itself, destabilizing the Westlands entirely, and keeping her from getting married through nothing more than the sheer volume of chaos it would cause. Can Toby save the Westlands and make it to her own wedding on time? Or is she going to have to choose one over the other?

Includes an all-new bonus novella!"

Even a pandemic doesn't stop Seanan churning out the bestsellers!

Slewfoot by Brom
Published by: Tor Nightfire
Publication Date: September 14th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Set in Colonial New England, Slewfoot is a tale of magic and mystery, of triumph and terror as only dark fantasist Brom can tell it.

Connecticut, 1666.

An ancient spirit awakens in a dark wood. The wildfolk call him Father, slayer, protector.

The colonists call him Slewfoot, demon, devil.

To Abitha, a recently widowed outcast, alone and vulnerable in her pious village, he is the only one she can turn to for help.

Together, they ignite a battle between pagan and Puritan - one that threatens to destroy the entire village, leaving nothing but ashes and bloodshed in their wake.

"If it is a devil you seek, then it is a devil you shall have!"

This terrifying tale of bewitchery features more than two dozen of Brom’s haunting paintings, fully immersing readers in this wild and unforgiving world."

As fall comes upon us, be sure to pick up this book by Brom!

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date: September 14th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Haunting of Hill House meets Get Out in this chilling YA psychological thriller and modern take on the classic haunted house story from New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson!

Marigold is running from ghosts. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting her, but a move with her newly blended family from their small California beach town to the embattled Midwestern city of Cedarville might be the fresh start she needs. Her mom has accepted a new job with the Sterling Foundation that comes with a free house, one that Mari now has to share with her bratty ten-year-old stepsister, Piper.

The renovated picture-perfect home on Maple Street, sitting between dilapidated houses, surrounded by wary neighbors has its... secrets. That’s only half the problem: household items vanish, doors open on their own, lights turn off, shadows walk past rooms, voices can be heard in the walls, and there’s a foul smell seeping through the vents only Mari seems to notice. Worse: Piper keeps talking about a friend who wants Mari gone.

But "running from ghosts" is just a metaphor, right?

As the house closes in, Mari learns that the danger isn’t limited to Maple Street. Cedarville has its secrets, too. And secrets always find their way through the cracks."

A new take on the classic haunted house!?! I'm in!

My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa
Published by: Berkley Books
Publication Date: September 14th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Paloma thought her perfect life would begin once she was adopted and made it to America, but she's about to find out that no matter how far you run, your past always catches up to you...

Ever since she was adopted from a Sri Lankan orphanage, Paloma has had the best of everything - schools, money, and parents so perfect that she fears she'll never live up to them.

Now at thirty years old and recently cut off from her parents' funds, she decides to sublet the second bedroom of her overpriced San Francisco apartment to Arun, who recently moved from India. Paloma has to admit, it feels good helping someone find their way in America - that is until Arun discovers Paloma's darkest secret, one that could jeopardize her own fragile place in this country.

Before Paloma can pay Arun off, she finds him face down in a pool of blood. She flees the apartment but by the time the police arrive, there's no body - and no evidence that Arun ever even existed in the first place.

Paloma is terrified this is all somehow tangled up in the desperate actions she took to escape Sri Lanka so many years ago. Did Paloma's secret die with Arun or is she now in greater danger than ever before?"

Disappearing body AND set in San Francisco? Hells yes!

Farewell Blues by Maggie Robinson
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: September 14th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Society Scandal of the Season...

Lady Adelaide Compton had prepared herself to say goodbye forever to Detective Inspector Devenand Hunter. It would be a welcome relief not to get mixed up in any more murders, even if it meant never working alongside the handsome detective again... wouldn't it?

But then Addie's prim and proper mother, Constance, the Dowager Marchioness of Broughton, is accused of murdering her secret lover, and there can't be enough gentlemen detectives on hand to find the truth. The dead Duke of Rufford appeared to lead a blameless life, but appearances can be deceiving. And unless Addie and Dev work together, Constance will hang - which is no one's idea of a happy ending."

A murder mystery with class!

Alma Presses Play by Tina Cane
Published by: Make Me a World
Publication Date: September 14th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A lyrical novel-in-verse that takes us through the journey of coming of age in New York during the 80s.

Alma's life is a series of halfways: She's half-Chinese, half-Jewish; her parents spend half the time fighting, and the other half silent; and she's halfway through becoming a woman. But as long as she can listen to her Walkman, hang out with her friends on the stoops of the Village, and ride her bike around the streets of New York, it feels like everything will be all right. Then comes the year when everything changes, and her life is overtaken by constant endings: friends move away, romances bloom and wither, her parents divorce and - just like that - her life as she knew it is over. In this world of confusing beginnings, middles, and endings, is Alma ready to press play on the soundtrack of her life?"

The 80s in my happy place.

Kevin Smith's Secret Stash by Kevin Smith
Published by: Insight Editions
Publication Date: September 14th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
""Being Kevin Smith is my favorite thing in the world.... I don’t have a job. I don’t even have a career anymore. I’m just me for a living."

Making the leap from convenience store worker to international film icon, Kevin Smith has spent over twenty-five years at the forefront of pop culture. In this hilariously candid treasure trove of artifacts and anecdotes, Kevin tells the full story of his incredible life for the first time, from his early days in Highlands, New Jersey, through to the breakout success of low-budget indie smash Clerks in 1994, and the series of hit films that allowed him to build his own cinematic "View Askewniverse."

• THE STORY OF KEVIN SMITH, TOLD BY KEVIN HIMSELF: Both funny and confessional, Kevin Smith’s Secret Stash sees the director hold forth on all aspects of his career, including his live shows and podcasts, plus his comics and television work, such as the hit AMC show Comic Book Men.

• NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN TREASURES: This deluxe volume is illustrated with a wealth of rare and never-before-seen items from Kevin’s personal archives, including script pages, personal letters, and concept art from beloved movies including Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Red State, Tusk, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, and more. It also features a range of special pullout features exclusive to the book, including Kevin’s application to film school and comic art from Chasing Amy.

• SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS: In addition to a foreword from Kevin’s longtime collaborator and friend Jason Mewes, the book includes contributions from J. J. Abrams, Ben Affleck, Marc Bernardin, Ming Chen, Shannon Elizabeth, Walt Flanagan, Ralph Garman, Mark Hamill, Bryan Johnson, David Klein, Justin Long, Scott Mosier, Brian O’Halloran, Seth Rogen, Jennifer Schwalbach-Smith, and Harley Quinn Smith.

• OWN THE ULTIMATE KEVIN SMITH TRIBUTE: Definitive, revelatory, and packed with exclusive surprises, Kevin Smith’s Secret Stash is the book fans have been waiting for and a must-have for pop culture aficionados everywhere."

This makes me want to do a deep dive back into the View Askewniverse!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 80s, Amanda Jayatissa, Brom, Haunted House, Kevin Smith, Kevin Smith's Secret Stash, Maggie Robinson, Mallrats, October Daye, Seanan McGuire, Slewfoot, Tiffany D. Jackson, Tina Cane

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
Published by: Dutton
Publication Date: June 30th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Imagine being known your entire life as the girl who survived one the the country's most notorious haunted houses. Now imagine that notoriety is all your father's fault for publishing the experience in a book that rivaled The Amityville Horror in sales and skepticism. House of Horrors has haunted Maggie her entire life. What's more galling than the endless questions about Baneberry Hall is the fact that she can't remember anything that happened. Therefore she has grown up a skeptic. Ghosts don't exist and her father obviously made everything up as a cash grab, feathering their bank account and destroying Maggie's life and his marriage to Maggie's mother in the process. But when he dies Maggie learns a surprising fact, he never sold Baneberry Hall. He could have made a killing turning it into a tourist attraction, further incensing the ire of the locals, but instead he held onto the property. Fueled by her past Maggie has grown up smart and sensible and is a home restorer, proving on a daily basis there's nothing to fear in the walls of old houses but vermin and mold. Therefore upon learning of her windfall she does the logical thing, she returns to Baneberry Hall to assess it, fix it up, and sell it. A move that her mother begs her not to do. In fact she flat out offers to buy the house from Maggie so that she won't return to that horrible place. Her mother's insistence to stay away makes Maggie even more curious. This is nothing more than a house they're talking about. Sure it's big and rambling but there are no evil forces, because there are no such things as ghosts. Or are there? Because once in the house Maggie starts to experience what could be categorized as otherworldly phenomena. She also starts to remember what her father wrote about all those years ago. But that book can't be true can it?

I don't know why but while most people read horror around Halloween for some reason nothing says horror to me like a hot summer day with the cicadas singing. The long summer evenings where the light is still present to keep the horrors contained within the pages of a book at bay. Or pulling the shades down against the setting sun and watching a horror film before the creatures can reach out of the dark corners and worm their way into your nightmares. I devoured Home Before Dark over a few hot July nights and it easily became my book of the summer. It had everything I hope for in a book, I even got the bejesus scared out of me one night because I turned out the lights and my room was filled with a luminous glow. Turns out this book was designed by some genius graphic designers who used luminous ink on the cover. I tip my hat to you whomever made me almost crap my pants. What I particularly loved about Home Before Dark was the switching of the narrative between Maggie in the "present" and chapters from her father's book. House of Horrors was perfectly written in that it stylistically captured that specific genre of "true" hauntings from the late seventies and the early eighties. I was a kid again getting scared by a story just because it said it was "based on true events!" What's more is this book pays tribute to all the great haunted house books, in particular The Haunting of Hill House and the recent Netflix adaptation that I couldn't get enough of. In fact I think this book might make the rota of spooky books I return to again and again. Let's put it this way, this book has made Riley Sager a must read author with me only having picked up one of his four volumes in print.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Baneberry Hall, Gothic, Halloween, Haunted House, Home Before Dark, Home Restoration, House of Horrors, Netflix, Riley Sager, Shirley Jackson, The Amityville Horror, The Haunting of Hill House

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Published by: Tor.com
Publication Date: September 9th, 2019
Format: Kindle, 479 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Gideon wants nothing to do with the Ninth. The house is nothing more than a creepy death cult guarding a locked tomb that is quickly dying out. She wants off the planet and out of the life she's begrudgingly lived. But her countless escape plans have never worked and this newest one is no different, even if it's the closest she's ever come. She is once again stopped by her nemesis, Harrowhark Nonagesimus. Harrowhark is the scion of the Ninth. A wickedly powerful necromancer who has been puppeteering her parents corpses for years in an effort to make it look like the Ninth is still a functional house and not on it's last legs. This appearance is more important than ever as the Emperor has called all nine houses to his abandoned palace, Canaan House, to compete for the honor to become Lyctors, eternals who serve at his side. The problem is that each house has to have a cavalier, a warrior, indefatigable and unbeatable, who protects the necromancer. The only real contender for Harrowhark's cavalier is Gideon. The problem is Gideon wasn't trained for this role and more importantly she'd rather see Harrowhark dead than be the one having to save her. So Harrowhark makes a deal. They go to Canaan House, they put on the show of a lifetime, Harrowhark wins and becomes a Lyctor and Gideon gets to ride off into the sunset. Gideon doesn't like this plan. Gideon doesn't think it will work. Gideon doesn't have a choice. When they arrive at Canaan House Gideon is quickly abandoned by Harrowhark who plays up the mystique of the the Ninth House by being wreathed in shrouds and totally unavailable to Gideon. Gideon sees quite quickly that the reputation of the Ninth makes all the other houses wary of her, and yet, slowly she starts to befriend them. That's when they start dying. This Lyctor test was set up in a way that makes the suspicious houses unable to win, but amply able to die. Will Gideon even live to cash in on Harrowhark's promise or will she die screaming in agony on a distant planet? At least she won't die near the benighted locked tomb...

Me and much lauded books rarely get along. My tastes are rarely the tastes of the masses. And yet again and again I feel drawn to read them. That's how I picked up Gideon the Ninth. Though I was circumspect in that I knew it might not be for me and therefore got it from my local library. I mean, lesbian necromancers in space sounds awesome, but there was that voice saying, but is it for you? Turns out it was. But not without the reservations continuing for quite awhile. After my first night of reading I actually reached out to my friends asking them "has anyone read Gideon the Ninth? I am a die hard must finish a book and have literally only given up on one in the last decade...but this isn't catching my interest at all..." Theories ranged from it being the victim of hype to it just being very polarizing. But I refused to give up and this book is literally why I don't give up on books, aside from that one a few years back which I try not to think of. Gideon the Ninth literally took a third of the way through the book to click and when it did it became magnificent. This became the Gothic space thriller of my dreams! Teams of two pitted against each other in order to find keys to literally unlock secrets in the biggest most haunted space palace you could imagine. There were elements of The Haunting of Hill House and The Hunger Games and Rose Red! I literally was dumbfounded that the book I had bemoaned became this epic read. One of my friends was shocked it went from a possible DNF to four stars in the span of a week. I was even encouraging him to keep going because he would be surprised by what it became. Therefore I use this book as a reminder, whatever you use to cull your TBR Pile, a hundred page rule, a quarter rule, whatever, it wouldn't have worked here. Never judge a book until you read that last line, it might end up one of your favorite reads.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Cavalier, Gideon Nav, Gideon the Ninth, Gothic, Harrowhark, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Haunted House, Necromancer, Rose Red, Space Opera, Tamsyn Muir, TBR, The Haunting of Hill House, The Hunger Games