strange and random happenstance

The St. Ambrose School for Girls by Jessica Ward
Published by: Entangled: Gallery Books
Publication Date: July 11th, 2023
Format: Kindle, 368 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

St. Ambrose School for Girls has two types of girls, the ones who play sports, and the ones who dress like getting a date is their sport even though there are no boys around to compete over. Sarah Taylor's black wardrobe and matte dyed black hair are tailor made to repel either type of girl. It's better to be the one who shuts the door than the one who gets the door shut in their face. But that doesn't mean she won't be subjected to petty pranks inflicted for fun by Queen Bee Greta Stanhope and her backup band of suck-ups. What looks like minor injuries to others have the potential to be bombs that do structural damage, creating ragged gaps in Sarah's ability to function that she doesn't have the resources to patch. Because Sarah is walking a tightrope. She's on lithium to keep herself regulated, to make sure she doesn't try to eat an entire bottle of Tylenol again. She has been diagnosed as bipolar with mania and when she crashes she crashes hard. So while St. Ambrose might be a fresh start it is also a proving ground. Thankfully she has an ally, her roommate, Ellen "Strots" Strotsberry, a superstar athlete whose parents' funds the school will do anything to keep flowing, even looking the other way as Strots smokes in her room while extinguishing the butts in her soda bottles. While Strots might be sporty, the fact that she is a lesbian makes her an outsider. Her and Sarah are different, there is no place for them in this world and that means that they must band together. And Strots has had her run-ins with Greta. But Greta will soon will be dethroned as her battered body is found on school grounds. Everyone had a reason to want Greta gone, but soon the Hot RA, Nick Hollis, becomes the prime suspect. Nick has helped Sarah and she doesn't want to believe that he is capable of this crime so she starts digging. The danger though is that it brings out the worst in her, sleuthing is food for the caged beast of her illness, the possibilities and permutations nothing but raw meat dangled just outside of the bars, enticing and somewhat necessary for its survival. She has to trust her instincts but what happens when your illness has taken away all your credibility?

This is a different kind of dark academia. The St. Ambrose School for Girls is about the stifling and deadly environment of a girls boarding school. And for those who doubt just how dangerous teenage girls are, well, you obviously weren't raised a girl. There is no group crueler or more deadly. Doubt me, watch Yellowjackets sometime, it's more documentary than drama. And thrust into this hive is poor Sarah. Sarah is compelling on so many levels. I can see why some people didn't like this book, being in Sarah's head is a lot to handle. But at the same time it's fascinating, there are parts of her that are like any teenage girl, the rambling intrusive thoughts we all get, the loves and lusts. Who amongst us hasn't fallen for a teacher or TA or RA? As a young student it's usually a safe crush, because the majority of humans aren't creeps willing to exploit that. But this is dark academia... So of course the Hot RA is going to be a creep. She really should have guessed though with him letting her read his copy of American Psycho. I mean. I think that's a red flag. Though it's Sarah's thought processes surrounding Nick that I so relate to, how she wants Greta to want him and never have him. How Nick had become a talisman that recalibrated her life. Haven't you gotten to class early or stayed late just to see the object of your affection? And then, when reality reasserts itself and it's not the object of your affection that you miss but the fantasies as much as if you had had a relationship. What you ascribe to said crush versus what they really are. The scales fall from your eyes and you see the truth. But for Sarah truth is hard. It's not just that she's an unreliable narrator because she wants to deceive, she's an unreliable narrator because her brain chemistry makes her so. The meds that keep her functional also take away something from her. It's a balancing act to find the real her, the her she wants to be, and what her meds will let her be. And it's the meds actually that I find the most unrealistic sticking point. This takes place in the early nineties, so Sarah is about two years older than me. While I didn't go to a boarding school we did have two overnight school trips. I had allergy medicine that I had to take as we were at an outdoor education center. The meds were kept under such tight control they had to be kept in a locked drawer in a locked room and you're telling me that Sarah was allowed to monitor and keep lithium on her person!?! Yeah. I don't buy. That would have been given to her daily by the school nurse. I buy everything else, but this? Nope. It's too much of a liability for the school. Slightly more dangerous than an RA with previous form.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: American Psycho, Bipolar, Boarding School, Dark Academia, Greta Stanhope, Hot RA, Jessica Ward, Medication, Murder, Queen Bee, Sarah Taylor, Summer School, The St. Ambrose School for Girls, Unreliable Narrator, Yellowjackets

We Are the Beasts by Gigi Griffis
Published by: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: December 10th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Deaths and disappearances pile up as a mysterious beast stalks the French countryside and two girls seize an unlikely opportunity that just might save them all - or serve them up on a platter.

Step into this chilling, historical horror inspired by the unsolved mystery of the Beast of Gévaudan.

When a series of brutal, mysterious deaths start plaguing the countryside and whispers of a beast in the mountains reach the quiet French hamlet of Mende, most people believe it's a curse - God's punishment for their sins.

But to sixteen-year-old Joséphine and her best friend, Clara, the beast isn't a curse. It's an opportunity.

For years, the girls of Mende have been living in a nightmare - fathers who drink, brothers who punch, homes that feel like prisons - and this is a chance to get them out.

Using the creature's attacks as cover, Joséphine and Clara set out to fake their friends' deaths and hide them away until it's safe to run. But escape is harder than they thought. If they can't brave a harsh winter with little food... If the villagers discover what they're doing... If the beast finds them first...

Those fake deaths might just become real ones."

You gotta take what opportunities you're given!

What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: December 10th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Yellowjackets meets Girl, Interrupted when a group of troubled teens in a wilderness therapy program find themselves stranded in a forest full of monsters eager to take their place.

Devin Green wakes in the middle of the night to find two men in her bedroom. No stranger to a fight, she calls to her foster parents for help, but it soon becomes clear this is a planned abduction - one everyone but Devin signed up for. She's shoved in a van and driven deep into the Idaho woods, where she's dropped off with a cohort of equally confused teens. Finally, two camp counselors inform them that they've all been enrolled in an experimental therapy program. If the campers can learn to change their self-destructive ways - and survive a fifty-days hike through the wilderness - they'll come out the other side as better versions of themselves. Or so the counselors say.

Devin is immediately determined to escape. She's also determined to ignore Sheridan, the cruel-mouthed, lavender-haired bully who mocks every group exercise. But there's something strange about these woods - inhuman faces appearing between the trees, visions of people who shouldn't be there flashing in the leaves - and when the campers wake up to find both counselors missing, therapy becomes the least of their problems. Stranded and left to fend for themselves, the teens quickly realize they'll have to trust each other if they want to survive. But what lies in the woods may not be as dangerous as what the campers are hiding from each other - and if the monsters have their way, no one will leave the woods alive.

Atmospheric and sharp, What the Woods Took is a poignant story of transformation that explores the price of becoming someone - or something - new."

As long as there isn't cannibalism right? 

The Intruders by Louise Jensen
Published by: HQ
Publication Date: December 10th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"They were told to leave. They should have listened.

The perfect opportunity...

A manor house available rent-free to house-sitters is an offer too good to miss for Cass and James, who have been saving for a deposit on their own home for so long.

Although it had been abandoned for almost thirty years, after a home invasion left almost all the inhabitants dead, it is an amazing chance for them to build their future.

But is it worth the price?

Shortly after moving in things take a sinister turn. Objects disappear and turn up in odd places, the clock always stops at the same time, the house is strangely oppressive and sometimes it feels like Cass and James are not alone.

Newington House may have bad energy, and a dark reputation. But surely there's no reason for history to repeat itself, is there?"

I don't think I'd say cause it's rent-free... Now if I got the house for staying that might be a different matter...

Pretty Dead Things by Lilian West
Published by: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: December 10th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A bride-to-be's discovery of long-lost wedding rings at an estate sale reveals the key to a decades-old cold case in a small-town mystery perfect for fans of Louise Penny.

2024. Recently-engaged city girl Cora is new to the small town of Hickory Falls. Still adjusting to the change in pace, she's delighted when she stumbles upon a quaint estate sale. Drawn in by the knickknacks, she buys a jar of colorful baubles and is surprised to find two rings at the bottom of the jar. When she innocently sets out to find the original owner of the rings, she instead stumbles upon a decades-old mystery.

1953. Clarity Grey should've known better than to get involved with a married man, but their connection went too deep to ignore. When he divorces his wife for her, they marry, and she gets the family life she's always dreamed of, with a new stepdaughter and a child of her own. But just as suddenly, her new life slips out of her hands when she simply vanishes, never to be seen or heard of again.

Clarity is labeled as flakey and a homewrecker, so nobody in town takes her disappearance seriously - until Cora, seventy years later.

Told in dual timelines, this engrossing novel exposes one family's secrets and the twisted lies that are hidden in small towns."

Jumble sales to the rescue of cold cases!

The Birdcage Library by Freya Berry
Published by: Union Square and Co.
Publication Date: December 10th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Spanning Gilded Age New York society to the 1930s Scottish Highlands, this Gothic novel is a mystery within a mystery, featuring a compelling heroine, an engrossing puzzle with fiendish clues, and not one but three big twists.

It's 1932: Scottish adventuress and plant-hunter (and surviving twin) Emily Blackwood, now living in Australia, accepts a commission from Heinrich Vogel, a former dealer of exotic animals in Manhattan. Vogel now lives with his macabre collection of taxidermy in a remote Scottish castle. Emily is tasked with finding a long-lost treasure that Heinrich believes has been hidden within the castle walls. But instead, she discovers the pages of a diary written by Hester Vogel, who died after falling from the Brooklyn Bridge on the eve of its opening in 1883. Hester's diary leads Emily to an old book, The Birdcage Library, and into a treasure hunt of another kind - one that will take her down a dangerous path for clues, and force her to confront her own darkest secret..."

I mean, you can't overstate how important rare birds were once upon a time. Mainly for their feathers and as specimens to show off your wealth... But still, important!

No Ordinary Duchess by Elizabeth Hoyt
Published by: Forever
Publication Date: December 10th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From a New York Times bestselling author, the much-anticipated third novel in the Greycourt series.

Cold and brooding, Julian Greycourt, the heir to the Windemere dukedom, has always known that his uncle the duke was responsible for his mother's death. Now he's determined to exact revenge against his uncle - if he can find the proof. But Julian hides a secret so explosive it will destroy him if it's ever revealed, and the duke is watching. The last thing he needs is a distractingly sensual woman whose very presence threatens to destroy his plans.

Sunny and cheerful, Lady Elspeth de Moray doesn't know why her brother and Julian fell out all those years ago, but she can't let the autocratic man get in the way of her mission: to retrieve an ancient family text that she believes is in one of the Windemere libraries. Locating the tome, however, proves trickier than she anticipated, and at each turn, she's thrown together with the maddingly mysterious Julian. And the temptation to give in to her family's greatest enemy grows stronger with each intriguing encounter..."

So much yes!

UPROAR!: Staire, Scandal and Printmakers in Georgian London by Alice Loxton
Published by: Icon Books
Publication Date: December 10th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"London, 1772: a young artist called Thomas Rowlandson is making his way through the grimy backstreets of the capital, on his way to begin his studies at the Royal Academy Schools. Within a few years, James Gillray and Isaac Cruikshank would join him in Piccadilly, turning satire into an artform, taking on the British establishment, and forever changing the way we view power.

Set against a backdrop of royal madness, political intrigue, the birth of modern celebrity, French revolution, American independence and the Napoleonic Wars, UPROAR! follows the satirists as they lampoon those in power, from the Prince Regent to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Their prints and illustrations deconstruct the political and social landscape with surreal and razor-sharp wit, as the three men vie with each other to create the most iconic images of the day.

Alice Loxton's writing fizzes with energy on every page, and never fails to convince us that Gillray and his gang profoundly altered British humor, setting the stage for everything from Gilbert and Sullivan to Private Eye and Spitting Image today. This is a book that will cause readers to reappraise everything they think they know about genteel Georgian London, and see it for what it was - a time of UPROAR!"

The rise of the political print was so influential that it has its own section in British history. And I argue it should also have its own section in art history...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alice Loxton, Beast of Gévaudan, Birds, Courtney Gould, Elizabeth Hoyt, France, Freya Berry, Georgian London, Gigi Griffis, Gilded Age, Greycourt, Lilian West, Louise Jensen, Manor House, Printmaking, Yellowjackets

When Queen Charlotte was announced I honestly think that I was more excited to see it than I was another season of Bridgerton. I have many issues with Bridgerton. Many. Mostly musical. In fact almost none of my issues involve the cast, which is lucky because several of them appear in Queen Charlotte as a "current" framing device, which honestly, aside from two heartbreaking scenes in the final episode they could have done without. But I have a feeling Shonda Rhimes might be playing the long game and was sneaking in a backdoor pilot to a new series starring Lady Danbury and Violet Bridgerton. Because as Lady Danbury so succinctly puts it, the likes of Lady Whistedown don't talk about the likes of them. Older women and their needs and their stories aren't talked about, they are fed on gossip and forgotten, which I heartily agree with and will agree with even faster if I never have to hear about euphemistic gardens ever again. As for the rest of the show? I'm of two minds. Part of me loved every single second of it, they obviously had a bigger budget, which apparently couldn't stretch to original music, please, seriously, stop it with the bad covers, but another part of me is seriously questioning the underlying meaning of the show. While this show is all about love conquering all, even mental illness, there's this other message that everything is in service to the King. The Queen loves the King, that I do not doubt, but her way of sacrificing all else for him means that she lost out on connecting with her children. She is a good Queen, but not a good mother, which is where the "current" storyline is important. But it undercuts this message that love conquers all. The dynastic push that George will live on is heartbreaking because it takes the journey we've been on and makes it transactional. Get wife get heir. And while their story starts out that way they find love. We don't see this happening with any of her children, which is why I think they should have been left out. The vision would have been clearer had they taken one concept and told it perfectly. And that one concept should have been love conquers all. Because Charlotte's love for George is all that matters in the end, much like George's mother loves him, and in a wonderful secondary plot how Brimsley loves Reynolds. This is what matters, love. And hella amazing acting. Seriously, I know Yellowjackets has really raised the bar on casting when it comes to the same character at different ages, but I really think that India Amarteifio takes it to a whole other level. I think that she and Golda Rosheuvel might be the same person at different ages. It's uncanny. But in the end, would I watch another season? Again, more willingly than Bridgerton but honestly I'm more excited to read the book and see how Julia Quinn put her spin on it.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: And the Emmy Goes To, Bridgerton, Brimsley, Dynasty, George III, Golda Rosheuvel, India Amarteifio, Julia Quinn, Lady Danbury, Love, Mental Illness, Queen Charlotte, Shona Rhimes, Violet Bridgerton, Yellowjackets

This has been one strange year for fans of television. What with the strikes as I type this we don't even know if there will be an Emmy Awards Broadcast. Sure they say sometime in the new year, but I wouldn't trust studios, networks, or streaming services who won't even pay their employees a living wage. Seriously, just pay them already!* I mean, seriously, look at this past year, look at all the amazing shows, and get it into your heads that none of this would have been possible without the writers and actors. The losses you're taking are costing you more than if you were to just pay them. Now, to get off my soapbox, let's celebrate the wonderful shows that were adapted from books this year. I mean, we had the big fantasy epics from George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien. We had the classics reinterpreted, from Tom Jones to Great Expectations to Dangerous Liaisons. We had the spooky and the kooky, from Lockwood and Co. to Wednesday to The Midnight Club. And these are just the shows I got around to watching! There were so many adaptations this year one has to wonder a little if there are any original ideas out there, but trust me, there are, just look to The Afterparty and Yellowjackets. Also, these adaptations showed what you could do with an open mind and a willingness to embrace the spirit of the source material but not be enslaved by it. There was rarely a show among these that I wouldn't be willing to watch again and again, like what I've done with the new season of Good Omens. So let's get this party started and join me in celebration of the wonders of adaptation.

*The WGA strike ended, successfully, on September 27th, 2023. The SAG-AFTRA strike is still ongoing.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: And the Emmy Goes To, Dangerous Liaisons, Emmy Award, Good Omens, Great Expectations, GRRM, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lockwood & Co., Strike, Television, The Afterparty, The Midnight Club, Tom Jones, Wednesday, Yellowjackets