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Book Review: Shiny Happy People by Clay McLeod Chapman

 

Shiny Happy People by Clay McLeod Chapman

Delacorte Press, 2025

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593904084

Available: Hardcover, ebook edition, audiobook

Buy:  Bookshop.org

 

 

I find Clay McLeod Chapman’s work uniquely disturbing. While Shiny Happy People, his foray into YA horror, isn’t as gruesome as some of his previous projects it is a natural fit with his other work, especially Wake Up and Open Your Eyes. 

 

Kyra was abandoned by her addict mother at a young age and is now the adopted daughter of a loving family. Her father works long hours at a large pharmaceutical company, BoTanic, which employs most of the town. She has terrible anxiety and panic attacks, and a supportive “black sheep” best friend, Halley.

 

Kyra’s need for control and family history of addiction mean she’s completely straight-edge even in the face of peer pressure, so when a new party drug starts making the rounds at school, she’s one of the few who hasn’t taken it and can observe the effects it is having on the people around her. Kids who have taken the drug go into violent convulsions, followed by becoming artificially happy and calm, causing an uncanny valley effect that Kyra feels but can’t explain to the adults around her, who are also acting very strange. With the people around her all gaslighting her, Kyra starts doubting her grip on reality. The only person who seems to be on her wavelength is new boy Logan, who is clearly hiding something.

 

Flashbacks to Kyra’s abandonment in a dark room infested with bugs, mold and fungus are truly claustrophobic and creepy, On a personal level, as someone who lives with epilepsy, the descriptions of violent convulsions created a visceral response. Kyra’s description of her anxiety as “ivy threaded through my ribcage” is vivid, and when it gets entangled with already-creepy fungal horror, becomes terrifying, with its network spreading wider and wider. This horror is not limited to one school or even one town.

 

There is so much going on in this book: it comments on addiction, Big Pharma, hive mentality, peer pressure, corruption, mental health, and more, but messaging doesn’t take over the story. Chapman follows Kyra’s narrative thread all the way through at a fast pace. It’s an uncomfortable, disorienting ride, and one that’s well worth taking.

 

Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on March 12, 2026 by , Reply

Invasive Species by Ellery Adams

Cover art for Invasive Species by Ellery Adams

Invasive Species by Ellery Adams

Hanover Square Press, 2026

ISBN: 978-0369774903

Available: Hardcover, ebook edition

Buy: Bookshop.org

 

There aren’t many neighbors like Mrs. Smith, someone who stands out for all of the wrong, strange reasons. In the beautiful seaside town of Cold Harbor, where the moms are in competition and have a lot of socializing to do, no one really knows Mrs. Smith because she rarely leaves her home. What the annoying moms do know is that she doesn’t care at all about their high standards for landscaping. While their yards are ready for the cover of a magazine, hers is a dark and brooding tangle of creeping vines, large trees, and scary, dark shadows.

 

We quickly learn that Mrs. Smith is an actual monster, an ancient sea monster, who has been biding her time while planning to carry out a centuries old way of making herself young and more monstrous again. Mrs. Smith has a distinctive aquatic form and a fairly human body when on land. To the particular men she’s interested in cultivating, she seems to be a gorgeous, desirable woman. But, to a few people who are knowledgeable in the areas of myth, legend, and folklore and think she is suspicious, she could be the greatest danger their little community has ever seen.

 

A special part of Mrs. Smith’s renewal strategy involves the children of the town. When an ambitious mother sends two of her kids to do some outdoor chores for Mrs. Smith, the timeline is already nearing its end, and some people will have to die to keep Mrs. Smith on schedule. Worst of all, some people have already been selected for an especially terrifying death.

 

Ellery Adams tells this horror story in a rather upbeat, casual, and non-threatening way that helps to enhance the ominous nature of Mrs. Smith’s presence in the neighborhood. The local women are usually oblivious to what is happening around them because they are so focused on their status and how they can prevent Mrs. Smith’s property from reflecting badly on their own rather than on protecting those they love. Instead of the invasive vines they hate so much, Mrs. Smith is the real invasive species they should be trying to eradicate, and Ellery Adams makes her just as intriguing as demonically evil.

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

 

Posted on February 12, 2026 by , Reply

Book Review: Hall-Lore-Ween by Josh Spero, illustrated by TT Hernandez

Cover art for Hall-Lore_Ween by Josh Spero

Hall-Lore-Ween, by Josh Spero, illustrations by TT Hernandez

Castle Bridge Media, 2024

ISBN: 9788989593477

Available: Paperback, ebook

Buy:  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

 

A quick 98 page read with a few short stories, a few poems, and some really cool illustrations, Hall-Lore-Ween is the author’s attempt to create Halloween stories for little kids (as well as adults that never grew up, like me) and on that, he succeeds admirably. The stories are short with a bit of spook factor and a lot of charm, and they have (GASP!) happy endings! These would be great to read to your first through third graders, and the adults will get a kick out of them as well. Let’s break it down!

 

The stories: there are three of them, the first involving a possible heritage witch, the second a town with a Halloween tradition/curse, and the last with kids and werewolves. I definitely liked the second one best, and the ending was a real feel-good surprise. It kept me guessing the most. The first story was the closest to a traditional ‘scary’ Halloween story, and the ending wasn’t quite as happy as the others. The last story works with the idea of a new kid trying to find his place, and werewolves are involved. Adult readers will probably guess where the story is going, but remember, the target audience is kids, and they won’t see it coming. And again, a nice, cheerful ending. All the stories are well-done and utterly enjoyable. For me, especially, this is a nice change of pace from the material I am usually asked to review.

 

The poems: hey, I’m no poet, and I know it. Get it? That’s fellow reviewer Nova Hadley’s department. To me, good poems rhyme. These poems rhyme. I enjoyed Shel Silverstein’s poetry, and I enjoyed the Hall-Lore-Ween poems, especially the “Mr. Wolford” poem. OK, no more… I can’t pretend I know beans about poetry.

 

The illustrations: Oh boy, pictures! I like pictures! And these are really cool pictures! Again, I have no art knowledge, I couldn’t tell you the difference between a Jackson Pollock and a finger painting, but I did like the black and white illustrations. The one of the kid with an evil-looking pumpkin head on page 48 was my favorite, and the one of the witch in the first story is a close second. I would have liked two or three illustrations per story instead of only one: they really added to the stories.

 

Bottom line: you will like these, and your kids will probably love them. Purchase this one now, and save it till next October! Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on January 17, 2026 by , Reply
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