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Book Review: The Graces by Laure Eve

cover for The Graces by Laure Eve

The Graces by Laure Eve (  Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com )

Amulet Books, 2016

ISBN-13 : 978-1419721236

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

The narrator of The Graces is new to town, and ready to shed her old identity, including her name. The centers of attention at her school are the Graces, seventeen-year-old twins Thalia and Fenrin, and their younger sister, Summer. The Grace family has been entwined in the town’s history for generations, and there are rumors of witchcraft that surround them. They are a close-knit family that rarely let anyone into their circle, but, renaming herself River, she finds herself welcomed in. River herself is very closed off and rarely volunteers information about her life or family– she is always thinking about whether she has said or done the “right thing” to be accepted by the Graces, who she believes have a magical key to helping her solve her problems.

River, Summer, and a group of girls from school attempt to cast a love spell, which River secretly focuses on Fenrin. Developing a close friendship with Summer, who is her own age, River also attempts to create situations that will give her and Fenrin the opportunity for close contact, but these are always interrupted, and finally end in tragedy.

It’s easy to read the first part of this book and see the narrator as merely anxious, needy, and maybe a little manipulative, a wishful thinker swept up by a glamorous and mysterious family. The second part gives us a look under the surface of it all, and there’s where it starts getting disturbing, as there are some very unsettling powers that come to the fore.

There is a lot of suspension of disbelief required to buy into this book, but Eve keeps things erratic enough, with her unreliable narrator, and enough gaps between the real and unreal to keep a reader going. A couple of things are real flaws, though. The book uses a trope I loathe, of the “always absent but overprotective parents,” and the plot had some big holes in it that made the actions of certain characters very confusing, and led to an ending that was only partly satisfactory (there is a sequel, so hopefully some of that will be resolved in it). None of the characters are especially likable, but there’s enough intrigue and “fairy tale” atmosphere to appeal to a certain kind of teenage girl. Recommended.

 

 

 

Posted on September 22, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: Killing November by Adriana Mather

cover of Killing November by Adriana Mather

Killing November by Adriana Mather (  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com  )

Ember, 2020

ISBN-13 : 978-0525579113

Available: Library binding, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook.

 

November Adley was told she was being sent to boarding school for her own safety, but on her arrival, she discovers it is full of intrigues she knows nothing about but is expected to rise to the challenge and survive deceptions, strategies, and attempts on her life from both students and teachers. The classes are like nothing she’s ever had to take before: knife throwing, poisons, deception, and tree climbing, among others. Deadly midnight challenges lead to shifting allegiances, every word and action has the potential to put her life at risk… and, while everyone assumes she knows exactly what’s going on, she has no idea why her father would send her to this school (I also question why her father would send her to a school filled with enemies she knows nothing about for safety. It would be a spoiler to reveal what she has in common with the other students, and that doesn’t make me question his judgment less).

November does have some survival skills she learned from her parents, mostly as games: she’s not unfamiliar with knife-throwing or tree climbing, she is good at observation and memorization, and she’s learned to think outside the box (her parents have kept a LOT of family secrets, and uncovering these is essential to her understanding of events and relationships at the school). But she has never learned to disguise her emotions or hide the truth, a disadvantage in the dangerous games of the school. She has to earn the trust of her prickly roommate, Layla, and decide whether she can trust Layla’s brother Ashai, an expert in deception, to survive.

Killing November rockets along from start to finish, and even the most unbelievable aspects of the story get caught up in the rush. It is the first in a series, and with November scrambling to figure out what’s going on, whose loyalties she can depend on, and who she is supposed to be, trapped in the claustrophobic boarding school environment, it is a really fun read. With much of this settled in the second book, while there’s still plenty of action, it’s less engaging. Both Killing November and its sequel, Hunting November, are enjoyable thrillers that have the potential to appeal to teen lovers of action, murder, mystery, and romance. Recommended.

 

 

Posted on September 14, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: Mayhem by Estelle Laure

Cover of Mayhem by Estelle Laure

Mayhem by Estelle Laure  (  Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com )

Wednesday Books, 2020

ISBN-13: 9781250297938

Available: Hardcover, ebook, audiobook

 

Mayhem Brayburn’s mother fled her home in Santa Maria, California, after her husband Lucas died, cutting all ties and marrying again to another man in a small town in Texas. The tradeoff she’s made is that her new husband beats her, and in avoiding the reality of her situation, she has become an alcoholic and addict. When Mayhem’s stepfather turns against her, her mother finally realizes the situation is untenable, and having nowhere else to go, she flees with Mayhem back to her sister Elle and childhood home in Santa Maria.

As Roxy tries to recover from her destructive relationship and her addiction, Mayhem develops relationships with Elle’s foster children: Neve, Jason, and Kidd. The three of them take her to their “hideaway”, a difficult-to-reach sea cave with a freshwater spring, and tell her that to truly be one of them she must drink from the spring, but once she does, she won’t be able to leave Santa Maria. After drinking the water, Mayhem can see the hidden secrets in other people’s minds. Her aunt explains that generations of the women in Mayhem’s family have drunk and developed an addiction to the water, dating back to the rape of the first woman in their family to come to Santa Maria. The water in the “hideaway” gives the Brayburn women the power to see secrets, but the price is that they must identify predatory men, drain their souls, and kill them. Elle tells her that the Brayburn women are the only ones able to preserve their sanity after drinking the water, so the people of Santa Maria are at risk if Mayhem doesn’t step up. A serial killer, the Sand Snatcher, is on the loose, and Mayhem’s first assignment is to find him, drain him, and kill him. And then there’s the problem of Mayhem’s stepfather, who isn’t ready to let go…

Interleaved with Mayhem’s story (which takes place in 1987) are journal entries and documents Mayhem has discovered by the Brayburn women who have come before her, beginning with the first, Julianna, and going through the generations: Julianna’s daughter Billie, Billie’s daughter Stitcher, and Stitcher’s daughter Roxy (Mayhem’s mother). While short, these express the individual personality of each woman effectively, and lead Mayhem to understand her part in the community of Santa Maria.

It is refreshing to see a new kind of monster show up in the horror genre. Elle’s best guess is that the Brayburn women are similar to the sluagh, but while the author may have taken inspiration from their legend, it’s been transformed into something different. The Brayburn women are monsters who must be fed, but they’re also saviors for the girls and women of Santa Maria, and while it may not be openly discussed, the town knows it. The Brayburn women exact a terrible kind of justice on predatory men that the law cannot, and for many girls and women this may be a cathartic, if disturbing, read.

 

Contains: Murder, torture, rape, violence, suicide.

 

 

 

 

Posted on July 11, 2020 by , Reply
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