Home » Posts tagged "YA horror" (Page 8)

Book Review: The Book of Living Secrets by Madeline Roux


The Book of Living Secrets by Madeline Roux

Quill Tree Press, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062941428

Available:  Preorder (available March 8) hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

So many readers wish they could enter the worlds of their favorite books. The Book of Living Secrets will make them think twice.

 

Adelle and Connie have been best friends for years, and they are both obsessed with an obscure romance novel set in the Victorian era titled Moira, which tells the story of  a wealthy Boston socialite who shares a forbidden love with Severin, an impoverished artist. Moira, already engaged to Kincaid, who is also of her social class, involves her loyal friend Orla in her intrigues to meet Severin. One night, Adelle convinces Connie to visit an occult shop and participate in a spell that will send them into Moira. Separated into different parts of the book, the two girls discover that the romantic world they immersed themselves in is only a small part of a much larger, nightmarish world, and that the characters in the book they read are much different in person. The secondary and background characters have interior lives, feelings, and motivations that are never examined in the book, but take center stage as Adelle and Connie attempt to repair the interdimensional rifts creating a doorway for elder gods to pass through that they created by traveling into the book, and restore the characters’ world, before returing to their own.

 

The Book of Living Secrets creatively critiques tropes of portal fantasy, romance fiction, and fandom, while exploring identity and relationships. Madeline Roux has written a gripping, imaginative, if sometimes predictable, tale that teenagers will enjoy. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on February 3, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: All These Bodies by Kendare Blake

All These Bodies by [Kendare Blake]

All These Bodies by Kendare Blake

Quill Tree Books, 2021

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062977168

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

In All These Bodies, Kendare Blake imagines a murder spree throughout the Midwest in the summer of 1958, known as the “Bloodless Murders” or “Dracula Murders” because the victims have all been drained of blood. On September 19, the Carlson family is found murdered in their Minnesota farmhouse, with a fifteen-year-old girl, Marie Catherine Hale, drenched in blood, still alive. Is she a victim, accomplice, or killer?

 

Michael Jensen, the seventeen-year-old son of the sheriff with hopes of becoming a journalist, is the only person Marie Catherine will talk to, and revealing the killer is her one chance to avoid being extradited to Nebraska and tried for the death penalty. Getting the truth out of Marie Catherine is trickier than just asking her questions once and expecting straightforward answers, though; it becomes a long, drawn out process that creates a sympathetic connection between the two teens. Michael is also facing other dangers: his peers are turning against him as he continues to spend time with Marie Catherine, and he’s almost certain he’s being watched, and perhaps even hunted, in a way that feels almost supernatural.

 

Inspired by the fictionalized murders in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and a murder spree that occurred in the Midwest in 1958, Blake has created a gripping, grisly, fictional “true crime” story that clarifies what it means to be human, a monster, or both.  Recommended.

 

Contains: murder, graphic descriptions of gore, blood drinking, mentions of pedophilia

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

 

 

Posted on October 14, 2021 by , Reply

Book Review: All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue

cover art for All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O'Donoghue

All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue

Walker Books, 2021

ISBN: 978-1536213942

Available: Hardcover, audiobook, ebook (Bookshop.org)

 

 

O’Donoghue’s foray into YA literature delivers tricks and treats for fans of Gothic, mystic stories dealing with social themes; but magic doesn’t solve everything this character-driven YA paranormal fantasy set in contemporary Ireland.

 

Sentenced to cleanup duty in detention, 16 year old Maeve discovers an old mixtape, a Tarot deck, and an uncanny knack for reading the cards. When her former best friend Lily goes missing after a heated exchange, classmates soon start avoiding Maeve like she’s some kind of creepy occultist. As she finds herself immersed in a world of fantastic possibilities she doesn’t fully comprehend, Maeve discovers a new friend in artsy Fiona. Ultimately, Maeve confronts a dangerous entity summoned by powerful emotions and explores her uncorked inner magic skills, while becoming increasingly regretful about how she dumped and ostracized Lily.

 

There are supernatural elements to the story at every turn, but this subtle gem explores far more than magic. This is also a book about another secret superpower: empathy. Maeve, who is white and from a comfortably middle class family, navigates themes of diversity with detailed, well-developed characters that include non-binary, bisexual love interest Roe; biracial, Filipina friend Fiona; former BFF Lily who has hearing loss; and queer lesbian sister Jo.  Perspectives on racism, homophobia, and classism are explored in context, in unscripted, messy, and uncomfortably realistic ways.  O’Donoghue deftly creates a tone of authentic growth across these topics instead of patching over tough spots. Maeve fumbles, misunderstands, and makes bad choices, but keeps trying. Growth doesn’t happen easily, and Donoghue sidesteps an investment in “likability”,  so readers journey with the protagonist in learning that while intention matters in magic, it doesn’t count in interpersonal relationships or the fight for social justice.

 

The romantic interludes sometimes feel a bit out of place, but packed with mysticism, magic, queer liberation, and the drama of teen friendships, this contemporary tale will likely have strong appeal for readers looking for complex characters and edgy situations in a speculative framework. Readers of DeAngelis’ Bones & All, Older’s Shadowshaper, Okorafor’s Akata Witch, Power’s Wilder Girls, and Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone will find much to enjoy in Gifts. Ages 14+. Highly recommend.

 

Minimal gore, but contains bullying, references to hate crimes and homophobia.

 

Reviewed by E.F. Schraeder

Posted on August 29, 2021 by , Reply
First « 678910 » Last