“...And women like hunting witches, too/ Doing your dirtiest work for you…”
From the first page until the last, this book is a deep well of sorrow and m“...And women like hunting witches, too/ Doing your dirtiest work for you…”
From the first page until the last, this book is a deep well of sorrow and mourning. It’s an elegy turned into a novel, a lament for all women lost to witch hunts (especially the specific one this novel is centered around). These pages are flooded with slow, creeping sadness; an ever-hovering sense of inevitability telling us readers things will only get worse. Things will only get uglier. Things will only get sicker.
We know how the witch hunts went. We know why they happened. We know how they spread. As much as we’d like to wholly point our fingers at the men in these stories, books like these remind us that we also need to check ourselves and remember we pointed our fingers at one another as well, ready to sacrifice even our sisters if it meant saving our own skins.
I applaud Margaret Meyer for choosing to write a main protagonist whose disability serves as both a physical and metaphorical plot device. Martha’s mutism (caused by a childhood illness) takes away her physical ability to speak up for herself or for any other woman and leaves her vulnerable to both ignorant and willful misinterpretation to those who would only see what they wish to see. In tandem, her mutism also metaphorically symbolizes the ways in which all women were not listened to, how their pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears, how no matter what they said their words were turned against them, and how in the end they fell silent on the noose. This aspect of the novel was both the saddest and most touching part, because no matter what Martha did, she knew there was precious little she could do to help when she had no voice. And that only made her feel guiltier.
Meyer composed a deeply moving novel that may be set against witch trials, but the themes of misogyny, internalized misogyny, male privilege, religious zealotry, bigotry, ableism, and more are all interwoven in an even, seamless pattern that starts off as simply ominous until all common sense, human compassion, or even a sense of human decency has been bled out of Martha’s village of Cleftwater. Then, and only then, when the village has hit its lowest low, can the tide begin to change. By this time, Cleftwater is left with a collective trauma.
Even though this book is full of despair and shows the deep, dark ugliness that can lie inside the human heart, it’s so impeccably crafted and beautifully written that I couldn’t stop reading it. I was glued to the page because I needed to see how these women would survive. I needed to know who would make it and how. I needed to see if any of them would make it, frankly. I needed to see if there would be vengeance. I needed to see what would be left at the end of the madness. I was engaged, I was invested, and I felt like I needed to witness this.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Folk Horror/Historical Fiction/Literary Fiction/Women’s Fiction ...more
Finally, finally, a podcast-based suspense/mystery/thriller I could actually engage with and say I enjoyed! This has never happened to me before and IFinally, finally, a podcast-based suspense/mystery/thriller I could actually engage with and say I enjoyed! This has never happened to me before and I’m seriously pleased.
Every single book I’ve picked up in this genre that involved podcasts before has either been a DNF or has been an absolutely mediocre read. With a Kiss We Die, though, was an intelligent, well-plotted, believable, and engaging read that had the foresight to not follow the more pop-culture true crime podcasts that handle true crime like it’s a joke but skew more towards investigative journalism.
The podcast format used in With a Kiss We Die actually reminded me of my favorite true crime podcast, To Live and Die in L.A., which runs in that same “we’re going to start here, with this rough outline, but after that it’s going to be out of our hands where the case takes us but we’re going to follow this to the end of the road” vein.
Even so, the podcast aspect of this book is the weaker aspect of this book for me. The stronger aspect is the story is Jordan and Victoria, their relationship, and the suspense of whether or not they committed the crime they’re accused of. Slightly less strong but still compelling than watching these two charismatic chameleons is spending time with the determined and persistent podcaster and investigative journalist Ryanna Raines, who is invested in these people, in this case, in her podcast, in the truth, and in justice for the victims.
Is this book full of surprising twists and turns that will make you gasp and gawp? In my opinion, no. I wasn’t surprised at all. Sometimes the twists and turns felt like they were coming straight out of an episode of “Law & Order”. The beauty was in the way they were written and presented in the text.
So, while With a Kiss We Die doesn’t break new ground, it’s still a really enjoyable read.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
I couldn’t resist the lure of this book. A little bit Prachett, a little bit of influence from the BBC’s Merlin TV show (if you know where to look), aI couldn’t resist the lure of this book. A little bit Prachett, a little bit of influence from the BBC’s Merlin TV show (if you know where to look), a plot that simultaneously does and doesn’t sound like a good Arthuriana tale (which are usually the best ones!), an admonishment against the older generations (ancient, even) for their inaction and misdeeds, and a rallying cry for the younger generations to not let history repeat itself once more and that if no one else is going to step forward and take up the mantle of leadership then it’s up to you to make sure it gets done instead of just relying on someone else to solve the world’s problems. It’s a call to action, to do something, even if all that something amounts to is a willingness to try.
Some reviewers are calling this a feminist take on the King Arthur legends. I beg to differ. It’s actually just a reflection of reality. There are more women on Earth than men. More females live past the age of 10 than males, which is 1.1 males born to 1 female babies born, on average. That 10% is accounting for the male mortality rate before the age of 10. Men also die earlier than women, on average. Wives tend to outlive their husbands, and so on. Since this book takes place in the future, who knows what the demography looks like? How many kids are people having? What’s the population pyramid look like? Do they even take the census anymore? Are kids dying in larger numbers earlier in life due to the dire climate conditions? Are people dying younger? Even in the present day, younger generations (or even me, a Gen-Xer) are sick and tired of old white men being in charge of everything, sitting around and talking about making laws but never actually making them; or, if they do, those laws aren’t the laws that really need to be passed and enforced.
Every nation is a swamp full of pollution, and every generation ends up just passing that pollution on down because problems like global climate change are complex concepts our minds can’t entirely wrap themselves around without first learning about global competence concepts first. The generations coming down the line in more liberal countries are already being taught about global competence, but in capitalist strongholds like the US we can’t even agree that every person is a person no matter what, so it’s no surprise global competence isn’t high up on our list of things to teach the kids (not that books teaching it wouldn’t just end up being banned someplace by some people anyway).
This book teaches all these lessons and more, with a great deal more wit and a lot less of a dour outlook than I just painted. I’m a pessimist through and through, but books like these make me smile and hope that eventually the old white people (for clarification, I’m white) who keep trying to fight to stay in office long past their expiration dates will eventually lose their power to make way for young people who are impassioned, ready to take action, and ready to lead so your average person can find it in them to look up to their governments again and to make the sacrifices that need to be made to make this world better for as many people as possible. It might be tough. It might hurt. It might mean a whole lot of compromise until we truly realize what works and what doesn’t. What matters the most is the willingness to put our differences aside and try.
You can’t help but love the characters in this book, both bad and good. Or, rather, not too bad and not entirely good. In this book all we have is people trying to survive. Sometimes that means doing stuff that’s not exactly nice. Sometimes it means doing something really messed up. Everyone is just trying to find a solution, even if that means doing unspeakable things.
Kay, Arthur’s foster brother, is the first character we meet. I can’t tell you how, because it’s a huge spoiler for the whole book. But it seems that Britain is in great peril, and he’s got to do something about it. That’s the vow he and select other knights of the Round Table made with Merlin over the dead body of King Arthur on the battlefield of Camlann. He’s straightforward, honest, chivalrous, gruff, and tends to go where the wind takes him. In his experience, he always ends up where he needs to be, somehow. He misses his beloved wife, fears Arthur ever coming back even as he misses the brother he once was, and hopes he never runs into Lancelot again because he hates that guy.
Mariam is the female protagonist of this book, and she’s splendid. She’s fed up. She’s frustrated with the world, with her friends, with every so-called “leader” who says they’re willing to work together to make the world a better place but somehow it just seems like history repeating, and no one but her seems to want to take any kind of solid action. She’s tired of waiting for someone else to save the day. She’s tired of watching the land and people die.
Lancelot is vain, complacent, and perfectly content to just follow orders. He hates the stories of him and Guinevere since he and Galahad had been committed, if secret, lovers. He doesn’t much care for valor, truth, or being straight with people. He’d rather just do as he’s told and look good doing it. He hates Kay as much as Kay hates him, if for different reasons.
Merlin is crazy as a loon, Arthur is an absolute boor, Morgan is chaotic neutral, Nimueh has her own sad story and agenda, and at some point Christopher Marlowe made a Faustian bargain.
The worldbuilding is absolutely apocalyptic and frightening, showing an all too possible world where global climate change has gone full-bore hellscape. You either have money and can live in skyscrapers far above the pollution or you live in tent cities or shanty towns. There is no middle ground.
There are puppets and puppet masters. It’s all about who’s pulling the strings.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Arthuriana/Dark Comedy/Dystopian Fiction/Folklore Novel/Folklore Retelling/Literary Fiction/Paranormal Fantasy/Satire/Secret Society/Standalone Fantasy Novel/Urban Fantasy ...more
In 1998 (stay with me, here), a movie starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd came out called “The Object of My Affection”. In a rough nutshell, it’s In 1998 (stay with me, here), a movie starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd came out called “The Object of My Affection”. In a rough nutshell, it’s about a woman who gets pregnant and decides she’d rather raise the baby with her gay best friend than with the father of the baby and the gay best friend agrees. The issue is, of course, that committing oneself to being a surrogate parent and platonic significant other at the same time is a lot to ask of someone who comes to realize they want to fall in love for themself.
I thought of that movie while I was reading The Rachel Incident not only because they both involve a straight woman and a gay man being platonic besties, but also because their friendship is also as codependent as the one in the movie. And there’s a quote in “The Object of my Affection” that serves The Rachel Incident well:
“Don't fix your life so that you're left alone right when you come to the middle of it.”
This quote, I think, sums up part of the problem and the solution for besties Rachel and James in O’Donoghue’s dramedy, set largely in Cork County, Ireland, starting in 2009 and goes on into the late 2010s but ends somewhat nebulously prior to COVID. Rachel and James meet one day when she comes into work at the bookshop she’s worked at for two years and James is a new employee. They hit it off and become roommates. He tells her he’s straight, she thinks he’s lying but lets it go. She has a crush on one of her English professors anyway. One night at the bookstore after a book signing, she finds out for sure her roommate is gay when she sees him in the arms of someone unexpected. That night sets off a chain of events that deeply affects both of their lives for the next two years at least, sometimes testing their friendship to the breaking point. In the end, it’s Rachel who ends up paying the most for that sequence of events, even though she ultimately had nothing to do with it except keep a secret for her best friend who wasn’t ready to come completely out of the closet yet.
O’Donoghue has a great talent for dialogue. I found myself swinging from laughing to tearing up at some of the dialogue passages in this book. Her talent for writing Rachel’s inner narrative and keeping the character consistent while allowing for growth and development was also very nice. What I found myself not liking was how the book swung back and forth in time and tense without warning, since it was being told like Rachel is telling someone a story. That particular narrative structure just doesn’t fit the book well, especially when O’Donoghue doesn’t always tell us readers what year it is when she goes back to talking about the past.
There’s also somewhat of a cultural barrier, due to this book being based in recent Irish history not many international readers (like this US one) would be familiar with. I can keep up with the Irish and British slang just fine, but I know nothing of Irish politics because I’ve been too busy worrying about the mess we have over here. So a lot of the nuances of what the characters are talking about when it comes to laws and referendums was lost on me. Now, the debate about abortion and birth control is something that’s timely no matter where you are in the world, I think, because those are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights. Human rights are a global issue. So I definitely picked up on all of that, but when it comes to anything else political in Ireland I’m pretty much useless. That could’ve affected my reading experience, I’m sure.
If you want to read about everlasting friendship, unrequited love, loving the wrong person, loving the right person at the wrong time, second chances, how English degrees don’t prepare you for a career in which you can use it, and how people grow into becoming the people they’re meant to be, this is a great book. Just beware that if you don’t know that much about Ireland you might either need to just accept that for what it is or look it up.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under:Coming of Age/ Literary Fiction/LGBTQ Fiction ...more
This one is going to sit with me for a while. I’m sitting here trying to digest the many layers this book has that help to breathe life into the plot This one is going to sit with me for a while. I’m sitting here trying to digest the many layers this book has that help to breathe life into the plot and the characters. The dangers of not teaching young women about their bodies and how to listen to them. The injustices of the juvenile detention system. The myriad ways in which white, cisgender males of any age can get away with nearly anything with just a wink and a smile and after all this time women still fall on their knees to please them. How women and couples have to constantly justify their decision to remain childless time and again. The ways in which we sometimes don’t know the people we love and trust the most until we’re forced into spending all of our time with them. The ways in which some people can be changed by time and others can’t. The ways in which some people just can’t stop: they need to be stopped.
You have to be ready for the pacing in this book because it moves fast. Not only does it switch between May of 1997 and the “present day” of the book (which is between September 2019 and May 2021), but in the present day events of the book the POV switches between the three main characters: Amber (the titular “Prom Mom”), Joe (the boy who took her to prom who is now a commercial real-estate salesman and married to a plastic surgeon named Meredith), and Meredith (said plastic surgeon). Not only that, but page time isn’t wasted by easing in and out of POV transitions; Lippman simply drops in and out of each character with a solid paragraph shift. The shift is always defined enough that you definitely know which character you’re with, but I love that no time is wasted with trying to make the shift more gentle for the reader, because this book isn’t gentle in any way at all. This book is jarring. The reading experience matches.
Part of the appeal of this book is that it takes place over COVID quarantine and into the 2020 presidential election. This forces the characters in these books to ask ethical, moral, political, and cultural questions both of themselves and others and to come clean about how they feel about certain issues. It shows the definite divides between the three main characters and what their priorities are in life. It makes all of them more interesting and multifaceted while forcing them into tighter and tighter corners as the plot progresses.
It’s a brilliant book that had me ravenously turning pages from start to finish.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
This is not a romance. For the record, this isn’t a romantic book in any sense of the word. But, just like the title implies, it is a love story–just This is not a romance. For the record, this isn’t a romantic book in any sense of the word. But, just like the title implies, it is a love story–just not the love story between a boy and a girl (though a boy and a girl do fall in love, I suppose).
Iron Curtain: A Love Story is about Milena, one of communism’s Red Princesses, and though one might be tricked into thinking this is a traditional love story, it’s not. Milena is in love with one thing and one thing only, and that is her homeland, behind the Iron Curtain. That’s the genius behind this whole book, a communist Cold War twist on “There’s no place like home”.
Milena Urbanska ran away from her communist homeland not because she hated communism and wanted to defect; no, she ran away because she was young, she had witnessed something traumatizing when she was younger that had shifted some of her thinking, she didn’t want to be forced into marriage at her parent’s hands, she didn’t want to be a politiburo wife, and she was sick of being who she was and of everyone knowing everything about her and constantly being a subject of conversation across the country. So she decides to slip away to England and marry the young Irish poet she had fallen in love with when he was in her country a few years prior, even though she hates the western world. She’s hoping their love and his poetry fame will make up for living in a Capitalist society.
But best laid plans…
England is both everything she thought it might be and nothing like she knew it would be. She hates it. There’s only two things she loves about England: fresh vegetables and her in-laws. At first, she’s deliriously in love with her husband, too. But in Thatcher-era England, being poor was more than a kick in the teeth, and it didn’t help that Milena’s husband seemed to fancy himself a man who ran on Lady Luck and whimsy.
This novel is full of a specific type of ennui I love: A sense of listlessness, of not knowing what to do with oneself. It’s the feeling of being in some kind of suspended state between two choices or situations you’ve been presented with but not being able to determine which is the lesser of two evils. You hate your life, but either not enough to leave it or you’re too stubborn to give up just yet.
I’m a sucker for Cold War-era fiction. Well, I’m a sucker for Russian historical fiction in general. I loved the research and detail put into this book, both on the Russian and British sides. It couldn’t have been easy researching everything from Thatcher economics to Russian Nationalism and how one could fly from the USSR to Cuba and how many different stops they could make while doing so.
Vesna Goldworthy’s characters blaze to life, each so distinct in voice, style, and worldview they not only form the unshakeable framework for this novel but they also create the ebb and flow around Milena, moving her around in that suspended state, all making impacts large and small on her life and decisions as they go.
I can’t say anything else about this book other than it was a tremendously lovely read that I highly recommend.
I was provided with a copy of this book by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, views, and opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Historical Fiction/Literary Fiction/Political Fiction/Satire/5 Star Reads ...more
“Oh she wants to conquer the world completely But first she'll conquer me discreetly The female of the species is more deadly than the male
Oh she deals “Oh she wants to conquer the world completely But first she'll conquer me discreetly The female of the species is more deadly than the male
Oh she deals in witchcraft And one kiss and I'm zapped
Oh how can heaven hold a place for me When a girl like you has cast a spell on me…
…The female of the species is more deadly than the male…”
This classic rock song by the English band Space was something I hummed off and on while reading Beware the Woman, which I’ve come to think of as the love child of Rosemary’s Baby and Charlotte Perkins-Gilman’s legacy from generations of female authors reading The Yellow Wallpaper and saying, “Oh heck no”.
This isn’t just feminist psychological thriller at its finest, though. It’s also a deep satirical commentary on the waning power of the aging white male in his isolated mountain stronghold, a member of the boy’s club, where women aren’t welcome and should be home with the children and minding the house. In this book, boys will be boys until they get married to a good girl and have kids; and all girls are just tempting little Eves walking around just asking for it. These rural mountain communities are places out of time in a way, yet they are filled with men and boys who think they have every right to know everything about a woman’s body and to make decisions about it for them.
Right from the start, our protagonist Jacy tells us she’s always had a bad picker. I’ve known women who have bad pickers. I myself have an inadequate picker, but not exactly bad. Somehow, between a fit of whimsy and that glow of brilliant new love, Jacy ignores her knowledge of having a bad picker and decides choosing to marry her boyfriend Jed after a short courtship is the best choice she’s ever made. She decides there’s nothing wrong with Jed. He’s perfect.
See, I don’t care if this major point of foreshadowing may seem a bit too obvious. I don’t care at all. Why? Because this book hooked me as soon as I opened it. I was trying to decide which ARC to read next and I opened this one and all of a sudden I was more than ten pages in and couldn’t put it down. You should have seen me absolutely devouring this book: I snapped at anyone and everyone who pulled me away from it. I just wanted to keep reading. If I could’ve cooked my mom’s lunch while reading it, I would’ve. The first few pages hook you hard, and the first ten percent just reel you in nice and steady. Once Jacy and Jed have reached Jed’s father’s house, the frenetic energy from the very beginning slows to a steady thrum so it can pick up what feels like a sense of awkwardness at first, then anxiety, then foreboding, then dread, and then it becomes outright paranoia and panic before it becomes outright desperation as the book head into the 80% mark. From there, it’s a wild, frenetic ride that’s everything I had hoped it would be.
I felt so satisfied by this book. The ending, pacing, plot development, character development, and sublime way Megan Abbott weaves those deep and dark themes into the narrative made Beware the Woman into one of the most satisfying thrillers I’ve read so far this year.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Read/Domestic Thriller/Literary Fiction/Psychological Fiction/Suspense Thriller ...more
It’s there in the title and you should take it as a warning: This book is savage. It’s a painful, visceral, heartbreaking read that reached right intoIt’s there in the title and you should take it as a warning: This book is savage. It’s a painful, visceral, heartbreaking read that reached right into my stomach, womb, heart, and brain with long fingers filled with beautiful words, ugly secrets, horrific scenes, and nauseating characters in a way no book has for a good long time now.
I don’t get book hangovers that often, but I’m telling you that after I closed this book I felt like a deflated balloon, a crushed soda can, or maybe even a flattened cardboard box. I feel drained, dried out, and just worn at the seams.
Tiffany McDaniel has weaved a spell on this book that I don’t think will allow any reader to escape unscathed. You might try your hardest to harden your heart, but I can guarantee that between all the dark, dirty, sad, and desperate things that occur during this book you will definitely find yourself feeling something, and McDaniel’s writing will pierce you deeply.
I found myself thinking of my review for Erin Kate Ryan’s release from last year, Quantum Girl Theory, where I said: “Is every missing girl the same as every other missing girl, or do some missing girls count for more?…When do people just give up on missing girls, and when does a missing girl stop being just a missing girl and becomes more of a distant memory?” This book’s thesis is rightfully on the side of some missing girls counting for more, but the book is also clear in pointing out that no one cares about missing girls much at all, no matter who they are or what they do for a living–not as long as men make all the rules and enforce them. As long as men hold the reins, we will be under their hooves.
McDaniel’s prose is bewitchingly beautiful, even when what’s happening is horrible and depraved. This book has the most melancholy and lovely passages told from the POV of the river, and even as the river describes matters such as the decomposition of the human body, there’s something poetic and naturally calming about these passages, like the river is trying to reassure us readers that she is taking care of the bodies that find their way into her waters, that the breaking down of their physical bodies is something natural and nothing to be afraid of. It was what happened before those bodies entered her currents that’s to be feared. What’s simultaneously gutting and healing are these quasi autopsy reports that crop up periodically throughout the book, which you would have to see for yourself to understand what I’m talking about.
There is not a single character in this book who is even close to whole. They’re all broken into pieces, but how many pieces differ from character to character, and varies depending on where each character is in their life as the book goes on. The way McDaniel writes them, though, you could think that even the most shattered people are the most lovely and the people who seem like they might actually be living a more complete life are carrying the ugliest secrets.
A special toast to McDaniels for the courage she showed not only in writing this book, but in the way she chose to write it. It couldn’t have been easy to make the choices she did, but she made them all the same. Not only was I close to gobsmacked, but I couldn’t think of a more perfect ending.
I was provided with a copy of this book by NetGalley and the author. All views and opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: General Fiction/Literary Fiction/Psychological Fiction/Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Crime Thriller/Murder Thriller/OwnVoices/5 Star Reads/Crime Thriller/Genre Mashup ...more
This novel, written with great care and love by Emilia Hart, is most obviously about women and their connection to the earth and to nature. To what beThis novel, written with great care and love by Emilia Hart, is most obviously about women and their connection to the earth and to nature. To what being kept away from it does to us and what being steeped in it does for us. That’s the way it’s always been.
It is also, under the surface, a treatise on how men fundamentally can’t (and therefore don’t or won’t) understand that connection women have to the earth and consistently covet them and snatch them up like magpies and then cage them and guard them sometimes to the point of violence. Men are the hunters. Women are the hunted. The more innate power a woman carries, the more men will be drawn to her. That’s the way it’s always been.
Weyward takes these two ideas, both of which are true if you dig down to our evolutionary roots, and soaks them in magical realism, lovely prose, vivid imagery, terrific world building, and careful character construction to weave together three timelines featuring women of the Weyward family line and how these two themes affect(ed) their lives, relationships, travails, and how the rest of their lives panned out. Each story is filled with earnest and heartfelt emotion.
While at times a touch too on the nose or melodramatic, this novel is one I’d definitely recommend picking up for a lyrical and moving read.
I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley and the author. All views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: Historical Fiction/Literary Fiction/Magical Realism/Women’s Fiction/5 Star Reads ...more
Dudes, give into the hype surrounding this book, because it’s every bit as good as everyone says it is. This book is the literary equivalent of these Dudes, give into the hype surrounding this book, because it’s every bit as good as everyone says it is. This book is the literary equivalent of these addictive little frozen chai milk tea-flavored mochi bites they sell at Trader Joes. I just can’t help but keep putting those morsels into my mouth, and I just couldn’t help but devour this book page by compelling page.
Oh, how I love to loathe a book’s protagonist. What’s more is I love how much I hated just about everyone in this book. They were all awful, save Mrs. Liu. She’s an angel. But otherwise? Each and every other character in this book is either so inconsequential I could dismiss or forget them as easily as June (our protagonist) does or I could just outright think each and every one of them was an absolutely awful person in their own way. And, to my amusement and for the shade of it all, I adored each and every one of them for being the horrible human beings they were.
Because that’s who they are. Human beings. And that’s part of what I took away from this book. We’re all human beings living in the shades of grey, and between cultural diaspora, socioeconomic strata, generational trauma, and social media none of us know how to be genuine anymore or know how to handle people who actually are genuine. There’s a general distrust between each and every one of us here in America, because America runs on individualism and that need to be the one wearing the crown, and white people largely and genuinely don’t know what to make of other cultures where collectivism, trust, and generosity make the world go ‘round. We white people want that feeling for ourselves (I know I do), but most of us aren’t willing to give up our individuality, prestige, and money for such a life. And that’s sad.
The first act of this book upset me greatly, to the point where I was growling and shaking my Kindle because I was so mad. Please don’t mistake this for criticism of the book, because it’s not. This section of the book should make you upset. It should make you mad because you’re reading the process of taking one author’s hard work and stripping away her unique voice only to supplement it with another’s. You see large sections of important historical events get cut from the book for the sake of not triggering readers. Terrified young women become softer. June and her editors essentially vivisect the original author’s manuscript until it becomes a neutered version of the original, all set for proper public consumption. Now it’s not a tour de force piece of historical literary military fiction–it’s just a solid historical military fiction novel. It’s a ghost of the novel it could’ve been. That’s a travesty in and of itself. The fact that June, the original author’s white friend, rebrands herself in order to sell this novel and keeps using absurdly twisted logic to justify her actions is almost an even larger travesty.
This book has so many terrific points to make: About how there’s a difference culturally in how stories are passed down from the old to the young. About how some white people think all Asian people look alike and their names sound alike but never think about how white people all look a lot alike. About how social media is poisonous to everyone, but especially creative souls. About cancel culture, how easy it is to be canceled for something that happened years and years ago and how you can never recover once that happens but how men still always bounce back quicker from scandals than any woman does. How fast the news cycle runs and the pressure to publish or perish doesn’t stay in academia but extends into the publishing industry as well, and how important it is for authors to be firm and specific when it comes to negotiations with film studios over film rights.
You make your own hell. You make your own prison. June did both of these things the moment she decided to take her dead friend’s manuscript and make it hers. It hems her in by shame, greed, anxiety, and fear. She sees no way out and she definitely doesn’t know if she wants out. The only way she’s going away is if she’s forced. There’s that Protestant Work Ethic wrapped in vice.
I don’t think I need to tell you to pick this up. It should be a foregone conclusion. It’s sharp, biting, shady, witty, and will make you angry three ways to Sunday. It’s worth every minute you spend on it. You won’t be able to put it down.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Read/AAPI Fiction/Literary Fiction/OwnVoices/Satire ...more
There’s really no way Eliza Jane Brazier could’ve titled this book anything different, because Girls and Their Horses is the perfect title for this boThere’s really no way Eliza Jane Brazier could’ve titled this book anything different, because Girls and Their Horses is the perfect title for this book and all it encompasses. It’s not only the present-day horse girls who the title applies to–it’s also the horse girls of the past and the horse girls of the future.
I seriously don’t think Eliza Jane Brazier can write a bad book. Her writing is just so freaking compelling, propulsive, and engaging. This story starts off slow and steady and just keeps building the story, narrative, relationships, suspense, rewards, consequences… It just keeps building and building everything up like a really good suspense novel does until a really well done turn that’s sublimely plotted.
I admire how well EJB writes characters. From the bottom to the top they’re all completely fleshed out and unique. No one gets left out in terms of having their own voice. In this book that’s especially important since the cast skews largely female and between teenage daughters and mothers. The dynamics there vary between mothers and daughters, sisters, friends, fathers and daughters, and boys and girls. For each dynamic and character there’s going to be a different push and pull. EJB is blessed in her talent to keep everything straight and consistent throughout the book.
I’m not saying the book is perfect, because it’s not. I found certain aspects of the book predictable. Not all of it. Not the most important part of the book. That kept me guessing all the way up until it was revealed. But some of the rest of the mysteries I could guess. That’s not entirely bad, though. Not when the book is this good. And it’s really good.
All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
File Under: 5 Star Review/Literary Fiction/Psychological Fiction/Suspense ...more
This is a gripping, propulsive, positively disquieting and creepy thriller that caused me to want to bare my teeth at anyone and everything that causeThis is a gripping, propulsive, positively disquieting and creepy thriller that caused me to want to bare my teeth at anyone and everything that caused me to be ripped away from reading it for any length of time. How dare anyone drag me away from the pitch-perfect suspense and chills this book is evoking in me after so many thrillers that couldn’t accomplish that same feeling? Why am I being ripped away from the delicious panic spiral one protagonist keeps sliding down like a greased staircase while the antagonist seems to gleefully watch his descent from the shadows? The mutual hatred? The mutual resentment? Argh!
This book will grip you from the start, with the protagonist’s unorthodox response to the knowledge he and his wife are obliged (via his sister and her husband’s will) to take guardianship of their nephew until he goes off to Yale in less than a year. Most aunts and uncles would be glad to take family in during such a tough time, but their nephew, Matthew, has never been your average child, and they haven’t seen him or or talked to him in about six years. For spoiler reasons, I can’t tell you why, but it’s a good reason.
The differences between Gil (the uncle and our protagonist) and Matthew (the nephew and the antagonist) are so extreme they almost touch behind, making a sphere. Gil and his family are progressive neoliberals, while Matthew could care less about the human condition and believes only in the power of money, making more money, and making people do things solely due to the influence of money. It would seem, even though it mostly goes unsaid, that the only thing Gil and Matthew might ever agree on if it wasn’t such a taboo topic between the two is that Matthew’s dad was a horrible person and Matthew’s mom/Gil’s sister was a good person at heart but was ultimately an absentee parent who didn’t know what to do with her son but throw money at him and hope it would solve his issues. And if there’s one thing Gil doesn’t trust and has never trusted, it’s money. In his mind, money stole and changed his sister and his mother. Better to live modestly than to live in excess, in his mind, no matter how much he envies what money could do for him and his family. No matter what Gil does, his paranoia is hyperfocused on money and rich people, especially on Matthew (for reasons I can’t tell you because of spoiler reasons), who is the very picture of the privileged white male.
Now Matthew is in Vermont with them, in the place of sanctuary Gil feels saved him and his family after trying to live in New York City, a place that he felt squeezed the life out of him. This city boy, full of money, arrogance, and privilege, invades the only place Gil has felt safe since his parents passed and the only place he’s ever felt sure his two girls have been safe from everything a city like New York could take from them. Unlike Gil, however, the rest of his family thaws toward Matthew, forming closer friendships and relationships that Gil can’t seem to stop without coming across as a complete lunatic.
Is this a story of a psychopath? Yes. More than that, though, it’s a story about being forced to live in a constant state of paranoia that drives you inside your head and into a choking state of anxiety. Sleep becomes elusive, if not completely absent. Your sympathetic nervous system is in overdrive, constantly on alert. You’re hyperfocused on the object of your paranoia and it soon becomes apparent that knowing everything and anything about that object is the only thing that may be the only balm to soothe you, if only for a little bit. The psychopath already knows the path he’s on. He’s loving your spiral and how you’re going downhill. To him, you’re pathetic. He’s just waiting to either get bored of you or waiting for you to become a problem to get rid of.
It’s this tightrope that keeps A Flaw in the Design such a delicious read. The standoff. Who’s going to give first, the anxiety-ridden uncle in the middle of a paranoia-induced nervous breakdown or the psychopathic nephew? Which path is the uncle going to take? Is the nephew even a psychopath or is he just an awful jerk? It’s going to keep you guessing almost to the very end.
And there’s the rub: the ending. I’ve seen other reviews complain about the ending and I have to say I’m among the naysayers. I didn’t like the ending. I would’ve given this book five stars if the book ended the way I thought it should have. Otherwise, it’s an absolute gem of a thriller from a debut author and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. Any ideas, thoughts, opinions, or views expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
This is where I say, “It isn’t the book, it’s me”. It’s not necessarily Dykette or author Jenny Fran Davis’ fault in any way that I find myself ratingThis is where I say, “It isn’t the book, it’s me”. It’s not necessarily Dykette or author Jenny Fran Davis’ fault in any way that I find myself rating this book so poorly. As a matter of fact, It’s likely Jenny Fran Davis’ talent as a storyteller that kept me hanging on just enough to even finish this book, because I almost DNFd it more than once.
Before anyone tries to burn me in effigy, please let me explain.
When I requested to read this book I was very excited to read it, because of the blurb. That’s part of the problem: I feel for the blurb. The blurb isn’t a lie, but it certainly plays down certain aspects of the novel and exaggerates others. I knew we were getting into a book about queer couples and that the book took place at the upstate New York house of two lesbians. I didn’t know this book was going to be deeply steeped in dyke and butch discourse and terminology, none of which I understood. Yes, I realize that’s a “me” problem. The blurb also makes this book sound much more seductive and salacious than it actually felt to me, and it greatly exaggerates Sasha’s role toward the end of the book. I really feel robbed of what I thought I was getting.
I realize a lot of this book “not being for me” is due to my passing privilege. I am a proudly open and out polyamorous bisexual, but I’m cisgendered in the day to day and very femme when I go out at night. While I’ve known dykes, butch lesbians, other femmes, and am related to other members of the queer community, I don’t know lesbian or dyke culture well enough to say that I could pick up on half of the terms, references, or importance of the currents of discourse the characters in the story were having. There was no room for me to feel anything but confused or exasperated for the vast majority of the book: Whether it was about how these people treat one another or it was about pop culture references I was probably too busy raising my kids at the time they happened to understand.
I did enjoy Davis’ writing style. She does have a keen eye for satire and barbed wit. While I may not have enjoyed some of the more visceral and colorful descriptions Davis used in this book there’s no denying they are employed to great effect.
I feel a bit embarrassed for being a member of the queer community and yet not knowing a thing about a corner of it. My ex-spouse is transgender and pansexual, so I’ve educated myself pretty damn solidly on those topics so I can support her in her new life. My older kid is gender fluid and bisexual and is still trying to decide which pronoun fits best or if they all fit just fine. My younger son is asexual, and if he’s happy then that’s all I want. Yet I picked up a queer lit book and found myself completely perplexed.
I don’t regret reading the book at all. I just wish I could say I knew what was going on in it. But that’s on me and my own ignorance–not the book.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. Owing to personal policy regarding book reviews three stars or lower, this review will not appear on any bookseller or social media website.
File Under: Just Not For Me/Lesbian Romance/LGBTQ Fiction/LGBTQ Romance/Literary Fiction/OwnVoices/Women’s Fiction ...more
This book sounds a lot better as a concept than it works as a book, and that saddens me. I love books starring con women, in whatever form that takes,This book sounds a lot better as a concept than it works as a book, and that saddens me. I love books starring con women, in whatever form that takes, but when your con woman–the catalyst for your plot and the crux of the whole book– is horribly see-thru and terribly unconvincing to your reader, it makes it hard to take your book seriously.
I’ve had a Cammie in my life. I’ve had more than one Cammie. But my meter for detecting when someone’s conning me must me a lot stronger than the ones our protagonists possess, because it takes both of them so long to realize they’ve been suckered I honestly questioned their intelligence.
This book really doesn’t feel like it has an original plot or original thought to it. It’s not the least entertaining book I’ve read this month, but I honestly didn’t understand what the author was getting at, other than there are Cammies all over the world and everyone probably has their own Cammie story. I just wish it could have been more.
I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley and the author. All views, thoughts, ideas, and opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
“With a dreamy, far-off look, and her nose stuck in a book…”
Her name is Victoria, not Belle, and his name is Eric, not Gaston, and she’s not only disg“With a dreamy, far-off look, and her nose stuck in a book…”
Her name is Victoria, not Belle, and his name is Eric, not Gaston, and she’s not only disgusted by her husband but is also pretty sure the world would be no worse for wear if he were to die in, well, any number of ways.
I was delighted by this book. It combined immense whimsy with morbid comedy. How the heck am I supposed to resist that? This is like a sky full of colorful balloons all bursting at once only to find a sky raining blood on a gala full of ultra rich people dressed all in white and dripping in diamonds. That’s whimsical, morbid, and funny as heck. I’d pay to watch that.
Victoria has that rare and precious jewel a lot of people covet: a wild and active imagination. It’s too bad everyone in her life not only hates her tendency to daydream, but also to bury her nose in a book at every available opportunity (same girl, same). Her parents wanted her to be a lawyer and have never stopped belittling her or causing her to feel like she’s a disappointment to them. Her husband won’t allow physical books in the house because he feels they cause clutter, hates her bringing home books from the library, and doesn’t like hearing or seeing her react to the books she reads. And her best friend would rather shop and browse dating apps. But books have been with Victoria since she was a small child, and she’s not letting go of them now.
Whimsical, isolated, bored Victoria finds a possible answer to her prayers for an escape from the entropy of her life when she spies a handsome, working-class man reading the same book club-type book at her usual cafe one day. She sees it as a sign they’re meant to be together, and she aims to reach that goal. Sure, her husband will have to go, but that can’t be too hard, surely?
So much of what follows in this book are sparkling passages of differing types: dark, morbid, funny, and detailed scenarios in which Eric dies in various ways; Victoria’s vivid imagination creating backstories for the people she sees as she sits in the cafe, the narrator’s whimsical and erotic writing during the astral projection scenes, and the placid, Suzie Homemaker scenes later in the book when Victoria decides to take up baking in a fit of small rebellion.
Is this book perfect? No. But it’s a treat.
I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley and Harper Perennial. All views and opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
Just recently, I saw this book on a list of psychological thrillers you’ll never guess the ending of, and I’d have to agree with about 60% of that staJust recently, I saw this book on a list of psychological thrillers you’ll never guess the ending of, and I’d have to agree with about 60% of that statement. I was surprised by about 60% of the ending of this book, and I think that’s pretty impressive, considering I’m hard to surprise.
Overall, this book wasn’t the easiest book in the world for me to read, because I found it to be too long. For me, it just took too long to get into gear and the whole first act was so slow I wondered if I was going to like it at all. I kept with it, though, because I had a feeling it might just pay off in the end. In some respects, it did, if only because I like my predictions to be proven correct (yay for validation) and because I do so love when a book manages to sneak something in totally under the radar that I had overlooked entirely that gets a chance to sucker punch me at the last turn.
I don’t want to spoil this book, and so much of what I could say about this book would spoil it entirely for you. I can tell you that Joanna Cannon has a way with words and turns of phrase that can be dizzyingly fascinating. She can turn out a double entendre with such grace you pass it by without realizing it was even a double entendre until after you’ve passed it and moved on. Phrases laden with double meaning will feel light as air until they are repeated and the dime drops and you realize just how much that same phrase meant in the previous context. It’s like a spell or a ritual at times. This book is filled with rituals, because rituals are the route to an organized life for a disorganized mind.
If you want to take a walk on the weird, trippy, and tidy side of psychological fiction, I’d recommend this book. You’ll likely spend up until the last few pages guessing.
Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for granting me access to this title. ...more
When I request an ARC there is quite a lag in time between that time (when I first read the summary and it interests me enough to ask for the galley) When I request an ARC there is quite a lag in time between that time (when I first read the summary and it interests me enough to ask for the galley) and when I go to read the book. Sometimes it’s six months or more. So when I went to read The Insatiable Volt Sisters, I didn’t remember much about this book’s summary other than it involved two sisters, a big house, and it was something involving paranormal and weird stuff.
This book is sneaky. At first, it has this feel of being magical realism literary fiction written in some of the (simultaneously) loveliest and most visceral prose I’ve read in some time with a whisper of gothic ghost story woven gently in. Don’t be fooled. This book quickly takes a turn for the paranormal and horrific, while still managing to have that visceral, sometimes violent, often vividly descriptive, and somehow always beautiful prose.
Honestly, I don’t know how Moulton wrote this book without summoning demons and muses at the same time, because writing a book that manages to be both heartbreaking and emotionally moving but angry and terrifying is some kind of genius writing magic. Her sentence composition and structure is the definition of perfection for this type of novel, and her copious use of the five senses adds to the surreal experience of spending time with Quarry Hollow (the Volt family home) Fowler Island (on which Quarry Hollow sits) and the quarry itself (one of the main characters in the story, even if it is a location and not a person).
Honestly, I don’t want to talk about the plot, because I feel like doing so will not only spoil the book, but it’ll spoil the experience of reading the book for anyone who wishes to read it. I kind of think this book is best enjoyed blind (though I will TW for an animal death late in the book, though it isn’t violent, in my opinion). There are a great many other topics in this book that another reviewer might give TW or CWs for, but I don’t give TW or CWs save for animal deaths, so you might want to look at some other reviews and see if another reviewer has listed comprehensive TWs or CWs. As always, be aware of your own mental thresholds while reading and don’t be afraid to stop if you need to stop. Your mental health is always more important than completing a book.
Honestly, this book has sent me reeling, and it’s resonating in my brain. I haven’t yet managed to tease out all the themes, to set them apart and figure out how Moulton managed to braid the strands together into this paranormal symphony. I’m still in the book with the characters, thinking about all of them, their roles in the story, and how they all fit in. I don’t know how long it’s going to take for this story to leave my brain, but I hope it takes a while. The best stories stick with you.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All ideas, thoughts, views, and opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
Oh, it’s so obvious this book wants to be dark academia with a surreal corona made up of a cult of mysterious and unstable personalities. And that’s fOh, it’s so obvious this book wants to be dark academia with a surreal corona made up of a cult of mysterious and unstable personalities. And that’s fine! That’s fine. That sounds like a cool idea for a book. It would definitely be a character-driven book more than plot-driven, but a lot of dark academia books are driven by their characters anyway. As long as there’s some semblance of a plot, and that plot is clear, fits with the characters and setting, and is written well then you shouldn’t have any issues. Right?
Well, debut author Heather Darwent obviously took copious notes on what the elements of a dark academia novel are, but somehow this book comes together not as a cohesive novel, but as a series of discordant events, inner narrative chapters, flashbacks, clumsily-written passages set in the future, and hazy vignettes speculated by the narrator to have been spent in a drug-fueled haze or under coerced sedation. So much time is spent on Clare, our protagonist: establishing who she is isn’t, showing how easy it is to shape her to someone else’s will and how willing she is to let it happen without complaint, watching how other people pull her strings and maneuver her, seeing her let trespass after trespass go… but her characterization isn’t consistent. This obsequiousness isn’t consistent; but, then again, nothing of Clare’s personality or character is and nothing in the narrative or in the plot gives any allusions or reasons for it.
What there is of a plot in this story, once one comes up (much too far into the story to ever have a hope of fully forming, coalescing, and being carried out in a comprehensive manner) is a plot far more tawdry than this novel calls for. It just doesn’t fit. This whole book started out because they were all going to the same school, but by the halfway point in the book it seems school is something that only comes up sporadically, like a novelty to mention, and this tabloid-worthy central plot line (which is also wobbly, for reasons mentioned above) takes precedence, even though the point of the whole venture isn’t ever made clear. The whole second half of this book is as foggy and muddied as Scotland.
There is some stunning writing inside this book: evocative imagery, creepy atmosphere, horrific scenes, surrealistic dreams and nightmares, and more. If only Darwent could’ve spent more time on this book and this idea before bringing it to an agent, and if only her editors would’ve maybe worked with her more on the content. I think Darwent has the makings of a great thriller writer, but she’s just not there yet.
NetGalley and Ballantine Books provided me with access to this title. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. Thank you. As per my personal policy this review will not appear on social media or any bookseller website due to the 3 star or lower rating.
Talk about hopes dashed and a disappointing read. I don’t think I’ve been so surprised that a book I’ve been looking forward to could fall so far fromTalk about hopes dashed and a disappointing read. I don’t think I’ve been so surprised that a book I’ve been looking forward to could fall so far from even the average mark… ever? Yeah. Possibly ever.
Grant Morrison writes a novel with a drag queen protagonist who takes on a protege and passes on her myriad secrets played against the background of rehearsals for a pantomime in Glasgow (which does have a very large drag scene in real life). Sounds absolutely spectacular, but my issue isn’t the plot: it’s everything else about this book that’s the problem.
As I was reading this book, I got the feeling this book thinks it’s precious. Precocious even. It’s not. Told to the readers like we’re sitting there with her as if friends or confidantes by the protagonist, drag queen Luci LaBang, she is narrator, stand-in impressionist for all other characters, her own judge and jury for all actions taken during the tale she’s weaving for us, and both her own comic relief and foil. As is the tradition of novels told entirely in first person when drugs, alcohol, and crime are involved, she’s terribly narcissistic and undeniably unreliable. Yet Luci expects we will hang on to her every word, every sentence, and every god-awful tangent she runs off on. To be honest? This book is utterly exhausting.
Why explain in one sentence what you could explain in three pages? Why stick to a simple explanation when you could spend a whole chapter in sloppy exposition? And for pete’s sake, do you have to fill every sentence with words that most readers will need to look up in the OED?
This book is vulgar in places (which I loved), but also offensive in the wrong way in other places. I don’t know if that’s just me, being American and fond of binge-watching RuPaul’s Drag Race, but I just didn’t have the time to put up with this book and its supposed meta self-awareness and nihilistic outlook. It gets a no from me.
Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine for the opportunity to review this title. Owing to the 3 star or lower rating, this review will not appear on any social media or bookseller website. ...more
There were two lines that kept popping up in my head while reading this book. One from Shakespheare and one from Taylor Swift, of all people.
“There aThere were two lines that kept popping up in my head while reading this book. One from Shakespheare and one from Taylor Swift, of all people.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
And…
“I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs…”
I know. Weird, right? The Bard schooling one of his characters about how there are things beyond the understanding of an educated mind, and T Swift talking about a past love she can’t get out of her head.
“Self-Portrait With Nothing” is a brilliant, quirky, and mind-bending book. You might see it advertised as sci-fi/fantasy, but I wouldn’t take it that far. I firmly believe this book remains rooted in the literary traditions of magical realism and speculative fiction among the likes of Marquez, Kafka, and Borges. When it’s not busy being magical realism, it’s busy being a stupendous, fever-dream mystery chase through continental Europe that’s filled with suspense, drama, violence, and a whole lot of mind-bending emotional breakdowns. Oh, and add in a legitimate art collecting group who gets really mad and is not above the unaliving if you don’t give them what they want on the down low. Don’t forget those guys.
This book crams a whole lot of plot, events, and characters into one book and yet at no time does this book feel crowded or rushed in any way. I have a feeling this is due to the naturally fast pacing that comes with the story: while at the start of the book there doesn’t seem to be a major timeline attached to the book’s events, once our main character (Pepper) decides to leave for Europe time is a matter of the essence for a great many reasons, and though Pepper’s priorities shift multiple times during the book, that notion of hurry hurry hurry never abates. Since Pepper goes through so much and meets so many people in the process, the abundance of events and characters doesn’t feel out of place because it all just comes part and parcel with her mad dash through Great Britain, Germany, and Poland.
Anyone who’s ever spent a great deal of their life wondering about all the what-ifs in their life, or wondering what their life might be in a parallel universe or dimension is going to relate to Pepper and her life. A physical anthropologist married to a historian, Pepper has pondered her dichotomous life since she was a teenager: the life she lives now (where she was adopted by her moms) and a life where her biological mom (an infamous painter) hadn’t given her up for adoption. This study in dichotomy influences every aspect of Pepper’s adult life: she wonders constantly about what she’s doing and what choices she’s making in other universes. It has caused her to become too good at keeping secrets, avoiding situations, and bottling emotions. Pepper’s emotional development throughout this book was one of my favorite aspects of it: to see her carry so much weight, keep so many secrets, avoid so many situations, and bottle so much… but everyone has a breaking point. And that reminds me of a quote from “The Martian”:
“At some point, everything's gonna go south on you... everything's going to go south and you're going to say, this is it. This is how I end. Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work.”
I love magical realism, and this book tells a vibrant but pensive tale of art, narcissism, possessiveness, hypotheticals, pain, and selfishness at a roller coaster pace but with evocative imagery and impeccable prose. Definitely something to add to your TBR.
Thanks to NetGalley and Tordotcom for granting me access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Loading...
