Review: Young Gothic by M.A. Bennett

Young Gothic by M.A. Bennett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Filled with deadly secrets and the monsters you thought only existed in your mind ...

You've heard of Frankenstein's monster, you've heard of Dracula, but have you heard of the Villa Diodati? Eve, Griffin, Hal and Ren embark on a summer they'll never forget at the birthplace of all things Gothic.

The summer is beset by mysterious happenings, as the monsters they create begin to clamber out of their minds. Events rise to a horrible climax when, on a dark and stormy night, one of the villa's guests is found dead and each of our foursome becomes a suspect in a gruesome murder.

It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. But when the stuff of nightmares becomes their reality, will they make it out alive?

--
Okay, so it's been a while since I've written a book review because I've been so busy with PhD work, but I just had to write about this one! This book has everything I like: creepy castles, creepy owners of castles, creepy doppelgangers, and twists I just did not see coming!

I'm always a bit wary about books with multiple first-person narrators, and this one has four, but it was done so well. Each of the narrators--Eve, Griffin, Hal, and Ren--was so distinguishable, and I really, really enjoyed seeing their personalities shine through their writing styles.

The intertextuality of this book was amazing. Seriously good. Spoilers ahead! Bennett cleverly and subtly (and not so subtly in places!) wove in references to so many 19th century gothic novels. Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, and The Vampyre. Eve, one of the narrators, is a gothic novel enthusiast, and so she made so many links within her narratives and references that I (as a fellow gothic novel enthusiast) got. Hal is a film enthusiast, and there was so much intertextuality for films too, but I wasn't familiar with most of those and so it didn't have quite the same 'aha moment' effect on me... but it's definitely signposted me to a lot of films to watch.

The pacing in this novel was excellent, but the only bit that threw me was the ending where Griffin's ex/stalker came into the story. Suddenly, it almost seemed like a different novel--though it was now leaning toward An Inspector Calls. But I really did like the pregnancy/baby storyline. In fact, there were two pregnancies (though Eve's was historic and she had an abortion). My PhD research is primarily about pregnancy horror and so this book definitely fits that for me--though this one is more centred around a pregnant character (or two) in a horror story, rather than the pregnancy being the source of the horror.

The characters in this novel were (I think) 18 to 20. It read a little older than most YA, but it still felt YA overall to me. And I loved this.

Other things I also loved:

- the creepy reveal about the servants' tongues having been cut off

- the architecture of the castle and there was a lake

- how the four main characters were re-creating the iconic visit of the Dead Poets 200 years ago.

I will definitely be reading the sequel!

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Review: DEAD ELEVEN by Jimmy Juliano

 

Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

On a creepy island where everyone has a strange obsession with the year 1994, a newcomer arrives, hoping to learn the truth about her son's death--but finds herself pulled deeper and deeper into the bizarrely insular community and their complicated rules...

Clifford Island. When Willow Stone finds these words written on the floor of her deceased son's bedroom, she's perplexed. She's never heard of it before, but soon learns it's a tiny island off of Wisconsin's Door County peninsula, 200 miles from Willow's home. Why would her son write this on his floor? Determined to find answers, Willow sets out for the island.

After a few days on Clifford, Willow realizes: this place is not normal. Everyone seems to be stuck in a particular day in 1994: they wear outdated clothing, avoid modern technology, and, perhaps most mystifyingly, watch the OJ Simpson car chase every evening. When she asks questions, people are evasive, but she learns one thing: close your curtains at night.

High schooler Lily Becker has lived on Clifford her entire life, and she is sick of the island's twisted mythology and adhering to the rules. She's been to the mainland, and everyone is normal there, so why is Clifford so weird? Lily is determined to prove that the islanders' beliefs are a sham. But are they?

Five weeks after Willow arrives on the island, she disappears. Willow's brother Harper comes to Clifford searching for his sister, and when he learns the truth--that this island is far more sinister than anyone could have imagined--he is determined to blow the whole thing open.

If he can get out alive...

--

Oh wow, I really wish I'd written this review earlier, after I'd finished the book--and not, like, six months later. But these things happen--and I feel that I really must write something about this book. Because this is one spectacular horror novel.

The interweaving narratives and storytelling modes that work together to tell the 'bigger picture' story is simply amazing. Sometimes, combining so many narratives can cause pacing or tension problems, but not with this novel. Without all the narrators, I feel it would make a far less terrifying story.

I particularly adored the setting. I mean, I love stories set on islands. I love missing-person stories. I love horrifying monsters. I love weird groups and cults.  And this book has everything.

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Review: COUNTERFEIT by Kirstin Chen

 

Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For fans of Hustlers and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, the story of two Asian American women who band together to grow a counterfeit handbag scheme into a global enterprise--an incisive and glittering blend of fashion, crime, and friendship from the author of Bury What We Cannot Take and Soy Sauce for Beginners.

Money can't buy happiness... but it can buy a decent fake.

Ava Wong has always played it safe. As a strait-laced, rule-abiding Chinese American lawyer with a successful surgeon as a husband, a young son, and a beautiful home--she's built the perfect life. But beneath this façade, Ava's world is crumbling: her marriage is falling apart, her expensive law degree hasn't been used in years, and her toddler's tantrums are pushing her to the breaking point.

Enter Winnie Fang, Ava's enigmatic college roommate from Mainland China, who abruptly dropped out under mysterious circumstances. Now, twenty years later, Winnie is looking to reconnect with her old friend. But the shy, awkward girl Ava once knew has been replaced with a confident woman of the world, dripping in luxury goods, including a coveted Birkin in classic orange. The secret to her success? Winnie has developed an ingenious counterfeit scheme that involves importing near-exact replicas of luxury handbags and now she needs someone with a U.S. passport to help manage her business--someone who'd never be suspected of wrongdoing, someone like Ava. But when their spectacular success is threatened and Winnie vanishes once again, Ava is left to face the consequences.

Swift, surprising, and sharply comic, Counterfeit is a stylish and feminist caper with a strong point of view and an axe to grind. Peering behind the curtain of the upscale designer storefronts and the Chinese factories where luxury goods are produced, Kirstin Chen interrogates the myth of the model minority through two unforgettable women determined to demand more from life.

--

This book has been on my radar forever. I'd borrowed it from the library a couple of times but then my loan was always due before I had a chance to start it, and when this was about to happen for the third time in a row I decided to knuckle down and get started. And I read this book soooooo quickly!

I love stories about con men and women. I love stories where the narrators lie. I love stories that are multiple POV and you never know who is the most reliable. I love stories with huge plot twists. So, essentially, this book was PERFECT for me!!!!

Counterfeit follows Ava Wong, a pretty 'ordinary' law-abiding woman, as she reunites with former best friend Winnie Fang--and becomes embroiled in Winnie's illegal, fraudulent business where she produces counterfeit designer handbags. So, like, I didn't realise that I would be so interested in the world of handbag production and counterfeits. This book has soooo much detail on this, and I found it fascinating. Like, we have pages and pages about it, and it's so eye-opening.

But the characterisation is what really makes this book amazing. And the plot twist. Okay, spoilers ahead! So, for the first half of the book, I was feeling sorry for Ava. She's married to a pretty awful guy who cuts off her money and controls her and throws strops. She's having to single-parent their child because he decides to move somewhere else for work, leaving his family for pretty much the whole week, every week. And when Ava dares go and visit her family, he throws a temper tantrum about that, and removes her from their joint bank account. Cue Winnie stepping in and giving her an easy way to make a lot of money. We see Ava struggling with the ethics of this and we see how once she gets started she can't get out. There are a lot of mind games, and she just seems so vulnerable. The narrative at this point also consists entirely of Ava recounting all these events to a police detective, as part of her interview, so it's first person. (I loved this as a narrative mode, plus we have no speechmarks for dialogue within this as the whole thing is pretty much the prose transcript of Ava's speech.)

I totally believed her--and then part two gives us Winnie's third-person narration where we begin to piece together that Ava has been lying to the police the whole time (and lying to us!). She's not innocent, being swept along by Winnie. She too is a con woman (she conned us all!). And that reveal is just FANTASTIC. So, so, so good!!!! We then alternate between the rest of Ava's dialogue to the detective and Winnie's narration, which give quite different versions of the same events. And I loved this, because who are we supposed to believe? Winnie's narration seems more objective as it's third person, but it's still close third person, so can she be trusted either?

I am a sucker for unreliable narrators and this book was great!

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Review: SUGAR by Carly Nugent

 

Sugar by Carly Nugent
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What’s yours is yours for a reason. Luck has nothing to do with it.

Some people get exactly what they deserve. And, as it turns out, I deserve to be called Persephone. No simple-to-sound-out Pride-and-Prejudice-style name like Elizabeth or Jane for me. Nope. Demi had to go Greek. Define ‘Persephone’. Bringer of destruction. That pretty much sums it up.

Persephone is angry. Angry that her life revolves around finger-prick tests, carbohydrate counts and insulin injections. Angry at Alexander Manson. Angry with her mum for lots of things, for nothing and for everything.
But most of all, she’s angry with herself. For deserving it all. Because of what she did, or didn’t do. Because one year ago she did something and her dad died.
But then Persephone finds a body on a bush path, a young woman she doesn’t know but feels a strong connection to. And as she tries to find out what happened to Sylvia, Persephone begins to understand her own place in the complex interconnectedness of the universe.

Sugar is the story of a sixteen-year-old girl trying to make sense of the life-changing events that have sent her world into a spin, her search for a reason behind it all, and ultimately her acceptance of life’s randomness.

—

I am drawn to books about angry girls. Girls who are hurting. Girls who feel like they deserve bad things. And also anything with chronic illness rep. And this is what drew me to Sugar.

Persephone (I love the name!) is angry. Her father died a year ago, and she feels partly responsible. She’s angry that her body doesn’t work—she has diabetes—and she’s angry at the people around her. Her mother is a complex character, clearly hurting, clearly grieving, and not really being there for Persephone.

And then Persephone discovers a body. It’s a woman, and she feels she knows her. Feels there’s a connection to her. She becomes obsessed with finding out who this woman is and she gains access to her Facebook account—and pretends to be her. She replies to messages as the dead woman and then gets close to the woman’s best friend, who’s also grieving, and was in love with her.

Normally, if I read about a character taking on a dead person’s identity, I wouldn’t feel sympathetic toward them. But with Persephone, you know she’s not doing it maliciously. She’s doing it to try and understand things better. She’s doing it as an outlet for her anger, as a coping mechanism. Her actions make sense.

While Persephone is struggling with identity—her own, her family’s, and that of the dead woman—we also see her struggle with diabetes. She feels she got this illness because of what she did that led to her dad’s death. She sees it as a punishment, and we see her spiral deeper and deeper, refusing to take care of herself.

Other storylines focus around bush fire in Australia that forces her and her family to temporarily leave their home, her cousin’s obsession with wanting a chronic illness of his own (likely due to the trauma he has from being abused by his step dad), Persephone’s ‘relationship’ with a boy and having sex for the first time, and her anger issues at school.

This book was emotionally heavy at times. But it is exactly the type of book I love.

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Review: TOFFEE by Sarah Crossan

 

Toffee by Sarah Crossan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The astonishing new novel from the incomparable, multi-award-winning and Laureate, Sarah Crossan.

I am not who I say I am,
and Marla isn't who she thinks she is.

I am a girl trying to forget.
She is a woman trying to remember.

Allison has run away from home, and with nowhere to live, finds herself hiding out in the shed of what she thinks is an abandoned house. But the house isn't empty. An elderly woman named Marla, with dementia, lives there – and she mistakes Allison for an old friend from her past called Toffee.

Allison is used to hiding who she really is, and trying to be what other people want her to be. And so, Toffee is who she becomes. After all, it means she has a place to stay. There are worse places she could be.

But as their bond grows, and Allison discovers how much Marla needs a real friend, she begins to ask herself - where is home? What is a family? And most importantly, who am I, really?

----

This novel-in-verse has to be one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking books I've read. The depiction of dementia in it is so truthful and real, and I felt raw reading this book. Several times, it had me crying. It's just so, so real.

And that wasn't the only 'truth' in this book--it spoke a lot about abusive parents and domestic violence, and this just felt like so, so real too. Like, I could feel Allison's pain, and I loved how Crossan still showed how Allison did love her dad, that there were good moments between them, despite how he was abusive toward her.

This book covers a lot of difficult topics: Allison's mother died giving birth to her and her father emotionally neglected her as a child, which only got worse as she got older. There's depictions of violence and abuse, and Allison leaves him, making herself homeless. She travels to Bude (always fun reading a book set in the town near me!) and stumbles upon Marla, an elderly woman with dementia who thinks she's her friend, Toffee. Allison assumes the identity of Toffee in order so she can stay at Marla's house, and in doing so, really comes to care for Marla. Their relationship is just so, so beautiful.

But the whole time, there's this sense of a countdown--that this cannot last forever. Is Allison's dad looking for her? What about the latest of his girlfriends who suddenly left, even though she and Allison were a united front? And what happens when Marla gets too unwell to still be living in her own home? Allison/Toffee can't look after her forever. I won't spoil the ending--but I will say it works. It's satisfying, and it draws everything together.

The other character who has a lot of page-time is Lucy, a girl whom befriends Allison. While their friendship seems innocent at first, it soon becomes clear Lucy is using Allison. She pays her to do her homework, she invites friends over to Marla's house and doesn't respect Allison when she asks them not to break or steal anything. And I thought this inclusion of a one-sided friendship really adds to the many different ways that Crossan explores the toxic nature of man, because there are a lot of depiction of this and unkindness. Allison's dad is the main example, but Lucy parallels him on a smaller level, and then you've also got Marla's son who shows up and is revealed to only be concerned about himself and not really care for his mother. 

But all of this is offset by the tender friendship that Allison and Marla form, albeit Marla never really knows who Allison is. 

There's a lot of sadness in this book, a lot of heartbreak and pain, and I've come to understand that I love sad books. These are the books that just 'get me'. And I love novels-in-verse, and every now and again, I read one that I find so inspiring and that encourages me to work more on my own novels-in-verse. This was just that book. It was so good it was motivating.

The language is just stunningly beautiful. I wanted to fold myself up within these pages and never leave the book.



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Review: THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET by Sandra Cisneros

 

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught everywhere from inner-city grade schools to universities across the country, and translated all over the world, The House on Mango Street is the remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero.

Told in a series of vignettes – sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous–it is the story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and what she will become. Few other books in our time have touched so many readers.

-- 

I came across this book as part of my MA degree in Creative Writing, examining spiral narratives in fiction, and I ended up using this book as inspiration for my spiralling narrative poem.

Cisneros tells the story of Esperanza, a young Latina girl, as she grows up, using a series of vignettes as the structure. As I was reading this with the structure in mind, I was particularly aware of the patterns and how the vignettes were structured. Every time the story started to reach out, covering more ground, it then shrank back again, focusing on Em once more, before the story starts reaching out again.

This book covers a lot of topics as it examines how different people live, and there is a content warning for sexual assault. But, more than that, it's a book about life. As a white reader, I felt my eyes were opened a lot.

This is a extremely well written book. The craft is simply beautiful. Several times, I found myself re-reading pages simply because of the language. It's just amazing. So heartfelt and raw and poignant.

Everyone should read this book.

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Review: THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED by Kody Keplinger

 

That's Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

It's been three years since the Virgil County High School Massacre. Three years since my best friend, Sarah, was killed in a bathroom stall during the mass shooting. Everyone knows Sarah's story--that she died proclaiming her faith.

But it's not true.

I know because I was with her when she died. I didn't say anything then, and people got hurt because of it. Now Sarah's parents are publishing a book about her, so this might be my last chance to set the record straight . . . but I'm not the only survivor with a story to tell about what did--and didn't--happen that day.

Except Sarah's martyrdom is important to a lot of people, people who don't take kindly to what I'm trying to do. And the more I learn, the less certain I am about what's right. I don't know what will be worse: the guilt of staying silent or the consequences of speaking up . . .

--
3.5 stars.

I listened to the audiobook of this, and for a long time it was one of those books that could've ended up being a DNF. The writing was great, and the characterisation was great, but for me it was the story itself--the plot--that I had trouble with. The pacing felt a little flat, and I think I went into this with the wrong expectations. I thought this was going to be a YA thriller, but it's more of an exploration of lies and secrets. There are some very small twists, but I think I was just expecting more. More of a building of the tension and pacing toward a climax--but the whole thing was very much level in terms of tension.

It's about Lee, the survivor of a school shooting, and how she wants to correct the misconceptions around the shooting and those who died in it, namely her best friend Sarah. Lee decides to encourage the other survivors to write letters explaining their truth, and this book is a collection of those letters and essays.

In terms of diversity, it ticks that box. We've got Denny who's a main character and he's Deaf and Black. We've also got Lee who is questioning if she's asexual. Now, as soon as I heard that she was possibly ace, I was so excited. I'm ace myself, and we need much more rep--but I didn't really like how this representation was done in the end. Lee seems convinced for much of the book that there's no point in her pursuing a relationship because she's ace and when she gets together with the guy she likes, it's presented almost as if she's just really lucky that he's willing to try and make things worse. There seemed to be this underlying assumption in the story that ace people don't really have relationships and that really grated on me. I'd have loved for this view to be corrected by Lee meeting other ace people and learning that relationships are possible. Plus, the book also seemed to suggest that all ace people never have sex--which is not true!

Denny was my favourite character though, and the narration was really good--especially for him.

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Review: PUNCHING THE AIR by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

 

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From award-winning, bestselling author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five comes a powerful YA novel in verse about a boy who is wrongfully incarcerated. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds, Walter Dean Myers, and Elizabeth Acevedo.

The story that I thought

was my life

didn’t start on the day

I was born

Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white.

The story that I think

will be my life

starts today

Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?

With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both.

--

Wow, this book. I am SO glad I heard the authors talking about it at an online con, and so glad I decided to order a copy of it, and so glad that I then ordered a second copy of it when the first copy got soaked and was unreadable, and just so so so glad I've read it.

It's amazing.

It's a novel-in-verse about a Black teenage boy called Amal who gets into a fight with his friends against some others and punches a white boy. The white boy's now in a coma, and although Amal didn't throw the last punch--the one that put the boy into a coma--he finds himself locked up in a juvenile detention facility. This book exposes the injustices and racism within the system (both the justice system and the prison system), and it examines racial profiling. One of the authors, Yusef Salaam is also one of The Exonerated Five and has personal experience of this happening to him. Although this isn't his story (as an author's note tells us), some of Yusef's own poetry is infused into Amal's story. And, wow, it's just SO powerful.

The language and rhythm in this poetry is phenomenal.

This book should be required reading in all schools.

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Review: AGAIN, AGAIN by E. Lockhart

 

Again Again by E. Lockhart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From the New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars and Genuine Fraud comes a complex novel about acceptance, forgiveness, self-discovery, and possibility, as a teenage girl attempts to regain some sense of normalcy in her life after a family crisis and a broken heart.

If you could live your life again, what would you do differently?

After a near-fatal family catastrophe and an unexpected romantic upheaval, Adelaide Buchwald finds herself catapulted into a summer of wild possibility, during which she will fall in and out of love a thousand times--while finally confronting the secrets she keeps, her ideas about love, and the weird grandiosity of the human mind.

A raw, funny story that will surprise you over and over, Again Again gives us an indelible heroine grappling with the terrible and wonderful problem of loving other people.

--

Oh, this book. I mean, I should know by now that E. Lockhart's books leave me feeling absolutely destroyed after (in a good way!). I've read We Were Liars and Genuine Fraud, and so I should've been prepared for what Again, Again would do to me. But I wasn't.

Like all her books, Again, Again has lyrical, beautiful prose. I listened to the audiobook (narrated by Tavia Gilbert), so I didn't actually realise until reading other reviews afterward that this book has passages that are written in verse. I LOVE novels that dip into verse every now and again, and now I'm thinking I may have to get the ebook or a paperback because of this. But the writing is just so beautiful. It's haunting. It's compelling. It's addictive.

Adelaide is seventeen years old. Her younger brother is a drug addict and in rehab. Adelaide lives with her father who teaches at her boarding school, while her mother lives elsewhere to look after the brother. And this is a complex novel of love and family, of heartbreak and loss, of hope and new beginnings.

I actually don't know what genre to classify this as. It's contemporary--but it's also an 'issue' book. It's got some thriller aspects as well as magical realism (there are talking dogs). And plus, you've got the whole time stuff. I LOVED how every so often, the narrative goes back a page or two and retells the events according to what would've happened if a character had done something different. We follow that 'pathway' until we're either back at the same scene's starting point again, or until we get to the new part where the plot divulges and there are multiple routes again. This has an affect of layers--the novel's built up on these layers, and the writing is truly amazing as, because of this layering and retelling effect, the characterisation of Adelaide and her love interest(s) are built up. Because we've got details from the other 'alternate scenes' that don't apply to the current scene/pathway, the reader knows more about Adelaide's love interest than Adelaide herself knows at any time. It's like we've got the power of hindsight--a twisted, alternate hindsight--while Adelaide is navigating her relationships. It's disorientating and dizzy to read--but it's compelling.

And Part 5 of the book has Adelaide finally go for a different love interest. And, you know what? It works--because we've seen how toxic and bad the previous relationship was (on its multiple play-throughs) her new relationship here feels healthier and more organic, even though way less page-time is dedicated to it.

There are some truly heartbreaking moments in this book. But there's also humour too. And so many of the situations Adelaide finds herself in are so, so relatable.

Like all of Lockhart's books, Again, Again left me feeling wistful afterward. It made me feel like I'd lost something huge the moment I finished it--and I was so sad that the book was over.

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Review: I KILLED ZOE SPANOS by Kit Frick

 

I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This gripping thriller follows two teens whose lives become inextricably linked when one confesses to murder and the other becomes determined to uncover the real truth no matter the cost.

What happened to Zoe won't stay buried...

When Anna Cicconi arrives to the small Hamptons village of Herron Mills for a summer nanny gig, she has high hopes for a fresh start. What she finds instead is a community on edge after the disappearance of Zoe Spanos, a local girl who has been missing since New Year's Eve. Anna bears an eerie resemblance to Zoe, and her mere presence in town stirs up still-raw feelings about the unsolved case. As Anna delves deeper into the mystery, stepping further and further into Zoe's life, she becomes increasingly convinced that she and Zoe are connected--and that she knows what happened to her.

Two months later, Zoe's body is found in a nearby lake, and Anna is charged with manslaughter. But Anna's confession is riddled with holes, and Martina Green, teen host of the Missing Zoe podcast, isn't satisfied. Did Anna really kill Zoe? And if not, can Martina's podcast uncover the truth?

--

This book has been on my radar for a while, ever since YA Thriller Con 2020, when Kit Frick was on one of the panels. Recently, I've been listening to audiobooks, and for my second audiobook I decided to go with I KILLED ZOE SPANOS. And, right away, I was gripped.

This book has a lot of things in it that I love in a YA thriller: unreliable narrators; mixed media (part of the book is told via a Podcast series, and we've also got police interviews too); multiple narrators; a missing teen girl; and an examination of memory and identity.

So, Anna has just moved to a new town for a summer nanny job. There, she learns she looks like missing teen, Zoe Spanos. She meets Zoe's sister, her friends, and her boyfriend Cayden. But what really makes this book twisty is that we open with a police investigation where Anna is admitting to killing Zoe. This is someone that we believe, from reading Anna's own narrative (it goes back and forth between now--when Anna has been arrested--and before, when Anna has just arrived) who hasn't met Zoe, as Zoe disappeared before Anna arrived in town. Yet, it's so twisty. We're immediately questioning the reliability of the narrator, and I LOVED that.

And we then get Martina's podcast too, telling us of all these other theories as to what happened to Zoe. Martina is the best friend of Zoe's sister, Aster, and it's through Martina's investigation for her podcast that we learn that Anna has been pressured into giving a false confession. And this is just one of those books where all the time, I had no idea who had actually killed Zoe. Every time I thought I knew, something else happened that proved me wrong.

I did guess one of the twists. Spoilers ahead: I realised pretty early on that Anna was most likely a half-sister of Zoe.

I'll confess, I found the actual reveal of who killed Zoe to be a bit of a let-down, but only at first--I felt as if this character wasn't really in the first half of the book enough for her to be a genuine suspect. But once we had the reveal, she did play much more of an important part in the narrative, even having her own POV.

Overall, this is a great twisty YA thriller (and with great narration for the audiobook),

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Review: ALLEGEDLY by Tiffany D. Jackson

 

Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mary B. Addison killed a baby.

Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: A white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it? She wouldn’t say.

Mary survived six years in baby jail before being dumped in a group home. The house isn’t really “home”—no place where you fear for your life can be considered a home. Home is Ted, who she meets on assignment at a nursing home.

There wasn’t a point to setting the record straight before, but now she’s got Ted—and their unborn child—to think about. When the state threatens to take her baby, Mary must find the voice to fight her past. And her fate lies in the hands of the one person she distrusts the most: her Momma. No one knows the real Momma. But who really knows the real Mary?


--


Allegedly is the third book by Tiffany D. Jackson that I've read, though it was her first published, and I know this is going to be a book that stays with me for a long time.

This book tells the story of a Mary, a Black girl who allegedly killed a white baby when she was nine years old. She's now 16, pregnant, in a group home, and fighting to find a way to keep her baby and clear her name. And it's... ahh, I just haven't got the words. This is a book that is dark and gritty, it's disturbing and emotional. And I was rooting for Mary the whole way...

But the ending--okay, so there's a HUGE twist (and I should've anticipated that, given Jackson wrote this). And the twist completely changes the whole story--like, literally you're in the final chapter and you learn something that means you view the whole of the rest of the book differently. And I can't decide whether I liked that twist. I mean, it was shocking and impactful, but with us only having one chapter for this twist, it made the ending feel a little rushed. I'd have liked a couple more chapters to really smooth it out and delve deeper into the implications of this twist. (A twist that I did not see coming whatsoever--and it's so hard to write about this without giving spoilers!)

Mary is a complex character. We feel her pain and desperation. She's realistic and so well written. In fact, all the characters are. But it's only once you get deep into the novel that you begin to realise just how unreliable Mary is as a narrator--yet the whole time I was willing her not to be the classic unreliable narrator. It really is such good writing.

And the twist at the end really changes the way you view Mary's mother--and both 'versions' of the mother are so believable. And that's just a sign of such fantastic writing.

I found this book addictive. I could not stop reading it. It also employs some excellent narrative devices to show other sides of the story. While Mary narrates the main narrative, we have snippets of police interviews, excerpts from books that others have written about the Mary B. Addison case, and interviews with Mary's mother and the mother of Alyssa, the baby who Mary allegedly murdered. 

It's a difficult book to read. Obviously, it deals with the murder of a baby. You've also got references to child abuse and rape, as well as a lot of discourse on racism. It is such an important read, I cannot stress that enough. But I do think I prefer Jackson's later books (which also deal with unreliable narrators and racism). Still, this is a highly recommended read.

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Review: THE WESTING GAME by Ellen Raskin

 

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A bizarre chain of events begins when sixteen unlikely people gather for the reading of Samuel W. Westing's will. And though no one knows why the eccentric, game-loving millionaire has chosen a virtual stranger--and a possible murderer--to inherit his vast fortune, on things for sure: Sam Westing may be dead...but that won't stop him from playing one last game!

I could not stop reading this book! THE WESTING GAME by Ellen Raskin is a phenomenal mystery, and I’m actually in awe of how good it is. As I was reading it, I kept forgetting it’s a novel as it seemed more like a puzzle, and the writing style is just amazing.

It’s one of the children’s titles for my postgrad creative writing course, but it reminded me so much of Virginia Woolf’s style. I actually googled the book to see if it’s taught to children at schools (or just used for degree level courses) because of this almost stream-of-consciousness style and complexity, with so many beautiful nuanced layers. It’s recommended for ages 10 and upward, and I have since learnt it's taught widely in US schools, but as a UK reader, I hadn't heard of this book at all--and here it often seems only to be taught to adults as an example of how children’s stories should be as complex as adult stories, as obviously you shouldn’t “write down” to children. It will give great satisfaction to adult readers who may be reading it aloud to children, as they’ll understand the more complex themes in it that younger children may not. Though I think children 10 and older would grasp the deeper meanings in this book, and YA readers certainly will.

The story follows 16 people (a mixture of children, teenagers, and adults) as they listen to the reading of Sam Westing’s will and discover that one of them is a murderer. All 16 are then thrown into the Westing Game where each must solve clues pertaining to the identity of the murderer. At times, these clues are almost set out like an instruction manual for a game, so we, as the readers, are also playing along. It’s this interactive quality that I’m finding so addictive.

It took me a little while to get into this book, mainly because there are just so many main characters, and we're not told a whole lot about these to start with. But we're thrown right into the mystery, and it's like we're trying to solve the mystery at the same time as learn about the characters--which does work really well as we're trying to work out who the murderer is.

And working out who the murderer is was just something I couldn't do--which rarely happens. But I really had no idea. And for that, I loved this book. It's just so powerful and it was refreshing to read such a complex and wonderfully plotted mystery that kept me on my toes as a reader. I was really making sure to read every single word on each page in case I missed a clue. 

Also, the narrative devices in this book are great. We've got multimedia in this as we get recounts of Sam Westing's will and other documents. And all of these are clues for the mystery too! 

The ending of the book was...strange. I don't know, it's hard to describe it without getting into spoiler territory. Because there are big twists, and though these were satisfying, I was kind of waiting for something more to happen as I was reading...but then by the time I got to the very last page, I realised that the ending was perfect as it was. If there had been another twist it probably would've detracted from the quietly powerful ending--where the true impact of it only hits you after you've stopped reading and you've got time to think.

And those final pages, where time suddenly speeds up and we learn what happens to the children as they grow up and the deaths of the older characters who were adults in the story is really heartbreaking. It's really powerful writing.

Turtle was by far my favourite character, swiftly followed by Angela. These two characters (sisters) really complimented each other, and I loved how many layers they each had, especially the darkness in Angela as (spoiler) she turns out to be the bomber. I also loved Sydelle and Otis (calling Otis the '65 year old delivery boy' was fantastic, by the way!). The other characters (with the exception of Grace, the mother of Angela and Turtle), although still strong with characterisation, didn't quite have the same impact on me as these characters. I think it's because there are just so many main characters in this book. It was a bit overwhelming. For a long time, I didn't even realise that Crow would be a significant character either. So that threw me a little.

Disability representation is also amazing, with the character of Chris who's a wheelchair user--and I loved how this book has other characters making assumptions about Chris and being stereotypical, but that these characters are then either called out, or the narrative voice becomes really snarky as it tackles the misconception. This is honestly one of the best books I've read for disability representation. (And equally, it's not just disability that the book calls out about this; there's also a lot on feminism and the role of women, with characters fighting stereotypes and 'traditional' views.)

The writing style of THE WESTING GAME is fun and snarky, and I can see why it would appeal a lot to children and teenagers. It's just so plucky and fun to read, and the narrative voice of the book is really great. There is a lot of head-hopping in the stream-of-consciousness style as we're bounced from one character to another, but uniting all these characters is this snarky voice--which is both snarky and judgmental on the current POV character and about others in general. And because the head-hopping is constant, and the whole thing is written in this style, very similar to Woolf's, this is one of the rare instances where I do feel that the head-hopping works.

This is a masterful piece of writing. Highly recommended.

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Review: THE EYES OF MIKRA by Isvari

The Eyes of Mikra by Isvari
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this story. You know how sometimes a book just grabs you and you can't stop thinking about it? That's this book. It's haunting and emotional, and it's almost got a timeless feel to it as it explores the effects war has on a person's mind.

The book opens with immediate intrigue and mystery and bloodshed. SJ has lost her memory, due to a bomb blast, and we're immediately thrown into the horrors of war, as well as SJ's own struggle to know who she is and to re-find her identity (and learn of the horrors of her past). We've also got the ominous 'presence' of Agent S right from the start, the antagonist, and I love how we only know as much about Agent S as SJ does at this point--we discover who this agent is just as SJ rediscovers her life.

And I just want to talk a bit about the structure--The Eyes of Mikra is the memoir of the MC, SJ. I'll admit, I didn't entirely realise it was her memoir until I was about a third of the way through, when the text explicitly says it. Up until then I'd thought it was multiple timelines, where one is told through diary extracts and the other through present-day action. But there were times when the writing seemed too reflective and not immediate enough to be present-day, so the revelation that we're actually reading a fictional memoir was great. I'm actually a huge fan of memoir, but I've never really read a fictional one--though as soon as I realised this is SJ's memoir, I realised it had a similar tone to The DNA of You and Me by Andrea Rothman--both have this contemplative voice, and are so, so emotional.

I'm also not usually a fan of books where part of the story is told through diary extracts, but the narrative device really works here. It gives an extra layer to an already complex and sophisticated story. And the diary extracts are cleverly woven into the story to add to the details we already know. And the diary extracts also have a distinctive voice too--we can really get a 'then' and 'now' sense. And the diary adds authenticity to SJ's story, especially as the voice changes and feels very natural for character growth.

One thing I really liked about this story is its emphasis on appearance and disfigurement. You've got the MC with prominent scars on her face that are in the healing process--and I felt that the way other characters react to this, namely her mother, was really telling for their relationships. I also love how at one point the mother brings her a photo of her as a child, in order to try and jog her memory of who she is, and it's a photo of the MC as a child with her favourite toy, a stuffed dog. But the thing that SJ focuses on in the photo is the tear across the dog's eyes. I thought this was a great parallel to SJ scars--"I'd pored over him myself for weeks, in the end convincing myself that my haphazard stitches made him more beautiful than the tear"--and this is just so poignant to SJ as she adapts to her new life. And this parallel of a dog with the MC is explored later in the book too, as near the end SJ tells us how she gets companionship from a stray dog. It's a really poignant moment, and it gives the whole narrative a circular feel.

It's also got some dark content that prompts the reader to look at the horrors of war and the moral dilemmas soldiers may face, such as shooting children. This book also looks at ideas of innocence and purity (in childhood) and it's contrasted powerfully with the horrors of war. And the imagery is so strong and vivid, especially when it comes to showing the different sides of human nature.

And it's got a lot of discourse on family and secrets too--as well as a feminist streak (I was so glad when SJ challenged Laki on her views on women's roles, but also how it shows how different people/societies look at this and the way beliefs are engrained like this). It's amazing how many things are blended into this story so effectively. There really is so much to say about it.

And the ending! There's a great twist. Such a reveal!

I really recommend this book. The Eyes of Mikra has everything you could want: a strong-willed MC, spies, secrets, love and death, a clever narrative, and a cast of realistic and believable characters.


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Review: THE WICKER KING by K. Ancrum

The Wicker King by K. Ancrum
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have such complicated feelings about this book. It's just...phenomenal.

You know every now and again a book just totally grabs you and you can't put it down? Reading it becomes addictive and you constantly think about the characters? This is one of those books, for me. I read it in three days, and I can't believe I've finished it now. I almost feel lost without more to read as I was so engrossed and caught up in this book. I truly was living and breathing August and Jack's story. And it's a story of a complicated friendship that turns to love, of illness and insanity, of neglect and desperation, of needing to find the people who 'get' you.

The relationship between August and Jack is INTENSE. And it's so well written. It was so tangible and I felt like I could just reach out and grab it. It's so vivid and real. I almost haven't got the words for describing it. I have never seen a relationship written as well as this. It just felt so...real. I could feel the boys' love for each other, and that ending, where they admit their feelings, was such a cathartic moment. It's the characters realising they're in love, something which the readers (and other characters) realise much earlier on.

The book's about the hallucinations that Jack develops and how with each day he's sucked more into this internal world, and how August reacts to this--the codependency that he has for Jack, and his own deteriorating mental health as a result of going along with Jack's hallucinations. August's deterioration is really well done, and we see him putting himself in more and more dangerous situations--life-endangering situations--because he does whatever Jack requests.

I think one of the reasons this book has resonated so much with me is because I have experienced psychosis, and K. Ancrum captures the nature of hallucinations so perfectly--even though we see it all through August's point of view. My psychosis, like Jack's, had a physical cause. Brain inflammation and a brain cyst in my case, rather than a brain tumour. And Jack's hallucinatory world and his behaviour just made so much sense to me. I could see myself in him, and it brought so much of that back to me.

I almost feel like I haven't even processed just how amazing this book is yet. It's just so haunting. Usually by the time I review books, I've thought a lot about why a book creates the impact it does, and how, but I feel totally overwhelmed by the power of this one, and I wanted to write this review now to reflect these feelings. 

Also, the narrative devices in this book are amazing--it's a multimedia book, and parts of the story are told via hospitalisation reports, detention slips, photos of the main characters, and a note where Jack is asking out August. The note is a reoccurring piece of the story, and we see how Jack's crossed it out at various times, then scribbled over it again, as he's struggling to process his feelings for August. This added a whole new dimension to the story too. 

I highly recommend this book.


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Review: MEAT MARKET by Juno Dawson

Meat Market by Juno Dawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Jana Novak's history sounds like a classic model cliché: tall and gangly, she's uncomfortable with her androgynous looks until she's unexpectedly scouted and catapulted to superstardom.

But the fashion industry is as grimy as it is glamorous. And there are unexpected predators at every turn.

Jana is an ordinary girl from a south London estate, lifted to unimaginable heights. But the further you rise, the more devastating your fall ...

Honest and raw, this is a timely exposé of the dark underbelly of the fashion industry in an era of #TimesUp and #MeToo. It might just be Juno Dawson's most important book yet.

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I’ve been reading so many amazing books recently and MEAT MARKET by Juno Dawson is definitely now top of my list. It’s just that good.

Last year I read CLEAN by Dawson, and I fell in love with her writing. I knew that this was an author I just had to read more of. And so when I got the chance to grab a copy of MEAT MARKET I just couldn’t read it fast enough.

This is the story of Jana Novak, a girl who is scouted to become a model. Initially reluctant, she goes ahead with it—and becomes one of the big names in the model industry.

This is just an amazing book. Dawson uses Java’s journey to show how toxic the modelling industry is. She exposes the sexism and impossibly high standards models are held accountable to, giving readers a powerful insight into this industry. Important topics such as sexual assault in the workplace and the #MeToo movement are explored tactfully and powerfully.

MEAT MARKET examines how models’ bodies are seen as commodities and just how bad some models are treated.

We see how this culture encourages eating disorders and how models are seen everywhere, but rarely heard. We rarely know what a model’s voice sounds like. They’re very much used just for their body.

We also see how drugs play a big role in this industry. Dawson skilfully shows how Jana starts off bright-eyed and eager, only to succumb to the impossible standards imposed on her and the relentless pressures, eventually choosing to take drugs to numb herself to the harsh realities of the modelling industry, in order to continue her career. As Jana becomes addicted to the drug, it provides a haziness to both her and the reader. I almost felt like I was also drugged at times as I read. That’s how good the writing is.

And yes, the narrative voice. It is phenomenal. Seriously good. Jana’s voice is unique and it grabs you. I also loved how there are a variety of different literary devices employed to tell the story alongside Jana's narrative. We've also got a film transcript and articles.

This is one of those books that is so important to read, and I really recommend that everyone reads it. It’s a powerful YA story and even though I finished it days ago, I can’t stop thinking about it.

*content warning for: sexual assault, rape, eating disorders, transphobic comments directed at the MC*

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Review: THINGS WE DIDN'T TALK ABOUT WHEN I WAS A GIRL by Jeannie Vanasco

Jeannie Vanasco has had the same nightmare since she was a teenager. She startles awake, saying his name. It is always about him: one of her closest high school friends, a boy named Mark. A boy who raped her.

When her nightmares worsen, Jeannie decides—after fourteen years of silence—to reach out to Mark. He agrees to talk on the record and meet in person. "It's the least I can do," he says.

Jeannie details her friendship with Mark before and after the assault, asking the brave and urgent question: Is it possible for a good person to commit a terrible act? Jeannie interviews Mark, exploring how rape has impacted his life as well as her own. She examines the language surrounding sexual assault and pushes against its confines, contributing to and deepening the #MeToo discussion.

Exacting and courageous, Things We Didn't Talk About When I Was a Girl is part memoir, part true crime record, and part testament to the strength of female friendships—a recounting and reckoning that will inspire us to ask harder questions and interrogate our biases. Jeannie Vanasco examines and dismantles long-held myths of victimhood, discovering grace and power in this genre-bending investigation into the trauma of sexual violence.

I was lucky enough to get an advanced reading copy of Things We Didn’t Talk About When I was a Girl by Jeannie Vanasco. While this memoir is a little different from the others I’ve been reading, it truly is fantastic. In it, Vanasco recounts the sexual assaults she’s experienced while also analysing rape culture. It is a truly amazing book and I highly recommend that everyone reads it. Honestly, it is so important. (It releases October 1st, 2019.) 

What has struck me in particular about Vanasco’s memoir is how personal and honest it is. When writing about another person, there's always the risk of repercussions. Vanasco gets around this beautifully in her memoir, writing it as she seeks permission from those she talks about, and gives us their exact words. She also tells readers how her memories may not be reliable — but that the memories of those she speaks to also will not be reliable. Her book feels entirely honest and brave for that reason.

The book itself alternates between Vanasco's narrative to us and a transcription of two different phone calls that she has with her rapist, many years after the rape occurred. It's written in 'real time' as Vanasco transcribes the phone calls, and so we see her pauses and breaks and what she thinks about, and who else she speaks to. 

What makes this memoir different to others about sexual assault though is Vanasco's attitude toward her rapist and her ongoing struggle to feel the anger she expects she should feel. She and Mark were very good friends for years before the rape, and so she frames her memoir as an investigation of how a good person can do something bad. 

This book doesn't only look at sexual assault and the power in that though. It looks at how power is inscribed in language too, and how different ideologies are constructed on the basis of power and exchanges. Vanasco delves deeply into these ideas as she talks with her friend who's a gender studies lecturer, and the conversations recounted are fascinating and enlightening. 

This is a hugely important book--possibly the most important book I've ever read--and I highly suggest that everyone reads it. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy. 

Review: LITTLE MONSTERS by Kara Thomas

Little Monsters by Kara Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kara Thomas is an author who’s been recommended to me a number of times as I’ve been navigating my way through YA thrillers, and I finally had time to read one of her books, Little Monsters.

This story follows the story of Kacey, a girl new to town a year ago, who is now best friends with two girls. These girls definitely have the mean girls vibe present in Dana Mele’s People Like Us, and to some extent the tv show Pretty Little Liars (though Little Monsters has a darker, grittier tone). When Kacey’s best friends go to a party and she’s not invited, she wonders why they’re being distant. And then one of them, Bailey, fails to return home.

All eyes point to Kacey, and then her stepbrother, and the mystery unfolds with plenty of twists. In terms of engagement and pacing, this book started out so good. I was enthralled. The set-up is amazing. And the ending was equally good. For me, the middle felt a little flat. For a long time, the pacing seemed a little bit too slow. There were lots of twists there, don’t get me wrong, but I felt like something was lacking a little, perhaps because it started getting so complicated with more questions being raised and very few answers being given.

Having said that, I loved the characters and the family dynamics in particular. You’ve got the stepmother who’s very welcoming, more so than Kacey’s own father, the absent mother, the stepbrother who is a great friend, and the half-sister who dotes in Kacey. But there’s also something off about her, and it’s here where I got the same vibes as (spoiler alert!) Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects in terms of the little sister.

So let’s talk about the ending and the reveal of Bailey’s murderer. (Spoilers in this paragraph; skip ahead to the next one if you don’t want to know the identity of the murderer!) Given that we have the story told from both Kacey’s POV and the diary extracts of Bailey before she goes missing/is murdered, I felt so sure that the murderer was Jade, the other best friend as it had to be someone close to both of the narrators. But there was also something off about Lauren, the little sister, so to find out I was right about both of them was a great payoff. And it happened so quickly at the end. Suddenly, bam, it was there. And even though I’d worked out who it had to be, by process of deduction, the way the reveal unfurled was still engaging and I couldn’t read fast enough.

The final two lines of the book also provide another twist and make you see things differently, which I particularly loved.

All in all, this is a highly recommend thriller for young adults.

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Review: SADIE by Courtney Summers

Sadie by Courtney Summers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A missing girl on a journey of revenge and a Serial - like podcast following the clues she's left behind. Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him. When West McCray - a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America - overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late. Courtney Summers has written the breakout book of her career. Sadie is propulsive and harrowing and will keep you riveted until the last page.

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I was a little nervous to start reading SADIE as I’d heard so many positive things about this book and it had been recommended to me countless times. It’s one of those books that felt huge, and seeing recently that it had won a prestigious award finally motivated me to open it on my kindle. And immediately, I was hooked.

I love books that use unusual writing devices as part of their narrative style, and just over half of this story is told via a podcast. I’ll confess, I’ve never listened to a podcast, so this format was new to me—and I was reading it rather than listening. The podcast revolves around a journalist called West who’s been employed by May Beth to look for her missing granddaughter (or rather surrogate granddaughter) and the episodes follow West as he travels around meeting people who Sadie, the missing girl, has talked to in her hunt for the man who killed her younger sister.

The other half of the story is told by Sadie in a first person narrative and the alternating order of the writing and podcast episodes means that we witness something with Sadie and are left on a cliffhanger, only to discover what then happened a chapter or so later via West’s investigation as he interviews the shady people Sadie’s come into contact with.

Sadie is a great character. She’s real, flawed, overwhelmed with grief over her sister’s murder and how she feels like she let her down. Sadie is thin and small, but as she tells the reader at several points, she is dangerous. She’s ruthless in her hunt for the murderer, and she saves a lot of other young girls on the way.

Claire, Sadie’s mother, is also an interesting character. We see an almost transformation from rubbish mother to caring mother as the book progresses as West interviews her for the podcast, looking for any leads as to where Sadie is now. Claire’s characterisation is strong and well written.

And the ending! Small spoilers here. It’s an ambiguous ending and we’re left only knowing the “ending” via the final episode of the podcast—which isn’t really an ending to Sadie’s story as the trail has gone cold. We don’t know what happened to her as her narrative is cut short during her meeting with her sister’s murderer. I was turning the pages eagerly as I read the podcast, hoping to be brought back to Sadie’s narration. But we’re not. This leaves an intentional and well crafted sense of unease in readers as we finish the book and it’s almost haunting. I can’t stop thinking about it.

The writing is also equally beautiful and well-crafted and in Sadie’s narrative, there are many powerful and poignant statements and messages. I found myself really thinking about her thoughts, and her voice is so strong.

Warning: This book does go to some very dark places: child abuse, rape, pedophilia, and murder are all bound up within the plot.

Overall, this is a powerful read. Highly recommended.

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