The Bewitching

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, 368 pages

Grad student Minerva has always loved scary stories, most likely because her great grandmother Alba told her stories of witches all her life, and has made a little-known horror author, Beatrice Tremblay, the subject of her thesis. An international student from Mexico, Minerva has enrolled in the same university where Tremblay studied, and hopes to access the author's journals to include in her thesis. What Minerva discovers, however, is the story of a missing woman that inspired Tremblay's cult classic horror novel, a story that echoes in Minerva's present and in Alba's stories of long-ago Mexico. 

Told in three interweaving stories, this tale of three eras of women dealing with evil witches is spooky, atmospheric, and engaging. I felt a bit skeptical that the same types of witches would exist in New England and in Mexico, as I haven't heard of commonalities between the witchy folklore of both places in the past, though that's a fairly minor quibble with an otherwise excellent book.

What Will People Think?

What Will People Think? by Sara Hamdan, 336 pages

Mia Almas is a quiet Muslim young woman who works as a fact-checker for a media corporation and harbors a longtime crush on her boss. However, when she leaves the office, before heading home to her grandparents' basement apartment, Mia often indulges in her secret hobby — standup comedy. She's been secretly honing her act for five years when a few of her coworkers stumble upon her performance, one of them writes a profile of her, and suddenly Mia is going viral. Afraid of what this will mean to her undocumented grandparents — both in terms of their living situation and their opinion of her — Mia's thrown into a panic, something soothed only by her grandmother's scandalous journal of her youth in Palestine.

Set in 2011 in New York City, this story takes place during an era that wasn't quite as culturally sensitive as we try to be today, and Hamdan shows that well in the book. Really, though, the story of Mia's grandmother is much more compelling than Mia's more modern crisis — I would've happily read a whole book about her history! An entertaining book however, and definitely worth a read.

Rules for Ruin

Rules for Ruin by Mimi Matthews, 400 pages

At the request of her patron, Effie Flite has returned to England following a few years as a lady's companion in Paris. As an orphan trained in the Crinoline Academy, Effie has the ability to blend in seamlessly in London's society while also holding her own in less savory situations (that's where the sharp hairpins and steel-pointed parasol come in handy), both of which will be needed in her next assignment: take down Lord Compton, a seemingly upstanding member of Parliament who holds enough sway to prevent the married women's property act from coming to a vote. Unfortunately, Effie's assignment has her at odds with formidable betting shop owner Gabriel Royce, who needs Compton's influence to help secure funding to rehabilitate the slums of St. Giles. Too bad that Effie and Gabriel can't deny the attraction between them.

This is an intriguing historical romance, with plenty of meaty historical elements and compelling side plots and backstories for the characters, making it an enjoyable read. (It's also somewhat inspired by Miss Havisham's story in Great Expectations, so no, you're not imagining that.) However, something about the way the romantic elements come together in the end feels a bit disingenuous to Effie's character, which keeps this from getting an enthusiastic recommendation from me.

Tress of the Emerald Sea

 Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson, 443 pages.

The most unusual thing about Tress is how stunningly normal she is. But when the man she loves is kidnapped by an evil sorceress, and nobody else seems inclined to do anything, she decides that she will simply have to be the one to save him. She sails dangerous seas of spores, has pirate adventures, and will have to face both a dragon and sorceress to save her love, but someone has to do it. 

This delightful book was a reread for me (you can read my original review here), and I am happy to report that I like it at least as well on a second reading. The plot is a romp, and the characters are all delightful. However, beyond being a quite fun and funny book, there are a number of lines that resonated so deeply I had to stop and sit with them a while. I am also happy to report that the Orcs & Aliens book club overwhelmingly enjoyed it as well. A great book in general, and a good starting point for anyone interested in getting into Brandon Sanderson's books. 

King Sorrow

 King Sorrow by Joe Hill, 887 pages.

In 1989 Arthur Oakes' friends come together to go to extreme measures to get him out from under the thumb of drug dealer's who have threatened him into stealing rare books from the college library. Arthur and his friends, mostly too wealthy to have any respect for the impossible, use a journal bound in human skin to summon a dragon to take care of their problem. But as with all deals with dark and dangerous entities, there is a catch, and the six young people are tricked into sacrificing someone to the dragon every year, or else be eaten by the dragon themselves. Over decades they tell themselves they are only killing evil people, and that they are improving the world, but dragons aren't interested in good and the cost only gets heavier.

This was a compelling book, although I have to admit that by the last third or so it got exhausting watching bad things happen to bad people. We spend time in the head of each of the six involved in summoning this dragon, and several of them are frankly pretty terrible. I enjoyed this book, although I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was about 200 pages shorter. 

Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea

 Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomey, 596 pages.

This book, originally published in 1908, has been a favorite of mine for a long time; and although I'm not quite as fond of the sequels, I do still quite enjoy them. For anyone who hasn't read these books in the 120 years they've been popular, they follow Anne Shirley, an orphan who is adopted into a small Canadian town and has a talent for getting into scrapes, imagining things, and seeing the beauty of the world. This time I'm listening to the books as read by Mary Kate Wiles and a full cast of her friends, mostly other actors from her Shipwrecked Comedy group. They do a great job bringing the characters to life, and I highly recommend this if you're looking for an audio version of this classic! (It's also technically a podcast, meaning that these are free on Spotify)

Storybook Ending

Storybook Ending by Moira Macdonald, 320 pages

April works from home and is desperate for human connection, especially with that cute guy at the local indie bookstore. Knowing that he's the guy that handles all of the book donations, she donates a pristine copy of a popular mystery novel with a note signed only "A" tucked inside, hoping that it'll spur a conversation with him. However, instead of dreamboat bookstore guy Westley getting the note, it goes straight to widowed mom Laura, who purchases the mystery for her book club, and now thinks that Westley is hitting on her via note. Soon Laura and April are corresponding via notes left in a book at the store (which is also being used to film a movie), each thinking they're creating a relationship with their dream dude.

This has a cute premise, but it goes on WAY TOO LONG and centers on a guy that I didn't find particularly likeable. Sure, he's handsome and he knows it, but the amount of "oh, I get this attention all the time and it's such a hassle" stuff is just obnoxious. I liked the other characters just fine, and would've loved it if this book had just focused on April and Laura and left Westley as a minor side character. Alas, we get him as a third POV character. There are better bookstore-friendship books out there that are much more worthy of your time, but if you must read this one, feel free to skim the Westley chapters. 

The Blackbirds of St. Giles

The Blackbirds of St. Giles by Lila Cain, 496 pages

When Daniel and his younger sister, Pearl, escape slavery during a rebellion, they're able to save themselves, though they leave behind their mother and the love of Daniel's life. Eventually, after Daniel fights for the British in the war for American independence, he secures a future for the siblings as the heir of a British nobleman whose life Daniel saved. However, upon traveling to London, that future is swiftly stolen from them, and Daniel and Pearl find themselves scraping by in a community created in the tunnels under Covent Garden, a community run under the ruthless rule of gangster Elias. 

Focusing on an element of London life that I'd never read about in fiction, this book offers a wealth of information that has piqued my interest in further investigation. While a few elements felt a bit unrealistic (particularly a bit of bombastic action toward the end), overall the story was compelling and the characters were well-conceived. Well worth a read.

The Witch's Orchard

The Witch's Orchard by Archer Sullivan, 320 pages

Private investigator Annie Gore grew up in Appalachia and got out as quickly as she could after high school. But when a young man from a small Appalachian town offers his savings to hire her to find his missing sister, she can't say no, despite her intuition that the girl is long dead (she's been gone for a decade, after all). It's an intriguing case if nothing else, as three girls were kidnapped and one was almost immediately returned, though she's been mute since the incident and unable to provide information to help investigators find the other two girls. As Annie starts poking around the holler, she learns that not everything is as it seems, and that the local folklore of a witch and her magical orchard have permeated people's impressions of what may have happened to the girls.

This was an intriguing Appalachian mystery, full of complex characters, any one of whom could be the culprit. That said, I was a little thrown by a twist at the end, which felt HIGHLY unlikely, given the small town in which the book is set. However, go ahead and give it a read — or better yet, a listen, as the audiobook is very well done.

Didn't You Use to Be Queenie B?

Didn't You Use to Be Queenie B? by Terri-Lynne DeFino, 336 pages

Once upon a time, Regina Benuzzi was Queenie B, a celebrity chef with Michelin-starred restaurants, TV shows, cookbooks, and a husband and son. But she lost it all when her drug and alcohol addiction took over her life. Years later, Gale, a line cook with aspirations to someday run his own restaurant, volunteers to help cook at a soup kitchen, one that has suspiciously high-end appliances and kitchen tools. Gale doesn't recognize Regina as the woman running the kitchen, but that's the way Regina wants it, and it all works out just fine — until Gale is chosen to be on a cooking competition show and he discovers who his new mentor really is.

This was a lovely book about the friendship and respect that grows between two chefs at different stages of their careers and their addiction recovery journeys, and refreshingly, there's not even a hint at a romance between the two (that happens SO MUCH in this sort of book that I was half-expecting it the whole way through). The food they create sounds delicious, the main and side characters are well-created, and honestly, the only thing that bugs me about this book is the title (I get that it's a common phrase, but it's weird to see it written out.) Well worth a read.