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Welcome to my Young Adult Reviews!
Check out my recent reviews below. For specific categories, see my Categories section.

THE DEAD AND THE DARK - Courtney Gould

12/22/2021

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4 stars

Generational secrets, the darkness within, and small town murders collide in this atmospheric and unputdownable debut.

Concept: ★★★
Pacing: ★★★★
Sense of unease: ★★★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★★

Watch out for the dark.

Wow, this was such an engaging young adult mystery. As an adult reader who can't seem to stay away from the young adult genre, sometimes there are stories that don't translate out of their age-appropriate market and I feel like I'm the one old person at the young people's party. The Dead and the Dark was not one of those books—I think this one will have more of an all-ages appeal.

In Snakebite, a small town with generations of secrets and shame, things don't change. Visitors never stay, residents don't leave, and those that are different are not welcomed.

Years ago, Logan's two dads left Snakebite under upsetting circumstances, several of which revolving around their status as the only gay couple in town. They've been a traveling duo ever since, with their paranormal TV series dragging them across the country along with their adopted daughter, Logan.

But when one of Logan's dads returns to Snakebite and his supposedly short trip turns into months and months, they family decides to return to Snakebite and see what's going on.

Someone's keeping secrets. And a boy is already missing.

I think The Dead and the Dark works best if you don't know too much about it going into the story, so I'm not going to share any more of the plot. In short: I thought this story took a while to get off of the ground (roughly 75 pages) but then once things started to unravel for Logan and the other characters I could not stop reading this one.

It's a bit ghost-y. A bit queer identity struggle. A bit of small town bigotry. A bit of a romance on the side. A bit of a cold-blooded killer.

This one sits at some interesting cross-sections, so I can see why some readers feel unsatisfied after finishing it. If you're here for just one thing, then the other bits feel like unwanted excess. But I, personally, was here for the entire experience and, outside of some occasionally clunky writing, I thought this story was extremely well done.

Looking forward to seeing Courtney Gould's growth in her next book.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for my copy in exchange for an honest review.
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SMALL FAVORS - Erin A. Craig

12/17/2021

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4.5 stars

Ominous, lingering, Americana gone wrong with a dose of the eldritch.

Concept:★★★★
Pacing: ★★★★
Atmosphere: ★★★★★

This is one of those books that you either barely describe or seriously over describe--it's rich, the plot is layered, and some of the magic in this story's structure comes from knowing the movements of the plot and yet being absolutely compelled to savor it anyway for the journey. A really masterful horror-speculative from an author to watch.

In the town of Amity Falls, a family of beekeepers lives in relative harmony with their close-knit group of townspeople. Their town exists in the valley of a hard-to-travel mountain range, and monsters, perils, and death plague anyone who tries to get into Amity Falls....and out. Supply runs to the outside world are dangerous and infrequent. The people of Amity Falls are isolated.

In this setup of isolation and crowd-based community, Ellerie Downing is learning to care for the bees. And trying to find her place in the community as a young woman of seventeen with dreams and goals that don't *quite* align with the patriarchal lifestyle of her town.

When she meets a strange boy at the fringes of the woods, Ellerie has no idea that everything is about to change.

The woods are dark and deep. And something has been drawn to the glowing jewel of Amity Falls like a moth to a flickering flame...

Keep your luck with you, and don't go lending out small favors.

Ohhhhhh, this was delicious. Like the honey that this novel's bee motif alludes to, Small Favors is a book that seeps into your consciousness with a sweet yet hard-to-escape sticky residue. You're caught like a fly in the amber within the author's beautiful words, aware that the story is heading for destruction and yet unable to stop, happy to sink in.

What an interesting combination to add the Salem witch trials-esque Americana spirit to the folkloric eldritch horrors of the older worlds. You'd think this would have been done before and therefore boring in its familiarity, but the author took those familiar concepts and really tangled them up into something fresh on the market (or at least it was fresh for me, a fan of folklore horror).

I wonder how this novel would translate to an international audience, because it is so rooted in that sense of nebulously frontier Americana with all of the folklore, superstitions, and religion vs. folk that seems to have a unique flavor in this particular country and time. But then, the core concepts are familiar to a lot of Western countries that are based in Christianity, so who knows.

A fantastic entry into the folklore horror canon, and another beautifully written story by Erin A. Craig.

Thank you to Random House Children’s for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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All reviews posted are my own and do not reflect the opinions of any other individual or entity.  When applicable, reviewed titles sent to me by the publisher are noted at the bottom of each review.
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  • Home
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    • YA / MIDDLE GRADE
    • NONFICTION+
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