Mona Awad - Rouge

Mona Awad - Rouge

3⭐

Genre: Horror, Gothic, Fiction, Thriller, Contemporary, Literary Fiction 

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback Proof 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster 

Date Published: 12th September 2023

Huge thank you to Simon & Schuster for sending me a copy.

Book Blurb: 

From the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty. Can she escape her mother’s fate—and find a connection that is more than skin deep?

For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.

Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, Rouge holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath.

My Review: 

This book was quite disturbing but at the same time quite interesting. It is one of those books where I don’t know whether I liked it or disliked it.

The book follows Belle, who since very young again, influenced by her mother's beauty, is obsessed with her appearance, especially her skincare. One day, her mother Noelle mysteriously dies and Belle has to face her past, first by coming home to Southern California. At home, she realises that her mother is in debt, which prompts her to start asking questions about how her mother died. Her suspicions grow even more when she meets a strange woman in red who invites her to a secret spa and club, which her mother was a member of. There Belle slowly discovers herself, and truths about her mother's past but also faces her demons from the past.

I liked the beginning of this book. It gripped me and captivated me, however, the more I read the more cryptic and confusing the story became. In the end, I was confused as to what was going on and what this story was supposed to be about. At first, I thought it was a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but looking from 21^st-century eyes, and our obsession with skincare, always looking young and putting on a ‘fake façade’, as well as, how social media and companies make us part of the ‘cult’ when it comes to beauty, skincare products and focusing on the impossible beauty standards. At least that’s what I took from the book. However, I also felt that there was more, which I might not understood or didn’t get whilst reading this book.

Not going to lie, the writing was beautiful, but I felt that some parts of the story were not necessary and rather repetitive. I thought this book would have read much better if it was a shorter novella. There were also times when I didn’t care about Belle as she was quite insufferable and naïve. I also didn’t care about the in-depth exploration of Noelle’s and Belle’s relationship as for me that wasn’t the main point of the book, and it also took away from exploring the beauty and unattainable beauty standards. I didn’t connect to their relationship at all…

Overall: Very mixed opinions about this book. Part of me liked it a lot but there was part of me where I didn’t like it. This book gives a lot of food for thought, especially about the beauty industry in the 21^st century but at the same time delivers those thoughts in a very cryptic and crazy way. 

About the Author: 

Mona Awad is the author of BUNNY, ALL'S WELL and 13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A FAT GIRL. 13 WAYS won the Amazon Best First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize. Her second novel, BUNNY, was a finalist for a Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror, the New England Book Award, and won the Ladies of Horror Fiction Best Novel Award. It is currently being optioned for film with Bad Robot Productions. ALL'S WELL was a finalist for a Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror. Her new novel, ROUGE, is forthcoming in September 2023 with Simon & Schuster.

She earned an MFA from Brown University and an MScR in English from the University of Edinburgh where her dissertation was on fear in the fairy tale. In 2018, she completed a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literary Studies at the University of Denver. She currently teaches creative writing at Syracuse University and lives in Boston.

http://mona-awad-grou.squarespace.com/

Sayaka Murata - Life Ceremony

Sayaka Murata - Life Ceremony 

4 ⭐

Genre:  Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Japanese Literature, Asian Literature, Translated Fiction, East Asian Literature, Short Stories, Horror, Mystery 

Translated by: Ginny Tapley Takemori 

Original Title: 生命式 [Seimeishiki]  

Original Language: Japanese 

Pages: 266

Format: Kindle (Digital) 

Publisher: Granta Books 

Date Published: 1st October 2019

 

Book Blurb: 

From the author of international bestseller Convenience Store Woman comes a collection of short fiction: weird, out of this world and like nothing you’ve read before.

An engaged couple falls out over the husband’s dislike of clothes and objects made from human materials; a young girl finds herself deeply enamoured with the curtain in her childhood bedroom; people honour their dead by eating them and then procreating. Published in English for the first time, this exclusive edition also includes the story that first brought Sayaka Murata international acclaim: ‘A Clean Marriage’, which tells the story of a happily asexual couple who must submit to some radical medical procedures if they are to conceive a longed-for child.

Mixing taboo-breaking body horror with feminist revenge fables, old ladies who love each other and young women finding empathy and transformation in unlikely places, Life Ceremony is a wild ride to the outer edges of one of the most original minds in contemporary fiction.

My Review: 

OMG! This book was something else! In both, good and very grossly disturbing ways. The good is that this book is different to anything else I have ever read before. The grossly disturbing is that each story makes you feel like you are in a horror version of the Black Mirror episode. However, the writing is amazing, just as amazing as it was in Convenience Store Woman. I enjoyed the different parts of all twelve stories and learned so much, as each of them had a different hidden message in it.

Throughout 12 stories Murata explores our societal norms and traditions in a very creative way. Most of the stories ask ‘’what if..?’’ and makes you question whether the norms and traditions we have now wouldn’t be weird for others that come before us or will come after us. I felt that each story makes the reader question what societal norms are and who creates them. It also makes people question what is considered normal and what is not.

Overall: I really recommend this book, but be aware that is not a light-hearted read. There are so many gruesome, disgusting, and weird parts in every story, yet you also take something important and informative from each of the stories too. If you like horror and if you like Black Mirror, then you will definitely enjoy Life Ceremony! 

About the Author:

Sayaka Murata (in Japanese, 村田 沙耶香) is one of the most exciting up-and-coming writers in Japan today. She herself still works part time in a convenience store, which gave her the inspiration to write Convenience Store Woman (Konbini Ningen). She debuted in 2003 with Junyu (Breastfeeding), which won the Gunzo Prize for new writers. In 2009 she won the Noma Prize for New Writers with Gin iro no uta (Silver Song), and in 2013 the Mishima Yukio Prize for Shiro-oro no machi no, sono hone no taion no (Of Bones, of Body Heat, of Whitening City). Convenience Store Woman won the 2016 Akutagawa Award. Murata has two short stories published in English (both translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori): "Lover on the Breeze" (Ruptured Fiction(s) of the Earthquake, Waseda Bungaku, 2011) and "A Clean Marriage" (Granta 127: Japan, 2014). 

https://twitter.com/sayakamurata

Alice James - Grave Danger (The Lavington Windsor Mysteries #2)

 

Alice James - Grave Danger (Lavington Windsor Mysteries #2)

5⭐

Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Mystery, Romance, Humour, Crime, Horror

Pages: 298

Format: Paperback

Publisher:  Solaris, Rebellion Publishing

Date Published: 23rd May 2023 

 

Big thanks to Alice James for sending me an e-copy of this book to read and review. 

Book Blurb: 

Agatha Raisin meets Sookie Stackhouse, with love, heartbreak and zombies.

More murder. More mayhem. More champagne.

Toni Windsor is failing at ‘happily ever after,’ but it really isn't her fault.

All she wants is true love and the perfect wardrobe, but it doesn't look like they are coming her way any time soon. Instead, there are murders to solve and zombies to raise, and she’s broken her phone again.

Worst of all, her shiny new boyfriend turns out to be a jerk; maybe dating a vampire wasn’t her best decision ever?

My Review: 

This book is even funnier and quirkier than the first one. It is also even more sarcastic and witty than the first one. Oh, and it has even more sexy vampires. What’s not to like? James’s writing is brilliant! A perfect blend of witty, crazy and humorous tones mixed with seriousness and complexity. All this makes each of the characters, especially Toni, not only fun but also portrays how complex each of them are. Basically, I am trying to say that life is complex and James writes her characters with a perfect balance of seriousness, crazy and funny. 

In the book, we follow Toni, who is asked to assist her brother in yet another murder case. There are several suspects, but no one knows who did it, not even zombie Bella after Toni raises her from the dead. On top of that, Toni has to deal with her boyfriend Oscar, who, let’s say, is getting on her nerves and pressuring her to do things she doesn’t want. She also is pushed around by Benedict, who she has to run errands for. Oh, and Toni also has to deal with the forever-growing line of people that wants to kill her…The girl can’t seem to catch a break…

This book felt both, a murder mystery and Toni trying to find her way, as well as make sense of her newfound life with vampires at such proximity. She is not only asked to find out who Bella’s murderer is but also needs to sort out her own (messy) love life and keep herself safe from vampires and other creatures that are trying to kill her, whilst also juggling whatever the Assemblage tells her to take care of. 

I loved how Toni grew as a character throughout the first two books, especially in this book. I just love her attitude and her outlook on life. I feel I could learn a thing or two from her, yet at the same time, she feels like a familiar character to whom I can relate. 

I love how the story is progressing too. There are still so many questions unanswered, but this book built such a great foundation for all of those to be answered in the next instalments. 

I am just going to go and cry about how frustrating Peter’s situation is… and laugh about Oscar…if you know, you know…#TeamPeter

Overall: Brilliantly written story, with so many great characters that I fell in love in the first instalment and don’t want to let go. Like I need the third book now! The suspense! Why did the book have to finish on such a cliffhanger!!! Honestly, can’t wait to see what crazy situations Toni will get herself into in book three. 

About the Author:

Alice lives in a converted chapel in Oxfordshire, England, with three cats and many house plants. She works as a writer, specialising in finance and travel. She was previously a journalist and TV presenter for Bloomberg before becoming press and PR director of a $1 billion US hedge fund for 18 months. That turned out to be the worst period in history for hedge funds, so she retired wounded. Alice has a degree in Maths from Bristol University – and half of a diploma in silversmithing from UCE University because it turns out that making the ladies’ version of the One Ring is a lot harder than she thought.

Alice’s first novel, Grave Secrets, is a whodunit with zombies, vampires, romance and croquet and you should definitely read it. Today.

https://www.alicejames.co.uk

Susan Dennard - The Luminaries (The Luminaries #1)

Susan Dennard - The Luminaries (The Luminaries #1)

4⭐

Genre: Fantasy, YA, Horror, Paranormal, Mystery, Supernatural.

Pages: 304

Format: Digital Proof Copy 

Publisher: Daphne Press 

Date Published: 7th March 2023 

 Huge thank you to BlackCrowPR for sending me a proof copy of this book to read and review. 

Book Blurb: 

From Susan Dennard, the New York Times bestselling author of the Witchlands series, comes a haunting and high-octane contemporary fantasy about the magic it takes to face your fears in a nightmare-filled forest and the mettle required to face the secrets hiding in the dark corners of your own family.

An Instant New York Times Bestseller

A Barnes & Noble YA Book Club Pick

An Indigo Best Teen Book of 2022

A Junior Library Guild Pick

An Indie Next Pick

A Goodreads Most Anticipated YA Book

Hemlock Falls isn't like other towns. You won't find it on a map, your phone won't work here, and the forest outside town might just kill you.

Winnie Wednesday wants nothing more than to join the Luminaries, the ancient order that protects Winnie's town—and the rest of humanity—from the monsters and nightmares that rise in the forest of Hemlock Falls every night.

Ever since her father was exposed as a witch and a traitor, Winnie and her family have been shunned. But on her sixteenth birthday, she can take the deadly Luminary hunter trials and prove herself true and loyal—and restore her family's good name. Or die trying.

But in order to survive, Winnie enlists the help of the one person who can help her train: Jay Friday, resident bad boy and Winnie’s ex-best friend. While Jay might be the most promising new hunter in Hemlock Falls, he also seems to know more about the nightmares of the forest than he should. Together, he and Winnie will discover a danger lurking in the forest no one in Hemlock Falls is prepared for.

Not all monsters can be slain, and not all nightmares are confined to the dark.

My Review: 

I am slowly getting myself back into YA Fantasy and Fantasy in general, and reading The Luminaries displayed why I want to go back into reading more fantasy. This book for me was really enjoyable. I loved the setting of Hemlock Falls, enjoyed the history and explanations about each clan and its nightmares, and I liked the characters, too. Yes, this book felt a bit slow at times and there wasn’t a lot of action, but it presented a perfect foundation for the series and storylines to be expanded over the next instalments. I also really enjoyed the cliffhanger at the end of this book, which made me feel super excited for the second instalment.

The story follows Winnie Wednesday who grew up in Hemlock Falls, a magical town surrounded by a dangerous forest, where the nightmares and the spirits that create them, live. All the different clans in town train to be hunters that hunt nightmares every night and Winnie’s biggest dream is to become one of the hunters. Though, for Winnie to become a hunter will be much harder than for others in town. She and her family are the outcasts, due to her father’s betrayal of the Wednesday clan more than four years ago. Winnie comes up with a plan on her 16^th Birthday, she will attempt the hunter trial, not only to become a hunter but also to prove her loyalty and make sure that her family are no longer outcasted.  However, she soon realises that there is something really dangerous lurking in the forest that might not only affect her hunter's trial but could be potentially very dangerous for everyone at Hemlock Falls.

Firstly, I loved the setting of the forest and the world-building that Dennard did in this book, especially how she weaved so many mythological and paranormal creatures together as inhabitants of one mystical forest.

Secondly, this book was so easy to read and as I was so invested in Winnies stories, I just flew through the short chapters. And I also wanted to know more about the mysterious Jay and some other characters more, hence I couldn’t put this book down.

Finally, the book finished on such a cliffhanger and some really important questions weren’t answered in this book (which hopefully will be answered in the next instalments). I still feel there is so much unknown about the Dianas, Winnie’s father and the town itself (as in why they don’t speak to the outside world about The Luminaries or the forest).

My only negative thing was that there were romantic feelings and loads of tension between the two main characters but nothing has been done to address it…I wish that romance was explored a bit more in-depth.

Overall: A very promising and exciting story, that reads very quickly with characters and a plotline that captures the reader and doesn’t want to let go. Honestly, enjoyed this book so much and can’t wait for the sequel. 

About the Author:

Susan Dennard has come a long way from small-town Georgia. With a masters degree in marine biology, she got to travel the world—six out of seven continents, to be exact (she’ll get to Asia one of these days!)—before she settled down as a full-time novelist and writing instructor.

She is the author of the New York Times bestselling Witchlands series as well as the Something Strange & Deadly series. When not writing, she can be found slaying darkspawn on her Xbox or earning bruises at the dojo.

https://susandennard.com/

Jonathan Sims - Family Business

Jonathan Sims - Family Business 

4⭐

Genre: Horror, Fiction, Mystery, Contemporary Fiction, Paranormal, Thriller 

Pages: 320

Format: Hardback 

Publisher:  Gollancz, Orion Books 

Date Published: 13th October 2022

 

Big thanks to Orion Books for sending me a copy of this book to read and review. 

Book Blurb: 

When Diya Burman’s best friend dies, her life falls apart. She loses everything.

But then she gets a new job: working at Slough & Sons, cleaning up after the recently deceased.

Clearing away the remains of lost lives, Diya begins to see things. Horrible things, that can’t be written off as imagination. Nothing is as it seems with the Sloughs.

It’s a dirty business, cleaning up after the dead, and if Diya’s not careful she might end up getting buried under the family tree.

My Review: 

This book is so well written and also captivating. I didn’t want to put it down until the very end when I finally found out what is going on. Even then I was so surprised and even had that I didn’t see that coming moment after finishing this book. Another perfect and at times quite spooky and creepy book for the Autumn TBR.

The story follows Diya, who recently lost her best friend and grief is taking over her life. She losses her job, her relationship with her family is suffering and she distanced herself from all of her friends. Mainly because it seems to her that no one understands what she is going through and also because everyone is saying to her just to move on with her life. If she moves on, however, she is afraid her friend’s memory is going to fade, and Diya can’t let that happen.

A family-run cleaning business, Slough & Sons offers Diya a very well-paid job. However, it isn’t your average cleaning job, it requires you to clean up after the deceased. Diya agrees to take a job in hope that it will give some sort of closure about her friend’s death and will make her grief easier, especially seeing that other people are going through a similar thing. As the days in the new job progress, Diya starts to feel strange things are happening in jobs that the Sloughs family are asked to do. She starts seeing visions of people’s last moments, which shows that they haven’t died on their own. They all have been somehow murdered and any traces of their identities are destroyed. Diya’s suspicions grow even higher when no one in the Slough family wants to talk about their recently deceased brother who Diya replaced in the business. Now Diya needs to find out what is happening with all the supposedly murdered people, whilst also not getting tangled in Slough’s family’s mess.

I really enjoyed this book, especially Diya’s character. Throughout the book, she goes through so much, firstly losing her best friend, then starting to have visions, and then finally having to uncover what Sloughs are up to with their cleaning business. She is such a likeable character that a reader can easily relate to her. She goes through so many emotions and I liked how this book explored grief and losing someone through her and through the Slough’s business. The Slough’s cleaning business portrayed how easily we can forget the deceased, whilst Diya showed that it is so important for their memory to live on in us. For me definitely, this book was more than just a horror story but also had that additional layer of important takeaway messages about loss, grief and death.

The only downside for me in this book is that it was a really slow burn and the ending just happened very suddenly. Although I enjoyed the ending, I wished that some parts of the book were paced a bit quicker.

Overall: It is a very well-written book that was so easy to read. It connects the reader to the characters and messages it conveys with such ease, too. I also liked the suspense in this book that keeps a reader engaged until the very end. It is a very interesting and rather unique storyline with so many important and relevant topics discussed in this book as well. I truly recommend it and I will be definitely reading more from Jonathan Sims. 

About the Author:

Jonathan Sims is a writer, performer and games designer whose work primarily focuses on the macabre, the grotesque, and the gentle touch of creeping dread. He is the mind and the voice behind acclaimed horror podcast The Magnus Archives, as well as story-game design duo MacGuffin & Co., and some of your favourite nightmares. He lives in Walthamstow with the two best cats and an overwhelming backlog of books that he really should get around to.

https://jonathan-sims.com/

Alice James - Grave Secrets (Lavington Windsor Mysteries #1)

Alice James - Grave Secrets (Lavington Windsor Mysteries #1)

4⭐

Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Mystery, Romance, Humour, Crime, Horror

Pages: 300

Format: Paperback

Publisher:  Solaris, Rebellion Publishing

Date Published: 1st September 2020

 

Big thanks to Rebellion Publishing for sending me a copy of this book to read and review. 

Book Blurb: 

Agatha Raisin meets Sookie Stackhouse, with croquet and zombies. Toni Windsor is trying to live a quiet life in the green and pleasant county of Staffordshire. She'd love to finally master the rules of croquet, acquire a decent boyfriend and make some commission as an estate agent.

All that might have to wait, though, because there are zombies rising from their graves, vampires sneaking out of their coffins, and a murder to solve.

And it's all made rather more complicated by the fact that she's the one raising all the zombies. Oh, and she's dating one of the vampires too. Really, what's a girl meant to do?

My Review: 

This book was funny and quirky, with so many brilliantly entertaining characters. It was super hard to stop reading... A perfect book for the spooky season, as it has romance, vampires, zombies, and loads of spice….I mean who doesn’t love all that in one book? It transported me back to True Blood days…Also, I was so sad when I finished reading it because I was not emotionally prepared to say goodbye to the amazing array of characters and their sometimes rather daft adventures (in a funny and good way).

The story follows Lavington (Toni) Windsor who is a necromancer by night and a real estate agent by day. Yes, she raises the dead at night, whilst selling houses by the day. Exciting, right? That’s until she meets a very extravagant vampire Oscar who not only catches her interest but her heart too. However, knowing and loving a vampire brings Toni quite a lot of trouble and many situations that end up with loads of dead vampires…Also, it puts Toni’s life in danger more often than she would like, as well as, so many people are suddenly after her that she is kind of wishing her old quiet life back…

This book made me laugh out loud so much, but also, I was disgusted by vampire heads that were ripped off by zombies, cringed at some of the spicy scenes, and cheered Toni on when she was witty and mean to some of the big vampire ‘bosses’. Haven’t read such an entertaining and funny book in a while!

I loved Toni. She is interesting, sometimes odd, but has such a good wit and English humour that I just adored. She is also brave, stands up for herself, and doesn’t take a no for an answer. I think the humour, the wit, and the ability to make even the horrible situations that she gets herself into quite hilarious, make this book so good.

Oh, and let’s just appreciate how amazing and sweet Peter is in this book. He needs all the love from everyone…True star and hero of this story. #TeamPeter

I only wished there was more of Oscar. I felt Toni’s connection with Peter but I felt that her connection with Oscar was lacking quite a bit. It looked like Toni and Peter were a couple in this book rather than Toni and Oscar. Also, because there was so little of Oscar in this book, I felt that it was quite hard to judge his character, so hopefully, the next installment of the series will have more on him.

Overall: It is such an entertaining, fresh, funny, and witty read, featuring a cast of amazing vampires, a necromancer, zombies, some humans, and loads of silly situations, spicy times, and humour. Really recommend this book, especially if you want something entertaining but perfect for this upcoming spooky season…Or if like me you once loved True Blood…or Vampires…A perfect book to sink your teeth into if you love vampires and everything supernatural - funny, entertaining, spooky and so (very) steamy. A brilliant debut by Alice James!Honestly, I can’t wait now for the next installment in this series as I am definitely sinking my teeth into that…

About the Author:

Alice lives in a converted chapel in Oxfordshire, England, with three cats and many house plants. She works as a writer, specialising in finance and travel. She was previously a journalist and TV presenter for Bloomberg before becoming press and PR director of a $1 billion US hedge fund for 18 months. That turned out to be the worst period in history for hedge funds, so she retired wounded. Alice has a degree in Maths from Bristol University – and half of a diploma in silversmithing from UCE University because it turns out that making the ladies’ version of the One Ring is a lot harder than she thought.

Alice’s first novel, Grave Secrets, is a whodunit with zombies, vampires, romance and croquet and you should definitely read it. Today.

https://www.alicejames.co.uk/

Lauren Owen - Small Angels

Lauren Owen - Small Angels 

5 ⭐

Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Gothic, Mystery, LGBTQ+, Thriller, Contemporary Fiction 

Pages: 480

Format: Paperback Proof  

Publisher: Tinder Press 

Date Published: 2nd August 2022

Huge Thank You to Tinder Press for a proof copy and for inviting me to be a part of the blog tour. 

Book Blurb: 

A wedding in a small English village attracts a malicious spirit, forcing deep secrets to the surface - a hypnotic tale of sisterhood, first love, and hauntings.

As a teenager, Kate found a safe harbour from her parents' constant fighting in the company of the four Gonne sisters, who lived with their strict grandparents next to Small Angels, a church on the edge of dense green woods. The first outsider to ever get close to the sisters, Kate eventually learned the family's secret: The woods are home to a capricious, menacing ghost whom generations of Gonne's had been charged with stopping from venturing into the village itself. But as the sisters grew older, braver, and more independent, bucking against the family's burden, the bulwark began to crack, culminating in a horrifying act of violence that drove a terrible wedge between the sisters and Kate.

Chloe has been planning her dream wedding for months. She has the dress, the flowers, and the perfect venue: Small Angels, a charming old church in the village where her fiancé, Sam, and his sister, Kate, grew up. But days before the ceremony, Chloe starts to hear unsettling stories about Small Angels--and worse, she begins to see, smell, and hear things that couldn't possibly be real.

Now Kate is returning home for the first time in years, for Sam and Chloe's wedding. But the woods are coming alive again, and Kate must reconnect with Lucia, the most troubled of the sisters and her first love, to protect Chloe, the village, and herself. An unforgettable novel about the memories that hold us back and those that show us the way forward--this is storytelling at its most magical. Enter Small Angels, if you dare.

My Review: 

Beautifully written, captivating and chilling story. Absolutely adored it! Owen’s writing is full of brilliant imagery and words that create such vivid scenes, at points making me think that I am one of the characters in the story. Honestly, such a captivating read that it was so hard to put down!

The story is set in a small English village which is surrounded by mysterious Mockbeggar Woods. Through the ages, local villagers knew that mystery, pain and folk tales all surrounded the woods. They also knew that Mockbeggar Woods are not for them and they should stay away from it. However, one day Chloe, who is marrying someone local from the village, found herself fascinated by the woods and especially by the small gothic church in the middle of it called Small Angels. She wants to get married there but the villagers are worried and concerned that it might anger the woods, yet part of them wants to see whether the folktales and mystery surrounding Harry Child are real. When things and the atmosphere in the woods and the village start to change just a few days before the wedding Chloe and the villagers realise that they might have made a wrong choice by opening the doors of Small Angels and entering into the secrets of the Mockbeggar.

I loved how atmospheric this book is, especially that is set in a small English village and surrounded by folklore, tales, ghost stories and mystery. I always imagined many small mysterious English villages in this way and it was a pleasure to read a story set in this environment.

I also really liked the Gonne family and their strong connection with nature and Mockbeggar. Although villagers branded them as freaks and lunatics, as well as witches, they cherished their lives around the Mockbeggar. I also really liked the relationship between the Gonne sisters and how strongly they loved and fought for each other no matter what.

I really loved how this book explored what power stories have on people and on how people perceive the world because of certain stories. In the case of this book people in the village were always afraid of Mockbeggar Woods because of the story about Harry Child told a few hundred years ago, but that fear persisted for so long that people adjusted their lives living without disturbing the peace of Mockbeggar Woods.

Overall: Captivating and beautifully written yet chilling and atmospheric book. I loved how each character and their stories, brought Mockbeggar Woods and Small Angles back to life. Although for me this book was not as scary as some other thriller, horror and folklore stories I have read, it did have some scary moments at the very end, which added so much to the already powerful ending. Honestly, this book is one of my favourites from this year and I cannot wait to read more from Lauren Owen, as I loved how atmospheric and brilliant her writing is. 

About the Author:

Lauren Owen studied English Literature at St. Hilda's College, Oxford, before completing an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, where she received the 2009 Curtis Brown prize for the best fiction dissertation. 'The Quick' is her first novel. She lives in Durham, England.

https://twitter.com/pioneers_o