I’m Back!

Hi All! While our living situation still isn’t perfectly sorted out, my husband and I are in a much nicer place which has awesome internet! So, I’m going to start trying to post more and catch up (at least somewhat) with your blogs. Thanks for bearing with me!

The Furies, by Katie Lowe ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Boarding Schools, Mystery, Supernatural Fiction, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Release Date: October 8th, 2019

368 Pages

Synopsis: This page-turning, harrowing debut is the story of a girl trying to fit in, whose obsessive new friends and desperation to belong leads her to places she’d never imagined…dark, dangerous, and possibly even violent.

In 1998, a sixteen-year-old girl is found dead on her boarding school’s property, dressed in white, and posed on a swing, with no known cause of death. What happened to her? And what do her friends know? To find out is is necessary to go back to the beginning.

The school is Elm Hollow Academy, an all-girl’s boarding school, located in a sleepy coastal town with a long-buried grim history of  17 century witch trials. A new student, Violet, joins the school, and soon finds herself invited to become the fourth member of an advanced study group, led by the alluring and mysterious art teacher Annabel.

Annabel does her best to convince the girls that her classes aren’t related to ancient rites and rituals, and that they are just mythology. But the more she tries to warn the girls off topic, the more the girls start to believe magic is real and that they have the power to harness it.

Violet quickly finds herself wrapped up in this addictive new world. But when she comes to find out about the disappearance of a former member of the society, one with whom Violet shares an uncanny resemblance, she begins to wonder who she can trust, all the while becoming more deeply entangled in her newfound friendships.  

Was it suicide, or a foul play more sinister? How far will these young girls go to protect one another…or destroy one another?

You can probably tell from the synopsis that the plot isn’t the most original one out there, but I still found The Furies a fun, creepy read. For those of you who are fans of the 1996 movie The Craft, this is sort of a less campy version of that. Unsurprisingly there’s loads of angst and anger, and when you set that in all girl’s boarding school and mix in witchcraft, well, let’s just say there’s plenty of explosive supernatural shenanigans that ensue! My biggest issue was that I found the author’s writing a bit too florid, but it wasn’t really enough to spoil my enjoyment. I will definitely be on the lookout for any of Katie Lowe’s future books.

 

 

 

 

 

One Word Kill (Impossible Times #1), by Mark Lawrence ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

1980s, Cancer, Coming-of age, London, Romance, Science Fiction, YA Fiction

Thanks to Netgalley and 47North for providing an ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

201 Pages

Synopsis: In January 1986, fifteen-year-old boy genius Nick Hayes discovers he’s dying. And it isn’t even the strangest thing to happen to him that week.

Nick and his Dungeons & Dragons-playing friends are used to living in their imaginations. But when a new girl, Mia, joins the group and reality becomes weirder than the fantasy world they visit in their weekly games, none of them are prepared for what comes next. A strange—yet curiously familiar man—is following Nick, with abilities that just shouldn’t exist. And this man bears a cryptic message: Mia’s in grave danger, though she doesn’t know it yet. She needs Nick’s help—now.

He finds himself in a race against time to unravel an impossible mystery and save the girl. And all that stands in the way is a probably terminal disease, a knife-wielding maniac and the laws of physics.

I’m a big fan of Mark Lawrence so when I saw One Word Kill on NetGalley I knew I had to request it and I’m so glad I did because it’s further convinced me that this prolific author can do no wrong. Why is this may you ask? Well, there’s the setting of 1980’s London, time-travel, Dungeons & Dragons, and except for the villainous psychopath, a lovable cast of characters. I swear, only Mark Lawrence could successfully combine a terminally ill teen, D&D, and quantum mechanics with a sweet, heart-wrenching, coming-of-age/love story. And, this is all accomplished in just over 200 pages! In essence, read this for the quality of writing, creativity, memorable characters, and page-turning, nostalgic storyline. I’ve already ordered the sequel, Limited Wish, which just came out on 5/28, and I’m preordering the third book, Dispel Illusion which is due out 11/14/19.