Having a bloody good time this Spring Into Horror

My Spring Into Horror readathon ended this morning as I finished reading Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia(the new epilogue added to the paperback edition bumped it up a star to my original GoodReads review).

However, I thought that for this wrap up, it would be best to talk about the books that were fresh on my bookish horror horizon and so I began with Stephen Graham Jones’ My Heart is a Chainsaw.

Jade Daniels is our leading lady who refuses to believe that she could be the Final Girl in the slasher movie scenario that is her life. 

While she can clearly see the massacre to come in her sullen small lakeside town of Proofock,ID( which happens to have an abandoned summer camp nearby) Jade’s attempts at warning the Final Girl in their midst-newcomer Letha Mondragon-about what to expect go off in the wrong direction.

Raising unwanted attention from the powers that be, Jade still persists in trying to prepare Letha for what’s to come, relying on her mental treasure trove of slasher movie knowledge to educate all those around but to no avail. Nevertheless, she gets ready for what promises to be the ultimate bloodbath of the summer:

To say more would ruin the numerous surprises awaiting you within these brilliantly blood soaked pages but I will say that the story is a steady slow burn that rewards your patience very well.

Graham Jones gives the reader a fully nuanced main character in 17 year old Jade, whose devotion to horror is her well worn armor against the harsh realities of her life. The literary portrait of this snarkily savvy yet sad souled young woman is a masterclass in emotional depth, especially with her wondering at times if she is the unreliable narrator of her own story.

I do intend to read more of SGJ but am delighted to learn that My Heart is a Chainsaw is the first book in an intended trilogy. As any good horror fan knows, sequels are the gift that keeps on giving:

For something a little less intense but still scary adjacent ,  I went with The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling. 

When Vivienne “Vivi” Jones was nineteen, she was new to the ways of magic so when she and her cousin Gwyn decided in a vodka hazed mood to lay a curse on the man who broke her heart, she never expected it to take effect.

Nine years later, that man , Rhys Penhallow,has returned to the witchy town of Glen Grove to do his family duty of resetting the ley lines that fuel the magic of this supernatural small town. Upon his arrival, Rhys experiences all sorts of bad luck which grows worse when he and Vivi meet up again.

The stakes get higher when Rhys tries to perform the ley lines spell, only to spread the curse through out the entire town. Faced with strange after efforts such as attacking toy skulls, a talking cat and an angry library ghost, Vivi and Rhys have no choice but to work together to break the curse before Halloween or it may be too late in more ways than one.

The story is charmingly sweet without being cloying and has several great bits of humor(particularly from that cat named Sir Purr-cival) , plus a well told revived romance. 

All in all, a fun romcom with witchcraft that does enchantingly engages you with every turning page and yes, Sterling is planning to give us a spellbinding sequel featuring Vivi’s cousin Gwyn! Love and horror can go hand in hand, even in the most awkward moments indeed:

 Much thanks to Michelle Miller at Seasons of Reading for making this readathon possible and I’m already arranging my TBR for the next one, Sci-Fi Summer , this June.

With that theme in mind, let me give a shout out to  Everything Everywhere All At Once, an amazing multiverse adventure movie that doesn’t star Dr. Strange (that one looks cool but I need to see Spider-Man No Way Home first!).

Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn, a woman dealing with all sorts of average problems until one day she is literally dragged into an inter dimensional battle that requires her to live several lives simultaneously in order to save the day and then some.

It’s too weirdly wild to go into more details but if you are open to new mind blowing experiences with touches of humor, heart and family ties, this is a must see for sure. 

I went to watch it in theaters on my birthday last week and it was the best gift that I could give to myself. Also, in an odd way, ETEWAAO is a good movie for Mother’s Day, trust me on this: