As we are at the official start of the spring season today, it’s only fitting that the signups for Seasons of Reading’s next readathon, Spring Into Horror , have begun.
Starting on April 1(no joke) running until the end of month, this reading event encourages you to read at least one scary book(mystery, thriller,etc are just fine) during this time. For me, I prefer to stay on theme and have a trio of terrifying tales that should be popcorn worthy indeed:
Speaking of popcorn, my first choice is Chuck Tingle’s Bury Your Gays, which takes on Hollywood and it’s hellish standards.
Screenwriter Misha has managed to achieve a good amount of success with both films and TV, even earning an Oscar nomination that highlights his career nicely.
However, when the producers of his latest hit series demand that he use the title trope against his favorite character, Misha’s refusal leads to a shocking set of violent attacks against him by people dressed up as horror monsters he created from past projects. Yet, are those would-be assassins really in costume or have they kept off the screen to exact their own personal revenge?
Tingle has an amazing gift for blending humor, horror and human pathos into a grand design of storytelling that makes their work instantly legendary. I’m beyond thrilled to have this book start off my springtime scary season here:
Next up is The Bane Witch by Ava Morgyn, which is said to have mixed Practical Magic vibes into a Gone Girl simmering stew of suspense.
The sorceress of the title is Piers Corbin, who faked her own demise to escape a troubled marriage and discovered that she’s the latest in a long line of poison magic makers.
While working as a waitress at her aunt’s cafe in a remote mountain town, Piers hones her deadly talents in order to rid society of as many evil men as she can.
When evidence of a serial killer’s handiwork in the area becomes well known, Piers decides that, despite the efforts made by the local authorities, this is a job that definitely requires her special skill set of magical vengeance.
I happen to have won a copy of this book via an online giveaway (that came with a signed bookplate!) awhile ago and thought it would be best to save this one for this particular occasion. The author has a new novel out this month(Only Spell Deep) but I haven’t read her previous work so this ought to be an engaging introduction.
The tone of this book feels very Poison Ivy meets Sleeping with the Enemy to me but we shall see what fearsome flavors arise from these pages very soon:
And for the finale, I selected Rachel Harrison‘s Such Sharp Teeth.
Our leading lady is Rory, who moves back to her hometown to help out Scarlett, her pregnant twin sister. Running into her mother, entrenched in denial about their childhood as well as a former high school crush, Ian, she is already regretting this trip home.
Dealing with the metaphorical ghosts of her haunted past, however, pales in comparison when a chance encounter with a mysterious creature causes Rory to literally howl at the moon.
This frightening changes do have some benefits as Rory begins to feel truly powerful for the first time in her life. Can she even out this mystical balance or is Rory doomed to become a true monster in the worst sense of that term?
Having enjoyed Harrison’s latest novel, Play Nice, last year, this book seems to be a good way to connect with more of her work. Plus, it does remind me a little of that Amy Adams ‘ suburban supernatural movie Nightbitch, which sounds like a suitable companion piece for sure:
If you’re interested in signing up , I have a link in the first paragraph of this post to check out. A thank you in advance to Michelle Miller at Seasons of Reading for setting up this sinister start to a new season of page turning terrors to behold.
Horror is truly on the rise these days as this past Oscar night has shown us. While this genre has occasionally garnered a few Academy Awards from time to time, this year’s ceremony showed that horror is no longer to be ignored.
From Del Toro’s Frankenstein winning a good number of technical awards to some awesome wins for Ryan Coogler’s Sinners(which includes a groundbreaking win for Best Cinematography and Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan!) and Amy Madigan ‘s iconic performance as Aunt Gladys in Weapons being given a Best Supporting Actress award, horror is really giving audiences and studios a real run for their money.
Let’s just hope they keep up this pop culture pace there as we really need to have this meta mirror reflect fully on our collective fears and learn to handle them for the betterment of all. That and have some pulse pounding fun along the way:
Well, despite the troubling news of the day(which is pretty much every day at this point!), the best way to keep your spirits up is with some good books on hand, if you ask me.
Fortunately, Book of the Month Club had plenty to offer this month, starting with their Book of the Year prize going to Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore that was my free selection-congrats to the author and happy to have this chance to see what climate fiction is like!
For my main selection, Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser was an instant must-have for me. This take on the Cinderella story has the “wicked” stepmother being more of a practical person as the death of her second husband leaves their family in genteel poverty.
When her standoff-ish stepdaughter Elin wins the hand of the local prince, Tremaine is suspicious about the sudden rush to marriage and begins to uncover a deep secret that may expose this fairy tale kingdom to a rather grim reality. More importantly, perhaps a secret worth keeping for the right price…
I do like fairy tale reimaginings and this element of court politics into the mix has a rather appealing flair. Also, it’s a debut novel that promises to be the belle of the bookish ball this season worth adding to my dance card:
Among the add-ons, I was thrilled to find B.K. Borison’s And Now, Back to You , her latest romance set in the same world as First Time Caller (a BOTY contender, btw!).
Here, we meet Deliah, an upbeat TV reporter whose charms are lost on Jackson, who covers traffic and weather with a very opposite attitude.
When a major snowstorm is set to hit the area, Deliah and Jackson are paired up by their bosses to cover the impact at a mountain retreat several miles away. Stuck together during the storm seems to bring out the best in both of them but a sudden kiss changes everything.
While that snowed in situation brought them closer together, once they get back home, discovering if those romantic sparks were simply seasonal or the start of am emotionally roaring fire proves to be challenging indeed.
Having already enjoyed FTC and more recently, Good Spirits (the latter is also getting a follow up that I hope is a future BOTM selection), I know that this will be a good time with some twists and turns that can make for an unpredictable storytelling storm of delight:
To make this a solid quartet of reading, my last add-on was Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett.
The title owner of this feline haven lives in Montreal during the 1920s and for the most part, has no real interest in the growing rivalry between various wizards and magicians within the city.
However, when damage has been done to her current cat dwelling due to a spell slinging bout, Agnes scrambles to relocate before the worst of winter is upon them. The only acceptable available space for Agnes and her beloved kitties is under the control of Havelock, a powerful sorcerer who happens to run a magical speakeasy of sorts in the building’s basement.
Willing to overlook the illegal spell trade going on around her, Agnes and her sister Elise are happy to be back in the cat adoption business yet things are not as pleasant as they seem.
For one, Agnes is torn between mourning the loss of her husband two years ago and yet finding herself interested romantically in Havelock(and the police detective going after him as well). For another, the safety of her kitty clientele may be in jeopardy with more and more of the rival magicians flocking to her new location. Can Agnes find balance in her personal life and professional calling or must one give way to the other?
I did read the first of Fawcett’s acclaimed Emily Wilde series and it was vastly entertaining. While I didn’t continue with those books, this new series feels more up my alley, especially as an unapologetic cat lady who feeds both indoor and outdoor kitties locally!
This book is being compared to the modern classic anime film Howl’s Moving Castle and while I haven’t seen that movie, the vibes are strongly appealing here. Perhaps this novel will inspire a viewing of that enchanting tale as well:
My book buying didn’t end there; I also went to Better World Books and picked up a nice copy of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s The Bewitching.
Grad student Minerva is thrilled to be researching her favorite writer Beatrice Tremblay while attending the very same college that Tremblay has attended and possibly found inspiration for her best known work.
When Beatrice was a student in 1934, her roommate Virginia went missing amidst claims of being pursued by otherworldly creatures. As Minerva looks into that portion of Tremblay’s life, it appears that some of the studies being held by students and faculty alike may have opened a door to a realm that was too dangerous for mere mortals to venture into.
Recalling the many tales about witches that her grandmother Alba told her as a child, Minerva decides to seek the truth about what happened to Virginia before that strange fate falls upon her as well.
This novel received great critical praise along with wonderful word of mouth but when I looked into this book’s origins, it was interesting to learn that Moreno-Garcia sites Shirley Jackson as a major influence for this work.
Granted, I am mostly familiar with the film adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House, plus her famous short story The Lottery and her novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle yet Jackson’s eerily subtle approach to horror feels more modern as time goes by. Moreno-Garcia’s spin on that style should be amazing to behold here:
So, I’m doing my best to spread pop culture joy even in the midst of our collective daily horror show these days and while there’s much to be done, helping each other out in whatever ways we can(and that are available to us) is a small yet powerful thing. It may not seem like much but a touch of decency in a corrupt world has a ripple effect that ultimately reveals itself for the better.
Meanwhile, I intend to replenish my mental energies this weekend with the Oscars, which hopefully will give us a few excellent surprises in many categories this year.
My deepest hopes are for Sinners to make a strong showing (with a record setting number of nominations, my expectations are sky high) and having also seen One Battle After Another, will be fine with some of those wins as well (Sean Penn Does NOT need another Oscar but I think pitting him against his co-star Benecio Del Toro may divide the voting in that particular category).
While I haven’t seen Frankenstein, it should probably pick up a few technical awards (Best Hair and Makeup for sure) and it certainly seems like Jesse Buckley has a lockdown on Best Actress for Hamnet(didn’t see that one either).
My big rooting interest is in the Best Supporting Actress section as I have seen three out of the five performances nominated and will be happy for any one of those ladies to take the award home(if Amy Madigan wins, may she do the signature run to the stage from Weapons that she did on a previous awards show-that would be awesome).
Also looking forward to the performance of “I Lied to You “ from Sinners that promises to echo that pivotal scene from the movie with an incredible ensemble of musical talent scheduled to appear on stage.
Nothing against the K-Pop Demon Hunters song but Sinners deserves to get the win here! I do agree that all of the Best Song nominees should be included in the performances that night(Diane Warren is the Susan Lucci of this category for whatever reason but her song deserves it’s moment in the spotlight too!).
Despite who wins, loses or just makes a memorable moment, at the very least, we will be gathering together for a positive experience to celebrate the cinematic arts, which are a reflection on us as a culture and unlike a certain arrogant nominee’s opinion, are rooted in such live experiences such as opera, ballet and the theater that they wouldn’t have existed without them, both then and now.
All in all, this year’s Academy Awards should give us the emotional uplift that we need to keep going during these wild times.
The arts, in print or performance, have offered us these comforts before and will continue to do so, despite the efforts of a disconcerted few. Pass the popcorn and let’s be united in celebrating true joy:
As we are now facing the lions of March, it’s time to recap my reading for Seasons of Reading’s Winter’s Respite challenge.
I began with B.K. Borison’s Good Spirits in which a Ghost of Christmas Past winds up falling in love with one of his assignments.
Harriet is far from the usual sort of person being visited by holiday ghosts in order to mend her ways; she’s a charming soul who runs her late aunt’s antique shop and adores this time of year( even keeps a candy cane or two in her pocket at all times!).
Nonetheless, Nolan is determined to do his ethereal duty by taking Harriet into her past so she’s on the road to redemption by Christmas Eve. Yet, those trips back in time are more pleasant than sad and when one of those journeys takes them both into a moment from Nolan’s mortal life, it’s quite clear that perhaps Harriet isn’t the one in need of saving.
Can Harriet help Nolan get what he needs to move on from his haunting position or will they face some less than Christmas cherry consequences?
Since I have read Borison’s earlier novel,First Time Caller(which was a Book of the Year nominee at Book of the Month Club), this book was a must-have that I was happy to catch up on during the after holiday season.
It’s just as engaging as that Nora Ephron inspired work, only this particular story put me in mind of a different movie and writer altogether.
If I had to pitch this book Hollywood style, I would have to say “It’s a Christmas Carol meets Defending Your Life”-the Albert Brooks 1991 comedy about a man in the afterlife facing his fears and falling in love with a perfectly wonderful woman to boot. See the movie and read this book, trust me-a match made in storytelling heaven there:
After that, I picked up Witch You Would by Lia Amador, set in a modern day Miami where magic is commonplace and spell casting can either be a celebrated art form or just commercially viable.
Penelope wants to do more with her spells than work at a thankless mystical retail outlet and becoming a contestant on the competition show Cast Judgement could truly be her magic ticket to success.
However, this season of Cast Judgement has contenders teaming up with celebrity partners and Penelope is matched with Leandro Presto, an internet sensation best known for his spells going hilariously wrong.
She is less than thrilled with this, wanting to be taken seriously and hoping to make a future business connection as well. As it turns out, Leandro is a bit taken aback as well, due to the fact that his real name is Gil, who created the Presto persona in order to raise funds for his grandfather’s magic school charity.
Gil also has a blog where he helps others fix their spells and through one of those requests, became Penelope’s online pen pal. A chance encounter before the show has Gil recognize her but telling Penelope his secret identity might be tricky in more ways than one.
With the two of them growing closer during the course of the show (and being encouraged to “fake flirting “ by the obnoxious producer), things may unravel quickly for their futures both personally and professionally. Can Gil and Penelope make true magic together or are they cursed to disaster?
This novel is a solidly enchanting read that gives an everyday quality to the magical elements of the story that blend beautifully with the blossoming romance on page.
The character work is nicely done and I look forward to revisiting these two, along with a few new friends, in the author’s next book, which is being highlighted on the side of this blog here! Amador does know how cast a great literary spell on her readers and I look forward to more of her bookish magic:
Alas, I was unable to get to my Ali Hazelwood book but I l’ll just save that one for the summer. In the meantime, much thanks to Michelle Miller at Seasons of Reading for starting us off on another year of great reads.
I’m sure that I don’t have to tell any of you out there just how incredibly awful things are right now and as of this writing, how much worse they may get.
What I would like to say is that sticking together and giving each other the emotional support needed to get through these extremely challenging times is more vital than ever. Despair is completely understandable but let’s not fall into that trap if we can.
Do give yourself breaks from ongoing coverage, if you can, as a means to revive your spirits. I’m rereading a very good romance novel at the moment (Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly) and it’s really helping me de-stress here.
Whatever hobby or pop culture delight that you have in your life, don’t feel guilty about engaging with it during this time. Your mental health is just as important to maintain as your physical one, especially these days now and yet to come.
Speaking of tension, the next Seasons of Reading readathon will be in April with Spring Into Horror and yes, I already have a trio of books set aside for that! Hopefully, I will finish all three and my chances are good here as a) they’re much shorter in page count than these winter books are and b) scary stories are great for channeling anxiety , particularly those abounding in society of the moment.
Yeah, something tells me this is going to be quite the year for horror, both onscreen and on page(not to mention headlines yet to come) but with any luck. our collective fears will compel us to mightily move forward rather than linger back in timid terror:
