What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie

What Lives in the Woods by Lindsay Currie may be a juvenile fiction book, but parts still left me scared, checking my back seat for ghosts, my basement for shadows, and jumping at noises. Did that stop me from reading? No way!

Ginny Anderson has her summer all figured out. She will be spending time with her best friend at a mystery writing workshop. The kink to her plan: her dad. He works as a restoration expert in Chicago, traveling and restoring old buildings. He has surprised the family with a month-long trip to Michigan where they will be staying at Woodmoor Manor, a twenty-six room mansion surrounded by a dense forest.

In case being separated from her best friend isn’t bad enough, the grounds and the mansion are supposedly haunted! It’s not just a falling apart mansion determined to ruin this vacation – it’s the rumors swirling around town. The locals are leery of Woodmoor Manor. They believe that the surrounding woods are home to mutated creatures with glowing eyes. Locals say that many campers set foot in the woods, disappearing, never to be seen again. Great place to vacation, right?

The forest around Woodmoor Manor can’t be the only reason that locals want to tear the mansion to the ground though. From the moment Ginny sets foot inside, weird things start happening. The mansion seems to have a life of its own. Creaky floors, unexplained shadows, ticking clocks, power surges, and much more increase in frequency the longer they stay. Wanting to head back to Chicago as quickly as possible, Ginny seeks to learn the history of Woodmoor Manor and the surrounding areas with the help of her brother and a new friend. What they discover is certainly not what they expected.

If you’re looking for a spooky mystery book with a strong female protagonist, this is for you. Currie has crafted a story that won’t leave readers scared, perfect for juvenile fiction! This book ends with all the creepy elements tied up neat and tidy. Readers will also explore strong themes of family, bravery, and friendship – essential topics for readers of all ages.

This title is also available as a CD audiobook.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Do you ever read the BookPage magazines that are available for free at all three Davenport Public Library locations? As a selector, I always do! Each month, BookPage puts out a magazine as a discovery tool for readers to find their next great book. My latest read was featured on the front cover of the November 2023 issue. The related article was fascinating and pulled me to find the book immediately.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due honors the ghosts of her family’s painful past. In 2012, Due learned that her mother’s uncle, Robert Stephens, had most likely been buried on the grounds of the Dozier School for Boys, a now infamous reform school in Florida that was the site of monstrous abuse. As a result of this phone call, Due traveled to Florida to witness her great-uncle’s remains being unearthed. She also attended a meeting of Dozer survivors that cemented her desire to write something about the boys at Dozier. Due decided to write a novel, as she felt too removed from the situation to write a piece of non-fiction.

Her determination eventually led to The Reformatory, a horror novel that tells the fictionalized story of twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr. who was sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, the reformatory where horrific abuse took place for decades. Robbie’s crime: kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. When Robbie arrived at the reformatory, his talent for seeing ghosts, also known as haints, quickly became a burden. This gift used to comfort him after he lost his mother, but the ghosts he sees at the reformatory highlight the horrifying truth of what really happens at the school. Boys have been going missing there for years, but the haints he sees keep whispering to him that even worse things are happening to these boys. Robbie turns to other boys to learn how to survive, but his best efforts may not be enough to save them all in the end.

On the outside, Gloria is determined to get Robbie back home as quickly as possible. Her father is rather notorious in the community, so she knows that local officials will be less likely to help her. She rallies her network of friends and family, as well as various other Florida connections to hopefully get Robbie out of the Reformatory before he becomes yet another statistic. While this is a fictionalized account, Due gathered information about her lost relative and the lives of others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys in order to write this twisting novel.

This title is also available in large print and as a Libby eBook.

For more information about the Dozier School for Boys, both nonfiction and fictionalized, check out the following titles:

Burning Down the House: the End of Juvenile Prison by Nell Bernstein

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys by Erin H. Kimmerle

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

“For the falling star and the rising ape to meet, the former must first be debased. No myth can remain terrifying when you’ve seen it broken and beaten, rendered as toothless as an old crone.”The Salt Grows Heavy, Cassandra Khaw

In an attempt to read more broadly, I picked up The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw, a 2023 horror novella. This novella is a somewhat sequel to Khaw’s short story, And In Our Daughters, We Find a Voice, which can be found printed at the end of this novella and also online. While it isn’t necessary to read the short story first, it did provide background to one of the main characters in the novella that I appreciated.

Let’s get into The Salt Grows Heavy!

While I wouldn’t typically reach for horror, the first paragraph on the inside cover pulled me in: “You may think you know how the fairy tale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the price. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.” I grew up adoring The Little Mermaid, but as an adult, looking into the classic tales and different myths surrounding mermaids has consumed my interest. Seeing this novella as a twisted version of The Little Mermaid, I decided to give it a read.

The Salt Grows Heavy is dark and twisted, full of bloodshed and gore. At the core of this novella lives a mermaid and a plague doctor. The mermaid’s children are cannibals – the story begins with her daughters having massacred the entire kingdom, hungering for more. Amidst the carnage lies their father, the prince. The mermaid isn’t sad, as he was incredibly cruel to her, keeping her locked away and denying her true nature. In the aftermath of the massacre, the mermaid teams up with the plague doctor, a nonbinary, mysterious, and gender-free calming influence. The two leave the ravaged kingdom behind, searching for something unsure. On the run, they stumble upon a mysterious village deep in the snowy forest full of ageless children and the ‘saints’ who control them.

I don’t know what I was expecting in this novella, but it far exceeded whatever I was. The language is flowery, the words chosen are long (and sometimes required me to look up the definition of), and the fairytale is messy and twisted. Unexpectedly, this novella also sports romance! The mermaid and plague doctor are loyal to each other, willing to die if needed. I was a tad confused why the mermaid cared so much as her entire character rebels against such close bonds. Seeing their relationship change from beginning to end was intriguing nevertheless. The plague doctor was compelling, sympathetic, and blessedly nonbinary. Given this was also a short novella, I enjoyed how quickly the read went. Add in the bonus of a twisted fairy tale and I’m certainly on the hunt for other similar titles!

GoodReads Choice Awards 2023 Winners

Goodreads has announced their 15th Annual Choice Awards winners for 2023. Even though there is controversy regarding category removals, we still want to highlight the winners as they are decided by readers! Below you will find the results of these annual awards from 15 different categories with 300 nominated books. The chosen categories are fiction, historical fiction, mystery & thriller, romance, romantasy, fantasy, science fiction, horror, young adult fantasy, young adult fiction, debut novel, nonfiction, memoir & autobiography, history & autobiography, and humor.

At the time of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. The descriptions are provided by the publishers.

__________________

Fiction: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves. – HarperCollins

This title is also available as a Libby eBook, Libby eAudiobook, and large print.

__________________

Historical Fiction: Weyward by Emilia Hart

I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great-aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she suspects that her great-aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. When Altha was a girl, her mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence of witchcraft is laid out against Altha, she knows it will take all her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family’s grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart’s Weyward is an astonishing debut, and an enthralling novel of female resilience. – Macmillan Publishers

This title is also available as a Libby ebook, Libby eAudiobook, and large print.

__________________

Mystery & Thriller: The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden

“Don’t go in the guest bedroom.” A shadow falls on Douglas Garrick’s face as he touches the door with his fingertips. “My wife… she’s very ill.” As he continues showing me their incredible penthouse apartment, I have a terrible feeling about the woman behind closed doors. But I can’t risk losing this job—not if I want to keep my darkest secret safe…

It’s hard to find an employer who doesn’t ask too many questions about my past. So I thank my lucky stars that the Garricks miraculously give me a job, cleaning their stunning penthouse with views across the city and preparing fancy meals in their shiny kitchen. I can work here for a while, stay quiet until I get what I want.

It’s almost perfect. But I still haven’t met Mrs Garrick, or seen inside the guest bedroom. I’m sure I hear her crying. I notice spots of blood around the neck of her white nightgowns when I’m doing laundry. And one day I can’t help but knock on the door. When it gently swings open, what I see inside changes everything…

That’s when I make a promise. After all, I’ve done this before. I can protect Mrs Garrick while keeping my own secrets locked up safe.

Douglas Garrick has done wrong. He is going to pay. It’s simply a question of how far I’m willing to go… – Bookouture

__________________

Romance: Happy Place by Emily Henry

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.

They broke up five months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blissful week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best? – Penguin Random House

This title is also available as a Libby eBook, large print, CD audiobook, Libby eAudiobook, and Playaway audiobook.

__________________

Romantasy: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die. – Entangled Publishing

This title is also available as a Libby eBook, Libby eAudiobook, and Playaway audiobook.

__________________

Fantasy: Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory—even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.

Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls.

Thick with history and packed with Bardugo’s signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters. – Macmillan Publishers

This title is also available as a Libby eBook, Libby eAudiobook, and in large print.

__________________

Science Fiction: In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots—fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe.

The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled “HAP,” he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio–a past spent hunting humans.

When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.

Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?

Inspired by Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio, and like Swiss Family Robinson meets Wall-E, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful stand-alone fantasy adventure from the beloved author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door. – Macmillan Publishers

This title is also available as Libby eBook and Libby eAudiobook.

__________________

Horror: Holly by Stephen King

Stephen King’s Holly marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly’s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr. Mercedes to Bill Hodges’s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King’s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.

When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.

Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.

Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King. – Simon & Schuster

This title is also available as a Libby eBook, Libby eAudiobook, large print, CD audiobook, and Playaway audiobook.

__________________

Young Adult Fantasy: Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever.

After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish—into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love.

Shadow and Bone meets Lore in Rebecca Ross’s Divine Rivals, an epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love. – Macmillan Publishers

This title is also available as Libby eBook and Libby eAudiobook.

__________________

Young Adult Fiction: Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory’s focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious “Kingkiller” Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.

Nolan’s loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone. What’s even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But Mallory’s victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she can’t help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist….

As she rockets up the ranks, Mallory struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place. And as her love for the sport she so desperately wanted to hate begins to rekindle, Mallory quickly realizes that the games aren’t only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce (-ly attractive. And intelligent…and infuriating…) – Penguin Random House

This title is also available as Libby eBook and Libby eAudiobook.

__________________

Debut Novel: Weyward by Emilia Hart

See above!

This title also won the Historical Fiction category for 2023.

__________________

Nonfiction: Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond

The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages?

In this landmark book, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to show how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor. Those of us who are financially secure exploit the poor, driving down their wages while forcing them to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. We prioritize the subsidization of our wealth over the alleviation of poverty, designing a welfare state that gives the most to those who need the least. And we stockpile opportunity in exclusive communities, creating zones of concentrated riches alongside those of concentrated despair. Some lives are made small so that others may grow.

Elegantly written and fiercely argued, this compassionate book gives us new ways of thinking about a morally urgent problem. It also helps us imagine solutions. Desmond builds a startlingly original and ambitious case for ending poverty. He calls on us all to become poverty abolitionists, engaged in a politics of collective belonging to usher in a new age of shared prosperity and, at last, true freedom. – Penguin Random House

This title is also available as a Libby eBook.

__________________

Memoir & Autobiography: The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.

Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last. – Simon & Schuster

This title is also available as a Libby eBook, Libby eAudiobook, and CD audiobook.

__________________

History & Biography: The Wager by David Grann

On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But then … six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes – they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann’s recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O’Brian, his portrayal of the castaways’ desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann’s work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound. – Penguin Random House

This title is also available in large print, Libby eBook, Libby eAudiobook, CD audiobook, and in Playaway audiobook.

__________________

Humor: Being Henry by Henry Winkler

From Emmy-award winning actor, author, comedian, producer, and director Henry Winkler, a deeply thoughtful memoir of the lifelong effects of stardom and the struggle to become whole.

Henry Winkler, launched into prominence as “The Fonz” in the beloved Happy Days, has transcended the role that made him who he is. Brilliant, funny, and widely-regarded as the nicest man in Hollywood (though he would be the first to tell you that it’s simply not the case, he’s really just grateful to be here), Henry shares in this achingly vulnerable memoir the disheartening truth of his childhood, the difficulties of a life with severe dyslexia, the pressures of a role that takes on a life of its own, and the path forward once your wildest dream seems behind you.

Since the glorious era of Happy Days fame, Henry has endeared himself to a new generation with roles in such adored shows as Arrested Development, Parks and Recreation, and Barry, where he’s been revealed as an actor with immense depth and pathos, a departure from the period of his life when he was so distinctly typecast as The Fonz, he could hardly find work.

Filled with profound heart, charm, and self-deprecating humor, Being Henry is a memoir about so much more than a life in Hollywood and the curse of stardom. It is a meaningful testament to the power of sharing truth and kindness and of finding fulfillment within yourself. – Macmillan Publishers

This title is also available in large print, Libby eAudiobook, and CD audiobook.

Cold-Weather Novels

Since Davenport is right in the middle of the Midwest, cold weather is basically a given. While I enjoy snow, ice, and winter in general, I know others who would much rather only read about winter or watch snowy scenes on television. To satisfy all types of winter people, I wanted to look at what cold-weather novels the Davenport Public Library owns. For this blog, I have focused on thrillers, mysteries, and horror titles.

Below I have gathered some cold-weather novels that were published in 2023 and 2022 AND that we haven’t talked about on the blog before. All the titles below are, as of this publication, owned by the Davenport Public Library. This is only a brief glimpse of the cold-weather novels we own, so feel free to ask in the comments for more! Descriptions have been provided by the publishers or authors.

______________________

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates

When Christa joins a tour group heading deep into the snowy expanse of the Rocky Mountains, she’s hopeful this will be her chance to put the ghosts of her past to rest. But when a bitterly cold snowstorm sweeps the region, the small group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin. Despite the uncomfortably claustrophobic quarters and rapidly dropping temperature, Christa believes they’ll be safe as they wait out the storm.

She couldn’t be more wrong.

Deep in the night, their tour guide goes missing…only to be discovered the following morning, his severed head impaled on a tree outside the cabin. Terrified, and completely isolated by the storm, Christa finds herself trapped with eight total strangers. One of them kills for sport…and they’re far from finished. As the storm grows more dangerous and the number of survivors dwindles one by one, Christa must decide who she can trust before this frozen mountain becomes her tomb. – Provided by Darcy Coates

______________________

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

A young author is invited to an exclusive writer’s retreat that soon descends into a pulse-pounding nightmare—in the vein of The Plot and Please Join Us.

Alex has all but given up on her dreams of becoming a published author when she receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: attend an exclusive, month-long writing retreat at the estate of feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Even the knowledge that Wren, her former best friend and current rival, is attending doesn’t dampen her excitement.

But when the attendees arrive, Roza drops a bombshell—they must all complete an entire novel from scratch during the next month, and the author of the best one will receive a life-changing seven-figure publishing deal. Determined to win this seemingly impossible contest, Alex buckles down and tries to ignore the strange happenings at the estate, including Roza’s erratic behavior, Wren’s cruel mind games, and the alleged haunting of the mansion itself. But when one of the writers vanishes during a snowstorm, Alex realizes that something very sinister is afoot. With the clock running out, she must discover the truth—or suffer the same fate. – Provided by Simon & Schuster

______________________

City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita

A stranded detective tries to solve a murder in a tiny Alaskan town where everyone lives in a single high-rise building, in this gripping debut by an Academy Award–nominated screenwriter.

When a local teenager discovers a severed hand and foot washed up on the shore of the small town of Point Mettier, Alaska, Cara Kennedy is on the case. A detective from Anchorage, she has her own motives for investigating the possible murder in this isolated place, which can be accessed only by a tunnel.

After a blizzard causes the tunnel to close indefinitely, Cara is stuck among the odd and suspicious residents of the town—all 205 of whom live in the same high-rise building and are as icy as the weather. Cara teams up with Point Mettier police officer Joe Barkowski, but before long the investigation is upended by fearsome gang members from a nearby native village.

Haunted by her past, Cara soon discovers that everyone in this town has something to hide. Will she be able to unravel their secrets before she unravels? – Provided by Penguin Random House

______________________

The Drift by C.J. Tudor

Hannah awakens to carnage, all mangled metal and shattered glass. After she was evacuated from a secluded boarding school during a snowstorm, her coach careered off the road, trapping her with a handful of survivors. They’ll need to work together to escape—with their sanity and secrets intact.

Meg awakens to a gentle rocking. She’s in a cable car stranded high above snowy mountains, with five strangers and no memory of how they got on board. They are heading to a place known only as “The Retreat,” but as the temperature drops and tensions mount, Meg realizes they may not all make it there alive.

Carter is gazing out the window of an isolated ski chalet that he and his companions call home. As their generator begins to waver in the storm, something hiding in the chalet’s depths threatens to escape, and their fragile bonds will be tested when the power finally fails—for good.

The imminent dangers faced by Hannah, Meg, and Carter are each one part of the puzzle. Lurking in their shadows is an even greater danger—one with the power to consume all of humanity. – Provided by Penguin Random House

______________________

Ascension by Nicholas Binge

A mind-bending speculative thriller in which the sudden appearance of a mountain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean leads a group of scientists to a series of revelations that challenge the notion of what it means to be human

The only way out is up. . .

An enormous snow-covered mountain has appeared in the Pacific Ocean. No one knows when exactly it showed up, precisely how big it might be, or how to explain its existence. When Harold Tunmore is contacted by a shadowy organization to help investigate, he has no idea what he is getting into as he and his team set out for the mountain.

The higher Harold’s team ascends, the less things make sense. Time moves differently, turning minutes into hours, and hours into days. Amid the whipping cold of higher elevation, the climbers’ limbs numb and memories of their lives before the mountain begin to fade. Paranoia quickly turns to violence among the crew, and slithering, ancient creatures pursue them in the snow. Still, as the dangers increase, the mystery of the mountain compels them to its peak, where they are certain they will find their answers. Have they stumbled upon the greatest scientific discovery known to man or the seeds of their own demise?

Framed by the discovery of Harold Tunmore’s unsent letters to his family and the chilling and provocative story they tell, Ascension considers the limitations of science and faith and examines both the beautiful and the unsettling sides of human nature. – Provided by Penguin Random House

______________________

Cold-Weather Books Published in 2022:

Breathless by Amy McCulloch

Leech by Hiron Ennes

Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Hidden in Snow by Viveca Sten

Killer Wellness

Over the last couple months, I’ve noticed an increase in fiction that mixes body horror and standards of beauty. These books tend to fall in the thriller or horror genres by mimicking current social anxieties. By mirroring what is happening in society today, authors are writing about the fears that keep us up at night. I had been introduced to this genre of books when I read, and then watched, Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty. The darker side of the wellness and beauty industry has always fascinated me (my love of cults definitely feeds into this vein), so this genre of killer wellness fiction/body horror was a natural fit. While researching for this blog, I noticed that while the dark sides of the wellness industry are present in these books, there are also related themes stretching across many of them (science fiction biotechnology, influencer culture, celebrity gurus) all told from a mostly female point-of-view.

All of the below titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions have been provided by the publishers.

_____________________

Rouge by Mona Awad

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.  – Simon & Schuster

_____________________

The Glow by Jessie Gaynor

Jane Dorner has two modes: PR Jane, twenty-five, chummy, and eager to sell you a feminist vibrator or a self-care/bereavement subscription box; and Actual Jane, twenty-nine, drifting through mediocre workdays and lackluster dates while paralyzed by her crushing mountain of overdue medical bills. When her job performance is called into question, Jane’s last-ditch effort to preserve her livelihood and pay off her debt is to land a white whale of a client.

Enter the impossibly gorgeous Cass—whom Jane discovers scrolling through Instagram—and her unassuming husband, Tom—proprietors of a “wellness retreat” based out of a ramshackle country house that may or may not be giving off cult vibes. Suddenly Jane realizes she might have found the one ladder she can climb—if she can convince them that transforming Cass herself into a high-end wellness brand is the key to all three of their futures. Magnetic yet mysterious, Cass is primed to be an influencer: She speaks in a mix of inspirational quotes and Zen koans, eats only zucchini (the most spiritually nourishing vegetable), and has baby-perfect skin. Despite Tom’s reticence about selling out, Jane sets out to mold Cass into the kind of guru who can offer inner peace and make your skin glow—all at a hefty price, of course. As Jane reckons with her own long-dormant ambitions, she wonders: Can a person really “do good” for others while profiting off them? And what parts of our selves do we lose when we trade power, influence, and beauty? – Penguin Random House

_____________________

Chrysalis by Anna Metcalfe

It was hard to be in the present, she said, but if her body were heavier and more in control, then her thoughts would clear and her mind would recover its power.

What happens when a woman dares to take up space? An enigmatic young woman drastically transforms her body, working to become bigger, stronger, and stiller in the wake of a trauma. We see her through the eyes of three people, each differently mesmerized by her, as they reckon with the consequences of her bizarre metamorphosis. Each of them leaves us with a puzzle piece of who she was before she became someone else.

Elliot, a recluse who notices her at the gym, witnesses her physical evolution and becomes her first acolyte. Bella, her mother, worries about the intense effect her daughter’s new way of life is beginning to have on others, and she reflects on their relationship, a close cocoon from which her daughter has broken free. Susie, her ex-colleague and best friend, offers her sanctuary and support as she makes the transition to self-created online phenomenon, posting viral meditation videos that encourage her followers to join her in achieving self-sufficiency by isolating themselves from everyone else in their lives.

Uncanny, alluring, and intimate, Chrysalis raises vital questions about selfhood and solitude. This daring novel asks if it is possible for a woman to have agency over her body while remaining part of society, and then offers its own explosive answer. – Penguin Random House

_____________________

Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom

At 19, she was an Instagram celebrity. Now, at 35, she works behind the cosmetic counter at the “black and white store,” peddling anti-aging products to women seeking physical and spiritual transformation. She too is seeking rebirth. She’s about to undergo the high-risk, elective surgery Aesthetica™, a procedure that will reverse all her past plastic surgery procedures, returning her, she hopes, to a truer self. Provided she survives the knife.

But on the eve of the surgery, her traumatic past resurfaces when she is asked to participate in the public takedown of her former manager/boyfriend, who has rebranded himself as a paragon of “woke” masculinity in the post-#MeToo world. With the hours ticking down to her surgery, she must confront the ugly truth about her experiences on and off the Instagram grid.

Propulsive, dark, and moving, Aesthetica is a Veronica for the age of “Instagram face,” delivering a fresh, nuanced examination of feminism, #MeToo, and mother-daughter relationships, all while confronting our collective addiction to followers, filters, and faux realities. – Penguin Random House

_____________________

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

Our narrator produces a sound from the piano no one else at the Conservatory can. She employs a technique she learned from her parents—also talented musicians—who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future for a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store in New York City.

Holistik is known for its remarkable products and procedures—from remoras that suck out cheap Botox to eyelash extensions made of spider silk—and her new job affords her entry into a world of privilege and gives her a long-awaited sense of belonging. She becomes transfixed by Helen, the niece of Holistik’s charismatic owner, and the two strike up a friendship that hazily veers into more. All the while, our narrator is plied with products that slim her thighs, smooth her skin, and lighten her hair. But beneath these creams and tinctures lies something sinister.– Penguin Random House

 

_____________________

Looking for something else to read? Try these other titles!

Everything is Fine by Mike Birchall

Have you ever read anything from WEBTOON? WEBTOON is a website, home to thousands of diverse comics, manga, webcomics, and more.  Some years ago, I was introduced to this website and have been reading a couple comics steadily. One of my favorites in Everything is Fine by Mike Birchall. Imagine my joy when I discovered that Mike Birchall had made this comic into a print book: Everything is Fine: Volume One. I was able to check it out from the library and reread part of this webcomic again, but in print!

“I want you to know, Tom. Even through that mask… I saw it on your face. We’re all in the same boat here, but that doesn’t mean you have to enjoy it. Like you do.” – Mike Birchall, Everything is Fine: Volume One

Everything is Fine: Volume One is a horror dystopian graphic novel definitely not for the faint of heart (or for a younger audience). Sam and Maggie are perfectly normal. They live in a perfectly normal neighborhood, have a perfectly normal relationship, and have a perfectly normal dog named Winston. The houses all look the same; the people all look and sound the same. Everything is fine in their world.

Look at them for a bit longer and the facade starts to crack. Sam and Maggie have been struggling for a while. Winston is dead. Their idyllic suburban life is monitored by outside surveillance cameras and red eyes pop to life in their heads sometimes. They and their neighbors question every decision, yet also are disconnected from the world. Emotions are pushed to the side, leading to serious repression that puts Maggie on the brink of lashing out. Something very sinister lurks beneath the surface of every interaction. One wrong move could disrupt the delicate balance they live in.

This is a strangely manipulative and creepy book that lives to make you uncomfortable. The pacing may seem measured, but that’s because the themes are heavy, the plot is tense, and the story is a slow burn. Readers are left wondering what is actually happening as an eerie weirdness permeates. Despite the title, everything is not fine. The people are too nice, the jokes aren’t that funny despite their hard laughter, and an undercurrent of ‘not-rightness’ runs through each conversation and interaction. This book was intriguing, ends on a cliff hanger, and left me wanting more.

Bunny by Mona Awad

Mona Awad’s Bunny is cerebral, experimental, and on more than one occasion left me wondering “What in the world just happened?” 

The novel follows Samantha Mackey (or Smackie as her best friend Ava affectionately calls her) as she trudges through the last few semesters of her MFA program at a prestigious New England university. Fraught with writer’s block and an iceberg of unresolved trauma, Samantha hazily moves to and from workshop day after day where the only other creative peers she interacts with are the Bunnies–a Heathers-esque, culty group of women who make up the other four seats in Samantha’s cohort. 

The Bunnies–whom she distinguishes by nicknames Cupcake, Creepy Doll, Vignette, and The Duchess–invite Samantha to their private “Workshop,” which proves to be nothing short of a horrific brainstorming session come to life. 

Awad pokes fun at the self-indulgent creative process that often is evoked from intense writing programs such as the one in the novel, programs with which she herself is intimately familiar. Much of Bunny reads like a fever-dream: As Samantha’s grip on reality weakens, so does her reliability as the protagonist and narrator. The fun of this novel is in the constant guessing game of what is real and what is figment of her dissociated imagination. 

The overall plot of the novel would have been well served by a more purposeful exploration of Ava and her relationship with Samantha, as well as the hierarchy between the bunnies, which is apparent but never explained. While I was let down by some gaps in character development, the execution and overarching concept of Bunny is unique, engrossing, and wonderfully freaky.

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

Eliza Clark’s debut novel Boy Parts is disturbing, but also heartbreaking in a really uncomfortable, visceral way. This read is truly a sucker-punch of mixed emotions. 

The story follows Irina, a cut-throat erotic photographer who is obsessed with making unconventionally attractive men model for her. Though the men’s initial agreement to be the subject of Irina’s photos is consensual, what they eventually partake in is hardly in accordance with a typical photo shoot.  

My favorite stories are the ones with protagonists who are almost completely horrible, but at the last second reveal something that reels me back in. That is absolutely Boy Parts, with an obscured critique of our male-dominated world at the heart of Clark’s novel. While Irina is mostly an awful human, I can’t help but understand her frustration with being perpetually held under the patriarchal thumb.

As the plot unfolds, we discover much more about what makes Irina’s psyche, and art, so twisted. We are ultimately plunged into what makes her tick through her relationships with her border-line obsessive best friend, Flo, and a homely young man who works at the local Tesco grocery store.

The entire novel begs the question: What if Irina were a man? Much of her attitude towards the male body is a very crude and concentrated imitation of how women’s bodies are often considered by men. The fact that the main character in Boy Parts is a woman behaving as the worst kind of man is cutting and intentional. Clark picks apart the vulgarities we often expect from men, but are horrified by when we experience them from women.

I highly recommend for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Eileen.

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

“We don’t know how much our bodies can endure until we make cruel demands of them.”
― Jason Rekulak, Hidden Pictures

My latest read, Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak, is my first 5 star read for 2023! It was the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award winner for Best Horror. I highly recommend that you read a physical copy of this book, instead of listening to it, as there are drawings scattered throughout that are essential to the narrative.

Mallory Quinn is right out of rehab looking for a job. On the recommendation of her sponsor, she lands a job as a babysitter for Ted and Caroline Maxwell in the affluent suburb of Spring Brook, New Jersey. Mallory will be spending her days taking care of their five-year-old son, Teddy. This job immediately appeals to Mallory. She lives in the Maxwell’s pool house, is able to continue her workout regime by going on nightly runs, and finally has the stability that allows her to thrive.

Mallory and Teddy’s relationship blooms. Teddy is sweet, yet incredibly shy. He doesn’t get along with other little kids and would rather hang out with Mallory exploring the forest behind their house. Teddy also always has his sketchbook and pencils within reach. He spends his free time drawing the usual kid pictures: trees, rabbits, people. One day, his drawings change. Mallory finds a drawing of a man in a forest dragging a woman’s lifeless body.

Mallory is shocked. As the days progress, Teddy’s artwork becomes more and more sinister. His drawing style also drastically changes. He starts drawing more lifelike images, something way more detailed and complex than a five-year-old should be able to draw. When Mallory learns the history of her area, a chill runs through her. She starts to think that maybe Teddy’s artwork is actually snapshots of an unsolved murder that occurred years ago. Could something supernatural be lurking in the Maxwell house, haunting and telling Teddy what to draw? What is Mallory willing to do to help Teddy?

This book is also available in the following formats: