Audiobooks: (previously reviewed for Audiobook Month)
My Sister Rosa by Justine LarbalestierMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A child psychopath + teen angst, all read by an Australian narrator? Yep, I was into this YA thriller. It felt like Che was speaking directly to me, confessional style, and I loved all the drama he was spilling about his sister and her messed up friendships. Because of Che's personality, the narration came off as caring and empathetic as opposed to whiny or too gossipy - I really felt as though Che was working through how to best take care of his sister (or conversely, how to care for those around her). Sid is a great love interest, and one of my favorite secondary characters, and Rosa herself was written so well I'm grateful she's fictional.
This one kept me guessing. I was shocked and surprised, and the reverse-chapter format kept me on my toes. We start on one of the final scenes of the book, only to count down from there, going further back in time with each chapter. Comparisons to The Talented Mr. Ripley are apt, but as a YA novel read mostly by teens, Genuine Fraud has a slightly different audience. The audio was well done - I appreciated the use of accents!
Short Stories
Slasher Girls & Monster Boys by April Genevieve TucholkeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This collection is wonderfully diverse, yet consistently creepy. Each story managed to thrill and chill me in a matter of pages, and I loved guessing each story's literary/pop culture inspirations. The authors represented here are some of the best!
Through the Woods by Emily CarrollMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I think horror works well in short story form - we get just enough to care about a protagonist and then to be terrified without having to invest in a whole novel. It turns out horror also works well as graphic shorts. Graphic as in the visual arts, but also as in explicitly illustrated. Don't worry - there's nothing NSFW here, but I was delightfully creeped out by several of the folktale-esque stories included in this collection.
Novels
Erebos by Ursula PoznanskiMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
For fans of Ready Player One and Warcross, Erebos shows readers a world where a computer game influences the real lives of teenagers in one city. This mystery-thriller was a slow burn with plenty of world-building (both on- and offline) and a few red herrings along the way. It was interesting to put myself in the places of the characters, and I also appreciated the thoughtfulness of the details of secondary characters and subplots.
The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie OakesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I heard this book described as Orange is the New Black meets Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and honestly, that fits so well I don't even want to try to describe it another way. The story had me from its opening line and did not let go until the end. I was horrified, entertained, and ultimately satisfied by the gory conclusion. This one is not for the faint of heart.
The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren SumaMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This story is uniquely disturbing. I was super down for the paranormal elements, and loved the sense of lurking doom and tension throughout. Black Swan and Orange is the New Black comparisons aside, The Walls Around Us is smartly written and executed, with no lull in the action or weak link in the narration (which is shared by two of the protagonists).
ANIMUS by Antoine RevoyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
A haunted playground in Kyoto, Japan seems to hold the key to the mystery of missing schoolchildren. Sayuri and Hisao, themselves children, follow the clues they discover to find their missing classmates and to hopefully return "Toothless," the boy haunting the playground, back to where he belongs. Echoing the atmosphere of the story, Revoy’s illustrations are haunting and fantastical, and I was stunned by the ending. (This is one I am forcing my husband to read just so we can talk about it!)
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