bookilotty's reviews
512 reviews

An unsettling account of patriarchal abuse which slowly builds tension toward a haunting ending. I read this while camping in Northumberland so it was the perfect setting. I found the environment described perfectly and the tense atmosphere beautifully executed. There was some wonderful prose in this, but the lack of speech quotation marks made it often difficult to follow, which distracted me from the beautiful words. 
Sylvie was a precious character and I could see myself in her, which at times wasn't a good feeling. A very slow short story that, although it left me with alsorts of feelings, it still left me feeling a little unsatisfied. This is one that I think did more in its short pages than I initially appreciate and I think it'll resonate a lot longer in my mind as time goes on. 

A weird little blob washes up on the beach of a small Scottish Island and 84 year old Muriel takes it home. Chaos ensues as the blob Muriel names 'Avalon' needs blood to survive, and there just happens to be a whole host of unsavoury characters that Muriel could do with seeing the back of.

This was a lot of fun. A blood soaked tale of redemption and enduring love. I loved Muriel and from page 1 I wanted to see her get revenge on the suits trying to force her from her home. Sodergren has an evocative way with words. I was drawn in immediately and happy to go along for the whacky ride. I can't wait to read more by this author.

This is an incredible historical gothic horror. It's a bit on the dense side to begin with, describing the history/religion aspect of the story. But I'm glad I stuck with it because the middle section is some of the best historical horror I've read. It's a fascinating writing style, as the reader gets to delve into the point of view of 3 characters in the form of written accounts, all while reading it as a written account from the first character. It's such a clever style and I felt just like the main character going deeper into this unbelievable nightmare.

The only other historical horror that I can say it reminded me off is 'The Historian' by Elizabeth Kostova (which I did not appreciate fully when I read it). It's a deep, richly storied novel with horror at its core. So good.

A fun companion for fans. The extra secret bits and bobs included make it.

Really creepy at times with some nightmarish images that will stay in my head for a long time. A solid gothic novel.

An Outlander novel that held me firmly in its grasp all month. The 7th book left some cliffhangers so we dove straight back in to find out what happened which was slightly jarring at first as I left 3 years between the books. But I soon remembered who/what was going on and the stakes were high. 

Some time travelling curveballs were thrown and I absolutely lost my mind over it. Characters that I had grieved long ago in the series were suddenly thrust back into the mix and it was incredible! My heart hurt a lot.

The American Revolution was a bit lost on me tbh, but I tried not to get caught up in the details I didn't understand, and just followed the story of the characters. William and Lord John have definitely grown on me.

There's a couple of devastating tragedies in this book too which hurt big time. 

The ending was beautiful and felt like it could easily be the end of the series, even though it still left me desperate to dive straight into the next book, because we always want more.

I've had a great month reading this and so glad I didn't rush it.

A really fun cosy fantasy. Higher stakes than I had envisioned and I felt invested in everyone in the town. And who doesn't love a sentient plant? Loved it.

This installment took a little time to get going but soon the gothic vibes were flowing again and I was once more unsettled and desperate to learn more about Elinor. I love the way the horror creeps up on you in this series. For the most part it's a family/town saga, but then there's suddenly a few pages of some of the darkest stuff imaginable and I almost have to stop and blink twice to realise what just happened. Beautifully slow burning this one. Can't wait to read more.