4.5 stars.

This was an absolutely pleasant surprise. A well-written contemporary debut that nearly knocked my socks off. The writing is beautiful and has a lovely flow in a way somewhat reminiscent of Taylor Jenkins Reid. The characters were well-crafted with good thought to histories and individual personalities. The result was a balanced family that felt realistic and true to ages, genders, and birth orders.

Dava is a protagonist who becomes increasingly unlikable as the plot progresses and truths are revealed. This was an interesting approach and will likely divide readers. I don't necessarily need to like my protagonist to like the story as a whole, but some will be turned off by Dava's worldview and her tendency toward egocentricity.

The story itself is poignant and thoughtful. There is a lot of consideration of death and legacy, of what should be left behind when someone dies. The book also addresses (in a sideways glance) how life should be lived and what things are really important to being a "good person". Dava herself has a complex character, but there is a lot of selfishness to her that she thought was altruism. Perspective is important. Though she was doing things to benefit the less fortunate, she did so at the expense of healthy relationships with her family. Her legacy will be one thing to the public and quite another to her children. This made for a good thought piece.

The narrative is a bit languid and the pacing could cause problems for some readers. It reads a bit like a mix of contemporary and literary fiction, so there is a lot of slow introspection that could create a bit of a slog for those focused on plot rather than character development. For me, however, I found that this was meticulously crafted and I really enjoyed learning the bits of history and the tangled webs of interaction and destruction Dava had left behind her. She "had it all", but really she was just like everyone else deep down...making mistakes and poor choices, struggling to do things the right way.

I enjoyed this novel quite a bit. I felt like there was a lot of emotional content that caused me to evaluate my own life and the importance of staying focused on the most important things throughout your life...and the understanding that those "important things" may not be the same for each person. An incredibly thought-provoking narrative that will stick with me and a very impressive debut novel.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

This is a slow burn historical fiction family drama. Yep. All of that. Oh...and some magical realism/fantasy as well. The story follows a family of witches, with the POV switching to each subsequent descendant through time. The narrative is atmospheric and really draws out the historical element in a lovely way, but this is a book that will take some time.

The writing style feels a little like Phillipa Gregory, but the story is focused more on the characters than the plot. The characters are written very richly and I loved the care taken with them. I will admit that the storyline for Irene was not my favorite, but I don't think she's really meant to be enjoyed.

There is a lot of repetition in some ways, as the women are all followed through similar phases of life and at times when they are making decisions about similar topics, but I loved Morgan's writing and the gentle way the narrative moved forward. I could have used a bit more of the magic element. It was a very light piece of the story in some ways, making it so the book could nearly be classified as magical realism rather than fantasy. In fact, some readers may categorize it that way.

I enjoyed my read and I am excited to read more about this world in Morgan's other witch novels. It worked for me and I had a great time.

I loved the premise of this book and enjoyed the school setting. There were definitely some interesting (and messed up) characters...to the point that I don't think I really liked anyone. That didn't necessarily affect my rating. I think it's kind of fun to have characters you don't like and it takes a certain skill for a writer to really accomplish that well and still have the characters be believable.

Honestly, I just found this book kind of boring. There were interesting bits to the plot and some decent plot turns, but somehow it still just felt meh. There was a lot of convenience to the plot and the characters all kind of blended into one another. It became too unbelievable with how many people apparently had the same problems and...skill sets. There just wasn't enough fleshing out of the characters to give them rounded out personalities and logic got tossed out of the window fairly early on.

The read itself is honestly decent. It's a quick moving narrative with short chapters that makes the pages just seem to fly by. I didn't not like it. I just wasn't wowed by anything. It's a good lazy day read or good for a read where you don't want to have to think too hard.

Such a Pretty Smile is a creepy, mind-bending, paranormal style horror with elements of body horror and some fairly graphic gore. This is not for the faint of heart in terms of atmospheric description. DeMeester's writing is calmly calculating, with a plot that reveals in slow, peeling moments delivered by unreliable narrators.

The book is dark and disturbing and delves into ideas of sexism and sexual oppression. The descriptions of misogyny were realistic in a way that had me both cringing and irritated and the repetitive description of female characters as some form of hysterical made me want to scream. These emotional responses were cleverly elicited in the writing and I think there is a lot of latent talent in the narrative.

However, I wasn't wowed by the plot or the characters. The "bad" girls seemed to blend together for me, which muddied the dual timeline approach and made that angle of writing less intriguing and effective. There were moments I did find intriguing and tense, but overall I just found myself sadly bored. There was a lot of repetition in both events and vocabulary usage. While some of this was undoubtedly intentional to drive home underlying points, it just grew irritating for me. I don't like when authors write in a way that look like they assume their readers are slow to pick up the hints.

There will absolutely be an audience for this strongly feminist and unique horror, but I was just left wanting a bit more. I'm a fan of weird, dark books, but this just didn't quite hit the mark for me.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

4.25 stars.

I really enjoy Darcie Little Badger's writing and world building. Though shelved as young adult, A Snake Falls to Earth does read a little younger and I would categorize it more as an upper middle grade read. This is not to detract from the talent or the world-building in any way, as the construction of this novel is still really well done and I enjoyed my read quite a bit.

I love that Little Badger creates her world around myth and legend while still fusing that with the modern world. Her character inclusion is really seamlessly done, bringing in all walks of life and really treating all of her characters as equals in a way that feels so beautifully natural. All writers should take a lesson here. Race, gender, and sexuality are dealt with in ways that make things wholly inclusive without focusing solely on those differences or the fact that there is inclusion in the writing. It's just there. The way it is in real life.

The story itself was a little bumpy for me here and there because of the construction style, but overall the dual POV between Oli and Nina works really well. Oli's side of things reads like a book of short moral stories (think Aesop), but slowly blends to match Nina's more modern style of addressing life. When the two stories merge, there is a little bit of clunkiness for a few pages, but then the story moves on perfectly from there forward.

The story is interesting and fun, but doesn't quite pack the punch of Elatsoe. Things seem a little lower stakes and a bit more cartoonish. Again, another reason for the overall more middle grade feel to the work. The story didn't feel as deftly constructed and gave more of an over-arching style of tale than and character study. Still worth the read and I still very much enjoy the writing, but it just didn't have me as riveted.

This is a slow and creepy horror with some great imagination to the plot and some incredible atmospheric work. Those who have issues with body horror should steer clear. A dark, mysterious mountain, a tragic accident, and some paranormal vibes including some damn creepy birds. That's all you need to know going in.

I would recommend seeking this book out in the original Dutch if you are able to read it, as I think the majority of my issues stem from the translation and I have a feeling that the original writing would bring out even more of a gripping, frightening reading experience.

The plot is edgy and dark right off the bat, in a way that left me wondering if I'd be able to sleep after concluding my reading for the evening. I'm rarely that creeped out by a book, but this one has a little weight behind it. The writing is good and you can tell that the author is truly very talented, but some things were inevitably lost in translation. There were areas where there were serious problems with verb tense agreement and they nearly drove me batty in some places. In addition, there was some slang that was translated in a way that I'm sure was supposed to give personality to the characters, but the consistent use of "cuz" had my nerves on end. I will also mention here that the continuous return to talking about Nick's body drove me a little nuts. It was just stressed a bit too often and took away some from feeling that the relationship between Nick and Sam was truly genuine.

The construction is done in a multi-POV approach that can leave the reader a bit lost on occasion...it took me a minute in a few places to figure out what character was talking...especially when there is some 2nd person usage in the writing as a lot of the plot takes place in a kind of epistolary form. This writing does work to disorient the reader, somewhat appropriately in line with the feeling behind the plot and I will admit that it had its effect. I was constantly waiting for what was going to come next, anxiety present from page to page (in a good way).

The atmosphere is top notch. I read this in the middle of a dark and snowy winter, and let me tell you...this felt like it could have taken place in my backyard. Cold, sinister, and disconcerting vibes on point.

If you're looking for a disturbing read, this is worth a grab. Perfect for winter vibes or a creepy autumn read. Don't pick it up if you often feel the need to sleep with the lights on. Because light or dark, this one will set you on edge.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *