Phew - this book put me through some things!  I spent a lot of the book angry (at the kids AND teachers), worried (for the teachers), and did I say I was angry?

Ok, so TL;DR this story is about teachers who go to a Graduation Party that turns to hell and mayhem.

My first thought: what the hell are these teachers doing going to a Graduation Party?  With alcohol and underage teens?  For kids we can tell they either do not like at all or are afraid of?  I definitely had to suspend some belief here and let that go because if they never went to the part of 17 and 18 year olds... none of this ever would have happened.

Then, these kids?  EFF THESE ENTITLED, SPOILED, WHINY, BRATS! OMG... like, sure, there is apparently some entity/manifestation in the form of an evil boy constantly lurking/supervising these events... but these students are pure hellish nightmares.  I wanted so many bad things to happen to them... ugh.  And the teachers knew the students were like this... so again, how lame their lives MUST be to think going to this party would be fun (let alone appropriate) is beyond me.

The party was when the book picked up steam.  The students start making the teachers play games (grammar checks, spelling contest, etc) and the losers... well, they die.  And some of these deaths are BRUTAL!  WHOA.  But it's just another reason I want to see these teens have their cell phones ripped from their hands and cry and cry and cry at their unfair lives... did I mention how angry these little a-holes made me? LOL

There is sort of a love story in the works here... but it's not the main plot of the book.  But it does add some levity to this insane night of torture, chaos, and death.  3.5 stars and now I am intrigued to read more from this author!

“Every moment has a precedent and comes from this other moment, that comes from this other moment, that comes from this other moment.” - Yaa Gyasi

Where do I even begin to review this masterpiece?  HOMEGOING is a story that follows two half-sisters (who did not know each other) and the generations to follow each of them.  We begin with the Fante and Asante nations and see these families expand separately into the United States and modern day Ghana.  One sister marries a white man and lives in a castle while the other is sold into slavery in the castle's own dungeon.  We see how this divided family leads two totally different generational paths only to ultimately reconnect full-circle hundreds of years later.  We see how slavery has impacted both timelines and places directly as well as indirectly.

Each chapter is a different story from a child in the next generation but the bloodline connections remain.  This book was simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming.  Each chapter and character had their own hardships and victories.  But each character left behind their own legacy for the future.  

This is a powerful debut novel.  My heart hurts reading this story and I am changed by this book.  I read it after Transcendent Kingdom, which is also a great story, so now I understand more of what people were referencing and talking about when discussing TK as compared to Homegoing and the emotions evoked.

"Weakness is treating someone as though they belong to you.  Strength is knowing that everyone belongs to themselves."

 HOOKER has a lot going on for a short novella: a serial killer targeting sex workers, a woman seeking vengeance for her murdered sister using actual hooks to take down the patriarchy and advocate for sex work, and some bonus queer love, too!

M. Lopes da Silva told a story that had me invested in the lives of these sex workers, their families and friends, and their dreams. There is and has been such a stigma against this work, but like so many other marginalized groups, this is one that needs advocacy, too. There is work to be done, but this author is putting this very real topic back on our minds. While the story takes place in the 80s, the issues these women face in the industry are still heavily dominant in today's world.

If you haven't been reading the Rewind-or-Die books, what are you waiting for!? Check this one out! 

 Liz Strange has compiled a fun collection of spooky and psychological horror with STRANGE TALES. The stories are fairly short but pack quite the punch and are extremely well written. I found myself sympathizing with our protagonists in each story more and more. They really seemed to be at a bad/low place more often than not and gave in to whatever horror was afflicting or interacting with them. I devoured this in one sitting and can definitely say I will read more from Strange. She can craft a story and make you feel for the characters! Check this one out for a few short stories that you can get behind. 

Blending together historical fiction and spooky, supernatural fun, GHASTLY TALES OF GAIETY & GREED: UNAUTHORIZED & HAUNTED CEDAR POINT is an eerie collection of stories, vignettes, newspaper clippings, reviews, postcards and more centered around Cedar Point and Lake Erie. Ghostly tales involving families, the attractions, the travels, and more fill these pages and will definitely knock you away with how well researched they are! I loved the addition of postcards and newspaper clippings as that helps make it all that much more real and it keeps the pace and flow of the book moving along nicely. The stories inside are more subtle and creepy than in your face, jump out at you and possess you, full blown terror... so I think readers who like slow-burn and build up will love this one!

THE STARS AND THE BLACKNESS BETWEEN THEM by Junauda Petrus is just a wonderful book that is so beautifully written.  It is heartbreaking while also being uplifting, it's magical, and it is full of so much heart!  It's Black, queer, YA, and so much!  But the interesting thing about this book is that it's not necessarily a coming out book and it's not necessarily a full ON love story.  Those features I saw plenty, yes.  But the focus is on these two Black girls and their place in this world.

In the story we follow two young Black girls: Audre and Mabel.  Audre is from Trinidad and falls in love with the local preacher's granddaughter. They are eventually found out and caught on the beach by Audre's mother who is so ashamed she sends Audre to live with her father in Minneapolis.

In Minneapolis we meet Mabel.  She is just a care free, fun, and smart girl living her life and following her favorite music group, hanging with her friends, spending time in the garden with her family, etc.  She and Audre have met before when Audre has visited the States in the past, but they do have a new friendship/relationship to rekindle.

As Audre struggles to fit in with her new life in Minneapolis and misses her life and love in Trinidad, Mabel also discovers she has a leukemia-like illness that puts the world upside down for her, too.  How these two navigate their issues, become closer together in a world of love, and how a book by Afua begins connecting them even more all become the focal points of the book.  And you just have to read this story to see how it all begins and ends!

The book is told in multiple POVs: Audre, Mabel, Afua (the author of the book that Mabel falls in love with), and there is a poem for each sign as the seasons change as interludes to help us see the passage of time. SO good!  Those final 2 pages made SUCH a mess out of me... but I can't imagine it any other way.  WHAT a powerful and moving debut novel!  4.5 stars!

Okay, this graphic novel is too much fun!  DANGANRONPA is the story of 15 kids who get selected to go to Hope's Peak through a lotto.  They are the best of the best.  We have the best baseball star, the best swimmer, the best computer programmer, etc etc.  They think they have really made it in this cool new school... but then they meet their new robot teddy bear principal, Monokuma.  And he has just informed them the only way to graduate is to kill a student, not get caught, and outsmart the others in the trial of the victim.  WHAT!?  You read that right!  It's such a blast, the characters are compelling, Monokuma is a sadistic treat of a characters, and I cannot wait for more in this series!  We started with 15 and this first volume leaves us with 12...

"Nobody ever thinks of himself as a villain, does he? Even monsters hold high opinions of themselves."

Following the story of a hustler dealing in black market antiquities like spell books to keep both himself and father afloat, THE BALLAD OF BLACK TOM is a compelling novella that captures the terrors of racism with moments of police brutality and cosmic horror.  Victor LaVelle's ability to blend a famous Lovecraftian tale ("The Horror at Red Hook") with the 1920s life of a black man and flip it on us completely is just one facet of his own brilliance.  For those who know more into Lovecraft OR that particular story then this feat should probably sound even more incredible.

The scenes where the Sleeping King tries entering our world and when Ma Att is being described with her tail/shadow are mesmerizing.  LaVelle nailed it with his descriptions and I found myself even peeking around... what, exactly?  It's not like I could peek around the book and SEE Ma Att's tail if I looked hard enough.  But the way he wrote that scene it had me so intrigued as if I was Detective Malone witnessing it firsthand.

LaVelle told a great cosmic horror story, but it's important noting that he told a horror story in general.  What Thomas Tester, his father, and many other Black people went through in the 1920s can easily be described as horrific.  Just reading about how his father was murdered sent me.  So, more often than not, humans are the real villains and the true monsters.  

LaVelle has such a gift for writing and it is no shock his works have been nominated for so many awards.  I can't wait to read more from him!

Review to come!

David Scott delivers some short stories  with a big bite in his collection, DEMENTED TALES.  Each story is only 1-4 pages long, so while they might not be long enough to build up a world or flesh out the characters, they are the perfect length to keep your attention and deliver those powerful final words.  Each story ends with a gulp!  The range of subjects in this collection vary from nature to cookouts to Santa and even to an Italian dinner!  No one story is the same but all the stories have a certain visceral quality to them.  And many are dripping with blood at one point or another!  Check thse out if you need some quick bites of horror!