Cackle by Rachel Harrison

*Possible Spoilers, Read with Care.

5/5 ⭐

Fresh starts, new friends, and friendly spiders? This speculative fiction from Rachel Harrison gives new meaning to taking back your magic.

Play it safe Annie has just moved to a new town to start a new job all in an attempt to move on from from her longtime boyfriend who recently dumped her. And at first all is well. Better than well as the townspeople are kind and welcoming and the town itself quaint and picturesque. What could be better.

She even makes a new friend that helps her move on and start living for herself. Sophie, the elegant, strange, and intimidating woman who happens to live in a mansion in the woods. She recognizes something in Annie and takes her under her wing. The two form a bond that continues to grow as Annie learns what it means to truly live for herself.

I devoured this story in one day. In just a few hours while I was at work and in between helping patrons. It was so good that I recommended it to a patron who noticed how entranced I was about it. Now this book came out last year and I remember when it came in because the cover was so drastically different to this one. And I feel regret for not picking it up sooner. But also, I feel like I read it at a perfect time for fall and close to spooky season.

Cause let me tell you... there were definitely some spooky elements to this. I really had no idea what kind of story this was going to be. And there was something so fascinating about it to me. I had no idea what elements may come up. It wasn't like I was reading a mystery and I had some idea of how it would go. With Cackle I was completely in the dark of where it would go.

And I loved every second of it.

Chelsea

Comments

The Honeys - Ryan La Sala

5/5 ⭐ TBR: 8/16/22 Dark academia meets summer camp, and the vibes are immaculate. This LGBTQIA+ inclusive horror will bring the monsters into the daylight and make the reader rethink everything they thought they knew about the horror genre. With the genderfluid Mars and the rest of the Hive, each with their own purpose, this is one community... cult, that you don’t want to mess with. This is such a divine summer read, and I so enjoyed it! Thank you to Scholastic for access to the arc in exchange for an honest review. 7/27/22 *This review was previously posted on my Google Site.

Payback's a Witch - Lana Harper

5/5 ⭐ Filled with a fantastical description, feisty characters, and a devious plan concocted by three spurned witches, this book is hard to put down. I am notorious for being picky when it comes to fantasy and romance stories, so finding one that was a combination of both that I loved was thrilling. Emmy Harlow has finally returned home in order to fulfill a centuries-long tradition in her family. I don't know if it was just me but I could feel the struggles Emmy was facing from page one. Harper managed to make her feel alive and genuine, which I am coming to find appeals to me when reading. Emmy fled her hometown nearly 10 years earlier and the wounds are still hurting. She's a little lost, a little pissed, and a little in love. Her homecoming is something she struggles with throughout most of the main story. The longing for a home but not knowing if it is the place she grew up in, the magical and wonderful Thistle Grove. Or if it is magicless, solitary Chicago to which she fl...

The Family Plot - Megan Collins

4/5 ⭐ A family brought up learning about everything through the lens of true crime. Murder, mayhem, and death are the Lighthouse family's close companions. I was looking forward to this book since reading the summary. I have a mild interest in true crime and was interested in seeing how this story would incorporate such a widely talked about topic. For some, true crime is overdone and saturates media. And if anything, I think Collins does a fantastic job of acknowledging that fact and takes on true crime in a new and unique fashion. We are immediately introduced to the main setting, Blackburn Island, home to a serial killer who was never caught and the home of the 4 Lighthouse children and their... peculiar parents. I thought that Collins did a good job with the characters introducing them one right after another without it feeling rushed or like we were missing something. If anything it felt as though we learned a lot about the family within just the first few chapters. Without ...

In The Solarium

Search This Blog