As much as I loved Blacktop Wasteland, I think I like this new book even more - Cosby just keeps getting better! This is the story of two fathers who have nothing in common - except the murder of their estranged sons. Neither father had ever really gotten used to the couple's gay interracial relationship and now that the young men have been brutally killed, they are dealing with regrets and feelings unspoken. The police are doing nothing to catch the murderers, so Ike and Buddy Lee take matters into their own hands. I forced myself to read this really slowly because I knew I’d be so sad when it was over. This is a strong contender for my book of the year.
I saw that this was described as a cross between Blair Witch and Midsommar and could not grab it fast enough. This chilling novel is set in a remote village in Sweden and tells the story of a scrappy documentary film crew trying to find out why the entire town disappeared many years ago. The camp they set up in the town square is immediately beset with mysterious happenings that become less and less harmless. Tension mounts as they explore the mystery of where the residents of Silvertjarn went, and wonder if they will meet the same fate.
Tress and Felicity were childhood BFFs that drifted apart in small-town Amontillado Ohio, where your last name is the most important thing about you. Now in their final year of high school, they end up at the same no-holds-barred Halloween party and each has their own agenda for the evening. As the hours pass, we are taken back to their early years to see what went wrong in their friendship, and what really happened to Tress's missing parents. HOLY *^&% that ending, y'all. This dark, Poe-inspired tale will have you counting the minutes until the second book comes out - that's right, it's the first in a duology! And thank goodness, because I am already dying to know what comes next.
I have been dying to get my hands on this book since I first heard it announced. I was not disappointed! Six superstar YA writers team up for six tales of romance during a blackout in NYC. Nic Stone's story provides a center that the others authors complete and each tale overlaps just enough with the others that you will want to end up at the blackout party they're all working to get to. This book covers several diverse couples finding and losing love during the hottest day in the city and these stories put you right there with them all. I loved every single story!
Tucker spins a beautiful tale of addiction, love, friendship, and survival in this stunning debut set in rural North Carolina. Irene spends her days slinging drinks at the local watering hole. There, she befriends magnetic Luce and the two start down a dark path of drugs and crime, all the while wishing for escape. Things change when Luce meets a young soldier who wants to help her get clean. Irene is torn between the need to keep her friend close and the desire for Luce to have the best life possible. It's a story of doing what you think is best and living with the consequences. This book broke my heart in the most beautiful way.
I have been staring at this document trying to think of how to start this review without bad language for at least three minutes - that’s how good this book is, y’all. Harris has a background in publishing and I love imagining how this story came to life in her mind. Nella is the only Black woman at the publishing company that employs her and she fights micro (and macro!) aggressions day in and day out. When Hazel May McCall first shows up, Nella is excited to have a potential ally and friend. After an initial rapport, Hazel starts to seem less like a work wife and more like a Stepford wife ad Nella quickly finds herself in a precarious job situation. Then the anonymous notes start to arrive… This gives me the same vibes as Alyssa Cole’s When No One is Watching and I am very, very into it.
I love every word that Hendrix puts on a page and this might be my new favorite. It's a love letter to the slasher movie genre that exploded in the 80s-90s and while it doesn't call out any specific franchise by name, you know what inspired him. Lynette is a member of a top-secret support group that is full of Final Girls - the few women that survived brutal killers that spawned still-active horror movie franchises. No one understands how hard it is to be the ones left behind and when group members start dying off, it becomes clear that someone has found them out. This kept me turning the pages madly until the resolution and the reader can visualize how it might play out on screen. I will be putting this in the hand of every horror fan I see.
This novella doesn't need to be long to pack in chills and horror. Khaw crafts a terrifying setting as they tell the tale of five longtime friends who have gathered to witness the wedding of two group members. As the night unfolds in an abandoned Heian-era mansion, long held grudges and secrets come to light and the reader wonders why these people are even friends. The terrifying climax is grisly, dark, and beyond what you would imagine as the friends fight to save one another and themselves. A PERFECT Halloween read.
Baer's follow up to the wildly successful What Kind of Woman is even better than the first collection! She has taken comments, emails, feedback, and texts from various spoken interviews and testimonies and turned them inspiring blackout poetry that turns the initial correspondence on its head. This new volume speaks to current events, moms, women, and anyone who is just tired of all the negativity in the world. It's cathartic and inspirational and beautiful.
