unsettling

Review: The Cut by C.J. Dotson

~ megs14malloy ~ Leave a comment

The CutThe Cut by C.J. Dotson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

After fleeing an abusive relationship, Sadie Miles, with her toddler, Izzy, in tow, ends up at the L’Arpin Hotel, a historic property on the edge of Lake Eerie.

She’s not there for rest and relaxation though, she’s there for a job. When she’s offered a position as a housekeeper, which includes a free room at the hotel, she jumps at the offer. She’s beyond desperate.

We follow Sadie as she tries to navigate her new circumstance, having to do things that make her uncomfortable, such as leaving Izzy alone with an elderly woman she just met, so that she can get her work done.

It’s not just those necessary actions that are making her uncomfortable though, there’s a lot around the hotel that is odd; including, but not limited to, the people.

Individuals go missing, and there’s definitely something in the water, or the pipes, or food. The higher-ups seem to be covering-up, but what? And what about the man from the power plant, always yelling and carrying on, like she’s done something to him. What is going on here?

Sadie, like many great Horror characters before her, isn’t willing to let any of this stuff go. She’s determined to figure out the truth behind the hotel, even if she needs to put herself in peril in order to do so.

I had fun with this one. The Cut has a great set-up, and it did succeed at keeping me guessing and compelled to move forward with the unsettling narrative.

It reminded me of one of those Creature Feature movies from the late-70s/mid-80s, that had like ants that had grown to the size of houses and ate entire towns.

Were they super logical? No. Did they keep you entertained on a rainy Saturday afternoon? Absolutely. This is the vibe I got and I’m not complaining about it.

This is solid B-Horror, and don’t take that as an insult, because it’s not. I love B-Horror. It’s pure entertainment, that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It tells a story, gives you thrills, chills, and keeps you at the edge of your seat.

I will say, Sadie’s daughter, Izzy, drove me absolutely nuts. I would have enjoyed this even more if she hadn’t been in it. I know that seems mean, but it is what it is.

Overall, though, this was a fun ride. It had some issues, but at the end of the day, I didn’t really care. I actually Buddy Read this and it was a fun one to try to guess what was really happening. Which by the way, I was no where near guessing.

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copies to read and review. I highly recommend the audio format if you have it available to you. The narration was a great fit for the tone of the story!

View all my reviews

Review: Letter Slot (Shivers Collection #5) by Owen King

~ megs14malloy ~ Leave a comment

Letter Slot (The Shivers Collection, #5)Letter Slot by Owen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Letter Slot is a great Horror short story. This is the 2nd-Shivers Collection release that I have picked up and I enjoyed it just as much as the 1st, Jackknife.

This is the 1st-time I’ve read from Owen King, and I can definitely see the family resemblance. This guy knows how to tell a COMPELLING story. I was hooked from the start!

This story follows Blake, a teenage boy, who lives with his single-mom. They’ve been struggling and Blake’s Mom’s health has suffered because of stress and an accident she had at their rental property.

Nothing seems to be going right for them, and Blake just wants it to be better, particularly for his Mom, who does so much. He hates seeing her in pain.

As part of a school assignment, he ends up pouring out all these thoughts and emotions into a letter, and putting that letter through a mail slot of an abandoned show house.

He’s floored when he receives a response with an offer to help make all of their problems disappear. All he has to do is give his new pal a name; a name of someone he hates.

Blake is left with a real Faustian dilemma on his hands. He’d do anything for his Mom, but what will it cost him?

I really enjoyed how this story played out. The way it was told, it was beautifully-plotted for such a short story. I was completely sucked in and invested in the moral dilemma.

I feel like King did an exceptional job creating an unsettling atmosphere, even when you didn’t know exactly what was getting under your skin. It was a whole vibe; very well done.

Thank you to Brillance Publishing for providing me with a copy to read and review. Grover Gardner’s narration in the audiobook was perfect for this story.

I highly recommend that format!

View all my reviews

Review: Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes

~ megs14malloy ~ Leave a comment

Cold EternityCold Eternity by S.A. Barnes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cold Eternity is the latest release from S.A. Barnes, author of Dead Silence and Ghost Station. I always look forward to Barnes new books and this one did not disappoint.

This is another Space Horror novel and features a compelling protagonist, Halley, who after taking a remote assignment on an abandoned space barge, discovers there’s more danger in the job than she could’ve ever anticipated.

In the very beginning, this was giving me light-Artemis vibes. I think mostly because Halley, the way we meet her and the things she was thinking about at that time, were reminiscent of Jazz, the MC in Artemis.

You can tell that Halley is girl with a complicated past, who is trying her best to stay clear of it. I liked how the author filled that in for us over time, and I truly became attached to Halley and her well-being over the course of the story.

She takes the job on Elysian Fields, a giant space barge housing a now defunct cryo program, thinking the remoteness and isolation will help her to avoid the things she’s trying to avoid. Unfortunately, life on the floating crypt isn’t as harmless as she thought it would be.

Constant disturbing noises, and mysterious moving figures, haunt Halley’s days and nights. She finds it impossible to sleep, impossible to rest her nerve-rattled brain.

Karl, the only other human worker aboard, is just as puzzling as everything else about the Elysian Fields. Halley’s thoughts race and ramble as she tries to make sense of her new surroundings. It’s during this time that the Reader may begin to question how well they can rely on their narrator.

Learning about the Elysium Fields, its past, Halley’s connection to it and its present iteration was so compelling. Barnes does the horrors of future tech so well, and this story is absolutely terrifying if you think about it for too long…

S.A. Barnes has really made a name for herself in the SF-Horror space. She does such an incredible job creating an ominous atmosphere in each one of her stories, as well as well-developed main characters.

I feel like some Readers may avoid, or be intimidated by SciFi stories, as they feel like they may be too science-heavy, or too high-concept, for them to understand, or be pulled in by. And while I can understand that inclination with many SF-books, I would urge you, if this is you, to give S.A. Barnes’s work a try.

She makes her stories accessible to all types of Readers, whether you are a big-SF fan or not, I think you’ll easily be pulled in by her work and find it enjoyable.

This story, in particular, is well within our range of current understanding as tech rapidly progresses around us every day. I could absolutely picture a world where a situation like this becomes a reality.

Stories of futuristic tech always get under my skin. I just find it genuinely frightening to think about. All the ways such developments could go wildly wrong. Reading about it, in fun works of fiction like this, provide me with a safe place to explore such concepts, and honestly, it does help lessen some anxiety around these topics for me.

That may sound silly, but it is one of the reasons I so enjoy this type of story, and S.A. Barnes is my absolute go-to author for gripping, realistic, futuristic SF-Horror.

This had a lot of unsettling moments, with a great creepy atmosphere throughout. Towards the end it did have some moments where it started to feel a little muddled for me, but overall, it was a great reading experience.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor Nightfire and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I’ll be anticipating whatever Barnes releases next!!!

View all my reviews

Review: What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould

~ megs14malloy

What the Woods TookWhat the Woods Took by Courtney Gould
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What the Woods Took follows a group of troubled teens during their time in a wilderness therapy program.

This set-up has been popping-up quite a bit in various iterations over the past few years, but for me, this is the best I’ve seen it executed. I was fully-engrossed in this story.

Devin is our MC. We meet her when she is awakened one night by two strange men in her room; essentially kidnapping her into a program known as Revive.

She finds herself shoved into a van and driven deep into the woods of Idaho. She meets a group of equally confused teens and it’s at that point, she discovers the true depth of the unsettling situation she finds herself in.

There are two counselors/guides for the program, and the other teens include Ollie, Aidan, Hannah and Sheridan. They’re told they will be hiking for 50-days.

Each teen is coming from vastly different circumstances, of which we learn over the course of the story. They’re each battling their own inner demons, but what they’ll face in the woods will be unlike anything they’ve ever battled before.

I went into this one not knowing a lot about it. I’ve read two previous novels from Gould, and enjoyed them, but this one is definitely my favorite of her work.

I was captivated from the start. It kicks off immediately and drops us into the heart of the action. I really appreciated the character work that Gould displayed here.

It wasn’t just Devin that you got to know well, all of the characters were fully fleshed out. IMO, for Younger Readers, or Teens, picking this up, everyone should be able to find an aspect to this story that will resonate with them.

There was a real cathartic feel about these teens experiences in the program initially. As mentioned above, they were all struggling with some serious issues, and had been acting out in their home life as a way to deal to it.

The more time they spent together, under the uncomfortable conditions, the more they began to open up to one another. There was some serious growth.

Then the crazy stuff starts to happen. There’s something strange in the woods and the pace really picks up after all of that starts to be exposed.

I thought Gould paced this perfectly. I enjoyed how the strangeness unfolded. It felt hypnotic and darkly-enticing. I needed to know what the heck was going to happen here. How were these teens actually going to survive this?

It was eerie and intense. I was rooting for these characters, even the ones that drove me batty at first. The growth they displayed and the horrifying situation they were in, made me root for them all by the end.

I would recommend this to YA Horror, or YA Survival Thriller, Readers. I feel like the character work and atmosphere are reason enough to pick it up, but if you need more, add in a convincing sapphic romance. Additionally, I would recommend the audiobook for the engaging narration.

Thank you to the publisher, Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m looking forward to whatever Gould releases next!

View all my reviews

Review: The Dollhouse Academy by Margarita Montimore

~ megs14malloy

The Dollhouse AcademyThe Dollhouse Academy by Margarita Montimore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ivy Gordon is the most famous star pumped out of the Dollhouse Academy for almost two-decades. The older she gets, now a Hollywood-gasping 34-years old, the more fed-up she gets with the system and her role in it.

The Dollhouse Academy is a wildly-secretive, posh boarding school and talent incubator for potential stars. It’s every young performer’s goal to get there.

Ramona Holloway and Grace Ludlow, best friends and a double act, have idolized Ivy Gordon for years. Watching her career with an admiration that only the young can feel.

At the age of 22, a lucky break suddenly grants both Ramona and Grace admission into the Dollhouse. This is their chance to finally make it!

Though the campus is picturesque and the opportunities endless, the two feel ill-prepared for the cut-throat boot camp-like environment they find themselves thrust into.

Grace fairly quickly finds success, while Ramona, who secretly sees herself as the more naturally-gifted of the two, soon finds herself lagging behind.

The more the disparity between the two gets, the more difficult Ramona finds the whole experience.

Adding to her distress, Ramona is also receiving anonymous, threatening messages. There are moments when she suspects Grace, but could that possibly be true?

Would Grace actually try to scare Ramona, or purposefully harm her chances of success?

As past and present merge, the truth behind the Dollhouse starts to come to light. Will Ivy be able to express everything she needs to in order to save the next young ingenues from following in her footsteps, or is it already too late?

This was a fantastic audiobook and a very interesting story. I loved the unsettling vibes of the Dollhouse. I felt that whole environment was so well-developed. I could picture everything beautifully.

I do tend to enjoy stories that follow musicians, actors, celebs, or the arts industry in general, so that aspect really worked for me as well. I will admit it had a more General Fiction feel than I’m generally compelled to pick-up, but the air of creepiness succeeded in keeping my interest.

The 1st-chapter of this sets the tone and while it does take a step back, it’s a slow build, that sense of urgency, even in moments where you can’t put your finger on why, remains. It’s one of those stories that sneaks under your skin without you being able to verbalize why that is.

I loved Ramona’s perspective most of all, because the further in got in, the more I started to question her reliability, and I love an unreliable narrator. With that being said though, I also found Ivy’s perspective extremely interesting.

If I had to compare the vibe, or feeling of this book, paying no attention to content or themes, to another book, I would say my feeling while reading it was most closely matched by The Other Black Girl.

I would recommend this to Readers who love an unsettling atmosphere, stories involving celebrities, or dark academia. I also highly recommend the audiobook. The fabulous narration brought this novel to life for me.

Thank you to the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m looking forward to reading more from Margarita Montimore.

View all my reviews

Review: A Better World by Sarah Langan

~ megs14malloy

A Better WorldA Better World by Sarah Langan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Better World brings the Reader another unsettling near-future as imagined by Sarah Langan!!

I really enjoyed Good Neighbors by Langan, so was looking forward to checking this one out. It’s absolutely as wild and wicked as that previous novel, but this one went even darker, IMO, which I adore.

This story follows the Farmer-Bowens family, a married couple, Linda and Russell, as well as their teen twins, Hip and Josie, as they are given the opportunity to join the company town of Plymouth Valley.

In this dystopian near-future a safe haven like Plymouth Valley is an unbelievable windfall for any family.

After touring the community, they realize they can’t turn it down. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. Russell, a genius with numbers, is offered a job with the company and that will be their foot in the door.

Linda will have to give up her medical career, but truth be told, it’s not exactly keeping them safe anyway. The family agrees that they’re going to go for it. They’re moving to Plymouth Valley.

Once they’re there, things are…a little too perfect. You know what I mean? It’s so perfect, it’s unsettling.

Hip and Russell seem to adjust okay. Linda and Josie not so much. Maybe it’s slightly easier for the men for some reason. Is that possible?

Mainly through Linda’s perspective, we learn the truth about this seemingly-bucolic company town and watch this one family try to survive it.

It was hard to predict going in what exactly Langan was going to deliver with this one, but after reading it, it makes perfect sense. No one does unsettling perfection better than Sarah Langan.

This is The Stepford Wives on steroids. This story is nuts. The vibes are so creepy. It’s one of those fantastically-told stories, where from the start you’re creeped out, but you can’t really put your finger on why.

It’s like, you’re scared, but nothing overtly scary is happening. And reading it, it’s like peeling back the layers of an onion, everything is slowly revealed but with perfect pacing, providing optimal impact for just exactly how messed up this situation is.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a deep dive into a dark dystopian future. This provides a lot of commentary on wealth, privilege and the power of corporations, for you to sink your teeth into.

It feels a little long, as in, Langan really built out this story, but if you have the patience and just settle in for the ride, it’s so well done. I definitely believe it successfully captured the vibes the author was hoping for!

Thank you to the publisher, Atria Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review.

I’m sorry it took me so long to get to this one, because I’ve been missing out. I cannot wait to see what Langan is going to deliver next!!!

View all my reviews

Review: Red in Tooth and Claw by Lish McBride

~ megs14malloy

Red in Tooth and ClawRed in Tooth and Claw by Lish McBride
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

Red in Tooth and Claw is a very original and quite strange YA story. I loved the overall tone, but didn’t find it particularly compelling. Therefore, it’s a tough one to rate.

It took me what felt like forever to read, over 2-weeks for 400-pages is a long time, but I would still say I enjoyed it. I think maybe the pacing was a little off for me. That was my biggest issue with it, and that’s not bad.

This story follows Faolan Kelly after her beloved grandfather, her sole guardian and only remaining family member, passes away.

She’s now alone in the world, and essentially homeless, as the local powers that be don’t feel like a young person of 16 is mature enough to take over the family homestead.

They also think Faolan is a young man, which is how her grandfather wanted it. Life was too dangerous for girls then, and if they found out, she would be married off as soon as possible. Her life no longer her own.

After his death, Faolan continues on with the charade. She’s not ready to expose her true self. It would change everything, and her life is already in enough turmoil as it is. She can only take one step at a time.

The mayor, appointing himself as the decider of Faolan’s fate, decides to have them shipped off to the Settlement; a remote outpost, home to many societal outcasts. The place is mysterious, and Faolan has no idea what to expect.

She goes though, because honestly, she’s out of options. Paired up with a gunslinger, to ensure her safe passage, Faolan decides to just keep her head down and bide her time until she can hopefully get her Grandfather’s property back.

Once she’s there, the mysteries of the Settlement only expand. The people she meets, the rules, their leader, it’s all so strange. What is the point of this whole thing? Why all the rules, and what’s lurking around at night?

While this wasn’t a touchdown for me, there were definitely many aspects of this story that I felt the author did really well and that I thoroughly appreciated.

First and foremost would be the atmosphere and overall vibe of the Settlement itself. I loved the slow build of the world and was fascinated with the idea of the Settlement. It’s clear it was meant to have a sort of quasi-religious component, and I felt like the author portrayed that really well.

It felt cultish. I feared for Faolan’s safety from the moment she got there. The unsettling feelings were only enhanced when Faolan begins hearing crazy noises at night.

It’s not all bad and scary though. Faolan does make some allies at the Settlement, including the fabulous Ms. Moon, and young loves, Jesse and Dai Lo.

With these new friends, as well as a few others, a lovely found family element is eventually established, which I always love to see.

There is a bit of a mystery too, as some people end up dead under very mysterious circumstance and Faolon investigates what was the cause of those deaths. Trust me when I say, I never could have predicted the direction this eventually took.

It was so bizarre, but I still really enjoyed it. I loved the Western feel and concepts. It was very different, unlike anything I’ve ever read and I walk away impressed with this author’s creativity and vivid imagination.

Thank you to the publisher, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This won’t be the last I read from Lish McBride!

View all my reviews