The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

Available Now

This book is incredible! Just an absolutely amazing and horrifying novel. Set in the lands of Bethel during an unknown time, the Prophet rules over all. Living in a compound named Haven with his many wives and children, he determines who lives, who dies, and what is considered moral. Living under this tight rule is already difficult, but even more so when your very life is considered a crime. Born to an outsider father, Immanuelle's mother was married to the Prophet when she defied his controlling rule and fell in love with another man. Left to be raised by her grandparents when her father is burned at the stake and her mother disappears, Immanuelle is constantly reminded of her mother's sin and disgraceful expulsion from the community.

Immanuelle is tasked with caring for her family's flock of sheep and spends her days in the fields or selling the animals or wool in the town's market. When she is sent to sell off one of the rams, the beast escapes her and runs into the Darkwood, a dark and mysterious forest that the town is convinced will destroy the soul of anyone who enters. Immanuelle, balancing the risk of the Darkwood and her grandparent's disappointment, decides she has no choice but to enter the woods. When she discovers two women laying together on the forest floor, she is convinced they are witches and flees for her life. With the cries of the tortured ram following her, Immanuelle escapes to the safety of her family's farm, but discovers she has been given a journal by the witches. A journal that belonged to her mother.

Reading her mother's diary uncovers secrets long held by the family, and a connection to the witches living in the Darkwood. When an inexplicable plague reigns down on the people of Bethel, Immanuelle is convinced that the nightmares brought on by her mother's journal may be a reality. Convinced she is the cause of everyone's suffering, she sets out on dangerous mission to reverse the curse.

As Immanuelle tries to discover her mother's ties to the witches and the betrayal to the Prophet, she attracts the attention of Ezra, son to the Prophet. Torn between wanting to pursue the friendship of Ezra but knowing she must use his access to the secret libraries of Haven and the gate guards to discover the spell she needs to reverse the plagues.

All the while, her best friend has been married to the Prophet and is in danger, the plagues have become more deadly, her family is ill and in danger, and Immanuelle is closer and closer to losing herself to the Prophet or worse, the witches of the Darkwood.

Whew! There is a lot that is going on in this book and it moves at an exciting clip. Alexis Henderson drops us into a controlling and strictly religious community with a heavy dose of toxic patriarchy. You can feel the oppression the women live with everyday and their only hope for escape is becoming a wife to the Prophet, who has many, or hopefully find a decent man to marry you. Don't go looking for a decent woman-they'd probably burn you at the stake. Outside the walls of Bethel is an unknown. At one point Immanuelle is able to leave to for a short time to meet with someone, but it's unknown whether she will be allowed back in. Threats of banishment and exile are to be taken seriously, but it's unclear what is really going on in the outside world. Also, I was never really clear about when this all took place. It had such an oppressive and otherworldly feel that it could have been any time period-men do like telling women what they can and cannot wear. So. 2020 or 1820, doesn't matter when you have a crazy cult involved.

I loved how Henderson describes the connection between Immanuelle and the magic of the witches. The lore behind the women and their powers was fascinating and I love a "coming into our powers" story. Will they use it for good or evil? I love that struggle. Immanuelle is also a character who is incredibly well written. She's complex and is thrown into one harrowing situation after another and all the while, has so many different people she has to try and protect and also, needs to protect herself. It would be so easy to give in to the demands of the community, the magic, her family's pressures, or just run away. She deals with a lot of pressure and feels so real about her choices.

This is an excellent novel for readers who love their magic on the darker side-there's a lot of horror and disturbing images in this one. It's so good people.  So good. 

If you would like a copy of this for yourself, you can grab one here:

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New Releases for August 25, 2020

Happy Tuesday!

If you’ve recently started school, whether remotely, in-person, or doing a some type of hybrid model, you deserve a book! This is going to be a wild fall and everyone, parents or not, should buckle in and treat yourself to a new escapist read. There are some excellent reads out this week like Adriana Herrera’s latest and new Kevin Hearne! Click on the links for more information and yes, these are affiliate links so I earn from qualified purchases.

Happy Reading!

For the Grown-ups:

For Non-Adults:

New Releases for August 18, 2020

Happy Tuesday!

It’s time for new books! Click on the covers for more information about the title and remember, these are affiliate links.

For the Kids:

For the Adults:

The Shadows by Alex North

Available Now

Content warning for child death and child abuse.

This is another brilliant dark and disturbing thriller from Whisper Man author, Alex North. After learning his mother has been placed in hospice, Paul Adams is forced to return to the town he left twenty-five years ago. His mother seems deeply disturbed and is convinced that something is in her house. What Alex finds convinces him that she knew more about the horrific murder of a child decades ago, a murder Alex has tried to forget. When a copycat killer strikes in a nearby town, Alex is forced to face his past in order to prevent the needless murders of more children. 

I made the mistake of taking this book with me while on vacation with my boys. We rented a cabin on a lake, surrounded by a beautiful forest. Nothing like reading a book where children are murdered in a forest commonly known as The Shadows, while in a literal forest.  In The Shadows, a group of teenage boys become obsessed with the idea of lucid dreaming. They are convinced that they can enter each other’s dreams and that a being known as Red Hands can help them get revenge against their enemies. This lucid dreaming creates this almost supernatural feeling to the book where it’s easy to question every fact about the suspects and the killings. There are discussions on the dark web questioning whether the original killer, Charlie Crabtree is still alive, or he is a dark spirit lurking around The Shadows waiting to be called upon. North is very skilled at keeping the tension between those two theories and you are always left questioning what is really going on. The lore surrounding The Shadows adds to the constant menacing feel of the book. They’re always described as dark and dangerous and Paul has a visceral reaction every time he looks out at them. Very spooky.

The characters are really well done and I loved how complex they were. Paul leaves town for college and never looks back. He even goes so far as to not see his mother for twenty-five years, that is how traumatizing his friend’s murder is. He never makes it as a writer and is living an ok life, but nothing he was really hoping for. His guilt over not taking better care of his mother is pretty intense but it leaves you wondering if he had come home earlier, could he handle taking care of his mother?  Would he have the emotional and mental strength to do so? 

I really like the character of Detective Amanda Beck. She is living in the shadow of her recently deceased father, a lifelong police officer. Struggling to find peace with the horrors she faces everyday, she is convinced that she is nothing more than a disappointment. But she is incredibly intuitive and driven. She knows how to best use her connections and is really good at reading people. North is really good at giving us characters who feel incredibly real and relatable. 

If you liked Whisper Man, I highly recommend picking this one up. It has the same tense, dark feel and the way that lucid dreaming was woven in was really interesting. 

This was my July Book of the Month pick and once again, BOTM did not disappoint. 

You can get a copy of this for yourself here:

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New Releases for August 11, 2020

Happy Tuesday!

It’s another week of great new releases. Click on the covers for more information and remember, these are affiliate links.

For the Kids:

For the Adults:

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

Available August 4, 2020

This book was fascinating! Set in a future where we have discovered the existence of the multiverse, a group of scientists and explorers travel between the worlds documenting the similarities and differences between the worlds. Scientists quickly discovered that people could only travel to alternate worlds where their alternate has died. Within the 380 worlds that scientists can travel to, Cara has died on 373 of them, making her the perfect traverser. Those who grow up privileged in one world, tend to live privileged lives amongst all the alternate worlds. The same goes for the poor and impoverished, making poor people of color perfect for the program. 

Cara has worked hard to establish her place within the city. She is on the path to citizenship, has an apartment, and is willing to work double shifts, even when it threatens her health. Her handler Dell keeps her at arm’s length, no matter how much flirting Cara throws her way. 

It’s during a standard data pull on an alternate world that Cara realizes she’s been sent to a world where she still lives. Violating protocol, she struggles to stay alive long enough for someone to rescue her and allow Cara to further investigate the world. Meeting her doppelganger is a mind-bending experience and leads to Cara having to reckon with her deepest and darkest secrets. Secrets so big, they could tear her world apart. 

This book was so good! It’s such a tightly written story that too much discussion will lead to spoilers. I loved the world-building and the way that Cara has to balance between two very different societies. Her family lives out in the desert where many of the poor live, and where Cara never felt like she fit in. But, Cara doesn’t feel like she belongs within the wealthy, walled city either. She has to change her language, her wardrobe, the way she holds herself when she is around her family. When she returns to the city, she has to again change her persona to match societal expectations. Neither persona feels real to Cara and that duality plagues her throughout the book.  

The relationship between Dell and Cara is fraught with high emotions and cold responses. Dell, her handler and woman of her dreams, is way out of her league and Cara is constantly flirting and teasing her, almost she can’t help herself. Dell never responds in kind, in fact, she acts almost insulted everytime Cara flirts with her. Their relationship was fascinating to watch develop over the course of the story. 

I loved how fast paced this story was. It’s a deeply woven story-there’s government conspiracies, corruption, societal unrest, personal secrets, and a slow burn romance. Cara has to constantly decide how her past and alternate selves will shape her future, all while trying to figure out who the person she wants to be now. The fact that Cara knows how her other selves have died on other worlds-what a weight to carry. The writing is just fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. 

Want a copy for yourself? You can get one here:

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this story. All opinions and mistakes are my own. 

This post contains affiliate links. I earn from qualifying purchases.

New Releases for August 4, 2020

Happy Tuesday!

It’s Harrow the Ninth Day!!! Like last week, there are other books coming out but seriously, it’s Harrow the Ninth Day!

Click on the covers for more information about each title. This post contains affiliate links.

For the Kids:

For the Adults:

New Releases for July 28, 2020

Happy Tuesday!

It’s Deal With The Devil Day!!! There’s more books out today, but I’m most excited about Kit Rocha’s newest release. I read it months ago and it’s pub date got bumped back to due to the pandemic so I have been waiting forever to share this with you. Well, I’ll share it Thursday. Today is all about the new releases for today. Click on the covers for more information and this post does contain affiliate links.

For the Kids:

For the Adults:

New Releases for July 21, 2020

Happy Tuesday!

Did you just make it another week without committing a crime? You should reward yourself with a new book! Click on the covers for more information.

Happy Reading!

Younger Readers:

For Adults:

This post contains affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Inheritors by Asako Serizawa

Available July 14, 2020

The Inheritors is a beautifully written collection of connected short stories centered around a family through multiple generations and countries. Told from multiple perspectives, each with a distinct voice and style, The Inheritors is a fascinating look at how our actions can have an impact on future generations. Much of the book centers around the second World War and its effect on not only the citizens of Japan, but on the Koreans who were forced to work there by the Japanese. Family, love, grief and patriotism are all examined throughout the collection and some stories are more difficult emotionally than others. 

The story titled Flight was particularly impactful. Ayumi is sharing her memories, those she still has, of growing up and her first visit to America in 1911. The power of discovering a tomato for the first time. How her second tomato was discovered during her second pregnancy and the fear of Americans animosity towards people from Asia. Interspersed with her memories of raising her children and her marriage, are the ways her mind is betraying her. Names leave her first. She differentiates her daughters by their features, not their names. She doesn’t have those anymore. Ayumi recalls the difficulty of living in a country where you aren’t wanted. How she wasn’t able to communicate with her family back home because it could cause suspicion with the American government. The struggle to raise a family during the Depression. All the while, we are reminded that in the present, she doesn’t remember her children or their names. 

Many tears friends, many tears. 

Allegiance gives us Masaharu, a man who follows his wife to work and doesn’t understand why she’s working around so many soldiers. Their son is missing and the distance between them grows every day. In the next story, we hear her side of the story. As an old woman, she allows herself to be interviewed about her life during the war and how she was forced into acting as a “comfort woman.” The horrors that those women endured. The writing styles are drastically different between the two stories, creating a more powerful narrative. 

This was a fascinating collection of short stories and I highly recommend it. 

Want a copy for yourself? You can get one here:

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title.  All opinions and mistakes are my own. This post contains affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Safe Place by Anna Downes

Available July 14, 2020

Emily’s life is a complete mess. Her acting career stalled before it even began, she’s estranged from her parents and just lost her job. Even worse? She called her mother for rent money only to realize she missed her birthday. Again. When her former boss Scott Denny offers her the job of a lifetime, she jumps on it. Working as a personal assistant to Nina, Scott’s beautiful and mysterious wife, seems like a dream job. She quickly finds herself spending her mornings helping to restore the French mansion and sprawling grounds and her afternoons drinking wine and lazing around the pool with Nina and her daughter Aurelia.

As the weeks go on, Emily realizes there is more to the family than she first believed. Aurelia’s mysterious health conditions leave Nina in constant fear. Nina is extremely private and doesn’t want Emily in the family mansion. Scott never seems to want to be around his family. Emily begins to see the cracks in their perfect image and uncovers a dangerous secret that will threaten her very life.

The Safe Place is a fast paced psychological thriller that excels at making Emily her own worst enemy. Her life is a complete hot mess. She can’t keep a job or remember her lines at acting auditions. She can never budget properly and is always short on rent money. Her strained relationship with her parents is further stressed when she makes the biggest mistake-calling her mother for money on her mother’s birthday. Her parents just want her to get her life together and Emily just doesn’t seem capable of it. She’s never really been around kids or worked as a personal assistant before she takes the job with the Denny family so it’s understandable how she misses so many warning signs. She’s immediately caught up in their wealth and beautiful property that the lavish lifestyle overshadows how odd it is that two women, with no construction or design experience, are renovating a large mansion.

Anna Downes crafted a tightly woven story full of twists and turns where the tension amongst the characters is a character itself. We know something is wrong, and Emily feels it too. Putting your finger on what is wrong is what makes for such an engaging and interesting read.

Want a copy for yourself? You can get one here:

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own. This post contains affiliate inks. Purchasing through the links means I earn from qualifying purchases.