August is upon us! I read five books this week and I would say it was a pretty solid week overall, mostly just good with one real standout. I mostly stuck to the plan I laid out at the end of last week’s roundup with the exception of one book. We have one audiobook, one new(ish) release, and three ARCs to discuss, so let’s get into it!
A Veritable Household Pet by Viggy Parr Hamilton
This is a historical horror/thriller novel about two sisters, the younger of which suffers from some mental health issues which their parents decide to “treat” with a lobotomy. The rest of the book follows the two growing up
together, switching between the younger sister Darla’s account and notes and interjections from her older sister Ellie, covering the slow progression of Darla’s partial recovery and the tragedy that follows both of them throughout their lives.
It may not sound like a traditional horror novel but the subtitle on the cover in “a horror novel” and in the afterword Hamilton discusses why she labeled it as such. We think of horror as involving events that are terrible in some outstanding or uncommon way, like the haunting of a paranormal entity or a slasher massacre by a deranged killer. Hamilton asserts that horror can be found in everyday events, because there’s no doubt that what Darla and Ellie face is horrible but it’s also kind of mundane. It’s something that easily could have happened.
I think it’s a really interesting angle for a horror story and I liked the format switching freely between the two sisters because they each have such different perspectives. It felt like a new, unique story to me, but I don’t know how much it will stick with me. I’m a character-focused reader and while Darla and Ellie’s story is compelling I wouldn’t say I felt invested in them as people. Still, I definitely recommend it if the premise sounds interesting and you just want to shake up your reading a bit with something new.
You’ll Love it Here by Natalie Sue
This was an ARC so you can read my full review here! This is a contemporary / romance novel about a young woman named Mona who ends up being put on mandatory leave from her job and gets saddled with getting
her apartment building in shape for sale, even as she gets to know the residents and how losing their homes will affect their lives.
I remember liking Natalie Sue’s debut I Hope This Finds You Well, and this book was fine but it has a much less snappy premise and more of a focus on the romance so it ended up being pretty meh for me. Sue does a great job writing quirky, flawed characters and I thought the romance was cute but it wasn’t a very compelling read, Mona’s character arc ends up being very Disney Channel Original Movie-esque, and the ending was super rushed with big timeskips where we’re left to assume that things worked themselves out. As I said in my review, the kind of “solution” to the main conflict was a little GoFundMe Ex Machina (a term I hope to use again if given the opportunity). I don’t know if I’ll be reading anything more from Natalie Sue but if you like romance-forward contemporary with some good humor and quirky characters, it might be worth your time.
Fang Fiction By Kate Stayman-London
This is a paranormal romance novel about a woman named Tess who is assaulted while attending grad school at Columbia, causing her to drop out and try to heal in a new life and a new job, aided by her favorite vampire romance books.
She’s keeping it together, but when one of the characters from the books walks into her place of work asking for her help, Tess must adapt to the discovery of magic in her world and finally face the (metaphorical) demons she’s been outrunning.
I listened to the audiobook and I think that really negatively influenced my reading experience. The narrator made all of the characters sound super whiny and overly quirky, which both made me dislike them and also made it hard to take the darker parts of Tess’s story seriously. It’s definitely a fun idea and I don’t think the execution is that bad, but it really is hard to balance the fun “vampires from the spicy books are real and really sexy” plotline with the less fun “recovering from brutal drugging and rape that ruined a woman’s life” plotline, and Stayman-London doesn’t quite manage it. It makes sense that part of Tess’s healing experience would involve finding a partner she can trust and be vulnerable with, but it ends up coming off like her trauma from being raped was magically solved by vampire dick. Also, the smut was supremely mid. It wasn’t wildly unpleasant to read, but I think there are other similar-ish books out there that are probably a lot better.
The Salt King by Natasha Pulley
This was an ARC so you can read my full review here! This is an apocalyptic horror / fantasy novel about Avelyn, a man who fled his isolated hometown with its cavernous salt mine and odd religion to become a Jesuit
priest at the Vatican. Twelve years later, he is called back to his hometown of Hreodwater to investigate the disappearance of a fellow priest who seemingly transformed into a pillar of salt on camera
I’m a huge fan of Natasha Pulley and she didn’t disappoint with this. It’s just as weird, wondrous, and terrifying as her other books and I absolutely ate it up. There’s simply too much to say about this book so I recommend reading my full review if you want to know more, but just know that despite this being a horror novel, every one of Pulley’s books is filled with unparalleled magic and beauty. I highly recommend starting with The Watchmaker of Filigree Street because it’s one of my favorites and I think it’s a touch more approachable than some of her other books, particularly The Salt King.
Also, I get to see her on tour in a few weeks! I actually can’t wait.
The Burn Line by Jonathan Sims
This was an ARC so you can read my full review here! This is a horror novel set in London heatwave in 2022, in which five strangers sharing a train car on the London Underground witness…something. None of them can exactly
remember it, but each of them soon finds that they’re being stalked by a horrifying creature whose presence paralyzes them.
I felt pretty mixed about this. It starts strong with great tension building, the heatwave is a really great backdrop, and I liked the multiple POVs. Unfortunately, after the 60% mark it’s a lot of action which I didn’t find very interesting and the culmination was super anti-climactic. The characters also started off strong but they got lost in the sauce as it were, plus there are some vaguely confusing time-jumps and some heavy-handed commentary about class privilege that ends up feeling like an afterthought. I had high hopes and the book has good bones, but I ended up pretty disappointed both because of personal preferences and because of some genuine weak spots.
Sims is the creator of The Magnus Archives which I haven’t listened to, but I know a ton of people loved it so if you are a fan of TMA or you just like more action in your horror, it’s probably still worth a shot.
An okay week overall, definitely not as good as last week but definitely some highs and lows. For this upcoming week, I may have girlbossed too close to the sun because I was approved for four ARCs that I had outstanding requests on within like twelve hours and I accepted a few gifted copies so my Netgalley shelf is a little more full that I might prefer. I still have The Lord of the Wood by E. M. Anderson checked out on Libby which is the book I was planning to get to this past week and didn’t manage to so that’s high priority, but other than that I’ll be prioritizing ARCs so I can get them a little more under control (and so I can request more, lol). She Haunts Me Still by De Elizabeth is out on the 11th so I need to get hopping on that, but it’s a queer gothic horror/fantasy and early reviews are pretty great so that should be a good time. I also have Blacktail by Scott Hawkins, and I enjoyed his debut The Library at Mount Char for its sheer weirdness, so I look forward to seeing what he’s come up with now. Under Story by Chloe Benjamin is another one I’m looking forward to–it’s pretty chunky at over five hundred pages but I like a good literary sci-fi and I remember enjoying the Buzz Books sample. It also might be a good book just to break up all of the horror I’ve been reading for some reason. I’m also about halfway through the audiobook of Hopeless Necromantic by Shiloh Briar which has been a very funny, charming romantasy so far!
Have you read any of these? Did I convince you to read one of them (or not to read one of them)? By all means, let me know what you’ve enjoyed recently or what you’re looking forward to!
Happy reading!
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