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Showing posts with the label Gothic

Review: The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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  Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the  New York Times  bestselling author of  Mexican Gothic . “Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales. In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel,  The Vanishing , was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances. As Min...

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  Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the  New York Times  bestselling author of  Mexican Gothic . “Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches”: That was how Nana Alba always began the stories she told her great-granddaughter Minerva—stories that have stayed with Minerva all her life. Perhaps that’s why Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales. In the course of assembling her thesis, Minerva uncovers information that reveals that Tremblay’s most famous novel,  The Vanishing , was inspired by a true story: Decades earlier, during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances. As Min...

Review: Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk

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Across two different time periods, two women confront fear, loneliness, mortality, and a haunting yearning that will not let them rest. A breakout, genre-blurring novel from one of the most exciting new voices of Latin America’s feminist Gothic. It is the twilight of Europe’s bloody bacchanals, of murder and feasting without end. In the nineteenth century, a vampire arrives from Europe to the coast of Buenos Aires and, for the second time in her life, watches as villages transform into a cosmopolitan city, one that will soon be ravaged by yellow fever. She must adapt, intermingle with humans, and be discreet. In present-day Buenos Aires, a woman finds herself at an impasse as she grapples with her mother's terminal illness and her own relationship with motherhood. When she first encounters the vampire in a cemetery, something ignites within the two women—and they cross a threshold from which there’s no turning back. With echoes of Mary Shelley’s  Frankenstein  and written in t...

Release Blitz: Serpentine Valentine by Giana Darling

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They would pay for what was done to me, but none more than good girl, Luna Pallas. Serpentine Valentine by Giana Darling  is now live!  From Wall Street Journal bestselling author Giana Darling comes a sapphic, dark academia, Medusa retelling about a woman who was wronged by her idols and refused to pay the price without getting revenge... I was born a woman. Raised by women. In love with women. Until I enrolled at Acheron University, I'd never known much of men. I certainly didn't know enough to fear them. Then one stormy autumnal night, Professor Morgan tried to destroy me. And when we were discovered by the university President, it was me who was punished for the unwanted seduction. But they left me with two valuable lessons. I would never let another woman be hurt by men again if I could help it. And when someone hurts you, betrays you, and tries to rip out your soul, there is only one remedy for the pain. Revenge. And mine takes the form of the President's very beautif...

Review: Foxglove by Adalyn Grace

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  The captivating sequel to the Gothic-infused Belladonna, in which Signa and Death face a supernatural foe determined to tear them apart. A duke has been murdered. The lord of Thorn Grove has been framed. And Fate, the elusive brother of Death, has taken up residence in a sumptuous estate nearby. He's hellbent on revenge after Death took the life of the woman he loved many years ago...and now he's determined to have Signa for himself, no matter the cost. Signa and her cousin Blythe are certain that Fate can save Elijah Hawthorne from prison if they will entertain his presence. But the more time the girls spend with Fate, the more frightening their reality becomes as Signa exhibits dramatic new powers that link her to Fate's past. With mysteries and danger around every corner, the cousins must decide if they can trust one another as they navigate their futures in high society, unravel the murders that haunt their family, and play Fate's unexpected games—all with their d...

Review: The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin

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A social media influencer with a secret past buys a murder house to renovate, but finds more than she bargained for behind the peeling wallpaper in this gothic psychological debut. Sarah Slade is starting over. As the new owner of the infamous Black Wood House—the scene of a grisly murder-suicide—she’s determined that the fixer-upper will help reach a new audience on her successful lifestyle blog, and distract her from her failing marriage. But as Sarah paints over the house’s horrifying past, she knows better than anyone that a new façade can’t conceal every secret. Then the builders start acting erratically and experiencing bizarre accidents—and Sarah knows there’s only so long she can continue to sleep in the bedroom with the bloodstained floor and suffer the mysterious footsteps she hears from the attic. When menacing notes start appearing everywhere, Sarah becomes convinced that someone or something is out to kill her—her husband, her neighbors, maybe even the house itself. The mo...

AudioBook: Belladonna by Adalyn Grace @AdalynGrace_ @hachetteaudio

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Listening Length: 13 hours and 14 minutes Narrator:  Kristin Atherton A girl confronts Death—and her own deathly powers—in this Gothic-infused, romantic young adult fantasy.   Nineteen-year-old Signa Farrow, orphaned as a baby, has been raised by a string of guardians, each more interested in her wealth than her well-being—and each has met an untimely end. Her last remaining relatives are the Hawthornes, an eccentric family living at the glittering and gloomy estate of Thorn Grove. Thorn Grove’s patriarch, Elijah, mourns his late wife, Lillian, through wild parties and drink, while eldest son Percy grapples for control of the family’s waning reputation and daughter Blythe suffers from the same mysterious illness that killed her mother. And when Lillian’s spirit confronts Signa and claims she was poisoned, Signa realizes that Blythe could be next to die.   Signa’s best chance of uncovering the culprit and solving Lillian’s murder is an alliance with Death himself—the very ...

Review: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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  From the  New York Times,  bestselling author of  Mexican Gothic  and  Velvet Was the Night  comes a lavish historical drama reimagining of  The Island of Doctor Moreau  set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Mexico. Carlota Moreau: a young woman, growing up in a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatán peninsula. The only daughter of either a genius or a madman. Montgomery Laughton: a melancholic overseer with a tragic past and a propensity for alcohol. An outcast who assists Dr. Moreau with his scientific experiments, which are financed by the Lizaldes, owners of magnificent haciendas and plentiful coffers. The hybrids: the fruits of the Doctor’s labor, destined to blindly obey their creator and remain in the shadows. A motley group of part human, part animal monstrosities. All of them living in a perfectly balanced and static world, which is jolted by the abrupt arrival of Eduardo Lizalde, th...

Review: The Shadow House by Anna Downes

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The Shadow House by Anna Downes My rating: 4 of 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Weary mother of two Alex, has moved her family to an ecovillage. She used to move around constantly until her son begged to stay put but her relationship with her daughter's father had grown toxic and she felt her only choice was to walk away from him. The community is peaceful and most of the residents are welcoming. Upon arriving Alex finds a disturbing box. But between dealing with Ollie's surly behavior and Kara's constant crying, Alex pushes this aside and forgets until she begins to notice other creepy things happening around their new home. Then she learns that something similar to this happened here before. Thank you so much to St.Martin's, Minotaur Books, the author and NetGalley for this ARC to review. View all my reviews It took me a minute to get used to the writing style.  Once I got passed that, it was easier to get into the story.  I was really interested in finding out what was really goin...

The Resting Place by Camilla Sten

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  A spine-chilling, propulsive psychological suspense from international sensation Camilla Sten. The medical term is prosopagnosia. The average person calls it face blindness—the inability to recognize a familiar person’s face, even the faces of those closest to you. When Eleanor walked in on the scene of her capriciously cruel grandmother, Vivianne’s, murder, she came face to face with the killer—a maddening expression that means nothing to someone like her. With each passing day, her anxiety mounts. The dark feelings of having brushed by a killer, yet not know who could do this—or if they’d be back—overtakes both her dreams and her waking moments, thwarting her perception of reality. Then a lawyer calls. Vivianne has left her a house—a looming estate tucked away in the Swedish woods. The place her grandfather died, suddenly. A place that has housed a dark past for over fifty years. Eleanor. Her steadfast boyfriend, Sebastian. Her reckless aunt, Veronika. The lawyer. All will go t...