I tend to take a traditional approach to fiction. I learned the three elements of a story—plot, setting, character—pretty early, and it stuck because is made sense. The Secret Astronomers by Jessica Walker is an exception. Before genre or protagonist, above theme or prose, this book’s most remarkable feature is its format. It’s a tale told inRead More
Unlikable Protagonist, Unexpectedly Engaging Debut: I Make My Own Fun by Hannah Beer
Last month, I was listening to Book Riot’s All the Books! and Vanessa Diaz recommended I Make My Own Fun by Hannah Beer (she/her). Vanessa described the main character as an A-list actor who is viewed as the golden child of the movie industry, but is actually a raging sociopath. The A-lister has a one-night stand with a bartender and becomesRead More
Remember to Remember the Yellowjackets: Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth Review
Emily M. Danforth’s Plain Bad Heroines is a dual-timeline horror that follows the mysterious happenings of Brookhants School for Girls. In 1902, two teenage girls fell in love, both with each other and with the scandalous writing of Mary MacLane, only to die tragically with the book by their side. More mysterious deaths follow, until the schoolRead More
The Successor to House of Leaves: We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
If you’re looking for a haunted house story to really get under your skin, We Used to Live Here is for you. It’s a slow build, but by the end, it was the kind of story that had me seeing things in the shadows of my room at night. We follow Eve, who has justRead More
The Perfect Queer Gothic to Read on Halloween: My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johnna van Veen
I’ve been trying to spend the fall reading Gothic fiction, and as Halloween approaches, Johanna van Veen’s queer Gothic horror novel, My Darling Dreadful Thing (Poisoned Pen Press, 2024), is the perfect book for this time of year! Veen’s debut novel follows Roos Beckman in the 1950s. Roos has a spirit companion, Ruth, has been dead forRead More