Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Orion in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly had no idea what to expect from this book. I was not a fan of Perks of Being a Wallflower but I could not resist reading a book with such a promising and amazingly creepy premise. Imaginary Friend is the story of a boy named Christopher who has just moved to a new town with his mother, Kate. Shortly after the move, Christopher goes missing in the woods for 6 days and reemerges a changed boy. Before he was a normal seven year old, dyslexic and struggling with school. After he is incredibly intelligent...and he can hear a voice in his head.

The first 15% or so of this book is one of the best openings I have ever read. Had the rest of the book maintained this tone, it would have easily been a 5 star read. There is just something so likeable about all of the characters and though it's weird to say in a horror novel, it's actually really comforting to read about their lives. There is still the undercurrent of things about to go wrong but it's so refreshing to read a horror book where no one is an asshole. It's a common horror trope and I didn't realise how sick of it I was until now.

It's a cliche to compare good horror to Stephen King but this honestly has a very similar feel and plot to a King novel, albeit with characters who aren't terrible people. The King quirks aren't present which helps create a unique voice, and I intend this comparison as a compliment rather than a criticism. It doesn't feel derivative, it feels exceptionally well-written.

Sadly I can't say much about what made it drop in rating except for that the plot ultimately just wasn't for me. The book becomes very focused on themes of religion and the horror elements become muddled and hard to follow. By the end I had little idea of what was going on and it made me disconnect from the work. This is mostly down to personal tastes so if you like more abstract horror or books with heavy themes, you may enjoy it more than me.

The only other thing I want to mention is there is a character called 'Special Ed'. This is initially introduced as a cruel nickname some bullies use but then the narrative continues to use it for no real reason. I just wanted to mention it as an odd choice.

Overall, Imaginary Friends is a solid book. I was surprised how engaging I found it given its length, and this was down to both the great writing style and characters. It is mostly the plot that lets it down in the end but I am glad I read it and I can see some readers really connecting with it.

Overall Rating:

.5

What Happened That Night by Deanna Cameron

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Wattpad Books in exchange for an honest review.

The blurb of this book makes it sound like a YA thriller along the lines of Pretty Little Liars or something similar. Honestly this reads more like a YA contemporary, though admittedly the lines are a little sketchy. What Happened That Night is the story of Clara, whose sister Emily has just been arrested for murdering the golden boy of the school. You soon learn that said golden boy raped and brutalised Clara earlier in the year and she believes this is why her sister killed him. Most of the book is focused around Clara coming to terms with being assaulted and the fact that she hasn't told anyone besides her sister. She is also struggling with having romantic feelings for someone new. There are a few other elements but I can't really discuss them without spoilers.

This book had a very different tone than I was expecting and I was pleasantly surprised. As a Wattpad book, I wasn't expecting stellar writing but actually the writing is fantastic. It flows well, is paced brilliantly and you get a good sense of the characters in a short amount of time. I wouldn't class this as a thriller but there are some twists in the plot and factors that will keep you guessing. It handles the topics of rape and abuse mostly sensitively, bar one exception which I will discuss in a spoiler section (highlight for spoilers) So at the end of the book, it's revealed that Emily lied about being abused and she was actually abusing her boyfriend all along. This is an interesting twist and I liked how the author showed abuse can happen regardless of the genders involved. However, having Emily lie about the abuse is a little iffy to me as abuse victims are rarely believed in the first place. It wasn't enough to put me off but it was perhaps not handled as sensitively as it could have been and it muddles the theme.

Overall, this book manages to be a breath of fresh air in a rather saturated market. So long as you don't go in expecting breakneck twists and constant action, What Happened That Night is a brilliant example of a darker contemporary book handled some tough topics well. I'm looking forward to seeing more from this author and I'm happy that Wattpad can result in quality like this.

Overall Rating:

.5

Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Blythell

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Profile Books in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit, when I first started reading this book I was skeptical. The format means that it is literally told through diary entries which I wasn't aware of, and this took a little getting used to. Even the most interesting person in the world will have dull bits in their diary, and these haven't really been edited out. It is also a sequel which again, I wasn't aware of before reading. There hasn't been a ton of effort put in to make it accessible to people who haven't read the first one so, while a lot of it you can deduce, there were quite a few mentions of people or things which I had no idea who or what they were. This was a bit jarring and it meant I almost DNFed this book immediately.

Having said that, I am very happy I persisted with it. There's a weird sort of comfort in reading this book and it turned out to be a unique and enjoyable experience. Something about the repetitiveness of the entries paired with the topic of running a second-hand bookshop makes for a very easy read. There were parts where I felt the author was being a little mean-spirited but, having worked as a bookseller myself, I could understand a lot of his points. I think this might have benefited from being told in themed chapters with chosen anecdotes but then, that would be a very different book.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the source material and for people who aren't looking for something too informative or brief. If you want an insight into running a small secondhand bookshop or are just interested in reading about someone's daily life, then this is the book for you.

Overall Rating:

.5

Full Throttle by Joe Hill

I received a free copy of this book for review thanks to publisher William Morrow and Edelweiss.

Despite Heart-Shaped Box being one of my all-time favourite horror books, I have yet to read another book by Joe Hill. I was so excited to receive an ARC of his short story collection and I am happy to say that it lived up to my expectations fantastically. Full Throttle is a brilliant collection of horror/fantasy stories and each one is incredibly unique. Hill's writing really is up there with his father's in terms of skill for writing short stories and this is definitely a collection I can see myself rereading again and again.

As per usual with my anthology reviews, I will give an overview of the collection as a whole before talking about each short story.

Number of stories: 13
Great stories: 6
Good stories: 3
Okay/not for me stories: 4

Throttle-A group of motorcyclists encounter trouble when a truck decides to mow them all down. This one took ages to get going and I wasn't particularly invested until the action happened. Once it did though, there were some good moments and I liked how it ended.

Dark Carousel-Four teenagers get more than they bargained for when they accuse a carousel owner of stealing from one of them. This one was pretty surreal with its horror but I really enjoyed that aspect, and Hill made it work well.

Wolverton-A man gets on a train and discovers he's suddenly in a lot of danger. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. It's got kind of a silly premise almost but it was executed so well and there was real tension in it. This has also stuck with me the most out of all the stories which is somewhat surprising.

By the Silver Waters of Lake Champlain-Two children find a dead dinosaur next to a lake. This one was really underwhelming for me sadly. The execution of the twist was a bit clumsy and I didn't quite get what was going on. It had potential but just missed the mark.

Faun-A group of hunters hear about the opportunity to pay a lot of money for a mysterious special hunt. Kudos to this story for not doing the obvious and going where I expected it to. I did lose interest a little bit towards the end but it was interesting enough and I couldn't predict what was going to happen.

Late Returns-A man takes over driving a library Bookmobile and discovers he has visitors from the past. I LOVED this story. It's light on the horror but it has such a nice concept and it was a much-needed break from the darkness of the other ones. It still has enough of an edge to fit with the rest of the anthology which is also important as it doesn't feel like it sticks out or is misplaced.

All I Care about is You-A girl living in the future (?) pays to have a robot companion for an hour to help her out. There was some clumsy worldbuilding in this one and I found it a little hard to get into because of that. However, as the story unfolded I started to really love it and by the end, it was one of my favourites. Very weird, unique and so interesting.

Thumbprint-A woman comes back from Iraq after committing some atrocities. I sadly couldn't get into this story and more skim-read it than anything. It might work for some people but it just wasn't for me.

The Devil on the Staircase-I tried to read this story but just couldn't get into it and I'm honestly not sure what it was about.

Twittering from the Circus of the Dead-A teenager takes up Tweeting to annoy her mum and records her experience visiting a very unique circus. This is told entirely through Tweets and I thought it would be annoying but I actually ended up really enjoying it. The format helps build a lot of tension and it strengthens the dramatic irony the plot relies on without being grating.

Mums-A boy's mother dies and he acquires some unusual seeds from a stranger. This one had such potential but it kept missing the mark for me. Mostly it was confusing and I found it hard to follow, which may have been intentional but wasn't enjoyable for me. There are some cool moments and some creepy ideas going on here but I wish it had been executed differently.

In the Tall Grass-Two twins stop to help a child and mother lost in some tall grass and get more than they bargained for. This was definitely one of my joint favourites (along with the next story and Late Returns). It's co-written with King and you can see his influence which only makes the story stronger. An easy to follow tale with some good old-fashioned weirdness.

You are Released-I have read and reviewed this story previously so here is my original review: A very powerful story about a plane that runs into trouble, framed by swapping the focus to a different passenger every few paragraphs or so. This wasn't really horror in my opinion but I am so so glad I read it. It has a lot of really thought-provoking moments and was just excellently done.

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Overall, I am delighted to say this collection cements Joe Hill as one of my favourite authors. It has all the skill and originality of a King short story collection but rather than feeling derivative, Hill brings his own talent and his own ideas. It's definitely a must-try for fans of horror anthologies.

Overall Rating:

My N.E.W.Ts Wrap Up!

This is a quick post to report my progress on the N.E.W.Ts portion of the Magical Readathon because I did the impossible and read every challenge for all three of the careers I wanted! That means I qualified to be a Mind Medic, Magical Zoologist and a Librarian. Here are the prompts and what I read for all of them:

Ancient Runes:
Recommended by a friend: The Test
Written in the past tense: The Third Mrs. Durst
TBR veteran: Broken Bay

Care of Magical Creatures:
Book starts with A: A Blade so Black
Under 300 pages: Kill River 2
Bird on the cover: Monsters

Charms:
Gorgeous cover: Once Upon a Rainbow volume one
Graphic novel: Mooncakes
Paperback: Sea Change

DADA:
Black under the dust jacket: The Favourite Sister
First remembered from TBR: What We Saw at Night
Set in England/English author: I, Partridge

Herbology:
Audiobook: Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire
350-390 pages: The Perfect Wife

History of Magic:
Fantasy: Tangleweed & Brine
Has a map: Truly Devious

Muggle Studies:
Cover with a photo element: Diving In
Set in the real world: Hello, Goodbye & Everything Inbetween

Potions:
Friend's favourite book: Sleep
Cover the colour of your house: The Flower Girls

Transfiguration:
Queer book: I'm a Gay Wizard
Not the first in a series: Please Send Help
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That's all of them! To see what I thought of them, check out my August wrap up videos at my Youtube channel here

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Diamond Book Distributors in exchange for an honest review.

I am LIVING for this wave of cute fantasy graphic novels with great representation in them. Mooncakes is the story of Tam, a non-binary werewolf who comes back to their old town and reconnects with their old childhood friend, Nova. Nova is a deaf witch who has been investigating some mysterious demon activity in her town and, when Tam gets dragged into the demon activity, it's up to the both of them to put a stop to it.

Firstly, this graphic novel has a great art style. It's cute but not so much that older readers would be put off by it. The colours and particularly the way the magic is shown in the universe creates a lovely atmosphere that sets the tone for this world. Secondly, I fell in love with pretty much all of the characters. They aren't the most developed in the world (which to be fair, is standard for a graphic novel) but they're so likeable and every character has a key role to play in the narrative which was a neat touch. I adore Nova and Tam and could honestly read a good dozen or so stories about them.

Overall, Mooncakes is the perfect read for anyone who loves cute fantasy stories with great art and lovable characters. It joins a proud group of witch-themed graphic novels which makes it a fantastic Halloween read for those who aren't necessarily into horror. It is definitely worth checking out.

Overall Rating:

See All the Stars by Kit Frick

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Simon and Schuster UK Children's in exchange for an honest review.

See All the Stars is a book that is very evocative of other books. I don't necessarily mean that as a negative but throughout reading this, I was sort of waiting for the magical thing that would make it stand out to me. I'm not sure that ever happened but this is still a very strong read.

This is the story of Ellory, a girl who a year ago had a strong friendship group and a boyfriend and, in the present day, has neither. It's told in chapters which alternate between the present day and the past and this is how the mystery unfolds. I thought this might be more of a thriller than it really is but it's closer to a contemporary in both tone and writing style. The book it most reminds me of is We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, although I did find the plot of See All the Stars more relatable and the characters more compelling. It has the same dreamy narration peppered with metaphors and deeper meanings.

My only real criticism of this book is that it lacked something, though I find it hard to place what. Near the end I began to suspect that the big reveal would in fact be a minor highschool problem and I began to worry, although thankfully this wasn't the case. Ultimately I did really like this book and I'm excited to read more from the author. The writing style and characters are the strongest elements, it's just a shame that the plot wasn't a bit more standout.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Perfect Wife by JP Delaney

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Quercus Books in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly never thought I would rate a thriller 5 stars. I gave If We Were Villains 5 stars at the start of the year and that is indeed a thriller but it is quite differently tonally than most I read. The Perfect Wife on the other hand is pretty much a traditional thriller, albeit with a neat sci-fi twist. And I absolutely adored it.

This is the story of Abbie, a woman who wakes up only to be told that she's not a woman at all. In fact Abbie is now a robot, built by her husband to replace his dead wife. As she tries to resume her life five years on, she realises that her memory is not quite complete and there are some things that her husband isn't telling her.

I wouldn't dream of spoiling anything else about this book. I wasn't sure what to expect but I was completely gripped by both the basic plot and the execution. Fascinating questions about AI and what it means to be a person are raised and, while this is nothing new in sci-fi, it is wonderful to see it explored within a thriller setting. I was not only surprised by the plot but I was surprised multiple times, and each one made me more excited to find out what happened next. This rarely happens for me with thrillers and so I was delighted to experience it here. I hesitate to mention twists in my reviews because I feel like if you expect them then they have less of an impact, but fans of thrillers won't be disappointed here.

The writing and characters are another strength. The story is told in dual perspective, with the chapters from robot Abbie's POV being told in the second person (an unusual choice but one that works really well) and the alternating chapters being told from the POV of an unknown narrator back when human Abbie first met Tim at his workplace. Every character is nuanced and I particularly love how Abbie is explored in such detail.

Overall, I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this thriller. It's unusual, gripping and has a plot I found really satisfying. I would definitely recommend checking it out if you like the genre and I'm so happy to have found a new favourite.

Overall Rating:

Fabulous Monsters by Alberto Manguel

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Yale University Press in exchange for an honest review.

This is an interesting little collection of discussions about literary characters, for want of a better description. The title 'Fabulous Monsters' is meant to represent all of them but I find it a little confusing on the whole given that many of them are heroic characters. Each discussion is accompanied by a doodle of the character and I really liked these. They added a layer of charm and really helped linked the discussions together. The content of the discussions were sometimes interesting but there seemed very little link in terms of what Manguel chose to discuss about each character. I guess there doesn't need to be but for some of them, the character themselves was barely mentioned. This was particularly baffling with Alice in Wonderland for example, whose discussion was a lengthy comment on Wonderland rather than anything to do with Alice herself, who is actually a pretty interesting character given her origins. I did enjoy this and found it very charming but a few of the literary references were lost on me. A great gift for a fan of literature though.

Overall Rating:

I'm a Gay Wizard by V.S. Santoni

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Wattpad Books in exchange for an honest review.

This books is a whole ton of fun. I wasn't really sure what to expect from I'm a Gay Wizard given that it is a Wattpad book and I couldn't really remember the plot when I started reading it. This is the story of Johnny and his friend Alison, two young people who are kidnapped by an institute when it's revealed they can do magic. Their powers mean that they must now attend school at this institute, although the plot focuses more on the shadowy goings-on of this world. There is also a lot of teen romance and tons of representation in here (gay Latinx main character with a trans best friend).

One of this book's greatest strengths is its creativity. To be honest, I was kind of expecting a Harry Potter rip-off but this has nothing in common with that series at all. The institute is not a fun magical school but a place of imprisonment, and the bulk of the magic system focuses on the use of a dream world. The characters are also pretty good. Some of the side characters suffer from being a little one-dimensional but Johnny was very likeable and I was rooting for him.

Sadly, I could not make it all the way through this book. This is more down to my own personal tastes than any real criticism. This book introduces a LOT of new terms that exist in this magical world and I just couldn't keep track of any of them. At the halfway point I realised I wasn't following it very well and so I just skim-read the rest. I'm not a fan of fantasy books that have lots of new terms or really convoluted plots, and sadly this one was just a bit too much.

If you can read books with those elements though, then I'm a Gay Wizard could be a good book to check out. It is definitely Young Adult and some of the elements (especially at the start) betray its origins as a Wattpad book. There are a couple of high school cliches and other small details which maybe should have been ironed out in the editing process. Overall though, I was pleasantly surprised by this book and it definitely deserves kudos for having such creativity and representation in it.

Overall Rating:

The Third Mrs. Durst by Ann Aguirre

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Midnight Ink in exchange for an honest review.

Oh wow. Now I read A LOT of thrillers and sadly, most of the thriller ARCs I request end up disappointing me. I was not prepared to be blown away by this book the way I was. The Third Mrs. Durst is the story of Marlena, a poor girl with big dreams. At the start of the novel, she has sought out a modelling career with the hopes of catching the eye of Michael Durst, a wealthy and powerful man. However, Michael Durst has been married twice before and both of his wives have met unpleasant ends. Marlena is well aware of this but she has a plan of her own...

There isn't much more to be said about the plot of this book without spoiling anything. For a thriller, it doesn't focus on incorporating a lot of twists but this is absolutely not a weakness. Where this book shines is its fantastic writing. I was utterly consumed by the story and I almost read it entirely within a day because I simply didn't want to put it down. There is this brilliant sense of tension woven into the book and you never quite know what Marlena is planning despite her being the main character. This is a genius stroke because while the plot isn't necessarily surprising most of the time, the uncertainty about Marlena means that you are constantly on the edge of your seat anyway and you never become complacent. It also feeds off the popularity of other thrillers in that at times, you start to wonder if it will mirror the plot of other famous thrillers. This might sound like a negative but again, it's done really well to keep the reader on their toes. As an avid reader of thrillers, I love it when I genuinely can't guess where a book is going. And when you get there, it's still so good!

Honestly I am delighted to have found this book and this author. I cannot wait for her to write more and I know the plot of this one will stick with me for a long time. If you enjoy thrillers, I strongly recommend checking this one out.

Overall Rating:

.5

Kill River by Cameron Roubique

This book was such a weird experience. I was really excited to read some oldschool-style over the top horror and that's exactly what you get...after you've slugged through the first thirteen chapters. I just feel the set up to this premise was so unnecessary and drawn out. Instead of starting the book with the teenagers just finding the abandoned waterpark and breaking in, it instead starts with our main character Cyndi going off to camp. At camp she meets the other teenagers and then nothing really interesting happens until they decide to escape the camp in the middle of the night, float down a river and end up at the waterpark. At this point nearly half the book is over. I can understand maybe not wanting Cyndi to know the others that well but the camp has nothing to do with the rest of the book and there are much easier ways (have her be new to the town and casually mention she knows the kids from school but they've not hung out before, for example).

After this halfway point though, this book delivered everything I wanted. This is a traditional slasher with an unknown attacker and a bunch of graphically violent scenes at a great setting. The characters were a bit stereotypical but had enough depth for you to not completely detach from them. The waterpark is a perfect setting for some really good horror moments and I had an utter blast reading this. My only other criticism is that I felt the characters should have been around 15 instead of 13. There's not a ton of sexual stuff but there are hints of it and while this might be technically accurate for 13 year olds, it made me slightly uncomfortable to read about. It was just distracting.

If I had to rate this book accurately, the first half would be 2 stars and the second half would easily get 4. I've averaged this out to a 3 but it seems a shame when the second half was so strong and it delivers on the premise so well. I'm hoping the sequel will have less unnecessary setup.

Overall Rating:

The Shapes of Midnight by Joseph Payne Brennan

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Dover Publications in exchange for an honest review.

Horror anthologies can be so hit or miss for me. I tend to avoid collections published by one author unless I know their work because I have specific tastes for horror and I dislike the ambiguous short stories the genre often results in. I made an exception for The Shapes of Midnight and I am so glad I did!

This is a VERY short collection (~100 pages) of horror stories which are mostly basic in concept but are executed really well. The first two were my least favourite and the most straightforward of the bunch but it was all uphill from there. If you could plot my ratings of these on a graph, it would almost be a perfect bell curve because I felt the middle stories were definitely the strongest. My Kindle ARC was sadly missing two stories (Canavan’s Back Yard and Slime) which might also be why it felt so short to me.

No of stories: 10 (12 in actual collection)

Diary of a Werewolf-What it says on the tin. This was definitely one the weaker ones. It wasn't bad but it was very straightforward and there were no surprises or depth to it.

The Corpse of Charlie Rull-A man dies in a radioactive river and comes back to life. Slightly better than the one above because I couldn't tell where it was going and it was less of a standard plot. I also loved the way this opened, it had a fantastic style to it.

The Pavilion-A very creepy story about a man who murders his friend and returns to check if the body has been dislodged by the sea. This grabbed my attention and kept me excited to see what was going to happen next.

House of Memory-A different type of horror story to most and a refreshing addition to the collection. A woman is forced out of her childhood home and refuses to accept it has been demolished, much to the confusion of her family. Another very decent and enjoyable one.

The Willow Platform-A man in a small town finds an evil demon book. The writing style of this was very entertaining but I wasn't a fan of the story topic itself, which is probably just personal preference.

Who Was He?-A man in hospital keeps getting visits from a hospital barber. This was hands down my favourite of the whole bunch. I read it late at night and was genuinely very scared by it.

Disappearance-Another very strong story about a man whose brother has gone missing and the narrator suspects he killed him. The 'twist' of this was very easy to guess but it was still entertaining and possibly my second favourite.

The Horror at Chilton Castle-A man lives near a castle which has a secret sealed room, the contents of which are only shown to the heirs of Earls. This started off strong but the actual contents of the room turned it into not my type of horror story. It was still one of the best and definitely had some good horror moments.

The Impulse to Kill-A man who has the urge to kill devises a way to do so without being arrested for it. This is a neat enough idea for a story and it was well-written but it suffers from being very linear and not having a lot beyond the basic concept.

The House on Hazel Street-Upon entering a house, a man realises he has no memory of why he is there. The occupant of the house has a specific request of him. This story has one of the more unique concepts in the anthology and it was good but not one of my absolute favourites.

I debated between 3.5 and 4 stars for a while but I felt 4 stars was right since I enjoyed almost every story in here and the writing style was consistently strong throughout. At points Brennan has almost a Lemony Snicket-esque narration style and this was very enjoyable when it cropped up. This collection is very short in the form I received but that was minus two stories so I decided to not lower the rating due to that. Overall, this was a wonderful horror anthology and I would definitely want to read more by this author.

Overall Rating: