Death Comes at Christmas edited by Marie O'Regan

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Titan Books in exchange for an honest review.

I haven't always had the best luck with anthologies but I am pleased to report that Death Comes at Christmas is nothing but a good time. This is a delightful mix of short stories focused on crime at Christmas time, taking place over a wide range of time periods and settings. There was a good amount of variety and surprisingly for an anthology, there were no stories I disliked particularly.

Some of my favourites were:

• How to Commit Murder in a Bookshop-A bookshop event turns sinister
• The Red Angel-A true crime podcaster crashes in the snow and ends up at a creepy house with his girlfriend
• Christmas Lights-A surprisingly touching story of grief with a somewhat sinister tone
• The Naughty List-Vigilante justice turns festive

All in all, this is a great festive read and a welcome addition to the world of Christmas thrillers. If you want something to dip in and out of on Christmas day where the stories are all of comparable quality, then this is definitely worth checking out

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So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books in exchange for an honest review.

Harrison is a fairly new author to me and one whose work I am immensely enjoying. Black Sheep was one of my favourite books of the year. I thought The Return was a little lacking but I loved the themes and writing. So Thirsty is kind of a revisit to The Return, albeit with a different lens and focus.

So Thirsty is the story of two friends, Sloane and Naomi. Sloane is the calm, meeker of the two who is currently in a somewhat unhappy marriage. Naomi has always been wild and never thinks about the consequences of something before she does it. Whilst on a trip for Sloane's birthday, Naomi insists they go party with some strangers in an isolated house which triggers a chain of events leading to them both getting turned into vampires.

I did really enjoy both the writing and general atmosphere of this book. It continues the 'toxic friendship' line of thought from The Return, though I felt this could have been more strongly tied into the vampire aspect. Maybe the author wanted to avoid the obvious but it makes sense to link metaphorical bloodsucking with literal, no? Everything was still a little bit vague, a little bit abstract. Even by the end of the novel, I couldn't tell how Sloane really felt about Naomi or vice versa. I wanted a deeper exploration of the nuances of the friendship, of how a situation like that really affects people emotionally.

Having said that, this book is still well worth the read. I feel like Harrison is so close to releasing my favourite ever horror book about toxic female friendship. So Thirsty isn't quite that, but it is an interesting and strong vampire horror novel and those in themselves are rarities in my opinion. If you've not read anything by her before, I'd recommend Black Sheep over this but if you've enjoyed her other works, this is perfect to pick up

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I Love Romcoms and I am a Feminist by Corrina Antrobus

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and White Lion Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

This was a super fun read and pretty much exactly what I wanted from a book with this title. This is a light exploration of 100 romcoms through the lens of 'feminist lessons learned'. I loved the mix of famous romcoms and lesser-known films. It meant I have a few new movies to check out, which is always great. The amount written about each film was about perfect. It's a good book to casually flick through, and it's the kind of thing I love to read on Christmas day inbetween all the bustle. If you're a fan of romcoms, this is definitely worth a read!

Disney Villains: Happily Never After Gaston by Lorie Langdon

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Igloo Books in exchange for an honest review.

Of all the villains who deserve a sad origin story, Gaston is not one of them. Still, I was super excited to read this retelling/prequel/exploration into Disney non-canon. And I'm so glad I did!

Happily Never After Gaston is the story of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, reimagined as an ugly and unpleasant teenager. Living in his brother's shadow and hated by his family, his luck starts to change when he meets an enchantress named Agatha and they form an arrangement of sorts. If Gaston can prove himself to be a good person, she will make him attractive. It's a simple premise and one which is extremely well-executed.

This book can't have been easy to write. Gaston is intentionally a flat and unpleasant character in the original film. He has to be compelling enough here to half-lead a book, but not so sympathetic that it doesn't fit with his portrayal in the film. I'd say the author does a great job of this. Is this Gaston from the films? No, but he's close enough. And honestly, it was a lot of fun as a Beauty and the Beast fan having this alternative version of Gaston and that world.

Fun is the main word I'd use to describe this book. It has the same kind of enjoyment as the Twisted Tales books and is worth checking out for any Disney fans who like exploring the characters from new and different perspectives. It has some nice nods to the original film, good writing and characterisation, and an interesting plot

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Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Orion Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

It is difficult to describe the plot of this book spoiler-free. Gone Tonight centers around Ruth and Catherine, a mother and daughter who live together and have a fairly close bond. Catherine's world comes crashing down when Ruth reveals she might have Alzheimer's, ruining Catherine's plans to move away to a new city. But soon Catherine starts to suspect that Ruth is lying to her and it becomes clear that Ruth has additional reasons for not wanting Catherine to leave.

Gone Tonight is a thriller that sheds its skin many times and becomes many different things. It's a very interesting book and it is carried by the strength of the two main characters. Ruth in particular is well-written and could've honestly been a real person. I liked how I never knew where the book was going to go or what the characters intentions were fully. It's a hard balance to keep characters mysterious whilst not losing reader interest, but this book does it masterfully.

I did feel this book lost some of the steam near the end but I am not quite sure why. Perhaps the focus shifted a little too much off the main two leads and their psychological and interpersonal struggles were really what I was interested in. That isn't to say that the book ends badly and I was still invested throughout, but it became clear to me what was going to happen and it lost some of the magic as a result.

Overall, this is a solid thriller and one of the better examples of the genre. Pekkanen's solo work is just as gripping as her books with Greer Henderson, and if you enjoy cat-and-mouse style thrillers, then this is definitely worth checking out

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Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

 

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Random House UK in exchange for an honest review.

Every so often a thriller comes along that gets a ton of hype. Listen for the Lie is one of those books and I actually think that this hype is in detriment to it.

Listen for the Lie is the story of Lucy, a woman who was accused of killing her best friend 10 years ago and could never be proven innocent or guilty. She returns to her hometown at the request of her grandmother, only to discover that a podcaster is making a series about the murder. Everyone in the town thinks Lucy did it and she has very few friends as a result. She is also prone to wild fantasies of constantly murdering those around her.

In a vacuum, this book is great. It has fantastic pacing and a nice steady plot which makes it very easy to read. The characters, the mystery, the general events are all excellent. But I have some issues and almost all of them stem from things I have read about this book. Do I wish I could ignore them? Absolutely. Does the modern marketing world make this impossible? Yes.

Firstly, I've seen this book advertised as having 'an epic twist' multiple times. This is just not true. It's not that kind of thriller and doesn't need to be. It has great pacing as I mentioned and a number of interesting surprises that crop up throughout the plot, but none of them are a gut punch 'this changes everything' twist. Expecting a twist disrupted the reading experience for me and almost put me on edge, and I worry this marketing will leave a lot of people disappointed.

Secondly, this book is allegedly a dark comedy. Humour in books is so hard to pin down. There are almost no books which make me laugh out loud and I am one of those weird people who will cry-laugh at TV shows when I'm entirely alone. I honestly didn't even know this book was supposed to be funny which I think is a bad sign. Does the humour come from the fantasy murder sequences? If so, these needed to be actually elaborate escapades and not one or two lines of repetitive dialogue.

I feel like I've ragged on this book quite a bit and I want to stress, I did really enjoy it. It's a great example of how to write a thriller without a huge twist, and books of this kind honestly deserve more credit. I loved the messaging around family, and the relationships between Lucy, her parents and her grandmother. There was some thought-provoking stuff around how you can let down those around you by thinking them capable of terrible things, and that was explored from several different angles.

Overall, this book is definitely worth picking up if you enjoy thrillers. Just try to go in without the expectations pushed on by the marketing or other readers, and there's a lot to enjoy here. Tintera is a great writer and I look forward to more thrillers from her

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Try Not to Die on Slashtag by Jon Cohn

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Vincere Press  in exchange for an honest review.

I was a huge fan of Choose Your Own Adventure books as a child. I particularly loved the Goosebumps ones and I was super intrigued when I discovered a whole series focused mostly on taking horror properties and turning them into Choose Your Own Adventure books. The first one I read was a little bit of a disappointment but I am so glad I tried again.

Try Not to Die on Slashtag is the story of two people who get invited to playtest a horror reality TV show focused on outwitting an evil ghost. To do so, they will have to overcome horrific puzzles and deathtraps, like a mix of Saw and an escape room. This is already a great premise and I really enjoyed how it was integrated into the CYOA format. Admittedly it is a shame that there is only one right path, but the correct choice was obscured fairly well throughout most situations and I enjoyed not knowing whether I was making a good call or not. The Kindle version is also fantastically formatted, with quick links to take you directly to the correct choice you didn't make, after your grisly death of course.

I believe this book is based off a fiction book (which I now fully intend to pick up) but it absolutely did not matter in the slightest for knowing what was going on. I went in blind and I fully enjoyed the story and the characters. I didn't feel lost at any point and I was able to slip into the world seamlessly. Overall I would say the writing was strong, with good emotion, peril and plenty of fun horror content throughout. I already mentioned how the right choice wasn't always predictable, and that made it more rewarding when I did manage to make a good call.

Overall, this book is a ton of fun and I strongly recommend it for any fans of the CYOA genre, particularly if you want to recreate the Goosebumps feel with a more grownup novel. It was an absolute blast and I am definitely going to give others in the series a try

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Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HQ in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good cosy mystery and this is a great example of one!

Death Comes to Marlow is the second book in the Marlow Mystery Club series, a vaguely crossword-themed cosy mystery series focused around an elderly woman named Judith and her two friends. On the day before Sir Peter's wedding, Judith is asked to come investigate and things soon take a dark turn when he is crushed by a wardrobe. The police are convinced it was an accident but Judith isn't so sure, and she's determined to find out the truth.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. I'm not a huge fan of cosy mysteries as a rule, but occasionally I do like to read one as they do a better job of capturing the tone of older murder mysteries than the modern thriller. This book is a great example of how to do the formula right. The characters are likeable and intriguing, the set pieces are lovely and picturesque and the plot is engaging enough. I particularly liked the heart this book has. The ending is very strong and it was lovely to get those periodic moments of seeing the characters just unwind or do 'cosy' things.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this book if you're a fan of the genre. It was a lot of fun and I am excited for the next one!

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The Watchers by A.M. Shine

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK Audio in exchange for an honest review.

The best kind of horror is thought-provoking, and The Watchers is definitely that. One day and one wrong turn in a forest later, and Mina finds herself trapped with a few other humans, at the mercy of some mysterious creatures.

This book reminded me strongly of Bird Box, mostly in tone and themes rather than content. As I write this review it has been several months since I read this book and I can still vividly remember the characters and events, something which is quite impressive given the amount of books I read. That this book left such an impression on me is not to be ignored, and I think that it's because of the strong themes and atmospheric writing throughout.

My main criticism of this book is that it's a little long. The plot is interesting and goes places I definitely didn't expect it to, but in-between all that is a little bit too much stuff. It doesn't ruin the book by any means but I think it could have been punchier and the pace might have been stronger for it.

Overall, I definitely recommend checking this book out if you're a fan of horror centred around the human experience and survival situations. This is a book driven by themes and how characters respond to the situation they're in, and for that reason I enjoyed it immensely. The plot goes in a direction I didn't expect and it also has plenty of 'horror' moments to keep readers happy

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This Little Family by Ines Bayard

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher 4th Estate in exchange for an honest review.

Occasionally you read a book that will haunt you forever. This is one of those books.

This Little Family is not really the book I expected going in and I think the blurb is actually fairly misleading. This is not really a psychological thriller or horror, except in the sense of it being a real-life horror. This is the story of Marie, a poor woman who is raped by her boss and then through a series of circumstances, forced to give birth to the child. She then goes through some of the worst postpartum depression I've ever read about, all depicted and described in heart-breaking detail.

This is not the kind of book someone 'enjoys' but I absolutely could not put it down. The writing is superb and there is a kind of car-crash fascination with the constant barrage of bad luck and psychological trauma Marie goes through. I kept reading hoping something would work out better for her, knowing from the prologue that it wouldn't. At the same time, this book is incredibly honest and sensitive in the way it portrays Marie (in my opinion at least). Nothing is gratuitous or unnecessary, and it all feels like a very real portrayal of someone's pain.

If you're looking for a reading experience that might profoundly change you as a person or a deep exploration of a truly awful situation, then this is the book for you. If you want a typical thriller with twists and turns and psychological tension, then ignore the marketing. Thankfully this book ended up appealing to me anyway, far more than most thrillers can, but I do wonder how many people will be mislead and unfairly rate the book due to the poor choice of marketing. It really does deserve better

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Between Worlds: Folktales of Britain and Ireland by Kevin Crossley-Holland

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

This book was everything I hoped for and more. It is essentially a collection of very readable fairy/folktales, most of which I hadn't heard of before and I thoroughly enjoyed. They are told in such a way that both children and adults can appreciate them and they all run a really good length so you can binge several of them at once. I can't really say much about this collection. If you enjoy reading fairy/folktales, this is a brilliant way to get to know some of the less-common ones. I am British but haven't read much about Irish folktales before so this collection was very fresh to me. Maybe it has slightly less appeal if you're familiar with the tales, but given that I am British and it also contains those stories, I still found it fresh and enjoyable. Definitely worth a try if you want to experience some more obscure folklore.

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