Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

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

Natural Beauty may be one of the hardest books I've read in a while to place. Our unnamed narrator finds herself working for the mysterious beauty and wellness company, Holistik, after a string of bad luck in her life leaves her near-destitute. Once a promising pianist, now she sells strange dystopian-esque beauty products (though tbh we see very little of this). She also meets and falls for another young woman who is distantly involved with the company.

Even when writing this summary, I struggled greatly to describe this book because it is not really plot or character-driven in the traditional sense. The narrator has a compelling story and mind which went a long way to keeping me engaged with the story going on, but if anything I would say this is a world-driven book. Even then, the elements of the world remain in the background and I found this quite difficult as a reader. The blurb gives no indication that this is meant to be futuristic or dystopian and yet it was the only way I could reconcile what was going on with any kind of reality. I felt quite unsure at any one time that I really understood the world the book was taking place in and this dimmed the horror somewhat, especially early on.

Having said that, I really enjoyed this book. It was a fairly easy read in terms of pacing and length, and particularly near the end, the horror kicks in properly and you get some really intense scenes. My main issue is I can't really place why I enjoyed it so much. I think the main character does provide some much-needed grounding in the story which otherwise would feel quite absurd (and often still does) but I wouldn't say she drives the story either. The horror elements are often a little confusing and/or so removed from reality as to not quite hit their mark. I normally dislike body horror but it didn't affect me much in this book because the descriptions were so abstract. I think the message about the beauty industry is lost due to the ridiculous nature of much of the horror and that's a real shame. It left the book feeling a little YA and indeed, I started to wish I was reading Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill instead. That book covers many of the same themes but in a much more grounded way, despite the absolute dystopian setting.

Overall, this review seems quite negative but I would actually recommend reading Natural Beauty. It has a lot of interesting ideas, set pieces and themes going on. I wish the characters were more emotionally-driven and that the world/horror elements were more grounded in reality but this book still has a lot to offer and I think I'll remember it for a long time

Overall Rating:

3.5/5 stars

The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer

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

The Caretaker is a great example of a horror story where the scale is handled right. It tells the story of Macy Mullins, a girl on the brink of bankruptcy who is struggling to support her and her sister after the death of their father. Macy gets offered a housesitting job where all she has to do is follow a peculiar set of instructions and she'll be paid a crazy amount of money. But what happens if she slips up?

I really enjoyed the general atmosphere, pacing and writing style of this book. The tone hit a good balance of being creepy but clear, and I found Macy to be a fairly interesting protagonist. Her situation was heartbreakingly believable and I never found myself confused by her actions or attitudes to what she was doing,

Having said that, the problems kind of came in the latter half of the book. Whilst the story remained compelling and well-written, I began to find Macy a bit frustrating as a character. Horror books rely on suspense and suspense is killed both by a character being too competent and by a character being too incompetent. Without giving too much away, I felt Macy's actions became very repetitive and this killed some of the believability and investment for me. I think balancing her successes vs her failures more would have kept me more on my toes and my interest going.

Overall, The Caretaker is an interesting horror book and one I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I did find moments of it genuinely creepy and scary, I just wish the story had changed things up a bit in the second half. I recommend checking it out if you're looking for a unique twist on 'isolation horror' but I also think this author has some room to grow and I am excited to see what they do in the future

Overall Rating:

3.5/5 stars

The House That Horror Built by Christina Henry

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

It should be no surprise that I absolutely love everything Christina Henry writes at this point, and The House that Horror Built is no exception. This book tells the story of Harry, a single mother who begins cleaning the home of famous horror movie director, Javier Castillo. This involves cleaning all of the creepy props which adorn his home and following a very strict set of rules. Harry manages to successfully keep a professional distance from her boss until one day, she and her son are forced to move in with him due to her limiting financial circumstances. She then has to balance maintaining her boundaries whilst also suspecting there is something very odd about the house...

This is a hard book to pinpoint. If I had to, I'd say it was a slow-burn ghost story with a few psychological elements. Most of the book is focused on a creeping sense of dread, with only minimal horror 'stuff' actually happening. This was more than enough for me as a reader though. I found the characters interesting and I wasn't really sure where the story was going to go. I think the climax more than makes up for the slow pace of the beginning. The story gets very intense and troubled, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I am a huge fan of horror as a way of exploring human emotion and trauma, and this book does that very well in my opinion. I also like books which keep you on your toes. Which characters can you trust? Are things are sinister as they seem? This book plays with that well, and that's where the more psychological aspect comes in.

It should also come as no surprise that I am going to recommend this book. It's admittedly a little different than Henry's other, more-action filled works but I think that's a strength rather than a detriment. I think there's a lot here for horror fans to love

Overall Rating:

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

Overall Rating:

Bad Dolls by Rachel Harrison

 

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

This is a super interesting collection of four short stories which are what I would call soft-horror. Most of these tales are on the lighter side of dark, with horror-esque subject material but a much more comedic or optimistic execution. Since there are only four stories, I'll review each of them.

Reply Hazy: A woman picks up a magic 8 ball which starts to make all of her decisions for her. This was probably the weakest story for me. It ends a little abruptly and the horror never really takes off. I wouldn't mind if the story was a bit more complete, but it falls a little flat overall.

Bachelorette: A woman attends her childhood best friend's bachelorette party and things take an ominous turn. This was a much stronger story, maybe my favourite of the bunch. The horror element ties really well thematically to the idea of outgrowing your friends and holding on desperately to old times whilst dealing with female jealousy. All the elements worked really well together.

Goblin: Desperate to lose weight before an ex's wedding, a woman downloads an app where a goblin will help her control her diet. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did but it's a solid execution of a fundamentally wacky premise. It ended quite abruptly again but with a bit more of a satisfying conclusion than the first one.

Bad Dolls: After the death of her sister, a woman becomes overly attached to a doll in her house. This is probably the closest to 'true horror' and again the horror analogy works well for the situation, even if it is a little bit obvious. This one has a good atmosphere but I think the lack of originality holds it back, even though the character and emotions within it are solid.

Overall, I really liked this story collection. It felt like 'feminist horror' and there were strong themes of womanhood and women's issues tying all four stories together. It has an interesting core concept and enough going on that I am happy to overlook the minor flaws. I would definitely recommend this if you're intrigued by any of these stories or would like to read some horror that is a little outside the box

Overall Rating: