The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier
This book did my head in, in a good way. The ending was astounding. And I loved how you have to wonder about certain characters/things that happened after the fact. Really well done by du Maurier. The only reason why I gave this 4 stars though is that parts of this book are so freaking slow. It feels at times things are moving underwater and then they pick up again. I get du Maurier is setting the stage so to speak though with John of […]
Gallant by V. E. Schwab
Victoria Schwab: “One of the tricky things about my books is that they’re never written for the same reader. It’s a choice I made, and I stand by, but it also means that someone is invariably disappointed. They might love Shades of Magic, but Vicious doesn’t work for them. They might adore Addie LaRue, but feel let down by Gallant. The found themselves in the center of the reader spot light with one of my books, and then at the edges with another. Some days […]
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I read Gods of Jade and Shadow and thought it was enjoyable, so I was excited to read Mexican Gothic. I’m not sure my expectations were met. Noemi is a socialite in the upper-class of 1950s Mexico City. She goes to parties, she flirts, she wears beautiful gowns because she actually enjoys them, and she wants to go university against her family’s wishes. Noemi’s life gets upended when her father asks her to go check on her cousin Catalina who has written a strange and disturbing […]
Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1) by Tamsyn Muir
Please note that although there are no real spoilers in this review, intuitive readers/reviewers might be spoiled anyway because of the way I’m going to say some things. You have been vaguely warned! “Read Gideon the Ninth!” they said. “You’ll love it!” they said. Well, fuck you, I did! I did love it! And I’m so mad and so sad also! It’s been a long time since I let a book get to me like this, and frankly, I blame everyone. I blame the author […]
The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell
A strong opening pulls us directly into the spooky fold; a seamstress with a secret hurls herself from a very important man’s very high attic window. The House on Vesper Sands has all of the hallmarks of a Victorian throw-back; mazes of manners, decrepit mansions, and gin-soaked police populate a scuzzy world of destitute working girls, complicated family histories, and genteel young men all-aflutter. The Spiritualist movement is in full-swing and a cloaked and creepy group of “Spiriters” may be responsible for a rash of […]
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I realized, when it came time to do my best-of lists, that I hadn’t actually written reviews for two of my favourite books this year. Mexican Gothic is one of these. I read it a few weeks after Halloween, when everything in Denmark can best be described as ‘grey’ and I was in the perfect mood for Gothic. (Plus, look at that AMAZING and GORGEOUS cover; how can you resist?) Boy, did Silvia Moreno-Garcia deliver. Mexican Gothic is the story of Noemi, a young woman […]
