Books Read in 2023: Four-Star YA Fantasy and Horror, and Some Regards

 Regarding An Elderly Woman is Up to No Good, recommended by Engie: it is presently on hold at the library.

Regarding Nicole's unstamped letter: ha ha omg yes. The first thing this makes me think of is when Angus was about four and my parents had recently moved from five hours away to five minutes away, I helped him write a little letter to them and he was so proud to address it and put it in the mailbox. But I forgot to put a stamp on. We had a really lovely mailman back then who hand-delivered it to my mom instead. The last thing it makes me think of is early December when I wrote my first Christmas card and carefully addressed and stamped it. And then looked at it for a few minutes, and then carefully peeled off the stamp from the upper left corner and put it in the upper right corner instead. Sigh.

Regarding Marilyn's comment about not liking Mexican Gothic but liking being able to exchange knowing glances with other people who've read it - yes, definitely. This is why I read...not many books, but some for sure - to be up on their place in the cultural vernacular.

Regarding Common Household Mom's story about the ad that went through half a dozen proofreaders and still got printed with the wrong date - what the heck can you do, sometimes your brain just sees what it expects and that's all it can do. The story of my friend Collette (HI COLLETTE) getting a birthday cake for her oldest son's first birthday and nearly the whole party being over before anyone noticed that the cake said HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACBO lives in infamy. 

Regarding Steph's comment about The Strain - ha ha, yes, I have watched it, and read it. I only watched it a couple of years ago, even though it came out in 2014. I quite liked it - I loved Fet and Dutch, hated the second actor who played Eph's kid, and thought the ending was pretty good. 

Regarding Regarding Henry - this is a 1991 movie starring Harrison Ford about a lawyer who's kind of a dick until he gets shot in the head and wakes up with amnesia and then turns nice. This is a frequent trope in writing and tv, but it doesn't really happen, does it? Why wouldn't someone nice get amnesia and turn into a dick just as often? Movie and book amnesia is fun, but dumb. 

Four-Star Children's

The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson. Synopsis from Goodreads: Matthew Corbin suffers from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. He hasn't been to school in weeks. His hands are cracked and bleeding from cleaning. He refuses to leave his bedroom. To pass the time, he observes his neighbors from his bedroom window, making mundane notes about their habits as they bustle about the cul-de-sac. When a toddler staying next door goes missing, it becomes apparent that Matthew was the last person to see him alive. Suddenly, Matthew finds himself at the center of a high-stakes mystery, and every one of his neighbors is a suspect. Matthew is the key to figuring out what happened and potentially saving a child's life... but is he able to do so if it means exposing his own secrets, and stepping out from the safety of his home?

Lunchtime read. Great story - a boy suffering from obsessive-compulsive tendencies from a traumatic happening, his struggle to connect with his peers and his parents' efforts to help him (with a few failures that are sad and enraging to read about). And a neighbourhood mystery. 

Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea. Synopsis from Goodreads: It’s the start of fifth grade for seven kids at Snow Hill School. There’s . . . Jessica, the new girl, smart and perceptive, who’s having a hard time fitting in; Alexia, a bully, your friend one second, your enemy the next; Peter, class prankster and troublemaker; Luke, the brain; Danielle, who never stands up for herself; shy Anna, whose home situation makes her an outcast; and Jeffrey, who hates school. Only Mr. Terupt, their new and energetic teacher, seems to know how to deal with them all. He makes the classroom a fun place, even if he doesn’t let them get away with much . . . until the snowy winter day when an accident changes everything—and everyone.

Lunchtime read. I picked it up because it is quite popular among sixth-graders. A solid entry in the remarkable-teacher-makes-a-difference canon.

Thirteens (Thirteens #1) by Kate Alice Marshall. Synopsis from Goodreads: A sleepy town with a dark secret--and the three kids brave enough to uncover it. Twelve-year-old Eleanor has just moved to Eden Eld to live with her aunt and uncle after her mother was killed in a fire. Her birthday, which falls on Halloween, is just around the corner, and she hopes that this year will be a fresh start at a new life. But then one morning, an ancient grandfather clock counting down thirteen hours appears outside of her bedroom. And then she spots a large black dog with glowing red eyes prowling the grounds of her school. A book of fairytales she's never heard of almost willingly drops in front of her, as if asking to be read. Something is wrong in the town of Eden Eld. Eleanor and her new classmates, Pip and Otto, are the only ones who see these "wrong things," and they also all happen to share a Halloween birthday. Bonded by these odd similarities, the trio uncovers a centuries-old pact the town has with a mysterious figure known as Mr. January: every thirteen years, three thirteen-year-olds disappear, sacrificed in exchange for the town's unending good fortune. This Halloween, Mr. January is back to collect his payment and Eleanor, Pip, and Otto are to be his next offering...unless they can break the curse before the clock strikes thirteen.

This is one of my favourite YA authors. This year she published her first adult novel, which I read, and I read these middle-grade novels also. I probably liked her YA stuff slightly more than the adult work, but this series was freaking fantastic. Three thirteen-year-olds, all with palindromic names, meet in an odd little town (Eden Eld - I ask you, is that not an exemplary Odd Little Town Name?) where two of them grew up and the third has come to live with relatives after her mother's death. They begin a beautifully-described friendship, and then, naturally, there are eldritch happenings, and uncanny clues, and a talking animal or two, and a clock whose hands run backwards. It's a delectable set-up, with a satisfying conclusion to round one of the mystery.

Brackenbeast (Thirteens #2) by Kate Alice Marshall. Synopsis from Goodreads: Last Halloween, Eleanor, Pip, and Otto narrowly escaped the clutches of the evil January Society and their leader. But life in the too-quiet Eden Eld isn't safe just yet: according to the bargain they made with Mr. January, it's now his sister's turn to hunt the three of them. And her methods are a bit more...treacherous. When their friends and neighbors begin disappearing, abducted by strange, mud-drenched monsters, Eleanor and her two best friends must race to uncover their enemy's secrets. If they fail, their families will be next. Stalked by the relentless mud beasts, they have to find a way to escape using their trusty book of twisted fairytales, their wits, and their friendship. But they quickly learn that the power of the stories they've turned to for help has a stronger hold on them--and their futures--than they realized. Even if Eleanor and her friends survive, they won't end this journey the same people.

Even more emotional intelligence exhibited in the friendship between the three protagonists. Attention paid to the trauma of having to be heroic. It's a little bit like Stranger Things, but not in a derivative way, just in the way that the kids are smart and funny and fun, and the events are magnificently strange. 

Glassheart (Thirteens #3) by Kate Alice Marshall. Synopsis from Goodreads:

Adds a couple of characters that ratchet up the tension and the melancholy. There's a really cool library. There's a really cool giant talking cat, and also a smaller one. It's all just really cool. I gave these to my daughter (my favourite palindrome), and she read two in the summer and took the third to read in October for Halloween. I read it just before New Year's so they would all be in the year-end review, because I would sure it would be a brilliant conclusion, and it was. This trilogy is up there with The Colours of Madeleine for books I'm a little surprised are not more popular. Clearly not everyone shares my exquisite taste. 

The Last Halloween Book 1: Children by Abby Howard. Synopsis from Goodreads: The Last Halloween, Book 1 is the story of Mona and her unusual friends, who must work together to defend humanity from countless horrific monstrosities! Perhaps they will succeed, and humanity will prevail as it always has. Or perhaps this will be... The Last Halloween.

Borrowed this from my Thursday school, and hoo boy, it was a trip. I am not one to shield children from reading material, but it's probably a good thing this was on the teen shelf (not that grade sevens and eights are teenagers, properly speaking). It is quite graphic as well as being, you know, graphic. There are demons and monstrosities and many deaths and dismemberments. One of the principal parents is nonbinary and their child simply calls them Parent. Some of the monsters are friendly and are helping in the battle against the monsters who are less so. The words "ragtag band" have perhaps never been quite so appropriate. Even though this was published in 2016 it seems a sequel is still promised, and sign me the fuck up -- the mind from whence this sprung is twisted in a really beautiful and entertaining manner.

Four-Star YA Mystery

Nothing More to Tell by Karen M. McManus. Synopsis from Goodreads: Four years ago, Brynn left Saint Ambrose School following the shocking murder of her favorite teacher—a story that made headlines after the teacher’s body was found by three Saint Ambrose students in the woods behind their school. The case was never solved. Now that Brynn is moving home and starting her dream internship at a true-crime show, she’s determined to find out what really happened. The kids who found Mr. Larkin are her way in, and her ex–best friend, Tripp Talbot, was one of them. Without his account of events, the other two kids might have gone down for Mr. Larkin’s murder—but instead, thanks to Tripp, they're now at the top of the Saint Ambrose social pyramid. Tripp’s friends have never forgotten what Tripp did for them that day, and neither has he. Just like he hasn’t forgotten that everything he told the police was a lie.

-”I check my phone and see a text from Mason that reads GORFF IS HERE I LURV HEM, so I can only assume that (1) Mason, a notorious lightweight, has been hitting the punch hard, and (2) he’s found his crush, Geoff. I catch sight of Nadia’s pink sweater in a knot of girls and decide that my friends are doing fine on their own for now.”

Not my favourite Karen McManus, but still enjoyable. One early thing I thought was screamingly obvious was not quite what I thought it was (so shows what I know). For a bit it felt like there wasn't enough going on, then for a bit there was almost too much going on. One key character I felt sort of acted OUT of character, and it wasn't adequately explained why. But I still like how she traces character's motivations, how she illuminates the sometimes-ridiculous yet deadly-earnest lives of teenagers, and makes me willing to believe for a few pages that a seventeen-year-old girl can solve a murder and still pass English.

A Long Stretch of Bad Days by Mindy McGinnis. Synopsis from Goodreads: Lydia Chass doesn’t mind living in a small town; she just doesn’t want to die in one. A lifetime of hard work has put her on track to attend a prestigious journalism program and leave Henley behind—until a school error leaves her a credit short of graduating. Undeterred, Lydia has a plan to earn that credit: transform her listener-friendly local history podcast into a truth-telling exposé. She’ll investigate the Long Stretch of Bad Days: a week when Henley was hit by a tornado and a flash flood as well as its first—and only—murder, which remains unsolved. But Lydia needs help to bring grit to the show. Bristal Jamison has a bad reputation and a foul mouth, but she also needs a credit to graduate. The unexpected partnership brings together the Chass family—a pillar of the community—and the rough-and-tumble Jamisons, with Bristal hoping to be the first in her family to graduate. Together, they dig into the town’s worst week, determined to solve the murder.

-”’And nobody looked for her?’ I ask, pushing. ‘Nobody cared about this lost teenaged girl!’

‘She didn’t care to be cared about,’ David says, his voice taking on an edge. ‘Paul and Erin tried – they did. But everything was upside down for a while after the long stretch. I mean, you should’ve seen the telephone poles in town. They were covered with missing posters for dogs and cats, people looking for their wallets or the wedding ring they’d taken off to mow the yard before the storm rolled in. We didn’t have–’

‘The internet. Phones. Compassion,’ Bristal supplies, twirling her finger in the air.”

-”Women are easily lost in the record of time. Our names change, our faces aren’t captured. If you look at the old stones in Fairlawn, you’ll see that half our founding population are commemorated through initials: J.F., wife of John; or A.S., mother of Hiram. If I cannot hear the voices of our founding fathers in their pencil sketches, how much more has been lost that we don’t even know the names of the women?”

Let's just be very frank right off the bat, nothing is ever going to surpass The Female of the Species, but this is miles better, in my opinion, than the bloody (and barfy) mess that was The Last Laugh. Lydia and Bristal are two very entertaining personalities to put together, and you know me and books about podcasts (well no, you might not, the joke is that I constantly say I'm going to start listening to podcasts and then continue to only read books about podcasts - oh, I also watch the occasional tv show about a podcast). This was the first time I actually bothered to think about what's meant by 'flyover country', and the setting plays a big part in the story. 

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall. Synopsis from Goodreads: In the faux-documentary style of The Blair Witch Project comes the campfire story of a missing girl, a vengeful ghost, and the girl who is determined to find her sister—at all costs. Once a year, the path appears in the forest and Lucy Gallows beckons. Who is brave enough to find her—and who won't make it out of the woods? It's been exactly one year since Sara's sister, Becca, disappeared, and high school life has far from settled back to normal. With her sister gone, Sara doesn't know whether her former friends no longer like her... or are scared of her, and the days of eating alone at lunch have started to blend together. When a mysterious text message invites Sara and her estranged friends to "play the game" and find local ghost legend Lucy Gallows, Sara is sure this is the only way to find Becca—before she's lost forever. And even though she's hardly spoken with them for a year, Sara finds herself deep in the darkness of the forest, her friends—and their cameras—following her down the path. Together, they will have to draw on all of their strengths to survive. The road is rarely forgiving, and no one will be the same on the other side.

-”The road is here, and Becca is waiting.

‘No way,’ Jeremy says, shifting his weight back from the road. ‘Have you guys ever watched, like, a single movie? We get on that road and about thirty seconds from now some hook-handed motherfucker is wearing our guts like a scarf.’”

-”GRACE: Two of us are leaving here. And it will be easier if we make the decision now.

ZACH: You think you should be one of them.

GRACE: An organism strives first for self-preservation. Understanding that is the key to understanding everything else, don’t you see? There isn’t room for morality in survival. The road wants to survive. That’s why it calls us here. And we want to survive."

A reread of my first KAM book, before I read her adult book. Probably my favourite of hers so far - a lost sister, a mysterious road that only appears once a year, a city out of folklore, strange and horrible wonders encountered on the road, great casual representation. Curiously, I totally misremembered the ending. The documentary style interleaved with Sara's perspective is effective in itself and for breaking up the long trip on the road. The setting is unsettlingly effective, as well as the group dynamic. She probably has just enough characters before edging over into where it would be too hard to keep them all straight. I really like her writing - rich worldbuilding and striking descriptions of characters and emotions, vivid and affecting without going over into melodrama.

Tell Me What Really Happened by Chelsea Sedoti. Synopsis from Goodreads: There are stories about the woods around Salvation Creek, about the people who have gone missing. Now their friend is one of them. A riveting, fast-paced YA mystery told entirely through first person police interviews of four teens over the course of a few hours. It was all her idea. They would get away from their parents and spend the weekend camping. Down by Salvation Creek, the five of them would make smores, steal kisses, share secrets. But sometime around midnight, she vanished. Now the four friends who came back are under suspicion―and they each have a very different story to tell about what happened in the woods.

-”Stop being coy and saying someone brought the gun. You know exactly who brought it. God. It’s like you’re trying to waste my time.”

-”My thinking is humans built civilization to escape the wilderness, right? So why would I want to go back into it?”

As usual, I got this months after requesting it, so I didn't remember anything about it, including that it was YA. I would have preferred something a little denser and darker, but not gonna lie - I took it out one day, read it the next and returned it on the third. For what it is - sort of a thriller/character study, told exclusively in first-person voice from the police interviews - it is excellent. The different voices come through very distinctly right from the start. The plot resolution is telegraphed fairly early on, but it's very readable and propulsive, and the journey was enjoyable.