A Dark and Starless Forest - Sarah Hollowell

 

Title: A Dark and Starless Forest 
Author: Sarah Hollowell 
Format: Hardcover 
Rating: 5 stars 

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When her siblings start to go missing, a girl must confront the dark thing that lives in the forest—and the growing darkness in herself—in this debut YA contemporary fantasy for fans of Wilder Girls.

Derry and her eight siblings live in an isolated house by the lake, separated from the rest of the world by an eerie and menacing forest. Frank, the man who raised them after their families abandoned them, says it’s for their own good. After all, the world isn’t safe for people with magic. And Derry feels safe—most of the time.

Until the night her eldest sister disappears. Jane and Derry swore to each other that they’d never go into the forest, not after their last trip ended in blood, but Derry is sure she saw Jane walk into the trees. When another sibling goes missing and Frank’s true colors start to show, feeling safe is no longer an option. Derry will risk anything to protect the family she has left. Even if that means returning to the forest that has started calling to Derry in her missing siblings’ voices.

As Derry spends more time amidst the trees, her magic grows more powerful . . . and so does the darkness inside her, the viciousness she wants to pretend doesn’t exist. But saving her siblings from the forest and from Frank might mean embracing the darkness. And that just might be the most dangerous thing of all. 

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Reader friends, let me tell you - this is one hell of a book.  I've been having trouble not telling everyone exactly what happened because one of the characters is JUST OVERWHELMING.  

I will try my best to keep this review spoiler free. 

The writing is good, it was good enough to help the story flow well and keep me hooked.  The story itself was fantastic - I found the plot worthy of being read. The sisters, their home, their world were all well written and well developed.  The big moments throughout the story were weaved into the smaller day to day things very well.  

I liked all the characters except Frank.  You'll see why if you read the book.  He has a motivation for why he does what he does, but the girls also have a motivation for why they do what they do - and it all evens out in the end.  Each of the girls was well written and well developed, and had their own personalities, their own things that made them who they are, their own reason for being, and their own powers that really drove home who they are as "alchemists."  (Franks word.  The girls later reclaim the word witch, and that really suits them.) 

The way this book shows that each girl has their own power is awesome - with the flowers, and the FLOWERS (You'll see.  Derry is amazing.) The flowers glow when each girl is tested on their abilities, and that helps Frank learn things, which weaves together everything else that happens in this book to Frank and to the girls. Each thing we see, from the flowers, to the hidden trail, to the deep dive into Franks private room, all weave more detail into this book and help us learn so much about what has happened and what will happen. 

The forest being written as this almost living breathing thing in the book was great.  The forest was its own character that felt so alive, and that really helped the girls in the end.  That added more dimension again because it was such an integral part of everything that happened in this story - without the forest and what it can do there is no story and no past for the characters. 

Basically, I found the whole book a little shocking, and wholly amazing. 

If you have not read this book yet and like horror fantasy, I highly recommend reading this book as soon as you can. And then coming back here and telling me what you thought about it.  

If you've already read it, drop some thoughts about it in the comments! 

My Dearest Darkest - Kayla Cunningham

Title: My Dearest Darkest 
Author: Kayla Cottingham
Format: Paperback 
Rating: 5 Stars 

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WILDER GIRLS meets THE CRAFT in this Sapphic horror debut that asks: What price would you be willing to pay to achieve your deepest desires?

Finch Chamberlin is the newest transfer student to the ultra-competitive Ulalume Academy... but she's also not what she seems. Months before school started, Finch and her parents got into an accident that should have left her dead at the bottom of a river. But something monstrous, and ancient, and terrifying, wouldn't let her drown. Finch doesn't know why she woke up after her heart stopped, but since dying she's felt a constant pull from the school and the surrounding town of Rainwater, like something on the island is calling to her.

Selena St. Clair sees right through Finch, and she knows something is seriously wrong with her. But despite Selena's suspicion, she feels drawn to Finch and has a sinking feeling that from now on the two will be inexplicably linked to one another.

One night Finch, Selena, and her friends accidentally summon a carnivorous creature of immense power in the depths of the school. It promises to grant every desire the girls have kept locked away in their insecure hearts―beauty, power, adoration―in exchange for a price: human body parts. But as the cost of their wanting becomes more deadly, Finch and Selena must learn to work together to stop the horror they unleashed, before it consumes the entire island.

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I have been searching all year for a book that hits the nail on the five star head.  The Mary Shelley Club was one, and this was the other!  This book was creepy and weird and gave me all the 5 star shivers. 

Was the book without faults? No.  After all, Finch could have been just a smidge *deeper* and more developed. But overall, the feels this book gave me were enough to overlook the fact that the MC needed more development. 

The rest of the characters were wonderful. There was the angst that is typical in YA novels, but come on - being a teenager is hard. Being a teenager at a school with a weird creature living under the tunnels is even harder. I mean, Damn. 

There were some really gross moments in this book, and a lot of body horror. (Seriously, if you can't handle body horror, don't read this book.) But for me, that added to the tension and mystery in the book.  I loved the mystery behind Nerosi.  There was this spirit behind her and a change to her as each sacrifice happened that really opened her character.  Each appearance if the stag and the past people who were lost to Nerosi's weird life were also great looks into her character and what she was really like. 

I loved the aspect of this horrific creature and all these events happening at an old boarding school (old as in the building has been has been around for a while.)  Having all the hidden tunnels under the school added a mysterious element because you never new what was going to happen to the students or what they were going to really fund when they went to the tunnels. 

The thing that did seem strange to me was that students at a boarding school would be able to live basically off campus like Selena, Kyra, and their other friend did.  Teenagers are certainly much more independent than younger kids, but these kids are still in school, and I'm assuming that when teens go to a boarding school, the parents are trusting the staff to take care of the kids and keep an eye on them.  These kids living off campus in that light house definitely opened the door to the kids being able to cause a lot of fuss (hello Nerosi!) 

Overall, though, I really love this book.  It has the perfect amount of weird and creepy with some great self exploration and self discovery thrown in.  

 

The Mary Shelley Club - Goldy Moldavsky

 

Title: The Mary Shelley Club 
Author: Goldy Moldavsky 
Format: Hardcover 
Rating: 5 Stars 

I've only started reading horror regularly in the past couple years, and so I still feel like I never really know what to expect.  The Mary Shelley Club definitely went above and beyond and was a great foray into everything I'd want in a scary book. 

This book has all the twists that you'd expect in a horror book. It starts with something horrific, and gives the readers enough scare from there to make them wonder why they're continuing his book!  You'll never want to head out into a forest again.

The characters were teenagers, so there was the teen angst and stuff that you'd expect - surely we can give kids a break as they grow and try to navigate the world around them! But I thought all the characters were well written and had personalities that really added to the story as a whole.  I feel like the characters really played well together and off of each other.  Each person had different things that added to the group dynamic of the Mary Shelley Club, and to their school and personal life environment.  The small bits of information we get about certain characters throughout the book really adds to the book as well. 

The fact that this book opened with quite a punch, then just continued to pack in so much twist was fantastic. Throughout the book, there are several things that happen that tie everything together and make the reader realize that Rachel is in more trouble than she realizes. I loved the foreshadowing, as well as the snippets of Rachel's past that we see - it all builds up to add a lot of depth to the story. 

I feel like there was a lot of good development in terms of the fear tests that each person had to do as well.  Each test really tied well into what the overarching plot and theme of the book were.  That added a lot to the story that I really loved. 

The only thing I didn't love was that the ending felt sort of rushed and just a little too neat. It would have been better if there had been more of a punch and a motive at the end for everything that had happened.  Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I'd definitely recommend it to all of you! 

If you've already read this book let me know what you thought in the comments.