FIRST LINES FRIDAY: The Wolf and the Woodsman, by Ava Reid

- Meg

Hello, Friday! First Lines Friday is a feature on my blog in which I post the first lines from a book I am interested in reading, either a new release or a backlist title! The latest feature for these reads some of my current reads, either recently finished, presently reading, or will read in the immediate future!

The trees have to be tied down by sunset. When the Woodsmen come, they always try to run.

The girls who are skilled foragers fashion little iron stakes to drive through the roots of the trees and into the earth, anchoring them in place. With no gift for forging between the two of us, Boróka and I haul a great length of rope, snaring any trees we pass in clumsy loops and awkward knots. When we finish, it looks like the spider web of some giant creature, something the woods might cough up. The thought doesn’t even make me shiver. Nothing that might break through the tree line could be worse than the Woodsmen.

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood with Jewish and Hungarian roots that I am currently reading and enjoying!

WAITING ON WEDNESDAY: Upcoming YA Fantasy Releases

- Meg

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine (though it seems as though it’s been a while since she updated that particular blog, so if you know of the current host, if there is one, please let me know) that highlights upcoming releases that we’re impatiently waiting for. This week I’m featuring upcoming YA fantasy titles I’m excited to read! As usual, pub dates change without warning, so keep that in mind! You can also click on the cover photos for more detail/bigger file size.

  • Together We Burn, by Isabel Ibañez – flamenco dancers, dragons, medieval Spain??? sign me UP (expected pub: May 31, 2022)
  • The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, by Axie Oh – a Korean myth retelling, with Sea Gods, the most beautiful girl in the village attempting to wake him, and all the spirits in between. This cover is absolutely stunning, but I’m also here for myth retellings in any form (expected pub: February 22, 2022)
  • Extasia, by Claire Legrand – witches and covens, villages at the edge of the woods, mysterious things living in those woods, and truths buried in lies gives me a lot of M. Night Shyamalan vibes and I’m here for it. (expected pub: February 22, 2022)
  • Echoes and Empires, by Morgan Rhodes – forbidden magic, looks a little steampunky, possibly an enemies to lovers trope?? (expected pub: January 4, 2022)
  • Castles in Their Bones, by Laura Sebastian – this bit from the blurb – “there is one common truth: everyone underestimates a girl. Which is a grave mistake. Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz are no innocents. They have been trained since birth in the arts of deception, seduction, and violence with a singular goal—to bring down monarchies— and their marriages are merely the first stage of their mother’s grand vision: to one day reign over the entire continent of Vesteria” – is all I need to know (expected pub: February 1, 2022)

Which of these are on your TBR?

BOOK REVIEW: Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark, by Cassandra Peterson

- Meg

BOOK REVIEW: Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark, by Cassandra PetersonTitle: Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark by Cassandra Peterson
Published by Hachette Books
Published: September 21st 2021
Genres: Memoir
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Buy: Bookshop(afflilate link)
Goodreads

The woman behind the icon known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the undisputed Queen of Halloween, reveals her full story, filled with intimate bombshells, told by the bombshell herself.

On Good Friday in 1953, at only 18 months old, 25 miles from the nearest hospital in Manhattan, Kansas, Cassandra Peterson reached for a pot on the stove and doused herself in boiling water. Third-degree burns covered 35% of her body, and the prognosis wasn't good. But she survived. Burned and scarred, the impact stayed with her and became an obstacle she was determined to overcome. Feeling like a misfit led to her love of horror. While her sisters played with Barbie dolls, Cassandra built model kits of Frankenstein and Dracula, and idolized Vincent Price.

Due to a complicated relationship with her mother, Cassandra left home at 14, and by age 17 she was performing at the famed Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. Run-ins with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Tom Jones helped her grow up fast. Then a chance encounter with her idol Elvis Presley, changed the course of her life forever, and led her to Europe where she worked in film and traveled Italy as lead singer of an Italian pop band. She eventually made her way to Los Angeles, where she joined the famed comedy improv group, The Groundlings, and worked alongside Phil Hartman and Paul "Pee-wee" Reubens, honing her comedic skills.
Nearing age 30, a struggling actress considered past her prime, she auditioned at local LA channel KHJ as hostess for the late night vintage horror movies. Cassandra improvised, made the role her own, and got the job on the spot. Yours Cruelly, Elvira is an unforgettably wild memoir. Cassandra doesn't shy away from revealing exactly who she is and how she overcame seemingly insurmountable odds. Always original and sometimes outrageous, her story is loaded with twists, travails, revelry, and downright shocking experiences. It is the candid, often funny, and sometimes heart-breaking tale of a Midwest farm girl's long strange trip to become the world's sexiest, sassiest Halloween icon.

We all have our own scars. Let them be a blessing and not a curse.

Elvira is a horror/Halloween/spooky season icon, so as soon as I heard about this book, I immediately put it on my wishlist. I only knew of Elvira as the iconic character, and I knew nothing about Cassandra Peterson or about the creation of that character. Peterson’s memoir is conversational in tone, lending to the quality like you were sitting next to her while she told you about herself and her career.

I tend to go into reading Hollywood memoirs expecting a little gossip, a little scandal, and insights about the industry – especially after the Golden Age of Hollywood – and this one particularly delivers. Sometimes celebrity memoirs can feel superficial, but this one has a lot of depth and introspection about the highs and lows with a sense of vulnerability and humor that I appreciated. And it has an undercurrent of empowerment running through it, as surviving in Hollywood as a woman is no easy feat.

As far as celebrity/Hollywood memoirs go, this one felt authentic in the sense that you know Peterson wrote it herself. It is her story, unfiltered, and her voice shines throughout. If you’re interested in the Hollywood/entertainment scene in the 1970s and 1980s, enjoy horror, and enjoy celebrity memoirs, this might be something you’d enjoy!

Content warnings include: drugs, sex, sexual assault, emotional abuse, fatphobia.

Many thanks to Hachette Books for sending a complimentary review copy my way!

BOOK REVIEW: Tender is the Flesh, by Agustina Bazterrica (trans. Sarah Moses)

- Meg

BOOK REVIEW: Tender is the Flesh, by Agustina Bazterrica (trans. Sarah Moses)Title: Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, Sarah Moses
Published by Scribner
Published: August 4th 2020
Genres: Fiction, Horror
Pages: 211
Format: Trade Paper
Source: Library
Buy: Bookshop(afflilate link)
Goodreads

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans —though no one calls them that anymore. His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.

 I finished this book almost two months ago, and I still think about it at least once a week. I read a lot, so it’s rare that a book will stick with me for so long because my brain just jumps to the next thing because yay distractibility, but Tender is the Flesh is going to stick with me for a while.

Essentially, animal flesh becomes inedible, and the government enters the “Transition” in which “special meat” is processed for consumption. “Special meat” is human meat, and Bazterrica holds nothing back in the description of that transition. Marcos, the main character, is a processor at one of these processing plants, and the first third of the novel is him methodically trying to distance himself from what he is participating in.

When he’s given a live female specimen, though… that’s when everything turns upside down. While he begins to treat this female specimen with a sort of kindness and gentleness, the violence of everything else, including of Marcos’ own doing, amplifies, and the novel turns more gruesome and brutal as it devolves into how brutal people (especially men) can be to one another when it comes to power and control.

This was a book I could not put down because I needed to know what happened next, how this would all resolve, and the last page of this novel is one of the most chilling conclusions I have ever read.

BOOKENDS: June, July, August, & September 2021

- Meg

I fell off the entire book internet thing because work has been so much busier than I expected, and it’s hard to get motivated about books when a majority of my books are still in limbo because I cannot get a hold of my moving company to actually set a date. However, now that work has evened out a little bit and I’m reading a lot of new things, I’m more motivated to post again. I have also made the decision to pivot mostly to library reads and digital reading to save money! It’s definitely easy to get caught up in the consumerism side of blogging/bookstagram, and to me it should be about the reading rather than the accumulation of shiny things.

CURRENTLY READING

I am in between books, and realized I actually did bring The Big Book of Science Fiction with me! I haven’t read anything from it yet, and I’ve been focusing on review copies and library reads. I am in between other books too, as I like to read 3-4 books at a time aside from the anthology. I’ve been venturing into the horror genre a little bit more, and I’m enjoying it, although I generally read them during the day so I don’t keep myself up too late at night. 👀

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread

📱 My Heart is a Chainsaw – Stephen Graham Jones (15%, thank you Gallery/Saga Press!)
📓 Yours Cruelly, Elvira – Cassandra Peterson (33%; thank you, Hachette Books!)
📚 The Big Book of Science Fiction – edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (32%)

FINISHED READING

I read 10 books in June, 11 books in July, 7 books in August, and 9 books in September.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread

📱 Cool for the Summer – Dahlia Adler (Thank you, Wednesday Books!)
🎧 The Diviners – Libba Bray
📚 Beach Read – Emily Henry
⌛️ The Helm of Midnight – Marina J. Lostetter
⌛️ The Siren – Katherine St. John
📓 Chosen Ones – Veronica Roth (Thank you, Mariner Books!)
📚 Dick Fight Island – Reibun Ike
⌛️ Bring Me Their Hearts – Sara Wolf
📚 The Beautiful Ones – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
⌛️ Crying in H-Mart – Michelle Zauner

📓 One Last Stop – Casey McQuiston (Thank you, St. Martin’s Griffin!)
🎧 Lair of Dreams – Libba Bray
⌛️ A Master of Djinn – P. Djélì Clark
📓 The Queer Principles of Kit Webb – Cat Sebastian (Thank you, Avon!)
⌛️ Piranesi – Susanna Clarke
⌛️ Minor Feelings – Cathy Park Hong
⌛️ We Were Liars  – E. Lockhart
📓 The Agitators – Dorothy Wickenden (Thank you, Scribner Books!)
💾 Ice Planet Barbarians – Ruby Dixon
📚 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – Anonymous
🎧 Before the Devil Breaks You – Libba Bray

📓 Earth’s Wild Music – Kathleen Dean Moore (Thank you, Counterpoint Press!)
📓 Faultlines – Emily Itami (Thank you, Custom House!)
📚 The Rakess – Scarlett Peckham
📚 Mythology – Edith Hamilton
⌛️ The World Gives Way – Marissa Levien
📚 The Outside – Ada Hoffmann
💞 Beauty Sleep – Cameron Dokey

💞 Before Midnight – Cameron Dokey
⌛️ Revelations – Mary Sharratt
⌛️ Ring Shout – P. Djélì Clark
⌛️ Tender is the Flesh – Agustina Bazterrica
⌛️ Black Water Sister – Zen Cho
⌛️ The Warrior Knight and the Widow – Ella Matthews
📓 The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina – Zoraida Cordova (Thank you, Atria Books!)
📚 Lessons in French – Laura Kinsale
💞 Sirena – Donna Jo Napoli

 

ON THE HORIZON

I recently updated my Edelweiss information, and now I have access to a lot of e-arcs. I tried not to go download happy, but three of these (The Ex Hex, Sea of Tranquility, and What Moves the Dead) are among my most anticipated. And for What Moves the Dead, as soon as I heard it was an Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” retelling, immediately shot to the top of the list and I was so excited to see it already posted as an e-arc. All of these fit an eerie, spooky vibe for spooky szn 👻👻👻.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread

📚 The Death of Jane Lawrence – Caitlin Starling
📚 Velvet Was the Night – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
📱 The Ex Hex – Erin Sterling (Thank you, Avon!)
📱 Sea of Tranquility – Emily St. John Mandel (Thank you, Knopf!)
📱 What Moves the Dead – T. Kingfisher (Thank you, Tor Nightfire!)

WHAT I ACQUIRED

It’s definitely time to get back into reading YA fantasy, because omg, so many good titles are out/coming out.

📚 bookshelf pick  |  📓 physical review copy  |  📱 digital review copy | ⌛️ library/borrowed | 💾 ebook | 🎧 audiobook  |  💞 reread

📚 Iron Widow – Xiran Jay Zhao
📚 Six Crimson Cranes – Elizabeth Lim
📚 Vespertine – Margaret Rogerson
📱Jade Fire Gold – June CL Tan
📱The Keeper of Night – Kylie Lee Baker

ON SCREEN

GAMING: I bought the HD rerelease of Skyward Sword, and I think the next Switch game I’m getting is Graveyard Keeper.

TV: I’ve watched most of Shadow of Bone, I really enjoyed Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki so far seems like a treat!

MOVIES: I have seen so many since settling in because with my Regal Unlimited card, it’s an easy, relatively inexpensive thing to do. The Green Knight and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

PERSONAL

Nothing exciting to report as I’m still waiting to hear back regarding my stuff from the movers, and that’s been an adventure.