Book Reviews: "Smile for the Cameras" by Miranda Smith

I don’t read a lot of horror because I hate being scared, but for some reason slasher films—particularly the classics from the 1980s and 1990s—work for me. That’s why I was excited to read Smile for the Cameras.

Ella’s big break in the movie industry was when she starred as the Final Girl in the slasher movie Grad Night. It became a classic, spawned many sequels, and made stars of its four leads and the young director.

But while the central role in a movie was a dream come true for Ella, something happened during filming that she’s been haunted by for the last 20 years. She and her costars vowed never to talk about it, and ultimately her guilt became too much to bear. She left the movie industry to care for her terminally ill mother in their upstate New York home.

After her mother’s death, Ella starts thinking about resurrecting her career. While there are a few promising roles she’d love, it seems like the only way she can land one of them is to agree to participate in the reunion documentary marking the 20th anniversary of Grad Night. Her three costars and the director will participate, so despite her trepidations, Ella agrees.

Of course, a reunion means the cast has to return to Blackstone Cottage, a cabin in rural Tennessee where the original movie was set. Ella is on edge almost from the moment she arrives, and while none of her fellow actors wants to talk about the secret they’ve kept hidden, she’s wracked with guilt. And when her costars start to die as they did in the movie, Ella may have to try and be the Final Girl once more.

This was a fun, campy, and slightly creepy read, which really captured the spirit of the 90s slasher movies. I found the ending somewhat anticlimactic, but I enjoyed the twists and turns along the way. This could actually be adapted into a fun movie.

Book Review: "My Murder" by Katie Williams

“I was supposed to be getting dressed for the party, the first since my murder.” (Yep, you read that right.)

Lou is married to a doting husband, Silas, and they’re parents to their adorable baby daughter, Nova. They’re like any other couple—except Lou was a victim of a local serial killer, and she was recently brought back to life by a government project.

She’s grateful for the second chance at life, but re-acclimating isn’t easy. She has to get used to her life again, to her husband, to being a mother, and returning to her old job. Lou also spends time in a support group with the other victims of the serial killer, all of whom were also brought back to life. It’s a fairly strange sorority to be part of.

It’s only natural that Lou has questions about her murder. Why did the killer pick her? The more time she spends with the other women, the more uncertainty she starts to feel about her life before her murder. It’s up to her to figure out just what happened—and if she is safe in her life.

I thought this was a very cool concept. There was some fascinating commentary about the public’s attitudes toward serial killers and their victims, some interesting technologies, and a few twists I didn’t see coming.

At times, I did feel a bit confused by some of the narrative, and had to read things a few times before it started to make sense. But this was a tremendously unique concept, a great twist on the traditional thriller.

Book Review: "Lark Ascending" by Silas House

Silas House's new book is an evocative, powerful story of survival and connection.

In a perhaps not-too-distant future, the U.S. has been destroyed by fires across the country. Lark and his family had left their Maryland home for sanctuary in Maine, but that proves to be fleeting, as religious radicals turn to violence and persecution.

With nowhere else to go, Lark and his parents are able to get on a crowded ship to Ireland, which is apparently the only place where Americans are still welcome. The trip is treacherous and even their arrival is filled with chaos and violence, and ultimately, Lark is the only survivor left from the ship.

Alone in an unfamiliar country, Lark must find his way. Ultimately he finds two companions—Helen, a woman desperate to find her son, and Seamus, a dog who has seen quite a bit in his life. They want to make it to what they believe is a safe haven, but it will take all their strength and courage.

This is a bleak but gorgeously written book. I love the way House writes, and Seamus joins the list of my absolute favorite non-human characters this year. There is so much amazing imagery, I could see it in my mind’s eye.

Definitely not an easy, carefree read, but an important and beautiful one nonetheless!!

Book Review: "Ski Weekend" by Rektok Ross

It was supposed to be a fun weekend. No one expected all that occurs in Rektok Ross' Ski Weekend!

Everyone is looking forward to senior ski weekend. Except Sam. She has to look after her younger brother Stu (like always) to make sure he doesn’t get hurt following the lead of his best friend, Gavin. So now Sam, Stu, Gavin, Sam’s best friend (and Stu's girlfriend) Lily, and two others are in Gavin’s fancy new SUV, along with Gavin’s dog, Champion.

Sam once had a thing for Gavin, but when he left for boarding school a year ago, he never returned her emails or texts. So she’s got a bit of a chip on her shoulder where he’s concerned.

Not far into their journey, the cops start turning people around because of an impending snowstorm. One of their friends convinces them to try a shortcut through the mountains (those always work) and before they know it, they’ve crashed into a snowbank and their car is stuck. Of course, temperatures are dropping and cell coverage is non-existent.

When a foray to try and find help winds up with Stu getting hurt and then becoming feverish from his injuries, Sam has to keep him alive. But as their food supplies shrink and people start fighting, it’s becoming more a question of who will survive, not how. And it only gets worse from there.⁣

I never went on a lot of trips with friends when I was growing up, but if I was that age now, I’d never go anywhere!! Fun trips always seem to turn to disaster in books, lol, and I’m not the survivalist type. (To put it mildly.)

This was a very readable YA thriller. It was a little melodramatic, but Ross did a great job with the setting because I felt so cold while reading it! And boy, did I love Champion!!

Book Review: "The Final Girl Support Group" by Grady Hendrix

The latest book from horror master Grady Hendrix, The Final Girl Support Group, wasn't quite the horror novel I was expecting, and that’s totally okay with me!!

First things first: if you have any trigger, be it graphic violence, murder, sexual assault, mentions of animal cruelty, etc.—this book probably has it, so be aware of that if you choose to read it.

“None of us have to be defined by the worst thing that ever happened to her. Unfortunately, those things have a bad habit of coming back and trying to kill us again. After a while, you start to realize that your life isn’t the thing that happens between the monsters, your life is the monsters.”

They’re the final girls—the ones left standing after the murderer is taken down. For more than a decade a group of them have been meeting secretly to provide each other support. While these meetings have meant a lot through the years, they’ve become a nuisance to some, which dismays Lynnette, for whom the group is the only contact she has with the outside world.

But when one of their own is murdered and related events occur, Lynnette realizes the paranoia she has had for years about someone trying to kill them hasn’t been as crazy as the rest of them thought. It’s up to her to figure out who’s behind this lashing out at the final girls before none are left standing after the second go-round.

Hendrix pays homage to the horror movies of the 80s and 90s with some fun touches (each of the chapter titles is a spoof on a horror movie title). There are also some surprising notes of emotion sprinkled throughout.

The thing is, though, for a book about a support group, there wasn’t a lot of time where the whole group was together, and that would’ve been cool. There also was a lot more telling than showing—I equate that to superhero movies when the villain has an overlong monologue about why they’ve wanted to destroy the world for so long.

I read this with my friend Louis, who was worried it would be too gruesome for me (I’m delicate that way), but in the end I think I liked it more than he did. It was a good read but I wanted more.

Book Review: "The Lucky Ones" by Liz Lawson

Liz Lawson's The Lucky Ones is an emotional, timely story that packs such a powerful punch.

When a deadly shooting occurred at her school, May survived by hiding in a closet. But her brother and her friends were among those killed. She knows she should feel lucky but she doesn’t. No one understands the guilt, the hurt, the anguish she feels as her life is falling apart around her. All she wants to do is lash out, but one friend tries to keep her close.

After the shooting, Zach’s life changed in a different way. When his mother decides to become the shooter’s defense attorney, he loses everything. His girlfriend dumps him, his friends ostracize him, and he spends most of his time with only his little sister and the one friend who still cares about him.

Neither May nor Zach feels like they are really living anymore, and both wonder if it’s worth going on with life. But when the two meet, it’s the first time in a long while they’ve felt something other than grief or anger or guilt or pain. Can two people barely surviving help each other live again?

I thought The Lucky Ones provided a really interesting perspective on the survivors of a school shooting. Sadly, there are far too many of these shootings occurring these days, so this story is really relevant.

At times, as you’d imagine, this book got a bit heavier than I could handle, but it was a really well-told and moving story that definitely made me think.

NetGalley, Random House Children's, and Delacorte Press provided me a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Book Review: "Cover Your Tracks" by Daco S. Auffenorde

Daco Auffenorde's thriller, Cover Your Tracks, is a heart-pounding thriller that reads like it would make a great movie.

Margo Fletcher is traveling by train from Chicago to Spokane, Washington, for a family event. The weather forecast called for light snow, but the storm seems a little heavier than expected. Somewhere in an isolated portion of the Rockies, the train starts to brake but initially no reason is given. Since Margo is eight months pregnant, she’s justifiably concerned about what is going on.

Nick Eliot, a former Army Ranger, knows trouble is ahead. A massive avalanche is headed directly for the train. He warns everyone in their train car to move to the back of the train for safety, but since the conductor tells everyone to stay seated, only Margo is willing to listen. Is Nick right? Should she trust this man she’s never met with her life and her baby’s?

She decides to follow Nick, and they make their way to the last train car, which he uncouples to separate them. Not long after, the avalanche engulfs the rest of the train, destroying it and throwing the cars into a ravine far down below. It is doubtful anyone could have survived.

Now they’re alone in the middle of nowhere, in the midst of a winter storm. A rescue crew may never find them, if they even realize the train is missing right away. Nick and Margo try to find shelter but must contend with the elements and worry about wild animals looking for food, with Margo growing increasingly concerned about her baby.

But as Nick leads her to a watchtower on top of a mountain—away from where she thinks they need to go to find help—Margo has to decide whether to trust this stranger. Both have secrets that have brought them to this moment—will these secrets impact their ability to survive?

When I first heard about Cover Your Tracks I joked that it sounded like a Liam Neeson movie, and it really does. The plot alternates between the present and both of Margo and Nick’s backstories. It’s an intense story at times and so atmospheric—I really felt like I could be out in the middle of the storm. There are lots of twists and turns which take you to a very different place than I expected.

One warning: the book is a bit graphic in its descriptions of violence and killing animals. It’s not gratuitous but it could be a trigger for some. (You could skim over those parts and not miss anything.) But this is definitely one pulse-pounding read!

Book Review: "The Four Winds" by Kristin Hannah

The newest novel from Kristin Hannah, The Four Winds, proves that sometimes being tough is the only choice you have.

At 25, Elsa’s family has told her that she is too old and too ugly to ever find a husband, which in Texas in 1921 is the only path for a woman. So she’s expected to not make a fuss, stay out of the way, and live an uneventful life until the time comes when she must care for her parents.

But that’s not an acceptable option for her, and when she meets Rafe Martinelli, she makes a decision that changes the course of her life. When she finds herself shunned by her family and forced out of her home, her only choice is to marry a man she barely knows and move onto his family’s farm.

Thirteen years later, in the midst of the Great Depression and an unprecedented drought, the farm is dying. While Rafe is desperate to move to California where opportunities are rumored, his parents don’t want to leave their farm, and Elsa is determined to help them keep fighting. This causes friction in their marriage and with their older daughter, Loreda, who wants out of the relentless drought and dust storms, too.

When it gets to the point where the survival of her children are at stake, Elsa summons every last ounce of bravery she has and drives to California with them. Yet what they find when they get there, the lives they must pursue, will change each of them.

This is a beautifully written, emotional piece of historical fiction. Hannah once again proves herself an impeccable storyteller. Elsa is an exceptional character and her story is one of courage and exceeding what everyone has always told you that you could accomplish.

At times the darkness and emotions of this story feel a little relentless even though it’s fact-based, and I’ll admit I found Loreda’s character difficult to like. But this is definitely a book that moved me and once again made me thankful to those who came before.

NetGalley and St. Martin's Press provided me with a complimentary advance copy of The Four Winds in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Book Review: "The Sunlight Pilgrims" by Jenni Fagan

People often comment that there are not many original ideas out there. While that seems true sometimes, at other times you find a book that is pretty unique in certain ways, and isn't at all what you expected. That was definitely the case with Jenni Fagan's The Sunlight Pilgrims. While not everything meshed the way I had hoped, this was a unique and surprising book, and it definitely has stayed in my mind.

It's 2020 and the world is in the grips of the coldest temperatures on record, hitting below zero every day. There's snow in places there never was, rivers are overflowing and then freezing, and a giant iceberg is making its way from Norway to the coast of Scotland. People are panicking, rioting in the streets, and wondering if this is the end of the world. Those who can are fleeing to warmer temperatures, not that there are many places where those can be found.

While he'd like to head to what he believes are warmer climes in Vietnam, Dylan MacRae is on a mission. Reeling from the losses of both his beloved grandmother and mother, and with his family's movie theater being foreclosed upon, he travels to the Scottish Highlands town of Clachan Fells, where his mother apparently bought a caravan (trailer) before her death. He hopes to eventually get to the Orkney Islands, where his grandmother was from, to scatter both of their ashes.

When he arrives in Clachan Fells, he finds a community of people trying to understand what is coming and fearing the worst, expecting that this endless, brutal, unprecedented winter will be deadly for so many. He meets Constance Fairbairn, a survivalist of sorts, and her 12-year-old daughter, Stella, both of whom intrigue him in different ways. Constance lives by her own set of rules and has been judged by her fellow residents for years, and doesn't seem to care—except where their judgment affects Stella.

"Before it was just poverty, pestilence, terrorists, pedophiles, drugs, eating disorders, online grooming, meteors skimming a bit too close for comfort. Now every single person...looks like they are terrified they're all about to become frozen corpses."

Dylan quickly gets enmeshed in Clachan Fells life, and becomes a vital part of Constance and Stella's lives. His presence is welcomed by some but not all, and he finds he is actually more connected to the community than he thought. Stella struggles with identity and self-esteem issues, and is torn between wanting the approval of others and not caring. Beyond worrying about their survival, Constance wants her daughter's life to be easier than hers has been.

This book was intriguing and had surprising emotional depth, as I expected the book to be more about surviving this somewhat-dystopian environment. The characters were tremendously compelling and I found myself rooting for them. I just felt at times the book didn't get fully enmeshed in its plot, and brought up points that it never resolved. My biggest pet peeve about this book, however, was that Fagan didn't use quotation marks when characters spoke, simply m-dashes, so you couldn't distinguish when different characters were talking to one another, or even who said what.

Still, this is more a story about finding yourself and tapping into your own strength than it is about surviving the elements. Jenni Fagan is a talented storyteller, and this book will remain in my mind for a while.

NetGalley and Crown Publishing provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "The Last One" by Alexandra Oliva

Alexandra Oliva's The Last One is really thought-provoking. A look at the making of and the people involved with a Survivor-type television show, crossed with a bit of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, this wasn't quite what expected, and it moved me more than I thought it would.

In the Dark is going to be the next big thing in television. A wilderness survival show with an enormous budget, the producers are ready to pull out all of the stops—and the truth is, no one knows just how far the show will go, or how it will end. They assembled a cast that the viewers will both love and love to hate—there are those who seem like real threats to win the competition, those who seem like appealing people the audience will root for, and those who will make good television. (Sounds like every reality show out there, doesn't it?)

We get glimpses of the characters, labeled by the nicknames those involved with the show use to refer to them—Tracker, Carpenter Chick, Air Force, Black Doctor, Waitress, Exorcist, Engineer, Banker, Rancher, Asian Chick, and Cheerleader Boy. But it is Zoo, a researcher at a wildlife refuge near her home, whose eyes we see the show, and the entire book through.

As the episodes of the show unfold, it doesn't seem too surprising if you've ever watched Survivor. But the behind-the-scenes stuff is coupled with a more real survival tale—the contestants are sent out on an individual challenge, and during that something catastrophic happens. Zoo keeps moving forward in her pursuit of her next clues, going where she believes the show wants her to, and starts encountering props and situations more disturbing than what they've had to face thus far. Yet even as she grows physically and emotionally weaker, she keeps on, desperate to make it home to her husband and, if possible, to win.

"If I allow myself to doubt, I'll be lost. I can't doubt. I don't. It all makes sense."

This book was a very interesting juxtaposition between the entertainment world and the much bleaker "real" world that Zoo faces. Having watched Survivor in its first few seasons, as well as a few other reality shows here and there, I didn't find that part of the plot as interesting as Zoo's own journey was. And while I felt it took a little too long for Zoo to realize what had happened, and what was around her, that part of the plot was compelling and tremendously moving, as a person so mentally and physically exhausted, fighting her own psychological demons even before joining the show, has to accept a new, well, reality vastly different than anything she was expecting.

Oliva is really talented, and she really balanced the more lighthearted and sensational elements of the plot with the weightier ones. I thought Zoo was a pretty fascinating character, but I almost wish we had gotten to know a few of her fellow competitors a little bit more, although I understand the point of the book. Beyond the items I mentioned above, my only other criticism is that, while the book refers to the show's characters by their nicknames, Zoo refers to them throughout the book by their first names, which we were never privy to, so it was difficult to keep straight in some cases whom she was thinking about. (I'm hoping that might be caught in the last round of edits before publication.)

This is a thought-provoking, well-written, and emotionally satisfying book. It may not necessarily surprise, but it definitely will make you think, and perhaps look at your favorite reality shows a little differently.

NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group — Ballantine provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!