Colleen Mondor Reviews Tender Beasts by Liselle Sambury

Tender Beasts, Liselle Sambury (McElderry Books 978-1-665-90352-3, $19.99, 404pp, hc) February 2024. Cover by Elena Masci.

I strongly advise you block out a weekend for reading Liselle Sambury’s Tender Beasts, because once you start down this multi-layered family drama, murder mystery, possible deal-with-a-demon cautionary tale, you are not going to be able to set it aside. At the center of the propulsive narrative are a lot (A LOT) of ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews The Parliament by Aimee Pokwatka

The Parliament, Aimee Pokwatka (Tordotcom 978-1-250-82097-6, $27.99, 320pp, hc) January 2024.

Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film The Birds was based, a bit, on a Daphne du Maurier short story of the same name which itself was inspired by du Maurier’s experience seeing a farmer attacked by a flock of seagulls. (If you never saw The Birds, head to YouTube for the phone booth scene.) Author Aimee Pokwatka takes the ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire

Mislaid in Parts Half-Known, Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom 978-1-250-84850-5, $22.99, 160pp, hc) January 2024. Cover by Robert Hunt.

Seanan McGuire’s latest entry in her Wayward Children series includes several old favorites who come together and relearn the meaning of the word ‘‘home.’’ Mislaid in Parts Half-Known opens in Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Chil­dren and includes a foray through some doors that lead into the fairyland of Prism, a visit ...Read More

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The Year in Review 2023 by Colleen Mondor

2023 in Review by Colleen Mondor

There is a bit of a haunted story in my paternal fam­ily history that has preoc­cupied me since my father first shared hints of it when I was a teenager. We were talking about his father, my Pepere, who was born in Quebec and emigrated at the age of 13, with his family, to Rhode Island. I heard a few brief anecdotes over the ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Cocktails & Chloroform by Kelley Armstrong

Cocktails & Chloroform, Kelley Armstrong (Subterranean Press 978-1-64524-161-4, $45.00, 136pp, hc) December 2023. Cover by Maurizio Manzieri.

Fans of Kelley Armstrong’s Rip Through Time series with protagonist Mallory Atkinson will be happy with her heroine’s latest exploits in the novella Cocktails & Chloroform. Trapped in the Victorian era after a mysterious circum­stance found the homicide detective stuck in the body of Catriona Mitchell, a housemaid who was strangled ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee and Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind, Molly Mc­Ghee (Astra House 978-1662602115, $24.95, hc, 304pp) October 2023.

On the fourth page of Molly McGhee’s debut novel, the titular character Jonathan Abernathy is described as a young man drowning in financial debts. They primarily include ‘‘(1) a series of unpaid credit cards inherited after the death of his parents’’ and ‘‘(2) the legal culminations of the decisions he made as a 17-year-old ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Midnight at the Houdini by Delilah S. Dawson and The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk

Midnight at the Houdini, Delilah S. Dawson (Delacorte 978-0593486795, $18.99, hc, 357pp) September 2023. Cover by Aurelie Maron.

Initially, Delilah S. Dawson’s Midnight at the Houdini is all about 16-year-old Anna Alonso’s very stressed-out day. Her beloved older sister is getting married, and because no one else in her family seems to worry about details to the degree that Anna does, she has organized the whole thing. While checking ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Hazardous Spirits by Anbara Salam

Hazardous Spirits, Anbara Salam (Tin House 978-1-959030-13-3, $17.95, tp, 368pp) October 2023. Cover by Beth Steidle.

Anbara Salam’s historical novel Hazardous Spirits opens with some unexpected fam­ily drama for protagonist Evelyn Hazard. Firmly established as a middle-class housewife in 1923 Edinburgh, she is happy with her accountant husband, Robert, and living in close proximity to her dear sister, Kitty, and her family. Still griev­ing from the death of their ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

A Study in Drowning, Ava Reid (Harper Teen 978-0-06-321150-6, $19.99, hc 384 pp) Septem­ber 2023.

Ava Reid’s beguiling fantasy A Study in Drown­ing is set in the country of Llyr, which is reeling from the latest in a long-running series of border disputes with its neighbor Argant. Somewhat reminiscent of Wales, Llyr possesses a strong national identity which is heavily dependent upon the legacies of the seven ‘‘Storytellers’’, creators ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Who Haunts You by Mark Wheaton

Who Haunts You, Mark Wheaton (Off Limits Press 978-8-9879250-1-0, $13.00, 170pp, tp) Sep­tember 2023.

Mark Wheaton’s Who Haunts You is a thriller featuring a determined teen detective who cannot be sure of anything she uncovers. Rebecca ‘‘Bex’’ Koeltl is a high school senior in a school that is suddenly suffering an alarming number of student deaths. Yunwen Lei runs off a cliff, Darrell Anolik drives into a delivery van, ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

Witch of Wild Things, Raquel Vasquez Gilliland (Berkley 978-0-593-54857-8, $17.00, 336pp, tp) September 2023.

Witch of Wild Things is exactly the sort of magi­cal romance that pairs perfectly with a dreary fall evening. It’s all about making sweet conversation while tramping through the woods, cooking some amazing meals, and negotiating a ton of family drama. There is also a romance rooted in a years-past teen crush that carries its ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews House of Roots and Ruin by Erin A. Craig

House of Roots and Ruin, Erin A. Craig (Dela­corte Press 978-0-593-48254-4, $19.99, 544pp, hc) July 2023.

Erin A. Craig follows up House of Salt and Sorrows, her reimagining of the fairy tale ‘‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses’’, with a new novel focused on the youngest of the sisters introduced in that title. House of Roots and Ruins is all about Verity Thaumas, who has lived with her older sister Camille ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Rook by William Ritter

Rook, William Ritter (Algonquin 978-1-64375-240-2, $17.99, hc, 368pp) August 2023.

William Ritter returns to his successful Jackaby series with Rook, a new, somewhat standalone entry that will delight fans. Focussed on Jacka­by’s sidekick, Abigail Rook, the title follows the near-catastrophic events of The Dire King, the book where everything changed for the citizens of New Fiddleham, and most especially for Abigail. Now the one who wields a ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz by Garth Nix

Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz, Garth Nix (Harper Voyager 978-0-06-329196-6, $30.00 hc, 304 pp) August 2023.

Published over the past 15 or so years, Garth Nix’s tales of Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz are now collected in a single volume titled after the two characters. Set in a variety of towns and kingdoms across an imagined landscape, these stories of sword and sorcery follow a knight and his powerful ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould

Where Echoes Die, Courtney Gould (Wednes­day Books 978-1-250-82579-7, $20.00, hc, 337pp) June 2023. Cover by Peter Strain.

I so rarely see young adult science fiction that a short description of Courtney Gould’s Where Echoes Die was enough to get me ex­cited. (Abandoned military structures! Mysteri­ous ‘‘treatment’’ center! An entire town suffering from sporadic memory loss!) Two sisters pursue their deceased mother’s obsession of a small town in Arizona. On ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews The Wonder State by Sara Flannery Murphy

The Wonder State, Sara Flannery Murphy (MCD/Farrar, Straus, Giroux 978-0-374-60177-5, $28.00, hc, 371pp) July 2023.

Arkansas writer Sara Flannery Murphy sets her latest novel, The Wonder State, in familiar territory as she tells the story of five former friends called home in response to foreboding letters each received, declaring ‘‘You promised.’’ Jay, Charlie, Hilma, Matt, and Iggy have found varying degrees of personal and professional success since they ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou

Threads That Bind, Kika Hatzopoulou (Razor­bill 978-0-593-52871-6, $19.99, hc, 341pp) May 2023. Cover by Corey Brickley.

Kika Hatzopoulou’s Threads That Bind is a mystery, heavily steeped in mythology, set in the marvelously complicated half-sunken city of Alante. Along with her two older sisters, teen Io Ora is a descendant of the Fates who now uses her abilities to aid her work as a private detective. Early in the novel ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves by Quinn Connor

Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves, Quinn Con­nor (Sourcebooks Landmark 978-1-7282-6387-8, $16.99, tpb, 368pp) June 2023.

Welcome to Prosper, Arkansas, a small lakeside town with a group of quirky residents, an economy that exists largely off of vacation traffic, and a tragic history that is about to turn the lives of everyone in the immediate area upside down. Cassie is a local, deeply entrenched in community, busy running her great ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews The Shadow Sister by Lily Meade

The Shadow Sister, Lily Meade (Sourcebooks Fire 978-1-7282-6447-9, $18.99, hc, 336pp) June 2023. Cover by Shaylin Wallace.

When did Lily Meade’s The Shadow Sister grab my attention? With the first sentence, which sets the tone for everything that follows: ‘‘My sister is a bitch, but that doesn’t mean I want her dead.’’ Sutton is missing, and Casey, of course, wants her found. No sister would want any different, no ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill by Rowenna Miller

The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill, Rowenna Miller (Redhook 978-0-3163-7847-5, $18.99, tpb, 416pp) April 2023. Cover by Lisa Marie Pompilio.

The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill is a straightforward “don’t make a bad deal with the Fae or it will come back to bite you” kind of novel. Author Rowenna Miller blends a historical fiction about two sisters struggling with sibling conflict alongside a tale of the Fae at ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews The Making of Yolanda La Bruja by Lorraine Avila

The Making of Yolanda La Bruja, Lorraine Avila (Levine Querida 978-1-64614-243-9, $19.99, tpb, 384pp) April 2023.

Bronx teen Yolanda Alvarez is hard at work living her best life when everything goes to hell in the most traumatic of ways. As the protagonist of The Making of Yolanda la Bruja, Yolanda is active in high school, devoted to her best friend, Victory, enjoying a sweet romance with the very ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Harvest House by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Harvest House, Cynthia Leitich Smith (Candle­wick Press 978-1-5362-1860-2, $19.99, hc, 3294pp) April 2023. Cover by Britt Newton.

 

A ghost is front and center in Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Harvest House, which begins with Celeste, who haunts the crossroads of a typical Midwestern town. She hovers within the boarded building of what was K.V.’s Chicken Restaurant and Lounge, right across the street from a popular family pub. She watches ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Into the Light by Mark Oshiro

Into the Light, Mark Oshiro (Tor Teen 978-1-250-81225-5, $19.99, hc, 437pp) March 2023. Cover by Carolina Rodriguez Fuenmayor.

Mark Oshiro masterfully takes on an enor­mously important topic with his com­pelling, realistic, horrific novel, Into the Light. In a narrative framed by three different timelines and told from two teen perspectives, Oshiro takes readers into the dangerous world of religious fundamentalism and conversion therapy. The primary protagonist, Manny, is ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

Divine Rivals, Rebecca Ross (Wednesday Books 978-1-250-85743-9, $18.99, hc, 368pp) April 2023.

Divine Rivals, first in the new Letters of En­chantment series from Rebecca Ross, takes a bit of inspiration from rivals-to-romance epistolary romcoms like You’ve Got Mail and a lot of WWI research (including trench warfare, grenades, and poison gas) to craft an exciting adventure about Iris and Roman who are destined to be together forever if ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath, Garth Nix (Te­gen Books 978-0-06-323633-2, $19.99, hc, 348pp) March 2023. Cover by Leo Nickolls.

Garth Nix follows up his splendid fantasy adventure The Left-Handed Booksell­ers of London with the further exploits of Merlin, Vivien, Susan, and the extended St. Jacques family in The Sinister Booksellers of Bath. The worldbuilding expands, with more details about the work of the various booksell­ers and how they ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, Roshani Chokshi (Morrow 978-0-06-320650-2, $27.99, hc, 304pp) February 2023. Cover by Elena Masai.

Roshani Chokshi has an exceptional ability to write dramatically different but wonderful books. Her Gilded Wolves series, aimed at older teens, is solidly in ‘‘magical James Bond-ian’’ territory (if such a thing exists) and follows a group of misfit gifted teens who break into places that seem im­possible to ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire

Lost in the Moment and Found, Seanan Mc­Guire (Tordotcom 978-1-250-21363-1, $21.99, 160pp, hc) January 2023. Cover by Robert Hunt.

Seanan McGuire continues her Wayward Children series with Lost in the Moment and Found, a story of a child who escapes what seems to be certain victimhood and finds safety (sort of) through one of McGuire’s mysteri­ous world-hopping doors. The author places a warning to readers at the beginning ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Dream to Me by Megan Paasch

Dream to Me, Megan Paasch (Feiwel & Friends 978-1-250-81705-1, $18.99, 384pp, tp, hc) January 2023.

For half-sisters Eva and Rhonda Sylvan in Megan Paasch’s Dream to Me, life has recently taken a terrible turn. Their mother long gone and Eva’s father just killed in an accident, Rhonda has assumed guardianship of teen Eva, although she is barely equipped for the task. Forced by finances to leave their New ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Fraternity by Andy Mientus

Fraternity, Andy Mientus (Amulet 978-1-4197-5470-8, $19.99, 354pp, hc) September 2022. Cover by Allison Colpoys.

As Andy Mientus’s gripping novel Frater­nity opens, Zachary “Zooey” Orson Jr. has just transferred to the elite Blackfri­ars School for Boys. Fleeing a scandal from his previous high school, Zooey is doing his best to look and act like the kid that he is “supposed” to be and not a teenage boy attracted to other ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews The Wicked Remain by Laura Pohl

The Wicked Remain, Laura Pohl (Source­books Fire 978-1-7282-2890-7, $10.99, tp, 462 pp) September 2022. Cover by Ray Shappell.

Laura Pohl finishes off her Grimrose Girls duology with The Wicked Remain and there is a lot, A LOT, to absorb in this 450+ page read. Picking up soon after the events of The Grimrose Girls, our four heroines are reeling from the discovery in that book that they are ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews Grave Things Like Love by Sara Bennett Wealer

Grave Things Like Love, Sara Bennett Wealer (Delacorte 978-0-593-70355-7, $12.99, tp, 332pp) November 2022. Cover by David Seidman.

In Sara Bennett Wealer’s Grave Things Like Love, protagonist Elaine Gillies has the dubious distinction of being ‘‘funeral girl,’’ a teenager whose family has owned the local funeral home, where they also live, for more than a century. Caught between her frazzled and overworked parents, who constantly pile tasks onto ...Read More

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Colleen Mondor Reviews The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Sangu Mandanna (Berkley 978-0-593-43935-7, $17.00, tp, 316 pp) November 2022. Cover by Lisa Perrin.

For much of the time I was reading Sangu Mandanna’s The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, I was waiting for the other literary shoe to drop. Something bad, I was certain, had to happen. As British witch Mika Moon took on the job of educating a ...Read More

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