This was okay until the ending. I'm so confused by the completion of the story and even though the twist was very predictable, I didn't love the peoplThis was okay until the ending. I'm so confused by the completion of the story and even though the twist was very predictable, I didn't love the people involved nor how the story like legitimately ended on the last page.
I've seen some reviewers talk about how this is very focused on queer subgroups and specific queer stereotypes and I agree and I also don't hate it. Oh mind that people are described as like sword lesbian and such. It's whatever.
I think the best part of this book is just the chaotic bisexualness of it. I really liked the main character and the drag queen and they're kind of hinted at feelings for each other. I'm here for that. I do want to smack her a little bit because like girl there are zombies, maybe focus on staying alive instead of being horny but whatever.
I feel like this book would have a higher star rating for me if I knew it was part of a series. And maybe if a sequel is announced I'll change my rating but as of now it seems to be the only book in the series and if that's how it is ending then it's not worth the read....more
I read this one a whim on Halloween and it was the perfect atmospheric read. It's very eerie and haunting about grief and relationships and monstWow.
I read this one a whim on Halloween and it was the perfect atmospheric read. It's very eerie and haunting about grief and relationships and monsters within and around us.
I wouldn't say it's scary necessarily, but it is pretty gruesome at times so if that's not yours thing, this one may not be for you.
One of the best parts of this book is a fantastic asexual rep. It's repeatedly mentioned and discussed on page and was just genuinely very good.
I don't want to give anything else away so just know that if you're in the mood for a haunting tale, this is a great one to choose. Also the audiobook is excellent....more
I get asked ALL the time by folks offline what kind of books I read and my response is always "as long as it's queAROMANTIC TRANS AUTISTIC MC!!!!!!!!!
I get asked ALL the time by folks offline what kind of books I read and my response is always "as long as it's queer, I'll read it" and I feel like this book really embodies that. I'm not a thriller or horror fan necessarily but this book, and the authors previous, are so unabashedly queer that I was obviously gonna read them and I'm so glad I did because wow, wow wow wow are they fantastic.
I loved Hell Followed With Us and The Spirit Bares Its Teeth but because I'm not a horror person, I often was a little grossed out by the gore and Compound Fracture has it's fair share of blood and gore but it is more of a thriller than a horror. I also really want to throw this book at people who claim that reading isn't political and that our very existence isn't political. Our entire lives are political and the choices we make and the media we consume is a political choice. Andrew Joseph White does a fabulous job explaining that and really pushing that fact home in this book.
I about lost my mind when I realized this book has an aromantic trans autistic main character because we genuinely do not have enough quality books with aromantic representation. This book is about Miles and his family and this generations long feud in his hometown. Started years and years ago, his family and another powerful one in town have this blood feud where members from each family are constantly harming the other. It began with Saint Abernathy and his role in the strikes and workers rights and his murder by law enforcement. Now Miles is the target of the current sheriff and his son.
This book is still very heavy and not for the faint of heart but it also has so much humor and love at the core behind the violence and the tragedy. There's a dog named Lady, who is safe and sound at the end of the book, and some wonderful friendships discovered and explored. There's a powerful display of family dynamics and what it can truly be like to come out in a small town.
I do recommend checking out the content warnings of which there are many before diving into this book, but I genuinely think this is a book that everyone should read and that everyone could find enjoyment in....more
Oof. I wanted to love this so bad. It's a horror summer camp with a serial killer storyline and it was okay but it wasn't great.
In my opinion this boOof. I wanted to love this so bad. It's a horror summer camp with a serial killer storyline and it was okay but it wasn't great.
In my opinion this book tried to be like You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kaylynn Bayron and it just didn't meet my expectations.
I feel like the haunting and supernatural elements are really what didn't work for me. I love the concept of family serial killing and even a horror summer camp but I think there was too many things going on. I also didn't like any of the characters they're all annoying as fuck. And while I think there's a place to have all of your characters be morally gray and annoying it doesn't make for a super enjoyable read.
Another thing that constantly was just nagging at the back of my brain was the fact that the camp counselors were the same age as the campers and I don't think that that's a thing that happens. Maybe it is but it felt super weird and not well thought out at all....more
I don't remember anything about this book except that it's a horror book and it was really really really really good. I genuinely hate past me for beiI don't remember anything about this book except that it's a horror book and it was really really really really good. I genuinely hate past me for being the absolute worst at reviews because I have this listed as a favorite on my spreadsheet and I remember the vibes from it and that I absolutely loved it but that's legit it. One day I'm gonna have to reread it so that I can write an actual review that isn't just "vibes and feelings".
Ooh I remembered something. One of my favorite parts about this book is the queer diversity. There is asexual and aromantic characters and it's not just a thrown out idea but they are fully fleshed out and they're wonderful and I just loved it. Okay that's all....more
Muslim sapphic best friends share a haunted hotel room? Count me in! This is exactly the type of horror and thriller books I like. It is creepy withouMuslim sapphic best friends share a haunted hotel room? Count me in! This is exactly the type of horror and thriller books I like. It is creepy without being terrifying. The ending is super eerie and I love that. All in all this was a solid book and one that I would recommend!
QUEER HORROR!! I love it. I'm such a scared cat and this is my kind of horror. It's not anything crazy scary but it's also the most terrifying becauseQUEER HORROR!! I love it. I'm such a scared cat and this is my kind of horror. It's not anything crazy scary but it's also the most terrifying because it's so realistic. This kinda stuff really happened in the 80s and 90s and it's wild.
This is technically historical because it takes place in 1996 but that makes me feel super old ...more
Okay so this was really good but I finished it weeks ago and didn't write a review quick enough and now I've forgotten everything. Okay so this was really good but I finished it weeks ago and didn't write a review quick enough and now I've forgotten everything. ...more
This was so so good. I cannot express to you how difficult it is to find books with fat queer neurodivergent main characters that are done well and I This was so so good. I cannot express to you how difficult it is to find books with fat queer neurodivergent main characters that are done well and I am thrilled to be able to add this to those that are well done.
The story follows these two best friends who skip a field trip and end up in the shifting corn maze in Indiana where they keep finding dead versions of themselves. We have Sadie who is fat bisexual with ADHD and potentially also autistic and then we have Logan who is queer BIPOC with ADHD. They're best friends and there's no romance and that is such a breath of fresh air.
Anyway so they're stuck in this corn maze and they're trying to figure out how it all works what's going on how to get out how long they've been there etc. They find things from other people and other dead bodies and then there is this underlying theme of exploring how toxic and abusive relationships can impact our lives and futures.
The whole thing is both intensely creepy and super heartwarming and I can't explain it. You just have to trust me and go for it.
The first half of this book is much creepier than the second half. The first half really spends time setting the scene and explaining the elements of the corn maze and the second half focuses a lot on The characters and their own development within this maze and their relationships.
Note to my fellow scaredy cats out there don't listen to this audiobook at 3:00 in the morning in the dark when you're driving to work in Indiana. It is a bad choice okay. I regretted my decision.
I also want to make a note about the fat representation. It is phenomenal. It is both a huge part of this book and just another character trait of Sadie. Sadie is confident in her body but also deals with what all fat people deal with which is this constant need to be smaller and the internalized fat phobia we all have to work through. She also has some other baggage to get through but she has a supportive best friend who acknowledges her fatness without shaming her for it or denying it. She and Logan are both unapologetically queer and unapologetically neurodiverse. This is all told through Sadie's perspective and we get a lot of her thoughts and the way her brain works which is so relatable. She isn't technically written as autistic but I read her as autistic. Something about all of her sensory and thought processes really hit home for me.
I genuinely cannot recommend this book enough It is the perfect spooky season book and I realize that we're past spooky season now but you should still read it....more
THIS BOOK. HOLY FREAKING WOW. IT LIVES IN MY BRAIN RENT FREE NOW.
Murderous sirens and a super diverse cast of characters was exactly the type of enerTHIS BOOK. HOLY FREAKING WOW. IT LIVES IN MY BRAIN RENT FREE NOW.
Murderous sirens and a super diverse cast of characters was exactly the type of energy I needed today.
So, here's the rundown. You've got this story of this big ship that went out to the Mariana Trench to do research and everyone died. The footage that was discovered (because it was funded by an entertainment media company that makes horror movies) showed horrendous creatures brutally murdering the people and everyone wrote it off as a hoax or special effects. Mermaids couldn't be real, right?
Fast forward a few years and Imagine Media wants to send another crew out. They reach out to the best and brightest in marine biology and oceanography and set forth to find the mermaids.
This book is wild. From start to finish, it's nonstop tension. While some say the plot is slow I strongly disagree because you are just waiting for something tragic to happen, and happen it does.
So if you're looking for a keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat book with killer sirens and a diverse and incredibly developed cast of characters, this is the one for you. Please tell me if you've read this or if you do because I want to talk about it.
Olivia: autistic lesbian geek beauty, the face of Imagine entertainment
Tori: bisexual badass scientist who wants to avenge the death of her sister (who died on the first voyage) and learn to understand the mermaids
Hallie and Holly and Heather: the sisters. Deaf identical twins and their older sister. All different types of scientists.
Jacque and Michi: killers. Literally. Like big game killers hired to kill the mermaids if necessary. Honestly bad people but absolute romance goals. Iconic.
Jillian Toth: the original sirentologist, super badass icon, and problem child.
Theo Blackwell: Imagine PR and head of voyage, physically disabled and the estranged husband of Dr. Toth.
Did I copy and paste my caption from my Instagram post about this book that I wrote immediately after finishing it? Yeah pretty much.
I do want to expand upon some of my thoughts because Instagram captions are only so long but holy freaking nuts this book is wild. It was so good and so unique and interesting that I felt like a rubber band ready to snap the whole time because of how much tension I had. I was worried for them! Those fuckers were going to die. And some of them do. This is definitely one of those books where you're going through it and you're like are any of the characters going to survive this? Spoiler yes some of them do but definitely not all of them.
I still can't quite explain why the big game hunter couple were some of my favorite characters. There was something about them being so unlikable yet so in love with each other that just did it for me I guess. There really is someone for everyone if they want them I suppose.
Reread thoughts: I can't figure out if this was more stressful the second time around because you knew what was coming. The scene with Ray and Olivia caused heart palpitations in the bad way and the pool scene. If you know you know. This book is still absolutely amazing and definitely one of my favorites of the year....more
T4t in a queer historical horror book? Sign me the fuck up. This was so good, maybe even better than Hell Followed With Us. I loved Silas and Daphne aT4t in a queer historical horror book? Sign me the fuck up. This was so good, maybe even better than Hell Followed With Us. I loved Silas and Daphne and the entire premise had me sucked in from the beginning.
That being said, this is HORROR and it's got a lot of body gore in it so if that's not your thing, maybe skip this one. There's a lot of medical discussions and even a detailed C-section with no anesthesia performed on page. It's pretty brutal.
It's also worth noting that the audiobook narrator is fantastic. Like genuinely so so so good. The MC is autistic and has a rabbit in their head that spews anxious thoughts and the narrator did a wonderful job portraying all of that. I also love seeing a trans autistic character and seeing brains that work a bit like mine in historical books. We've always been here we just have the words for it now....more
I have so many questions. This was absolutely wild.
I'm a big freaking scaredy cat yet though reading this on my way to work at 330am where I wWHAT!?
I have so many questions. This was absolutely wild.
I'm a big freaking scaredy cat yet though reading this on my way to work at 330am where I work in a small town surrounded by woods was a good idea ...more
This was weird but in a good way I think. Two sisters go to this little town and the older one is investigating some of her dead mom's notes from her This was weird but in a good way I think. Two sisters go to this little town and the older one is investigating some of her dead mom's notes from her journalist career and trying to figure out what is going on in this town because something is up. There's some magical elements and some horror and some suspense with a little sprinkling of sapphic romance. It was a good book and one that I think that I'd recommend to people who like semi cozy / messy mystery horror-esque books. That feels a little bit niche but whatever...more
This was spooky! Like I accidentally listened to a part of it when I was getting ready for bed and had to immediately change to something cuter becausThis was spooky! Like I accidentally listened to a part of it when I was getting ready for bed and had to immediately change to something cuter because I was not about to have nightmares about dripping skeleton girls on my ceiling.
I am not a horror girly but this book was very good. It's about our main character who is a bisexual type one diabetic with a service animal who goes to volunteer at this mansion thingy to help restore it for the historical society but her real purpose there is to uncover the ghost and figure out what happened to the original owners daughter who drowned.
I feel like this book didn't need a romance. It felt like a secondary plot line and I love queer representation and sapphic representation but I don't think it did anything for this book besides give representation. Please don't come for me I just wanted it to be a little bit more developed. It was all of a sudden they were kind of flirting giving each other eyes and then they kissed and then they stopped and then they were dating and it was just a bit muddled for me.
I do want to give the spoiler that the service animal does not die because I legitimately would have skipped this book had I not had that guarantee. I cannot handle dead dogs, okay?
This was a solid read for me. It wasn't a new favorite but it also is one that I am going to hang on to my physical copy so do with that what you will. It will definitely be in my spooky stacks moving forward....more
Very spooky. Very eerie. Very emotional. This is probably the creepiest of Erica Waters books and since I'm such a scaredy cat, I definitely shouldn'tVery spooky. Very eerie. Very emotional. This is probably the creepiest of Erica Waters books and since I'm such a scaredy cat, I definitely shouldn't have listened to it on my morning commute at 3am in the pitch black. Not my best decision. But beyond that, it's about this girl who is determined to clear her brother's name. There's a magical fiddle that summons ghosts and when her stepdad is murdered and her brother arrested for it, she wants to summon her stepdad ghost to set the record straight, but things don't go quite as planned.
This is a very emotional story about grief and family trauma and found family. Bi MC. Sapphic secondary....more
This one was odd and haunting at the same time. It is a story of three girls who are at a retreat style thing that is a competition held by a podcast This one was odd and haunting at the same time. It is a story of three girls who are at a retreat style thing that is a competition held by a podcast to find the bones of a serial killer. One of the girls is the only surviving victim of the serial killer, one of the girls is there to evaluate her own connection with evil, and the other girl is a psych student. All three have different motivations for being at the event beyond just finding the bones and winning money, and when they're paired up we get an intense look at relationship dynamics when they meet a haunted foggy forest.
This is my second book by this author and she does a really wonderful job of writing descriptors and setting where you really can envision the environment that the characters are in. I swear I could feel the fog and it's wild. This one is creepy but it isn't as horror-esque as I was expecting. I will definitely continue to read this author's books during the daylight hours because I am a giant scaredy cat.
Mean Girls meets Plain Bad Heroines at summer camp. Heck freaking yes. I LOVED this book and was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was listeninMean Girls meets Plain Bad Heroines at summer camp. Heck freaking yes. I LOVED this book and was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was listening. The audiobook uses additional sound effects like the buzzing of bees and nature sounds and like background screaming and it actually worked. Sometimes I really struggle with audiobooks that try and include additional noise elements because of my ADHD and neurodivergence, but it was definitely a secondary aspect here and not something that was overlaid during the continuation of the narration. It definitely accented the story and put you into that summer camp vibe.
Wild. That's what this book is. The less you know the better. Go forth and read/listen! It's a perfect book for this time of year from transitioning from summer into spooky season.
This was nothing like what I expected. I will admit that I did not know anything about this book going into it besides that there was asexual represenThis was nothing like what I expected. I will admit that I did not know anything about this book going into it besides that there was asexual representation somewhere. And there absolutely is ace rep and it is explicit and on page and labeled and it is amazing. It is also a secondary character but that's okay.
So anyway, this book is about a group of people / creatures who make up the six big families in the UK and are known as the book eaters. They are made up of paper and ink but look like humans and consume books as their sustenance. It is wild. But it isn't all fairy tales and happily ever afters, because there is a subset in this group called mind eaters who don't crave books but crave minds and memories.
The story follows our MC Devon who is the "protected" princess of her family because girls are rare in book eaters and she must be protected. You see girls are fed fairy tales and then married off in order to produce at least two children for the book eater community? I don't know that community is the correct word but my brain says absolutely no on thinking of new things. So Devon is doing her best to go along with the way things are until her child is born a mind eater and she ends up on the run.
I really appreciated the way this book tackles themes of motherhood and villains and how we as a collective group of individuals come up with who is good and who is bad and what makes a monster. I especially enjoyed that nothing is black or white in this and everything falls somewhere on this grayscale. It's about what sacrifices you're willing to make in order to do what you think is best and there's a lot of people who's best looks very very different in this one.
I will admit that the ending wasn't my favorite but it is set up for sequel I don't know if that's happening but I would definitely read it. It's not that I dislike to the ending it's just that it felt abrupt to me. Maybe it's because there's an extra 20 minutes in the audiobook and I didn't realize that that 20 minutes was dedicated to an author / narrator discussion and so I sat there thinking that I had 20 more minutes of book but all of a sudden it was over. I also kind of wish I didn't listen to the author / narrator discussion and I feel like a terrible person for saying this. I don't know what it was about it but it felt so stilted and totally dragged me out of this immersive world the author had created. I also wasn't a super huge fan of the way the author answered a couple questions so there's that.
Anyway, this is definitely a great book and one that I will recommend. I will say I didn't even realize that the mind eaters are a spin-off of vampires even though that totally makes sense. I didn't realize that until the interview thing at the end. It is kind of a graphic book and there are CW's for violence, blood, murder, domestic abuse, child abuse, and dubious consent.
Lesbian MC (not explicitly labeled on page), asexual SC (explicitly labeled on page)...more
Alrighty. What the actual hell. I cannot handle how freaking ama**spoiler alert** CW: rape, gore, body horror, murder, mutilation, urination, violence
Alrighty. What the actual hell. I cannot handle how freaking amazing this book is. I ended up listening to this a second time almost immediately after the first because I felt like I missed some things and was confused at some of the small details but I still love the book? It was super weird so I just decided to go ahead and re-listen which was a great idea because I somehow fell in love with book even more.
This book is wild. It is intense and graphic and a incredibly compelling look into a plethora of ideas including but not limited to gender/gender roles, masculinity, primal instincts, colonialism, sexuality etc.
So basically we have Alok who is a history professor in India and he is approached out of the blue by this person who claims to be a half werewolf. After this person shows Alok stories he is not convinced but he is interested and ends up transcribing some historical manuscripts for the stranger.
This book is told in multiple sections. You have your present day interactions between Alok and the stranger and then you have these passages back in time from these historical scrolls.
The whole premise of this is that there is a group of people / creatures who are shapeshifters and who devour humans. They have a first and a second self and they murder and eat humans as their primary sustenance. So we have the story of Fenrir who is a shapeshifter and absolutely obsessed with creating life. Shapeshifters cannot create life but Fenrir wants that power. So like a man, he decides to take it. While the rape is not technically on page, it is referred to over and over again and we also get a perspective from the woman he raped and she talks about the horrific experience.
Anyway, we then have Cyrah's story of how she makes a pact with another shape shifter in order to hunt down Fenrir.
This book is better the less you know and I encourage you to slow down your audiobooks or take your time turning pages because there's a lot of information and details packed in here. The writing is dense sometimes but still manageable.
I don't want to talk too much about specifics regarding identity and sexuality but just know that there is a lot of conversations and moments where gender is really broken down as a construct and gender fluidity is embraced. There's also a lot of fluidity within sexuality and while specific terms aren't used on page, especially within the historical documents, there is an on page QPR which isn't called that ,but alas, that sure as heck is what is sounded like.
I'm just going to stop here and say that if you need to skip this book because of the content warnings, that is 100% okay, however if you are able to consume stories with pretty graphic violent and bloody scenes as well as discussions of sexual assault, I highly recommend you give this one a shot. It is unlike anything you have ever read....more
This one is a gothic fantasy horror reimagining of the goblin market. Not only do we get a badass ace MC who saves the day, we also get another timeliThis one is a gothic fantasy horror reimagining of the goblin market. Not only do we get a badass ace MC who saves the day, we also get another timeline with sapphic witch and goblin star crossed lovers. I mean, come on. This one was fascinating. It took me a minute to get into it but after about a 1/4 of the way through I was hooked. I really love seeing on page asexual representation that is more than just hints but not so much that it takes over the entire story. Dont get me wrong, I live for ace coming of age stories, but here, Lou is just asexual and trying to survive in the goblin market and save her family of witches.
I especially liked the alternate timeline with Lou's aunt May and the goblin sapphic love story. It's interspersed throughout Lou's adventure and really keeps you invested in the story.
I loved the ending and just how freaking cool Lou is. Ace heroines for the win ...more
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