Wednesday, May 24, 2023

What We've Been Reading | May 24, 2023

Today our team has some new and newish horror reads to share. We hope you find something to add to your tbr pile!




Ashthorne by April Yates

In the aftermath of WWI, Adelaide Frost is on the run from a family who do not understand her. Hoping to do some good, she signs up to become a nurse at Ashthorne, a manor house newly designated as a convalescence home for injured soldiers. She quickly falls in love with the owner’s daughter, Evelyn, who hides a warm heart beneath a chilly exterior. But Evelyn has her suspicions about what’s really happening at the hospital, and as Adelaide helps her investigate, it soon becomes apparent that there are more inhabitants residing at Ashthorne than first thought.

A romantic Gothic treat perfect for fans of Sarah Waters and The Haunting of Bly Manor, Ashthorne is the debut novella by Derbyshire author April Yates, who was inspired to tell this story by the Ice Age art carved into the walls of local caves.


Teresa's Teaser Review

"Ashthorne is moody and atmospheric and romantic and really what more do you want from the Gothic? Read for the romance, stay for the secrets."

Read Teresa's entire review at Goodreads.





Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

From highly acclaimed, bestselling author Ava Reid comes a gothic horror retelling of The Juniper Tree, set in another time and place within the world of The Wolf and the Woodsman, where a young witch seeks to discover her identity and escape the domination of her abusive wizard father, perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson and Catherynne M. Valente.

A gruesome curse. A city in upheaval. A monster with unquenchable appetites. 

Marlinchen and her two sisters live with their wizard father in a city shifting from magic to industry. As Oblya’s last true witches, she and her sisters are little more than a tourist trap as they treat their clients with archaic remedies and beguile them with nostalgic charm. Marlinchen spends her days divining secrets in exchange for rubles and trying to placate her tyrannical, xenophobic father, who keeps his daughters sequestered from the outside world. But at night, Marlinchen and her sisters sneak out to enjoy the city’s amenities and revel in its thrills, particularly the recently established ballet theater, where Marlinchen meets a dancer who quickly captures her heart.

As Marlinchen’s late-night trysts grow more fervent and frequent, so does the threat of her father’s rage and magic. And while Oblya flourishes with culture and bustles with enterprise, a monster lurks in its midst, borne of intolerance and resentment and suffused with old-world power. Caught between history and progress and blood and desire, Marlinchen must draw upon her own magic to keep her city safe and find her place within it.

Goodreads | Amazon

Laurie's Teaser Review

"I recommend it to anyone looking to become immersed in a very dangerous, sometimes gross world of magic and monsters where one young woman struggles to overcome a lifetime of abuse and manipulation. It’s a beautiful nightmare. You should definitely read it if this sounds like your thing."

Read Laurie's entire review at her blog Bark At The Ghouls.






Eve by Victor LaValle, Jo Mi-Gyeong & Brittany Peer

A young girl, Eve, raised in a virtual reality embarks on a deadly cross-country quest to save her father… and our dying planet.

WHAT WORLD HAVE WE LEFT OUR CHILDREN?

When the ice caps melted, most of humanity was lost to the hidden disease that was released. Now, a mysterious girl named Eve has awoken in secret and must deal with a world that’s nothing like the virtual reality she was raised in.

In order to save her father and accompanied only by Wexler, her robotic caretaker and protector sheathed in her favorite teddy bear, Eve must embark on a deadly quest across the country. Along the way, she will have to contend not only with the threats of a very real world that await her, but the lies we tell our children in the name of protecting them.

In the spirit of his critically acclaimed and award winning novel Changling, novelist Victor LaValle (The Ballad of Black Tom, Victor LaValle’s Destroyer) and illustrator Jo Mi-Gyeong (The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance) deliver a powerful dystopian adventure about the world we leave behind… and the price that must be paid to restore life to a dying planet.

Collects Eve #1-5.

Goodreads | Amazon

Teresa's Teaser Review

"Eve is a dystopian, mecha filled, heroine’s journey that did not disappoint. "

Read Teressa's entire review at Goodreads.




Thank you for joining us today! We hope you found something to add to your tbr list. Please share your recent reads with us in the comments below.




Our Reviewers






Teresa creates the Shelf Edition posts, creates bookish lists and is a contributing reviewer at Horror Spotlight. You can find Teresa on Goodreads, and on Twitter.





Laurie is one of our Horror Spotlight Admins. Laurie creates our review posts, coordinates review requests, helps out with our Instagram/Twitter accounts, and is a contributing reviewer. You can find Laurie on her blog Bark’s Book Nonsense, on Twitter as @barksbooks, on Instagram as @barksbooks, and on Goodreads where she never shuts up about the things she's reading.


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