The Children, by Melissa Albert — An ARC Review

Cover Image courtesy of
Harper Collins/William Morrow

First, thank you to the publishers for providing this ARC via NetGalley. This is my first read from author Albert, and I didn’t know what to expect.

Here’s what to expect: A dark fairytale about the repercussions of childhood fame. It’s more than that, because it’s dark and edgy with elements of magical realism and characters full of seemingly irreconcilable flaws until (maybe?) the bitter end, and if you like flawed and struggling characters, this book holds promise. I personally tend to favor stories with characters who have their own demons to face, and this delivers on that point. There’s something to hate about almost every character in this book, even the MC, but those unlikable qualities deepen character and lead to sincere moments of empathy.

Guinevere is the lead protagonist here. She, and her older brother Ennis, are the estranged children of a famed children’s book author named Edith Sharpe, who built her characters—even named them—after her own kids. The wild popularity of the book series thrust Guin and Ennis into an unforgiving public spotlight at a young age, and as adults, they have grown into their own famous artistic endeavors while having drifted far apart from their childhood days of protecting each other from their parents’ borderline abuse and neglect. 

Mostly neglect. Mother Edith is too focused on her writing; she has responsibilities to meet the demands of the public after all. And father Llewellyn watches his artistic prowess get increasingly shoved to a back burner due to his wife’s eclipsing fame. And the kids…well, they’re the titled characters of the book series, and rabid fans often choose not to tell the difference between fiction and their reality. Their childhood is robbed in many ways, not only because of public scrutiny, but also because mom and dad are so wrapped up in their artistic and Bohemian lifestyle that they tend to overlook what’s happening to their kids daily.

The story cuts back and forth between that childhood, that leads to a major tragedy, and to the present, where Guin is back in the spotlight with a memoir, and Ennis is embroiled in his own controversies involving his famed antics as a Banksy-like artist. Guin struggles to come to terms with imposter syndrome, with her past, the weird pieces that never fit together from it, and the desire to reconnect with her estranged brother to find answers.

It’s a compelling and well written piece, most definitely, with tough and heartbreaking character moments. That having been said, I personally found some usage of metaphor to be overly ambitious. Enough to pull me out of the story. I’m not wholly satisfied by the ending either, as I don’t feel like Guin truly came to terms with her traumatic childhood—or her imposter syndrome—in a useful way. I’d say more, but fear it will be a spoiler.

All in all, though, it’s an intriguing story with traumatic undertones and a creatively thought out, supernatural tinged, mystery at its core.

Due out June, 2026, find it here, or wherever books are sold.

Book Review -- A House With Good Bones, by T. Kingfisher -- A Horror Comedy Delight

 

Cover Image courtesy of
Tor Nightfire

Do you note how NetGalley asks if you would recommend this book to others? Well, I was talking about and recommending this book before I was finished with it. It’s horror lite, most certainly. But it’s clever and funny and well worth the read. I was reading this, also, upon a visit home to my mom after a bit of a health scare. My mom lives in my grandparents old house in a rather rural neighborhood. Her best friend is a gardener and bird enthusiast, and vultures are a common sighting. So maybe it was karma that led me to this book.

I’m also still viewing the world of entertainment with that Bechdel test lingering at the back of my mind, and T Kingfisher passes that metric without out batting an eyelash. Sam is a bug scientist. She's single, and while the story has a potential love interest in Phil the handyman, Phil is far from the center of attention. Because Mom has been acting weird. Sam needs to know what’s up because the house, that had once been filled with the bright eclectic flavor of her mom, has slowly returned to the "nice and normal" ambiance of Sam's grandmother who, in hindsight, turns out to have been not very nice at all in her quest for normalcy. Also, the local witch down the road has a haven for vultures, and those vultures are very keen on giving attention to Sam's mom's house.

As strange and suspicious events continue to unfold, involving a lack of bugs in the garden and mom's insistence to adhere to grandma's outdated ways, Sam embarks on an investigation that unravels a few unsettling truths about her family history that author Kingfisher masterfully connects to some outrageously true history connected to L. Ron Hubbard.

It’s such a clever and creative little horror story, with how it weaves the seemingly unrelated horror elements into a cohesive whole by the end. I want to give spoilers so bad with this, but I’ll refrain. Suffice to say that it gets five stars and is near guaranteed to entertain.

Free Reads On NetGalley, Plus a Review on Piñata, by Leopoldo Gout

If you aren’t familiar with it, NetGalley is great. It's an opportunity for writers to get their work out to readers for free in order to coax honest reviews of their recently published (or soon to be published) work. It’s an opportunity for readers to get a free look at new books by both new and established writers before the general reading audience sees it.

Of course there’s a catch. Readers are expected to leave a rating or review of the book. But this isn’t like Goodreads, where there's that chance of a new author giving you what for if the review isn’t what they want to hear. No, NetGalley is a trusted intermediary in that process. There's no chat room where author and reviewer might virtually bump into each other. NetGalley is the barrier between the two, giving the reader the chance to give an honest opinion and the author a chance to garner thoughtful feedback for themselves and, potentially, more readers.

I've prefaced this blog with a pitch for NetGalley for two reasons. First, I am going to review a newly released horror novel, Piñata, by Leopoldo Gout. I found it on NetGalley. Second, I'm pitching my own new release, Perfect Sacrifices, which isn’t currently on NetGalley, but will be soon. Perfect Sacrifices is book three of the Perfect Prophet series, and you can find books one and two (Prophet Reborn) on NetGalley for a limited time, starting now. I am so happy with the completed third book, and I hope horror readers will love it. But it needs reviews before people will consider it, and there is a bit of backstory that comes easier if you’re familiar with the first two books. Perfect Prophet and Prophet Reborn have decent professional reviews, but it's the regular reader reviews that people look for. The more, the merrier. So please feel free to check out and review Perfect Prophet and Prophet Reborn for free at NetGalley for the next three months. You can post those reviews elsewhere too, if you want to make an author happy. Here's a link where you can sign up or login if you’re already a member…

https://www.netgalley.com/auth/login

And here’s a link to Perfect Prophet  and Prophet Reborn specifically…

https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/?text=Diane+M.+Johnson

Onto the real reason you’re here, a review on Piñata by Leopoldo Gout.

https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/267318

First, thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the ARC of this intriguing horror novel. I’m a sucker for horror with cultural or historical roots, and Piñata easily fills that bill. Also, I picked this book up on the tail end of reading a book that failed the Bechdel test, and that metric is still at the back of my mind, so… This book has several female main characters who talk to each other about things beyond the men in their lives. Bravo, Mr. Gout. You passed the test!

I enjoyed this horror piece, about a Mexican descended family from NY who travel to Mexico because of mom's work as an architect. It doubles as an opportunity for the woman's school age daughters to get a taste of their heritage but, teenage girls being who they are, it doesn’t end well. But the teenage apathy isn’t the worst of the family’s problems. The mom, Carmen, is a woman in a male dominated field, and the site that her firm is helping renovate into a hotel is an old church with a dark historical past.

The near decimation of the Mexican indigenous population at the hands of conquistadors and Spanish missionaries has left a centuries old stain on this location of the world, and the history and cultural relevance of the piñata is at its core. Once part of Nahua rituals of death and rebirth, it has now become a party favor, a mockery of its original importance and meaning. Until Carmen's youngest daughter Luna shows up and introduces herself to the long silenced spirits of the past who seek revenge. Luna becomes a sort of conduit for those vengeful spirits in a way that that little girl in the movie Poltergeist was used by the voices on a static filled TV. Sort of. I’m not going to provide any more possible spoilers except to say that the idea that Poltergeist uses—the gentrification over sacred land, is an easy comparison.

I enjoyed the book, most definitely, although the build to the horrific end was a little slower than I would have preferred. The slow build pulls the rating down maybe more than it should. I don’t know, maybe it was the writing style that was fine…but it didn’t quite fill me with the looming terror that I felt it should have. Until the end. It ramped up quickly by the last quarter of the book.

I Need A Blog Post This Month But Don't Know Where To Start--A Random Rant Connected By Reviewing, Reviews and Tweet Trolls

 

  Book cover courtesy of Saga Press  

Where I want to start is with Stephen Graham Jones and his latest unreleased book Don't Fear the Reaper, a sequel to My Heart is a Chainsaw, which I totally loved and respected. You see, I requested an ARC of the book via NetGalley, and I got approved, and the review is written, but there are rules, so I am refraining from posting the review here. What you CAN do, is look at all of the reviews posted at NetGalley

Needless to say, I recommend it. No spoilers here. And if, for some impossible reason Stephen Graham Jones happens to check out my blog, maybe he'll remind me to post that review here in tandem with the book's release date in February, 2023. I mean, a self published writer with a few commonalities regarding what inspired her to write horror can dream, right?

No, I'm not a stalker. Geez! But there is a brief aside at the end of the book that Jones reveals about himself, and it has to do with when he was a kid and some older family members asked if they could bunk in with him after having seen Halloween that night at the movies. They were scared. And that little personal tidbit reminded me of my big brother, someone who wanted nothing to do with his little sister from another mother, until he went to the movies and saw The Exorcist. And, much like in Jones's recollection, my brother knocked on my door and asked if he could throw a sleeping bag on the floor and sleep there for the night. Because of The Exorcist. This was the same big brother who used to tease little sister with stories about The Birds, and how those birds had a specific taste for blond haired little girls munching on popcorn.

Aaah, siblings. Still, I could apparently save my brother from the things that went down in The Exorcist. What a superpower! Anyway, I can't post any more about Stephen Graham Jones--not without violating a restraining order (I'm kidding!)--But hey! I'd totally be down for a Misery inspired story from an SGJ point of view.

But if I'm not blogging about Reaper, then what should I blog about? My mind is hyper focused on several reader/writer related things these days. The third installment of my own trilogy, that begins with Perfect Prophet, is in the beta read stage, and that's an agonizing stage for a writer. Accepting a beta read request is a daunting responsibility--I understand this; I've been there on both sides of it. There's an underlying hesitation to beta read. The author wants--or should want honest feedback. That's the point, to see how the story tracks. But if your preliminary readers are friends or family, there's that worry that "not liking" elements of a story will hurt the author's feelings. And if your preliminary readers aren't fans of the genre, well...where to begin?

I also recently read a book from a newish writer that I was excited to read but that turned out to be less than a 4 star review for me. I had a feeling that the author wouldn't take this well if I posted it. But I personally don't feel comfortable leaving highly rated reviews as a favor. So I let the author review it then let them decide if I should post it. They requested I didn't. But they appreciated my opinions. No I'm not going to share the book, the review or the author. But it was a three star review. And the way many newer authors feel about a three star rating is a conundrum. It's the death of their careers! But it's...better than average, so. But I get it. I do. Who wants to be average-ish?

And while we're on the loose topic of book ratings and reviews, let's bring up Twitter Trolls. I got to experience one recently who maybe thought he was clever because he goes by the handle "Lou Bricant." Take out the 'o', squish first name and last together and-- I'm not a fan of banning books, and a politician was posted on video regarding his support of the anti-book banning movement. Mr. Bricant did not like the politician. He posted "your trying to hard."

Someone corrected his grammar. You know how it goes. Mr. Bricant continued to berate anyone who didn't agree with him regarding the politician or those liberal free speech views. "Like anyone is going to take a Tweeter who calls himself Lou Bricant seriously," I said deciding to take that wrong turn and add to the conversation. Mr. Bricant decided I was a "bootlicker."

More hilarity ensued, and after some other follower of the thread decided to buy my book (yes! I got a sale!), Mr. Bricant went on to troll the actual book as if he'd read it. A negative review of sorts... You can see them posted below, at the bitter end.

And, if you've gotten this far in this random blog edition of writers and readers and good and bad reviews, I'd like to address Mr. Bricant's criticisms of the book he "totally read." But first, if you're an author and you are compelled to respond to a legitimate but less than stellar review, don't do it. It's not good form.

Still...

Mr. Bricant,

First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to read my books and leave your thoughts. I value your opinions and am ready to discuss the points you bring to our attention. First, thank you for pointing out that my books are not exclusive. But I'm surprised. It was never my intention to deliberately write an inclusive book. Your observation that it is inclusive is a compliment.

With regard to my books being kinda racist, I'm willing to address that. In The Schoharie, yes there is an underlying current of racism going on in that story. The main character and hero Aaron is of Native American descent, and he has to deal with it at every turn. So yes, there are racist characters in the book. None of them are heroes though. In Perfect Prophet, yeah. the character of Mark in particular could easily be perceived as, at minimum, a casual racist. He calls the band's drummer Patrick his Mexicali Leprechaun, and Patrick isn't even Mexican. But Mark is hooking up with Cleo, and maybe I'm being too subtle, but she is an African American character. I don't necessarily dwell on that, so maybe you missed it. It reasonably puts the character of Mark in a gray area of racist intent though.

In a separate complaint, you noted that my books are not LGBTQ inclusive. Fair enough. My work is not LGBTQ specific. But there is an LGBTQ character in Perfect Prophet whose gender identity isn't really established. Please feel free to read Prophet Reborn, as that character's gender preferences become pretty clear--even moreso in book three that is currently in a beta read phase! I'm excited about it. Maybe you'll like that one better!

And hey, thanks for taking the time to "read the books." Kindness is everything!