Winterwood - Shea Ernshaw

 My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Be careful of the dark, dark wood...especially the woods surrounding the town of Fir Haven. Some say these woods are magical. Cursed, even.

Rumored to be a witch, only Nora Walker knows the truth. She and the Walker women before her have always shared a special connection with the woods. And it's this special connection that leads Nora to Oliver Huntsman, the same boy who disappeared from the camp for wayward boys weeks ago - and in the middle of the worst snowstorm in years. He should be dead, but here he is alive and left in the woods with no memory of the time he'd been missing.

But Nora can feel an uneasy shift in the woods at Oliver's presence. And it's not too long after that Nora realizes she has no choice but to unearth the truth behind how the boy she has come to care so deeply about survived his time in the forest and what led him there in the first place. What Nora doesn't know, though, is that Oliver has secrets of his own - secrets he'll do anything to keep buried, because as it turns out, he wasn't the only one who went missing on that fateful night all those weeks ago."

I'm not a huge fan of spooky stuff, but this book is eerie in the most perfect way. The world-building is excellent, and the scene is set so well that from the first page I found myself transported into Nora's cold, snowy, dimly-lit world. The moment Oliver's green eyes snap open, I was enthralled, and from the first page to the last, I didn't want to close the book.

I pride myself on being someone who sees twists coming and can call the end of a book, movie, TV show, what have you early on, but this one kept me guessing. There were multiple scenes that had me gasping out loud, and even a few "ohhhh shit"s that got out before I could stop them. Shea Ernshaw will keep you on your toes! Ultimately, even if you are able to call twists and turns where I wasn't, this book is worth it for the ambiance, the mood, and the excerpts from the Walker spell book interspersed throughout the story.

Plus, as a bonus, you know I judge books by their covers, and THAT COVER THOUGH.

Whichever version you get, I could eat it with a spoon. And I don't know about the dark cover, but the white also features blue sprayed edges to match, and my god, it is a thing of beauty. Even if I hadn't loved the story from start to finish, I would keep this on my shelf for the cover alone. Everything about this book is art.

Last five books of the year!

 I don't have anything I'm particularly excited to review this week, so I figured instead I would share the last six books I'll be reading this year. (Related: I still kind of can't believe 2020 is ending in two weeks. This was simultaneously the shortest and longest year ever.) I'm a little shocked that I'll be meeting my goal of 150 books read this year, but I'm going to do it, and these are the books that will get me over the finish line!

1. City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

My sister and I have been reading this series three chapters at a time over the course of the year and messaging back and forth about it, and we've finally made it to the last book! Real talk, we aren't going to finish this book by December 31st, so it doesn't really count toward my 2020 total, but I have almost finished City of Bones, the first book in the series, on audio for the second time back-to-back, so I'm applying credit for that toward this one. P.S. if you're interested in listening to City of Bones on audio, don't make the mistake I did and get the CD version. It's a different narrator than the digital version, and it's garbage. Digital audiobook, all the way - Mae Whitman is amazing.

2. Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw

Nora is a Walker, finder of lost things, and one of the only people who can enter the woods without going mad or wandering lost forever. When she discovers a boy from a local camp who went missing weeks before, still alive, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him. But Oliver Huntsman may have secrets neither of them know about... This book is chilling in an awesome way, and I'm really enjoying it, although I may at some point regret choosing it for my bedtime read. Also, I was scrolling through Goodreads and saw that my uncle added this to his "want to read" list a month before he passed away in 2019, so in a weird way I feel like I'm reading it with him, and it brings me a bittersweet joy.

3. Remembrance by Rita Woods

This book bounces around several time periods, following multiple women: Gaelle, a Haitian refugee in present-day Ohio struggling to rebuild her life, Abigail, an enslaved woman in Haiti during the 1790s, and Margot, an enslaved women in New Orleans in the 1850s. Three women learning how to claim their power in a world hell-bent on keeping them down. I think I've had this book checked out since February, waiting to be read and now I'm a little less than halfway through and can't believe I didn't read it earlier. It's a great one to end the year with.

4. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

This was on a list of the next ten books on my TBR a long while back, and yes, I am still working my way through it. It's heavy, but enlightening, and so much of what I am learning is obvious as soon as I read it. It's infuriating realizing how blind I've been to the injustices of mass incarceration, and this should be required reading for everyone in the United States.

5. It's Not Like It's a Secret by Misa Sugiura

I'm reading this to my husband before bed, and we are greatly enjoying it. It follows sixteen-year-old Sana Kiyohara, who is moving across the country just before her junior year of high school, and it's wonderful.

So...those are my last five books of the year. What are you reading to wrap up 2020?

Lycanthropy and Other Illnesses - Kristen O'Neal

 My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Priya worked hard to pursue her premed dreams at Stanford, but a diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease during her sophomore year sends her back to her loving but overbearing family in New Jersey - and leaves her wondering if she'll ever be able to return to the way things were. Thankfully she has her online pen pal, Brigid, and the rest of the members of "oof ouch my bones," a virtual support group that meets on Discord to crack jokes and vent about their own chronic illnesses.

When Brigid suddenly goes offline, Priya does something out of character: she steals the family car and drives to Pennsylvania to check on Brigid. Priya isn't sure what to expect, but it isn't the horrifying creature that's shut in the basement. With Brigid nowhere to be found, Priya begins to puzzle together an impossible but obvious truth: the creature might be a werewolf - and the werewolf might be Brigid. As Brigid's unique condition worsens, their friendship will be deepened and challenged in unexpected ways, forcing them to reckon with their own ideas of what it means to be normal."

Whew, this book was a bit of a ride! We start off following Priya, who is learning to live with the chronic pain, brain fog, and other symptoms brought on by Lyme disease. She finds solace and support in an online community of others with chronic illnesses, invited by her online BFF. When Brigid goes dark online for several days, Priya finally gets worried enough that she drives across state lines to check on her...and discovers not her friend, but a giant wolf. 

Yep, that's right. Brigid's chronic illness is lycanthropy. I was curious how O'Neal would blend this fantasy thread into the real world, and she does a great job. There were a few moments that require a little suspension of disbelief, but overall I thought it was fantastic. What really sells it is the friendships - Priya and Brigid primarily, but also between the other members of "oof ouch my bones," the animal control employee they meet along the way, and honorary mention goes to Priya's siblings, who melted my heart. Also, it's just wonderful to read a book where a bunch of people with chronic illnesses are able to talk frankly about their experiences and commiserate with others who understand what they're dealing with, without the ableism and garbage that pops up on Twitter and other social spaces. I look forward to reading many more books with such awesome disabled representation in the future!

Caverns - Kevin O'Donnell Jr.

This week we've got a special visitor, Jacob Pearce, who has taken a break from streaming on his YouTube channel to share his thoughts on book one of The Journeys of McGill Feighan, by Kevin O'Donnell Jr., Caverns. Interested in books and video games? Visit his channel and subscribe for some great content! Now, on to the review!

Jacob's rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Back Cover Excerpt: (establishes the weirdness early)

“April 1,2083. A gastropod sent to Earth by the Far Being Retzglaran swallows McGill Feighan, age 4 days, and studies him for 71.4 hours.”

Caverns is the first in a series of four science fiction novellas about a young McGill Feighan. The series starts on day four of McGill's life and continues into his adulthood. It is interesting to watch McGill grow, but with his growth comes the growth of his problems.

As a child, McGill is viewed as an oddity due to being swallowed by a space slug. Then he learns he has the mystical abilities of a Flinger (super sciency teleportation). However, we all know the quote about power and responsibility.

With this new gift, McGill is given another societal brand. Now he is both a freak and a flinger. Not all is bad, though. Due to his abilities, he meets one of his primary role models and is given more opportunities. He makes friends and generally grows as a person.

Through all of this the book, it periodically cuts away to “the Far Being Retzglaran,” a description-less alien on a distant planet who seems to have malicious intentions for our young protagonist. Honestly, you learn very little about the FBR in the first book. It mostly just serves to create intrigue and put obstacles in McGill’s path.

As weird as this book, and the rest of the series, is I enjoy them very much. Definitely worth the confusing, tear-jerking read.