Tag: top 2024

These titles are getting really long. I think we need to start just allowing authors to reuse titles from a while ago, or let titles enter the public domain or something. Just a thought I’ve been having a lot lately as I see titles get longer and longer. Anyway.

This book follows Laure, a young ballerina entering the world of professional ballet from her ballet academy in Paris, and the only black woman among her classmates. Despite being the best of her classmates, she still has to struggle tooth and nail because especially in ballet it’s not only talent that gets you far. When the luckiest ballerina in the industry shares her secrets with Laure and invites her to make a deal with the river of blood, Laure discovers a power that she never thought possible and one that she will sacrifice everything for.

This book was a fantastic read. I loved the depictions of dance, the ballet world, and the people who made a deal with a demon in order to accomplish their goals. Some of the characters do feel a bit one note and cartoonish at times, but I wasn’t ultimately bothered by it. Also, while Laure is not necessarily a likable person, she is a wonderful character with a strong voice that I could feel in every part of the narration. I was not supposed to be her, I was meant to listen to her.

Admittedly, it does drag a little in the second half and there’s some romance elements that threaten to overtake the narrative at times, but they didn’t get in the way too much. Those parts were easy for me to skim and I missed nothing in doing so.

Overall, I loved this read. It was a lot of fun, and as a former ballerina1 I found a lot of things very relatable. If you don’t mind a character that may not be morally pure and who has the drive to get exactly what she wants by any means necessary, definitely check it out!

1. In first and second grade, anyway, but it also pertains to all the other kinds of dance I did [↩]

I almost didn’t get to read this one, even though I’ve had it on hold for ages. Brain has been having a lot of issues lately and the health has not been fantastic, but I got it read right before the library had to take it back. Fantastic for me!

The book follows Ben, a man who wants to go for a walk while on a business trip and that walk leads him into a whole alternate world of torment and adventure. Parts of this involve facing his past, his future, and also just generally going through trials and tribulations until he finally reaches the end. There’s monsters, a talking crab, vampires, and potions made of flesh, making for a very surreal experience of a man who just wants to get home to his wife and kids after a walk that has taken him decades.

I thought it was a great read. There’s elements of fantasy, horror, and thriller all interwoven into the journey that feels much more episodic. We also get a lot of insight into Ben and his character, and his reflection on how he’s changed over the decades going through whatever the path decided he needed to go through. It’s also great to see a man who misses his family to this degree while he’s going through all of this, and how it remains his motivation throughout.

The ending was also fantastic. There’s hints throughout the book that lead into it and this is one of the few times where I really don’t want to spoil it because the realization at the very end of the book was so much fun. It wraps up wonderfully and I do really recommend it if you’re looking for a bit of a weird read.

It’s slow, but I’m getting back to all the books! Something about not having a massive physical TBR waiting for me has made me forget that I still have a whole digital library to explore until the holds start coming in.

The story mostly follows Baba Yaga’s house, Thistlefoot, as it is delivered across the ocean to her surviving relatives in the US. Bellatine and Issac are estranged siblings who have both taken very different paths in life, with Issac becoming a professional wanderer and Bellatine becoming a wood smith, both trying to escape their pasts in different ways. They are brought together by the house that has been left to them, as well as the strange man that is after it who spreads distrust and fear wherever he goes.

I love a story that revolves around a sibling relationship, and this one very much does that. Their distance from one another over the years is counterbalanced a lot by their familiarity that doesn’t quite leave in adulthood, and the ways in which they grow as people throughout the story because of one another.

There’s also just a lot of elements that exist in the story that never feel overwhelming while you’re reading, only when you’re trying to put together a summary. Between Bellatine’s trying to come to terms with her magic and Issac’s need to escape himself with his own, there’s a whole other narrative with the man following them, the history of Thistlefoot that is sprinkled throughout, and a travelling band that is determined to stop a rash of people going mad and murdering people around them. Oh, and a living statue and a tragic backstory. It’s well paced and all of the elements are really well woven together.

Overall, I really loved it. It was a lot of fun and I really liked the characters, each of which felt like complete people with their own problems and goals. I would highly recommend giving it a chance if you ever see it.

I have been staring at this book at every Pulp Lit event for ages and I have finally gotten around to reading it! It looked like it was going to be so much fun and there’s a sequel now, so I figured it was time to finally get my hands on it.

The book is told as a series of shorter arcs, each following Stella as she tries to unravel one of the problems that is happening at the Fairmont Manor retirement home. She’s a restless old resident with a keen eye and who seems to not be entirely aware of why she is in the place—Until she is very suddenly reminded. There are hints woven throughout the book about the real reason for her residency, though the book focuses largely on how Stella tries to help the people who live and work under the same roof as her.

The book is a delight. It’s light, funny, and full of these tiny little details of both growing and being elderly, as well as what her life was like before she came to the manor. I especially liked that extra bit of mystery that tied the sometimes very separate arcs together. I will also mention that I guessed wrong on all of the mysteries, but I am not very good at mysteries!

Overall, highly recommend! It was a great, fun read and one that I probably needed among all of the very heavy business-y books that I’ve been diving into of late. Definitely check it out!