Last month I found myself in a bit of a reading slump. Life was busy and many of my library holds were taking their time coming in (yes, they came in all at once so I had some catching up to do!). I had a great time reading through a wide variety of genres in the past month, and I am super excited to share my favorites with you! Below you will find suggestions for genres in fantasy, non fiction, historical fiction, and thriller/horror. I am an eclectic reader! Dear reader, I hope you find something on this list that brings you as much delight as these reads brought to me.
Shutter and Exposure by Ramona Emerson
Ramona Emerson is an up and coming author and I cannot praise her enough. Shutter and Exposure are her first two books following crime scene photographer Rita Todacheene. Before diving into the world of writing, Emerson herself was a crime scene photographer! Her insider knowledge shines as we see Rita process some truly gruesome crime scenes. I found myself wondering if I would have the stomach to take on that profession. I should probably just stick with reading about such things haha! Being Navajo, Emerson brings a new perspective to the thriller genre. Her main character, Rita, was also raised on the Navajo reservation. This background ties into main parts of the novels.
Rita Todacheene was born with a gift. The gift to see dead people. (Think The Sixth Sense Movie). Her family and the tribe told her from a young age that she needed to suppress this ability as it was not right to speak to the dead. This ends up shaping the adult Rita as she struggles to suppress her abilities while trying to maintain her work as a crime scene photographer. In Shutter she finds she can ignore her abilities no longer as she is haunted by the spirit of a young woman who fell from an overpass. The woman tells Rita she did not fall, she was pushed. Rita can find no escape from this woman until the crime is solved. As Rita’s abilities come forward full force, she finds that speaking to the dead may put her own life in jeopardy.
In Exposure Rita Todacheene returns and must stop a prolific serial killer preying on homeless Navajo on the streets of Gallup, New Mexico. This one is fun as Emerson set this novel up with a dual perspective. We get to swap every chapter or so between Rita’s perspective and the killer’s perspective. I was also swept up in Rita’s personal struggle as she comes to accept her own heritage. She never believed in the Navajo spiritual beliefs. She always thought they were a bunch of nonsense and wanted nothing to do with them. The only way Rita can control her abilities is by coming to terms with who she is and accepting help from her grandmother and the tribe’s medicine man. The killer’s perspective is also fascinating and psychologically gripping as he truly believes he is helping people while slowly descending deeper into madness.
If you are down for a thriller series where the main character can talk to dead people, I HIGHLY recommend Shutter and Exposure. This is planned to be a trilogy, but the next book is still on the horizon. Exposure was only released this past year and I grabbed it up as soon as I could as I just cannot get enough of this series. I cannot wait for book three!
Click HERE to request Shutter!
Click HERE to request Exposure!
The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon
Dear Reader, if you have read any of my previous posts, you know I LOVE this author. If you are a fan of monster movies this is a book for you! What makes a monster? Are all monsters evil or just misunderstood beings? These are questions this novel asks and will be spinning around inside your brain for weeks after turning the last page. Like all McMahon novels, The Children on the Hill takes readers back and forth between past and present perspectives.
Present: monster hunter Lizzy Shelley is a successful podcaster, author, and TV personality. She travels the country in her van trying to catch cryptids on camera. Hearing about a missing girl in Vermont that was supposedly taken by the infamous Rattling Jane, Lizzy drops everything to investigate. Why? Lizzy knows that it is not really Rattling Jane. The real perpetrator is a monster she has been chasing for years. A monster who takes the various forms of famed monsters and cryptids and makes girls vanish without a trace. The monster: her sister.
Past: Violet and her little brother Eric live a happy, if strange, life with their Gran, Dr. Hildreth. Gran is head of the psychiatric hospital next door and up the hill. Violet and Eric are very sheltered. Gran homeschools them. They are smarter than other kids their age, but they are not allowed to interact with any other children. They are allowed to go to the library, the drive-in theatre, and sometimes the general store in town, but must not speak to anyone except the librarians. For fun the kids watch monster movies and pretend to hunt monsters in the woods. They even have their own monster hunting club. Everything changes when Gran brings a mysterious girl named Iris home. Gran tells them that Iris is going to be their new sister. She does not talk. She is covered in scars including the large one across her scalp. Who is Iris? Where did she come from? Violet sets out to uncover the truth: one more horrifying than she ever could have imagined.
Click HERE to request The Children on the Hill!
Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton
I have read MANY novels of polar exploration. Many of those have involved the North Pole. This was my second reading of a novel involving South Pole exploration. Dear Reader, if you like history and adventure I highly recommend this novel! Madhouse at the End of the Earth kept me enraptured from start to finish. This is the story of the Belgica expedition lead by Commandant De Gerlache. Other notable crew members include Doctor Frederick Cook (member of many North Pole expeditions; brilliant but eccentric), and Roald Amundsen (the man who became a polar legend). I was surprised to learn that the Belgica expedition was Amundsen’s very first voyage. This man has statues made of him! He is a literal larger than life hero, a man who seems like he jumped out of a fictional adventure novel. Dear Readers, I get excited talking about polar exploration. It is one of my passions learning about these daring expeditions.
The crew of the Belgica did not expect to spend a winter in the ice of Antarctica. They thought it was just a summer scientific expedition (take some samples and measurements and then head on back to safety.) De Gerlache made a choice. Heading to safety does not get you into the history books. Spending a winter in the ice and facing peril does. The Belgica expedition was the first to ever winter in the Antarctic. Any questions you ever had on what this may do to a human body and psyche are answered in this book. The crew faces scurvy, insanity, unknown illness, and the ever present fight against the crushing ice. Yet, the crew also experiences wonders so magical it brings the reader untold delight to see these things through their eyes.
Experience the wonder, the madness, and the peril with the crew of the Belgica in Madhouse at the End of the Earth and find out what penguin tastes like!\
Click HERE to request Madhouse at the End of the Earth!
A Pair of Wings by Carole Hopson
I have always been interested in the stories of strong women who have carved out their place in history. I had been intending for a while to learn more about Bessie Coleman before this novel came to my attention. Bessie Coleman was the first Black female aviatrix. Prior to reading this book, that was all I knew. Though at the time I did not know her story, I was fascinated by her. Look up her image online. That is the face of a strong, determined woman with a personality!
A Pair of Wings is a work of historical fiction. All of the important proven facts of Bessie’s life are in here, but the author takes creative license to fill in blanks and build a story. I think she did a great job of introducing the reader to who this spunky and driven young woman was. I feel like if Bessie and I could have met we would have been friends. She just had that kind of personality about her that shone through in the novel. Bessie was born in a difficult period of American history. Though the Civil War was over, Black people faced often violent discrimination and danger. They also did not have the same opportunities as White people. In Chicago things were changing, but slowly. This is where Bessie moved from the South to try and make something of herself.
From the moment she first heard about the Wright Brothers, Bessie knew that she HAD to fly. There was nothing she wanted more in all the world. The only problem: women, especially Black women, were not allowed to get their pilot’s license in America. Bessie had to work hard for her goal. She worked odd jobs and saved every spare penny. She impressed the right people with her determination and drive. These influential people supported her dream of opening up the sky and proving that Black people can do anything a White person can. She went so far as to learn French and bits of German to be able to attend the best schools in those countries. (It is sad that her own country did not accept her and she needed to travel abroad for the sake of her dream). Bessie Coleman DID achieve her dream and gain her wings. She came back to America and became a legend. She has been an inspiration to generations of women from all ethnicities. I highly encourage you to join this spunky, delightful heroine on her amazing journey in A Pair of Wings. Bessie Coleman sure deserves more attention as an inspirational historical hero!
Click HERE to request A Pair of Wings!
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
The Only One Left is my second read by author Riley Sager. This one did not disappoint. I devoured this one in less than a week, I just could not put it down! If you like a good Gothic horror mixed with a Lizzy Bordenesque story then this one is for you! The setting is a small town on the Maine coast. Above the town on a hilly cliff sits Hope’s End, a run down mansion slowly crumbling (literally) into the sea below. This is the home of Lenora Hope, now an old woman. She is paralyzed due to a number of strokes. She cannot even speak. All she is capable of is moving her one hand. Harmless. Yet everyone in town knows Lenora Hope. There is even a morbid children’s rhyme about how she hung her sister with a rope and stabbed her parents to death with a knife in Hope’s End. It was never proven that she was the one to murder them. The case went cold long ago, yet suspicion remains.
Enter caretaker Kate McDeere. Kate is desperate as she screwed up on her last caretaking job. She is lucky she was not permanently fired. The agency is giving her one last chance and one job assignment: live at Hope’s End and become caretaker of the infamous Lenora Hope. No one else will take the job and the last caretaker to care for Lenora left under mysterious circumstances. Kate finds Lenora to not be what she expected. Could this woman really have done the terrible things that she is accused of? Lenora can type on a typewriter with her one working hand. She wants to tell Kate everything, but not everyone wants that story to be told. Step into a web of shadows and lies in The Only One Left!
Click HERE to request The Only One Left!
Dragon’s Fire by Anne and Todd McCaffery
A few blog posts ago I posted about reading the book Dragon’s Kin. In Dragon’s Fire we return again to Camp Natalon where an elaborate plot of coal theft is taking place. Pellar, the mute harper and apprentice to Master Zist, is tasked with investigating from the shadows to discover who is behind this deed. I found Pellar to be an engaging character. Though he is a mute, he is able to communicate to a degree on a tablet with chalk. As the narrator of much of the story, the reader is able to get into his head and experience his thoughts and motivations. Pellar is able to track the coal thefts to a much larger operation run by a truly horrible piece of work, Tenim. What makes the villain of this tale so engaging (besides being a probable sociopath) is that Tenim is the same age as Pellar (mid to late teens). It is always a tad more disturbing when someone so young takes on such a villain role.
The plot heats up when the only remaining Firestone mine explodes. In the world of Pern, the dragons must eat the Firestone in order to produce flame. This is very important as Threadfall is on the horizon. If the dragons cannot flame, they cannot protect the world from Thread. (Thread is kind of like thick gloopy acid rain. It burns through anything organic. Anyone caught out in it is a goner. If it hits the ground it leaves the land blighted for generations. The only thing able to stop it is fire which is where dragons and dragon riders come in.) The race to search for useable Firestone takes off pulling in characters of all motivations, Pellar and Tenim included. Tenim believes the Firestone is the key to untold riches. He cares naught for the survival of his world. Can Pellar and his allies find useable Firestone first so that the dragons have fuel to fight Thread?
I greatly enjoyed this fantasy romp. I loved all of the characters. Pellar was a delight. I have a thing for the roguish kind who stays in the shadows yet is a good guy. Tenim was greatly disturbing. Sometimes you need that kind of villain. He is ruthless and sociopathic. Halla and Christov were great supporting characters with strong storylines. Halla being a young woman forced to grow up fast from a young age. She is the orphan daughter of Shunned parents. Though her circumstances are rough, she deals with situations with grace, kindness, and determination to protect those she cares about. Cristov we met in the previous book. He is the son of the shifty miner Tarik. Cristov is nothing like his father, yet he carries guilt for his father’s sins. He questions himself and fears he will turn into Tarik. Through the book we get to see Cristov develop from a unsure young man into one of the greatest heroes of this tale.
If you like a good fantasy romp give Dragon’s Fire a read! I would recommend reading Dragon’s Kin first though as it is the first book of the series and sets this one up.
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