SYNOPSIS:
Someone, or something, is haunting the ship. Between mysterious disappearances and sudden deaths, the guests of the Titanic have found themselves suspended in an eerie, unsettling twilight zone from the moment they set sail. Several of them, including maid Annie Hebley, guest Mark Fletcher, and millionaires Madeleine Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim, are convinced there's something sinister--almost otherworldy--afoot. But before they can locate the source of the danger, as the world knows, disaster strikes. Years later, Annie, having survived that fateful night, has attempted to put her life back together. Working as a nurse on the sixth voyage of the Titanic's sister ship, the Britannic, newly refitted as a hospital ship, she happens across an unconscious Mark, now a soldier fighting in World War I. At first, Annie is thrilled and relieved to learn that he too survived the sinking, but soon, Mark's presence awakens deep-buried feelings and secrets, forcing her to reckon with the demons of her past--as they both discover that the terror may not yet be over. Brilliantly combining the supernatural with the height of historical disaster, The Deep is an exploration of love and destiny, desire and innocence, and, above all, a quest to understand how our choices can lead us inexorably toward our doom. It's not often I find a book that's catered 110% to me: historical horror? Check. Romance? Check. Queer characters? Check. THE TITANIC? Check. ((I played Mrs. Widener in a college production of the musical, and this post will forever be one of my favorite things. I LOVE THE RMS CARPATHIA SO MUCH)) Add in that it's written by the same person who wrote one of my favorite historical horror novels ever, The Hunger? Cue me checking the website every day to see if preorders were available yet. It's a beautiful, heartbreaking read, and I loved every minute of it (even when I was mock-yelling at Alma Katsu on Twitter because WHYYYYYYY) This is also one of those books that I can't wait to reread, so that I can spot little hints and foreshadowings and then cry even more. Quotes/Lines: ((spoilers below!)) -- 'Someone once told her that the stars were merely sewing pins, holding the black sky up so that it did not come down on the world and suffocate it.' -- 'She is our only daughter and, despite her frailty, her weaknesses, despite anything she may have done, we love her dearly.' I trust you about as far as I can throw you, Mr. Hebbley. -- 'I shall never forget the last time I saw you, jumping into those dark, icy waters. We thought you had lost your mind, made senseless by the terrible shock of it all. But only you had seen the baby tumble into the water. Only you knew that there wasn't a moment to waste. Annie Hebbley is the bravest girl I have ever known, I thought that night.' Annie. <3 And then to never see the baby again, oh man. No wonder she's hidden herself away. -- 'What they say in the newspapers is true: this is surely the war to end all wars, for we could never surpass its horrors.' *cries* -- Violet Jessop!!!! *Titanic history nerd freakout* -- 'Gotten used to being surrounded, once again, by strange voices and smells and sights, even if she still felt them like a film of cobweb against her skin.' -- "You're coming to us with no nursing experience, Miss Hebbley. In just a few days' time, we'll be in a war zone taking on fresh patients. You have a lot to learn and there's not a moment to spare." Man. :( -- 'Her most important job, Annie quickly sees, is to listen when they want to talk. ... It's nice to be on the other side for a change, the one helping instead of the one being helped.' Sweetheart. <3 -- 'He's not as young as many of the infantrymen, maybe in his early thirties.' Owwwwwwwww. -- 'This is all her fault. Was there something she'd missed when she'd been talking to him before? She can't help but feel she should have known he was about to try to take his life. Should have felt it, sensed the will to live slipping away from him like a visceral loss, like a change in air pressure.' *gives Annie all the hugs and cookies* -- "So, tell me, how was your first day?" Not great timing there, Charlie. -- I *love* time skips in novels, going back and forth in a certain character's life. One of these days I've got to try my hand at it. -- 'The Catholics on staff had been warned to keep their religious insignia out of sight for the duration of the voyage.' Huh. That's something that had never occurred to me. -- Aw, bless, Annie loves this ship so much. -- 'The baby felt comfortable--almost familiar--in Annie's arms, even though she had little experience with infants, having been the baby of the family herself.' ...I'm going to be sobbing uncontrollably by the end of this book, aren't I -- I'm getting the feeling that Dai and Les have something going on, or at least Dai wishes they did? I may just be wishful thinking because hiiiiiiiii constant grabbyhands at representation. -- 'Waves like blue wolves. He could see their white fangs. Were the wolves singing? No, there was a woman who controlled the wolves, a witch of the depths, and it was her song. ... The rail was there and no one was looking and the metal felt cold in his hand when he began to climb.' How does she write something so gorgeous and so creepy at the same time I AM COMPOSED ENTIRELY OF ENVY -- "Look, I know. I heard it, too. It's all right. You're safe now." Dai, you have now moved into my Favorite Character space (Annie is a veryvery close second; she just started getting a little creepy as soon as Mark came into the picture so I'm waiting to see how that turns out) -- "That's enough, Teddy. You should know better than to speak out of turn." *prepares laser eyes* -- Oh yes, such an unconscionable oversight to have only two thousand bottles of wine on board for a week's trip. *boots Lady Duff-Gordon into third class and moves Dai and Les into her quarters* -- 'The other advantage to cocaine is that it is not thought to be addictive, as is laudanum. Better to err on the side of caution.' Oh nooooo, please be okay, Caroline. -- Lillian? **curious** -- 'Sometimes it made her want to cry, this playacting. As if she could still be protected. As if the sickness and hte horror hadn't touched them both.' I deeply need to give Caroline a hug. -- Ondine, that's a beautiful name. And something sea-related, if I'm remembering right. -- 'And then there was the baby. No matter how much help she received, she couldn't avoid the fact that motherhood simply wore her out.' Yep. Hugs. -- 'Caroline had been drawn to her (Lillian) immediately, had envied the intensity of her and of Mark's passion for her. Had wanted--no, needed--to be part of that in some small way.' Are we actually heading for an OT3 (however tragic) in a historical novel that I'm not writing because I will just cry tears of happiness forever. -- Ohhhhh noooo, Teddy! (and man, I keep forgetting that Madeleine Astor was only 18) -- 'Besides, Eliza and this Anne Hebbley looked nothing alike. And yet there was something about the stewardess that unsettled him. Made him feel sad and...guilty. Terribly guilty. A guilt he was unable to escape. He thought he'd made his peace with that. Had served three months at Coldbath Prison for what was, he insisted to this day, an honest miscalculation.' What kind of 'honest miscalculation' did you have with a 13-year old?! Keeping an eye on you, Stead. -- 'She'd rather wait on patients than pernickety rich passengers.' Some things change, but retail remains constant. (that guy going on and on about quail or duck eggs, chicken only if absolutely no other option? I was so proud of her for not whapping him on the head with her tray) -- I need to look up dubheasa. (and I love Annie comforting the poor man who was having a panic attack) -- 'And this time, he belongs to no one else. He is alone. He is hers.' Uh, Annie, sweetie, the creepiness is coming back by the truckload. -- 'It was as though the sea were conspiring in this funeral for the dead boy by conjuring up the fog to hide him from prying eyes. Cossetting him in the softest blanket of cloud for his last journey.' -- 'Rather than comfort her, she watched as his bearded face grew red with fury, the kind that always seemed to be boiling just below the surface of his skin. ... That was the last family picnic with Auntie Riona and Granny Aisling, and Annie wasn't allowed to visit her grandmother ever again.' I knew Annie's dad was a dick. -- 'Mrs. Astor came unaccompanied to our meeting, insisted on coming without her husband. (Note: no evidence of husband's permission. Follow up with him separately?) UGHHHH. Also, Example #381340329 of why when people start talking about 'being born in the wrong decade' I side-eye. -- 'She'd wanted to be there, but John Jacob--Jack, as he liked to be called--had put his foot down. 'You're emotional enough about it...the last thing we need is for you to faint and a servant's funeral.' Time to get the Baseball Bat of Justice ready. -- "It's not like he was your child," Jack said under his breath. And swing -- I really hope the 'g*psy curse' thing doesn't play more of a role than this. Occultism was the big fad, yeah, but... -- "I know you feel bad about Teddy," Jack said. "I quite adore seeing your sensitive side. But you must try to put it out of your mind. All t his melancholy can't be good for the baby." She rolled her eyes. As if he knew what was best for the baby.' Attagirl!! -- 'How he'd gone undercover to purchase a 'hired' girl--a girl of only thirteen, no less--and taken her to a boardinghouse for the night, all in the name of 'research'. His goal had been to expose the ease with which the sex trade was conducted right under everyone's noses, right there in civilized England.' UM. -- 'The kind of people who would call for his public execution if they ever found out the desire he harbored in secret" I KNEW IT. Dai <3 -- 'He made you want whole, impossible worlds. As if wanting Les Williams wasn't impossible enough.' MY HEART -- 'The tale (girl who wore the ribbon around her neck) had always chilled Annie- its taunting nature, the embedded warning, and yet she could never decide what its warning meant. Was it that girls were fragile--fragile as a simple-knotted bow--and must be protected at all costs? Or was it that the only way they may prove their story true was to die for it?' Well damned if that's not a throatpunch of a line -- 'The factory where Lillian spent all her daylight hours burned to the ground, killing nearly every one of the women she worked with.' I understood that reference (couldn't have been the Triangle Shirtwaist, wrong location, but I wonder if this was based on it. Either that or there was a similar incident there because Let The Corporations Regulate Themselves never freaking works) -- 'No, please God. You've just reunited us. Don't take him away from me now. I've been a good girl. It's time for my reward.' Were you by any chance named after Annie Wilkes? STOP. -- 'There was a coldness in Caroline's voice. She had become a different person-- not the vivacious, chatty one who'd boarded the ship two days ago.' Well, given the potential PPD and the definite use of cocaine... -- 'She was fine. Perfectly fine. That left only one alternative.' Annie, whatever you are thinking, quit thinking it. -- 'Maddie's attention was riveted on the pale wraith in the gray uniform making her way through the crowd. That searching empty face with hungry eyes was like something in a mausoleum frieze.' ...that is a disturbing-as-hell mental image and I love how eerie this is. -- 'Even when he hated a con, it still felt good in the moment, to be in it with Les. To be on the same side.' <3 <3 <3 -- "I've barely been married a year and I can't say I recommend it." a) I can understand, given that your wife is on drugs without ever intending to be, but b) he is a stranger; quit complaining about your wife to a stranger. -- "Why don't you have a reflection? Don't you think that's odd?" Does she really not, or is Maddie so paranoid and panicky that she's imagining it? I love the "what's the actual truth" aspect so much but when I actually get the answer it's probably going to break me. -- 'Surely he wouldn't ask for a change (of nurse) if he knew he'd be losing her.' ...what did you do? -- Also quit with anything else but telling him that his kid is alive -- Oh Caroline, honey. She's trying so hard and just doesn't know what her 'medicine' is doing. -- 'The silver watch had been so beautiful, so touching--exactly what he would like to be able to give Dai one day, when he won his first big match in America, perhaps--that he couldn't help but lift it.' Awwwwwwwwwww ((I know, yes, don't steal, but awwwwwww)) -- 'To marry for love sounded incredibly wild and rebellious. She wasn't entirely sure she approved--she'd made her bed, hadn't she?--but it was fun watching someone else try.' I officially adore you, Maddie. -- "Yes, poor little boy. But he was just a servant," Mabel blurted. Cone of shame time, Mabel. -- The fact that Annie reminds Stead of Eliza and Mark of Lillian... -- Dai and Les are breaking my heart they're both trying to protect and help each other in completely opposite ways and please let them have the time to sort this out -- "Who are you conning, Les? Am I just another mark?" sweetie -- 'She's gone and gotten herself pregnant.' Now that's a neat trick... -- 'While he slept, she gently strapped his arms down to the bed so that he could not protest or push her away.' Okay, so there's going too far, going WAY too far, and then wherever the heck you're at right now. -- Oh thank goodness, at least she told him about Ondine surviving. -- 'I dove into the water after her. I helped save the baby.' Did Caroline drown naturally, or did she have help? Because...yeah. -- 'It was more powder than she was supposed to take in one dose, but she gulped it down anyway. A little more now and then, what difference did it make?' :( -- "I'm going to try to patch things up with Caroline. We're going to America to start a new life together--and I'm going to give it a proper go." *cries* -- "You can't pin this on Dai. He was trying to get me to do the right thing. He's a good man. Too good to be friends with the likes of me." These two had BETTER make it I stg -- Annie dammit they told you to stay out -- 'If I were married to Mark, this would be room. My things. My baby. My life.' Yeah. She's gonna kill Caroline. -- 'Caroline had been making Ondine sick. On purpose.' God I want to go into this book and protect Caroline from Annie so bad I know what's coming and noooooo -- "But half the seats are empty." "And we need a couple of your men to row." She wanted to tell him to save his breath; she knew what was needed and would make sure that it got done. Nothing mattered except that she survived. Honor didn't matter, nor chivalry. The story would be written by the survivors, in any case. Stories always were.' I...there are not sufficient words for how intensely I dislike you -- 'Dai would be looking for him for all the good it would do; no one was going to give him the key and even that great sweet lummox would not be able to tear that metal door off its hinges.' YES HE WILL DAMMIT -- MADELEINE omfg I love you so muuuuuuuuch -- "Me, I'm on one of those lifeboats if I have to dress in me grandmother's Sunday best." Understandable. (the reason why I'm pissed at Lady Duff-Gordon and not Les is because of course you'd want to save your own life or the lives of your loved ones. But she made sure that a lifeboat went down half-full. Do your best to get a spot, absolutely, but don't kill dozens (hundreds? I have to look up how many those boats held) to do it. -- "It's going to be hard, but you're going to be fine. I can't see all of the future, but I can see that. You have to be tough for your baby and your husband. They're both depending on you. Now, get into this lifeboat." I love you Les please live -- 'He felt a jostle beside him and there was Dai.' AHHHH <3 -- "Never doubt that I chose you." HEY WAIT NO HELP ;__________; -- 'She turned away, resigned to taking her seat, when a miracle occurred.' Terry Pratchett's quote from Interesting Times comes to mind here: "Whatever happens, they say afterwards, it must have been fate. People are always a little confused about this, as they are in the case of miracles. When someone is saved from certain death by a strange concatenation of circumstances, they say that's a miracle. But of course if someone is killed by a freak chain of events--the oil spilled just there, the safety fence broken just there--that must also be a miracle. Just because it's not nice doesn't mean it's not miraculous." -- "Hang on to Ondine, Mrs. Fletcher, and I'll keep you afloat." She would save them both. No matter what Caroline had done, it didn't mean she deserved to die.' Ohhhh thank goodness. At least poor Caroline's last memory isn't going to be Annie killing her and making off with the baby. -- "The mother is a lost cause. That's damned irresponsible of her. They could all drown." I don't see you jumping in to help, jackass. -- "Hold onto the side," another woman said. "You shall be safe enough." Again, I don't see you volunteering to take turns. -- 'Caroline--sweet Caroline. She says she will help me. Help us. She has asked Mark and me both to move into her home. I will have better care there. And though it is unusual--crazy, even--I am tempted to accept. ... We are both in love with each other and in love with her. It is a wonderful thing.' I'm gonna go live in an alternate universe where everybody lived and they raised Ondine together in an adorable triad thanks -- OMFG THIS JUST GOT WILD -- 'Ever since Ondine had arrived. ... He'd always loved the dark, complex winding of her thoughts, but now they seemed always to tremble at the edge of an abyss.' The idea of trying to make it through PPD before it was acknowledged... -- 'Only then would he tell Lillian about his plan. He didn't want to get her hopes up, not when she had been so black of late.' TWIST THE KNIFE WHY DON'T YOU -- This BOOK. I'm just floored. Also, I think this may have replaced Turn of the Screw for my favorite "unreliable narrator" story and that's a damn hard thing to do.
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SYNOPSIS: These are tales of wickedness... stories of evil and cunning, written by today's women you should fear. Includes tales from Kelley Armstong, Rachel Caine and Sherrilyn Kenyon, writing in their own bestselling universes.
Hex Life: Wicked New Tales of Witchery will take the classic tropes of tales of witchcraft and infuse them with fresh, feminist perspective and present-day concerns--even if they're set in the past. These witches might be monstrous, or they might be heroes, depending on their own definitions. Even the kind hostess with the candy cottage thought of herself as the hero of her own story. After all, a woman's gotta eat. Bring out your dread. The lineup in this anthology is not to be BELIEVED. So many authors I already love and some I'd been meaning to read. And there are a couple of short stories set in larger universes that I haven't gotten into yet, so that was a nice preview. Thank you, Night Worms! <3 My favorites: Widows' Walk Home: A Morganville Vampires Story The Deer Wife Bless Your Heart Last Stop on Route Nine Haint Me Too Gold Among the Black How to Become a Witch-Queen Honorable mention to The Night Nurse, which was amazingly well-done but I am never reading it again because it got into PPD a little too well. Quotes/Lines: ((spoilers below!)) AN INVITATION TO A BURNING -- Lovely opening paragraph. -- "And if I were a witch, and here you are alone with me, with no matches in sight, what do you think would happen then?" I approve of your sass, Sage. -- I love the feeling of connection and found family in this ritual. WIDOW'S WALK -- 'Once only Martha lived there but the others gradually shifted into it as husbands shuffled off mortal coils, either naturally or otherwise.' WHAT A LINE. -- Oh Chelsea, poor kid. -- 'She's old enough to understand that her position is one of shame; not because of the theft so much as being a child whose parents cannot feed them adequately. The shame isn't hers, but she still feels it, suffers for it on her mother's behalf.' :( -- "Your penance will be to come here for breakfast before school every weekday. And after school, there will be chores." ... "Until your debt is worked off or you're no longer hungry." I love them. -- "Who should take Mr. Landreneau?" "Me. I love a bully," says Eugenie. **pledging fealty to all these badass ladies** -- "Now, now, girl. If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all." Virginia where were you when I was in middle school -- DAMN, Eugenie. Not screwing around at all. I love it. -- Ohhhh. Have I mentioned how wonderful Angela Slatter's stuff is? Because yes. I haven't found a story of hers yet that I haven't loved. BLACK MAGIC MOMMA: AN OTHERWORLD STORY -- "I don't believe you are aware of what you possess, Miss Levine." Yep, totally am. But go ahead and explain it to me anyway.' Heh. I like her. -- "That's Tiffany. She's a total bitch." "Savannah..." "Sorry, Mom. I should roll up the window before I call her that." I adore this child and will definitely look into this series. -- 'Once Dora surrenders-- well, the third time she surrenders, the first two being fake-outs, which I expect' I love the fighters-who-respect-each-other's-tactics trope. -- I love you lady behind the counter please do not die for trying to help. -- I really like Dora. I hope she shows up in the series more. THE NIGHT NURSE -- 'Two year olds, constitutionally, are passive-aggressive. It's literally a hallmark of their personalities.' Yep. -- 'and then socks, always socks! No one could ever find, match, or put on their own socks!' TRUTH. -- 'Esme had tried to befriend these women, but they happened to be the same kinds of women who read Eat, Pray, Love and considered Love, Actually the best movie of all time. They were lovely women who would raise lovely children and Esme had nothing in common with them.' *checks author credit* Get out of my head, Sarah Langan -- 'So she got up and held the baby. Offered her breast, which the baby bit, tearing up the scab that had just healed. "I don't want you," she cooed sweetly, because babies don't understand English.' Yeahhhh, that is not a good sign. -- 'Spencer threw fits when she was late, which it turns out is normal for a two-year-old, but somehow unacceptable at a preschool for two-year-olds.' Right??? -- "Oh. Should I cram this baby I'm holding back in my vagina?" she asked. YOW. YOU TELL 'EM. Also, poor Esme. I'm getting secondhand stress/memories of my own PPD just from reading this. -- The ointment concerns me, and I do not trust Wendy one bit. Esme should have a proper support system, not a do-nothing husband and a woman she met at a museum who I'm pretty sure bewitched her somehow. The whole 'oh, I'll work with you on payment' just means the price will be WAY too high. -- 'She got the text from Mike that he'd be coming home late. He had this pattern since they'd started having kids. He stayed away util they were sleep-trained.' Fuck you, Mike. If the Night Nurse really is some kind of monster hopefully she'll eat you. -- "You can't have my references because you're not my employer." Liking Wendy a little more now. Get that asshole. -- 'Wendy smiled at the baby and she smiled more at Esme, like she mattered. Like she was a person who could be seen.' Oh, honey. You need help, and what got into your house because your husband's an unsupportive ass? (please don't let anything happen to her or those kids) -- 'The next day Mike slept in because it was Saturday and he was tired.' And she isn't?? -- "It's voodoo," Marlene whispered. "I can smell it on the children. You're marked." UM. -- "Can you feed him? I left a bottle," she asked Mike. Mike popped a last beer, and answered like he'd only vaguely heard. "Sure." She'd been through this before. Sure meant absolutely not, but she decided to let it play out.' My hatred for Mike is bright and unending. -- Wendy keeps ignoring her when she suggests it's time to leave oh nooooo -- Oh my GOD these judgmental preschool dipshits. "I trust you'll give me my money back. A false accusation of child abuse is a big deal. I can't imagine you'll keep your accreditation if I sue." GET 'EM ESME. -- 'Ritah's mom asked Esme to babysit. "You realize I'm drowning and you've never once offered to watch Lucy, right?" MY GIRL, there you go. Now do Mike. -- Ask Marlene for help!! She might know what to do. It's not going to be as easy as throwing stuff away. -- Oh no. No, no no. That is the stuff of nightmares I cannot handle this. THE MEMORIES OF TREES -- ...please be a more lighthearted one I need it after that. -- 'The Faithful intended to hang the child at dusk.' Oh, well then. Okay. -- I have read two more paragraphs and I want every one of the Faithful to die slowly and horribly. -- The more things change, huh? -- 'Our weapons are older, stronger,' the trees responded. 'We will not let you fall, little one.' <3 -- 'Elder Barrow's expression didn't waver, except to allow a tiny, almost imperceptible smile.' Looking forward to your brutal death. -- 'We spared the children, who ran away into the woods. Little Ellena had asked for that, and we obliged.' Good on you, kid. HOME: A MORGANVILLE VAMPIRES STORY -- "Way to waste your blood donations," Shane said, and nodded at the cuts that had opened up in Oliver's hand.' A vampire getting pissy that someone's opening a rival coffeeshop across the street? I love it. -- 'He had a family to protect, not just from the random hunger pangs of some nightstalker, but from the things even the vampires feared.' oooooh. *curious about this series* -- "If you draw that stupid thing, I'm going to have to refuse service," Jane said. "And cook that arm for my dinner. Oh, who am I kidding. I'll feed it to the cat." Yikes? -- Shane you dumbass -- Fluffy vampire bunny slippers? Myrnin, I adore you. -- "If I'd found you gadding about, I'd have burned you on the spot, Myrnin." Shane felt a chill, because Oliver's voice was no longer cool. It was vicious, and completely serious.' So he acts like that even now, and used to murder witches? ...let Jane have him. -- "Pot, kettle," Shane muttered, and she at least pretended not to hear, which was good, because he liked his internal organs on the inside.' *snerk* -- "Do you like my new familiar? I thought he'd be useful. Oliver seemed concerned for his safety. Unusual. He normally doesn't care about the mayflies." okay that is creepy -- "Hundreds of thousands of innocents slaughtered to find a handful of genuine threats. Isn't that right, sugar?" "Yes," Amelie said quietly. "But that began before my time, or Oliver's." "You took up the cause happily enough." "It's what we were taught," Oliver said. "Is that what you want to hear? An apology for that?" "Oh no, sweetie. I'm not here for your regret. I'm here for your blood." ngl I'm still kinda on Jane's side here -- "Back away from me, boy." "Or what?" Michael, you do not seem to have much common sense. -- "Don't offer up your blood for him." "I'm not. I'm offering it up for this town. There are a lot of innocents here. You talked about how many were killed to get to you, right? I'd like to avoid that here." ...please don't die -- "Tell your friends how I died, Oliver." "The times were different," he said. what did you DO you asshole -- ...go straight to hell Oliver, wtf -- "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. Take us home, my love." Awwwww. -- "Even for Morganville, that was weird." I'm buying all of these books. THE DEER WIFE -- 'She has killed those who cross her. She has scared men to death. If you're out in the woods at night and you hear her song, it'll be the last sound you ever know. But the stories, they're all half-truths.' This is a beautiful piece so far; I love these women and their relationship. -- ...sorry, if he was gonna get drunk and violent then he had it coming. Hope the kid's not showing the same tendencies; if he starts in then get the hell out of Dodge. -- Okay, fuck him forever for even trying that. Get out, Julie. -- *heart eyes* THE DANCER -- "They don't mean it." Mrs. Weaver smiled at Baker, you know how children exaggerate.' Ugh. -- "Oh, you don't need to tell this part," Mrs. Weaver said, staring at her shoes. Poor Ani. She and her brother need parents who give a shit about them instead of maintaining appearances. -- "We are a family, Mr. Baker. We're going to live as one." Even if it means tying up your kid?? -- "Ani, if you come with me, I will bring you to Burlington and find a place for you for the night." Bless you. -- 'The repercussions of taking Ani wouldn't be slight, but Baker had a good lawyer, and he wasn't afraid. This wasn't the first time.' Hello yes I would like an entire series of Baker being an epic badass and getting abused kids out of bad situations. -- ...okay I didn't see that coming. BLESS YOUR HEART -- The first paragraph of this just kicked my anxiety into overdrive. PTA politics, noooo -- 'It was the end of church for her. It would have been the end of the entire town if she could have swung it.' I love you. ((please let her son be okay)) -- "Well, you know how kids can be--" he started.' Kill him. -- "Eh, a few of them were involved" "the bully's not a *bad* kid" fuuuuuuck youuuuuu -- Oh, Tuck, sweetheart. -- 'Isolating a gay kid in a red county...she knew how that went. He'd end up broken, running off, or dead. And I ain't losing my boy.' I love you, agree with you, and will provide an alibi if necessary. ((seriously, she's not brushing this off or thinking 'oh, he just has to get through this and he'll be fine'; she knows and flat-out acknowledges how bad this can get without sugar-coating it in her own head and that is So Important)) -- "Not the time, Audrey! Not the damned time, all right?" Should've listened sooner, asshole. -- The. Last. Line. THE DEBT -- oh shit, that paragraph about the one time she ever wore a dress. -- 'hopeful that the reason her dad had suddenly been so eager to take her to the country of his birth was because he wanted to rekindle the warmth they had lost.' *looks at story title* *looks at theme of anthology* Yeah I doubt it. -- Baba Yaga reference yesssss -- If you did this to your little girl on purpose I swear -- "This settles your debt." Your debt might be settled with her but now I get to kill you, them's the rules. TOIL & TROUBLE: A DARK-HUNTER HELLCHASER STORY -- Without her...humans are screwed. Sounds about right. -- "Not the most original of prophecies, is it?" "Nay. Seems as if patricide be the crime of the hour. How very gauche." I like how this started all formal and then went full snark. -- I like Eeri a lot; she's actually giving the people who want help honesty. She's still *trying*. (I can see the witches' cynicism, being ageless and all, but...yeah.) Also, instead of them letting Eeri go and asking her to apprentice of her own free will, they keep her as a slave and have the gall to think her 'treacherous'? You're lucky she hasn't played steal-the-eyeball. -- okay so that's definitely the same creeper in disguise RUN -- "But you judged your sisters for your crimes and for that you are damned." Wait, what? Those weren't her sisters; they were her owners. She panicked and ran after being directly threatened, how is that damnation material?? And I just looked her up on Kenyon's website and her character profile still says 'slave', just apparently to a demon or somesuch now? No thanks. (I haven't read anything else in the series; if I misread something here or Eeri does get a happy ending, please DM me on Twitter and let me know!) LAST STOP ON ROUTE NINE -- "My dad got locked up here," Kai said. "He said that place was just a bunch of rednecks who hurt kids for fun. And he said Gracetown is haunted as shit." Poor kid. I'd be twitchy around there, too. -- So the grandma sent him to a creepy 'Reformatory' and then said he needed therapy as an insult when he didn't bounce back all happy-cheery afterwards? What a sweet lady. -- "What if we get pulled over? And I get locked up for no reason like him?" Oh honey. Why can't I do battle with this society and win dammit -- "There's a house. I'm just going to knock on the door and ask for directions." NO -- "That's crazy!" Kai said. "Haven't you ever seen Deliverance?" Listen to the kid please and thanks -- 'She still remembered a black woman's name: Renisha McBride. And there were others. But she also wasn't going to let fear rule her life. It was broad daylight. She was lost. She was dressed for church. She would be fine.' No no no no live in fear for just the next five minutes please -- "Lock up behind me. I'll be right back." oh no not The Words -- 'Then Charlotte noticed the Confederate flag' DRIIIIIIVE -- worry about the car later just GO -- well shit -- "We didn't!" Kai screamed at her. "Someone hit us!" "Kai...calm down. Breathe." No, Kai is showing exactly as much panic as the situation requires, do not get out of the...you're getting out of the car, aren't you. -- 'Kai's gratitude vanished, replaced by bitter fright. "You still don't get it!" True. Don't get me wrong, I want Charlotte to get out of there but it's so much worse for Kai because he's a kid and he's trying So Damn Hard to get her to LISTEN and she won't, and she's not going to be the only one to pay if this really goes south. -- "I have to see if he got thrown." OH MY GOD LADY. -- "Tell him...what? He won't believe you." "Yeah, he will," Kai said, sure of it.' I think I'd like Harry a lot. WHERE RELICS GO TO DREAM AND DIE -- "If you had it all to do over again, how would you want to die?" Well THERE'S an opener. -- The spirit in the candle flame (and how it got there) is both nicely done and Utterly Terrifying -- "You've been affable company these years." ... "Thank you," she said. "So have you." <3 <3 <3 -- "While you slept I took from you all that I need to make a child of our own." Um. They knew each other and loved each other and he pretty much just willingly died for her but that is still kinda disturbing. THIS SKIN -- 'I didn't have to introduce myself. He already knew who I was. What he didn't know was I was prepared to tell him everything. As soon as it had happened, I'd known I wanted to tell someone. What was the point of doing it if no one knew it was you?' o___O -- AUGHHHHHH -- okay that was just a full-body shudder of a story HAINT ME TOO -- 'She didn't like work and she didn't want to be in the house with those mean kids. They were always doing things to hurt her. She wanted to tell her parents, but she knew that it would just make them upset. They couldn't do anything about it. That was just how it was.' *rooting for the haint to eat the family* -- "Those pots from upstairs need chucking out back, Our Nig." ...die -- 'Somehow, they often reminded her, this wasn't slavery-- that had ended forty years before. No, this was sharecropping.' I need a time machine and a flamethrower. -- 'Somehow the family never remembered her name. Her parents had given her a name but it must have been too hard to remember.' Oh sweetie, no, don't give them even that much benefit of the doubt they're just assholes -- Okay these kids can go straight to hell -- "Business. You know a few years ago you wouldn't have even known the word." *flames on the side of my face gif* -- "I will not die as a free woman running from these men." She walked into the house, grabbed the rifle off the mantel, and came back out. "I won't leave you." Hello yes I would die for you just thought you should know -- 'White people did not like ghosts, Shea reasoned, because they were not controllable. They didn't like Negro women ghosts because they were angry.' godDAMN what a line -- I haven't read any of Burke's stuff before and what the hell, self. Shame. THE NEKROLOG -- 'I seem to recall an urgent, whispered conversation with Dad when she discovered a birth certificate stamped with a six-pointed star. I was told never to mention this to anyone and Mom's look was so serious, so desperate, that I never did.' ..... -- 'I don't blame them. Only they didn't let me hold her in the end.' Ummmm. Your kid is not dead -- 'But I was told they had died and I was an orphan and all this was for my own good. They didn't indulge my grief. We were all grief-stricken.' GO MAGNETO ON THESE ASSHATS, GIRLS -- 'We learned to love one another. This was the first thing though it wasn't what they intended to teach us.' *found family feelings, send help* GOLD AMONG THE BLACK -- I have now adopted Greta and Jesper and nothing bad is ever allowed to happen to either of them. -- 'She preferred to stay with him even if it meant sleeping in the forest.' This darling. -- 'But Liesl wouldn't stop. "They say that dog is your familiar and he can change shapes." Hell. No. I see where this might be going and it's not allowed. -- <3 HOW TO BECOME A WITCH-QUEEN -- 'The list of things queens cannot say is a long one, and you have not said them for most of your life.' -- 'If you had been given a choice, you would have stayed in the forest with the dwarves--or the huntsman.' Snow White adaptation!! *love for this story immediately increases tenfold* -- 'It is tiresome to ask permission, but you have had to ask permission from men all your life-- your father, your husband. Only in the forest were you free.' -- "And perhaps I shall take Dorothea with me. The nuns will know how to assuage the grief of an emotional girl." Nicely done. -- 'He had never asked you if you still went to the king's bed. He knew that queens have no choice in such a matter.' I am rooting so hard for you both. -- 'You knew that whatever inn you stop at, she will arrange it so that for the first time in fourteen years, you will spend the night with the man you love.' *flail* -- I really like the setup of the dwarf families. -- Ermengarde. I love it. -- The relationship she has with Wilhelm is wonderful. "Want to be King after I defeat your brother's army?" "Yeah sure sounds good" -- BATTLE GHOST WOLVES I am buying all of Goss's stuff -- 'The three of you standing there, resemble the three Fates.' I have a book hangover. I just want to rewind and read this again for the first time, because MAN. Absolutely amazing piece of work.
Going in, all I knew about the Donner party was gleaned from pop culture references and horrible jokes. Now I'm going to read everything I can get my hands on (first up: Desperate Passage, which the author referenced as research). Some notes I took as I read: "Several unexpected items lay discarded in the snow: a pocket prayer book, a ribbon bookmark fluttering in the breeze. A scattering of teeth." Me: 😲 (this is gonna be gooood) "Women were always forced to smile. Tamsen had mastered it so well it sometimes frightened her." NICE line -- I have been reading about Mary Graves for two pages and I am in love. Same for you, Elitha "She'd known plenty of women like Harriet over the years, women who looked as if their faces had been slowly compressed between the pages of a Bible, all pinched and narrow." I AM EQUAL PARTS IMPRESSED AND JEALOUS OF YOUR DESCRIPTIONS MS. KATSU -- maybe it's because it's Valentine's Day but Elitha's initial thoughts about Thomas have me all twitterpated. Awww, kids. .....this isn't gonna end well is it -- LYDIA. *heart shatters* -- Okay Keseberg needs eaten, yesterday if not sooner. *hides Lovina and Nancy* -- *scribbles Elitha x Thomas 4Ever in Trapper Keeper* -- I am also good with Breen and Dolan getting torn apart by rabid honey badgers -- That. Last. Line. All in all, this book is stellar: heartbreaking without being maudlin, and beautifully humanizing. |
A WORLD WITH A BLUER SUNMy reviews are set up a little like live-tweets: I write down lines I like/impressions as I read, and then transcribe. Reviews will contain spoilers, but I'll give a warning before they start. Archives
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