I’m sharing another instalment of my Mini Review Mondays, the most recent of which was a couple of weeks ago. In case you haven’t seen any of my previous posts, I do ‘mini’ reviews of books that I’ve previously read and am now ready to share my full thoughts about. Today, it’s a very fitting set for the start of October with three dark and autumnal reads.
First up, I’d like to talk about Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle. Thank you to Simon & Schuster Children’s UK for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Emory is returning to the prestigious Aldryn College for Lunar Magic for one reason: to uncover the secrets behind the night that left her best friend, Romie, and seven other students dead.
But Emory has plenty of secrets herself, not least that her healing abilities have been corrupted by a strange, impossible magic, granting her power no one should possess.
Turning to the only person she believes she can trust, Emory enlists the help of Romie’s brother Baz – someone already well-versed in the dangers of his own dark Eclipse magic.
But when the supposedly drowned students start washing ashore – alive – only for them each immediately to die horrible, magical deaths, Emory and Baz are no longer the only ones seeking answers.
There’s a hidden society at the heart of the school, and they’re attracted to nothing more than they are to power…
Publication Date: 3rd October
TW: death, violence, gore, grief, murder, branding, body horror, panic attacks, anxiety, depression, drowning, bloodletting, self-harm, magical substance abuse, magical asylum, institutionalisation
My Thoughts:
Curious Tides captures the essence of the sea: dark, shifting and entrancing. It offers an oasis from reality, a deceptive mirage, with its shatteringly beautiful storytelling and the glint of deadly tides threatening to sweep you away.
From the first few pages, I was hooked on this gloomy Dark Academia style fantastical mystery that moves like the sea. It is impossible to capture. Lacelle intricately crafts a deadly mystery, with secrets that threaten to pull down every established aspect of this world. This goes to some dark and unnerving territory. It is mired in blood and saltwater, with death and grief as core themes colouring everything around them. It is a real mesh of genres, but seems to pull the best from each and spin it into something entirely new. This is such an imaginatively rich and wonderful book. I was completely under its spell the entire time.
It is heavy on the academia, full of research and storytelling from within the world’s mythos. This is just one of the ways in which Lacelle has created such a rich and expansive world with a unique and deeply fascinating magic system. It is carefully built up around you and explained in a way that felt natural within the story. Though it did take me a little while to grasp everything, that exactly conveys the overwhelming sensations Emory is experiencing. The way the lore intersects with the mystery was excellent. Lacelle includes these extracts from the story within the story, which mirror and refract so well onto what you are reading.
Curious Tides presents a captivating conundrum in a book that holds its secrets close within the watery depths of its pages.
Next up, I’d like to talk about Hatchet Girls by Diana Rodriguez Wallach. Thank you to Delacorte Press and Random House Children’s for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
For fans of Kara Thomas and Courtney Summers comes a supernatural horror that reminds us family can be our saving grace–or our biggest curse. Set one-hundred years after the Borden murders, this propulsive thriller imagines what a similar trial might look like today.
When the parents of the richest family in Fall River are found murdered by axe, the town is quick to blame newcomer Vik. It doesn’t help that he was caught standing over the bodies with blood on his hands and can’t remember anything about the night in question.
But Vik’s sister, Tessa, knows that Vik would never be capable of such a gruesome crime. Haunted by the mistakes she made that led her family to Fall River in the first place, she sets out to prove her brother’s innocence.
Her search for answers will lead her into a sprawling, supposedly cursed forest, as well as the childhood home of Lizzie Borden—the original axe murderess of Fall River.
Publication Date: 10th October
TW: death, murder, blood, violence, gore, gaslighting, drugging, physical abuse, emotional abuse, racism, stalking
My Thoughts:
Hatchet Girls is a perfect choice to pick up as the sky darkens and the chill settles on your skin.
I really enjoyed this dark and brooding mesh of different, but all very autumnal genres for me. This is a murder mystery or thriller, mixed with some paranormal elements and a historical tie to the infamous Lizzie Borden case. In fact, the marketing describes it as imagining a similar case to Borden’s now and this explicitly comes up in the story a lot. There is a sense of historical trauma marking a place. Rodriguez Wallach conveys that tight, paranoid atmosphere so well.
Tessa works perfectly as a main protagonist, serving as the audience stand in, as she determinedly tries to find the truth of what happened that night at any cost. She was driven, passionate, loving and intelligent, particularly around gauging people. This is a complex emotional tapestry, with messy relationships and long-standing dynamics. The entire time, you are questioning whether what you have seen is the truth. This is added to with the use of multiple narrators and differing timelines.
This book pushes a lot of questions around justice and how that intersects with race, class and institutional prejudice. The framing of the victim and perpetrator here comes from a racialised lens that also brings in gendered and class elements. It speaks to the sensationalisation of violent crime within modern day culture. Everything is able to be consumed, by the public and by the media until another fresher, more juicy story emerges to feast upon. That vicious cycle of use and discardment is keenly felt throughout the book. It brings the snap decisions often made by media, public and police perceptions to the forefront and examines them under a harsh spotlight.
Hatchet Girls brings an infamous case into modern contexts to reveal a twisty and tightly plotted story.
Finally, I’d like to delve into Mrs Sidhu’s ‘Dead and Scone’ by Suk Pannu. Thank you to Sophie at Harper Fiction for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Mrs. Sidhu – unofficial Aunty to everyone, caterer, and amateur sleuth from Slough – spices up the lives of Berkshire’s elite with both her mouth-watering dishes and her sharp detective skills. But when she stirs up trouble among the rich and ruthless, she finds herself an outsider in her own community.
Banished to the kitchen by her boss and sentenced to an endless loop of aubergine bhajis, Mrs. Sidhu seizes the opportunity to whip up a new recipe for success – getting a job as a private chef at an exclusive celebrity rehab retreat. But when a therapist is found dead in the quiet village, Mrs Sidhu’s appetite for mystery is rekindled.
As the plot thickens, it becomes clear that the killer is picking victims through a twisted raffle at the village fete. Is a vengeful spirit returning to exact a horrifying revenge, or is there an impostor among the residents hiding a deadly secret?
Publication Date: 12th October
TW: death, murder, grief, fire, arson, cult, gaslighting
My Thoughts:
Mrs Sidhu’s ‘Dead and Scone’ was the perfect slice of cosy crime to wrap up warm, make a good cuppa and utterly lose myself in reading.
I must admit I went into this book knowing nothing about Mrs Sidhu or her starring role in BBC Radio 4’s Mrs Sidhu Investigates. However, after reading this, I might need to become a regular listener. She just had such a distinctive and charming voice that instantly endeared me to her. You just felt in safe hands from her first line. I felt like I had known her for years. There was an easy sensibility and familiarity around her that made me root for her and engage so quickly with the book. Here is a sweet, determined and fierce woman, still learning to live with her grief. Also, Pannu infuses the pages with crackling warmth and wit. The humour often caught me off guard and was exactly my type, including some wickedly dark jokes that I adored.
From the very first page, I was hooked on this cosy crime narrative, that goes to some very, very dark and horrific places. The setting allows for that facade of tranquil paradise, but the truth beneath paints a very different picture. Pannu led me on a merry dance down various rabbit holes, chasing some red herrings. The twists here are superbly executed and genuinely shocking. It is so well constructed and plotted. I loved the therapy setting and how it intertwined with examinations of fame, trauma and the lingering effects of both. It is a book where mental health plays a core role and indeed that feeling of grief & learning to live with your experiences resonates throughout.
Mrs Sidhu’s ‘Dead and Scone’ introduced me to a contender for my modern day Marple. It sparkles with charisma, heart and humour.
A Short Book Lover 
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