Author: Rach @ Anxious Nachos

Educational publisher, writer and cat mama.

Book review: Salvation Day by Kali Wallace

Rach @ Anxious Nachos3 Comments

Title: Salvation Day by Kali Wallace

Publisher: Berkley

Publication date: 9 July 2019

Genre: Science fiction | Adult

Page extent: 320 pages

Rating:

Goodreads blurb: A lethal virus is awoken on an abandoned spaceship in this incredibly fast-paced, claustrophobic thriller.

They thought the ship would be their salvation.

Zahra knew every detail of the plan. House of Wisdom, a massive exploration vessel, had been abandoned by the government of Earth a decade earlier, when a deadly virus broke out and killed everyone on board in a matter of hours. But now it could belong to her people if they were bold enough to take it. All they needed to do was kidnap Jaswinder Bhattacharya—the sole survivor of the tragedy, and the last person whose genetic signature would allow entry to the spaceship.

But what Zahra and her crew could not know was what waited for them on the ship—a terrifying secret buried by the government. A threat to all of humanity that lay sleeping alongside the orbiting dead.

And then they woke it up.

Salvation Day is a science fiction thriller with an edge of horror, and perhaps shouldn’t be read whilst there’s a deadly virus outbreak happening around the world….

Set in a world hundreds of years after the first Collapse of Earth, a new society has been born. Councils rose to fix the wrongs of the past. But outside of the Council’s protected cities lie groups of people either escaping the Councils and their control, or refugees desperately trying to enter the cities. One such group, a cult from the North American desert, have found their chance to escape to freedom in the skies. Years ago, House of Wisdom, one of the biggest ships ever built, was destroyed in a virus outbreak. But now, the cult members have a plan to reach the ship and rebuild it to support their colony. Except then they wake up what was waiting on the ship….

Going into Salvation Day, I think I expected more horror elements than we got. It’s definitely a science fiction novel first and foremost, with a focus on space travel and somtimes intricate details of the House of Wisdom ship and it’s workings. Whilst there is a focus on the virus and the outbreak that killed everyone, particularly in the first section of the novel I didn’t find myself as scared or unsettled as I would usually feel with such a concept. And I think it’s because the heavy sci-fi focus probably muted the horrory virus aspect. BUT! There are definitely moments where it began to get to more horror and I was racing through the book to see WTF was going on! Some of my favourites (as spoiler free as possible…):
– The bathroom door
– ‘What are you doing with the knife’
– The realisation on the Bridge

I really enjoyed the breaks between the POVs of extracts from the House of Mourning Star, one of the old Earth ships from when humans tried to escape the Collapse hundreds of years ago. This way of structuring a book is something I’ve been really enjoying lately, I just love how it gives the reader that sense of all knowing because it really makes everything so much scarier.

Something I wasn’t so sure of was the cult aspect. It kind of felt like it was out of a totally different novel – it just didn’t gel together with the really sci-fi element to me. The motivations didn’t seem to line up with the stakes they were involved with, and I’m not sure I was ever satisfied with why Adam (the cult leader) was doing any of what he was. Of the characters, Jas was my favourite. He was written well, his anxiety attacks around the ship felt genuine given his past. I also really loved the Jas/Zahra ending – it was probably one of my favourite moments of the book.

The political aspects I also think needed a bit more backstory. The SPEC and their desires felt randomly added to the end of the story, and I think that plotline would’ve worked better with a few more hints earlier in the story.

All in all, I enjoyed Salvation Day. Whilst it wasn’t as horrory as I expected from a virus story, it was still a tense and fast paced thriller and I really liked the ending!

Book review: Blood Countess by Lana Popović

Rach @ Anxious Nachos3 Comments

Title: Blood Countess by Lana Popović

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

Publication date: 28 January 2020

Genre: Horror | Young Adult | Romance | Historical

Page extent: 320 pages

Rating:

Goodreads blurb: A historical YA horror novel based on the infamous real-life inspiration for Countess Dracula,

In 17th century Hungary, Anna Darvulia has just begun working as a scullery maid for the young and glamorous Countess Elizabeth Báthory. When Elizabeth takes a liking to Anna, she’s vaulted to the dream role of chambermaid, a far cry from the filthy servants’ quarters below. She receives wages generous enough to provide for her family, and the Countess begins to groom Anna as her friend and confidante. It’s not long before Anna falls completely under the Countess’s spell—and the Countess takes full advantage. Isolated from her former friends, family, and fiancé, Anna realizes she’s not a friend but a prisoner of the increasingly cruel Elizabeth. Then come the murders, and Anna knows it’s only a matter of time before the Blood Countess turns on her, too.

This book had one of the most intriguing premises of 2020 – sapphic romance with one of the most prolific female serial killers of all time?! Hell yes! I enjoyed this book, particularly the first half, but I do think it lacked a little horror. Don’t get me wrong, there is brutal torture and gorey murder in this book, but I felt like it needed more fear and tension. I wanted it to feel more terrifying and horrory.

The book is told from the POV of Anna, an impoverished healer who, when rescuing a kitten, runs into the new Lady of her land, Elizabeth Báthory. Elizabeth takes a shine to her, and employs her in her castle. What follows is a mix of witchcraft and lust and horror as Anna becomes bewitched by Elizabeth, and the slow realisation of all that Elizabeth is.

The first half of this book is excellent. The initial relationship between Anna and Elizabeth is incredible. The few hints of darkness behind Elizabeth’s facade, the way they stare at each other, how utterly bewitched it seems they are of each other, it is so beautifully done. The way Anna reacts to Fenrec, Elizabeth’s husband, and her fears he is causing the darkness in Elizabeth is both understandable and thrilling in how it causes her to react. I adored the start of their relationship and I really thought we might get an incredible villain romance.

But then the second half hit and it became a little predictable as Elizabeth begins her pursuit for youth and beauty. The ending felt very rushed compared to the first half, which languished unhurridely in the beauty of their developing relationship. I wanted more fear and terror and horror as Elizabeth deteriorated. I wanted to feel some of the passion from the first half of the book. Instead it just felt a little lucklustre in execution, just a little too descriptive to be impactful. All of the torture and murder scenes in particular lacked for me. It felt rather stilted. I understand this might be because this is a YA novel, and the need to keep it less gruesome and terrifying because of that. So perhaps this would have worked better as an adult when the true horror of Elizabeth could really be explored with more emotional impact.

Blood Countess was one I wanted to adore. And I think I would have if the passion and fire from the first half of the novel continued to the second half. But sadly, it didn’t and it got a little too rushed to be a satisfying ending. This is still definitely worth a read through, for the beautiful and incredible development of the sapphic romance.

Paws out,
Rach + Draco

Top 5 Tuesday: Most anticipated books for 2020

Rach @ Anxious NachosLeave a comment

Top 5 Tuesday is created and run by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm. You can join the fun by checking out the topics for the month here.

Hi everyone,

Well this subject is impossible. I tried to write a Top 10 list for this blog of my most anticipated 2020 books back in December, and I think it ended up being 20 books long because I couldn’t narrow it down anymore. So to choose just FIVE is pretty much impossible.

I honestly didn’t know where to start and choose. So, I went through my very long 2020 Goodreads lists (257 books, what am I doing) and picked 5 which stood out to me as ones I was extremely excited for yesterday evening. I don’t know if I can say these are my ‘most anticipated five’ because I have so many others I am as anticipated for. But they are definitely a short snapshot of my most anticipated.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A gothic, suspense, horror novel set in a creepy mansion, with a husband who’s poisoning his wife. This is set in 1950s Mexico, and the entire setting and atmosphere of this book just sound incredible. In addition, I believe ARCs have gone out very recently for this book and I’ve heard a lot of amazing things on my Twitter timeline about this book. Also that cover is to die for (that will be a reoccurring theme throughout this list).

Dangerous Remedy by Kat Dunn

So I have always had a fascination with the French Revolution. And here comes this bisexual love triangle set in the French Revolution and I cannot ask for more from a book. This is it. Heaven in a dark green package. Anyway, somehow the queer gods blessed me and I have an ARC of this one!! I still don’t know it happened, but it did and I am so excited to read.

Docile by K.M Sparza

I feel like this is one of the most hyped books of the year, and I am so on board for it! Capitalism, dystopia, sex, control, abuse and power, I already know this book is going to be challenging and controversial and so, so powerful!

The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey

I don’t usually read much historical fiction, so to have one on my most anticipated books of 2020 is a really big deal. But this one just sounds so interesting I couldn’t resist. This involves Hetty, who is tasked with the evacuation of the natural historuy museum’s mammals, from the city to Lockwood Manor, a mystery when the animals start going missing, and an f/f romance between the Lord of the Manor’s daughter and the animal keeper.

The Mermaid, The Witch and The Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Genderfluid pirate! Genderfluid pirate! I’m so happy I could cry. Asian folklore, witches, mermaids, pirates, swashbuckling fun – and at it’s heart, questions about identity and love. Plus the most beautiful cover ever!! Look at that detail!!

And that’s five!! Last year I read fairly heavily YA, and this year I’m aiming to get more of a mix of adult/YA, which actually worked out fairly equal in this particular list without me trying! There are so many books I could mention, but instead of rewriting why I love the sound of them all, you can check out my most anticipated reads of the year post here! (Or, check out my most most anticipated contemporary, queer reads, fantasy, horror and science fiction lists!) Be warned the fantasy and queer reads lists ended up having to be posted in separate parts because there are soooooo many. Which is amazing! But also makes me so sad because there is not a chance I can possibly read every single one.

I can’t wait to read everyone else’s lists! Are any of these also in your most anticipated books for 2020?

The Pondathon: TBR & character creation!

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Pondathon: The Quiet Pond's story-driven readathon. Image: Two swords with vines wrapped around it frame the words 'Pondathon', with three little forest sprites sitting on top. One forest sprite has a leaf on its head, the middle has twigs for horns, and the right has a mushroom on its head.

Hi everyone,

I am so excited today to talk about the Pondathon! I think this might be the most excited I’ve ever been for a readathon. To find out all about the readathon, my fierce forest muffin, Florian, my character for the readathon, as well as my TBR, please read on! The team I’ve joined, Team Varian, needs a bit of thought behind when I read what books, as you will find out… 

What is the Pondathon?

The Pondathon is a co-operative and story-driven readathon hosted and run by CW from The Quiet Pond. The aim of the Pondathon is to read books and collect points to protect the friends over at The Quiet Pond from the encroaching malevolent forces that threaten our friends in the forest.

Have fun participating in the Pondathon readathon by joining one of five teams, each with a unique way to collect points and signing up! You can also follow the story of the Pondathon as it unfolds, and participants can also complete ‘side quests’ during the readathon to collect extra points. The readathon takes place from January 24th 2020 to March 7th 2020. More information about the readathon can be found here.

Information about Joining the Pondathon

  1. To join the Pondathon, simply sign up anytime between January 18th 2020 to March 5th 2020.
  2. Choose a team, create your own animal character for the Pondathon and create a character card!
  3. Create a blog post, bookstagram post, booktube video, Twitter thread, or whatever medium you wish, with ‘#Pondathon’ in the title or your tweet. Share the character you have created and your character card!
  4. Link back to this post so that others can find this readathon and join in.

Share your updates on your blog/bookstagram/booktube and social media. You are more than welcome to tag @thequietpond or @artfromafriend on Twitter or Instagram in all your updates! We’d love to see all of the beautiful and awesome characters that you create!

My Pond Character

Florian Character Card

Let me introduce my Pond Character, Florian. Florian likes to think they’re the fiercest fox of all the forest. Known for their skill with blades, Florian is ready to be the shield to protect their forest friends. But inside, Florian is scared and shy. They want to be able to protect their friends, but just don’t know if they have the skills needed.

Florian has joined Team Varian to help add their magic to the shield around the Pond, and thus needs to read book in different genres to get the most points. For each set of three books of different genres finished, Florian will get more points to help protect the Pond.

team varian full

My Pondathon TBR

As mentioned above, I have joined Team Varian who is in charge of the shield protecting the Pond. I need to read books of different genres to get points, and for each set of three books of different genres, I get a bonus (and the genres reset – thank GOODNESS because the amount of fantasy books I have to read is HIGH). I’ve therefore set out my TBR in sets of three below! 

Salvation Day by Kali Wallace

Genre: Horror, Science fiction, Adult

This is all about a lethal virus which viped out a population on a ship, and now people want to go back to the ship, awakening whatever deadly outbreak killed everyone years before. This sounds so thrilling and terrifying and I can’t wait to be scared.

The Dangerous Art of Blending In by Angelo Surmelis

Genre: Contemporary, YA

A queer contemporary romance, I’ve wanting to read this one for a while and it was finally free at my library! Falling in love with your best friend + Greek family + abusive mother, it sounds like a heartbreaker.

We Are Lost and Found by Helene Dunbar

Genre: Historical, YA

Set during the 1980s, with discussions of the AIDS crisis, a group of friends trying to figure out who they are. Apparently this has actually been picked up for screen rights by Jaime Lanister’s company? We need more queer teens on screen so I am all for this.

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling

Genre: Contemporary fantasy/paranormal, YA

Queer! Teen! Witches! Plus blood magic, which is always one of my favourite kinds of magic.

The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by Wai Chim

Genre: Contemporary, YA

I actually have a signed copy of The Surprising Power of A Good Dumpling after I met Wai at a book event last year, and I can’t believe I haven’t got around to reading it yet. As my bookshelf is very fantasy heavy currently, this book is perfect for Team Varian!

The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis

Genre: Historical fantasy

This is one I randomly picked up at the library as I thought the cover looked interesting, so fingers crossed! Follows a group of girls after one accidentally murder someone, in a Western style world.

All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

Genre: Mystery, YA

Mystery with a tiny it of fabulism thrown in! Deena’s sister Mandy went missing a year ago, and now Deena has started receiving letters claiming to be from Mandy, talking about a curse on the family…

The Library of the Unwritten by A.J Hackwith

Genre: Fantasy, Adult

As soon as I hear queer librarians, I am in. This particular pansexual librarian needs to hunt down the escaped hero of a book, but everything goes wrong when an angel attacks them convinced they have the Devil’s Bible.

Amelia Westlake by Erin Gough

Genre: Contemporary, YA

Sapphic, grammar school romance, when the school bad girl and the girlfriend of a future prime minister come together to expose the school’s problems.

Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger

Genre: Fantasy

Thank you to Shealea at Shut Up Shealea for the most amazing book review of this one, the only time I’ve ever closed a book review and literally immediately purchased a book. Also it has magical animal companions which all fantasy books need.

Tell Me How You Really Feel – Aminah Mae Safi

Genre: Contemporary romance

Enemies to lovers sapphic romance between the Straight A cheerleader and a wannabe director, when they decide to make a film.

The Seep by Chana Porter

Genre: Science fiction

Alien entity invades Earth and changes everything – anything that can be imagined can be made true. Trina’s partner imagines being a baby again, and vanishes from Trina’s life. All about grief and moving on, with a older trans MC.

I am so excited to start this readathon tomorrow: I can’t wait to find out what all the additional quests might be…

Let me know if you’re joining the Ponadthon too – I’d love to see your characters!

Top 5 Tuesday: Reasons I Rate a Book 5 Stars

Rach @ Anxious Nachos8 Comments

Top 5 Tuesday is created and run by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm. You can join the fun by checking out the topics for the month here.

Hi everyone,

This week I’m coming to you from:

  • The middle of a work conference…
  • Which I was forced to go to during the middle of manuscript deadline hell….
  • And where there is a strict “no exceptions” to the evening social rule…
  • So if we want to get any of our work done (because of course the deadline doesn’t change even if you pull us out of the office for a week!!), we have to stay up until the early hours to do so….

So life is great right now. So great.

Okay rant over. Let’s get onto to celebrating why I rate books 5 stars! You know, I’ve never actually considered what makes me rate 5 stars in huge detail, outside of thinking about the one specific book I’m reviewing. I’m not even sure if there are recurring elements – I think to rate 5 stars, pretty much every part of the book needs to be incredible right? So I decided to go through all my 5 star reads of 2019, and go down a very statistical direction to identify the common themes and elements between those books. This is what I got.

It’s gay

Yup. No surprises here. If a book has LGBTQIA+ characters, I am on the squee express and will love that book. For some stats, 71% of my 2019 five star reads were queer! And that makes me so happy. I love reading books about people like me, so it is no surprise that most of my 5 star reads are loudly, proudly queer. Bring on the 2020 gays.

My 5 star examples:

A morally grey protagonist/villain

Give me our morally grey protagonists and villains. I love characters that do bad things for good reasons. I love when authors play with the idea of good and evil, when I don’t know who I’m supposed to be supporting, when there’s no clear idea of who is good and who is evil. God I love it so much. Give me morally grey every day.

My 5 star examples:

Excellent mental health rep

Much like queer books, seeing characters cope with mental health, in both real life-settings or fantasy worlds, just makes my heart hurt because I’m seeing people like me. It can be hopeful, which for obvious reasons, is fantastic to read as way of finding hope myself. But even if it is hopeless, it makes you feel seen and understood as a reader, and for a second, you can feel less alone because there’s someone out there who feels like you do.

My 5 star examples:

Nails the ending

So many of my 4 star books last year were fantastic….until the ending. Nailing the ending is such a difficult part of writing, and it has such an impact on my ultimate enjoyment of the book. I want an ending that is as brutually emotional as every page before it has been. I want knowledge and understanding of what’s happened. I don’t need all the ends tied up, but I want to feel something on the last pages. You can shock me, hurt me, thrill me. But the ending should make me feel something.

My 5 star examples:

Breaks my heart

So almost 50% of my 5 star reads of 2019 broke my heart. I don’t necessarily mean they made me cry – I’m a difficult reader to make actually cry, though I do tear up a lot. I like books that make me have a visceral emotional reaction, and let’s be honest, that kind of reaction usually comes when a book is stabbing you in the heart and ripping you open. I want to feel my chest physically hurt because I can’t believe what’s happening on the page. I need to be so emotionally invested in the characters, that what happens to them hurts me as much as possible. That’s definitely worth 5 stars.

My 5 star examples:

So to conclude, basically I want a queer, depressed, murder muffin to make me cry. Which does actually sum up several of the books I’m very excited for this year, so I clearly definitely have a 5 Star Type.

Book review: The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

Rach @ Anxious Nachos1 Comment

Title: The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Publication date: 2 April 2019

Genre: Horror | Adult

Page extent: 432 pages

Rating:

Goodreads blurb: A thrilling, atmospheric debut with the intensive drive of The Martian and Gravity and the creeping dread of Annihilation, in which a caver on a foreign planet finds herself on a terrifying psychological and emotional journey for survival.

When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane.

Instead, she got Em.

Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too . . .

As Gyre descends, little inconsistencies—missing supplies, unexpected changes in the route, and, worst of all, shifts in Em’s motivations—drive her out of her depths. Lost and disoriented, Gyre finds her sense of control giving way to paranoia and anger. On her own in this mysterious, deadly place, surrounded by darkness and the unknown, Gyre must overcome more than just the dangerous terrain and the Tunneler which calls underground its home if she wants to make it out alive—she must confront the ghosts in her own head.

But how come she can’t shake the feeling she’s being followed?

I let this book languish on my Kindle for months WHY RACHEL WHY?!? What idiocy was I thinking?!? This book, in all its terrifying, claustrophobic madness, was incredible.

Gyre is a caver. Taking a high paying job so she can escape the planet to find her mother, Gyre sets out to explore an uncharted cave system. But her handler, Em, is enigmatic and keeping secrets. Like why does she not have a team of handlers keeping her alive in these dangerous caves? Why is she really down here? And why are there bodies down in the caves….?

This is a tense and atmospheric delight of a book. Well delight makes it seem happy and joyful. It isn’t. It’s terrifying and dark and so fucking scary, but brilliant in every word. The fact that such a marvellous book could be written, when really there’s just one setting and two characters is incredible. I expected it to be very repetitive – I mean how many ways can you describe a cave tunnel? But it really wasn’t! The book manages to exceptionally stay tense and exciting throughout the story. As Gyre spends more time underground, and more time discovering the secrets Em is hiding, the more unhinged and unreliant she becomes. As we travel further into the book, and into the cave system, both the reader and Gyre begin to have no idea what’s real and what’s not. There are so many twists and turns, I would finally be convinced ‘yes this is real this is definitely the way the story is going’ only to have it veer off into more unexpected twists.

Both Gyre and Em are flawed and exceptional characters. Em, the monster, controlling Gyre from afar, drugging her and controlling her limbs if she desires. When beneath her facade is a tired woman, someone searching for something she’s never going to find. And then there’s Gyre, headstrong, stubborn Gyre, who refuses help even when she could use it, unwilling to admit defeat in her body. These two are both so strong to fight to the end. Until the very last pages, I honestly had no idea how the book would end. Would Gyre get out? Would she die? Would Em come for her? Was Em even real? My mind was as uncertain in reality as Gyre’s and I loved it.

This book is a horror masterpiece! A queer horror masterpiece to be even more precise, which makes this book even better for me. For such a simple narrative (explore the cave) there is such a depth to the writing and the emotions of the characters, the fear and horror at what lies in the system, and ultimately at what is happening to Gyre as she journeys further. Cannot recommend this one enough.

Paws out,
Rach + Draco

Book review: Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

Rach @ Anxious Nachos2 Comments

Title: Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers

Publication date: 24 September 2019

Genre: Horror | Young Adult

Page extent: 416 pages

Rating:

Goodreads blurb: In the faux-documentary style of The Blair Witch Project comes the campfire story of a missing girl, a vengeful ghost, and the girl who is determined to find her sister–at all costs.

Once a year, the path appears in the forest and Lucy Gallows beckons. Who is brave enough to find her–and who won’t make it out of the woods?

It’s been exactly one year since Sara’s sister, Becca, disappeared, and high school life has far from settled back to normal. With her sister gone, Sara doesn’t know whether her former friends no longer like her…or are scared of her, and the days of eating alone at lunch have started to blend together. When a mysterious text message invites Sara and her estranged friends to “play the game” and find local ghost legend Lucy Gallows, Sara is sure this is the only way to find Becca–before she’s lost forever. And even though she’s hardly spoken with them for a year, Sara finds herself deep in the darkness of the forest, her friends–and their cameras–following her down the path. Together, they will have to draw on all of their strengths to survive. The road is rarely forgiving, and no one will be the same on the other side.

Continuing my exploration into horror, Dahlia at LGBTQReads recommended Rules for Vanishing for my November subscription. It’s probably the first novel I’ve read that really goes into traditional horrory things – terrifying paranormal ghosts and spirits and the like. And I loved it!! It was scary, the format was spectacular, the only thing that let it down was a less than clear ending.

One year ago, Sara’s sister Becca went missing. Everyone thinks she ran off with her boyfriend, but Sara disagrees. She thinks she went to find Lucy Gallows, a girl who vanished 50 years ago. It’s said that in the woods, there is a road, and if you follow the road, you will find Lucy. When a text message floods the town, urging everyone to play ‘the game’ to find Lucy Gallows, Sara knows it’s the only chance she has to find her sister. So she, and a group of friends, go into the woods to find the road and hunt down Lucy and Becca….

My absolute favourite part of Rules for Vanishing was the structure and format. Very similar to another of my recent favourite reads, Into the Drowning Deep, Rules for Vanishing is told through first person POV, alongside interview transcripts, video exercepts, text messages and emails. There’s something about the reader feeling more knowing than the characters that just makes a story infinitely more terrifying to me. The format of Rules for Vanishing really makes this happen. By interspersing the story of the journey with emails, texts and interviews from the future, we learn and see more about the current situation. We’re given the info in these short extracts to make the first person POV more terrifying and it works so well!! There were so many moments I was terrified, particularly in the first half of the novel. The set up of the initial Lucy Gallows myth is really well done, and it really does sound like a traditional small-town legend. I grew up in a small town, and we had a poet who wandered on our local moor and walked through a gateway to the fae.

I enjoyed the death and gore of the first part of the journey as well. To get to Lucy, the group has to travel through seven ‘gates’ on the road to reach her. There are rules to follow, and challenges to pass, and if you don’t….well bad stuff happens. Up until about gate 4, I was loving it. It was very much the Blair Witch, paranormally vibe. After gate 4, it begins to get a bit more fantastical and I found I didn’t quite enjoy that as much. Previously, it had felt very real and I almost thought this could genuinely happen. But, after it left to more fantasy monsters, it lost a bit of the terror.

In addition, I was a bit disappointed in the ending. Not only did it go full fantasy with the Dahut storyline, but the ending is very open and I’m still not sure what actually happened?! If anyone has read this book, and has any insights or thoughts, I would love to hear them!

All in all, I really enjoyed Rules for Vanishing. The first half of the book is a terrifyingly creepy paranormal story, with whispers and voices and spirits trying to kill you. The structure and format of the book is so awesome and really helps add to the tension and fear. Whilst I wasn’t happy with the ending, this is still definitely worth a read!

Top 5 Tuesday: Books I Need to Read in 2020

Rach @ Anxious Nachos3 Comments

Top 5 Tuesday is created and run by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm. You can join the fun by checking out the topics for the month here.

Hi everyone,

It’s the first Top 5 Tuesday of 2020! You may notice I’ve had a little bit of a blog lift. That is thanks to Vinny over at Artsy Draft! Last year, I was THE LUCKIEST PERSON EVER and actually won a blog redesign! Vinny has spent the last little while redesigning my entire blog and drawing the most amazing illos to use and I am so incredibely grateful and amazed by their work! I’m still in the process of updating all my backposts, but it’s getting there!

So I was tempted to put a very similar list for this week’s topic as one in December (the ‘2019 books I never got to’ because I SWEAR I will get to them in 2020). But I also have several others on my shelf that I really need to get to, so let’s just add to that pile….

Steel Crow Saga – Paul Krueger

I picked this one up after seeing Shealea at Shut Up Shealea write the most amazing review I think I’ve ever read for it! It sounds honestly mind-blowingly good. I know I will definitely get it to it in 2020 – I’m participating in #FFFeb, a sapphic readathon in February! One of the challenges is a book with a bisexual character, which this does! So I plan on getting to this one very shortly…

The Starless Sea – Erin Morgenstern

I (rather embarassingly) only got around to reading The Night Circus late last year. But I adored it! It was absolutely perfect. So of course I immediately got my hands on a copy over her second novel, The Starless Sea, which I can’t wait to read in 2020!

A Torch Against the Night – Sabaa Tahir

So this adds to the awfully long list of sequels I really need to read…. Alongside The Dragon Republic, The Kingdom of Copper and Jade War (which I’m currently reading!), I really need to read the sequel to Sabaa Tahir’s incredible fantasy An Ember in the Ashes. It was one of my favourite fantasy books I read last year. I don’t know why I struggle so much with sequels!

The Bone Witch – Rin Chupeco

I actually almost go a chance to read The Bone Witch last year! I ordered it from my library, but then didn’t quite get time to read it before I left on holiday, so had to return it. Perhaps a second attempt this year will be luckier!

The Priory of the Orange Tree – Samantha Shannon

Okay so I know I said I wasn’t going to put any books from my Book I Didn’t Get to in 2019 list….But this one I swore I was going to read ALL YEAR and didn’t. So once again I am vowing to read Priory in 2020. I’m actually considering it for my next read – I’m trying to get all my massive fantasy tomes read before any 2020 preorders come in….I guess we’ll see if I’m sucessful in the next few weeks!

That’s it for this week’s Top 5 Tuesday! I can’t wait to read everyone’s lists. My key reading goal for this year is very much ‘please Rachel for the love of God read all your sequels.’ I feel like it should be achievable?! But I failed last year so, do I really know anything?

I hope everyone has a great week~

Book review: Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett

Rach @ Anxious Nachos1 Comment

Title: Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Publication date: 29 October 2019

Genre: Contemporary | Young Adult | Romance

Page extent: 290 pages

Rating:

Goodreads blurb: In a community that isn’t always understanding, an HIV-positive teen must navigate fear, disclosure, and radical self-acceptance when she falls in love–and lust–for the first time. Powerful and uplifting, Full Disclosure will speak to fans of Angie Thomas and Nicola Yoon.

Simone Garcia-Hampton is starting over at a new school, and this time things will be different. She’s making real friends, making a name for herself as student director of Rent, and making a play for Miles, the guy who makes her melt every time he walks into a room. The last thing she wants is for word to get out that she’s HIV-positive, because last time . . . well, last time things got ugly.

Keeping her viral load under control is easy, but keeping her diagnosis under wraps is not so simple. As Simone and Miles start going out for real–shy kisses escalating into much more–she feels an uneasiness that goes beyond butterflies. She knows she has to tell him that she’s positive, especially if sex is a possibility, but she’s terrified of how he’ll react! And then she finds an anonymous note in her locker: I know you have HIV. You have until Thanksgiving to stop hanging out with Miles. Or everyone else will know too.

Simone’s first instinct is to protect her secret at all costs, but as she gains a deeper understanding of the prejudice and fear in her community, she begins to wonder if the only way to rise above is to face the haters head-on…

Full Disclosure is a book which looks at the impact of HIV in a modern setting. It is both a fun and hilarious YA contemporary as well as a timely reminder about the fear of HIV still prevalent in our society.

Simone is our protagonist. She has had HIV since she was born, passed on from her birth mother. She has recently moved to a new school after her HIV status was revealed and everyone turned on her at her last one. Now, someone at her new school is blackmailing her, threatening to reveal her secret if she doesn’t stay away from Miles, the boy she’s crushing on.

Simone really is the star of this book. She exudes energy on every page. Her interactions with both her best friends, Claudia and Lydia, as well as Miles, were hilarious. Full Disclosure really captures what’s it’s like to be a teen and discovering your sexuality. From the sex shop scene to the constant jokes about sex in her friend group, it feels so real. I love how Camryn wasn’t afraid to shy away from talking openly about sex and masturbation as a teen. It’s abundantly obvious this was written by a teen, by someone with a clear understanding of how teens actually act – because Simone’s voice, the characters, their interactions, they all sound like teens. It was very refreshing to read!

Miles is also an absolutely adorable and lovely character. His sincere support and love for Simone, and the way he tries to watch musicals so he can know more about what Simone enjoys is just wonderful! He is like the opposite to your traditional moody white boy YA love interest and I LOVE HIM.

The casual diversity in this book is incredible. From Claudia’s asexuality to Lydia’s bisexuality, Simone’s two dads, Simone’s own exploration of her queerness, to the conversation at the GSA about whether you can be a non-binary lesbian, it really shows the range of diversity within the queer community. I wasn’t expecting the internalised (and external) biphobia in the book, it hasn’t been mentioned in any of the other reviews I’ve read. It is challenged at the end of the book, but just note there are some discussions about the validity of bisexuality and what makes you “queer”. Claudia makes some nasty comments in the heat of an argument, as well as Simone’s ex, Sarah. I appreciate and understand the need for discussions such as this in YA, however it did make me feel a little sad about this book. I feel like every book I’ve read this year that deals with bisexuality has the same thing, and I’ve just gotten a little tired of reading biophobic lines this year. But as I say, I understand the importance, I’m just personally not really in the place to read books that deal with this issue right now.

There was also quite a few heavy info-dumping sections. These generally were when there was medical info to give, and whilst it was interesting to hear about U=U etc, I feel there could’ve been a more natural way to do so rather than the very large info dump at the start of the book.

Otherwise, I really enjoyed Full Disclosure! It brought the experience of HIV into a modern setting, which I don’t think I’ve read in a YA before. Simone is a fantastic character, and the heavy issue driven nature of this book was lightened by the hilarious discussions about sex. Great debut and I will definitely keep an eye on what Camryn Garrett writes next!

Book review: I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi

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Title: I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication date: 22 October 2019

Genre: Contemporary | Young Adult | Science fiction

Page extent: 400 pages

Rating:

Goodreads blurb: Seven days. Seven days. The Earth might end in seven days.

When news stations start reporting that Earth has been contacted by a planet named Alma, the world is abuzz with rumors that the alien entity is giving mankind only few days to live before they hit the kill switch on civilization.

For high school truant Jesse Hewitt, though, nothing has ever felt permanent. Not the guys he hooks up with. Not the jobs his underpaid mom works so hard to hold down. Life has dealt him one bad blow after another — so what does it matter if it all ends now? Cate Collins, on the other hand, is desperate to use this time to find the father she’s never met, the man she grew up hearing wild stories about, most of which she didn’t believe. And then there’s Adeem Khan. While coding and computer programming have always come easily to him, forgiveness doesn’t. He can’t seem to forgive his sister for leaving, even though it’s his last chance.

With only seven days to face their truths and right their wrongs, Jesse, Cate, and Adeem’s paths collide even as their worlds are pulled apart. 

Quiet SFF won 2019, yes I said it. This is another genre-blending book combining the mystery and magic of science fiction with the heavy character driven narratives of contemporary YA. In I Hope You Get This Message this results in an emotional portrayal of three teens at the end of the world, trying to keep their families together.

The book follows three POVs: Jesse, a kid who struggles with depression and has had a hard life after his dad died with high debt; Cate, living with her schizophrenic mum as her hallucinations worsen, trying to track down her father at her mother’s request; Adeem, desperately hurt and angry at the sister who abandoned him two years ago but desperate to find her before the end of the world. These three stories take all three to Roswell, where their journey to find their families and discover what matters to them at the end of the world will merge, and end.

I Hope You Get This Message is a wonderful debut. Each of the three POVs have their own voice and unique character which makes it a really easy and unconfusing read, which is a fault I often find with multiple POV books. Of the characters, I do think Jesse’s voice shone above the rest. I can’t say I liked him as a person (he seems to have a bit of the ‘I’ll destroy everything good in my world then blame the world for it’ trait), but his voice was so incredibly strong. I also think his flaws are incredibly realistic for the life he has held – so whilst I don’t necessarily like him because of them, I understood him and his actions so well. But sometimes I did just want to scream through the pages at him ‘JESSE NOOOOO’. I also thought the portrayal of his depression was well written; particularly the handling of his self-harm/wrist cuff: to clarify, there are no scenes of self harm, just mentions of the past event, but when it is discussed it really grabs you with the intensity of emotion.

Cate and Adeem are both still strong, but I think perhaps lacked a bit of the intensity of Jesse. Cate’s journey to find her father is interesting, living as she is for her mother’s desires and not her own. It was interesting to see her come to terms and accept that this is how she lives across the book, with an exceptional line ending her last POV. Adeem has another very interesting journey with his sister: from the strong desire to find her to reconnect his family, to the anger that courses through him that she left, his feelings are complicated and in-depth.

I really loved the crossovers between the POVs. Side characters we know cross between these three lives but without the three at the centre knowing this. I love that sense of all knowing as a reader, and I loved seeing the three characters come together and intersect as the book progressed.

The sci-fi element, whilst forming the basis of the premise for this novel, is not at the forefront. Instead, it’s an ever constant but quiet guiding force throughout the book for the characters. I enjoyed the short interludes interspersed throughout the book about the aliens discussing the fate of Earth, which kept the sci-fi more central, though I felt these short sections lacked a sense of urgency. There was no progression of tension amongst them, as I would have expected as the aliens get closer and closer to their deadline of Earth destruction.

All in all, I think I Hope You Get This Message is a brilliant debut. With easy, everyday diversity (take note SFF authors, this is how to do it!!!), well developed characters and the different discussions of family, this is definitely one to pick up!

Paws out,
Rach + Draco