Tag Archives: monster

Review: Deephaven by Ethan M. Aldridge

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , ,
Deephaven by Ethan Aldridge cover shows a boy holding up a torch and standing in front of an opened gate. Behind and above him lurks a shadowy monster with glowing eyes and tentacle-like hair.

Deephaven
Ethan M. Aldridge
Quill Tree Books
Published September 5, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Deephaven

From Ethan M. Aldridge, bestselling creator of ESTRANGED, comes a gothic middle grade prose novel that follows a nonbinary student who is drawn to their boarding school’s forbidden east wing, where something stalks the shadowy corridors. Perfect for fans of J. A. White and Mary Downing Hahn!

When Guinevere “Nev” Tallow receives an acceptance letter to the exclusive Deephaven Academy, they know it’s the fresh start that they’ve been looking for. But things are strange from the moment they arrive—the house itself seems to breathe, students whisper secrets in dark corridors, and the entire east wing of the academy is locked away for reasons no one wants to explain. And Nev knows something ragged stalks the shadowy corridors, something that sobs quietly and scratches at the walls, waiting to be released. With the help of another first-year student, Nev takes it upon themself to unravel the mysteries hidden in Deephaven’s halls. But will they risk their fresh start to bring the academy’s secret to light?

My Review

Since I’ve read everything I can find that Ethan Aldridge has ever written (including these charming short stories), I knew I would read DEEPHAVEN. I didn’t realize at first that it was a prose novel, so I was a little surprised when I started the first page. But the story of Nev and the strange school they were going to attend pretty quickly drew me in.

Nev, especially, is such a cool character. They are always picking up bits of things– screws, bobbins, stuff like that– which they save and use to create mechanical toys. I loved the descriptions of them working on the toys. The author describes Nev as having a magpie mind, and I loved that.

The story contains black and white illustrations spaced throughout, usually one toward the end of each chapter. I thought the author made really great choices as to which moments of the story to illustrate. It really helped me grasp the characters and reinforced the creepy setting of the boarding school.

The book is under 300 pages, so it’s a pretty quick read. I enjoyed it. I think readers who prefer graphic novels but maybe want to branch out into prose should give this one a try. Definitely, other fans of the author’s work will want to add DEEPHAVEN to their collections.

Content Notes for Deephaven

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Nev is nonbinary. Nev’s best friend is Black. Two minor characters, upper-grade girls, are in a romantic relationship.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Nev hears rumors that ghosts live in the abandoned East Wing of the school. Some characters have the ability to perform magic. Nev discovers what appears to be a monster.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. A boy stabs a dangerous creature with a fencing foil. A dangerous creature threatens Nev and their friend.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of DEEPHAVEN in exchange for my honest review.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays

Check out other blogs posting about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle with Greg Pattridge.

Review: It Looks Like Us by Alison Ames

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,

It Looks Like Us
Alison Ames
Page Street Kids
Published September 13, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About It Looks Like Us

The remote terror of THE THING meets the body horror of WILDER GIRLS in this fast-paced Antarctic thriller.

Shy high school junior Riley Kowalski is spending her winter break on a research trip to Antarctica, sponsored by one of the world’s biggest tech companies. She joins five student volunteers, a company-approved chaperone, and an impartial scientist to prove that environmental plastic pollution has reached all the way to Antarctica, but what they find is something much worse… something that looks human.

Riley has anxiety–ostracized by the kids at school because of panic attacks–so when she starts to feel like something’s wrong with their expedition leader, Greta, she writes it off. But when Greta snaps and tries to kill Riley, she can’t chalk it up to an overactive imagination anymore. Worse, after watching Greta disintegrate, only to find another student with the same affliction, she realizes they haven’t been infected, they’ve been infiltrated–by something that can change its shape. And if the group isn’t careful, that something could quickly replace any of them.

My Review

Horror isn’t usually something I read very often– it tends to get into my head too much and then revisit me at night– but I tend to really enjoy books by PageStreet, so I decided to give IT LOOKS LIKE US a try.

And I was NOT disappointed!

From the very first, I needed to know what would happen to Riley. She’s smart and anxious and I found it so easy to identify with her. I loved the way she forged relationships with others on the team and even how confrontations with the monster who appeared as her team members affected her emotionally. Those scenes exploring how she felt hearing their voices and seeing their faces as part of something she knew was trying to kill her were some of the most gripping for me.

At less than 300 pages, IT LOOKS LIKE US is a pretty quick read. Scenes from after Riley escapes frame the story, and it begins with two people she refers to as Good Cop and Bad Cop interrogating her. As she answers their questions, she takes us back into the story of what happened. We watch things unfold knowing that grim things are to come. I felt like that format heightened the tension for me, and I loved it.

So… in the story, Riley and the team go to Antarctica on a research trip arranged by a mega wealthy billionaire who has rockets that go to space and a company that makes electric cars. Named Anton Rusk. Yep. Kind of made me laugh when the story introduced him.

On the whole, I devoured this book. I loved its energy. I also loved the way cleverness and desperation and some of the relationships between characters. Though horror will never be my preferred genre, I’m really glad I had a chance to read this one.

Content Notes

Content warnings for violence and body horror. Brief alcohol use and presence of drugs.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Riley has anxiety and panic attacks and is ace.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Two people undress and climb into a sleeping back together to ward off hypothermia. One reassures the other that he isn’t trying to have sex with her, he’s trying to help her survive.

Spiritual Content
Riley and her team encounter an otherworldly monster that can shapeshift and speak to them.

Violent Content
Some descriptions of violent death. The monster shapeshifts in very unsettling ways, sometimes melting from one shape to another. Sometimes its bones seem to crack and shift. Mouths open up in strange places.

Drug Content
In one scene, after a confrontation with the monster, Riley and her friends drink gin they’ve found. In another scene, Riley discovers weed among one of her team member’s things. The two people who interrogate Riley pump her full of some types of medications that prevent her from experiencing the pain and trauma of her injuries while they question her.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of IT LOOKS LIKE US in exchange for my honest review.

Review: A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

A Curse So Dark and Lonely (Cursebreakers #1)
Brigid Kemmerer
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published on January 29, 2018

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About A Curse So Dark and Lonely

Fall in love, break the curse.

It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

Nothing has ever been easy for Harper Lacy. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.

Break the curse, save the kingdom.

A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.

My Review

I love the way some of the elements of Beauty and the Beast were reimagined in A Curse So Dark and Lonely. Instead of appearing as a monster 24/7, Prince Rhen relives the same season over and over knowing that at the end of the season, he’ll turn into a bloodthirsty monster and have no memory of himself. The monster will kill anyone in his path, so even while Rhen is human, he’s tortured by the guilt of what he’s done as a monster in the past and filled with dread at what will happen the next time.

Rhen’s only surviving companion is Grey, the last surviving member of the Royal Guard. I loved Grey. He’s sharp, focused, and loyal. The only thing that worried me about him was how much I liked him—I worried he’d steal the show. (Looks like he’ll get his own chance to tell a story, though. I wasn’t expecting a sequel to this book, but the ending definitely sets up for one.)

Let’s talk about Harper. She’s spunky. She’s brave. She loves her family with her whole heart. She’s so moved by the suffering of the villagers in Emberfall that she begins to find ways to fight for them. And her compassion wakes Rhen’s passion for his people. I loved that.

One of the cool things to me about A CURSE SO DARK AND LONELY was the way the genres collided. The contemporary parts set in present-day DC really read like contemporary YA. The fantasy parts had a really distinct fantasy feel to them as well. I thought that was really well done and maintained perfectly through the whole book.

The end threw me a little bit, though. I don’t want to give away details. But it’s unclear which actions change things—even the characters seem unsure. I’m hoping that the second book makes all of this clearer.

All in all, A CURSE SO DARK AND LONELY is a must-read for fairy tale lovers. It’s a rich, beautiful re-imagining of the story packed with great characters. Great for fans of Robin McKinley or Wendy Spinale.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Harper’s brother is gay. He’s in a relationship with a young black doctor. Harper has Cerebral Palsy.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Harper finds pictures of her brother with a boyfriend she didn’t know he had. The way they look at each other tells her they’re in love. Before the curse, Rhen slept with a young woman. (No details.)

Spiritual Content
A powerful curse transforms the prince into a monster at the end of each season. The sorceress visits him throughout the season to gloat and punish him using her magic. The prince’s remaining guard has the ability to cross into present day Washington DC for one hour each season to bring back a girl who can hopefully break the curse.

Violent Content
The sorceress tortures Rhen and others, causing a lot of pain and sometimes leaving wounds. The monster has killed many people and left a lot of carnage behind. Some scenes include brief graphic descriptions of blood and gore left behind or of battles with the monster.

Drug Content
The prince and others drink alcohol.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing to use but help support this blog.