It’s Top Ten Tuesday time once again friends and this week is a genre freebie! I’ve been dipping my toes into the horror genre, trying to read from a few of the different subgenres to see what I enjoy the most and I just wanted to showcase a few that I’ve read in the last year or so that I really enjoyed!
*BEWARE OF SPOILERS*
Finch Chamberlin is the newest transfer student to the ultra-competitive Ulalume Academy… but she’s also not what she seems. Months before school started, Finch and her parents got into an accident that should have left her dead at the bottom of a river. But something monstrous, and ancient, and terrifying, wouldn’t let her drown. Finch doesn’t know why she woke up after her heart stopped, but since dying she’s felt a constant pull from the school and the surrounding town of Rainwater, like something on the island is calling to her. Selena St. Clair sees right through Finch, and she knows something is seriously wrong with her. But despite Selena’s suspicion, she feels drawn to Finch and has a sinking feeling that from now on the two will be inexplicably linked to one another.
Finch is an interesting character for sure. I think when we are introduced to her she seems quite innocent and unassuming. She is very much a loner and wants to be by herself which contrasts starkly with Selena. A lot is revealed to Finch over the course of the storyline and she does evolve and become more accepting of her parents death and starts to live a bit more through the help of her new friends.
Selena was the more entertaining of the two perspectives. Her life is way more chaotic being the popular girl and trying to maintain her reputation even though it’s not necessarily who she is as a person. I think all teenage girls can relate to putting on a façade when they are in high school to try and appear more put together and become popular but Selena becoming a mean girl kind of went to the extreme. As we learn more about her throughout the course of the plot I became more attached to her and seeing how her feelings for Finch grew and her trying to push them away was very endearing.
The premise was super interesting, finding out about the history of the town and how everything connects back to Nerosi. I liked all of the representation within the book but some of the side characters weren’t very distinct and distinguishable from each other. As the plot progressed and we get more revelations it did start to feel a bit predictable though it didn’t shy away from getting a bit dark which I enjoyed!
⭐️3/5 stars was a slow start
*SOME SPOILERS*
Mars has always been the lesser twin, the shadow to his sister Caroline’s radiance. But when Caroline dies under horrific circumstances, Mars is propelled to learn all he can about his once-inseparable sister who’d grown tragically distant. Mars’s genderfluidity means he’s often excluded from the traditions — and expectations — of his politically-connected family. This includes attendance at the prestigious Aspen Conservancy Summer Academy where his sister poured so much of her time. But with his grief still fresh, he insists on attending in her place.
Mars as a character I enjoyed but didn’t connect with as much as I would of liked to. I think because the start of the book is so jarring and intense it took me a little longer to get situated in the plot and understand what was happening. I thought Mars’ reasonings for wanting to go back to Aspen Academy was fair and if was in his place I would of wanted to go back too. I just thought it took him too long to really make a move and start to fully investigate the honeys and Aspen as a whole.
All the other characters aside from Mars were kind of hard to distinguish between. None of them really felt fleshed out to me and were kind of blurred together (I’m even having a hard time remembering any of their names). I just felt like because this was titled as the honeys and they were the ones who were closest to Caroline before she died we would of got to know them a lot more than what we did.
I could in no way predict how this book was going to end. It took a turn for the weird and strange and I wasn’t prepared for it so it definitely took me by surprise! I liked how broad the scope of the book got and it wasn’t just isolated to Aspen and the fact that Mars wasn’t able to escape from the inevitability of this organisation.
The prose was very lyrical and beautiful but almost a little too flowery for me. I think the overly descriptive language and the perceptive shifts that occur throughout the course of the plot kept confusing me which may have been intentional by the author. I don’t really enjoy for the most part not fulling knowing and understanding what was going on so that kind of pulled me out of the story a bit.
⭐️3/5 stars Loved the premise, the pacing was just a bit off
*SPOILERS BEWARE*
An outcast at her small-town Georgia high school, Madison Washington has always been a teasing target for bullies. And she’s dealt with it because she has more pressing problems to manage. Until the morning a surprise rainstorm reveals her most closely kept secret: Maddy is biracial. She has been passing for white her entire life at the behest of her fanatical white father, Thomas Washington. After a viral bullying video pulls back the curtain on Springville High’s racist roots, student leaders come up with a plan to change their image: host the school’s first integrated prom as a show of unity. The popular white class president convinces her Black superstar quarterback boyfriend to ask Maddy to be his date, leaving Maddy wondering if it’s possible to have a normal life.
I quite enjoyed Maddy’s character. I think the way she chose to deal with everything that has happened to her so far has been quite realistic. There is definitely that sense of not belonging to any one particular group at school and also the horrific treatment from her father has really stunted her maturity and also her confidence which leads to her inevitable psychotic break.
I wasn’t all that invested in any of the other characters to be honest. I think they were all meant to be unlikeable as we know that none of them survive prom night. Kenny’s character got on my nerves a little bit. I know it would be quite hard to not stick to the status quo when your in high school but he should of stuck up for Maddy and called out the quite obvious racists acts that his friends were pulling. His sister was one of my favourite characters and I loved how she wouldn’t stand for it and made a fuss! Wendy was totally selfish and even though her intentions might of been to help smooth everything over she was doing it all for herself and her image.
I haven’t read the original Carrie or watched the movie before so I honestly had no preconceived notions on how this should be written or how close or far from the original it is or should be. I thought it was well written and the format with the added podcast element was fun and made it easier to get through. The pacing was quite fast and I was highly entertained throughout. The prom night scene did feel a little rushed though so I wish we could of had more time to really get a grasp of what was happening and how horrible it would of been to witness.
⭐️4/5 stars seeing these characters get what they deserve was fun!
*SOME SPOILERS BEWARE*
Seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow has always been strange. Something happened to her and her two older sisters when they were children, something they can’t quite remember but that left each of them with an identical half-moon scar at the base of their throats.
I really found myself attached to Iris’s character and highly intrigued by her sisters. Immediately I was ensnared by the introduction of this book and the way Iris explained how her and her sisters were weird and strange. I liked the fact that they were all so discernible from each other and had different personalities even though they were so close.
The mystery aspect surrounding Grey’s disappearance and how Iris and Vivi have to try and piece together the clues she left behind whilst also trying to escape from the man who is chasing them was highly entertaining. It kept me engaged and wanting to read on and find out what was going to happen next. It was definitely a roller coaster ride of a plot and I was surprised at every turn.
From what we learn about Grey I didn’t really like her all that much. I appreciated the lengths she would go to to help and protect her sister’s but she kind of went too far at times. Her secretive nature and how much she supposedly didn’t tell her sisters even though they promised not to investigate what happened to them all those years ago, really didn’t give me a reason to trust her at all. Which I guess my instincts were kind of right in the end.
I really felt like Tyler’s character wasn’t all that necessary, if he wasn’t in the story at all I probably would of enjoyed the book all the same. I think his involvement in the mystery came out of nowhere and I didn’t think he was that important as a character when we are first introduced to him. I still have unanswered questions as to why he wasn’t affected by their gifts and why he is drawn so much to Grey but then didn’t come when she called to his soul.
Overall I highly enjoyed this book. I felt like the premise was highly original and entertaining and the twist at the end about what happened when they disappeared was shocking and unexpected to say the least. The prose was highly descriptive and I was able just to get lost in the story and enjoy the ride!
⭐️4/5 stars creepy, bizarre & gripping
Amy Leigh Reads 