Today I have an ARC of a hotly anticipated book which I reviewed in the current issue of Booklist. More details below, but first here are the rules for the giveaway:
- You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
- If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
- Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
- If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.
Click here to see the previous giveaway. Our winners were Kit from Fond du Lac [WI] Public Library and Laura from Somerset [MA] Public Library. Now on to this week's giveaway.
August is the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Spotlight for Booklist and I have 3 reviews in the print edition which I featured today on the general blog. I have a copy of Hailey Piper's October release, courtesy of Titan, for 1 lucky winner. Also, soon I will have news about an appearance with Hailey that will be free for ALL library people to attend. More on that soon. First, get in on this giveaway. Register now and you will be entered going forward.
By Hailey Piper
Oct. 2024. 448p. Titan, paper, $17.99 (9781803367644).
First published August 2024 (Booklist).
Soon after Ivory, a trans woman, in a small, seaside town in Massachusetts, comes upon the body of a trans girl, Cabrina, washed up on shore, she is visited by a ghost cat (Is it Cabrina?) who takes her to a hidden world, just off the coast. Xi and Rex, trans girl and boy, are Cabrina’s best friends, who also still feel her presence. The search for answers about Cabrina begins intimately, but as the five operatic acts layer on top of each other, the world and its characters are fleshed out, and the pacing, action, blood, and destruction build, engulfing all in the intense and visceral emotions, until Piper breaks it all open, releasing the existential terror (both real and supernatural) into the world, but not without anchoring it with love and hope. A great choice for fans of original takes on the vampire trope like Devils Kill Devils by Compton, the queer, teen found family of Cuckoo by Felker-Martin, or the grief and cosmic horror of This Thing Between Us by Moreno.
YA Statement: “What's out there that’s so bad even a dead girl is scared of the dark?” This question asked by Xi early in the book is at the heart of why teens who do not mind existential dread and visceral, but not gratuitous, descriptions will want to devour this book.
Three Words That Describe This Book: Visceral, Terrifying (from every vantage point), anchored by love
Further Appeal: This book! I took so many notes and so much of what I loved about this book was the ending-- which is TERRIFYING but also very cool and done subtly because you get lost in the story, and the relationships and interactions of the characters (which are very well done) that you almost forget what happens at the end is so much bigger than that. It is actually more terrifying that Piper is able to distract you from that for just long enough to add an extra layer of unease.
Getting all of those emotions in 170 words WAS HARD. However, I knew since it was a Booklist review, I would have a longer post to share all of those notes with you. Here they are:
This is an epic story told in 5 acts; in fact, it reads like an epic, 5 Act Opera ala Wagner. I say this as a HUGE positive. It has the pacing with each act having its own pacing and story arcs, that build on top of each other. As the story and the world building emerge, the pacing increases until the action, blood, destruction, revenge, violence, and emotions literally engulf the reader in the final act. But each act is definitely needed to build to that 5th act.
And engulf is a great word for this book in every act. It is an adjective I will work into the 170 words I get for my review.
4 main narrators and they are all trans which I will noted and then refer to them by their correct pronouns for their true selves. It is an issue in the book because Carina's mom does not accept her true self. Ivy, a grown woman. Cabrina, the found dead girl of high school age. And her two best friends Xi, a teen woman and Rex, a teen man. Xi and Rex are accepted by their moms (Xi has a single mom and Rex 2 moms), but Cabrina is not. Her mother, the local politician in their seaside, MA, holiday town, has locked Cabrina up to stop her from being a woman.
In terms of plot, this is NOT a book that I want to tell you what happens more than the plot description. What I said above about the operatic nature of the storytelling gives you a sense of what you expect which is what you need here.
I suggest you try to read each "Act" in one sitting. Take an intermission between to digest and again, let the story engulf you. And then read another Section-- in full, at once if possible.
This was the note I am most upset I couldn't fit into the review-- The story has a dreamlike quality at times but I also think that is a trick of the light as well because as it gets more into its own speculative world, the story also gets more real.
Also, this story is intimate and follows a few key characters in a small town, but it has implications for the entire world. Again-- terrifying from every vantage point. When you catch your breath with the end of the story, you-- the reader-- have to sit with a whole other set of emotions and fear that Piper has made clear but also left to you to imagine. And that is just the supernatural terror. There is also the horror of living in a trans body, and worse, being trapped in a body that is not the right one for you, not allowed to escape it.
Get ready to feel all of your emotions with this one. fear, anger, love, existential dread, revenge, horror, sadness, joy, tumult, and even peace.
In the acknowledgements Piper thanks little Hailey for sticking it out, even when she didn't want to. That did break me at the end. I dare you not to cry.
Readalikes: Besides the titles above, Nat Cassidy's Nestlings is also a good comp here-- both are informed by classic vampire lore but also set out their own "rules," creates new fear, and new mythology that is fascinating on its own. I love this sub trend in the re-emergence of the Vampire story in particular.
But this is more than a "vampire" books. It will appeal greatly to Romantasy fans. GREATLY!
In terms of readalikes, it is hard because this book is very unique (as all of Piper's books are). I do feel like this story and Queen of Teeth are family. Like this is the older, sister story. Without Queen of Teeth, I don't think Piper writes this book.
Soon after Ivory, a trans woman, in a small, seaside town in Massachusetts, comes upon the body of a trans girl, Cabrina, washed up on shore, she is visited by a ghost cat (Is it Cabrina?) who takes her to a hidden world, just off the coast. Xi and Rex, trans girl and boy, are Cabrina’s best friends, who also still feel her presence. The search for answers about Cabrina begins intimately, but as the five operatic acts layer on top of each other, the world and its characters are fleshed out, and the pacing, action, blood, and destruction build, engulfing all in the intense and visceral emotions, until Piper breaks it all open, releasing the existential terror (both real and supernatural) into the world, but not without anchoring it with love and hope. A great choice for fans of original takes on the vampire trope like Devils Kill Devils by Compton, the queer, teen found family of Cuckoo by Felker-Martin, or the grief and cosmic horror of This Thing Between Us by Moreno.
YA Statement: “What's out there that’s so bad even a dead girl is scared of the dark?” This question asked by Xi early in the book is at the heart of why teens who do not mind existential dread and visceral, but not gratuitous, descriptions will want to devour this book.
Three Words That Describe This Book: Visceral, Terrifying (from every vantage point), anchored by love
Further Appeal: This book! I took so many notes and so much of what I loved about this book was the ending-- which is TERRIFYING but also very cool and done subtly because you get lost in the story, and the relationships and interactions of the characters (which are very well done) that you almost forget what happens at the end is so much bigger than that. It is actually more terrifying that Piper is able to distract you from that for just long enough to add an extra layer of unease.
Getting all of those emotions in 170 words WAS HARD. However, I knew since it was a Booklist review, I would have a longer post to share all of those notes with you. Here they are:
- This is an epic story told in 5 acts; in fact, it reads like an epic, 5 Act Opera ala Wagner. I say this as a HUGE positive. It has the pacing with each act having its own pacing and story arcs, that build on top of each other. As the story and the world building emerge, the pacing increases until the action, blood, destruction, revenge, violence, and emotions literally engulf the reader in the final act. But each act is definitely needed to build to that 5th act.
- And engulf is a great word for this book in every act. It is an adjective I will work into the 170 words I get for my review.
- 4 main narrators and they are all trans which I will noted and then refer to them by their correct pronouns for their true selves. It is an issue in the book because Carina's mom does not accept her true self. Ivy, a grown woman. Cabrina, the found dead girl of high school age. And her two best friends Xi, a teen woman and Rex, a teen man. Xi and Rex are accepted by their moms (Xi has a single mom and Rex 2 moms), but Cabrina is not. Her mother, the local politician in their seaside, MA, holiday town, has locked Cabrina up to stop her from being a woman.
- In terms of plot, this is NOT a book that I want to tell you what happens more than the plot description. What I said above about the operatic nature of the storytelling gives you a sense of what you expect which is what you need here.
- I suggest you try to read each "Act" in one sitting. Take an intermission between to digest and again, let the story engulf you. And then read another Section-- in full, at once if possible.
- This was the note I am most upset I couldn't fit into the review-- The story has a dreamlike quality at times but I also think that is a trick of the light as well because as it gets more into its own speculative world, the story also gets more real.
- Also, this story is intimate and follows a few key characters in a small town, but it has implications for the entire world. Again-- terrifying from every vantage point. When you catch your breath with the end of the story, you-- the reader-- have to sit with a whole other set of emotions and fear that Piper has made clear but also left to you to imagine. And that is just the supernatural terror. There is also the horror of living in a trans body, and worse, being trapped in a body that is not the right one for you, not allowed to escape it.
- Get ready to feel all of your emotions with this one. fear, anger, love, existential dread, revenge, horror, sadness, joy, tumult, and even peace.
- In the acknowledgements Piper thanks little Hailey for sticking it out, even when she didn't want to. That did break me at the end. I dare you not to cry.
Readalikes: Besides the titles above, Nat Cassidy's Nestlings is also a good comp here-- both are informed by classic vampire lore but also set out their own "rules," creates new fear, and new mythology that is fascinating on its own. I love this sub trend in the re-emergence of the Vampire story in particular.
But this is more than a "vampire" books. It will appeal greatly to Romantasy fans. GREATLY!
In terms of readalikes, it is hard because this book is very unique (as all of Piper's books are). I do feel like this story and Queen of Teeth are family. Like this is the older, sister story. Without Queen of Teeth, I don't think Piper writes this book.
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