Current Read: A History of Wild Places

 

A History of Wild Places

Author: Shea Ernshaw

Publication Date: December 7, 2021

Publisher: Atria Books

From the publisher:

Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Hired by families as a last resort, he requires only a single object to find the person who has vanished. When he takes on the case of Maggie St. James—a well-known author of dark, macabre children’s books—he’s led to a place many believed to be only a legend.

Called Pastoral, this reclusive community was founded in the 1970s by like-minded people searching for a simpler way of life. By all accounts, the commune shouldn’t exist anymore and soon after Travis stumbles upon it…he disappears. Just like Maggie St. James.

Years later, Theo, a lifelong member of Pastoral, discovers Travis’s abandoned truck beyond the border of the community. No one is allowed in or out, not when there’s a risk of bringing a disease—rot—into Pastoral. Unraveling the mystery of what happened reveals secrets that Theo, his wife, Calla, and her sister, Bee, keep from one another. Secrets that prove their perfect, isolated world isn’t as safe as they believed—and that darkness takes many forms.

Hauntingly beautiful, hypnotic, and bewitching, A History of Wild Places is a story about fairy tales, our fear of the dark, and losing yourself within the wilderness of your mind.

You can read my original Isabella's Reading Corner post on A History of Wild Places here.

Isabella's Reading Corner: Nanny Dearest

Nanny Dearest

Author: Flora Collins

Publication Date: November 30, 2021

Publisher: Mira

Shortly after her father passes away, Sue Keller unexpectedly runs into Annie. Annie remembers Sue quite well from her days as her childhood nanny. Sue’s initial reaction toward her former nanny is ambiguous, but her feelings slowly evolve into something different. Is it Annie herself or is it what she represents that brings up such deep emotions within her?

Annie is ultimately a mysterious and shadowy figure. As the novel progresses and more about the past is revealed, there are startling surprises - some not so pleasant, but debut author Flora Collins manages to convey them in a way that serves the purpose of the story. 

From the first page I experienced an immediate sense of apprehension, and this inexplicable eeriness continues throughout the book. With themes of alienation, obsession, memory and betrayal, Nanny Dearest is a riveting read - disturbingly dark and twisted.

Thank you to Harper Collins Canada for the advanced copy provided for review.

From the publisher:

In this compulsively readable novel of domestic suspense, a young woman takes comfort in reconnecting with her childhood nanny, until she starts to uncover secrets the nanny has been holding for twenty years. 

Sue Keller is lost. When her father dies suddenly, she's orphaned in her mid-twenties, her mother already long gone. Then Sue meets Annie. It’s been twenty years, but Annie could never forget that face. She was Sue’s live-in nanny at their big house upstate, and she loved Sue like she was her own. 

Craving connection and mothering, Sue is only too eager to welcome Annie back into her life; but as they become inseparable once again, Sue starts to uncover the truth about Annie's unsettling time in the Keller house all those years ago, particularly the manner of her departure—or dismissal. At the same time, she begins to grow increasingly alarmed for the safety of the two new charges currently in Annie's care. 

Told in alternating points of views—Annie in the mid-'90s and Sue in the present day—this taut novel of suspense will keep readers turning the pages right up to the shocking end.

You can read my original Isabella's Reading Corner post on Nanny Dearest here.

Isabella's Reading Corner: You'll Be the Death of Me

 

You'll Be the Death of Me

Author: Karen M. McManus

Publication Date: November 30, 2021

Publisher: Delacorte Press

A day off turns deadly for three old friends, in the exciting new thriller by One of Us is Lying author Karen M. McManus! 

Told from the multiple viewpoints of the three leads, the story is fast-paced and exciting. The suspense of what was going to happen next kept me glued to my chair! I loved the interaction between the main characters and how it contributed toward their development. I’ve immensely enjoyed all of Karen’s books and You'll Be the Death of Me is a solid YA mystery that does not disappoint. 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and Penguin Teen Canada for the advanced copy provided for review.

From the publisher:

From the author of One of Us Is Lying comes a brand-new pulse-pounding thriller. It's Ferris Bueller's Day Off with murder when three old friends relive an epic ditch day, and it goes horribly—and fatally—wrong. 

Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Now all they have in common is Carlton High and the beginning of a very bad day. Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out from working two jobs since his family’s business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up . . . again.  
  
So when the three unexpectedly run into each other, they decide to avoid their problems by ditching. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they’ve barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say. . .  
  
. . . until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school—and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it’s about to get worse. It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common...like a connection to the dead kid. And they’re all hiding something.  
  
Could it be that their chance reconnection wasn’t by chance after all?  

You can read my original Isabella's Reading Corner post on You'll Be the Death of Me here.

Book Birthday: The Witching Tree by Alice Blanchard

The Witching Tree 

A Natalie Lockhart Novel (Natalie Lockhart, 3)

Author: Alice Blanchard

Publication Date: December 7, 2021

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Happy Book Birthday to The Witching Tree and author Alice Blanchard!

This is the third title in the thrilling Natalie Lockhart series. If you’ve not read them yet, now is the perfect time to get started!

From the publisher:

Welcome to Burning Lake, a small, isolated town with a dark history of witches and false accusations. Now, a modern-day witch has been murdered, and Detective Natalie Lockhart is reluctantly drawn deep into the case, in this atmospheric mystery from Alice Blanchard, The Witching Tree.

As legend has it, if you carve your deepest desire into the bark of a Witch Tree, then over time as the tree grows, it will swallow the carvings until only a witch can read them.

Until now.

Detective Natalie Lockhart gained unwanted notoriety when she and her family became front and center of not one, but two sensational murder cases. Now she’s lost her way. Burned out and always looking over her shoulder, Natalie desperately thinks that quitting the police force is her only option left.

All that changes when a beloved resident―a practicing Wiccan and founder of the town’s oldest coven―is killed in a fashion more twisted and shocking than Natalie has ever seen before, leaving the town reeling. Natalie has no choice but to help solve the case along with Detective Luke Pittman, her boss and the old childhood friend she cannot admit she loves, even to herself. There is a silent, malignant presence in Burning Lake that will not rest. And what happens next will shock the whole town, and Natalie, to the core.

Isabella's Reading Corner: Dark and Shallow Lies

 

Dark and Shallow Lies

Author: Ginny Myers Sain

Publication Date: September 7, 2021

Publisher: Razorbill

Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain is such an impressive debut! I love everything about this book. It’s gorgeously atmospheric, with a lush setting, eerie story, and mesmerizing characters. Haunting and lyrical, this is the perfect Autumn read to kick off the Halloween season!

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and Penguin Teen Canada for the advanced copy provided for review.

From the publisher:

A teen girl disappears from her small town deep in the bayou, where magic festers beneath the surface of the swamp like water rot, in this chilling debut supernatural thriller for fans of Natasha Preston, Karen McManus, and Rory Power.

La Cachette, Louisiana, is the worst place to be if you have something to hide.

 

This tiny town, where seventeen-year-old Grey spends her summers, is the self-proclaimed Psychic Capital of the World—and the place where Elora Pellerin, Grey's best friend, disappeared six months earlier.

 

Grey can't believe that Elora vanished into thin air any more than she can believe that nobody in a town full of psychics knows what happened. But as she digs into the night that Elora went missing, she begins to realize that everybody in town is hiding something—her grandmother Honey; her childhood crush Hart; and even her late mother, whose secrets continue to call to Grey from beyond the grave.

 

When a mysterious stranger emerges from the bayou—a stormy-eyed boy with links to Elora and the town's bloody history—Grey realizes that La Cachette's past is far more present and dangerous than she'd ever understood. Suddenly, she doesn't know who she can trust. In a town where secrets lurk just below the surface, and where a murderer is on the loose, nobody can be presumed innocent—and La Cachette's dark and shallow lies may just rip the town apart.

You can read my original Isabella's Reading Corner post on Dark and Shallow Lies here.

Isabella's Reading Corner: The Final Girl Support Group

 

The Final Girl Support Group

Author: Grady Hendrix

Publication Date: July 13, 2021

Publisher: Berkley

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix is a unique take on the horror genre and so incredibly exciting and fun! I loved the characters and the story. If you’re a fan of slasher films you’ll especially enjoy this title. I’m looking forward to read more books by Mr. Hendrix!

From the publisher:

In horror movies, the final girls are the ones left standing when the credits roll. They made it through the worst night of their lives…but what happens after? 

Like his bestselling novel The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix’s latest is a fast-paced, frightening, and wickedly humorous thriller. From chain saws to summer camp slayers, The Final Girl Support Group pays tribute to and slyly subverts our most popular horror films—movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream. 

Lynette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre. For more than a decade, she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, working to put their lives back together. Then one woman misses a meeting, and their worst fears are realized—someone knows about the group and is determined to rip their lives apart again, piece by piece. 

  

But the thing about final girls is that no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.

You can read my original Isabella's Reading Corner post on The Final Girl Support Group here.

Isabella's Reading Corner: Falling

 

Falling

Author: T. J. Newman

Publication Date: July 6, 2021

Publisher: Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster

Captain Bill Hoffman’s family has been kidnapped and he’s been given an agonizing choice. He must crash the plane he’s flying, killing all 149 souls on board or his wife and children will die. This an excruciating decision he refuses to make! What follows is nonstop action from start to finish. 

Complete with an ensemble cast of multi-dimensional characters, author T.J. Newman creates an authenticity based on her background in the airline industry. Falling is an immensely enjoyable read, which begs the question, what would YOU do in such a nightmarish scenario? 

From the publisher:

“Stunning and relentless. This is Jaws at 35,000 feet.” —Don Winslow

“Falling is the best kind of thriller…Nonstop, totally authentic suspense.” —James Patterson

“Amazing...Intense suspense, shocks and scares...Chilling.” —Lee Child

“The perfect summer thriller. Relentlessly paced and unforgettable.” —Janet Evanovich

You just boarded a flight to New York.

There are one hundred and forty-three other passengers onboard.

What you don’t know is that thirty minutes before the flight your pilot’s family was kidnapped.

For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die.

The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane.

Enjoy the flight.

You can read my original Isabella's Reading Corner post on Falling here.