August Books
I read nine books this month, more than I've read in a month in quite some time. Most of them are horror or thriller because that's the genre I enjoy the most, but there's a bit of fantasy and historical fiction in the mix. Here are the books I read in August, with my thoughts on them, ranked in order from most loved to least loved.
1. Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
The top spot goes to this offbeat dark fantasy novel about a group of unexpected heroes going on a dire quest. There's a princess-turned-nun, a disgraced knight, a witch who speaks to the dead, a fairy godmother who can only give one simple gift, a demon hen, and a bone dog. The story is sprinkled with humor that had me laughing out loud, and the world is so distinct and interesting. Kingfisher does a great job of world-building and developing her characters. I was hooked the whole way through.
I could not put this book down. It puts us in the shoes of Mackenzie, a young Cree woman who starts having vivid dreams involving her sister who recently died. She returns to her small hometown in Alberta, Canada, to reconnect with her family and try to figure out what the dreams mean. What follows is a breathtaking story about grief and the importance of community. It deals with the supernatural, but at the same time it feels so heartrendingly real. I loved everything about it.
If you're into folk horror, then this is a must-read. It's a dark, visceral tale of a woman in a Puritan village who undergoes a transformation into a witch. It follows both the ancient spirit known as Father, who awakens near the village, and Abitha, the young woman who lives alone on the outskirts by a deep forest. At its core, it's a story for those who love and want to protect nature as well as for those who want to end the status quo. It was a cathartic read.
This was unlike anything else I've read, and I was so intrigued. It's a short but sweet read about, well, strange houses. You're given floor plans for three houses that each have something a little off about them. It turns out that they have a dark history, and the book is all about the author's journey to get to the bottom of it. Saying too much would spoil the experience, so I'll leave it at that. Just trust me when I say that it's super unsettling. I'm hoping to pick up the companion novel, Strange Pictures, soon because I really enjoyed this one. The author, Uketsu, is a Japanese YouTuber who wears a mask to conceal his identity, and he's known in Japan for his videos about creepy subjects.
5. Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates
I stayed up way too late one night finishing this and could barely function the next day as a result. It keeps you on the edge of your seat for sure. I read three Darcy Coates books this month, and this was my favorite of them. It's about a group of vacationers who become stranded in a remote cabin in the Rocky Mountains at winter. Someone begins picking them off one by one, and they have to try to survive while being wary of each other. A pretty simple setup, but I love the way Darcy Coates writes, and it was just a fun and super intriguing read.
6. Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas
Even though this is lower on the list, I loved it. It wasn't what I expected. I thought the titular vampires would play a bigger part, but it was much more of a romance than a horror book. That being said, I love what Cañas did with the vampires and her alternate history of 1840s Mexico and the Mexican-American War. Although the vampires were kind of just a backdrop, they were implemented really well. It's mostly a story about the relationship between Nena and Néstor, childhood sweethearts with a forbidden love who are drawn back together as adults. I loved both of them so much, and their romance never felt forced or overdone. Cañas' prose is beautiful as well. I highly recommend this!
7. The Haunting of Blackwood House by Darcy Coates
Again, I still loved this even though it's lower on the list! It's just a really fun haunted house story. The scares were great, I loved the way the history of the house was slowly uncovered, and it had some fantastic side characters. I particularly loved Neil, the main character's boyfriend. He's a big teddy bear and such a lovable dude. I had a lot of fun reading this one!
8. The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
And now we come to the books that I had some issues with. While I fully enjoyed the rest, these last two I ended up giving only 3/5 stars on Goodreads because they were flawed in ways that I had a hard time getting past.
I knew of Grady Hendrix from Horrorstör, which I really enjoyed, but this one was harder to get through. The women were written pretty shallowly, with each basically having one single character trait that was latched onto and hammered down to the point where it was annoying. I also expected them to work together, for there to be a sense of camaraderie from the beginning, but instead they were at each others' throats practically the entire time. The horror elements were strong, and it was a tense ride, but overall I felt more disappointed than pleasantly surprised.
9. The Haunting of Gillespie House by Darcy Coates
I loved the other two Darcy Coates books I read this month, but this one unfortunately was a disappointment. This was actually a novella that came with three short stories at the end. I think all of them suffered from their short length, and Darcy Coates does better when she has more pages to work with. The main story felt underdeveloped and relied a bit too much on things conveniently falling into place. We're never given a reason for why the main character is so invested in the house and continues to explore it despite being scared out of her wits, something which was done much better in Blackwood House.
I did find it pretty scary at parts. The scratching on the walls was done really well, and the "final battle" of sorts was just the right mixture of spooky and grotesque. There are seeds of a great story here, but they unfortunately weren't given enough room to grow.