Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

“Pastor McKee, do you think we really have a ghost up there in the sanctuary? I mean, does the church even believe in ghosts? Because – if there is a ghost – maybe it's related to this drowning?”

It sounded so ridiculous when she said it out loud.

“Tell me, lassie, have you paerchance heard any local tales o' sea folk?” he said out of the blue.

“Uh . . .” Hester wondered where he was going with this.

“I've haerd tell they live en the deepes' par' of our own bay.”

“Why do you ask?”

He shrugged and shifted his feet, preparing to sit in the chair again. She held his arm while he lowered himself into it. “Jus' tha' tales o' ghosts and tales o' sea folk paersist in the world. Even an educated paerson mus' wonder ef thar's a reason for et.”

“Monstrous Beauty” is another book I came across on the shelves of my local Half Price Bookstore. I hadn't ever heard of it or the author before, but the cover was stunning and the summary on the back sounded just dark and interesting enough to catch my attention. If I remember correctly, this wasn't long after I had read “Fathomless”, so I'll admit I was probably on a bit of a dark mermaid story binge at the time, though I obviously didn't read it until much later.

Hester Goodwin has pledged herself never to fall in love or marry. Most especially, she will never have children. Hester has made this decision because of her family history. After all, if all the women in the last one hundred fifty years of your family history had died within a week of giving birth to their first child, you would be concerned too. Though she definitely has feelings for her best friend, Peter, she suppresses them and pulls away. She can't fall in love. She can't be talked out of it. She doesn't want to die.

Then Hester meets Ezra, a strange and intoxicating man whom she only ever sees on the beach, and suddenly all of her resolve seems to dissipate. He claims he can help her, that her troubles sound more like a curse than a genetic fault and perhaps the two of them can solve it together.

As she begins to look into her family's past, Hester begins to uncover the pieces of a tragedy that took place long ago and may be the cause of her curse, as well as the rumored hauntings that have taken place in the church and its graveyard, where she used to play as a girl. It's up to her to uncover a terrible truth and set to rights that which was tampered with long ago, that is, if the forces that be will let her do it.

The further I sank into this book, the more surprised I was that I hadn't heard of it before. A beautifully written tale that can be dark, tragic, thrilling, and hopeful all in one excellent novel? I was smitten from the start.

I cannot get over how good this book managed to be and I will definitely be singing its praises for months. The reader is caught up along with the protagonist in the mystery that surrounds her and the terrifying adventures she must face in order to get to the bottom of things. Hester is fierce and resourceful and an all-around believable character that I enjoyed getting to know within the pages.

If you're looking for a good, dark fantasy preferably containing mermaids and other supposed myths, this is the book you need on your shelf. I suggest finding it as soon as you can manage.

Rating: ~★★★★★~

She struggled and writhed as the thing switched positions, easily hooking an arm around her neck and swimming her down – headfirst, faceup, deeper and deeper – in a death-spiral version of a lifeguard rescue. It was a distinctly humanlike arm that held her, and Hester clutched it with both ahnds, afraid of the speed, and afraid it would strangle her. The rhythmic thumping and pumping beneath her was the unmistakable action of a powerful tail, propelling them to the depths of the bay. Hester kept her eyes closed, but she knew without seeing the creature: it was a mermaid.

They were real.

McKee was right; E.A. Doyle was right.

And Hester was about to be killed.

Gustav Gloom and the Nightmare Vault by Adam-Troy Castro (Gustav Gloom, #2) [Illustrated by Kristen Margiotta]

"Who am I?" he roared, in tones so fearsome Fernie wondered why he'd ever bothered to use a gong. "You come into my house, scare my friends, chase away my family, and dare ask who I am? You could not possibly be so stupid!
My name's Gustav Gloom. Grandson of Lemuel Gloom, son of Hans, almost the son of Penelope, protector of this house and of my friends. If you're looking for anything inside these walls, you need to negotiate with ME."

[Click here to see my review of book 1: Gustav Gloom and the People Taker]

After reading the first book in this lovely gothic children's series, I had to get my hands on the sequels. I searched the bookstore in Paris where I'd bought the first one: nothing. I searched through each of the bookstores I normally frequent and still couldn't find anything. That's the wonderful thing about online shopping, though. You can almost always find what you need. I found this book and it's sequel on the Book Depository and ordered them as soon as possible.

The second book of the Gustav Gloom series begins just a few weeks after Fernie What's narrow escape from the clutches of the People Taker. Her family has been spending a great deal of time with Gustav, bringing over new foods he's never tried and generally giving him the pleasure of their human company. It's at one of these little picnics in the front of his yard that Fernie first spots the ice cream man.

After Aunt Mellifluous warns her against the ice cream man, Fernie grows suspicious, but it isn't until the man shows up in her house while her father's away that she and her sister, Pearlie, realize what danger they're in. It turns out, the ice cream man is a shadow eater named October who is searching for something called the Nightmare Vault. The trouble is, no one but he happens to know anything about this Nightmare Vault.

It's up to Fernie and Gustav to find out where the Nightmare Vault is and find it before October can. It's  the only way to stop him from destroying everyone either of them care about. But as the search becomes more frantic, the two children discover that the Nightmare Vault is more dangerous than they could have anticipated and that it very well might be the reason Gustav's parents are no longer with him.

I cannot get over how much I am loving this dark children's series. It's everything I hoped it would be: exciting, fun, scary, and filled to the brim with imaginative adventures and the kind of bravery that comes when someone you love is in terrible danger.

Once again, we get to run along with Gustav and Fernie through the Gloom mansion, discovering new rooms, strange creatures, and even a house inside the house. I especially enjoyed getting to learn quite  bit more about Gustav Gloom and how he came to be the only human living in a house filled with shadows.

I can't wait to read more of this lovely series and hope it continues for many books to come. I'll absolutely follow it until its end. You should do the same.

Rating: ★★★★★

She pounded on the door, screaming, "Gustav! I'm in trouble here!" 
"Yes," October said. "You are."
The black tendrils were now fewer than three feet from Fernie, and she couldn't have run in another direction even if she'd wanted to; they'd formed a cage around the two front steps to the Gloom house and blocked every other possible direction. 
"You should have cooperated," October said as the tendrils closed in. 
Fernie pounded on the door. "Please, please, please! Somebody let me in! I'm a friend of this house!"
The doors opened.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

"Nothing's ever the same," she said. "Be it a second later or a hundred years. It's always churning and roiling. And people change as much as oceans."

I received this lovely book when I went to the Neil Gaiman event a few months ago. It was pre-signed (though I did still wait for five hours to get my copy of Stardust signed) and I wanted to tear into it immediately. However, I was halfway through rereading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, so I had to wait.

On my way home from visiting my family last month, I finished reading A Monster Calls not long after my plane taxied out. Thankfully, I'm a chronic over-packer when it comes to books. (I left for that two week long visit with twenty-five books on me. I'm pretty sure I brought double that on the return trip.) I saw this book and immediately fell upon it, hardly even looking up between chapters as I read.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told from the perspective of a nameless male protagonist who finds himself having wandered back to the house at the end of the lane where, once upon a time, he met Lettie Hempstock and thus began the adventure of a lifetime. Only, for some reason, he seem to only just now remember what happened all those years ago, when he was only seven years old and the world became more terrifying than he could ever have imagined.

When a man committed suicide in their neighborhood on a hot summer day, things shifted and beings awoke that should have remained asleep. Lettie, her mother, and grandmother are uniquely equipped to put an end to what has begun to terrorize the neighboring homes, but it only takes one misstep by our protagonist for things to become much worse. What he carries inside him has the potential to wipe out everything and everyone in its path, but Lettie has promised to protect him no matter what the cost. And if he knows anything, it's that the Hempstocks know what they're doing and they are more than capable of bringing this threat to its knees. He can only hope that they manage it before it's too late.

Once again, Neil Gaiman has managed to create a fantastical world that draws the reader in from the start. This book is overflowing with creativity and insightful truths, with more than a little magic sprinkled throughout. I loved every part of this dark fantasy, though it had me equally entranced and horrified. I don't know where the man gets his creative genius, but I would love to find out!

Be prepared, this isn't a kid-friendly fairytale, but it's one of those magical tales you'll want to go back to again and again. This one is going to win more than a few awards and it will deserve every one. You can count on that.

Rating: ★★★★★


"Oh, monsters are scared," said Lettie." That's why they're monsters. "As for grown-ups . . ." She stopped talking, rubbed her freckled nose with a finger. Then, "I'm going to tell you something important. Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just as they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world." 

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness [Illustrated by Jim Kay]

Stories are wild creatures, the monster said. When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they may wreak.

I picked up A Monster Calls at a bookstore after hearing more than a few people gushing about it on book review vlogs and blogs. The artwork on the cover is stunning and hooked me for certain and, to add that extra cherry on top, I noticed the blurb by John Green that stated, "Patrick Ness is an insanely beautiful writer."

How could I not read it?

My younger brother even got his hands on my copy before I did and tore through it in one sitting. When he finished, he couldn't stop telling me how good it was and that I needed to read it immediately. I got the memo and started in on in while waiting for my flight back to the States after visiting my family a few weeks ago.

When Conor wakes up in the middle of the night, he expects the monster in his nightmares to be lurking just out of sight. He knows with everything that is in him that the monster will come for him soon and he'll live the horror of his nightmares in his waking hours. But it's not the monster Conor expects when he looks out his window and finds the yew tree from the graveyard is now standing firmly in his backyard, his booming voice informing the young boy that he has come for him.

However, Conor is not scared of the yew tree that stands menacingly behind his house, because he's seen worse. Nothing is worse than the monster in his dreams and he'll take any horror over the reality of that nightmare coming true.

However, the great yew tree has different plans for Conor. He has come to demand the truth and to share it. He promises to tell Conor three stories, but after that, Conor must share his story, the one that haunts his every waking hour, as well as his sleep.

My absolute favorite illustration from within A Monster Calls.

I honestly cannot say enough about how utterly spectacular this book is. I can already tell it will be one of those that I read again and again and again, because of its breathtaking beauty and truth.

This is the first work I've read by Patrick Ness, though I've heard people raving about him for years now. I definitely regret not having enjoyed his prose sooner. The storytelling in this book is beyond superb and is only compounded by Ness's profound mastery of the material and his ability to spin and weave the words into something so stunning that it nearly leaves the reader breathless.

And speaking of breathless, look at that artwork! I'm not even sure I can produce words for how intensely beautiful the illustrations are. They litter nearly every page and make the text that much richer; the story that much brighter. I seriously have to find out how I can get my hands on some prints of these.

Overall, I have to say this: if you haven't read A Monster Calls you are seriously missing out. You need to get your hands on this book as soon as you get the chance. It is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year and I'm certain it will be yours as well.

Rating: ~★★★★★~


There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between.
Conor shook his head. "That's a terrible story. And a cheat." 
It's a true story, the monster said. Many things that are true feel like a cheat. Kingdoms get the princes they deserve, farmers' daughters die for no reason, and sometimes witches merit saving. Quite often, actually. You'd be surprised.

Gustav Gloom and the People Taker by Adam-Troy Castro (Gustav Gloom, #1) [Illustration by Kristen Margiotta]

Again, Fernie wanted to stamp her foot. "But that doesn't explain anything! Shadows can't run around by themselves!"
"Who says they can't?"
The simple question swept Fernie's legs out from under her. Because as it turned out, she didn't have an answer. She couldn't remember anybody in her life ever telling her what a shadow could or couldn't do; not even her father, who knew fourteen ways television sets could explode if you changed channels too quickly.

I picked up Gustav Gloom and the People Taker at the Paris Shakespeare & Company last December. For Christmas, my parents pretty much let us buy our own gifts and then wrap them so we'll have things under the tree in the morning. This was one of the lovely volumes I chose, because it's cover drew me in and the synopsis told me this would be a very interesting book indeed.

When Fernie What and her family move into a new neighborhood, Fernie is not impressed. She has moved into an ugly Fluorescent Salmon colored house in a typical suburban neighborhood. While this suits Fernie's father, who happens to be a professional worrier, it dismays the What sisters, who are the complete opposite of their father and relish the scary and the dangerous.

So when Fernie What meets Gustav Gloom, the boy who lives in the spooky mansion next door, she is more than elated. But when her cat wanders into Gloom Mansion and she follows suit, she soon finds herself in over her head. Gustav's home is more dangerous, and more magical, than she could have ever imagined. Gustav is eager to usher her out, but his house is bigger on the inside and filled with strange dangers that stand between the two children and Fernie's only way of escape. And at the top of the list of dangers is the People Taker, who has set his eye on Fernie as his next victim.

I really enjoyed this book. Adam-Troy Castro did a wonderful job in weaving a dark children's tale that had this twenty-one year old enthusiastically captivated all the way through. Every child loves to be a little frightened every once in a while and this story gives you just enough fear and just enough of a fantastic element to keep readers of all ages dying to know what happens next and, when they've turned the last page, eager to hear more of Fernie and Gustav's adventures together.

Let's not forget about those stunning illustrations. Kristen Margiotta's beautiful styling of the characters and the Gloom Mansion draws you in just as completely as the story itself. They're the perfect complement to this story, mixing in that gothic element in with the very magical and fantastic bits.

I adored this book. It really had me hooked. You should absolutely go find a copy for yourself as soon as you get the chance. I would especially suggest this for Neil Gaiman fans. It was a very similar style to a few of the lovely works I've read of his, which only elevates it in my mind.

Rating: ~★★★★★~

"It must be scary living here." 
"Sometimes. But it's like I told you: I'm used to it. I guess it's another reason why I never really tried to do anything about the People Taker before he snatched all those people on your side of the fence. It just didn't seem all that unusual to me. Monsters, people takers, beasts, dangerous rooms . . . they're all just things I've grown up with."

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

I  will be brave, thought Coraline. No, I am brave.

Neil Gaiman will soon be going on his "Last US Book Tour" and one of his stops will be at the Dallas Museum of Art. (Which means I get to see him in person!) I was really excited when I found out about this and immediately set out to read as many of his books as I could manage. After all, I have a tendency to wait until the week before to read books by the authors I'm going to see at a convention, so I figured I would head that bad habit off by starting now.

As you may or may not know, I've already read Stardust and am happily exposed to Neil Gaiman via his involvement with my favorite sci-fi, Doctor Who. I adore him and deeply admire his creativity. I was more than eager to read this work and I wasn't disappointed. (A little creeped out, though? Definitely.)

When Coraline and her parents move into their new home, Coraline finds a new place to explore and discover. She loves to explore. It eases the boredom of being an only child in a new and unfamiliar place. In her explorations in and around the house, Coraline meets some strange women next door, an odd old man, a black cat, and discovers a door in her home that leads to nowhere.

This last fact is only slightly true. It isn't long before Coraline is left alone in the house and finds that the door does, in fact, lead somewhere; somewhere that is also nowhere. And through that door, she discovers a world that is very much like her own, at first glance, though slightly twisted. Her mother and father are there, only they have button eyes. The man upstairs owns singing rats instead of musical mice, and the women next door perform in productions for the many dogs they still own.

When Coraline realizes this place is very dark and unhappy, she tries to escape back to her own home, but her Other Mother has captured her real parents. Now it's up to Coraline to face her and win them back.

Coraline is a beautifully constructed novel about a girl learning that she can conquer any obstacle she faces. Coraline is a strong character who is restless and adventurous, like many young girls, and though she is scared of the challenge ahead of her, is willing to face it if it will save the parents she loves so dearly. It takes all of her willpower and ingenuity to conquer her foe, but Coraline is willing to take the risk.

I really enjoyed this book. It was just as creative as I was expecting (something I greatly admire, as stated before) and inspirational. It's definitely creepy and will make you want to keep a night light on for the next few nights, but a novel that's absolutely worth reading.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Coraline sighed. "You really don't understand, do you?" she said. "I don't want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted? Just like that, and it didn't mean anything. What then?"